She flinched at his touch.

Amelia’s brain, if anything, was only running on pure adrenaline at the present moment. Her eyes continued to flicker from Tobias’ face to Antoine’s lifeless body on the ground. Her heart was thumping so loudly in her ears that she could barely make out the man’s words which sounded as if he was underwater. 

Her eyes squeezed shut, causing the tears that had formed in her eyes to roll down her cheeks, and shook her head as if it would help her focus. “Yes, yes.” Her whispering voice quivered albeit the desperate attempt to not sound so weak. “The, uh, the King. He had a network of tunnels built under the Kingdom long ago. They haven’t been used in decades, however. No one knows of them.”  

After wiping the tears on her face with a sleeve, she peered down to the body on the floor. Oh, poor Antoine. Amelia wasn’t sure if she quite understood what had happened; all she knew was that he wasn’t himself. He was too gentle, too sweet to act the way he was. Whatever had been attacking her must have possessed him. 

“Let’s go,” she instructed sternly as she signaled him to exit the prison complex with her. If she remembered correctly, one of the entrances to the tunnels was on the north line of trees and hidden by brush, but finding it may prove difficult for the pair. She grabbed a torch that was staked into the ground and held the other hand on her scabbard. They could overhear the shouting and conversations of the guards scrambling around the camp, and Amelia had figured they were planning their mission to find the King’s assassin. 

The prisoner, or now Tobias, seemed to have been all too knowledgeable of what these entities were capable of, and most importantly, how to destroy one. Could there not have been to a way to save the man in possessed? Did it have to come down to murder? 

“You cannot be seen,” she whispered to the man she led around to the back of the building. She peered around each corner as she handed him the torch, and then she turned her body completely towards him with a serious expression on her face. “I do not know why I am bringing you with me. Antoine was the only one I had. I – “ She paused as she felt the emotions come flooding back to her. “I have no problem killing you if the situation calls. I do not know what ‘contract’ you have, but I am hoping it includes being noble.” 

The odd sense of trust Amelia had felt in the man was strange enough to make her want to not trust him at all. A man so well informed on such dark matters could have any sort of power over her mind; it was probably best that she kept her distance. She would have to come up with a story as to why the demon was calling for “Clara” instead of “Amelia.” There were a few possibilities, like explaining that she went by Amelia because she hated her real name, or to further push along the fable that the King had taken her in, he renamed her when he brought her into the region. She didn’t feel as though she should tell him about her true connection to the King, not yet, although the demon had already seemed to know of it. 

[i]”No King or Queen will ever displace you ever again.”[/i]

She turned back around once again to scan the dark horizon. “We must run for the tree line to the north. There,” she pointed. “There should be a wooden door covered by a thick brush. We will have to dig for it quickly before a guard crosses out path or they find Antoine in your cell.” She took a deep breath before bolting from behind the wall and kept her body low until both nearly dove into the greenery surrounding the camp. 

“[i]Merde,[/i]” she mumbled as she picked herself off of the ground and brushed the dirt off of her. “Where are you, where are you, where are you?” Amelia began frantically digging through the barbed shrubbery, ignoring the blood beginning to seep from her hands, until she saw the door half way covered with dirt. 

“Ah,” she exclaimed. “Help me.” 

Together, they lifted the door quietly and descended a ladder until they reached the floor of the tunnel, and she swiftly grabbed the the torch from Tobias. “Okay,” she began quietly as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. “We must continue north. The end of this tunnel lets out in the middle of the woods. From there, we shall figure out the rest.” 

As they navigated through the dark, her thoughts flashed to both her father and her lover. Her father, she wasn’t sure as to why it tore her apart like this – she had lost him a long time ago. It was probably the fact that Lucía was the cause, or at least, she assumed. Every time thoughts of her mother arose, it was as if Amelia could still feel the sting in her back from the night the mysterious man watched her get whipped repeatedly by Lucía. And her lover. Antoine. The vision of his icy body sat like a rock in her head.

They approached a ladder that led to another wooden door above them, and after letting out a sigh, she climbed up the ladder to attempt to open it. It wouldn’t budge. “There must be something on top of it. A rock, perhaps.” She looked down to Tobias below her and sighed. “Please, come help me.” 

Once they were both pushing against the door, Amelia tried to ignore the the uneasy feeling she got of having the strange man in such close proximity to her. One as mysterious as he. The one who killed Antoine.

With a final grunt, the wooden door above them flew open to the ground, and Amelia climbed out first and plopped down onto the dirt for a moment. Tall, dark trees towered over them as if to peer at the new guests to the forest. It was nearly silent besides a small breeze rustling the leaves and a few crickets chirping around them. Although logically, she figured they would have to keep moving, but without any directive, Amelia began to feel what she had been pushing off since she was in the cell. 

Grief. 

On her hands and knees, she crawled to the trunk of the nearest tree, put her palms up to the rough bark, and rested her forehead on it before letting herself cry. A slight attempt was made to be quiet and keep her dignity, but it proved to be too much to hide. The small life she had worked to build for herself was now gone, and now, with the kingdom in the hands of Lucía, only more trouble could be on its way. 

After collecting herself, she turned her head to eye the man. "You said," she began, voice wavering, "you were sent out to find where the first attack would be. You found it. Now, what? What is your objective?"

[center] ***** [/center]

“My, my, my,” the Queen shook her head in mock disappointment as she entered the prison cell. “[i]Niño ingenuo[/i], I could have told you she would ruin you.” She tugged at a strand of hair that was laced around his stiff fingers and eyed it. “Ah. Clara.” It was long and a light brown, unlike her sisters’ raven black hair. Even with such simple things, her youngest daughter could never blend in with the rest. 

The hatred she felt for her estranged child grew more each day, and the love that her father had possessed for Clara made it stronger, and now with him dead, she could finally have free reign to dispose of her however she saw fit. But, she would love to watch her suffer first. 

She swiveled away from Antoine’s body and turned to the men who had escorted her in. “Send out a bounty for Amelia Bell and the Nazarite Knight, Tobias Hawkings. I want them both alive.”

Two guards dashed off after receiving their orders, and Lucía turned back to Antoine briefly. 

“[i]Ella se unirá pronto[/i].”

The screams began outside, making a smirk slowly tug at her lips. Demons were beginning to make their way into the camp to find their hosts. It was something quite beautiful. 

A guard walked in to the cell and came up behind her, slowly running his hands over her. “My Queen,” he whispered into her ear, and usually such banter would cause a similar action within her, but she pulled away and turned around to him. “Not now. There is work to be done.” 

The guard let out a beastly growl before exiting, and she smiled in satisfaction. Soon, she hoped, she would have the Nazarite Knight feeling the same way.