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.

and no matter how hard I fought, the rogues were stronger. It was as if they had some kind of extra power. They were extremely aggressive... brutal.

"I couldn't save them."

did you escape?" I

"Dain." He said softly.

was able to place the name with a face. Dain was the biggest of the four

a few seconds before he continued, his voice

when I saw that I couldn't help the others, I ran back to the camp.

If only I hadn't told those

only did I put these men in danger, but I have also put us in a tight situation. It was certain that King Pison would never let those men go without drilling them

could gather,

looked at me, waiting to hear what I had to

now!" Immediately, the crowd burst into a loud murmur. No one made a move

from here? We just moved

we keep running? We

soon I could hardly keep track

called

need answers, and they will find it. No one is

gasped in one

a few minutes." I said, dismissing

response as they went to get

to my tent before I crumbled to a mess on 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.

I heard a furious female scream

I saw a woman, clothes torn apart from her anger, as

witch!" She

frowned. "Who