𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘣𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.
"𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦. 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩, 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘥-", 𝘊𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘳.
"𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘥 𝘰𝘧 '𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨', 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴, 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘶𝘯 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺", 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦𝘥.
"𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘦?", 𝘑𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘶𝘣𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱.
"𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯", 𝘊𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. "𝘛𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘣𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘶𝘵𝘴 𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳...."
"𝘚𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘴. 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨?", 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧-𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘥.
𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘊𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘯'𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘴𝘬, "𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦?"
**************************************
"How are you Julianna Emore?"
That cold voice, foreign and yet familiar sent a chill down her spine. Her eyes darted to and fro from the blindfold covering his left eye and sudden though ran through her mind startling her.
'He probably has a red eye underneath that blindfold'.
Her fingers automatically reached up to touch the black piece of cloth covering his eye, but her sudden change in posture made the apples on the stand fall down, breaking her trance.
Julie jumped a few feet backward, her face flushing as she remembered Kale's warning from today morning.
The man look at her with a sad expression. "I never really thought that I will see you again", he said reaching out towards her again. Her eyes suddenly went to the sword around his waist, with a crystal hilt.
Judging by the expensive cloak and that sword alone, Julie could figure out that this man was no ordinary commoner, in fact the very possibility of him being a noble was going to be troublesome for her.
She turned around to disappear into the crowd again but was pulled back when he suddenly grabbed her wrist with an iron grip. Julie's heart skipped a few beats as she came close to close with his face again.
His face was like a sculpted model avoiding the blindfold. Clean and smooth without any flaws. He kinda made her jealous a bit.
"I thought you said that you won't be coming back here anymore?", he asked his silver eyes calculating.
Something struck to her mind immediately. How did he recognise that she was Julianna underneath the makeover? It could mean only one thing, this person was someone Julianna used to be close with, close enough that he could identity her underneath a guise.
It was a gamble, but she decided to take it anyway.
"There was something I yet had to do", Julianna lied cooly. "My work here was left incomplete because of my parents interference, you see"
"So I heard. But it is weird to see you here after what happened. Although, I am quite offended that you haven't yet visited me", the main said cocking his head to one side.
"I didn't have the time. I was .... busy with my work, you see", she blabbered.
He looked at her curiously and then smiled. "You sure have some nerve coming back here considering that you're a wanted person."
"I'm wanted what-", Julie began then shut her mouth.
The crooked smile on the man's mouth only turned up wider.
"You don't remember anything do you?", he asked gripping her by her chin suddenly.
"Ah. A memory block", he said inspecting her face. "Quite strong one. Looks like someone wanted you to forget the events that happened while you were here"
"Let me go", Julie shouted taking a few feet backwards again. The crowd around them started looking curiously at the two of them.
The man raised his hands in defeat but Julie didn't move.
"Do you.....know what happened while I was here?", she asked curiously. This information might be useful for her now that she was stuck underground. But at the same time, a thought troubled her. If her parents wanted her to suppress this memory this much, should she try to remember again?
The man picked up an apple and threw it to her. "It's a long story. Personally I don't think you should try remembering it. You see, it will be too late if you get involved again", he warned in a low tone.
Julie stood her feet wondering which step should she take now. Should she try to solve the mystery behind her memories or should she focus on getting out of here first?
"I won't be telling you the details myself", he warned. "But I can give you an antidote for your memory suppressor", he said slyly.
"Why is it that you can't tell me yourself?", she asked slowly.
"You'll understand when you see your memories", he said turning around and walking away now. "Follow me", he motioned with two fingers.
"I haven't decided yet to follow you or not-", Julie began and yet ended up following him anyway.
The man led her through some of the inner parts of the circular city. Julie saw the number of guards surrounding the circle become lesser and lesser and her panic only seem to increase by every step they took.
She wondered what on earth she was doing following a random guy out of nowhere.
Not to mention how the alleys kept getting creepier and darker by second. They were in some of the most innermost routes of the city, the man overhead walking around in quick calculated moves taking a sudden right or left out of nowhere.
"What is your name?", she asked as she followed him.
