"Get up! Get up!", Alora said.
He was gripping onto his thigh real bad. His hand was coated in his blood. The mysterious lady had struck him with a magical fire blast. He let go of the wound and the flame went right through barely missing the bone. It was bad, he couldn't stop bleeding. He held as much he could but he was losing too much blood way too fast. He tore off his sleeve and wrapped it around the wound. He let of the sleeve and it was quickly trenched in his blood
"Just go.", he clinched onto the wound applying more pressure. "She coming there's no point in both of us dying."
Alora stood there and a thousand thoughts were going through her mind. The carrier bag was in her arms and she tossed it on the ground. She opened the bag and it was full of letters. She rushed through them and stuffed a handful of them in her back pocket. She stuck her head at the edge of alley way and saw
the mystery lady with a group of Enforcers.
She was ordering them to look around the alley ways. Alora had never seen fear on any of the faces of the Imperial Enforcers but she saw how they flinched whenever she spoke.
Alora grabbed Kai's arm and picked him off the ground. She draped his arm over her shoulders.
"The mission is too important. Let me be. Find the others."
"Can't let that happen."
She dragged him all the way through the alley way. They looked to their right and saw the Imperial Enforcers searching the perimeter. Alora turned to her left and saw a pathway leading to the food market.
She dragged Kai through the pathway that led to the market. The pathway was surrounded by the many glamourous homes of the central district. Alora heard a ruckus from the rooftops but kept on moving. People were staring at them as they went about their business.
They had reached the food market and the sea of aromas flooded their noses. There was food as far as the eye could see. They walked through the market, Kai kept on turning his head itching for the Enforcers to find them. They were no where in sight.
They came across an older lady's food stand. She was selling all kinds of fruit.
"I know you.", the old lady said.
Alora stopped and Kai kept on hopping on his one good leg.
"The bracelet.", she said, "You're the princess."
The woman came out from the back of her stand and gave Alora a heartfelt hug.
"I've always wanted to meet a royal. Can't wait to tell my grandson about this. I finally got to meet a royal. Me."
"We need your help.", Alora said.
"Anything for you your highness.", the lady assured her.
"We are wanted by some enforcers and a mage. We need to get away. somewhere far from here."
"Anything for a royal."
She led them at the back of her stand they waited for her while she went inside. Alora laid Kai down gently by the wall of the stand. She looked around the market and she could see people scampering around.
"Bastards.", she thought to herself.
The old lady came out and had two long red cloaks in hand and handed them to Alora and Kai. They put them on and they walked through the market.
"We were always told that the Princess died alongside everyone else in the raid but look at here.", the lady said, "I guess that was just another lie from the Vallath. But I always knew."
Kai's wound had a burning itch. He held onto it ever so tightly.
"My grandson always bought into that Vallath propaganda crap.", the lady said "I know the monarchy had its flaws but I would take them any day over the Vallath."
Kai looked back and saw the Imperial Enforcers harrassing merchants. The enforcers saw Kai and started running. Alora started to move quickly.
"You will just get us both caught.", Kai said.
"I thought we already went over this.", Alora said, "I'm not leaving you."
The Enforcers were only a matter of moments away from catching them. They reached a crossroad and went left. A red mist flooded the ground beneath their feet and the mysterious lady emerged from the mist.
They tried to turn back but they were surrounded by Imperial Enforcers. They had their firearms pointed at their heads.
"They haven't done anything wrong.", The old lady said.
"Conspiring against the Imperial Order.", the lady said, "We've been observing you Tyrants for years now and quite frankly it's time we remove the weeds. Fire at my command."
The Enforcers locked and loaded their guns and were just itching for her command.
"Wait!", Alora screamed, "Don't shout please. Take me as your prisoner and spare these two."
"Your life has of no value to me.", The Lady said, "I have no use for you being alive."
"I am Princess Alora daughter of King Erik.", she said, "I am the rightful heir to the throne of Sarania."
The lady put up her hand and the Enforcers put down their guns. She smirked at Alora. She stretched out her hand and the red mist beneath her feet went flying at Kai. It went through his nose, his mouth, his ears and eyes. It consumed him from the inside out draining every bit of life he had. His skin began to darken, his eyes were bleeding and so was his nose and ears.
