Chapter 11

Turning down the path she walked a few paces and started to relax. Being out of the castle Clarke felt a huge wave of relief wash over her, and for a moment the absence of dread was so overwhelming that she had to sit down. She neatly arranged herself with her back resting against the nearest arbor. Taking out the book from its make shift bag Clarke stared at it. She had no idea if the magic she had tried to do worked. She had managed to make a hole in the Queens barrier, and she was able to find a way around the strange invisible trap that filled the book room, but she did not know if she had willed the magic to work fast enough for the spell to have finished before Raven had interrupted her. The evidence was in the book itself. That Clarke knew for sure, but she did not know if she wanted to look into the book and see.

"Jasper said that I could not doubt myself. Any doubt would keep it from working." Clarke did her best to brush that worry and doubt away. He will come to me when he can, she thought to herself. She stared at the book for a little longer, and then resolving to look at it only when she was safely out of the city, maybe when she had gone so far as to get back to Bellamy's house she would look at the last page and see what she had done.

Clarke put the book back the bag, and brushed any dirt off of her clothes as she stood up. Just as she started walking she paused. She thought that she could hear someone calling her.

"Lillabeth!" she heard it again, much closer this time. Clarke grew a little nervous it could just be Jasper coming to join her, she thought. Clarke turned figuring that it would be better to be on the side of caution, and hid herself behind one of the arbors, she even want as far as turning her dress to a green that matched the foliage perfectly. Standing still she listened as she heard someone turn down the path. She could hear the footsteps moving rapidly through the arbors and coming towards her quickly. Closing her eyes tightly and hoping that her pursuer would not look for her here she waited for them to pass.

"Clarke, why are you trying to hide on me?" Clarke nearly screamed when Bellamy appeared around the side of the arbor and grabbed her by the shoulders. He was looking down at her a broad smile on his face. "I don't know how you did it but you got me away from her!" without much warning he leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "I think I love you right now because of that. Now Hurry we have to go before the Queen wakes." He grabbed hold of Clarke's hand and started to run down the rest of the path with her. Clarke followed in a slight stupor. She was glad that she was behind Bellamy at the moment so that he could not see her stunned expression, or the blush that was creeping up her cheeks. She had been shocked by the brief kiss, it had happened so quickly that she was not even sure if it was real. Bellamy stopped and looked at her with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Is something wrong?" He asked. Clarke shook her head vigorously, and without a word dashed ahead of him.

"You seemed to have gotten very familiar with this pathway." He told her running to catch up.

"Jasper and Raven showed me." She said as they stopped to catch their breath. They stepped through the passage and were back in the busy city street.

"Where are they now?" He asked as the strolled along the street making their way toward the eastern side of the city where the gate was.

"Inside the castle. I think Jasper might still be looking for your hat, and Raven is sleeping."

"Still pretending to be a servant?" He asked, and Clarke nodded in confirmation. They continued making their way there the city making lefts instead of rights. Suddenly a thought popped into Clarke's head.

"Bellamy? She asked "Should we have waited until Jasper brought your hat?" He shook his head dark curls swaying as he did so.

"That is not a good idea. We would have waited too long and then my sister would have caught us. I do not plan on going back to her any time soon."

"But won't people turn you in?" she whispered. Bellamy smiled at her

"I am their beloved prince, besides not one of them knows what the hatter looks like, and neither did my sister until she found me." Clarke walked in silence for a while. The two of them stopped as they reached the gate. Clarke could feel her heart starting to pound at the thought of them questioning her about the strange bag. "Don't worry about it." He said to her. Walking up to the guards he started to talk. "Hello gentlemen, my sister the Queen has asked me to accompany Lady Topplepot as she views the grounds outside the city walls. Could you open the gates for us?"

"Why of course Prince Bellamy, we will do that right away." The guard bowed deeply to him, and then called for the others to open the front gate. Clarke could hear the same sound of grinding gears, that she had heard a few days ago when she first came to the city.

"Thank you." Bellamy said waving to the guards as they walked through. "I will tell my sister you are doing a splendid job down here." Wrapping Clarke's arm around his, they both started to walk down the road leading away from the city.

"Should I call your highness now?" Clarke asked as they walked, Bellamy shook his head.

"You can if you want to , but honestly I would prefer something else. Not that it maters I'm bound to you now." Judging that they had walked far enough away from the city he gave her back her arm and sauntered.

"How did you know it changed?" She asked, Bellamy shrugged.

"It's a strange feeling being bound to someone else, kind of cold and clammy. It still odd but not as bad now that you're in charge. It might be that you haven't made me do anything yet. All I know is that Alice had told me not to do anything without her permission, so I was sitting around after you excused yourself from the table." He winked at her. "I just watched everyone sleep. Then after a while, it kind of changed. I could move again and I could hear you calling for me." He stopped and looked at her.

"I was thinking about waiting for you to come, but I wasn't sure if the magic I tried worked."

"That's what I heard then." He continued walking.

"But I never said anything."

"You didn't have to." He told her. "This type of binding connects me." he pulled at the collar of his shirt and showed her a strange black looping arrow marking by his collarbone. "To you." He took hold of her right hand and turned it over reveling the same mark on the center of her palm. "All you have to do is think something, and I have to do it."

"No! Don't do something unless I say it out loud." Clarke said thinking about all of the possibly embarrassing things she could accidentally make him do. Bellamy laughed suddenly.

"Its not mind reading but I still have a very good idea of what your thinking." Clarke started blushing. "Don't worry about it, we'll get used to it. Or maybe if we are quick about things we won't. How did you do it by the way?"

"I changed the name of who you were bound too." She explained.

