For a moment, everything was fluid. Rhen saw the doors which held her fate swim out of focus. Her fingers went numb and she could tell she was in the air. A moment of utter silence. Her eyelids yearned to close.
A blast like a cannon made her ears ring with pain. She was thrown backwards with the force of a tidal wave as she flew through the air to land on her back. She felt a couple of her ribs crack and then sag over her lungs. The impact began hurting after a few seconds of numbness and her eyes immediately teared giving way to a scream.
She could hear thundering footsteps now, rushing towards her. Rhen knew if she didn't get up now she would never again get the chance to. She pushed her chest upwards like it was a sack of coal and lurched up on her feet. Her body burned with pain but she had other things to worry about. A smoking red chain was now coiled around the door handles. How did she miss that? Was that there before? Even a child would be able to tell that the chain had a heavy spell attached to it.
She tore her eyes away to see looming figures closing in rapidly from the winding staircase and she began running towards the opposite direction. Her mind was now only a whirlpool of chaos. She focused all her energy into staggering forward, as the hallways twisted deeper into the castle's depths.
Suddenly she saw a crack of light to her left, a door was left ajar. Footsteps rang like gunshots behind her. Without thinking for another moment she ran inside the room and closed the door. Her body fell limp against the door as she sank to the floor.
Rhen's eyes struggled to adjust to the brightness. A large fire roared at the far corner in the handsome fireplace. It was a small yet elegant bedroom, complete with a large window with twisting vines and a bed surrounded by pale curtains. A collection of teddy bears and toys graced the mantle. Whose room was this?
She wasn't in a state to guess. Every breath made her lungs brush against her injured ribs, lighting flame after flame to her nerves. Her head rolled backwards onto the wooden door and she closed her eyes. It shouldn't be long before the guards find her, she thought meekly. All that separated her from the terror outside was one door.
Her train of thought broke abruptly when she heard a grunt interrupt the air. A hand shot up in view from outside the window, reaching up and grabbing the sill. Rhen's body froze. She knew she didn't have enough time to run anymore and where in the name of hell would she even go? Her fists tightened. If she was to be caught, she would rather go down fighting rather than rot in a cell.
The mysterious hand pulled up with another grunt. Up came a head of messy black hair. Then, a pair of auburn eyes. Before long a young man was climbing into the room, cradling a toddler in his arms. A little girl with blond curls and a pink frock. She was smiling at the man, holding him by the neck.
Rhen sat in silence, withdrawn into the dark. She could tell that the young man wasn't a guard or even a moon warrior for that matter. He wore an expensive brown jacket and pearls around his wrist. When he turned around, the air was knocked out of his lungs. He dropped the toddler down and rubbed a nervous hand through his hair.
"Ha-ha! You caught me! Wayne is that you? Mighty creepy of you to wait for me by the door like that. I don't know what's going on- you know what? There's no point lying to you, you did see me sneak out didn't you? Will you tell father? Of Course you will, he pays you buck loads to do his bidding. Well, tell him that I am no longer a child so I can do as I wish now. Will you speak up? Why are you on the floor?" He rambled on, stuttering on his words.
"Stop…stop. I am not Wayne." Rhen stammered, raising her hands a little.
"Wait a second- who the hell are you?" He whispered as he came forward. Finally by the firelight, he came to a stop. His eyes stared down at Rhen without blinking, his mouth agape.
"Hi. Sorry we aren't meeting under the best of circumstances." She spoke with a strain. "Let's just agree to not call the guards on each other, yah? Give me five minutes and I will find my way out…"
Silence ensues, only punctured by the crackle of the fire. The man just stood there, eyes wide, until all of a sudden he leapt sideways to retrieve a longsword from a rack on the wall. He instinctively pushed the young toddler behind himself and brandished the sword. He tried hard to balance the weight of the iron but his hands shook under the effort.
"I don't know who you are or why you are in my sister's room but you must know the consequences of attacking the crown prince and princess of Edyn Towers, don't you?" He said bravely. The firelight was bouncing off his slender nose and sharp jawline, illuminating his skin to gold.
Rhen had no clue that Edyn Towers had a prince and princess. Sure, the citizens assumed things and several colorful rumors buzzed around town but the royal family of Edyn was a secretive one. Only the King had shown his face in public, that too scarcely. Rhen wondered about the many secrets which this dark castle held. Suddenly the warmth and simplicity of her tent didn't seem so boring right now.
For now though, she had to come up with a lie good enough to help herself out of this situation. Unluckily enough for her, lying wasn't her strong suit.
"Woah, I am not attacking anyone." Rhen laughed naturally, setting fire to her broken ribs again. "I just stumbled into the wrong room! I don't want anyone to know that I barged into the princess's room and you don't want to let this Wayne know that you and your sister went outside castle grounds, right? So, we can mutually part ways here…"
"You… work for my father? The King?" The Prince asked slowly. Fear was now scrubbed off his tone, he seemed curious instead. His eyes were shaded by his bangs of messy black hair.
"Yes." Rhen said, mustering every ounce of confidence she had left in her, which wasn't much to begin with. "Trivial matters of administration, actually. Nothing to concern yourself with, Prince."
He dropped the sword and let it fall to the floor with a clatter. He assumed a much more natural stance, though he didn't let his guard down. The little girl had already lost all interest in the tense conversation and was playing with a stuffed toy, smiling to herself.
"Skye." He pointed at himself. "Violet." He pointed at his sister. "If you work with the King, there's no harm in calling us by our names."
"Huh. Violet sky. How pretty…" Rhen whispered. The pain in her chest was dimming down now, it seemed. Or was she losing consciousness? Every fiber of her being screamed at her to break the emerald bracelet on her hand and call William. But she remembered what he had said. 'They can detect anyone with even a wisp of magic.'
At least they couldn't sense Rhen's hiding place. But she knew she didn't have long. She hated the fact that her eyes were slowly starting to close, but she couldn't fight it any longer.
"Hey…hey! Are you sick? What's wrong?" Skye asked loudly, partly in order to keep her awake. He knelt down beside her and touched her arm gently.
Rhen's eyes opened again.
"The…Stone…" Was all she could say before blackness consumed her.