Julie made sure that the door to her room was closed before taking the vial hidden under her pillow. She poured herself a glass of water and carefully turned the vial over stopping when three drops of the black liquid dropped into the bronze glass.
She sat down on the bed cross-legged, determined to get to the end of this by today. She will unlock her memories and she will make a decision. A decision that would decide whether she would stay in the underground city or would go back to the surface.
She tipped back the glass and emptied the contents whole. Then she laid down on the bed closing her eyes, waiting for the drug to kick in.
She waited for 5-10 minutes patiently.
Sleep did not come. She rolled to one side wondering whether the drug was supposed to make her fall asleep or not. Maybe it didn't have sleep-pill properties as she assumed.
Feeling stupid again, she got up and headed towards the door, a small voice inside her head telling her that the dwarf woman Guinevere from the potion shop had tricked her and ripped off Ashrynn.
She walked down the stairs, feeling annoyed more than ever. Kale and Vellona were sitting at the kitchen table discussion something in hushed tones.
Julianna gave him a glare, her thoughts still suspicious after she had seen Kale at the market and Ashrynn had suspected Kale of betraying her.
Kale seemed to be deeply immersed in his conversation as he didn't look at her. Or maybe he was pretending not to. Looking at him made her angry anyway so she moved away from the common room.
She could hear voices from the backyard and walked towards the back trying to find Rivela.
Then she heard it.
The sound of something ripping off.
Something hurt in the left side of her brain like someone was playing pin prick with her scalp and she touched the round walls for support.
The sound of ripping was louder now and she felt herself scream. Voices, more voices filled her thoughts, and she could hear the panicked sounds of Vellona and Kale. Rivela was probably crying again. Or was it Rivela? She couldn't understand anymore. Evrything was a blurred mass of bright images.
She saw someone smile at her from a distance a blurred visual of more memories. A glass palace, her running through the maze tunnels a mixture of faces she couldn't recognise, shouts, someone fighting
The sounds got louder till she was on the floor clutching her ears and the noise didn't stop, it wouldn't stop-
"๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ข?", ๐ข ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฆ๐น๐ช๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ. "๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ต๐บ. ๐ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ", ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ด.
"๐ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ", ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ฃ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ, ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ถ๐ด๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ.
A name suddenly came to her mind. Werche. Werche Arcene.
The scenery changed.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ. ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ต ๐ข ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ง๐ข๐ณ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ข๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ. ๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ณ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐จ๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด.
๐๐ด๐ฉ๐ณ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฏ ๐๐ญ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ง๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต ๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ข ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ข ๐๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐จ๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฆ๐น๐ช๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ข'๐ด ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ด๐ฉ๐ณ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฏ ๐๐ญ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ช๐ต ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ต ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ.
๐๐ด๐ฉ๐ณ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ. "๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ", ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐ด๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
The scenery blurred for a minute and then changed again.
๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ข ๐๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐จ๐ถ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ด๐ฉ๐ณ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฏ ๐๐ญ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐จ๐ณ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ, ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ข ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐จ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ, ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ณ. ๐๐ฆ๐จ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ข ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ.
The scene changed again.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ข ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ๐ญ๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ๐ด. ๐ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฃ๐บ, ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฃ๐บ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ค๐ณ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด. ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐น๐ช๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ถ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ. ๐ ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ง๐ช๐จ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ค๐ญ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ข๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ.
๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต.
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฆ-
The next scenery blurred badly. It was shaking making her feel strained. Her head hurt worse as she focused on Julianna Emore's final memory.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ข๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด, ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ.
๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ข ๐๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ท๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ข๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ขnd ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ต๐ณ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ข๐ง๐ฆ๐ต๐บ. ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ธ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ข๐ด๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ, ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฉ.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
"๐๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐๐ถ๐ท๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ", ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐บ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ. "๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ช๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ"
๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ข ๐๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ด๐ฉ๐ณ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฏ.
"๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐๐ด๐ฉ...๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ถ๐ท๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด-
๐๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐๐ด๐ฉ๐ณ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฏ ๐๐ญ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ณov๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ'๐ด ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ธ ๐๐ถ๐ท๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฉ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ธ ๐๐ถ๐ท๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐บ. ๐๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ข ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ด๐ฉ๐ณ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ
๐๐ด๐ฉ๐ณ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฏ ๐๐ญ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ'๐ด ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ. ๐๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ.
๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ข ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ, ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ข'๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ.
"๐๐ถ๐ฏ-
Julianna woke up gasping. She was lying on the table in Vellona Weretti's kitchen and Kale and Vell had surrounded her looking anxious.
"You!", she yelled realising who she was. She rolled over and fell down from the table.
"You're the person in the dark cloak. The one who took the heir away"
Vellona paused.
She looked at Julie with cold eyes as her mouth frowned into a sinister smile.
"It seems the little fairy's memories have returned"
Julie lunged at Vellona and halted as her neck came face with cold metal.
A sword.
And on the other end holding it was Kale.
"Don't move", he gritted through his teeth.
Julie felt the magic runes running through his mana blade. One slice and she would be dead instantly.
"How did you break the sealed memories?", Kale asked his eyes green and angry.
Julie was still breathing heavily, her head still hurting in all places. She swayed on the floor and pretended to fall down. Kale lowered his blade by an inch. Julie took it as a chance and kicked his blade away running towards the hall.
Where was the kid?
She heard the sound of footsteps scarily close and ran towards the yard where she had heard the sound of the child playing before.
Rivela, or Riler Arcane was sitting on the floor his long silver hair covering his face, his hands covered with mud. He looked so innocent, angelic even. Julie dashed towards the young heir picking him up. She need to hide him, protect him. The king and the others knew where she lived. It won't be long before he assembles his men and start infiltrating the house.
Julianna took a few steps out of the house running and stopped abruptly when something pulled at her hair. She screamed as Vellona clawed at her dark hair trying to grab the child from her hands. Julianna let go of the young heir screaming at him at the top of her voice. "Run! save yourself"
The boy stared at her in horror his muddied hands helpless. He had tears at the corners of his eyes. He really was young, way too young to be caught up in this mess. Vellona tried to grab at the kid but Julie kicked her feet. The child started to cry and ran back to the house.
The house no-
If Kale ever got his hands on the heir he would exchange the child for his freedom. That was the kind of person he was. Julianna tried to run back to the house but Vellona hit her neck in a blow and she fell down on the ground feeling numb everywhere all of a sudden.
"You need to take him away", she sobbed. "The heir is too young. The king is coming after him. Please take him away"
She told Vellona as she bound her hands at her back.
Footsteps suddenly lined upto her front. Julie raised her neck slowly to see Kale holding Riler in his hands. He had a serious expression on his face.
"She seems to have misunderstood the situation. Take her inside", he ordered Vellona.
Vellona grumbled something pulling Julie to her feet. Then she dragged her back to the kitchen.
**************************************
Julie was tied against a chair in the kitchen. Kale sat down in a chair in front of her sighing. He kept his blade close next to his feet.
Riler was in Vellona's hands. Julie looked at him anxiously worried for his safety.
"How much do you remember?", Kale asked rubbing his thumb over his fingers.
"Everything. My memory seal is broken", she said chocking on the last word.
"And you know that Rivela, or Riler Arcene here is the late King's heir? And the 12th's incident and your connection with Ashrynn Kleir, you remember it all?", he asked again.
Julie nodded shocked that he knew about all of this too. How long had Kale known about this? From the beginning?
"I got to know about this recently", he said reading her thoughts. "It was only yesterday that I confirmed that young Rivela here is a Prince and the missing heir of this country", he said rubbing his eyes. "Although it was quite clever of you to raise him like a girl, I have to admit", he said smiling at Vellona from the corner of his mouth.
Julie wasn't listening.
Yesterday he said. So what she saw yesterday was Kale visiting the King after all.
"So, who are you going to trade with the King?", Julie asked slowly. "The Young heir or me, now that I have all my memories back?"
The Prince looked at her, astonished. He covered his mouth with the back of his hand and turned away trying to hide his disbelief. "I don't even know why I am so surprised that you think so low of me"
Julie raised her chin a bit higher, trying not to look intimidated. "Don't try to play with your words. Just call the knights over to take me away already. You know that's the only thing that can be done now"
Vellona came over glaring. Julie shivered slightly. She still wasn't used to seeing this particular version of Vellona Weretti.
"Can I smack this woman? She seems to have zero trust in you, who took such risks to keep her alive", she said rocking a sleeping Riler on her shoulder.
