Crowns of Heritage

Chapter 18- Smoke in the air

(SAGE P.O.V)

After hearing her name, I started tearing up. I couldn't believe it. The woman in the next room was my birth mother. I was feeling overwhelmed. Before I could get any words out, I heard footsteps approaching.

“Hurry up, and pretend you are unconscious”, my mother said in the softest voice I ever heard.

I placed my hand on the wall to guide myself back to where I was laying. I heard the footsteps get closer, I laid down and closed my eyes.

“Bang bang” I heard something hit against the iron bars.

“Is she still unconscious?”I heard a man's voice, it was deep and smooth that was speaking in foreign accent but different from the men before.

“I guess so captain”, I heard a female voice.

“Bang bang”, I heard something hit the bars again.

“Go in there and wake her up”, I heard the man with the smooth voice say.

I heard the sound of a gate sliding back. The footsteps got closer. I laid there with my eyes closed, and felt a presence standing next to me. I could feel someone place their hand on the side of my face, before shaking my body.

“Mmmm”, I groaned, my body was still sore and I really wanted to punch whoever was shaking me.

“I think she's waking up”, I heard the female say.

I opened my eyes and pretended I was waking up. I got slowly rubbing my eyes with my right hand.

“Wow, she look just like him”, the female said.

I opened my eyes wider, and saw the lights were on. I looked at the middle-aged woman, she was fair-skinned with long straight burgundy hair and brown eyes and she was dressed in a soldier type uniform, she staring down at me with warm expression.

The man standing next to her, had a brown caramel skin tone, tall and muscular with black curly hair and hazel eyes, was also dressed in a uniform.

“What's your name?”, he asked me.

“Sage”, I said, while trying to read the situation.

“Hey, we have to hurry before the guards wake up”, the woman said.

I looked at them confused.

“How hard did you hit them?”, the man asked.

The woman smirked, “We have to hurry before someone notices”, she said.

The man looked at me and tilted his head to the side.

I slid back towards the wall, I started to feel uncomfortable with the way he was looking at me.

“Wait", the woman said while reaching out her hand. We're not here to hurt you”, the woman tried to reassure me. “We just came to see the beauty the guards were talking about, They said you look exactly like Prince Moises.”, she said.

“I heard that he's my father.” I said, looking up at them.

The woman and man looked at eachother, and seemed a little tense.

I heard the chains move in the next room.

“Sage?”I heard my mother's soft voice again.

“Yes", I answered, nervously.

“Do you have a sister?”, she asked.

“Yes, her name is Rosemary”, I said.

She became silent and I heard the sound of her crying.

“My babies”, she said, softly.

The man and woman looked at me like they didn't know what was going on.

“So it's true”, the man said.

The man started to speak but was interrupted.

“What happened to Marianna?” I heard my mother ask in a concern tone.

I heard the man and woman gasp.

“You know Marianna?”, the woman asked.

I nodded my head, “she's the one who raised me.”, I said.

“We have to tell your father.”, the woman said to the man

Before he could answer, we heard the opening of a door from down the hall.

“Shit, we have to go before we get arrested”, the woman said.

“Wait”, I reached my hand out but they closed the gate.

“We'll be back tonight”, the man said.

And I nodded my head.

After a while it became silent, I walked up to the gate again and looked around. We were definitely inside of a prison, I thought to myself.

“Have you met your father?”, my mother asked.

“No, Peyton, I mean Marianna said he's been in a coma for the last 10 years and he just recentlt woke up not too long ago.”, I stated.

“Can you tell me about you and your sister's life?”, she asked,

I hesitated for a moment trying to see where I should start, but I wanted to know something too.

“How long have you been here?”, I asked, curiously.

“For so long, I could hardly remember the days or years”, she said while sighing.

“Rosie and I have grew up together even though we were raised in different houses.

I love archery, while Rosie liked to run track.”, I said.

“Your father loved archery too”, she said.

I felt a little happy knowing that.

“How do we get out of here?”, I asked, seriously

“We'll be out of here soon, the plan should be going into effect soon, " she said.

“What plan?”, I asked.

“You saw the two that just left right?”, she asked.

“Yes”, I answered.

