Forgiving the Forgotten - 44 - Bleeding Dawn
CHAPTER 44: BLEEDING DAWN
TAEEN'S POV:
Ru called us in the middle of lunch.
"Ta... this is Ru... the matter is urgent. I must ask you and Amon to come promptly to the Emerald palace basement... the Lilac palace was bombed.... Get Amon out of there.... His life is in danger...."
Amon's eyes flashed in front of me... he was very weak now. I had been forcing him to go to the glacier and regain his powers. But he didn't have the will.
I looked at the girls working on the computers connected to the core of Jerome. If this place was blasted away by a bomb, all the people here would die.
"Firiz, come here for a bit."
I called my most trusted subordinate. He had been with me since internship. And was a very good friend to us.
He came with a smile on his face... the sympathy for the loss of our baby, emanating from him was as always irritating.
"Firiz, quietly get everyone from this department outside and rush to their homes... no creating alarms..."
"Yes your highness."
"We have reason to believe that the center might be in danger. Get everyone out. I'll inform the other departments."
He nodded and proceeded to whisper in everyone's ears under the pretext of handing them all work papers.
There were rounded eyes and tears but no alarm was created. The energy levels in the room went shooting up, adrenalin was to blame. Composing themselves and shutting down everything, they began leaving.
The workers slowly packed up and very casually moved out. I nodded at them as they left.
By the time I had informed the other departments, my department was empty. I was the last one left.
"Taeen!" Amon hollered as running steps approached my lab.
Amon burst through the door and grabbed my hand. He pulled me close and cautiously began moving out into the hall.
The place seemed empty. I could feel my heartbeat in my ears. Amon's grip was strong both on my hand and his weapon.
I drew out my weapon. The pearls of the phoenix.
A shadow blocked our way... it was someone we knew.
Only this time he was drenched in hatred for Amon....
Amon didn't need to chant spells to bring on his power. I did.
Amon gave me a hard push with his hand and I was flying across the hall landing on my rear.
"That was very impolite." I yelled.
"Yeah, I'll apologize later."
I stood up and concentrated on my weapon. It was a string of pearls hanging to the end of a javelin.
"Golden phoenix of the skies, born into the fires of the night, bind my soul and shine, become mine!"
The pearls fell to the ground and stayed in place without rebounding. Waiting for the orders of the golden phoenix.
"Your highness... why do you think the people of Jerome will accept you as their king?"
Amon replied calmly, "You still refer to me as highness.... Am I to assume it is out of habit, Saharan?"
Saharan shuffled his feet and glared at us coldly.
Amon's voice, clear and crisp echoed along the walls, "Why did you choose an innocent little baby as your victim?"
Saharan yelled to the walls, "Answer me! Why do you think Jeromians will keep you as their king?"
I felt the humiliation I would have felt had I been in Amon's place.
"Would you need my answer when you already presumed I was not fit for the throne?" the humbleness in Amenatsu was shocking.
I commanded the pearls into position. They would bind Saharan into immobility if he tried to attack Amon. I would give up everything for Amon. Everything.
Saharan's hand was stable on the gun he kept pointed at Amon.
I inched slowly towards the two.
"You stay the hell away from us Ta Jerome! You spawned that... that child!"
He was talking of my son. The shit head. Now he had done it.
"You stay the hell away from Amon... he belongs here as much as me...."
Saharan smirked and said, "As if you even know the people here!"
Amon used the opportunity to quickly slip behind him and trap him between his hand and his sword.
"Now Saharan... would you lower your gun? Or shall I exhibit the intensity of my sword...?"
Saharan struggled in Amon's grip but successfully aimed his gun at me.
"What will your choice be, King? Let me go and I'll not shoot the queen, keep holding on and the queen dies.... You'll end the Jeromian royalty with this decision...."
Well yes... he was right, technically. If I died here, the Jerome royalty would collapse without an heir.
Amenatsu's face showed aggression coupled with helplessness. But he was alert nevertheless.
I sensed someone approaching from the rear stairs and tried to locate who it was.
"If you fire a single shot, I'll have your head on the ground in seconds."
The moment Amon relaxed his hold on his sword; Saharan fired a shot at me and pierced his stiletto backwards into Amon's abdomen.
Amon caught him in a choke hold even as Saharan pulled the dagger out. Amon's wound opened further by strain, made him weak.
I could see the bullet come towards me...
Then a body crashed into mine from the front...