She heard him chuckle in between his forceful strides.
"Ashrynn Kleir, at your service", he said doing a quick bow turning around to face her.
"What did I do to end up as a wanted woman Ashrynn?", she asked running now.
He didn't stop to answer her. In fact he ignored her question completely. She wanted to ask again but felt uncomfortable then. She continued following him at his unpredictable speed.
Ashrynn suddenly came to a stop in front of a small store. The store was old and broken down and the board hanging above had turned black with age. She could barely make out the words and that was 'something potions'
Ashrynn entered on knocking twice, his movement quick and in a flow as if he was dancing. Julianna followed him inside the small store. The cupboards were lined with jars of various colours, cobwebs hanging everywhere she could see. She could see something glowing inside most of the jars in deep purple colour. It looked like the inside of a witch's hideout.
"What is this place?", she whispered touching the dusty shelves.
"An apothecary", he mumbled. He went over to the counter and rapped his fingers on the table rapidly.
"Guinevere? Where are you?"
Something grabbed at Julie's skirt from behind and she shrieked bumping into one of the shelves. The shelves swayed by her weight and she grabbed the grimy ends inhaling a lot of dust in the process.
She looked around to a find a small woman scowling fiercely at her. She had thick eyebrows and skin that looked tough and she was holding a spatula in one hand.
"Whacher doin' bringing a lady here, Ashryll?", she lisped.
"I need an antidote for a memory blocker for her. And make it quite strong", Ashrynn ordered looking at Julie from the corner of his eye.
The tiny woman went behind one of the shelves muttering something to herself. Julie looked around everywhere but at Ashrynn. His stare was burning a hold behind her back.
Julie walked around the racks lined with dark coloured bottles her fingers making a mark on the dust everywhere she touched. She thought she heard voices somewhere from beneath the stall and stopped to listen.
The sound of laughter could barely be disguised through the thin walls. Julie tapped her feet down slowly. The ground fell hollow. There was certainly a room downstairs.
The steps of thick boots followed once again and the lady reappeared bringing back a small vial filled with black liquid. Julianna went back to the counter where Ashrynn was still staring.
"Take' a 3 drops only. Otherwise you die. And that would be 5 revels for a vial", she told her.
Ashrynn handed the money over to the woman who sat down at the corner counting her coins. Julianna got out of the shop quickly feeling suffocated.
"How should pay you?", she asked turning around to face him finally.
Ashrynn looked at her with a weird look then.
"Oh you know, you can help me by telling me where the heir is after you regain your memories". Then in a low voice he added. "Although I doubt you would want to help me then"
Julianna looked curiously at him. He looked incredibly sad which made her wonder what happened between them in the past.
"Also can I ask you for one more thing?", she asked slowly.
"What?"
"Can you tell me where the bronze well is?"
**************************************
Vellona was sitting down on the pavement when she reached the bronze well. Making sure that she didn't see Ashrynn, Julie bade him a quick goodbye and then moved towards Vellona.
"I'm sorry, I lost my way", she panted sitting down next to her.
Vell nodded at her picking up her bags of what Julie assumed was groceries. "Let's go back then?"
Julie nodded hoping that her face wouldn't give away anything. If she did act suspicious, Vellona didn't say anything or maybe she didn't really care as Kale told her.
"Let's go home"
**************************************
Kale knew that he had been found out when two officers dressed in official silver clothing strode upto the scouting grounds and dragged him away.
He had been blindfolded, pushed, stomped and had rode in what he assumed was the back of a carriage in the most undignified way.
He tried not to care but in the end he realised that he did care. His uncle Reirs words kept coming to his mind, 'Humility helps a king live as a human', but for some reason he couldn't handle all the humility he had to endure ever since he fell down the birdcage.
The carriage door opened and he was being led away again, two strong hands holding him from either side.
The soldiers came to an halt after moving too much in a zig zag direction. He was made to sit down in a chair of sorts and his hands were fastened at the back of the chair. The blindfold was removed and the sudden light entering his eyes made him wince.
"Welcome Kale et' Liere", to the crystal palace", a voice boomed.
