The Final Redemption by Michael Manning (little red riding hood ebook free .txt) 📕

“At this point your firstpriority should be finding safe haven and it doesn’t look likethere are many options. I would suggest you aim to reach theIlleniel house. Penny is there, and once inside the enchantmentsshould keep you safe. Hightower’s residence may not be reliable bycomparison.” In fact, my father-in-lawmight be dead at this point, worriedDorian, but he didn’t verbalize that sentiment. After a second hecontinued, “I may be able to get you safely past the mercenariesoutside.”

The princess seemed suspicious, “Andwhat would you do after that?”

Dorian moved away and began strippingthe armor from one of the dead soldiers. “My duty, Princess, toKing and Country.”

“Please be more specific.”

Dorian thought the largest man’s armormight be big enough to fit him, although it wasn’t easy undressinga corpse. He glanced up at the princess. No matter what theircircumstances she still remained Marc’s younger sister in the backof his mind. “After I get you clear, I will return. Your mother andfather are still here somewhere. I cannot abandon them if they maystill be alive. If possible I will rescue them. There is also thematter of my own mother.”

He rejected the idea of trying to wearthe dead man’s gambeson, its smell was prohibitive. Instead hedecided to simply wear the chainmail over his finer clothes. Theywere thick enough that they should provide adequate padding, but heimagined Rose would be displeased with the result later. A simpleround shield and plain metal helm completed his arming.

“Gather your folk and get ready tofollow me out. Give me a ten second lead, and by the time yourpeople reach them, they should be in disarray. You should alsoswitch clothes with one of the…,” Dorian began, planning theirescape, but Ariadne interrupted.

“No,” she said.

The heavyset knight was confused,“What?”

Ariadne repeated herself, “I said‘no’. I have no intention of leaving you to face thisalone.”

“That’s foolish,” returned Dorian.“You may be the only remaining heir, for we have no way of knowinghow Roland fares.”

“I agreed with you,” she replied, “butyour arrival has changed matters. We have a chance of salvagingsomething now, more so if you have people to help you.”

Dorian looked at the motley collectionof servants before returning his eyes to hers and lowering hisvoice, “How much help do you think this lot will be?”

“They fought their way free frominside the palace with me,” she said defiantly. “They may not looklike much, but there is fight in them.”

“I can’t condone thisidea.”

The princess gave him a cool glare,“Too bad. You will submit yourself to my command, Sir Dorian, and Icommand you to help me rescue my mother and father. Besides, if youdo find one of them, or your own lady mother, you will needassistance. What if they’re wounded? Can you fight and carrysomeone?”

“That’s irrelevant,” saidDorian. “My sworn duty is to the King, not you. I will see you tosafety before doing anything else.”

“They might both be dead.”

“In that case, your brother will beelevated to sovereign,” responded Dorian.

“Most usurpers take careto eliminate all descendants. There is a strong possibility that Iam the only remaining heir,” argued Ariadne. “If that is the case,then I am yoursovereign.”

Dorian groaned. Ariadne was giving hima headache. “You argue that your entire family may be slain, makingyou the next Queen, and my liege—so that you can order me to helpyou save them? Surely you see the contradiction in that.” Hestudied the men and women who had fought to escape with theirprincess. Some of them were wounded and only three appeared to beactual guardsmen, but all of them held a certain look in theireyes. They had not lost their spirit.

How did she rally themlike this? wondered Dorian. “How many ofyou are willing to follow our suicidal princess back into thepalace to rescue the King?” he asked them.

A chorus of ‘ayes’ and otheraffirmative noises answered him as they raised their odd collectionof weapons and implements. One of the guardsmen answered clearly,“Where she goes, we go.”

“What’s your name?” asked the Knightof Stone, focusing on the soldier who had spoken.

“Alan Wright, YourLordship.”

The guard next to him spoke up, “Thesame is true for me, Your Lordship.” The third guard, who seemedsubtly uncomfortable in his armor, nodded as well.

Dorian bowed before Ariadne. “Verywell, Your Highness, if these good folk have decided to throw theirlot in with yours I have no choice. I cannot force you to leave,nor can I keep you from following me, therefore I will make thebest of it.” Turning to her followers he began issuing commands,“Those of you still able, strip the bodies. If there’s anything youcan use, take it. Those of you who are wounded will remain here.Put on the enemy tabards and bar the doors when we leave. You willhave the most important job. Hold the gatehouse until we return,it’s probably our only hope for getting out of here alive. Thosewho are still capable of fighting will stay with the princess andme.”

Ariadne looked hopeful, “Do you have aplan?”

“Honestly, I do not,” said Dorian,grimacing. “The fact that you and your crew managed to escape andtake the gatehouse tells me that the enemy didn’t expect any armedresistance. Sometimes surprise is a more potent weapon thansuperior numbers. They must be aware of you by now, but I doubtthey expect your group of surly servants to turn around and invadethe palace.”

She raised an eyebrow, “Surlyservants?”

Dorian shrugged, “I keptbad company as a child and poor attempts at humor were a frequentoffense.” Marcus and Mort would havelaughed at my inept joke, but probably only from pity.His absent friends were never far from hismind.

“They’ll wish we was a lot less surlybefore we’re done!” announced one of the scullery boys.

“Grab those spears,” said Dorian.“They’ll be a lot more effective in untrained hands than what mostof you are carrying.”

Chapter 22

We stood before thecentral trunk of the father-tree. Seeing its massive size up closewith our normal vision made it seem all the more impressive.Tennick was huge. In terms of size, human kind had not seen anything like it inover two thousand years. And this is whatI’m going to bring back to the world? Ithought, questioning my motives again. Not that I had any choice inthe