"Archers go on the wall!!"
"Take out all the weapons in the armory! Quickly, we don't have much time!"
"Anyone who thinks they can fight can grab a weapon right away!"
At the moment, the Lioness Castle was completely surrounded by the enemies in all directions. As if the situation wasn't precarious enough, there were only a hundred knights and two hundred guards stationed in the castle, protecting it. On top of it, there were around two thousand Lionarch City's residents, mostly women and children, who needed to be taken care of.
Then, when Gwen thought the situation couldn't go any worse, they came.
Hundreds of knights wearing the Lioness Kingdom armor could be seen making their way to the castle from the west and Gwen exhaled a sigh of relief at the thought of the reinforcement's timely arrival. Unfortunately, the hope was quickly annihilated and replaced by despair, when they saw their own knights pass where they were and join the enemy camp.
Gwen couldn't help but feel a tremendous amount of anger welling up inside her. She was so angry that both her hands started violently shaking. Deep down, she knew she wasn't strong enough to change the impending reality of these two thousand people and she was terrified because of that.
However, though she understood she, as well as her people, might not be able to come out of this alive, Gwen still forced herself to stand on top of the walls and did her best to address the people - her people.
Looking at thousands of humans before her, Gwen inhaled a deep breath and loudly said, "People of the Lioness... Don't be afraid! We-"
Before she could finish her attempt to calm down the masses, a group of knights was seen approaching the castle wall. They were knights wearing Lioness Kingdom's armor, but Gwen could see at the front of the group was a knight dressed in a black armor - the Dread Knight, Sir Breunor. ext to that renowned figure was the one who betrayed the Lioness Kingdom, Fantumar.
"Your Majesty!!" The Lioness Kingdom's minister shouted loudly.
The knights around Gwen quickly drew their bows and pointed them at the traitor. The only reason they hadn't fired was because their princess still hadn't given the order.
However, even though his presence was clearly unwanted, Fantumar still confidently walked up to the wall and said, "Princess, listen to me! I have come here bringing great news!"
There was no way Gwen would believe the traitor's words, as she could vividly see the latter's wicked smile from miles away.
"Say your piece and begone!"
Contrary to all expectations, Fantumar seemed to become even more excited when he heard Gwen's harsh reply. Tidying his aristocratic garb and sweeping the imaginary dust off it, he calmly said, "Princess, I came here bringing good news from the king of the Cantiaci Kingdom. They are willing to accept your surrender if you do. There shall be no blood spilled in the land of the Lioness today!
Not even giving the suggestion a second thought, Gwen answered with confidence. "No! Never! We will not surrender!"
After hearing Gwen's answer, Fantumar laughed for a while before saying, "No, no, no. Princess, I was afraid you would." He then added with a wicked smile, "It seems you don't understand the situation you are in, Princess."
Gwen was very annoyed by the man's smile, it just had its own ways of making her angry. However, she tried to stay calm as she couldn't afford to lose it at this point.
"Princess… You are still too young. You made the mistake of bringing the civilians to the castle, because now, they will be the reason for your surrender. "
An ominous feeling rose in her heart as Gwen heard Fantumar's words. Before she could say anything, the latter once again shouted, this time even louder than before.
"Listen up, People of the Lioness! The King of Cantiaci promises that his men will not harm anyone as long as they agree to yield and accept His Majesty King Randall of the Cantiaci as their new ruler!"
Fantumar's words were heard by the many civilians gathered inside the castle. In an instant, the sound of people clamoring resounded in the air as a ruckus quickly arose between them.
"We cannot win!"
"We should give up!"
"We will surrender!"
"Let us go!"
Shouts of people gradually overwhelmed the knights as well as the guards, who gave their best to calm the disorderly people. The sight unfolded before her eyes caused Gwen to be conflicted.
She had so much information and proofs about Fantumar that surely would make him untrustworthy in the eyes of people, but she didn't have the chance to do so, as the place where the people gathered had turned into a bundle of chaos by now.