He was screaming in unbearable pain. His body levitated and every bone in his bones snapped.
His body came crashing to the ground, Alora rushed to go check on him. He was nothing but a decade old corpse. His skin was shriveled and grey and was merely hanging on his bones.
Alora got up and grabbed a firearm from one of the enforcers. They all locked their weapons at her. They all screamed her ordering her to put the weapon down.
"I said stand down.", the lady said.
They all put their firearms down. Alora was angry, her vein at the side of her forehead was about to burst. Her eyes lit up in a rage. She pointed the gun at the lady.
"We had a deal!", she screamed, " And now he's dead."
She fired the gun and the lady waved her hand at the bullet and it went flying in the air. Alora shot rapidly and all the shots she fired went flying in the sky.
Alora dropped the gun, she clutched her fist and went charging it her. She threw a punch and the lady lifted her using the red mist.
She wrapped it around her body and held it tightly on her neck. Alora was fading and fading quickly. Her skin was nearly purple and her eyes were reddening. She was fighting for every breath she could get. She stopped fighting and just laid in the hands of the mist.
She passed out and the lady brought her down gently. She was out. The lady called for an enforcer.
"Arrest her.", she said.
"What do we do about the old lady?", the enforcer asked.
"Let her go."
"Understood."
The old lady went running away and the enforcers carried Alora's unconscious body out of the market.
The lady stood over Kai's corpse and heard flies swarming around it. She placed her hands on his chest for a few seconds and stood in silence. She got up and conjured a portal and walked right through.
They had been waiting in line for hours and they were finally next. The man who had the list of appointments had been calling out names from morning, his throat was dry and his lips were drier. "Complaint 66!", the man shouted. Azarian and Nancy stood up from their seats. They walked up to the man and they could see that man had a long day."The captain will see you now.", he said.They entered the captain's office. His office glamorous and filled with things he had collected over the years. Honour medals cased in glass, portraits of him and his comrades fifty years ago when the war effort resumed. He was younger then, he had a full head of black hair and had a charismatic charm in his eyes. The captain was seated at his desk signing some paperwork sent by the Imperial Office in the Capital. He didn't move when an inch when Nancy and Azarian walked into the room. Azarian and Nancy sat on the chairs that faced his desk. "Excuse me sir.", Nancy said. The Captain put down his pen a
"Oh good you are awake now.", The lady said. Alora couldn't move her body. She was laying on the cold hard prison floor. She tried to speak, her mouth didn't move. She grunted loudly trying to speak, her mouth couldn't utter the words."Palrugos.", the lady said, "An old paralysis spell used by mages during the war of ages." The lady smiled and paced around the small prison cell."I don't think we've properly met Princess.", she said, "I am Jade, daughter of Emperor Sebastien and hand to the Emperor. We've been monitoring your resistance movement for years now, every move you made we watched." Alora tried moving again. Her fingers twitched and she grunted even louder."The spell will wear off eventually. If I were you I wouldn't fight it.", She bent down and faced Alora. "I thought we killed every royal but here I am in the midst of the princess herself.", she said, "Never did I think that a royal was even in the resistance but again here I am surprised. Father is going to love th
"Come on my boy.", his father said, "It's the night." Azarian got out of bed, he grabbed his favourite warm winter coat on the rack. His father lit a lamp and they left the cottage. It was cold that night, like most nights during that winter. The snow fell underneath the sky full of stars and the glimmering moon. The cottage was in the middle of the forest away fifteen miles away from Sarania. The forest itself wasn't to pleasant, every night ever since he was born Azarian heard a rumbling growl. It scared him everytime. Azarian and his father walked into the forest. He heard the growling beast from the far distance. He was shaken and was on heels. His father looked down on him and saw the terror written all over his face. "Give me your hand.", he said. Azarian reached out his hand and his father placed it in his. His hand was small and soft, not a wound on it, it was innocent. "Where are we going papa?", Azarian asked underneath his breathe."I haven't been honest with you.", h
