The Beta’s Regret

Three days.

Three days was all it took for the spies to get back to us.

There was a tense silence in the camp as I stood before them, listening to the only survivor as he told us exactly what had happened.

Out of the four men that went out as spies, only one of them made it back.

Dread pulled at my veins with every word he uttered. This wasn't what I had envisioned would happen, and suddenly I began to doubt my decision.

The day they left camp to spy on the palace, I was filled with hope that they would come back with information that would hopefully help us defeat Pison and take back our territory.

It wasn't supposed to be a very difficult mission; at least that was what I thought before.

"Tell me, Killian, how did it go?" Even though I had already been briefed on what happened, it was still agonizing to hear the end of their quest.

"We didn't make it." I heard the man kneeling in front of me say. His voice broke as he bowed in despair. "When we got to the palace, we decided to go our separate ways so we could cover more ground."

He shut his eyes tightly and tightened his fist on the ground.

"They didn't make it out of there. I barely escaped myself."

My teeth clenched. I never anticipated this disaster.

"What happened there?" I asked.

"We got little information on King Pison and his men, but while trying to sneak out of the palace, we met some rogues. They were drunk and having some sort of celebration... It was unexpected. They immediately knew that we were spies and took us down." He looked away as he continued.

I fought, the rogues were stronger. It

"I couldn't save them."

did you escape?"

"Dain." He said softly.

was the biggest of the four men.

took a few seconds before he continued,

that was on me, but he was overpowered and defeated; however, I was able to escape. At first I tried to help, but when I saw that I couldn't help the

away, unable to hold the pain that pricked me. This was all my fault. If only I hadn't told those men to go out

in a tight situation. It was certain that King Pison would never let those men go without drilling them

I could gather, I turned

people looked at

Immediately, the crowd burst into a loud murmur. No one made a move to get

need to move away from here? We just moved to this place." A man

respond, another female added. "Why should we keep running? We are far from the palace. They wouldn't

I could hardly

called out loud.

went down. I continued. "We are far from being safe. Our men have been captured. And we know what King Pison and his rogues are capable of. They will need answers, and they will find it.

gasped

hurry, pack your things. We leave in a few minutes." I said, dismissing the crowd. "We

are one." The crowd cheered in response as they went to get

the floor. I bawled, tears falling down like a flood. I felt the guilt gnaw at me as I held in the screams I felt tempted to release. Knowing I had no time, I grabbed what I could. My son

I heard a furious female

outside, my eyes still red-rimmed. I saw a woman, clothes torn apart from her anger, as she

witch!" She cried

"Who