Kale peered through his lashes at the heavily dressed royal sitting in front of him. He was young, younger than Kale and he wore thick robe made of white fur and grey wolfskin. The startling silver and grey hair only looked even more startling at his face and he was holding a transparent sceptre of sorts in his left hand.
Behind the royal he noticed a woman dressed in white silk dressed, quite neatly. She was sitting on a nearby chair with her hands poised perfectly on her lap.
"Your Royal Highness Juvian and Lady Ember", he said recognising them. He bowed through his restraints. "I see you have managed to find me out"
"Yes. Ours is quite a small kingdom. And the eyes of the King are everywhere", he said sitting down.
"I come here bearing no harm", Kale began immediately. "We were stranded in the maze and a few people of yours helped save our lives"
"Yes. I heard"
Kale stared at the king. If he didn't suspect Kale of espionage then what was it?
"We were thinking of leaving immediately. We won't be causing any harm or anything", he continued. "Although it is hard trying to escape from your kingdom.
The king didn't smile. "You should have directly come to me if that were the case. We are neighbour kingdoms after all."
Kale had a reason why he didn't come to this young king yet. He was known to be a ruthless king who despite his age had to battle for the throne amongst his brothers. He was a half-blood nevertheless and wasn't really accepted by his people. Apart from that there was the tragedy that had take place last year in this royal palace.
A tragedy in which he assumed Julianna Emore was involved.
"I wouldn't really want to trouble you over trivial matters like this", Kale spoke carefully. "All we wish for is a guide that would take us back to the surface ; if provided we'll be on our way"
"Are you under the assumption that you are holding a wanted being with your travels?", the king spoke with a glare. "Julianna Emore is a criminal who kidnapped our heir"
"I was told that she had only helped him escape. Besides Julianna Emore is quite useless now. Her memories have been suppressed by the Emore family and she no longer remembers anything"
The king looked back at the woman sitting like a statue. She nodded at him and he continued.
"How can you be so sure of that?", the king asked. "Memories, if can be suppressed can also be brought back. We need to know where our rightful blood heir is and bring him back to the palace", the King said with that stony face.
"What are you proposing?", he asked slowly, not liking where this conversation was going.
The king looked at him with an evil eye. "I say, we agree to help you return to your kingdom Prince. But in return we will retain Julianna Emore here"
Kale thought it over. Julianna had really been nothing but trouble ever since the prophecy incident. Liere capital might have as well as have it's peace back if Julianna was kept here.
But the very possibility that the people here might torture Julianna for her suppressed memories made his stomach twist in unease. No matter how much he disliked Julianna he still didn't want her to be in any sort of physical harm at the same time.
"Think it over prince. We'll be expecting an answer from you soon", the King said.
"Also we are quite sorry about the manner in which you were brought here. The Royal Palace is barricaded at the entrance after our prince was assassinated. I hope you don't mind", he added hastily.
"It's alright.", Kale muttered when they freed his hands finally. He rubbed his wrists feeling the blood flow through them again.
"I think I should know about something if I ever were to exchange Julianna for my freedom although"
"What is it that you want to know?", the king asked a bit relaxed now.
"I understand that your King was assassinated a few months ago. And I heard that the King's younger brother went missing at the same time. I want to know Julianna Emore's role in all of this. What she did to end up as a wanted criminal"
The king leaned back as if he knew this was going to take some time. Kale braced himself. He would soon have to accept whatever he tells him as the truth of what had happened during the infamous '12th's incident'.
He hadn't noticed the Queen ask the attendants to bring over something.Thats why he was a bit startled when the Queen suddenly stood up and slapped a picture on the table.
Kale leaned in to look closely at the picture. It was a portrait of a group of men standing in a group. All had weapons and some of them looked deadly. But the most startling thing was that not all of them had the startling silver hair. The looked like a band of thugs, strong and powerful.
"They are called the 12 knights. They were knights who were under direct command of our previous king." the queen explained. "His personal weapons in command"
Kale looked carefully at the picture. "His own knights attacked him?" His eyes caught the image of the man standing in the centre. The only one with silver hair. One of his eyes was red in colour.
