Chapter 9: Losses
(7,5k words, romance, plot chapter, action, drama, size differences, female muscle)
"Perfect!" a rough, older voice responded.
The fully armoured soldier bowed subtly towards the stunned waitress and innkeeper and awaited the arrival of her leading officer. Judging by the armour she wore, Margaret rightfully assumed that she was the protégé of the now new commander of the royal guard.
Alexia's successor seemingly issued orders outside the tavern, but neither Margaret nor Manuel were able to understand anything beyond muffled and incoherent voices - many voices.
After some time, there was eventually one voice that stood out, a very noticeable and familiar male groan.
"Forward!"
The door sprung open and the duo behind the counter were shocked to see a tied-up Remy being pushed before an even more intimidating figure than the already waiting soldier.
Equipped with nothing short of the finest armour and weaponry, suited for her new position, she immediately demanded the respect her prestigious rank and impressive stature rightfully deserved.
Not that either would have been required to make Remy look puny and insignificant in comparison.
The blonde boy looked bruised all over his body, noticeably his face, but nothing was as severe as the guard's reputation would have suggested.
He kept his gaze low as they traversed the distance from the entrance up to the stunned royalty and his boss.
The sheer weight of the armoured intruders would have easily been enough to make the shabby floor creak loudly with every step they took towards the counter had it not been for the new padded carpet Alexia rolled out for just that exact reason.
Unaware of her comrades' arrival and still sleeping in the darkest corner, Alexia remained concealed - for now.
Margaret exhaled in relief when they walked past her dormant girlfriend and straight at her.
"Maggie, it's not what it looks like, I swea-, unghh!" Remy tried to explain before the commander's fingers dug deep into his shoulder to silence him.
"You will talk when I allow you to, scum!"
Remy didn't dare to object and the 9ft tall veteran returned her gaze to the blonde royalty.
"We finally found you, your highness. You are truly a sight to behold now", the new commander said and formally bowed before Margaret in tandem with her younger and smaller protégé.
"Your highness?"
Margaret shook in her boots when she heard Manuel addressing her like that. For a moment she even forgot that he was still standing next to her.
"Please, she must be mistaken?" he asked with a trembling voice.
Her blue eyes tried to avoid the balding human, but his pleading voice couldn't be ignored.
Manuel looked devastated. He was trying to sound like he didn't believe a single word he was hearing, but his gaze clearly showed that he already knew that this was nothing but the harsh, unforgiving truth.
"I... am ..." Margaret muttered, unable to form any words of meaning or offer any solace to him.
She silently stood there trying to talk to him, but her rising anxiety didn't allow her materialize the apology she was forming in her head.
"My princess. You are safe now. We are here to bring you back to the palace!" the younger guard said and took off her helmet to calm down the distressed princess.
It was one of the younger squires. Beth.
Nearly the same age as Alexia and at the palace for almost as long. Margaret knew her for most of her childhood, but even so: it didn't take away from the shock of having them stand before her- trying to bring her back.
Margaret didn't know how to reply to that. Nor did she know how to resolve this situation. All she could do was play for time.
"I... how ... did you...?"
"Find you?" the commander replied and because of her helmet's more open design to give orders more easily her devilish smile was revealed.
Her smirk eventually gave away her identity. There were some members of the royal guard standing at such a massive height, even a few with blonde bordering to grey hair, but only one with such an unsettling grin.
"Trust me, it was much harder than you could even imagine. But once we started to doubt that you even made it, we were blessed by fortuna herself," she said and mockingly clapped Remy's back.
"All it took was one treacherous little snake like this one."
"That's not true!" Remy screamed and earned another tight grip into his battered shoulder.
"What did I just say?" she asked and kept on tormenting the young boy.
Blood started to soak through his shirt as the commander clearly enjoyed his suffering.
Hearing her former comrades' voices was something Alexia got used to after years of service and nothing that would alarm her subconscious to react but hearing Remy's loud scream of agony did.
