CHAPTER 6

Cassidy stuffed her emotions down and together, Justice and Cassidy moved around to the side of the castle. They were looking for anybody they could find, and as they rounded the corner, Cassidy stopped. She saw a man lying on the ground, obviously dead.

Cassidy bent next to him and identified him as the farmer in her Stronghold; he had a house in the north and took care of the crops. Justice bent on the other side of him, whispered, “Wizards, he was killed with a spell,” and continued to move along the wall. This time he took the lead, keeping her behind him.

Cassidy could not move past the man. She was shocked because she had never seen this type of violence face to face.

Cassidy had never been in this situation before; she was not ready for the anger that boiled in her stomach. Someone had come to her home and killed one of her members. This was her sanctuary. This should never have happened. She should have been here.

When they arrived at the back of the castle, they saw a field had been set on fire in the distance; after a closer look, they could also see a house burning. Cassidy thought it looked familiar. They were looking at the dead man’s home. She remembered he had a wife and a child. She almost ran out into the open to check on the family. She could hardly bear the thought that they were possibly burning in the house.

Justice grabbed her around her waist and lifted her off her feet to hold her back from leaving as he tried the back door. It also refused to open.

Justice looked up and saw a balcony that was fairly low and gestured to her to try to climb up. Cassidy nodded and Justice grasped her waist and heaved her upward. She was able to catch the edge of the balcony, and she pulled herself up and over the railing.

She got up quickly and leaned over to help Justice when he jumped up and grabbed her hands. When they were both finally over the railing, they knelt behind the balcony wall and tried to figure out how to get into the house.

“I was told my castle would never deny me entry when I approached it. Bernie said the only way it could happen was if we were attacked and it was protecting the members of the Stronghold inside. To get in, we must announce ourselves, but that would tell everyone we are here,” she whispered.

Justice had no idea what caused this. He suspected a spell, but he didn’t know how to identify what spell. He thought aloud and said, “I wonder if there was a spell put on the castle. The farmer was killed with a spell, so maybe it was a Wizard who attacked and used spells to get in,” he suggested.

“I’m only day three in my training, so sorry, clueless here,” she sighed. “Wait a minute. When Bea was talking about our soul’s gift. She said it was in tune with our feelings, maybe it could break the spell put on the castle because it’s our Stronghold.” She stood and swung her sword at the window.

Justice got up in enough time to block her from most of the glass as it shattered, but not all of it. She could feel it pierce and scratch her skin on the back of her shoulder and her neck.

Justice turned her around so he could see what she had done to herself. Cassidy needed to start thinking plans through from now on, she also knew if her cut was deep and bleeding. Justice was going to have worse wounds because he tried to protect her, but neither stopped to check it out, instead, and they went through the window.

Cassidy tried going quickly keeping the damage to a minimum. Justice had knocked some of the jagged pieces out before they entered, but she felt her jeans rip and the cut on her thigh as she went through. Justice's injury must be in a similar place because she saw him wince when he brought his leg through the frame.

Cassidy looked around and couldn’t figure out where they were. She had not seen the entire castle; she had yet to explore her castle on her own. So far, her exploring had not reached the back part of the castle; she shrugged to Justice letting him know she had no idea where in the house they were.

He went to the door, listened, shook his head, and put his finger to his lips to make sure she knew not to talk.

They both went through the door, and they could hear muffled crying from below them. They had exited a room that was at the top of the stairs. She bent down, looked down the stairs, could see the edge of the counter, and whispered directly into Justice's ear, “kitchen.” He nodded in acknowledgment, and then he looked behind them.

The hallway turned about 50 feet to the right, and he tiptoed to the end of the hallway and looked around the corner. Clearly, there was no one there because he disappeared around the corner and then his arm appeared to wave to her to follow. Cassidy stood quickly and followed. Justice had made sure the rooms were all clear as she came down the hall. Cassidy remained turned backwards to make sure no one came up behind them.

They continued this same way down another hallway until Cassidy recognized their bedroom doors. They reached Celli’s room first and looked inside for her, but it was empty; next was Cami’s room, it was also empty.

Cassidy’s room was last and Justice’s was across the hall, they both saw the engraving at the same time.

