Princess Moments
Leading the Lost
By Blakeney Welch
The birds’ muted song bore testimony to the devastation that lay below them.
Princess Kalen stared at the palace. Her home was no more. The place of such joy now lay in ruins. She couldn’t look at Sir Gavin, the one responsible for her still living. “Why did you rescue me?”
“I came at your parents’ order. And even if they had said no, I still would have come.”
In another lifetime, Kalen’s heart would have been thrilled to hear those words. Not anymore. Smoke rose from the ruins of the city, wafting toward the heavens. Turning, she looked to the horizon. “There is nothing left. This is no place for a princess whose land is occupied by the enemy. Just leave me.”
Gavin exhaled softly behind her. “We don’t pick our time or place. He does.”
Kalen bit her lip. She wouldn’t cry. “Well, He made a mistake.”
“You know better than that.”
“Save yourself, Gavin. Leave me.”
“He put you in this place for a reason. You can’t leave until He allows you to do so. Your time to die has not yet come.”
“I wish it would.”
“I do too.”
Kalen felt a twinge of surprise at the sigh that echoed behind her. Amid her silence, Gavin bit his lip as if wondering how much to say.
“You think you’re the only one who lost someone?” he said, his tone kind but filled with an intense sadness. “Everyone here has lost someone.”
Kalen opened her mouth, ready to rebuff him, but one of the things he said sunk in on her. Everyone here.
She spun, expecting to find only Gavin. Instead, a crowd of dirty, bloodstained faces looked upon her. Tears threatened to spill down her cheeks, but she held them back. “Who are they?”
“The people across your land who have lost everything yet still are willing to fight for you”—Gavin’s words released upon strained breath—“to see the enemies pushed back and joy return to our land.”
“My people? I thought they were all dead. I thought there was no hope left.”
“You were wrong, Your Highness. There is hope, and there is something to fight for. They are waiting for your command.”
Kalen hesitated. Fear overwhelmed her again, and she sank to her knees. A stone scraped her knee through the hole in her nightdress, and she winced. “No, I can’t. It is too much. I cannot lead them the way they deserve to be led.”
“They are depending on you. If you do not act now, they will die.”
Looking up, she followed the direction Gavin pointed in. Outlined in the smoke, a line of horsemen approached, their gazes roving the surrounding area for threats.
Urgency drove Kalen to her feet. She had no idea what to do, but she had to make a decision. She spun to Gavin, the brave knight who had risked everything to rescue her. He was the one who should lead.
“Please,” Kalen said. “Lead us to safety.”
“At your service.” He caught her eye as he straightened from his low bow. “We will live to fight another day.”
Drawing strength from his confidence, Kalen stood. It was time to lead the living and lost to a place of hope.