"Meet me there after!" I rush into the cave trailing after Lavria. Hunched in the cave I realise there are many soldiers here. And she was at the centre. I watched, but they weren't doing anything. They were waiting. But for what? I hear the grunts of men and bodies hit the floor. There were familiar echoes as I realised Damien's footsteps enter the cave. It's dark so he draws his sword.
"Shhh." I say. He hears me and smiles moving closer to me, fresh adrenaline shifting through his veins. "She's there." I say pointing in her direction. She was surrounded by armed men. She shifted from side to side, nervousness? She had fresh marks from the tears that lay heavy on her cheeks. The tip of her nose was red and her eyes were swollen from the tears. Crocodile tears. Fucking bitch. Every time I looked at her, I would see my brother staring back. He loved her, and she killed him. And now she would die. By my hand, in my brother's name. All of them move closer to the tree, inspecting the black stream and red crystals. Fascinated by its nature. To me all the beauty had faded as It had been infected with the presence of unwelcome shits. Me and Damien step out of the cave and hide behind a bush. still engraved in Shadows. Watching them.
"Where are they?" One of the soldiers said. He looked uncomfortable. Were they talking about us?
"Hrmp" I hear Damien shuffle. I look down to see his hands red. He was bleeding. Heavily with a arrow protruding from his gut. I gawk at his wound and he doesn't say anything. I don't even think he realises with the adrenaline. But with this kind of wound. He had an hour, maybe two. "It's nothing." He says, masculinity dripping from his tounge. I flick his forehead, and he smirks grabbing my hand. I put my hand on him to heal him but he grabs it before I can.
"It won't work. I already tried." He said.
"Why isn't it working?" I didn't mean for him to hear my panic. But he did. Placing his hands on his lips, as a guard passed us.
"The arrow..it has magic placed on it. I can't be healed from magic. I need herbs and bandages. You know? The stuff normal people use for wounds" he tries to laugh it off but the adrenaline was wearing off. Shit. He was fading, and was in severe pain. It would take too long to trek back to the castle, he would die along the way. And if we left, they would cut down the tree and hundreds to thousands of people would perish. I started to shake watching his breaths quiver. His body mildly pulsate. I tore off a piece of my cloak and wrapped it around his wound. He winced it bit down hard on his arm to silence his pain. Huffing and growling like an animal. I had just tied the knot when I felt something hard hit my face as I landed on the floor. Then something heavy was placed in my back as I heard something crack upon its force. Half dead, I was then pulled up by my hair to see Damien being pulled away from me to the middle of the ground. One of the soldiers picked me up so I stood on my feet. Blood pouring from my cheek, my body weak. He pushed me down on my knees next to Damien. Damien met my eyes. His expression hardened with every drop of blood from my wounds. He shifted his gaze to the soldier still holding me by my hair.
"I'll kill you for that." He spat. It was the coldest I had ever heard him, I could tell he meant it. Damien is merciful, but I could tell, he would torture this man until his last breath. The soilders simply nodded to the other soilder and Damien (Who was restrained) was met with a punch to the jaw. He didn't fall. He laughed. And spat his blood in the soldiers face. The guard was going to ouch him again and Damien's eyes looked to me..yet his eyes seemed to look past me. His expression shifted to horror, shock! I felt something cool draped along my neck. And we heard.
"My Dear.." it was a woman's voice. Older. I recognised it. And so did Damien. The guard dropped his fist and moved out of the way. Lavria was brought to her knees with a soldier standing above her with his sword to her throat. She squealed and looked to me. I looked to Damien whose face was covered in blood but I heard his heart crack and his eyes water.
"Mother.." he managed. As his mother stood there, now with her knife to my throat.
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"Queen Lucent!?" I said with over whelming confusion. She smiled when I said that. Almost like she was being reminded of who she was. The power she Wielded. She didn't take notice of me, her eyes locked on Damien. She wouldn't look at me, like I was beneath her. He head turned in one fluid motion towards me as she asked- "What did you call me?" She asked with a low tone, calm, too calm. With heavy breaths tried to get her attention, she simply raised her fingers and shushed him, like a baby going to sleep.
"Queen Lucent?" I said. There was a beat of complete silence, the atmosphere drastically shifted as she had just slapped me across the face.
"I am not Lucent!" She spat, as cleanly as possible. Her knife traveled along my throat, I felt the point of the knife poke into the skin prying for a way in. In a low growl she says "I'll show you who I am.." with a wave of her hand, her hair went from red to the darkest black. Her body went from envious curves to not a single one on her body. Her cheek bones could cut metal. And her teeth, shifted from luscious, to monstrous. But her eyes, didn't change. The glistened over like they had always done. Completely lifeless. "Do you recognise me now?" Her growl had turned into a sadistic whisper. Her jaw shook into a smile. "No..you still don't see?" Her knife had found her way to my eyelids. She stretched out her hand and curled her fingers into a fist. All the soldiers dropped where they stood. Immeasurably started rotting. As they turned into corpses, decomposing rapidly by the second. Their clothes had disappeared leaving red marks on their necks like they hand been strangled. I looked to the soldier that had been holding me by my hair. It suddenly dawned on me, my heart fluttered as I couldn't find my breath. Ice cold shudders swept up my back, my hairs stood on edge. I could feel my insides burning up. The corpses were almost identical. To Isla's....
"You killed Isla..? Didn't you?" I managed to say.
"My dear, now..you see."