“I've been in here a long time, I hear many stories. When the guards are being lazy during their different shifts, they start gossiping. Some of the citizens are furious with the King, I heard someone has been planning a rebellion.”, she said.

“A rebellion?”, I asked “you mean killing the King”.

“Yes”, she said, “The guards who just left might be members of the rebels. I heard some of them were former followers of your father”, she said.

“Once they come back, go with them.”, she continued.

“What about you?”, I asked.

“I have to stay here, there's something I must to do “, she said, sounding determined.

A few minutes later, we heard footsteps, I hurried back to the spot I was laying. The footsteps got closer and a middle-aged man tall in stature dressed in a black garment covered in jewels walked up to the iron bars.

“Who are you?”, I asked, while sliding backwards.

“I'm the current Crown Prince. I'm Prince Marshall Vanuatu”, he said. “I believe you are the bastard child of my pathetic brother.”, he stated

“The only bastard I see is you” I said, spitting towards the bars.

“How dare you lowly” one of the guards took out his sword. Marshall raised his head and the guard slowly lowered his sword.

Prince Marshall walked over towards the next room my mother was in, the guard remained standing in front of the bars of my cell.

“I see you are still managing to stay alive after all that torture I put you through yesterday”, he said.

I heard her scoff softly.

“Of course, I can't die just yet, I haven't gotten the chance to slice your throat.”, she said.

Marshall started laughing and I could hear his footsteps walking away.

“Like mother, like daughter, how fun”, he said, and I heard the door shut.

(ROSEMARY'S P.O.V)

I laid under the cover slowly losing my temper. How do they expect me to stay still while my sister is missing! I shouted.

It's been 24 hours since Sage disappeared, and I had enough of these stupid maids coming to check on me.

“Rosemary, can I come in?”, I heard Na'mah entering the room.

“What do you want?”, I asked in a very pissed tone.

“I have a list of people who I think would do something like this”, she said.

I threw the cover off my head and snatched the papers from her. I looked at the photos, and she handed me about 8 of them. She picked up a photo out of my hand.

“Do you remember him?”She showed me a middle-aged looking man.

“He looks familiar”, I looked at the picture trying to remember who he was.

“His name is Brian Reynolds”, she said, “He was your mother's fiance before she left on her mission”, she stated.

“Do you think he took my sister?”, I asked.

“It's possible, one of the maids said she seen a man who looked like him dressed like a butler.”, she said.

“How do you know she's not lying?” I asked. Grabbing on to Na'mah shirt.

“Because Yeshiva interrogated all of the workers here, after all he was the one who was your bodyguard, once my father finds out Sage is missing. Yeshiva will probably be severely punished. So now he's kind of on a rampage.”, she said, holding her head with her left hand.

“Where is Brian now?”I asked, balling up his photo out of anger.

“We're not sure”, she said “ But we will find her.”, she continued on saying.

“You guys better hope she's alive, now get out”, I said, letting go of her shirt and pulled the covers over my head again.

Na'mah sighed, and left the room.

I took the covers off my head again, and looked through the photos once again.

“110 Central st”, I looked at the address that was written next to the photo.

I got out of the bed and walked out of the room. I saw a maid walking up the stairs.

“Excuse me”, I said, causing her to turn around.

“Yes”, she answered.

“Do you know how far this address is?”I asked, and showed her the photo.

She look at me and shook her head, “You can't go there”, she said looking afraid.

“Why?”I asked, getting pissed off.

“I heard Brian is a maniac, many people in the clan fears him.”, she said.

“Maniac or not, that bastard might have my sister” I said, slamming my hand on the wall.

The maid was startled.

“ It's about 20 minutes from here”, she said.

“Shit”, I said out loud, I don't know anything about this place, I thought to myself.

The maid left and I continued to stand at the bottom of the stairs that was leading to the third floor.

I slammed my hand up against the wall out of frustration.

I started hearing different voices coming from the stairs leading to the second floor. I saw Cena walking up the stairs holding a black bag. I decided to go wait until she came up to the second floor before calling out to her.

“Hey Cena”, I said, causing her to look over at me.

She turned around showing a bitchy expression.

“What do you want?”, she said sounding annoyed.

“Tell me about Brian Reynolds”, I asked her, and held up his photo.

