Chapter 17: The Labyrinth of Death!

Selena frowned as she realized that Caro wasn’t an easy opponent. Being trained by the General himself from childhood, she had gone accustomed to winning every single time but he was an experienced warrior who saw throw every one of her moves.
Each of his moves were precise and calculated and she had a hard time blocking each one of them. She was forced to be on the defensive stance and she couldn’t even find a glimpse of an opportunity to turn the tide over and attack him.

She ducked as Caro’s sword came flying over her head, then slyly slid her right foot forward making Caro lose his balance and he stumbled for a split of a second but that was all she needed. It was the opening she had been waiting for. She began attacking him furiously, not even giving him a chance to regain his balance and counter attack.

Caro started getting flustered at Selena’s sudden aggressive attacks while the crowd’s cheers went on getting more and more loud. Her sword skills were swift and precise.
Caro had no doubt in his mind at all that she was a seasoned warrior, trained since birth and he immediately felt an immense respect to the one who trained her, the General of the royal army of Valyria.

Seeing a small gap of an opening, Caro dodged her sword and pointed his sword at her throat, the edge of his sword touching her throat subtly. He flashed a proud smile at her, then frowned as he saw the smug look on her face.

“Watch your back, Your Highness”, she said smugly and Caro followed her gaze and cursed internally while the crowd erupted into cheers.

It wasn’t just his sword which had breached the opponent’s defenses. Her sword was precisely placed on his back. One slight thrust and he would bleed to death.

He let out a sigh and let go of her and took a step back and bowed. Even though it was a tie, it felt like he had lost. She was only a quarter of his age and she was able to fight with him like an equal. If it weren’t for his original qualities which landed him an advantage over normal vampires, she would definitely have him beat, fair and square with his back landed on the ground shamefully.

She smiled smugly at him and returned his bow. Caro smiled as he realized that she was quite a cocky woman. He was more sure of his decision now. This was a woman who he respected both as a man and as a king. He wanted to make her his queen…..A queen who wouldn’t hesitate to ride into battle with him……and a woman who would make him feel the things that no other woman ever could.

The King watched in stunned silence. For the first time in his life, he felt proud of his daughter and decided not to shun her anymore. He found himself thinking that she too deserved a second chance.
The king decided to hold back his announcement of declaring Andrew as the heir apparent for now as his daughter too was starting to show some real potential.

Just then several guards broke into the crowd and pranced forward hurriedly.
Selena frowned as she saw the royal guards of her mother approaching her from a distance. What did they want with her?

One of them bowed his head and said in an urgent tone, “Your Highness, the Queen requests your presence at once.”
Selena froze and stole a look at Caro, surprised by the sudden turn off events and judging by the expression on his face, he was taken aback too.

“What happened?”, Selena said in a calm tone, which she didn’t quite feel.
“Follow us”, the guard said formally, still not making eye contact with the princess.

Selena did as she was told and followed the guards and so did Caro and the rest of the crowd. She frowned as she realized that the guards were running out of the palace and she too increased her speed to keep up with them.

Within seconds, they had crossed over Valyria and entered the forbidden forest.
Selena had an uneasy feeling in her stomach and she suddenly found herself dreading what was to come. She gulped as she took in the very familiar surroundings and tried desperately to not delve in her early memories of this wretched place.

Caro looked perplexed as well as to why the Queen had called her daughter into the forbidden forest. Even the crowd following them was confused and so was the King who was still disguised as a common pheasant.

She saw the Queen standing all calm and composed in front of the labyrinth of death and she froze and narrowed her eyes dangerously at her mother.
Caro froze as he saw the maze and shot a curious look at the Queen, wondering why the hell she had called her daughter here of all places.

The Queen smiled smugly at her daughter, then widened her eyes innocently and said out loud, “Your friend seems to have lost his way and got himself stuck in the maze.”

Blood boiled in Selena’s veins as she realized that this had been the Queen’s plan all along and Demetri had gone missing since this morning. She had thought that her mother had given up on that idea since she had stopped pestering her for the last couple of weeks, but clearly, she was mistaken.

“He just happened to stumble upon the maze in the middle of the goddamn forbidden forest which is a mile away from the palace, did he?”, Selena spat at her with venom in her voice and Caro shot a surprised look at her.

He didn’t know that the relationship between the mother and daughter was this strained and no matter how much he pondered over the matter, he still couldn’t figure out what the Queen was up to.

The King, not being able to take it any longer, jumped out from the crowd. The Queen jumped startled at seeing her husband emerge from the crowds.

“What is going on?”, came his loud, clear voice and the Queen flinched, caught unaware.
She bowed deeply to the King and as did the crowd and everyone present including Caro and Selena, everyone caught by surprise.

“Your Highness, it seems as if Mia’s aide had trapped himself in the maze by accident”, the Queen explained the situation calmly while Selena shot a death glare at her mother.

It was clearly her who put her in. How shameless can she be?
She shook her head disappointedly at her mother and wrapped her fingers into fists, her eyes already scanning the labyrinth stealthily.

The king let out a sigh, then declared solemnly, “Well, there is nothing anyone can do here. He can’t be saved. Mia, my condolences for your loss, I am sure he was a great friend but nothing can be done now. No man has ever come out of that place alive”

“Yeah…No man has”, the Queen repeated smugly, shooting a triumphant look at her daughter.
Selena took a deep breath, bracing herself for what was about to come. She couldn’t leave Demetri in there. She of all people who had experienced everything firsthand in there couldn’t let him suffer in that wretched place and she can’t afford to waste time arguing because every second he spends in there, he loses his sanity bit by bit.

Demetri had been her companion since childhood. They played together….they fought together. She couldn’t even bare to think of the possibility that something might have happened to him. She knew for a fact that if he was in place of her, he wouldn’t have hesitated to step in to the maze.

Without warning, she took into a run, headed straight towards the maze, shocking Caro and the onlookers.
Within a blink of an eye, she had already entered the labyrinth and Caro found himself standing with an open mouth at her bold action. She had just entered the labyrinth of death to save her comrade. The Queen let out a relieved sigh as things went along exactly like she had hoped.

Caro wanted to go after her desperately but was stopped by his attendant.
“Your Highness, I know that you adore the first princess but you have a kingdom to think of. You can’t just recklessly go in there forgetting your own people.”

Caro let out a sigh and shifted his weight from one leg to another, not being able to handle the pressure.
The King stood frozen too, both surprised as well as horrified at his daughter’s abrupt action.