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.

were stronger. It was as if they had some kind of extra power. They

"I couldn't save them."

you

"Dain." He said softly.

a face. Dain was the biggest of the four men.

seconds before

to escape. At first I tried to help, but when I saw that I couldn't help the others, I ran back to the camp. I knew I

hold the pain that pricked me. This was all my fault. If only I hadn't told those men to go out and spy, they would be fine with their families.

was certain that King Pison would never let those men go without drilling them for all the information he could get, and even at that,

all the courage I could gather,

still strong. The people looked at me, waiting to hear what I had to

evacuate the camp right now. Pack everything valuable and let's go now!" Immediately, the crowd burst into

we need to move away from here? We just

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

the crowd increased, and soon I could hardly

I called out loud.

Pison and his rogues are capable of. They will need answers, and they will find it. No one is safe here. The sooner we leave, the higher the possibility of us staying alive. If we stay here, we will

gasped in

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

response as they went to

me as I

heard a furious female

made my way outside, my eyes still red-rimmed. I saw a woman, clothes torn apart from her

She

frowned. "Who