Kade's POV
My sword cut through another one of Darius's guards as we fought our way through the estate. Blood splattered across my face, but I didn't slow down. Every second we wasted fighting these men was another second Ivy remained in danger.
"Simon!" I shouted to my captain as he battled two enemies at once. "Take Erik and Gary around the back! We need to surround them!"
"Got it!" Simon called back, slashing at his opponent's sword arm.
The courtyard was chaos. Steel rang against steel, men screamed in pain and rage, and bodies fell on both sides. But we were winning. Darius hadn't expected us to attack so quickly, and his forces were scattered and unprepared.
I fought like a man possessed, cutting down anyone who stood between me and the main building. My only thought was reaching Ivy, getting her out of this nightmare.
"Where is she?" I roared at a guard I'd just wounded. "Where is the princess?"
The man spat blood at me instead of answering, so I left him and kept fighting my way forward.
Erik appeared at my side, his sword dripping red. "The lower level is clear, Your Highness! No sign of her!"
"Keep looking!" I commanded, parrying a blow from another attacker. "She has to be here somewhere!"
I drove my sword through the man's chest and pushed forward to the main entrance. The heavy wooden doors had been barricaded from inside, but Gary was already working on them with an axe.
"Hurry!" I shouted. "We need to get in there!"
The doors splintered and crashed open. We poured into the building, weapons ready. The main hall was empty, but I could hear fighting coming from upstairs.
"Split up!" I ordered. "Search every room! Find the princess!"
I took the stairs three at a time, my heart pounding with desperation. The upper hallway stretched out before me, lined with doors. I kicked open the first one – empty. The second one – nothing but old furniture.
"Ivy!" I called out, hoping she could hear me. "Ivy, where are you?"
Behind me, I could hear my men smashing through doors, searching frantically. The sounds of battle continued from outside, but we were clearly winning. Darius's forces were falling back.
I reached the end of the hallway and found a door that looked different from the others – newer, stronger. This had to be it.
"Stand back!" I yelled to Marcus, who had just reached the top of the stairs.
I threw my full weight against the door. It didn't budge. I tried again, harder this time. Still nothing.
"Together!" Marcus said, joining me.
We hit the door simultaneously, and it burst open with a crash. Inside was a small, windowless room with chains on the floor and scratch marks on the walls. But it was empty.
"She was here," I said, kneeling to examine the broken chains. "These are fresh. She was here recently."
"Your Highness!" Gary called from another room. "You need to see this!"
I rushed to where Gary was standing in another small chamber. More chains, more evidence of a prisoner, but again – empty.
"Two prisoners," I said grimly. "Ivy and her maid."
"But where are they now?" Erik asked, joining us.
Before I could answer, we heard shouting from outside. Not the sounds of battle, but something else. Panic. Urgency.
We ran to the window and looked down into the courtyard. I could see several of Darius's men retreating toward the forest, and with them –
"There!" I pointed. "I can see them!"
In the distance, I could make out figures being dragged through the trees. One of them had long dark hair that caught the moonlight.
"Ivy," I breathed.
"They're taking her deeper into the forest," Marcus observed. "Away from the fight."
I was already moving, racing back down the stairs. "Come on! We can still catch them!"
We burst out of the building and ran toward the forest. The sounds of fighting were dying down behind us as the last of Darius's forces either fled or surrendered. But I didn't care about victory anymore. I only cared about reaching Ivy.
As we entered the tree line, I could hear voices ahead of us. Darius's voice, giving orders.
"Move faster!" he was shouting. "Get them to the cave! The prince won't find us there!"
"Kade!"
The sound of Ivy's voice calling my name made my heart nearly stop. She was alive, and she knew I was here.
"Shut her up!" Darius snarled.
"Don't you touch her!" I roared, crashing through the underbrush.
But they were moving fast, and they knew these woods better than we did. Every time I thought we were getting close, they seemed to slip further ahead.
"This way!" Erik called, pointing to tracks in the mud. "They went this way!"
We followed the trail as fast as we could, but it was dark and the forest was thick. Branches caught at our clothes and faces, roots tried to trip us, but we didn't slow down.
Then I heard it again – Ivy's voice, but fainter now. More distant.
"Kade! Help me!"
The sound was like a knife through my heart. She was calling for me, trusting me to save her, and I was failing.
"We're losing them," Gary panted, breathing hard from the chase.
"No," I said firmly. "We don't give up. Not ever."
But even as I said it, I could feel them slipping away. The voices were getting fainter, the trail was getting harder to follow, and soon even Ivy's calls for help faded into the distance.
We kept running for what felt like hours, following every track, every broken branch, every possible sign of their passage. But it was no use. They knew where they were going, and we were just stumbling around in the dark.
Finally, exhausted and defeated, we had to stop.
"Your Highness," Simon said gently, "we need to regroup. We need a new plan."
I stood there in the middle of the dark forest, my hands clenched into fists, rage and helplessness warring inside my chest. We'd been so close. So damn close.
"She was right there," I said, my voice barely controlled. "I could hear her calling my name."
"We'll find her," Erik said with conviction. "This isn't over."
"Damn right it isn't over," I replied, my voice hard as steel.
We made our way back to the estate, where the last of the fighting had finally ended. My men had taken control of the building and captured several of Darius's soldiers. But it felt like a hollow victory.
I stood in the courtyard, looking out at the forest where Ivy had disappeared. Somewhere out there, she was still a prisoner. Still suffering. Still calling my name and hoping I would come for her.
"Search the prisoners," I ordered Simon. "Find out everything they know about where Darius might have taken her."
"Yes, Your Highness."
I walked to the shattered gates of the estate and stared into the darkness beyond. My fists were clenched so tight my knuckles were white, and I could feel the rage building inside me like a storm.
We'd won this battle, but the war was far from over. Darius still had Ivy, and he was still out there somewhere, probably planning his next move.
"I will find you," I whispered into the night. "Both of you. And when I do, Darius, you're going to pay for every moment of pain you've caused her."
The weight of my failure pressed down on me like a crushing burden. I'd come so close to saving her, only to have her slip through my fingers at the last moment.
But this wasn't the end. It couldn't be the end.
I would tear apart every forest, search every cave, hunt down every lead until I found her. No matter how long it took, no matter what it cost, I would not rest until Ivy was safe.
The war was far from over.