180 - The Runaways
The sun was bidding the sky farewell and the shadows of the trees grew with the increasing darkness.
It felt like they were being followed. Most especially, it felt like the trees were making a mockery of him.
He could hide at will but no, he couldn't hide from them. Not from this feeling of being followed, of being watched, of being seen, of being chased.
Akeem adjusted Delice on his back, not resting for a second.
He had been running for hours, not to try and find a way out of Lavida, he knew that the Princess might be at the mouth of the cave.
That was too risky.
No!
He was trying to get to one of the little villages surrounding any of the Province, even being in the Province would be better than being here where the Princess could find him.
But the Capital was large and he was armed with nothing but himself, and his Sire was unconscious on his back.
By now, she would have discovered that he had tricked her, by now she would have sent some of her guards to find him.
By the Blood, she had probably lied to the King about his involvement with the Volakys. Maybe she claimed that he and his Sire were responsible for the whole attack. She must have roped the Queen in it too since he had told her that he delivered the Extract to her.
By the Blood, this was a mess! There was no way he could go back, there was no one to help him.
Finally, after all the running, he tripped, his tired legs were of no help and he fell to the floor, his Sire hitting the ground.
He groaned, his hand finding the bark of a tree to support him, as he tried to go to his Sire and ensure that she was alright.
“Lady Delice!” He called out in a harsh whisper and she stirred, her hands slipping up to her face, the first thing she remembered being the slap Laura had delivered to her face.
Her eyelids fluttered open and for a second she looked around blankly before her eyes shone with realization and she jumped to her feet.
“My daughter–” the words slipped past her lips. “Akeem. Where are we?”
There were trees everywhere she turned and the darkness had now taken over the sky.
No!
She was supposed to be out of Lavida by now with her daughter!
“What happened?” Her voice was low but it didn't hide the fear she felt. She could still remember that Laura had been upset with her.
She had slapped her.
She couldn't remember what happened after that. She just couldn't!
“What happened?!” She rushed to Akeem, who looked up at her with tears in his eyes. That made her even more afraid. Akeem was never like this. He was strong.
“Where is my daughter? What did Laura do to my Medallion?”
“I don't know.” He finally made it to his knees. “Forgive me, Sire. I had to do it.”
The memory came to her in a flash.
After leaving Laura in her room, she had decided to say farewell to Akeem, but she didn't find him and she spent some time looking for him.
When she finally did, he had attacked her and knocked her unconscious with an herb he certainly didn't prepare.
Rage took over Delice's aura, and her eyes twitched as her fingers turned into claws.
“She sent you.” That wasn't a question. “How could you?”
Akeem wasted no time in explaining what really happened and Delice listened for as long as her worry could let her.
Laura wanted him to bring her back but Akeem had betrayed her. That answered nothing about her real worry though.
“What about my daughter?”
“I don't know. I escaped with you, Sire. I don't know of any other.”
Delice staggered to her feet, running in the direction she believed the Castle should be.
Laura was insane, it wasn't anything that Delice didn't know.
She must consider her daughter as the reason for their fallout. She had faked her death before when the child committed no sin against her besides being born, now that she could attribute a crime to her name, Laura would certainly be capable of more.
“My daughter, please don't touch my daughter.” She muttered as she ran and Akeem went after her.
“You can't go back, Sire,” Akeem called after her but she didn't listen.
She had been useless to her daughter before, she would not be useless to her again. She would bargain away her life just for her daughter to be saved. She would do anything.
Anything.
She passed through the trees in a blur and didn't stop until a sinister laugh rented the air and the familiarity in it made her freeze.
Sitting on a tree’s branch, to her right, was Laura.
The Princess had a maddening smile on her face, blood drizzled from the corners of her lips and her claws carved letters into the branch of the tree.
“Are you running back to meet me because you have missed me so much?” She asked, getting off the tree effortlessly and landing on her feet.
Delice took a step back. “Laura.”
“I am not the only one looking for you. The Kings’ guards are looking for you too.” The Princess folded her arms across her chest, the red leather jacket she wore glimmering lightly under the moonlight, her serpent-red eyes filled with mischief and contained rage, and her fangs out for blood and anything they could sink in.
“If your little plaything had the Extract in his possession, then you certainly had a hand in the attack. In fact, you were probably helping the Queen with her mastermind plan of bringing Lavida to ruins. You were once a dirty dog like them. You have a motive to help the kind you believe you were part of.”
Delice smile, a bitter one.
“Are those the lies you told the King?”
At that moment, she could hear more footsteps.
She was right, the King's guards were searching for her. She feared the wrath of the King if she were to be trialed upon these lies on the Execution Ground but more, she feared for the fate of her daughter.
“Should we let his guards find you so you can find out?”
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