"Bad idea Your Majesty. Killing is the only language they understand. I fear they are not as diplomatic as you think," Sir Brandon explained without looking at Alexander.

Brandon wiped the sweat on his face with the back of his hand, blood dripping the tip of his sword. His eyes calculated the numbers and the chances of survival were close to none. The hired knives had a legacy throughout Arcadia. They had been banned by King Henry but now that he was dead, they had come back, more powerful at that. What could be the wisest way of killing your enemies without having their own blood in your hands than hiring the ruthless knives.

"If we want to get out of here alive, we have to exit this room," Newton pointed. He pinched his nose quickly afraid any second would send him to hell.

"That cannot happen without a blood bath, unfortunately," Alexander pointed.

"Burn them!" Isadora talked for the first time.

"That’s too risky in a closed space. I might set the whole castle on fire."

"Why not? They betrayed us. Who cares about their damned lives?" She said but the moment her eyes rested on Brandon and Newton, she realized the weight of her words.

"Do you think Roselyn was a part of it?"

Before anyone could answer, one of the mercenaries lurged forward and his knife went home into one of the Valorian knights stomach splitting his contents on the floor. Brandon was quick to sever his head before he could kill another person. But that only acted to draw the rest in.

"Go now! I’ll protect you!" Brandon said as the hoarde drew closer. Alexander’s party retreated to the back, slashing their way through to one of the doors.

Alexander looked back and saw Brandon trying much to hold the knives back. He was gallant and swift but soon, very soon, they would outnumber him. A cut run through his ribs, shattering his armor into pieces just as he had killed a mercenary. The heavy metal went free leaving him vulnerable to the knives.

Brandon slashed at them aimlessly but he was subdued, brought down on the floor and the last thing Alexander saw of him was his raised hand as knives rained on him.

"Let’s go!" Newton said dragging Alexander outside. They had finally made it out of the room but at a cost! Alexander stood there panting as a handful of the men left tried to hold the door. Two Arcadian knights were already sprawled on the floor, dead! He bent lower and picked the metal, light and silvery in his hands. His horror stricken face reflected on the blade, and there he swore to avenge any man who had bled for him and Isadora. The whole castle of Arcadia would tremble by his sight! And Felista, he could only imagine of the worst and cruel of deaths he could give her, and Roselyn too if she was a part of it, and he thought she was.

"Newton? Take Isadora and everyone to safety," he said, but Isadora was quick to object.

"I’m not leaving you behind." Not him, not when she had seen what they had done to Brandon. She couldn’t imagine a thousand knives piercing through his body! No, not when she was alive!

"You have to." He moved closer and held her chin with his fingers. She looked so beautiful yet vulnerable. He had never seen her this shaken. The warrior princess must have been human, he thought.

"I promise I’ll come back to you."

"You might come, but you’ll be a corpse by then," she slapped his hand off her chin. "I’m not going anywhere without you!" She pressed on stubbornly.

The men holding the door were being overwhelmed, their muscles tout. It would only be a matter of minutes before the hired knives spilled blood in the hallways of the palace.

"You have to!" Alexander said, leaving no room for argument. And turning to Newton, "Take her before I change my mind."

"You heard his Majesty," Newton said trying to drag her but she slapped his hand. He ran his fingers through his hair nearly uprooting the strands.

Isadora looked at Alexander but he dared not stare at her. She was her weakness and he could not have her by his side.

"If you don’t get back to me, alive and breathing, I swear I’ll throw your corpse to the dogs!" She breathed the words before her skirts glided the floor as she left hastily.

Alexander let out a sigh but the threat she had given was not dry. He had heard the tremor in her voice, and the fear too. He had to return to her at all costs.

His fingers crossed on the hilt tightly as the hired knives gave the door a strong push. The knights left were trying their best to keep the door shut, but it only took one final hit to send them scattering on the floor. The hired knives streamed through the broken door in waves, their knives in the air.

Alexander stood on the far end of the hallway. He had his eyes closed tightly but he could hear the sound of their boots hammering the floor. It was like a thousand horses going to a war. His eyes shot open, bloody red orbs that sent the hoarde to a momentarily halt. The tip of his sword stretched touching the floor as a flame engulfed it, and gradually his whole body. Even the hired knives were scared of the sight, but they were a hoarde and he was alone. That gave them the confidence to match forward.

Alexander swung his sword and a wave of fire escaped from it towards the direction of the incoming hoarde setting the first three lines screaming as their flesh burned to the bone. His hair danced in the flames yet not a single strand of his hair got burnt.

"Burn them All!" She had said, and he was going to do as his queen had commanded. This day would be written in the books, sang to babes in their beds and above all, a legacy for Alexander that would travel beyond the unexplored seas.