Her ladies-in-waiting handed her a sword while they also drew their own weapons, ready to face any attacks coming their way and protect their queen.
More knights gathered around Queen Theodora because protecting her was the priority. Unfortunately, however skilled the royal knights of Megaris may be, the attackers outnumbered them on a ratio of five opponents to every person, and it would be impossible to win against them without casualties on their end.
Sir Alexis gritted his teeth. At this point, it was a burden to be protecting the unarmed ladies and servants of the Queen. He also had to keep his eyes on Queen Theodora and could not fully focus on attacking the enemies. As the leader of her royal knight brigade, he had to make a choice for the safety of the Queen.
"Vice Captain!" he roared to one of his men. "Bring Her Majesty back towards the forest and hide! We will do our utmost to keep them here. If you can bring Her Majesty back to the city, that will be for the best—"
"Your Majesty, please follow me," the Vice Captain of the brigade said as two other knights joined them. Queen Theodora was unwilling to leave, but she knew she was the primary target of the attack. After they found a chance to break through the encirclement of rebels, the Queen and one of her ladies-in-waiting quickly followed the knights.
Seeing the Queen escaping with knights, the leader of the rebels shouted at his men, "The Queen is escaping! Do not let her get away!" he yelled.
Just as he was about to follow her, Sir Alexis blocked his way. "You will be staying here with me!"
"Archers!" the leader instructed, and one arrow suddenly hit the leg of the Captain of the knights. Sir Alexis was then attacked simultaneously by three swordsmen, allowing the leader to slip past him? and follow where the Queen of Megaris went.? Several rebels were able to catch up to the leader due to the archers targeting the legs of the royal knights.
"Your Majesty, be careful," the Queen's lady-in-waiting said as she looked at the uneven forest path covered with dried leaves and twigs. Both Queen Theodora and the noble lady were wearing cumbersome skirts and heeled boots, and their clothes were causing them trouble whenever their skirts got caught in the bushes.
"I am fine, Bethy. You be careful too," Queen Theodora said as she decidedly ripped the lower part of her skirt so she could run faster. She no longer cared about appearances, as her life was of utmost importance.
However, their group had yet to run far when the rebels following them caught their traces and were able to guess the path they were taking. The rebels, who were more familiar with the terrain, surrounded them in no time.
"There is no use of running away, Queen Theodora," the leader laughed.? There were ten enemies, and there were only three knights on her side; both parties knew they had trapped the Queen.
"Do you know what would be the consequences of what you are doing right now?" the Queen asked.
The leader chuckled and approached them in a leisurely manner. "Are you talking about the consequences of this?"
He casually waved his sword and the Vice Captain of the brigade lunged towards him in response. Unfortunately, the knight did not notice that not far from him, there was an archer hiding behind the trees and an arrow buried itself deep into his head.
Queen Theodora saw the knight's lifeless body fall on the ground and anger enveloped her. How much she wanted to kill this man in front of her but it could only be her wishful thinking at this point.
Only two knights were left to protect the Queen of Megaris, and there was one lady-in-waiting who looked about ready to sacrifice herself in order to buy time for her queen to escape. Queen Theodora gritted her teeth and asked in a low voice, "What do you want?"
The man chuckled. "Isn't it obvious by now that we are here to take your life?"
"If I surrender to you and let you keep me hostage, will you let my people leave?"
The rebel casually waved his sword."Oh, are you faking kindness now, lady? Too late. See, just because you did not give up earlier, you have caused the deaths of your innocent subjects. Royals, huh? Always hiding behind your slaves, feeling all powerful, thinking your lives are more important, more valuable, just because you have wealth and power. But don't you think it is funny? In front of death, people are equal, regardless if they are innocent or not."
"You rebels don't even hesitate to kill people despite knowing they are innocent," Queen Theodora retorted.
"Then stop hiding behind them and surrender yourself already," the rebel leader said. "Don't worry, Queen of Megaris. I will not give you a quick death. You will enjoy a slow, torturous kind of pain, and maybe that way you will regret being a wife to a husband who knows nothing but to disturb peaceful nations just because you bloodthirsty people love war."
Queen Theodora knew that it was impossible to converse with this man. This rebel must truly be a remnant of a fallen kingdom that was now a territory of Megaris. War was not an issue of who is right or wrong; it was a clash of benefits and interests. In order for Megaris to continue to grow stronger, they would have to swallow the kingdoms that shared their borders.
Was her husband, the King of Megaris, evil for conquering new lands? Perhaps to the victims, he was nothing short of a demon, but to the people of Megaris, her husband was a war hero.
'Perhaps this is a price I must pay as an Ivanov.'
Queen Theodora threw her sword aside. "Fine! I will surrender. Let them go." She walked towards the leader bravely.
"Your Majesty, no!" Bethy, her lady-in-waiting, tried to stop the Queen.
"It's fine. Stay down," the Queen warned her. "Remember, you promised to let them go."
The leader chuckled as he saw the Queen finally giving up and he took a step forward towards her. "That can't happen. These slaves have to pay for the price of serving you hypocritical royals as well."
Just as he said those words, he did something shocking—the leader pierced his sword through Bethy's stomach. The pale face of the lady-in-waiting turned towards Queen Theodora as she mouthed for her lady to run.
"No!!!"
The Queen hurried towards Bethy who had fallen on her knees after the leader pulled his sword out of her stomach.
"Tears? You are crying? Yes, you hypocrite. Cry all you want.. That pain of seeing someone die, imagine us ordinary people feeling that over and over again just because you royals thought it is fun to wage war."