Alexia yawned quietly and reluctantly lifted one heavy eyelid. It felt like a herculean task after last night's rutting.
That changed when her brain processed the scene, she and Margaret found herself in. Her grogginess vanished within seconds and she had to stop herself from gasping audibly and giving away her position.
She stared at her two comrades in disbelief, but had to consider her options - and quickly.
They all culminated into only one conclusion ... that they would never allow Margaret or her to stay here.
They got their orders and were determined to comply to the highking's wishes ... no matter what. They simply had to ... for their own sakes.
Alexia looked around and searched for anything to defend herself if things would turn as bad as she expected and eventually, she spotted the plate with food that Maggie left for her at the nearest table.
And the knife next to it.
She cautiously got up and remembered just in time how to avoid the signature creaking of the floor which annoyed her so often in the past.
Slowly but steadily she snuck towards her former comrades and more importantly Margaret, armed with nothing but a blunt kitchen knife and deep down still hoped that this was just a disturbing nightmare she would wake up from any moment.
"Stop it! Let him go, Cassandra!" Margaret ordered.
The now named veteran stopped but chuckled menacingly towards Remy before addressing Margaret again.
"As you wish. But keep in mind that he looked for our help not the other way around. So maybe you want to save your compassion for someone who didn't betray his friends and kind so willingly."
Cassandra did let go of Remy who fell on his knees and held his bleeding shoulder. He didn't dare to look up to his crush or the person who raised him like a father to clarify the armoured hermaphrodite's claim.
Standing now at almost the same height as the new commander and even taller than her protégé, Margaret could see past the two guards and eventually noticed movement behind the two.
Her eyes widened in shock when she spotted that her childhood-friend was holding nothing but the old knife from earlier. With the intention to kill ... if the situation would require it.
Margaret quickly composed herself and tried to take her gaze off Alexia, otherwise she would have taken away Lexi's opportunity to strike.
Alexia slowly nodded and with a silent gesture asked Margaret to keep the conversation going while she thought of something, anything, to find a way out of this dilemma.
"Is... that true, Remy?" Manuel eventually asked when the silence almost got unbearable.
"No... I didn't know that... they ..." the blonde boy muttered and shook his head angrily. Tears were dripping from his cheeks. "I am so sorry."
"Are you starting to cry now? For real?!" Cassandra hissed and smacked him with the backside of her hand. He crawled away from the imposing warrior for as much as the rope allowed -like a beaten dog.
"I ordered you to stop," Margaret repeated, much less passionate than before the revelation.
Even in this miserable state and after getting already enough of abuse, Margaret couldn't force herself to feel too much empathy for the suffering twin. Not now, not after forcing her into this situation.
"Is that so?" Cassandra calmly said.
"You will do as you were told, Cassandra! And I order you to leave this place and never come back!" the princess shouted, but couldn't fully keep her voice steady and dominant.
"Well. I am afraid the orders of the highking outweigh yours, my princess," Cassandra replied and lifted her helmet and revealed something truly horrifying.
A hideous scar, reaching from above her upper lip, over her obviously multiply broken nose and even reaching into one of her normally signature vibrant blue eyes - blinding it, was disfiguring far stretches of her face.
"I can't let you get away again. Not this time.", Cassandra concluded and didn't even try to hide what she was implying.
Margaret was left shocked because of that sight. Not only by the sheer magnitude of Cassandra's disfigurement, but also because she knew how this wound got inflicted in the first place. She saw it with her own eyes, she just didn't know it at that time.
"It... can't be..." the rightful heir gasped and looked over Beth's shoulder and saw the same shock in Alexia's eyes. "Why?"
"I learned not to ask 'why' a long time ago. Orders are orders, no need to question them," the scarred commander said and came closer.
"You...it's you..."
Margaret was confused to hear these words come from right next to her. Out of Manuel's mouth.
She looked at him and saw the old man shaking top to bottom, cold sweat emerging from his receding hairline. He wasn't just afraid, but having a panic attack.