Then, as if what he just did wasn't enough, Fantumar proceeded to tell the people how the nobles had all surrendered and the fact there won't be any reinforcement coming to help them. The last part, in particular, became the thing that broke the last straw as the people began to frantically try to get out of the castle.
At this point, Gwen wasn't sure on what she should do. She couldn't tell if the man was lying or telling the truth and she couldn't do anything to her people because they had basically been influenced by Fantumar's words that no amount of persuasion could recover them.
Then, in the midst of her helplessness, a figure came out from the main entrance of the royal palace. A man in golden armor could be seen walking towards the castle wall. The figure was Gwen's father, King Richard of the Lioness.
The man was already in his battle armor and his demeanor told everyone he was ready for battle. While everyone's gazes were on the illustrious figure, Gwen was looking at her father with a clear worry on her face. She knew her father forced his sickly body for this.
The moment the Lioness King appeared, the crowd that had previously been making a fuss with all their might suddenly became extremely quiet. The castle became so silent that one could even clearly hear the sound of their own breathing.
Meanwhile, the said king took a deep breath and slowly said, "People of Lioness..."
Just one word and the people began kneeling on the ground, as they gave their respect to the king.
King Richard was about to speak when his body suddenly swayed to the side. The king's aide swiftly held him, while those who saw this wore a sorrowful look on their face. The Lioness King's condition looked so pitiful.
Coughing, King Richard opened his mouth and spoke, albeit slowly. "My people... I... I regret the fact that I'm not well... I regret the reality that I'm not strong enough..."
He took another breath and by that time Gwen already stood next to him holding his trembling body still.
"My people, at this moment... I... regret to say I can't protect you anymore..." King Richard stopped, inhaled another deep breath and exhaled a deep sigh, "Please... I ask you all to save yourself and surrender."
The words that came out of the Lioness King's mouth made Gwen as well as everyone who heard it shocked - extremely so. From outside, Gwen could hear Fantumar's loud laughter and that made her silently gritted her teeth.
Ignoring the reactions of the people around, King Richard continued on his words. "Open the gate."
The knights who manned the gate were reluctant, but they followed the order eventually.
The moment the castle gate was opened, everyone could clearly see Fantumar's smiling face. However, no one was willing to step outside, contrary to their previous commotion.
There was silence as no one moved.
Then, one of the old knights suddenly asked the Lioness King. "My King, what about you?"
King Richard seemed to recognize who was speaking as he said, "Sir Bruce?! Old friend, is that you? I'm sorry I can't see you because my eyes aren't clear anymore."
The one who called Sir Bruce stepped forward and knelt. "Yes, My Lord. It's me."
King Richard nodded his head at the blurry sight of his old friend. "It's good that you're fine, old friend. As for your question, Sir Bruce, I will stay here until the end."
After hearing the Lioness King's answer, the crowd suddenly started shouting together about how they too wanted to stay.
King Richard frowned when he heard that. Thus, he once again spoke, this time he shouted with all the strength in his body.
"ENOUGH!"
The crowd was once again silenced by the Lioness King.
"My people, I order you to surrender. I don't want to see more blood spilled... Please, think about your children, your wife, your family... Just go..." said King Richard. "Sir Bruce, you too. Please help me take care of them."
Afterwards, the Lioness King turned his head to the open gate and looked straight at where Fantumar was. "Fantumar! I knew you were greedy, but you're not heartless. They are just civilians! Don't you dare harm them!"
Seeing their king was firm in his decision, the people gradually started walking to the gate. After one person walked out, a dozen more would follow, until even the guards then the knights. In the end, there were only 50 people still in the castle yard.
Fantumar looked at them and said, "Don't make it harder than it should be. Just surrender."
King Richard turned to the knights who decided to stay. His aged face showed genuine gratitude. "My knights, it is an honor for me to be your king."
Hundreds of knights were seen approaching the castle, those were the Lioness knights under Fantumar.
Seeing that, King Richard was in rage. "You really are a bastard! You brought my own people against me."
"Richard, it's time already. Just give up!"
"Fantumar, you can have my head. But will you spare my daughter's life?"