Cassidy was worried about Tina and opened her door quietly into the living area. She could see half of the office from where she stood, there was a foot sticking out behind the desk, and papers scattered over the floor. Cassidy saw it was Tina lying behind the desk. She ran to her and felt for a pulse. Her shoulders sagged with relief when she felt a strong pulse at the same time she saw blood on the carpet behind Tina’s head.

Cassidy eased her head up so she could check the damage and felt a huge goose egg on the back of her head; she could also feel an open gash bleeding a lot. Cassidy got up and quickly got a towel from the bathroom and put it behind Tina’s head.

Cassidy stood up and felt her anger grow as the seconds passed. She went back to the hallway, found Justice standing guard outside of her room, and whispered, “Tina’s down with a head injury.”

His lips thinned in anger, and she went to check his rooms. Cassidy went into his office, turned and ran to get Justice. She pulled him into the living area, shut, and locked the door. She got as far as “Sam is...” Justice was running past her. She followed closely behind.

They rounded the doorway and Justice saw what she had. Sam was bent over the desk, lying like he had been hit from behind just like Tina, but he had been standing in front of the desk and fell over it face down. His head was bleeding a lot more because Sam had no pressure on it.

Justice cradled Sam and gently pulled him back so he could lie on the floor, he felt for a pulse, and Cassidy ran for towels. When she returned, she saw Justice had taken off his shirt and used it to apply pressure to his wound and was gently talking to him to see if he would wake. But there was no sign of Sam waking.

He looked at her and asked, “What the hell was he doing here?”

“I don’t know, Justice. I should have stayed here and prepared for your arrival myself, and I would have been here to protect them,” she said and Justice was shaking his head before she finished the thought.

“Then you would be in danger, as it is, we are their best hope here, and together we will kick some ass. How much defensive training have you gotten?” he asked

“I’m an expert swordsman and have had self-defense training. I can hold my own and would love to kick some ass with you. If they have hurt anymore of my friends, they will die,” she said with steely determination.

“Let’s go clear the rest of the rooms and then go down and clear from room to room. I could hear someone crying, do you have any idea where it came from?” he asked.

“Our TV room is the biggest room close to the kitchen; if they were all together when they were attacked, they would be there. It’s where we hang out before dinner, so they would have all been in there. The best way to get there would be on the back stairs because there is a back entrance to the room hidden by a curtain, only we know it’s there. Our staff uses it to bring us food. They don’t know we have taken the locking mechanism out of it so we can sneak into the kitchen for ice cream,” she said quickly, drawing him a map of the rooms she knew.

Justice agreed that was our best choice and asked if she was ready. “Promise you’ll be careful. I don’t want to have to do this alone.”

He nodded and they carried Sam into Cassidy’s room so Tina and Sam were together. They checked the rest of the rooms on the floor and found them all empty. She was happy some of the secretaries left before the attack. They would have suffered the same fate as Sam and Tina.

Justice and Cassidy made their way back to the staircase in the back and could still hear someone crying. Cassidy knew it was not Cami or Celli because when they cried, it was like a heavy metal band concert. She hoped they weren’t unconscious, because if they were awake, they would be pissed off. If she knew her friends, they were waiting to overpower their captors.

They crept down the stairs slowly trying to make as little noise as possible. As they got to the bottom of the stairs, they could see the kitchen, it was a mess. There was a young female house cleaner sitting in the middle of the floor with her arms around her middle rocking and crying. Cassidy checked to make sure they were alone and then stepped into the kitchen. Justice followed. The girl never looked up at them; her gaze locked on something that was behind the counter and the girl never looked away from whatever she was staring at.

Cassidy began to feel an overwhelming sense of dread, got on her hands and knees, and crawled around the corner from the other direction. Kristen, Eli’s Guardian was lying crumpled and broken in the middle of the mess. Cassidy felt for a pulse but knew she would not find one.

Cassidy was beginning to think she was in a dream again. Kristen could not be dead. Bea had always acted like a mother hen, so left Kristen to be the fun older sister or aunt. She could be strict if there were rules broken, but she mostly took the girls shopping and to the hair salon. She had even been the one to give them the birds and the bees talk.

Cassidy closed her eyes and said a prayer to the spirits asking them to take care of Kristen for her. She was deep in thought when she felt Justice move next to her. She turned to him with tears streaming down her face and said, “There will be no mercy for those responsible for her death.”

