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I hope you are enjoying the story so far. Please leave a review or a comment to tell me whether I should continue with the fanfiction. I have some great ideas for the direction of the story so I would love to get some feedback on how I am doing.
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Tash xx
Chapter 2
I wish I could wipe the smug look off his face. The smile he keeps throwing around at all the Silvers around him, the generals, the soldiers, the women who stop to look at the new king. I thought this was a war camp. Looks more like a parade. How did Farley not know about this. They must have organised it in advance since there is a turn up. People must have travelled in.
Evangeline is there with him. Of course. The minute I saw her perfect hair and the perfect crown sitting on top of her head, I could guess why she was here. Similar to the tour Maven went on, the royals love showing off. I never thought Cal would be that way, but I guess people can change and surprise you. The whole image I am seeing makes me angry. I glance back at the rest of my crew because right now they are more confused than ever. I walk back to them, and by walk I mean crouch down like an old man so im not caught.
"What the hell is happening Mare?" Cameron asks. I can hear the fear in the voice. I don't blame her, she hears the commotion but can't see what I just saw.
"This is going to be harder than I thought" I say shaking my head. "Cal is here. And Evangeline. And a whole crowd." I shake my head still not believing what I just saw. "It's a party" I say in a mock tone.
"What?!" Kilorn shouts. Cameron punches him on the arm no doubt so that his little moment doesn't go noticed by the Silvers directly behind us.
"Cal is here?" Cameron repeats. I noticed that Cal and Cameron grew some sort of bond during the last couple of months. He helped her and I think she secretly admired him as much as she pretended she didn't. Its hard to warm to a silver. Especially when he is the crown prince. King. Who knows what he is anymore. Honest is one thing I know he is not.
"Yes. And his fan club. And his wife and the entire guard. No wonder this place is buzzing" I look back, scanning my next move. The plan to go unnoticed and knock out a couple of guards is not going to plan. This requires some more thought.
"How did Farley not know this. At least to warn us" Kilorn says shaking his head. I know how he feels. Farley knows everything so for her to have missed this bit of information is strange. Unless they aren't sharing their glory tour. I take a mental note to ask her about it when we get back. If we survive or even make it back at all.
"We don't have time to discuss it, all I know is we have to stick to the plan, with a few minor adjustments." I make sure my boots are secure. This plan requires running. Even though I hate this plan, it is the only one that will distract the crowd enough to get us to the Reds. The only one that will work. "I'm going to be the distraction. You guys stick to the original plan. If I am not at Blackbird within the next 30 minutes, leave. I will find my way back to camp.
"Mare. No" Kilorn protests and I can see that he is thinking about what Maven did to me. Losing me again. I place my hand on his shoulder.
"Trust me. This is the only way. Ill make it back. Just get everyone to blackbird within the next 30. If I am not back, leave. I will find my way back. I promise". I hate promising but I refuse to not make it back. I cant stay in a Silver prison ever again and I refuse to go anywhere with Cal. Failure is not an option.
I motion for everyone to scatter. I slowly run as far as I can towards the other side of camp. I need to get all the guards away from Cameron and Kilorn. When I am as far away from them as I can be I take a deep breath. This is going to be hard. This goes against the 'don't let Cal see you' rule.
I see a guard, his back is towards me and he is talking to a lady, no doubt trying to have his way with her. Young, pretty and blonde the girl is. She is wearing a nice dress and boots so she doesn't get her dress dirty. Part of the King and Queen's glory tour. I can see because there are plenty of women here. Men too. No children that I can see. It all looks too familiar. This is what royals do, mingle and drink and pretend that people aren't dying and suffering everyday. It makes me sick. Makes what I am about to do easier.
I jump out of the shrub, sprinting towards the guard. Im fast and when I have my eye on a target I prosper. The young lady spots me and screams, no doubt scared out of her mind by the rogue red barrelling towards her. This alerts the guard, and the guards all around us. I can see from the corner of my eye the commotion, hear the guards yell out orders. The guard doesn't have enough time to react though because by the time he turns I have jumped up and tackled him to the ground. The young lady falls back too from the shock of it all. I lay in a couple of hits, knocking him out. In one swift motion I grab the girl, pulling her up by her hair. I take the knife out of my thigh holster and place it against her neck. Brutal I know, but it has to be done. She wimpers. Silvers are scared of torture and dying but never spared any thought for the reds. The years of torture we had to endure under their reign. The guards are all running towards me.