“The whole clan knows he was supposed to marry your mother.”, she said. She grabbed the photo, “From what my mother told me, it seems like the he only reason he wanted to marry aunt Natalie, was so he could become the next Chief. He lost that chance once your mother disappeared.”, she stated.

“Do you think he took my sister?”, I asked.

“Besides us not liking the high society of nobility. He's the only one with that would hold a gudge against you two, it's definitely him.”, she said looking at the photo.

(SAGE'S P.O.V)

I looked up at the window above me, and I noticed it had gotten dark.

I could hear some of the guards talking down the hall. I walked up to the iron bars and tired to eavesdrop on their conversation. I couldn't make out what they were saying since they were standing in a distance.

Suddenly, I heard the door shut and wondered if someone had came in or whether the guards had left out. Then, I heard footsteps approaching.

I contemplated on whether or not stay by the bars or lay down. The pain in my body started to lessen but I could tell I still had some internal bruising.

I heard the footsteps getting closer and saw the man and woman from earlier. I felt a little relieved. I was glad it wasn't that stupid prince.

The man stood in front of the gate and looking down at me.

“Do you want to join us ?”, he asked.

“Do you think I want to stay here?, I said tilting my head, “What a dumb question to ask.”, I stated.

The woman laughed, “ I like her”, she said.

“Please take her with you”, I heard my mother say.

“Hey, I'm not leaving without you”, I shouted, “You've been in here long enough, Rosie and I need you now.”, I shouted again, I started tearing up because I was overwhelmed with emotions.

She was silent for a while, the woman walked over in front of her room.

“Come with us”, she said.

My mother hesitated for a while.

“Okay”, she said, softly.

I felt relieved that, knowing she was willing to come with us.

The gates started sliding open, and that man stepped in.

“We need to hurry”, he said reaching for my hand, “We incapacitated the guards after sneaking in. They'll be waking up soon.

I grabbed his hand, and he helped me out of the cell.

When I walked out of the cell. I turned my head in the direction of my mother's cell. The woman broke the chain off my mother's leg. She helped her walk out of the cell. When she approached me, I finally had the chance to see her face.

She looked like an older version of Rosie. She had a light caramal skin tone with long, curly reddish hair and green eyes. she was skinny. You could tell she hadn't eaten properly for a while. Her arms were covered in scars, and it instantly broke my heart. I laid my head on her small shoulders, she placed her arms around me, and I started to cry.

(ROSEMARY P.O.V)

After talking to Cena, I was positive that bastard Brian took my sister. While walking up the stairs to go find Yeshiva. I heard one of the maids talking, she was saying that Yeshiva was getting ready to visit the people on the list. I immediately turned around and ran down the stairs. I was sure that Yeshiva wasn't going to let me come along.

I snuck out while no one was around and climbed into the back of Yeshiva's truck. I saw that he had a blanket sticking out of his backpack from when we went hiking and covered myself with it.

“Yes, once I get there I will call you and follow up.”, I heard him saying. He walked alongside the truck, and I could hear him opening the door. He started the truck and I could feel that we were backing up. He pulled off and left the mansion.

We rode for a while, before coming to a complete stop. I heard the truck door close, and Yeshiva phone started ringing.

“I don't see Brian's car”, I heard Yeshiva say.

I could hear him walking around the truck. He opened one of the doors and closed it again a few second later.

“Yes sir”, he said, still talking on the phone.

For some reason, he put the phone on speaker. I moved the blanket that was covering me and started to peek around, once I heard him move away from the truck.

“Is it done yet?”, I heard my grandfather's voice.

“Not yet sir, I'm starting now.”, Yeshiva replied.

“Find my granddaughter.”, he said, his voice was full of anger. “Everyone on that list, burn down their houses as a warning.”, he said.

“Yes sir”, Yeshiva responded, in a respectful manner.

I peeked from inside the truck and saw

Yeshiva walking around Brian's house.

He was pouring gas everywhere. He then lit a cigarette taking a puff before throwing it into the gas.

The flames immediately started to spread, to the house and the fire became bigger.

Yeshiva walked back to the truck and started it up.

When he started driving off, I watched the house go up in flames. A second later, all I could hear in the distance was the people inside screaming.