Sorry it took me so long to update all my fics! I've been bombarded with tons of homework! Anyway, for all of you who's been waiting for this... this is for all of ya! I hope you like it! BTW, I'm having trouble as to how to continue Lost Soul and I'm having writer's block w/ Someday We'll know. Just wanna let ya know. anyway, read on with this part!

Part 11:

Runaway

The sun shone mighty hot that afternoon. The Tarben cavalry now walked quietly under the raging sun, tormenting the skin underneath their thick armor. The heat was too much to handle and it felt that their skin was being boiled.

But they never care less. What hurts them most is the loss of hundreds of men during the battle. They died with honor, shedding their blood for their beloved kingdom.

The king removed his head armor, as his brunette horse continued to trot towards the kingdom. He knows nobody won the battle. The Celetites retreated, with victorious grins placed upon their face. Finally, they saw the gates of Tarben and the trumpets roared.

Sora wiped her tears angrily. "If I see him, I'll slap him on the face for not saying something and for not biding me farewell!" said Sora, tightening her fist. Her friend Mimi kneeled beside her and comforted her. "Sora…"

Sora's lips trembled as she remembers clearly his bright blue eyes smiling back at her. She remembered how it dazzled when light bounces on it. She remembers their night together, and all their times underneath that big tree beside the clear blue pond. They would ran around playing like little children, then settle down on the grass and gaze at each other for a moment, though it seemed like eternity.

Her body quivered, and she sighs.

"If I ever see him again, I'm going to tell him how much he scared me for leaving me." She whispered.

Her mother was quiet also. She played with her handkerchief and would look outside the window, hoping to see her beloved husband trotting back victorious from the battle. Both ladies are scared losing their loved ones.

The trumpets roared and Sora stood from her chair. Her eyes soon widened and she turned towards the door and bolted out to the doors. She pushed and moved people that blocked her way. She didn't care if she had hurt them, she didn't even care whoever they are. All she cares about is to be in Yamato's embrace again for good.

She pushed the palace door and saw the bloody soldiers of Tarben. She stepped outside slowly, looking at the sight of the poor soldiers. One or two have injured heads, one with broken arms or (those unlucky) they have only one arm left. She trembled on the sight of them, gasps when hearing the groans of the men.

She couldn't picture Yamato having broken arms, or sliced body, or worse… he could be dead by now.

She shook her head. He did not die! He will never die! I will never forgive him or myself if he leaves me! She moved around, hoping to find a blonde man.

"Sora!"

She turned around, and saw her father coming towards her. She ran to her father and hugged him. "Father…" she whispered.

"Go on inside. You can never stomach this site."

Sora shook her head. "No. I need to find Yamato, father."

The king gazed at her daughter's swollen brown eyes. "Sora…"

"Please…"

He raised his hand and silenced everyone. He hugged her daughter and roved his eyes in the awful site of blood.

"Where is Yamato Ishida?" he asked loudly.

No one spoke, except for one man who raised his hand slowly.

"My king, I saw what happened to Yamato Ishida." He said.

"You must be Mannen of Gran…" The king said.

Sora's eyes watered, but she looked calmly. "Tell me please…"

"I was fighting with the blonde knight, my lady. And he fought everyone among the Celetites with great ease…"

Yamato drew his sword and looked around him. He was determined to finish them off and so to return back and be with Sora… be with his family.

"Come those who are not afraid of me! Those who do not fear me will now see me great fury!" he shouted.

Mannen remembered the words clearly said by the blonde himself. He could still remember the anger that burns in his blue eyes.

"My lady, " he continued, " he was a great fighter and not one sword has even come close to his armor. We were already winning, and it was evident that victory was with Tarben… until…"

A great black light surrounded Yamato. He couldn't move his legs. Yamato cursed and looked around and saw a woman covered with a black cloth that hugged her curves well.

"I should have known you can't win a fight without using sorcery…" Yamato hissed.

She smirked. "Just sit back and enjoy your ride to Celetites, Prince…"

Manned looked away from Sora and gritted his teeth in anger. "The black light soon covered Yamato's whole body…until he was all gone. Nothing was left from him. After his disappearance, the Celetites soldiers vanished also."

Are you not supposed to help him?!" she yelled.

"My lady, I was fighting also!" he replied.

Sora bit her lip, then turned around, running back to the palace.

Yamato groaned in pain, and tried to sit up by the corner. He opened his eyes and realized he was inside a filthy cell. A sharp pain surged on his left side, causing him to bit his lip in pain.

"Are you all right?"

He looked up and saw a girl with long black hair and dark brown eyes.

"I thought I was alone in here…" Yamato muttered as he sat straight. He groaned as he felt his back ached with so much pain.

The maiden smiled and touched Yamato's hands. Her hands glowed, casting off a white light inside the cell. Yamato's eyes widened as a feeling of relief and comfort surge through his body.

The lady smiled at him. "Do you feel well now?" she asked.

Yamato nodded and moved his hands to see if the pain was still there. "I'm okay now. Are you a sorcerer?"

"Yes, I am. I am from the kingdom of Villu."

Before Yamato could open his mouth, another woman sat beside them. He could see the familiar features between the two.

The first lady smiled. "I am Elizabeth." She pointed to the maiden beside her. "And this is my twin sister, Veronica."

Yamato eyed the two. Elizabeth has long black hair, while Veronica has short black hair and sad eyes.

"I am Yamato Ishida, a knight from the Tarben kingdom." He said.

"Ah… you must be the knight in the prophecy…" Elizabeth said.

