Chapter 3 IN SEARCH FOR AID

With so much difficulties, Rosety finally managed to reach her destination.

She entered through the secret door that only the two of them knew and so, she was undetected.

She was laying on her bed, sleeping peacefully even though it's soon to be morning.

Rosety wanted to let her sleep but she is in a hurry right now.

She needed help now more than ever and the only person who could help her out is her.

She talks on her shoulder.

"Hey! Leave me alone, I want to sleep more since there is no court meetings today" she pushes off her hand.

Rosety taps on her shoulder again.

"Hey, I told you to leave me alone" she waves off the hand without even opening her eyes.

"Zannatul, it's me" Rosety had no other choice but to speak, maybe then she would be recognized.

"Rosety, you, what are you... Oh my goodness, did something happen?" the princess gasped as she saw the mess Rosety has turned into.

She stared at the blood drenched princess, sure that something bad must have happened.

"Tell me, what happened?" The worried princess asked.

But Rosety couldn't even bring herself to speak again as all the emotions that she had been bottling up came up all to her chest and closed her vocal cord.

She fell to the ground and her sword which she had been holding tightly fell to the ground.

All her bones have turned to jelly. She don't even know when the tears started rolling down her cheeks.

"Oh Rosety! What could be so horrible that would make you shed tears and why are you covered in blood, so much of it?" she walks up to her friend and hugged her, not caring about how blood stained she was.

Just by that mere embrace, Rosety bursts out into full blown tears and starts crying in a very agonizing tone.

Even zannatul couldn't help but join her but she had to stop eventually to comfort her friend.

It took almost an hour of cry to get Rosety back to her senses.

Zannatul handed her a clean handkerchief which she wiped her face with and as soon as she withdrew it, she saw a blood covered mess. The spilled blood of her kingdom.

"Tell me Rosety, have you been attacked?" she asks again, feeling like she is now ready to talk.

"They are all dead, mother, father, everyone" she cries out, staring at the blood in her hand.

Zannatul gasped at that announcement.

"No, this cannot be" she cries out.

Now she has finally understood the depth of her friend's agony.

Losing her parents and her kingdom in one day is a lot for a soul to handle.

Zannatul thought that she would have killed herself instead if this were to happen to her but here is the princess of Farkland, taking it all.

She pulls her into a hug once again and this time, she was the crying one.

"Don't worry, we'll send reenforcement to attack, do you know who's assassins they were?" she ask.

Surely, the princess must have saw something that will reveal their identity and that will help their course now.

"I think they belong to the kingdom of Larvana" she answers.

"No, that cannot be, there must have been a misunderstanding, that kingdom have been our allies for centuries now, surely there must be an explanation to that" zannatul says.

She certainly was not ready to believe that the kingdom of Larvana would be capable of such brutality.

"I don't think it's them as well, but I still want to talk with them about the incident, they might be the best people to help us out" Rosety says.

Zannatul nodded at her, agreeing with her.

Rosety quickly got up as if she has forgotten something.

"What happened?" the worried zannatul asks.

"I need to dispatch the message to Larvana" she says.

But then she remembered that she does not have her messenger bird with her, so her shoulder slumped.

"You can use mine" zannatul says, as if reading her thoughts.

With that, princess zannatul presented Rosety with a pen and a paper and she quickly wrote a message, a secret message that only the sole receiver would only understand.

This was to avoid any suspicion or to alert the culprits.

Zannatul helped her put the letter by the birds leg and then she took off.

"Don't worry, I'm sure they would help out" she tries to assures her.

"You need to clean up now, the maids will prepare your bath" zannatul says.

Just by the mention of the maids, Rosety remembered her poor maids whom have laid their life for hers.

But she would not let their sacrifice go in vain. She would get to the bottom of this even if it takes her her whole life.

Soon enough, Rosety's bath was ready and she went in to clean up.

As she was pouring water on her body, a lot of blood was dropping. The blood of her mother land.

If it were the barbarian times, she would not have washed of the blood till she has finally brought the culprits to justice.

With a lot of effort and washing, she finally got rid of the blood and all its stench.

She returns back to the room and found some new clothes kept for her.

Even when the maids tried to help her out, she stopped them and did it herself.

To her, she is no longer a princess or any royal at all till the day she avenged her land.

Food was brought in and zannatul had to force her to have some, saying that she would not have any strength left if she does eat and then how can she fight off her kingdom's assailants.

"The king is out for a few days, so I can't give directs orders to the soldiers without his permission but I will inform him about the incident as soon as he's back" princess zannatul says.

Rosety just nodded at her.

"You need to take some rest, I know you must have been through a lot but your body still needs rest" she tries to pacify her into taking a rest.

"How can I rest when the blood of my people has stained by hand and is pouring on the ground like a river?" that was her answer.

"That is not what I meant" zannatul says, feeling sad.

Maybe she should just let her be. She doesn't want to leave her alone in a moment like this but maybe it is the best thing to do.

She gets up to leave the room when Rosety stopped her.

"Ok, I'll rest but please don't leave me, for now" she pleads.

Zannatul helped her friend lay down on her bed while she places her head on her lap.

She started singing her favorite lullaby to her. The one her mother used to sing to her when she was a child. And this is the only memory of her mother that she still remembered.

Zannatul's mother had died while she was giving birth to her second child and unfortunately, both the mother and child couldn't make it.

So, Rosety's mother became like a second mother to her as she was a good friend of her mother's.

"Good evening, good night, either roses covered, with cloves adorned, slip under the covers. Tomorrow morning, if God wills, you will wake once again" she keeps on singing softly to her.

And finally, she slipped into a very tiresome sleep.

Zannatul also fell asleep after some time.

**********

She kept on running away from them, trying to hide but where ever she hides, they seem to have a way to find her.

She kept on hiding till she was actually tired.

She sat for a bit to rest but all of a sudden, the whole place was filled with dead bodies everywhere and far ahead, her father and mother stood.

There both were standing like zombies. Her father has an arrow sticking out of his neck while her mother has one sticking through her back out to her heart.

"Help us Rosety, help us" they kept on calling out to her but no matter how hard she tried to walk over to them, she couldn't get there.

Just then, I huge man with a disfigured face appeared before her out of nowhere and yielded a blood covered sword.

He wasted no time in trying to slay her head.

"Ahhh!" Rosety screamed and sat down.

She was drenched in her sweat and was breathing heavily. At some point, she wasn't even breathing.

Her scream jolted zannatul back from her slumber and she saw the horrible state she was in.

She hugs her tightly as tries to assure her that all is fine.

Rosety kept on trying to breath out and then in and soon, she was back on track.

She slips into a very tiring sleep once again and this time, zannatul stayed up to make sure that she is faring well.