"Take one more step and I slit her throat!" I yell making eye contact with the guard closest to me. They all stop. I can see their bodies angling closer to me, no doubt thinking of ways to strike me. I see the crowd gather in anticipation.
"Listen to what she says" a voice says. Cal. I could pick his voice out of a crowded room. I hate this but I have to look at him. We make eye contact and I forget what I am doing.
His tall frame comes into view, his familiar stance. The stance of a soldier. He always looked like a soldier, even now as the King. His thick black hair is perfect, his bronze eyes go right through me. They bring back the memory of the night he woke me up and told me to kiss him. When I asked him why he said because he couldn't sleep without me kissing him goodnight. I kissed him that night more times than I could count and kissed his scars until they took me all over his body. The scars he kept as trophies. Was I a trophy? A scar he had to keep to show that he survived. Was that all I was. I shake off the memories and look back at the guard in front of me. I cant look at Cal. "Mare.." he says slowly. "Mare, let the girl go" he repeats my name softly, as if talking to a frightened animal, who was just hunted and lays there dying. I feel like I'm suffocating under his gaze. A week Mare. I tell myself its been a week, its normal to still be affected.
"I can't do that" I say and take the knife and plunge it in the girls right thigh, straight through the meaty part, and then quickly pull it out. It will heal I tell myself. She screams and buckles under her weight. Silver blood stains my knife and I turn and sprint the other way. This is the distraction part, the part where they chase me and I run as far as I can without them catching up. Hopefully every guard, or most guards, chase me too so that Cameron and Kilorn can stick to the plan to get the red captives out.
I run as fast as I can, my legs pumping hard, the adrenaline kicking in as I swing my arms back and forth, the knife still in my right hand. I jump over bushes and dodge trees. I run the same way I did with Cal. Cal. He would be the only one who can keep up with me. I glance back and see the guards struggling with their uniforms to keep up. And Cal. I see Cal running. His crown is nowhere in sight and his suit jacket is gone. He is running after me, fast and hard. I swear under my breath. This was not supposed to happen. He was supposed to stay back and keep the calm between the soldiers and general public. My legs push harder, my stomach contracting and my muscles working overtime. I am trying to breathe and run and focus in front of me. On my next move. I cant think about Cal behind me.
I get to a clearing and I keep the pace, an open field is a good chance to gain more ground. I was always faster than Cal when I had nothing to dodge, just a straight path. I see trees and another clearing, I have to separate from them all once I get to the trees. I glance back and see Cal leading the pack, the muscles working hard as his shirt rises and I catch a glimpse of his stomach. The guards are barely keeping up. I don't blame them, Cal is a soldier above all and works hard to make sure he is strong and fit.
Once I get to the clearing of the trees I keep running, moving in and out of the forest and trying to find somewhere I can hide. My body starts to feel the burn. On an uphill run I manage to get out of Cal's line of sight, I run down the other side of the hill as fast as I can and run straight towards a tree, clutching on and start climbing. My hands feel the splinters dig in, but I keep pushing, my boots not letting me down. One thing I learnt this week is that these boots have great grip. I push hard all the way up the tree, until I am out of sight. I cant see below and that means they cant see me. It only took me a couple of seconds to climb. I just hope Cal still couldn't see where I went.
I hear guards, yelling and panting. Weapons are drawn and I hear the leaves and sticks beneath their feet as they continue running. Past me it seems. I don't make a sound, just push my body against the tree and hope that they ran past and followed Cal further into the forest. I stand there for what seems like forever but cant be more than a few minutes. I don't have too much time.
It must have been 10 minutes since Cameron and Kilorn would have infiltrated the camp. That means at least 10 reds have been taken to Blackbird. I cant waste more than 5 minutes in this tree before I have to run back to Blackbird. I catch my breath and think. Think how I have to save my strength to run back. My mouth is dry, the sweat is beading on my forehead. Ill make it. I have to. I wait 5 minutes. Nothing has moved and no one is below me. I know that for a fact. I risk the climb. I have 15 minutes to get back to Blackbird, and I have to take the long way since I ran the complete opposite direction getting away from Cal and his minions.
I climb down, stopping only once to see if anyone was below me but nothing. I get all the way down and jump, quickly scanning the area. No one is around. I start to jog back to where I first came from trying to save my energy for the sprint across the open field. I run back up the hill and back down the other side, my legs pumping. I keep jogging and feel a presence behind me, coming hard and fast. I turn and see Cal running full speed towards me.