Justice saw the look of determination her face and knew whoever these people were, they will not be leaving the castle alive, if they were still here, that is.

He nodded in agreement but whispered to her, “I hear you, but keep control of your anger. We don’t know who we are up against yet,” and she barely moved her head in agreement because she didn’t feel like being rational. Someone killed one of her parents, in her house, while she had been gone. Cassidy was having a hard time accepting that death was a part of their destiny. If Kristen could be a victim, so could anyone of her friends. That was not acceptable.

There was no greater crime in her book, unless she found one of her friends, then, there would be no containing her. Cassidy could not even go there in her mind.

Cassidy sat with Kristen another minute, holding her hand and silently telling her how she had helped change her life and how grateful she was for her presence in her life.

Justice had tried to get the girl in the middle of the room’s attention, but because she was in shock, there was no response. He finally gave up, returned to Cassidy’s side, and helped her arrange Kristen with as much dignity as she could. Cassidy could not leave Kristen lying crumpled and broken with dishes and glasses around her. She quietly moved her next to the counter, folded her arms across her body, bent, kissed her on the forehead, and cried for another minute.

When she was done, she wiped her eyes with her sleeve; she saw it was bloody. Kristen’s blood and hers were mixing; she was imagining their powers combining. Cassidy was going to have a full-blown panic attack any minute. She was beginning to breathe faster and faster until Justice grabbed her head in both of his hands and turned her to him.

“Cassidy, baby, don’t leave me now. We have to find your friends,” he said gently shaking her head. She stopped focusing on the blood and looked at him; she took a deep breath and nodded to him.

Justice and Cassidy moved into the walk-in pantry where the secret door was. She knelt on the ground and looked beneath the door to see if she could see anything. Cassidy was amazed when she was able to see all the shoes in the room. The curtain was still pulled, she noticed, but it didn’t go to the ground. Unless you were really looking, you could not see the door.

Cassidy sat up and whispered directly into his ear, “I see my friends’ shoes in front of their bean bag chairs. They are moving.” She bent back down to look again. “I also see Bernie’s shoes, Bea’s slippers, and Charlie’s boots,” she said the second time she sat up. Her final time she said, “Liam is in the corner unconscious, but I can see him breathing and there are three sets of shoes I don’t know. They are standing at 12 o’clock, 4 o’clock, and 9 o’clock.”

Justice nodded, he understood and then whispered to her, “One is a wizard, we know that, can you see if any have a wand?”

She leaned closer to the door so she could see up a little more and came back. “The one standing at 9 o’clock has what looks like a stick, is that it?” Justice confirmed it. “The one at 12 o’clock had a sword and the one at 4 o’clock has her back to me, but she is little like the twins.”

Justice sat back thinking. All of her friends were in the middle of the room and Cassidy and Justice could not risk hurting them. They had to take out the Wizard first so they would be safe from magic.

Therefore, they sat there and whispered back and forth working out a plan when they heard voices on the inside. Cassidy leaned back down to the floor so she could hear what was going on.

“Where are they?” The short one asked, “They are almost two hours late.”

The Wizard snarled, “I don’t know, but we have been ordered to wait and bring them with us.”

“The fire will be seen and alert them soon. We need to find out where they went,” the short girl said again.

“Shut up, we have our orders, and if you want to face them empty handed, go ahead. No more talking, we are waiting for the end of the story."”

Cassidy sat back up and told Justice what they said. She thought if they could just get a message to Kallen, he was sitting by the wizard, and she knew if she could get his attention, he would help.

Cassidy hit her forehead with the heel of her hand; I am so dumb, she thought. She whispered to Justice to go out the pantry door and to make his way around to the other door, they needed a distraction.

When Cassidy and Kallen were little, they developed a secret code to warn each other when they were trying to sneak snacks or candy from the kitchen when Bea and Bernie weren’t looking. They also used it when they tried to sneak out of the apartment and go to a concert, but Rafe caught them.

Cassidy took the blade of her sword and laid it down on the floor, she tilted it until she could get the light to catch it. After two or three times, she finally got it right, and she hit Kallen squarely in the eyes and pulled the sword back quickly.