There was blood... not from me....
The person in front scampered ahead in spite of the wound to his shoulder and with his weapon drawn, went towards Saharan and Amon.
He slashed the weapon across Saharan's throat and the blood spurted on his face. He kept slashing ruggedly through the dead body.
"He's already dead! Stop... stop Dawn!"
Amon's eyes stayed shocked as Dawn collapsed to the ground bleeding massively from a few wounds.
He brought the transmitter tied his hand close to his mouth and said raggedly, "Hayame... coast... cleared."
Amon held the dead bleeding body of a well-known soldier who had gone on to a bad side, in his hands as Dawn's blood reached his feet.
I ran towards Dawn and held his unconscious body close. My dress soaked up his blood. Amon lay Saharan on a side.
Hayame and Trace were by our side in a few minutes. Their team was arriving from the front of the stairs.
"Dawn... it's alright..." Hayame closest to Dawn whispered softly and placed him on a stretcher.
There were tears in her eyes but she was doing well till now.
I closed the distance between Amon and myself. He looked horrid with all that blood and the strain he took to use up all his reserve powers.
Amon shook his head at Ru who came running.
"Can anyone explain what is going on here?"
Ru sighed and said, "Saharan was an undercover assassin working for Mortal Jerome...."
He handed me a roll of papers saying, "This is the proof that Weiss had been betraying us all this while.... He has disappeared from this place. But I'll find him. His plans and his strategies are all written in here.... I think we should keep it safe, it was responsible for the death of Winair, the nephew of the Vestavia Prime; also, Hirth, the informant at Dawn's service was gravely injured... Dawn probably knew something about this."
Amon placed a hand on Dawn's forehead and transferred his remaining power source to Dawn.... He swayed slightly with his eyes closed. My heart clenched in fear for him and Dawn. His reasons were unfathomable.
I laid Amon's head in my lap. My husband who had to compromise himself in such a dangerous situation because of me... and Dawn... why did he give up his life for mine? Why did he kill Saharan without knowing anything.
My powers and my skills had been useless.
I recalled how anger had blinded him to the pain the gunshot would have caused.
I searched Amon's mind... the dragon was gone, the person in my arms was Amenatsu without his powers.... Praying that he would get his powers back and that Dawn's life could be saved.
TAEEN'S POV:
Ru called us in the middle of lunch.
"Ta... this is Ru... the matter is urgent. I must ask you and Amon to come promptly to the Emerald palace basement... the Lilac palace was bombed.... Get Amon out of there.... His life is in danger...."
Amon's eyes flashed in front of me... he was very weak now. I had been forcing him to go to the glacier and regain his powers. But he didn't have the will.
I looked at the girls working on the computers connected to the core of Jerome. If this place was blasted away by a bomb, all the people here would die.
"Firiz, come here for a bit."
I called my most trusted subordinate. He had been with me since internship. And was a very good friend to us.
He came with a smile on his face... the sympathy for the loss of our baby, emanating from him was as always irritating.
"Firiz, quietly get everyone from this department outside and rush to their homes... no creating alarms..."
"Yes your highness."
"We have reason to believe that the center might be in danger. Get everyone out. I'll inform the other departments."
He nodded and proceeded to whisper in everyone's ears under the pretext of handing them all work papers.
There were rounded eyes and tears but no alarm was created. The energy levels in the room went shooting up, adrenalin was to blame. Composing themselves and shutting down everything, they began leaving.
The workers slowly packed up and very casually moved out. I nodded at them as they left.
By the time I had informed the other departments, my department was empty. I was the last one left.
"Taeen!" Amon hollered as running steps approached my lab.
Amon burst through the door and grabbed my hand. He pulled me close and cautiously began moving out into the hall.
The place seemed empty. I could feel my heartbeat in my ears. Amon's grip was strong both on my hand and his weapon.
I drew out my weapon. The pearls of the phoenix.
A shadow blocked our way... it was someone we knew.
Only this time he was drenched in hatred for Amon....
Amon didn't need to chant spells to bring on his power. I did.
Amon gave me a hard push with his hand and I was flying across the hall landing on my rear.
"That was very impolite." I yelled.
"Yeah, I'll apologize later."
I stood up and concentrated on my weapon. It was a string of pearls hanging to the end of a javelin.
"Golden phoenix of the skies, born into the fires of the night, bind my soul and shine, become mine!"