"Listen Julianna. I am not going to abandon you. Nor am I going to abandon the heir", Kale said sighing. "I don't know what you're motives and plan are, now that you're memories have returned. But I have made my decision. And if you are still willing I will take you back to Liere"
"What about the heir? What are you going to do with him?", she asked suspiciously.
Kale paused for a minute before saying his answer.
"I am going to bring him back to Liere with me"
Julie stared at him.
She thought it over slowly. The heir was being hunted by the late King's knights and would continue being hunted as long as he lived here. It was an excellent solution, to bring him back to the surface world with them. That way he can grow up without being hunted throughout his life.
But then another thought appeared in Julie's mind. What about the upcoming war? Kale Liere and the rest of the Royals had absolutely no idea that the war would happen in the near future. Where would Riler stay when war breaks out in the capital?
She choose to worry about it later focusing on the more important things right now.
"I met Ashrynn Kleir in the underground market. He was the one who gave me the antidote to remove the memory suppressor", Julianna told them.
Vellona growled at the mention of Ashrynn's name. Julie couldn't really blame her. They both were the late King's first hand in commands. Ashrynn Kleir's betrayal must have been hard on her.
"Why did he approach you?", Kale asked suspiciously. "And why give you the antidote when he knew that you weren't going to forgive him for the late King's murder?"
Julianna shrugged. She had found it suspicious too. Ashrynn Kleir had no reason to trust her in the slightest way possible. She wondered what his ulterior motives might be.
"That's not what is important right now", Vellona said lying down Riler on the sofa. "What is important right now is to ask whose side you are on Julianna Emore", she said glaring at Julie.
Julie wondered how she managed to put on a mask and act so excellently all these days she stayed with her.
"I saw the previous king die in front of my eyes. And I could feel that the feelings Julianna had for the late Emperor was not the normal affection kind. I understand these memories of mine were suppressed because they contained dangerous information about the underground city. But this information was also suppressed because Julianna Emore took the King's death more personally than she should have", Julie said slowly remembering the painful memories.
She never wanted to experience them like that again.
"Apparently I was heartbroken", she whispered.
Silence followed after her comment.
Kale rubbed his neck turning his face away.
Vellona still glared at her on spot, her silver eyes burning an invisible hole through her soul.
And somewhere deep down within her, she realised that she deserved their hate.
"So..are you coming with us?", Kale asked still not looking at her for some reason.
Julie took a deep breath thinking it over.
The underground city was unknown to the rest of the world. It was hidden, and a perfect place for her to escape. That was precisely why 'Julianna Emore' had decided to flee here.
But that didn't really solve her problems. The people on the surface would never change and they would criticise her for the rest of her life to be.
And somewhere within all this mess, Julie missed Rex and Caine terribly.
"I..I'll go", she whispered suddenly feeling a dead weight on her chest.
"What?", Kale asked. He didn't hear her lie voice. "Is that a yes or a no?"
Julie wiped her face on her shoulder biting down on her lips to hold back the sudden emotion. "I'll come back with you"
Kale exhaled and leaned back in his chair relieved. Vellona tsked loudly and went back to look after the sleeping Prince.
Kale slowly untied Julie's hands from the chair.
"I want to do something before we leave, your highness", she whispered.
Kale raised his eyebrow. "What is it?"
"I think Ashrynn Kleir will keep hunting for the young heir, even after we take him to the surface. He desperately wants to keep the heir hidden with the 12 knights. There is not guarantee that he will remain here after we leave", she said remembering Julianna's memories.
Ashrynn Kleir was a knight before a hunter. And he still held an unspeakable grudge against the late King's family. He wanted the pure-bloods to rule. Also, there was something she wanted to confirm from him directly.
"I'll need your help with this. And if it works out, we'll be able to protect Riler"
Kale sat down with a serious look on his face. "I'm listening"
**************************************
Julianna waited patiently in front of the apple stand from earlier. She had sent a letter to Ashrynn earlier, telling him that her memories had returned and that she wanted to talk to him.
She was dressed heavily with the brown coat hiding the weight of the small blade she had stolen from Vellona. She hoped that she wouldn't have to use it.
Right on time, Ashrynn Kleir strode past the crowd, his black blindfold still in place, hiding that red eye of his. He looked a bit frantic, angry even and Julianna felt her confidence from earlier falter.