Kallen had flinched slightly, which is why she knew he had seen it. Cassidy watched as he got the others’ attention, Dyl and Eli would not know what she was saying, but they would know it was her.

She had painted her nails a funky color last week and had not taken it off yet. She stuck her fingers under the door and made as if she was playing the piano.

After a minute, she pulled her hand back and looked under the door again and Kallen, Cami, and Celli were doing the same on their lap. After a few minutes of communication, they were all ready for Justice and Cassidy to come in.

Cassidy stood up and waited for the signal. Justice was supposed to make his way to the other doorway and count to one hundred. Then he was to knock on the door, break it down, hopefully catching the guy at 12 o’clock with the door. If not, take him out as he came in. Kallen was to jump on the Wizard and knock him out so he couldn’t use magic. Cassidy was to wait for 10 seconds and then quietly enter the room and catch the girl from behind.

Her muscles tensed as she heard the knock and shortly after the doorframe crackled and broke from Justice’s weight. Cassidy counted to 10 and hoped everything was going as planned.

When she opened the door, she was able to see that Kallen, Dyl, and Eli were on top of the Wizard. Bernie and Charlie were helping Justice with the Warrior, who had not gone down at the door. She saw Cami and Celli trying to keep the girl occupied but was having problems because she had a weapon they had been unable to see.

Cassidy was in no mood for playing around, and she knocked the girl on top of the head sending her sprawling unconscious onto the floor and jumped up to help Justice. Once she was next to him, it was a quick fight, Justice ended up throwing the guy against the wall and knocking him out too.

Cassidy looked to make sure they had been successful and then asked, “Where are the guards from the road and the castle?”

“In the dungeon, with the rest of the members of the Stronghold, they were all captured before we even knew what was happening. There are two or three more rebels guarding them and I think the leader is still here. I could tell it was a woman, but she didn’t speak and was hidden beneath a black cloak,” Bernie said quietly.

“We are safe in the castle for now. We broke the spell, and Justice is going to help get some of the town’s people here to help. Kallen and the others will try to capture the rest,” she said and nodded to Kallen, who was already running out the door followed by Cami and Celli.

“The Wizard needs to be knocked out to keep him under control, medicate him if you need to,” she ordered and then turned to Charlie. “Charlie, can you sit down for a minute?” Charlie nodded but was unable to speak yet. “Did you see Kristen?” she asked.

Cassidy sat down next to Charlie and took his hand in comfort when she realized he already knew what had happened. There was a lot of activity around them as they got the rebels tied up. Cassidy was still trying to grasp the entire situation and keep Charlie from falling apart. They heard a lot of commotion outside the room. Cassidy stood as the twins returned with a struggling house cleaner who looked very familiar.

“She was trying to run with the rest of the rebels. She’s the only one we caught,” Cami said briskly.

Kallen and Celli were looking at Cami with respect; she must have been the one to catch the girl.

Bernie lowered his head and began shaking. Cassidy went to him and whispered, “Bernie, was it Kyia?”

Bernie raised his eyes to meet hers. They were damp with tears, and he said, “I don’t know, she was so different when she came to find us. I had suspicions, but she would get angry when I questioned her loyalty; when she left, she was very angry.”

Cassidy nodded and turned towards the rest of the group. “Let’s get them to the dungeons and worry about them later. We have to discuss what we need to do.”

Kallen called more guards and had the rebels taken away. They gathered to make sense of what happened here. Cassidy and Dyl had Eli in between them, trying to comfort him as the others told what had happened before Cassidy and Justice arrived.

Cassidy went to the couch and kneeled in front of Eli, resting her hand on his knee. She nodded to Bernie to begin the explanation. Cassidy was worried that this was going to tear them apart.

Bernie started. “All the Guardians were in the kitchen getting ready for dinner when the farmer’s wife from up the road knocked on the back door, she came inside to ask for help to carry in vegetables. Charlie and I went outside to help. We were overpowered right there. The wife had to have been a spy. I assume this because she was telling the other rebels where to go. She had married the farmer a few years ago and was never suspected. She laughed when she gloated to us about it. It was the only way to attack in a Stronghold; a member has to betray the pledge they made. She helped kill her husband for goodness sake, these people have no conscience. Liam took a hit in the head coming to help; he will have a headache for a few days but should be okay. Then Bea and Kristen wouldn’t let them in the house. They put up quite a fight. That’s when Kallen and the rest heard the commotion and came to help.”

