Unfortunately, though, a beautiful, ceramic pot wasn't quite as lucky. When Russel saw the group of his soldiers around Lola, he became hyper-focused and didn't watch where he was going. He crashed into the pot, and shattered the thing to pieces, barely even slowing down.

“Your Majesty,” the older soldier said, saluting as well. The other half dozen or so guards present did the same after hearing the man utter the honorific. He was also, Russel could see, the highest ranking soldier there. “We are humbled and honored by…”

“Lola!” Russel said, blatantly ignoring the man. As soon as he hit the grass he darted right at the girl.

Lola, for her part, was still in a daze with her knees to her chest and rocking back and forth. The guards trying to help her, and also trying to make sense of what the hell happened, stood at attention and saluted the king as well. Russel didn’t pay any attention to them.

As soon as he got to Lola, he crushed her into himself in a massive hug. Almost as soon as he did, she broke down and started to sob.

“Did I kill her? Was that me? I don’t know. I don’t remember.” Her eyes shot up to his, pleading at him. “You have to believe me. I don’t know what happened here. I don’t know! She was about to k-k-kill me…a-and th-then…”

She couldn’t finish what she wanted to say. The painful experience of seeing Nora hovering over her, ready to kill her, was too much. She broke down, her body shaking. Russel could feel her skin against his and found her cold to the touch.

“You,” Russel shouted, looking at the guard that had nudged the older man, who was, Russel realized, a sergeant. The guard he addressed, however, was a much lower rank. He peered at the man’s name tag. “Eaton.”

“Yes, Sire!” Eaton said, standing rigid with his eyes focused ahead. He was clearly nervous and although he was trying to hide that fact, he was doing a terrible job. Russel could practically smell the fear coming off the man.

“Speak with Senior Aide Bartholomew of the castle staff and have him bring suitable clothing for a human woman. Warm clothing. Have it brought here immediately. Understood?” Russel waited for him to respond, his eyes narrowed with impatience.

“Yes, Your Majesty. As you wish.”

Eaton didn’t waste any time. He ran immediately back toward the castle’s front doors, almost colliding with the same guard that had been sent to fetch Russel in the first place. The one he had left behind a long time ago.

Jeffries, Russel remembered.

Jeffries came to stand next to his sergeant, trying hard not to appear as though he were breathing hard. His face was red and sweaty and part of his uniform had come out of the waistband of his uniform pants. His boots were gray with dust and dirt.

“Has a medic been sent for?” Russel asked, still holding on to Lola as if a stiff breeze would blow her out of his grip. He felt her tears wetting the cloth of his t-shirt. She was still talking but most of what she said was unintelligible now. Russel kissed the top of her head gently and then looked around, trying to assess exactly what happened to her.

The stone bench that he had sat on so many times with his mother had somehow been broken in half. There were several long furrows dug into the ground. Blood splattered the entire area for several feet in every direction. And then there was the cape obscuring the remains of what was definitely a corpse. Russel could smell the blood even stronger now. Blood and much worse stuff. Stuff he didn’t want to think about.

“I’m the medic, Sire,” a woman said. “I’ve done a preliminary assessment on her and found her to be in excellent health. There are no wounds, injuries, or anything else to suggest she might be in some kind of imminent danger. As unbelievable as it may sound, she is completely fine.”

“We found her like this, Sire,” the sergeant said. “She’s in shock. We’ve been trying to move her inside but she wouldn’t move. She’s been saying your name repeatedly. Maybe now, we might be able to move her?”

“Yes,” Russel said. He looked at the medic. “Have a room prepared near my apartments. Catch up to Eaton and have the clothing brought to the room. And hurry. I want to make sure she gets warm as quickly as possible.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” the medic said. She saluted, bowed, and then left.

Russel watched her leave and then turned back to Lola.

“Let’s get you inside, okay?” he whispered to her gently.

She didn’t say anything but she nodded her head. He picked her up and she wrapped her arms around his neck as he did. She buried herself into his chest as much as possible and did her best not to look at all the devastation behind her.

The guards fell into step next to them.