"What have you decided?", he asked her grabbing her by her shoulders immediately. "You said in your letter that you knew where the heir was. That means that you will help us, won't you?"
Julie shrugged his large hands from her shoulders trying to stay strong. "Is this how you treat someone who brings you information, Ash?", she asked remembering how 'Julianna' used to treat him before.
Ashrynn took a step back looking curiously at her now. "You've really regained your memories"
"Yes. And I say, I am not very pleased. You and your crew attacked the late king, someone who was our friend and went into hiding."
She took a step towards him. "I was forced to go home."
She took another. "I couldn't even come back to search for you and the rest of the knights."
She took a last step trying her best to stand upto his height.
"And what did you do? You ignored me and left my parents to deal with me. You couldn't be bothered to come looking after me, could you?", she taunted, trying her best to look haughty.
Ashrynn covered a bit. That cowardly expression had returned on his face. "You have seen how the security around this kingdom is. I didn't stand a chance"
Liar, Julie thought.
"Where is the heir?", he asked impatiently. "We need to take him under the 12 knight's protection immediately. There is so saying what the King might do, if he manages to find him"
"Ah yes, the child", Julie said rolling her eyes. "I found out where he was being hidden the moment after I regained my memories. I sweet talked my way into his caretakers schedule and I have managed to lure them out to a secluded place. You will have to be quick although. They might suspect something and leave before you get a chance to reach them-
"Take me there", he said pulling her by her arm.
Julie tried not to wince. His grip was hurtful, unlike the first time she had met him. His change in demeanour surprised her a little.
She sighed leading the way, trying to keep him occupied with conversation.
Ashrynn kept his silence as he followed her trail. She led him through the path, that she had memorised hoping that the guards nearby wouldn't have noted her amoung the crowd.
She led him towards the guild, where she had earlier went looking him for. Her heart thundered as she led him across the bridge and towards the guild. On the other side of the bridge would be Vellona Weretti and the young heir Riler Arcene. And if things went her way, everything would turn out right and no one will be hurt and they will manage to get away without involving others.
Ashrynn stiffened beside her once he recognised the guild. It was quite secluded place for a meeting. Julie thought that she had chose well.
"I came across this guild while I was searching for you the other day", she explained taking careful steps trying to avoid the knights nearby. "It's a nice place to meet people, don't you think?"
Ashrynn paused for a minute. "I guess this explains how you got my current contact information. Are they inside there?"
"This is where I asked them to be", she said pretending to look around. "They must have gone inside", she said opening the door of the guild, inviting him in.
Ashrynn halted in front of the door. He looked at her in suspicion.
Julie held the door open, hoping that he won't see the sweat building around her neck. Right on cue, the sound of a child's laughter was heard from inside the guild.
Julianna entered as if following the sound of the child she had heard. She heard the sound of footsteps behind her and inhaled slightly in relief.
The female attendant was talking to a figure in a dark clock. Holding the tall figure's hand was young Riler Arcene. He was holding a glowing ball in his hand.
She heard the knight behind her take in a deep breath at the sight of the child. Julie moved towards the female attendant smiling widely. "Hello Miss. Hope you are well today"
Julie pretended to be stuck in a conversation with the attendant and the tall figure in cloak. She could feel Ashrynn's patience growing thin with each word she exchanged. She turned around and smiled at him, in a way of telling him to come and meet the young heir himself.
Ashrynn didn't move.
Julie sighed loudly gaining the attention of the tall figure in cloak. "I'm really sorry. But my friend over there is too shy to meet the young one", she said touching Riler's hand gently. "Would you be kind enough to meet with him outside?", she asked slowly.
Riler raised his hand towards Julie and she held onto his hand slowly leading him towards out of the door. The person in the dark clock followed closely taking not to stray too far.
When they were at the door's entrance Julie halted the dark cloaked figure trying to ask them something as Ashrynn held the child's hand and moved him towards the bridge.
Julianna watched with patient eyes as the two of them walked slowly away from them. Ashrynn looked at Julie and gave her a nod as if he would take it from here, that he would take the heir back with him towards where the 12 knights were, where they could protect him.
Then he suddenly stopped in front of the bridge.
Ashrynn bent down on one knee looking amazed at the child. He bowed in front of the young heir.
"My lord", he said, his eyes looking only at him.
Then he drove a sword right into Riler Arcene's chest.