Kallen nodded. “It was Kristen who was in control for the first part of the battle, once they killed her, we were too stunned to be much of a defense.” He said bitterly, “I don’t want to feel that helpless ever again, Kristen was protecting us, and they killed her for it. I want to deliver a message to those who think they can come to our house and do this.”

Cami and Celli had been in shock before and held themselves together well, but the shock was wearing off, and Cami started to cry first then Celli, soon they were all crying, all except Justice.

He was bringing Tina and Sam, still unconscious from upstairs, to lay with Liam so the injured were all together and able to receive treatment quickly when the reinforcements arrived.

Cassidy asked what Sam had been doing here. “Sam is to be Justice’s new secretary. We wanted him to feel at home with us, so it was a surprise. Tina had it all arranged. She had two other guys taking over the store and everything.” Cami choked out, “We were all planning to welcome him and help make him feel like part of the family when we heard Bea and Kristen scream. We went to see what was going on and Kristen jumped in front of us to protect us and…” that was all she could get out before she started sobbing again.

Eli finally spoke quietly, “Those bastards never gave her a chance, they just kept at her until she dropped, and that Wizard is mine.” He turned to the door, but before he could leave, Charlie grabbed him and hugged him, whispering something in his ear to calm him down. Eli was struggling against him, finally stopped and began to cry.

“We need a doctor to check them out. They should wake up soon, but they are all still bleeding a little from their wounds,” Justice said and sat by Cassidy, who was comforting the girls now. Justice silently took Celli in his arms so she could cry against his shoulder instead of Cassidy’s injured arm.

Dyl and Kallen were still sitting on the couch, both crying silently. They all sat for a long time together grieving for their lost parent and praying to the spirits for Kristen. Cassidy stood and gave Cami to Kallen. Dyl and Justice stood and had Eli come and sit with Celli. Together they approached the Guardians, which were also grieving together.

“Bernie, I need to take care of some things with Justice and Dyl. Can you handle this?” she asked.

Bernie nodded and pulled Cassidy into a hug and whispered in her ear, “Don’t go anywhere alone. It's you they want.”

Cassidy started crying again because she thought she had brought this to her family. Bernie could tell what she was thinking, shook her and said, “No, you are not to blame, focus. We will find out if Kyia is involved, and I will deal with her.”

Kallen realized they were leaving and stood up. “Not without me!” he ground out and stood next to Justice.

“Or me,” Eli said. Then the twins stood and wiped their tears and said, “Or us”. They all lined up with Cassidy and Justice, and Cassidy nodded to them and turned to Bernie.

“You take care of Tina, Sam, and Liam; we will take care of the rest.” She put her hand on Charlie’s shoulder and squeezed. “We will take care of her properly.” They all walked out of the TV room, striding together toward the front door. Later Cassidy thought they must have looked fierce and ready for battle.

This was like a dream again, her castle trashed and everything seemed out of place, but no one stopped to pick up anything, instead they walked through it, out to the courtyard in the front.

There were people out now wandering with a dazed look on their faces. Justice yelled as loud as he could, “WE NEED THE ENTIRE STRONGHOLD TO GATHER AROUND FRONT AND CENTER. YOUR QUEEN WILL BE ADDRESSING YOU.” And slowly people came to the courtyard.

Cassidy stood on the rock stage with her Council behind her and Justice at her side. Cassidy drew a deep breath and said to the crowd, “It is with a heavy heart I address you tonight. We have lost two of our members tonight to violence. I promise to you, I will deal swiftly and harshly with those who have betrayed us. I need volunteers to help with the farmer and Kristen. They need to be handled with respect. In addition, I need help cleaning the grounds and making sure there is no one hiding inside any of the buildings. I will help you with your needs individually, until then, everyone will stay in the castle so we are together and safe for tonight. Those who do not want to, we will try to arrange for protection for the night, but remember, we are stretched a little thin, so it may be best to come to the castle. I promise we will not make the same mistakes again. We are at war, and from now on, we will deal with any threats harshly and together. These are my Council members and you are able to take your problems to them also. We will all be at your disposal until the grounds of our Stronghold are safe. In addition, I would like to introduce Justice to you; he is my father's choice as my mate. We have agreed to the match, so Justice will be King when we have finished our training. But I declare any mates be given the same respect and decision-making ability as their counterparts, so think of Justice as your King, he will be available to you also. Now, can I have the volunteers step up, I will give them instructions personally.”

