Charlotte lay in her bed, staring across the room at the crack beneath her door. Occasionally a glow from a lit candle, torch, or lantern would pass hurriedly by, voices hushed by those who carried them. They did not wish to disturb the princess' sleep. 

Well, she wasn't asleep, and she couldn't be more disturbed. And terrified. While she lay in bed there was a siege going on at the city walls. She couldn't hear it through the thick stone walls, but she was sure that as she lay there, all comfy with her stuffed feather pillows and thick blankets, people were dying. 

She wished she could do something. But, as people seemed to like to remind her, she was just a child. She was young, inexperienced, and a princess, even the last of which not helping her case. So she had been sent to bed, while any second now the attacking army could break through the gates and get into the city.

Charlotte wondered where her father was now. Perhaps the war-room, which was filled with maps of the realm and the various countries housed therein, including a large map that took up the whole west wall, which pictured her own country, Raelin. That was where her father and his generals met to plan strategies of beating the attacking armies. 

Of course, if her father was there he would probably be alone. Almost all of his generals had been sent with their troops to different parts of the kingdom, and had been killed or captured, the second possibility not being much better than the first. Only General Marcus, an old, grizzled man, who reminded Charlotte of an old dog, remained. 

He had only become general when his predecessor was struck down a few days after the current siege had begun. General Marcus was most likely overseeing his troops who were trying to keep the enemy soldiers out of the city. Maybe that was where her father was, at the city walls directing what few troops were left.

Even though everyone said she was just a child, she still understood some things. The war had been going badly the past few months, with many battles resulting in heavy casualties for both sides. But the attacking armies kept pouring in from along all the borders. And it wasn't just one country that was attacking them. Two or three had actually started the war, and when others had seen how poorly Raelin did against them, they joined in. 

The problem was that Raelin was a very large country, but with few people and only a handful of major cities scattered about. And it was smack in the middle of the realm, sharing borders with many other countries, making it easy for any number of conquering kings to prey on it. Charlotte knew that it was Allon, King of Gera, that had really started it all. Apparently there was some sort of feud going on between him and her father, which had become so heated that King Allon threatened to take the kingdom. He made good on his threat, and now the siege raged on.

Men died every day, both trying to get into the city, and trying to keep the aforesaid out. Every now and then the enemy would shoot arrows up and over the walls to rain down on Raelin's forces. It had gotten to the point where no one could stay in their houses if they were too close to the wall, because more than a few of those arrows had been set afire.

Charlotte remembered seeing the charred remains of some of the buildings when she had snuck out of the castle the day before yesterday. She shuddered at the memory. The burnt houses weren't the only things she had seen. The houses were near the north gate, which was where the enemy was most concentrated for the siege. Soldiers in faded blue uniforms milled about, most of them covered in black soot, as if they had tried to put out the fires that had consumed the houses. They stared blankly ahead, walking aimlessly about, as if they were lost. She had overheard Father saying that with so few soldiers, many of them didn't get a wink of sleep in between attacks. There just weren't enough men to set up reasonable shifts when they needed every one of them to keep the enemy out.

But she had seen some men lying about. Some had found burlap sacks to use as blankets, and a few had them pulled up over their faces, probably to block out the sun. Charlotte had stood there, watching one man as he slept. After a while she had realized that something was wrong. He didn't move at all, not even his chest. When her father slept, his chest rose and fell evenly with his snores. No movement or sound came from the man. 

As she watched, two uniformed men walked up to him, carrying a makeshift stretcher between them. One bent down, touched the man's neck, and looked up at his companion, shaking his head. The two set down the stretcher and, grabbing him by the legs and arms, lifted him onto it. The burlap sack fell off the man, revealing a large red stain that spread across his chest. The two men let go of his arms and legs, which flopped down lifelessly. Charlotte remembered the noxious feeling in her stomach as she realized that the man hadn't been sleeping. At least not in a way that he would ever wake up. She had turned away, tears in her eyes and feeling like she was going to vomit, and ran all the way back to the castle, vowing to never sneak out ever again.

She had not told her father about it. He would have been furious. He kept her locked up ever since the siege had begun, for her own protection, and she now understood why. She felt like she should have done something, and was ashamed that she had run away crying. She had been trying to convince everyone that she was grown up, but proved to herself that maybe she wasn't. 

But that night she vowed to never again flee from any situation. She would prove that she was grown up and could handle what was happening around her. She tried to show that today, by telling Ethan, her father's most trusted advisor, that she should be a part of that night's council. She was sure she could be of some help. 

Ethan had looked at her, smiling, then tactfully forgot to mention it to Father, and that was how she had been sent to bed before the council even began. Charlotte now lay in her bed, feeling helpless and unappreciated, as still more glowing lights and whispering voices passed her door.

But wait... they weren't whispering... not anymore.

To be continued...