Yamato looked at Veronica, curious why she's not even talking. Elizabeth noticed this. "My sister…cannot speak." She whispered. Veronica smiled sadly and nodded her head.

"Oh…was she born mute?" Yamato asked.

"No… the princess cut her tongue out."

Yamato looked at Veronica with pity. "Why on earth could have urged her to do that?" he asked.

"She has no heart, that's for sure!" Elizabeth suddenly exclaimed. "Their family is responsible for the destruction of our kingdom."

"I thought no one in Villu survived." Yamato said. Elizabeth shook her head, and remembered the events clearly. Closing her eyes, she recalled the most horrible event of her life.

"We were little kids at that time. We were warned that the Celetites would soon attack us. My father was left in our house to stop the soldiers so that he may stop soldiers who would follow us. We were about to go to our secret place when the guards have found us.

We were about ten to fifteen families. The guards circled us and we have no chance of escaping. Our mother was great with magic and she used it to protect us. But we were all captured.

We grew up here in the filthy cell. Our mother was always out of the cell because the soldiers are played with her as if she's nothing more than a mere animal for plain sexual pleasure. Those heartless soldiers have caused great sadness to my mother until one day; she tied herself up and killed herself." Elizabeth said, anger filling her voice.

"We know that our people are still out there, trying to find a way to save us from this slavery." She continued.

"You mentioned something about a prophecy. What is it?" Yamato asked.

"You do not know?" Elizabeth asked, a little surprised.

Yamato shook his head. "I don't know it. Would you mind telling me?"

"Well, we all know that our kingdom is known for predicting the future. A famous wizard at that time had foreseen a certain event that would cause a great war.

A boy would be born in one kingdom and he'll possess great power and it will unite the three kingdoms. Unfortunately, the Celetites people heard the prophecy and they attacked us, they learned black magic and all things that are against good magic. They killed the wizard and they want to have the prophesied boy so that they can use his power to govern the three kingdoms."

Elizabeth smiled and touched Yamato's hands. "You're the prophesied one."

"What?" Yamato shook his head slowly. He pulled his hands and stepped away from Elizabeth. "How…How could I be that man? I don't possess anything unearthly!" he exclaimed.

"Why do you think they captured you?"

Yamato looked at her, then flopped down on the ground. "Why is this happening?' he said sadly, as Elizabeth approached her. He looked at her with great sadness and sighed.

"Why? What I want to happen right now is to get back to Tarben. Someone's waiting for me…"

Elizabeth smiled and sat beside him. "Is it your fiancé?"

Yamato looked away from her. "I need to see her. I… I just feel that this may be the place of my death. If I am truly the prophesied one, I'm sure they'd kill me. If only before my death I could see her and tell her everything…" he whispered.

"Would that really make you happy?" Elizabeth asked.

Yamato smiled a little then bent his head. "More than anything…" he whispered.

Night came. Sora walked nervously in front of Mimi while playing with her handkerchief. Mimi stood up and pushed the nervous Sora on the bed.

"You have to stop yourself from being edgy! I'm sure he'll be back here."

"Mimi, the Celetites hold him as a hostage! Who knows what those people would do to him?!" Sora exclaimed, then buried her face on her palms.

"If only I stopped him…"

Mimi sat down beside her and patted her shoulder. "Stop sulking now. You know we can't do anything. If we could go to the Celetites' land, we would have done that quite a long time ago. And – "

Sora's head shot up and looked at Mimi. "What did you say?"

Mimi quirked her eyebrow. "I told you to stop sulking."

"No, no. Not that."

"That if we could go to…Oh no! We will never get out of this room. It's such an absurd thing to do!"

Sora stood up and went to her closet door and pulled out a simple dress. "If you don't want to, I can go alone. You can lie to my parents."

"No! I would not do that! You could die out there!"

Sora turned around and looked at Mimi. "If Yamato already died, might as well die also…"

She quickly changed dress and opened her door. "I'll be sneaking outside. I'm pretty sure they're still busy helping the soldiers. Look out for me."

"How will I know if you're all right?" Mimi asked.

"I'll write a letter." Sora said, shrugging her shoulder.

"Write?! For goodness sake Sora, just stay here!"

Sora shook her head stubbornly. "I will go there!"

Sora opened the door of her stable and pulled her mare out. She silenced the white mare and pulled her out of the stable.

"C'mon. We're going to save Yamato."

She finally went out of their land without anyone noticing and she made her way to where the Celetites are. The plain was very barren and neither a tree was there.

She stopped her horse and looked around. "I should sneak in their land without being noticed…" she looked at her left side and saw the mountain of Zimu.

"I should take that path. I just hope that the bandits would not see me…" she muttered as she kicked her horse.

She changed path and went straight to the Zimu Mountain. It became darker and the slow breeze turned to a mighty wind. The cold wind made her chill, but she continued her ride. But before she could even be near the foot of the mountain, she heard hooves following her.

She turned her head and gasped. "Oh god! The bandits!"

She kicked her horse but it didn't help. The bandits were fast and one of them caught up with her steed. Suddenly, she felt something hard hit her head and she fell on the ground loudly. She moaned in pain. She felt that her left arm was broken.

Sora touched her back head with her right hand and looked up. She could only see blurry visions of tall silhouettes.

She closed her eyes and felt the pain rushed in her head. Then, she felt a hand cupped her face. "…I know this girl. Take her steed." A male voice said quietly. She felt his hand brush her hair and carried her in his arms.

"Who…what…" she tried to speak but then, felt unconscious.