Cassidy stepped down and was surrounded by members of the Stronghold that wanted to help. She had a few men deal with the farmer and Kristen, giving them strict instructions how to move them and where to take them.

She then sent another group of men to deal with the farm and look for any other rebels hiding on the farmland. Cassidy could see it was still burning and she had not heard any sirens.

She had a group of women gather children and take them to the castle; they had permission to put them in the Council's rooms for tonight. Then had the rest of the people gathered to find weapons then search each building looking for traitors.

Cassidy turned to her friends and said, “We are going to deal with the prisoners. Anyone have an issue with extreme interrogation first, then we will vote on a sentence? They will be dealt with tonight so there is no mistaking our response to being ambushed. Anyone who may not be able to handle this should stay here and help the members of the Stronghold.” She turned to walk around the back of the castle.

Cassidy knew where the dungeons were. They were under the castle, but the entrance was actually by the lake, a hidden door in the side of a small hill.

She had never been there, but Bernie told her where it was when she asked where he had disappeared one day. He told her he was checking the dungeons to see if they were still in order.

As Cassidy rounded the back of the castle with all of her friends following, Bea stepped in front of her. “Can I talk to you for a minute?” she asked.

Cassidy walked a few feet ahead of her friends and lifted her eyebrow in a silent question. “I just want to talk to you as your friend and Guardian. I know what is in your heart. You are angry and I know you want revenge. However, this is not about revenge for Kristen. She would not want it. This is about keeping your honor and Stronghold safe. You are going to do what you have to. I will not disagree with any decision you make but, do not make the decision out of anger for then you will be just as bad as they are. You are going to be a great leader and I don’t want this to hang over your shoulder for the rest of your life.” Bea stepped back and finished, “I have had my say, and I love you.” Bea turned and walked back to the castle.

Cassidy waved for her friends to follow her and went to the opening of the dungeon where there was a guard posted. She nodded in his direction and he stepped aside.

Cassidy paused and said to her friends, “We are not grieving children when we pass here. We are The Council and we will act like it. Stay behind Justice and me, our swords will protect us from any spell the Wizard will throw at us.” Cassidy opened the door and went inside.

It was a very dark and damp area; she saw a long corridor with light at the end. Cassidy led her friends toward the light, when they came to the end of the corridor it opened into a huge room. On one side, there were five steel doors with a small clear window in the center; four of the doors were closed.

Opposite the doors was a desk occupied by several tall and strong looking guards. They were watching monitors in front of them, presumably of the prisoners. When they approached them, they stood at attention until Cassidy asked the condition of the prisoners.

“They are all awake and trying to escape, the only one who has made progress is the Wizard. He has been using his powers to dig. He does not know there are steel walls surrounding us about 15 feet into the dirt walls, but he should find out soon enough. He won’t be going anywhere,” the tallest guard said.

“I want to see the Wizard; do we know his name or anything?” she asked and they shook their heads indicating they knew nothing about the Wizard or any of the other prisoners; the prisoners had not talked to anyone.

Cassidy asked the guards to bring the Wizard from his cell; he was to be restrained in the large room. She instructed the guards to block the exit and keep their weapons ready. Just before they were ready to bring him out, she instructed the guards to use deadly force if needed. They nodded and went to do as she had asked.

Justice appeared at her side and held his sword tightly, waiting for the Wizard to appear. They were ready when he arrived with the guards. As soon as he saw them, he tried to cast a spell that bounced off the swords. He shrugged and smirked at Cassidy.

After he had been tied to a chair, Cassidy asked, “Well, do you want to do this the hard way or the easy way? I don’t really care, both will give me great satisfaction, so I will be kind and let you choose. First question is your name?”