My heart stops. He knew. He knew I would climb the tree. I swear under my breath again. I should have known. I start running faster but he is already too close and I feel him hit me hard from behind as he tackles me down. Our bodies roll forward, his arms still gripping the side of my body as we collided and the speed he was going at and the speed that I was moving pushing us forward aggressively until we come to a stop. My body hurts. The tackle hurt.
I quickly push myself up but he is already on me pinning me down. His body pressing against mine as he straddles me, my arms he pins above my head and then he kisses me. Hard and fast on the mouth. I taste the blood, the sweat. Both of us panting from the exhaustion. He kisses me hard, pinning my mouth and head down so that I cant move it an inch. The kiss feels angry. He is angry, probably because I stabbed the girl and because I ran and he had to chase me. Angry because I didn't respond to his messages and notes. Angry because I didn't choose him. I am angry too, because of everything we are and everything we cant be. I feel his tongue pry my lips apart and I give in, kissing him back. The kiss gets more intense by the second, we are both leaning into it, our bodies pressing together. His grip on my arms tighten and I hear him moan under his breath. I want to rip his shirt off, I want him to touch me and kiss me all over and I want these clothes to be off us. I want him. But I cant. I move my head suddenly, a yell escaping me as I realise this cant be anymore. This cant be us anymore.
"Stop! Get off me Cal!" I yell, thrashing my head and body under his weight.
"What the hell are you thinking Mare!" he yells back. "What the hell was that! Are you out of your mind" he yells, still pinning me down. I try and get out of his grasp but I can't, he is too strong. His dark hair is dishevelled, his clothes torn, his shirt barely containing him.
"Get off me!" I yell and thrash my head forward until I feel it collide with his. It works and his grip loosens enough for me to kick him off me. I get up quickly and spot my knife. I lunge towards it but he is too fast and grabs my ankle, pulling me towards him.
"Stop Mare! Stop this" he yells, still pulling my ankle and pulling me towards him. I kick the leg out from under his grasp and grab the knife, standing up and pushing it towards him. He stops and hold his hands up. "What are you doing Mare? That girl. She is innocent in all this" he says, the sadness is all over his face and in his voice. Anger is there, but the compassion he feels towards his people pushes me over the edge.
"Innocent?" I scoff, angry. "What about all the innocent reds your reign has killed! What about the torture and slavery you put us through! What about the innocent children still forced to slave away while you sit on your iron throne and dance on your marble floors! What about us Cal!" I yell. All the questions coming out at once.
"I will change that Mare. I told you. I am going to change everything. Why do you think I am King. I didn't want this, but I have to change it all. Cant you see" he says, his eyes holding mine. I don't say anything. I don't know what to say. I must only have 5 minutes to get back to Blackbird.
"I can't do this" I finally say and turn to start towards the plane. I have to run.
"No! Don't you run away from me! You haven't responded to any of the messages I sent you. You just ran away. Up and left me there all alone. You were the one who was supposed to be by my side through everything. How can you do this to me. I chose you.." he says, defeated. I hear in his voice he wants to say more.
"We need to talk about this Mare. You cant just go around stabbing my people" he says trying to sound convincing.
I turn back to him. "My people?" I say, sad. "That is exactly why we have nothing to talk about Cal. Your people?. You and I are not the same. You have your Silvers and I have the Reds. I will never be part of your people." I shake my head, remembering how I tried so hard to be part of his world. How that is all I wanted, to be with him, no matter the cost. "I cant do this Cal.." I don't get to finish my sentence as I hear the guards circling back towards us. "Just let me go" I say as I turn and run. I think I hear him say something but I must be imagining it as I run towards where I have to be. My people, the ones waiting on the Blackbird. No matter how much I want Cal to be part of my life, it wont happen. It cant happen. A Silver King and a Red peasant can never be together, can never be one. He must know this.
I try not to think of his face as I run, the look of exhaustion, the blood dripping down his forehead from where I hit him, his red lips from where I kissed him. I don't think about anything as I run hard and fast towards the plane. I know he is not following me, because I cant hear him. He knows that he cant. He is a King now. Not my Cal.
I promise myself that was the last time I would kiss Cal. From then on I had to only see him as a King. My enemy. The rest was dead to me. It had to be. The tears stream down my face as I run, run away from the only thing I ever wanted in my life and the only thing I can't have.