Day 3 In Salkatar PrisonAlora hadn't eaten ever since she was thrown into prison. The prison guards tried to get her to eat but she threw the disgusting slimy maggot infested food at the wall every time. "The other prisoners wouldn't be happy if they saw that.", Walna said, "Extra maggots, a delicacy here." Alora laid on her bed and shrugged herself in silence. She couldn't stop thinking about it, she replayed Kai's death. She could still hear his bones snapping like twigs and the image of the very life leaving from his body but the thing that was the clearest of all was Jade's cynical smile. She relived the moment the entire afternoon, going through the trauma again. A prison guard came banging at their cell with a bat. "Yard time!", he shouted, "Yard time!". He shouted those words on and on while the deafening noise of metal clashing against metal made their ears bleed. Walna got off her bunker and Alora was still lost in her thoughts. "I said yard time!", he banged the bat
The Landlord opened the door and two filthy rats chased each other out of the room. They vermin crawled inbetween the Landlord's legs. He crushed the rat's skull at the edge of his boot. His black leather boot coated in its blood."That's serves you right for coming on my property!", he yelled at the headless vessel "Bloody shitty vermin!" Azarian watched as he squeezed out every ounce of blood from the poor creature. The landlord was a very large man, rare for a pure breed Vallathian. His gut pressed against the fabric of his shirt. He didn't have a strand of hair on his head but his grey long ruggegged beard was quite the sight to witness."The finest rest in all of the Capital.", he said spontaneously, "Travelers pay good units for this place." The room was a disaster. The once beautiful floral wallpaper that covered the entire room was pealing off the walls. The ceiling boards had brown soak stains from the room above. The wooden planked floor was creaking everytime someone m
Day Five Alora hadn't seen Walna ever since the guards took her away. She had asked a few of the other inmates in Wing D for two days about what exactly the box is and what happens there. They all said their different vague things about the box but the one thing they all said at the end was,"Its where the sun never shines and where it never will."The day was over, Alora had just gotten out of the shower. She was walking along the hall and saw two guards casually having a chat. The guards looked familiar to Alora and then it hit her, they were part of the mob that beat up Walna a few days prior. "And that's the problem with these fucking non-humans, they disgust me the whole lot of them.", she over heard one guard say. "Trust me these past few days have nothing but a thrill dealing with that filthy fairy. I haven't had a rush like that in ages." the other guard said. She walked past them and she heard them laugh loudly, probably about what they did to Walna for the past few days.
He walked down the street and found the house. He knocked at the door twice. "I'm coming!", he heard a manly voice shout at the other end of the door. He waited for a while and no one came at the door. He knocked again. "I heard you the first time!", the man shouted, "Hold your horses." The man opened the door and it was the man he saw put up posters in the forest days ago. He even looked more tired than the time he saw him in the forest. Azarian removed the poster from his satchel and showed it to him. The man's dead face lit up in rage and confusion."Is this some bloody joke to you?", his voice heightened, "I don't see my daughter anywhere. Get the fuck out of my face." "Please I just want to talk." "What is there to talk about huh?", he said, "I don't see my daughter with you."He grabbed the poster out of Azarian's hand. "READ THE FUCKING POSTER!", he shouted. He tore the poster in front of his eyes. He walked away into the house and slammed the door shut. Azarian was p
Day 10 The sun was slowly setting. The air had become cooler and the sand beneath their feet cold. "Times up!", the guard shouted, "Put your tools down and proceed to the canteen for dinner!" The prisoners put down their tools along side their legs. The guards went round collecting them. Alora and Walna put down their tools and stood waiting for a guard to come collect them. "My hands have blisters.", Alora said. "That's what happens when you spend your entirely life in a palace and come down to reality." Walna said, "Isn't pretty is it?" "It's funny because I've always heard gruesome stories from father about this place. I guess he was right." "Accurate description of hell." A guard had come to collect the tools. "No talking you two.", he said, "Go to the canteen now for dinner." Alora and Walna walked away from the guard and headed to the canteen.They walked in a herd of chained prisoners. Alora kept her eyes on her blister filled hands, they caused her uncomfortable pain