Coveland
This one's dedicated to the awesome Squid... I SORRY. :3

“Princess Rosamund, you must get to the tunnels!”

Rose could barely hear the maid's voice from down the hall over the earsplitting roar of the battle outside the palace, and the deafening screech of the wind all around them. She believed that that was the most terrifying part of every battle. The wind. And it was always there. Every time they were losing, wind came to finish up the job for them. It was part of that ridiculous myth. She ignored the maid, hurrying down the winding staircase two steps at a time in a desperate search for her uncle.

They hadn't ever had good luck with battles in all the sixteen years she had been alive. They had no allies. All the other countries either turned against them or ignored them. She had known for years now that the faltering armies which defended the country would soon fail. In fact, she was surprised it had taken invaders so long to reach the palace. Practically all the surrounding land had already been taken. And tonight, when the palace fell, the end of Coveland would be official.

“To the tunnels!” the maid repeated, to no avail.

Rose had just returned from a long, twenty minute wait in the tunnel on the third floor. Alone. Her uncle was always with her when she took refuge in places like that, and he never failed her. He had protected her so many times before; she couldn't take refuge in a tunnel until he was safely by her side. This time he hadn't come, and she wasn't going back into one of the many hideouts in this palace until she at least knew where he was.

The first floor was normally deserted, but now it was so stuffed with soldiers trying to defend the palace that she could barely breathe. With difficulty she made a path through the crowd, shoving people out of her way in search of her uncle. He was nowhere to be seen.

Ignoring shouts from all directions to go back to the safety of the dark tunnels beneath the palace, the nearest ones to where she now was, Rose made it to the other side of the entrance hall, beginning to panic even more (if that was even possible.) Had they killed her uncle?

No. Uncle Daniel couldn't die. He had lasted this long without injury. He was the last family member she had left. He was not dead.

she could see no sign of him in the crowd of soldiers. The palace doors were pushed further and further open, nearly to the point of falling off their hinges, and the strength of the wind was helping. The soldiers did all they could, but Rose knew it was hopeless. And when the doors fell, the place would be invaded, and the country would cease to exist.

“Get her out of here!” someone roared suddenly.

Instinctively Rose knew they were talking about her. Before she could be stopped, she turned and started towards the stairs as quickly as she could.

It wasn't quick enough; someone grabbed her.

“What are you doing here?” a family friend, Will, shouted over the noise of the battle. “You of all people should be somewhere else, safe!”

“My uncle's disappeared!” Rose yelled, shoving him off of her. “Do you know where he is?” she demanded, taking several steps away from him – all the time aware of how the two great doors were close to crushing everyone who didn't get out of here fast.

Will fell silent, staring at the doors, then grabbed her arm and pulled her upstairs just as a staggeringly powerful blow to the doors finally brought them down. Before she got a chance to pull away from Will, enemy soldiers had poured into the entrance hall and the pool of what had used to be only blue uniforms of Coveland were invaded with that of... two other countries?

There were shouts of despair all around as blue was taken over by red and yellow. Before Rose had a chance to take a closer look at their armor and figure out who it was, Will dragged her up the flight of stairs. He pulled her down hallways and up two more staricases before he finally stopped and roughly let go of her.

“You're crazy,” he told her angrily. “Get into the tunnel!”

“No!” Rose shouted at him, for the first time ever furious at him. “You know where my uncle is! Tell me!”

William shut his eyes tight for a moment, then, in a voice he tried but failed to keep steady, said slowly, “They got him. You're the only one left. You need to hide.”

It took several seconds for these words to sink in. Even when she knew for sure that he had said what he said, she found herself unable to believe it. Her heart refused to believe it. “They... got him?” she whispered hoarsely, unable to hold back the tears.

“They got him!” Clearly Will was as devastated by this knowledge as she herself. “He ran out of the palace to help defend out there... and they shot him down...”

The sound of footsteps racing up the stairs pulled Rose out of her thoughts. Before she was even able to react, Will grabbed her and dragged her in the direction of one of the tunnels. The nearest tunnel entrance was all the way down the hall, and the halls were long. It would take at least three minutes to make it to the tunnel, and the soldiers were gaining on them.

This palace was wide. The nearest tunnel was all the way down the hall... all the way. It would take at least three minutes to make it there, fast as Will was dragging her. And, somehow, the soldiers were gaining on them.

“You need to get out of here,” Will was telling her under his breath, though she barely heard him in her state of deep sadness. “You can't let them get you. Even if it's over, you can't surrender.”

Rose pulled free of him. “It is not over!” she said loudly, voice cracking, suddenly unable to face the truth, even though she had been expecting it for so long.

He glanced over his shoulder at the soldiers who were now not far from them at all, then pulled her into a room to the right and slammed the door, locking it even though they both knew that it would easily be torn down.

“It is over,” he whispered, trembling. “It's over, Rose. They took over the palace, and if you don't escape...” He broke off, then glanced at the door and continued. “If you don't escape there are a million things they'll do to you, even if they did win the country. Even if they did get what they really wanted. You're valuable to them.”

“Who did?” Rose half-whispered, tears still streaming down her cheeks.

“I don't know who did. We got an attack from two countries – they were wearing yellow and red. I don't know who will win – Valland or Courtwyn. But we'll lose to one of them. You need to get out now.”

Rose still had troubles hearing what he was saying. It still hadn't sunk in that she was all alone now, that she would have to run away, that everything and everyone was gone...

“Where will I go?” she breathed, taking a step back.

Will stared at her for several seconds. He was unable to think of a response.

“Just hide,” he said softly. “Hide, and I'll find a way to get you out soon.”

Suddenly the invaders pounded on the door, almost bringing it down. Rose cried out loud and jumped backwards.

“I'm going to open the door, and you're going to run,” he commanded her, and before she had the chance to respond he had wrenched it open and pushed her out.

And she ran. She didn't know if it was sheer luck or a miracle, but no one grabbed her before she escaped back into the long hallway.

It was a hallway that turned sharply to the right, in an L shape. There was a tunnel at the very end. But it was still far away.

Even as she tried to get out of harm's way, she knew that she wouldn't make it. They were already chasing her, and there were many of them, too many for William to fend off on his own. For a brief second she worried about what would happen to her friend... but it would certainly be better than what was going to happen to her when she was caught.

She made it round the corner. All the lights in this branch of the hallway were out; she couldn't see where she was going as she dashed blindly, hands outstretched for the wall that would open out into the tunnel.

Rose never made it. Feet away from the hiding place, someone shoved her and she landed on the ground, banging her head painfully against the wall. She didn't even try to struggle as someone tied her hands behind her back and pulled her to her feet. It was finally over.

She just wondered who had won.

Okay, so if anyone's kind enough to comment on this... you see, I've never had much luck on FictionPress. I wonder why I'm even trying. Anyways, if you're going to comment, I'm more interested on critiques about my writing style than anything else. It's a very short chapter compared to others I've read and written. I work better when I can switch POV's – which I will be doing later on here. It's how I work best. This isn't my favorite story that I'm writing, so I'm less focused on this plot than I am on others, but I don't mind comments on that, too – I realize, however, that I'll have to add a few more chapters for anyone to see how well the plot is going. But is something missing? Do I lack too much description (I know I lack description, I hate writing it, but I promise I do try.) Any help would be greatly appreciated, and I'll return the favor if you want. Thanks.

-Mari