The pearls fell to the ground and stayed in place without rebounding. Waiting for the orders of the golden phoenix.
"Your highness... why do you think the people of Jerome will accept you as their king?"
Amon replied calmly, "You still refer to me as highness.... Am I to assume it is out of habit, Saharan?"
Saharan shuffled his feet and glared at us coldly.
Amon's voice, clear and crisp echoed along the walls, "Why did you choose an innocent little baby as your victim?"
Saharan yelled to the walls, "Answer me! Why do you think Jeromians will keep you as their king?"
I felt the humiliation I would have felt had I been in Amon's place.
"Would you need my answer when you already presumed I was not fit for the throne?" the humbleness in Amenatsu was shocking.
I commanded the pearls into position. They would bind Saharan into immobility if he tried to attack Amon. I would give up everything for Amon. Everything.
Saharan's hand was stable on the gun he kept pointed at Amon.
I inched slowly towards the two.
"You stay the hell away from us Ta Jerome! You spawned that... that child!"
He was talking of my son. The shit head. Now he had done it.
"You stay the hell away from Amon... he belongs here as much as me...."
Saharan smirked and said, "As if you even know the people here!"
Amon used the opportunity to quickly slip behind him and trap him between his hand and his sword.
"Now Saharan... would you lower your gun? Or shall I exhibit the intensity of my sword...?"
Saharan struggled in Amon's grip but successfully aimed his gun at me.
"What will your choice be, King? Let me go and I'll not shoot the queen, keep holding on and the queen dies.... You'll end the Jeromian royalty with this decision...."
Well yes... he was right, technically. If I died here, the Jerome royalty would collapse without an heir.
Amenatsu's face showed aggression coupled with helplessness. But he was alert nevertheless.
I sensed someone approaching from the rear stairs and tried to locate who it was.
"If you fire a single shot, I'll have your head on the ground in seconds."
The moment Amon relaxed his hold on his sword; Saharan fired a shot at me and pierced his stiletto backwards into Amon's abdomen.
Amon caught him in a choke hold even as Saharan pulled the dagger out. Amon's wound opened further by strain, made him weak.
I could see the bullet come towards me...
Then a body crashed into mine from the front...
There was blood... not from me....
The person in front scampered ahead in spite of the wound to his shoulder and with his weapon drawn, went towards Saharan and Amon.
He slashed the weapon across Saharan's throat and the blood spurted on his face. He kept slashing ruggedly through the dead body.
"He's already dead! Stop... stop Dawn!"
Amon's eyes stayed shocked as Dawn collapsed to the ground bleeding massively from a few wounds.
He brought the transmitter tied his hand close to his mouth and said raggedly, "Hayame... coast... cleared."
Amon held the dead bleeding body of a well-known soldier who had gone on to a bad side, in his hands as Dawn's blood reached his feet.
I ran towards Dawn and held his unconscious body close. My dress soaked up his blood. Amon lay Saharan on a side.
Hayame and Trace were by our side in a few minutes. Their team was arriving from the front of the stairs.
"Dawn... it's alright..." Hayame closest to Dawn whispered softly and placed him on a stretcher.
There were tears in her eyes but she was doing well till now.
I closed the distance between Amon and myself. He looked horrid with all that blood and the strain he took to use up all his reserve powers.
Amon shook his head at Ru who came running.
"Can anyone explain what is going on here?"
Ru sighed and said, "Saharan was an undercover assassin working for Mortal Jerome...."
He handed me a roll of papers saying, "This is the proof that Weiss had been betraying us all this while.... He has disappeared from this place. But I'll find him. His plans and his strategies are all written in here.... I think we should keep it safe, it was responsible for the death of Winair, the nephew of the Vestavia Prime; also, Hirth, the informant at Dawn's service was gravely injured... Dawn probably knew something about this."
Amon placed a hand on Dawn's forehead and transferred his remaining power source to Dawn.... He swayed slightly with his eyes closed. My heart clenched in fear for him and Dawn. His reasons were unfathomable.
I laid Amon's head in my lap. My husband who had to compromise himself in such a dangerous situation because of me... and Dawn... why did he give up his life for mine? Why did he kill Saharan without knowing anything.
My powers and my skills had been useless.
I recalled how anger had blinded him to the pain the gunshot would have caused.
I searched Amon's mind... the dragon was gone, the person in my arms was Amenatsu without his powers.... Praying that he would get his powers back and that Dawn's life could be saved.
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