The man narrowed his eyes and after a moment, he spit at her and laughed without saying a word. Cassidy felt Kallen move towards the man and said, “No,” and he stopped. “Obviously this man is stupid as well as inept. I will give you one more chance before we have to get down to business. Believe me, after killing two people of my Stronghold, it will be a pleasure getting answers out of you. So I will ask again, name?”

The man closed his eyes and began to hum a song. Cassidy nodded to Justice and walked toward the man. She took her sword, held in front of her, put the tip right over his heart, and pushed gently. His eyes opened in surprise as he looked down and saw the blood trickle down his shirt.

“Hey lady, you can’t do that! There are rules to be followed with prisoners, it’s our law!” he yelled as if his life was more important than those he had killed.

“Excuse me,” and she pulled her blade out. “Let’s get something straight here. You are the piece of shit that walked into my Stronghold, killed my farmer and Guardian. Then you tell me there are rules to follow? The only rules I follow are the ones I make, or are you confused by who I am?”

“I know who you are; you are an impostor who is trying to trick the Guilds into following you and not Sir CJ,” he scoffed.

“Really and does this Sir CJ have the royal jewels to prove who he is?” she asked snidely.

“Of course, you idiot, everyone knows CJ or his sister is next in line. The former royals had only one child, and she was in a car accident and killed many years ago. You are so stupid thinking you could pass as royal. I even know your supposed mate here,” he sneered and looked past her to say. "Sir CJ is looking forward to your punishment for going along with this farce.” Once again, he spit and this time it landed on her shoe.

Cassidy heard Justice growl and felt Kallen, Dyl, and Eli once again step forward, and she smiled.

“Really, so you know what the real royal jewels should look like, right? So, say if I rolled up my sleeves and showed you mine and Justice showed you his, you think we were both lying still?” Cassidy proceeded to pull up her shirt to reveal her bracelet and rings, Justice held out his arm and showed his jewels that had appeared earlier, even her friends gasped when they saw his.

The Wizard leaned forward to look at hers and then Justice’s. She had not turned her wrist over yet because Justice had told her only the true heirs were to have completed bracelets with jewels embedded in their skin.

The man laughed and said, “Which hinkey jewelers store did you get those in? They should be paid handsomely for doing such a good job, but a little much don’t you think? You had all the colors on each finger when the stones would have worked.”

It was Cassidy’s turn to smirk and sneer at the guy. She flipped one wrist over and then the other. Justice turned his over as well. Cassidy loved to see the sinking look on the man’s face; he looked like he may throw up.

Cassidy pulled her arms back and said to the man, “Now I guess I need to properly introduce myself to you, obviously you are the idiot of the rebels, and I am Queen Cassidy and this is my mate, King Justice. Would you like to lick the spit off my shoe now?”

The man was struggling to catch his breath; he seemed to realize his mistake and could not catch his breath. Cassidy and Justice turned to talk to her Council while the Wizard tried to get himself together.

Cassidy asked, “Well. We can believe he was tricked or not, regardless he never sees the light of day again. Should we offer not to kill him if he talks?” She looked at her friends one by one to gauge their thoughts.

None of them looked thrilled either way, and so she looked at Eli “Eli. What do you think?”

Eli looked down and appeared to be thinking when the man suddenly regained his voice and was yelling “Hey, Hey, not my fault, not my fault, Hey, Hey!”

Eli was not going to be rushed. Cassidy thought and neither was the Council. Cassidy waited patiently for Eli to think it through, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to be patient because the man’s voice was getting louder and more frantic in an attempt to get their attention.

Justice finally turned and looked at the rebel, who became silent when he saw Justice’s face.

Eli finally raised his head and answered Cassidy with tears in his eyes. “I know what Kristen would want me to do; she is probably watching me right now to make sure I make the right decision. She always told me when she died, she would haunt me if I stopped striving to be a kind and true leader. We are leaders now, whether we are ready or not. We need to think what is best for our Stronghold. If we show mercy to this piece of shit, we will gain favor throughout the Guilds for having compassion and kindness for those who have wronged us. That is one of the rebel’s faults, they show no clemency. We need to build our followers. This will help us.”

Cassidy took his hand and squeezed it in support; she knew this was a hard decision because, regardless of the situation, this man had thought it was ok to take a life. She was angry, but she knew she could not betray the morals ingrained in her.

