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He spoke, “Upon the rising of the water from this fountain, I hereby declare Her Highness, Princess Magdalena Krol the next Guardian of Life, following in the footsteps of both His Highness, Prince Aleksy Krol, and His Majesty King Bogdan Krol. She will take on the duties of the guardians, and due to her diligence and duty, never again will the First Prince reign.”

Magda’s face flushed, and her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach. She extended her hand, letting the spray of water from the fountain tickle her arm, but quickly put it down, for her entire palm was shaking. She let out a deep breath before closing her eyes, making it appear as if she was searching somewhere inside for the answer. Time went by, moment after moment, until Magda was sure she was putting on a convincing act.

She opened her eyes, raising her hand and then thrusting it toward the fountain. Just before Magda slammed her eyes shut again, she caught a glimpse of a glorious shower of water shooting up toward the sky. It was as if she and Aleksy were perfectly in sync.

All she could hear was the fantastic awes of the crowd, and she felt the wind beat against her face and hair, combined with a falling mist that rested in the atmosphere. She wanted to open her eyes and see what Aleksy had majestically inspired in the room, but she kept them sealed tightly.

The exclamations continued, and Magda couldn’t help but let a smile creep over her face. They were doing this—really doing this. How had they successfully pulled off this scheme in front of the entire court and the royals?

A sprinkle of water danced across her face, until the liquid in the damp air had faded from a drizzle into a faint mist. It was cool, as if she had stepped outside on a frosty morning, where the poppies were covered in dew after a light shower.

Magda took a deep breath. The magical display must have concluded, since the room was cold and the audience silent. She opened her eyes, hoping no one would see deep into her irises and realize they had never once turned blue.

Magda was about to raise her arms in triumph, when a creaking noise sounded from above. Magda looked up to see a figure falling from the balcony. She stepped back with a gasp, just as a limp body dropped onto the center of the fountain, clattering against the hard metal in a gruesome display of lifeless, twisted limbs.

In an instant, the room was in an uproar. Screams echoed, and the audience members leapt from their seats, pointing to the rafters in between shrieks of confusion and mayhem. They darted into the aisles, or jumped over the pews, heading in a massive stampede toward the door.

Magda’s eyes were fixed on the body before her. She backed up, but not before she heard a faint scream behind her:

“Magda!” her father’s voice was loud and clear.

He sprung forward, covering her with his massive body, just as a slew of projectiles rained down on them. They both fell to the floor, and Magda struggled to breathe under her father’s weight.

The room around her was in pandemonium, and a mix of blood-curdling shouts and a stampede of footsteps flooded her senses.

“Dad!” she yelled. “Dad, get up!” she screamed underneath his hefty body, kicking and yelling so that someone would hear her. But the entire room was in an uproar, and no one had noticed that both the king and princess had fallen.

Magda’s vision blurred as she tried to stay in the moment. All around her, the multi-layered shouts blurred into one jumbled sound. This was an attack, and she needed to stay alive.

Magda inhaled, using all her upper body strength to roll her father over and turn him onto his back. Then she stared down at the king.

His eyes were nothing, as if the glossy tears in the corners were windows into a void she couldn’t bring herself to describe. A single arrow protruded from the center of his chest.

“Dad!” Magda screamed hysterically, throwing her body over his. Even though he was underneath her, he felt heavy, as if the breath once filling his lungs had been sucked out completely. She almost blacked out, pulled into the madness all around her.

Gushes of wind flew past her head, and she wasn’t sure if more arrows were being launched in their direction. She scrambled backward, away from her father, crouching down next to the fountain for cover.

Magda’s eyes scanned the balconies, looking for Aleksy or Dagmara, but they were nowhere in sight.

Then she turned back to the throne. Her mother was hysterical, attempting to rush toward Bogdan while she was being dragged away by royal knights to a safe place behind the thrones.

All that Magda could do was stare at her dad, but she couldn’t run to him. She wanted desperately for him to be alive, for there to have been some type of mistake. She played the sequence over and over in her head, wondering why he had jumped in front of her and what she could have done differently. But no matter how hard she stared, no matter how hard she tried to imagine him sitting up, he didn’t move.

Magda realized she wasn’t breathing, and gasped for air. All around her were the sounds of nightmares. She crouched behind the fountain, realizing she had nowhere to run, for she wouldn't escape the arrows coming from above. Anger threatened to consume her completely, but at the last second, her mind sharpened at the sound of something familiar.

BARK!

Magda snapped her head to the right. Odie was in between the pews, as if beckoning her to run to safety.

Before she could stop herself, Magda leapt over her father’s body, dashing between the pews and laying on her stomach, right beside Odie. But Odie continued barking, leading in the direction of the side of the room.

Magda crawled on her stomach through the chaos. When they got to the edge of the pews, Magda knelt behind Odie as they dashed to the side of the throne room, behind a set of columns that was holding up the side balcony.

“We’re safe now,” Magda said, holding her pet. However, she knew it wasn’t true. The closest door was at the front of the throne room, past the fountain and all the way down the long aisle at the front of the building.

There was no escape from their attackers. Magda could only hope that they wouldn’t be found.

CHAPTER 11