"Impressive, not many people would think to try that. I guess you not knowing most of the rules is a good thing." By now they had reached the bridge where they had first stepped on to the road. Bellamy Jumped down to the rocky stream bed and held his hands out, intending to help her down. Clarke ignored the gesture and jumped down next to him. Shrugging Bellamy turned and started up the stream at a rapid pace "We have maybe two hours." He started to say. "We have a long way to go before we reach my house, and the Queen will definitely send the hounds after us tonight." Seeming to feel the shudder that went through her, he added. "If we don't get there soon enough we can climb a tree and wait them out until dawn. Once the sun is up we'll be safe again." Feeling slightly eased by that plan Clarke started to move on, climbing threw the brush, and over rocks and logs as fast as she could. Bellamy kept pace with her sometimes traveling ahead, in order to better help her cross the stream when there path was blocked.

"Can we stop?" Clarke asked panting after an hour, the excurtion had her sweating and now she was growing thirsty as well.

"Of course we can." Bellamy told her." Anything you want remember." Sitting down on a tree root Clarke caught her breath, and stared at the cool water running over the nearby rocks.

"Is it safe to drink?" She asked him pointing at the water.

"It should be fine. I wouldn't worry about it." He told her. To prove his point her knelt besides the stream and cupping his hands together started to drink. Following Bellamys lead, Clarke drank from the stream too and when they were done both started walking again.

"Were not going fast enough." Clarke worried as she noticed the sun would be setting soon. She started to run through the darkening forest but Bellamy stalled her.

"We're not too bad off, Just a few minutes and we will be at a short cut of mine." Clarke motioned for him to lead and Bellamy took her into the forest.

Clarke grew nervous about this the stream had been a path for them, it lead them where they needed to go and now they were leaving it for the woods that were getting darker by the moment. They continued to walk through the forest until they arrived at an old Tree. The two main branches of the trunk had been forced apart some way many years ago, and now Clarke could not tell what kind of tree it was. The bark had long since fallen off leaving nothing but pail gray wood shining red in the little bit of light the setting sun managed to get through the tree tops. "Here we are." Bellamy said not slowing down as he approached the tree. We need to walk through the tree where the wood has split."

"Where will it take us?" She asked assuming that it was some kind of gate to a passage, like the fork in the road back in the city.

"It will bring us much closer to my house." He told her. Bellamy had one foo resting on the split in the trunk and he reached his hand out for her. Grabbing hold Clarke let him pull her up , and gently push her through the gate. This time when she passed into the secret passage there were no green arches, instead there were tall thin Cyprus trees that she could see separated them from the rest of the forest. Bellamy soon appeared in the passage behind her and they both stated walking. As they moved along Clarke could see the surrounding forest blur. She did not question the strange effect but simply wondered why she didn't notice this happening in the passage back in the city. "That's because we are traveling much further." Bellamy started to answer for her. "This pass, is like a very small bridge moving us a very large distance."

Stumbling slightly the pair exited the passage and continued to walk. The forest had grown completely dark and Clarke was trying hard not to stumble as they went. A chill crept up her spine, and she started to walk faster. "Clarke." Bellamy said. "Calm down, we are so far away. It will take time for the hounds to get this far." Bellamy would have seen Clarke glare at him if it weren't so dark.

"I'm guessing that is what you thought when we were running around the city all-night long and they still caught up to you didn't they." Clarke started walking again almost stumbling as the ground started to slope upwards. "Besides, the longer we are out here in the dark the worse I am begining to feel. I just want to be somewhere safe." After carefully navigating their way uphill, and around trees, Clarke sighed. Off in the distance they could see the glimmers of light that marked the edge of Bellamys land.

"See I told you, nothing to worry about." Bellamy said smiling as he started to lead the way downhill. Somewhere in the forest a howl echoed.

"You are not allowed to tell me not to worry anymore." Clarke growled as she started to run. Another howl made its way through the forest this time sounding like it was by the stream. Clarke's heart felt like it was pounding out of her chest, as she pumped her arms and legs willing herself to go faster to reach the safety of the light. She could hear the hounds now, scrambling their way up the hill the glowing green eyes of the beast appearing out of the darkness.

Her foot caught in a dip in the earth and Clarke fell to the ground. Crying out in panic and pain, she scrambled to her feet. Trying to run again she stumbled, as her sore legs protested against her.

"Bellamy help me!" She said crying. She regretted the words the moment they had left her mouth. Bellamy who was moments from reaching the safety of the light turned sharply and came back to her despite the rabid beasts that were heading their way.

Picking Clarke up he brought her to the closest tree and gave her a lift. Clarke clawed at the tree climbing into its branches faster than she ever thought would be possible. Once she felt secure, she leaned down and gave Bellamy her hand. He had already started to climb the tree, but the glowing eyes of the hounds were already below them. Bellamy tightly gripped her hand and she tried to pull him up, as one of the hounds bit into his clothes. Bellamy gasped and Clarke could hear the tearing of fabric as an unseen force pulled at his legs. The resulting motion caused Clarke's grip to slip slightly.

"You should let go." Bellamy groaned as the hounds and Clarke continued to play their game of tug of war.

"No." Clarke told him, tears streaking her cheeks. "You need to get up here with me." She tried Pulling him up again. Bellamy had nearly made it into the branches, when another hound sunk it's teeth into one of his legs. He cried out in pain, and his hold on the branch slipped and he fell into the dark. The hounds snarled and Bellamy screamed as they tore at him. In moments the hounds quieted Bellamys cries.

I know this was a short one but there is a lot of action. I only own the plot of this story. As always let me know what you think. I love talking to you guys

Sneak peak: Some hours later she woke to find Jasper in the chair next to her. The boy seemed to be dozing and appeared to be far cleaner than she ever recalled seeing him. "I'm pretty sure than I believe in you now." She whispered. Jasper opened an eye to look at her, the corners of this lips turned up slightly. "Do you now?"