"It seems that they had been planning to wipe out part of the Royal line. Us, half-bloods actually", the King muttered curling his hand into a first.
"What do you mean?"
"The crew of twelve knights felt that we, the half sisters and brothers of the late king were a hindrance to his ruling. They feared that the King would be endangered with competition from our side. And we didn't refute him. There were pretty strong heads of our line that wanted the pure-bloods of the royal line to be suppressed. Both of our communities shared a mutual hate amongst each other. But it was understandable, such hatred was common amoung Royal families. But it was never, ever a place for mutts like them to barge in and make their own decision!", the queen said, her silver eyes glistening.
Kale saw that her hands were trembling in her lap. He could feel it too, the bloodshed that must have happened in these hallways. Countless killing for the wrong ideals.
"Why was the king killed then? It wouldn't make sense for them to attack their own leader", Kale asked.
"They started killing us in the middle of the night. Elders,Woman, and even small children who had barely been able to walk", the queen continued her voice filled with pain.
"The late King was woken up by the cries of murder in the middle of the night. He was a wise king. He resisted against his men, tried to make him understand. But in the end he was killed by one of his own men when he tried to save Juvian"
"Of course they stopped thr bloodshed once they saw that the very king they wanted to protect had fallen. The country was in despair. That very night two of their princes had been lost. One was killed and the other kidnapped. The elders who survived did an election and I was promoted a king. But I'm an just merely a puppet if my very own people can't accept me", Juvian told Kale.
"What was Julianna's doing with the Prince. Was she involved with the 12 Knights?" Kale asked wondering where Julianna fit in with all of this.
The king and queen shared a look.
"Lady Julianna was the King's lover", the queen said slowly.
Kale blinked.
He felt like he needed to hear that again.
"What?"
"During the short time she was in our kingdom, she was most seen to associate with the late king Werche. It was quite well known how much the king adored her. He met her while she was still learning about the routes in the maze. And during the night of the incident, Julianna was ordered to take the King's younger brother out of the castle and escort him to safety"
"Julianna Emore kidnapped our young prince out of worry for his safety. This is something which we strongly believed in. But then that very same night, she came back to the castle and the young prince was no longer with her. She was there right in the hall when the King was killed. Apparently she knew the leader of the 12 knights beforehand. And they were seen arguing together an hour before the incident took place"
A memory suddenly came to Kale's mind then. It was the image of Julianna Emore after she was found by her father wandering the maze like a ghoul. He had happened to see her one of those days he had come to check on Wrel.
She was a disaster lying down on all fours, her hair undone and covering her face. Her wails echoed throughout the walls of the Emore mansion, making him shiver.
To think that she had to see this much bloodshed in such a short span of time....
But...something didn't seem to fit right. Why on earth would she be seen arguing with the head of the 12 knights and then return back in time to see the king die? It almost makes it look as if someone was trying to frame her or trying to cover up something....
"What about the 12 knights? What happened to them?", Kale asked.
"The twelve knights were executed right after the 2nd coronation. But apparently 4 of them manage to escape during the execution. It is rumoured that Lady Julianna played a part in helping them escape"
"Did she believe in the 12 knights ideology? That only pure blooded royals should rule?"
"Maybe. Or maybe she was deceiving the king while her true intentions were with the commander of the 12 knights. No one will ever know what happened that knight except for the dead King, Julianna and the head of the 12th", the king concluded.
Something else picked at Kale's mind then. "Why are you trying to find the Crown Prince? Wouldn't it be easier for you if he stays hidden?"
"It will, but I am a weak king. I do not have the will to rule. Sooner or later someone else will take over the throne. And when that time comes I want the brother of the man who saved my life to be on the throne more than anything else", The king declared. He finally gave a weak smile. "Besides, we miss our baby brother. Just like we miss the late King, but we cannot afford to stay in his shadow forever."
"We only wish for what is best for our kingdom, nothing more", The queen stated.
"And we hope that you will change your mind Young Lord Liere"