Cassidy turned back to the man and approached him. “I’ll give you one more chance, and if you don’t take it, I will never ask again, what is your name?”

The man sniffled and whispered, “Toby, Your Majesty, I was told lies to get me to come here. I did not know you were the real Queen.”

“It should make no difference; you should never think it’s ok to attack your own kind. We are a peaceful Stronghold, but we will fight for our people. Tell me who sent you and what the plan was, and you will be treated humanely in our custody,” Cassidy said.

“I was hired by an Elf named Jorgen, in a bar in Denver. He told me there was an impostor at your sanctuary trying to take over the Guilds. There was supposedly a 5000.00 dollar bounty on your heads. I was to capture you and Justice, kill the rest, and bring you to Sir CJ. I figured it was the truth because everyone has heard of Justice, the only slave to buy his own freedom. I mean really, who would believe that he was the first choice as your mate? It’s preposterous, unbelievable even; Justice has no royal blood in him.” The man cried, “We were told to contact the farmer’s wife. She would get us in the Stronghold, so we waited until you left in the car, and we attacked when no one was prepared.”

Cassidy was getting angrier as his explanation went on. “You will be held in the dungeons for as long as I think you are a danger to us. If you want out, your powers will be bound so you are unable to use them, ever again. Then you will be a manservant in the castle. The same will be told to your friends; while you are here, you will not be allowed to leave your cell at any time.” She asked the guards to take him back.

Cassidy then told the guards to bring the next rebel out. The Warrior was next and the same thing happened. When he found out he had betrayed his own Queen, he begged for forgiveness. Cassidy told him the same thing she told the Wizard and had him returned to his cell.

The little Gnome arrived with the guards then, Cassidy told Cami to go ahead and talk to her.

Cami had a good time revealing who they were. The Gnome was asking for her twin, which was the farmer’s wife.

“What is her name?” Cami demanded.

“Jill, she was placed here a few years ago by a Wizard that was here also. They worked together to make sure when you returned, the rebels would know,” she said crying.

Cami went to her and slapped her in the face. “You are a disgrace to our kind. Your time should be spent praying to the spirits for forgiveness.”

The last one questioned was the house cleaner. She was a Ranger; Kallen had taken her amulet from her already.

“I have nothing to say, I know who you are and think you are worthless. I follow another and will never betray them,” she said and sat with her head down.

Cassidy took her time thinking of how to find the answer she wanted. “I know you think CJ is the ruler and Kyia is what, his Guardian?”

The girl never moved. They questioned her for a long time, but she never said a word. Cassidy was beginning to lose patience when she turned to look at the girl.

“Who are you?” Cassidy asked quietly. “You look like someone I should know.” The girl tensed when Cassidy said that, but refused to answer.

Cassidy was trying to place her but the image was just out of her reach in her mind. She was getting too tired and just shook her head then asked the guards to take her back to her cell. When the girl stood up, she looked at Cassidy directly in the eyes and smiled at her.

Cassidy turned and walked out of the dungeon, she felt dirty being down there. When she had exited and took a breath of clean air, she turned toward the others and said, “I will be checking on the wounded and then going to my room, I can’t handle much more. So if you would like to join me, you are welcome. I will be eating chocolate and pizza, which I will order on the way into the castle.” Her friends followed her in silence; she suspected they just didn’t know what else to do.

Sam, Tina, and Liam were all awake when they arrived in the TV room. There were people everywhere cleaning and moving furniture. Cassidy told the Guardians, Sam, and Tina her plans, and they followed. She announced as she was walking up the staircase that she was ordering pizzas for everyone, and the delivery would arrive soon.

Cassidy checked everyone’s suites on the way to her own and found children sleeping in most of them. The adults were all still awake and watching out the windows, in case they were attacked again.

When she opened her doors, Cassidy breathed a deep breath, silently thanking the guards for some down time she needed with her friends. She knew the guards were ready to defend the Stronghold from an attack.

Cassidy was thinking that just a few days ago, she was planning graduation, getting ready to start working as a server at the local diner for extra money. Then college next year, she was going to go into management.

Now, her reality was so far away from what she anticipated, she couldn’t grasp it. Maybe she was asleep and would wake up soon. It sounded plausible at this point, she was hurting emotionally and physically, and it sucked.