Chapter FORTY-SEVEN: He's Coming-DEVIN

...

A shadowy, dense fog suddenly swept across the war stricken grounds. All seemed to be spinning. The queen looked back once to see the king being covered in the creeping condensation, now only a faint shadow on the ground. Alicia ran faster and harder, still wishing that somehow Devin would catch up to them.

Suddenly, at a distance, coming towards them, Alicia could make out figures coming out of the castle. She froze in her steps, not knowing if it was danger on its way; but she could not go back the other way—that would be worse. With her daughter's cries making it difficult to think, she stormed off to the side, hoping to not be found in to the ruined forest, and hid as the scurrying figures approached.

She sighed with exhausting relief—only peasants. A family of them dashed by without stopping. They did slow down for a moment, but quickly hastened their pace, not bothering to attend to the obvious baby cries coming from somewhere in the forest. For a second, she wanted to tell them to turn the other way; that danger was coming from that direction, but decided against it. To make herself known would have been foolish.

She got up as soon as they passed, continuing her sprint in the direction back to Thais in the black night.

"Devin, please come for us," she panted to herself, praying to the gods that he would make it back to them.

Upon reaching the kingdom walls, much of the remaining city that was visible, was as they had left it; with small fires burning, armored corpses, and loose material and stone ruins on the ground. Uncertain of what to do, Alicia fumbled inward.

All of a sudden, as she made a quick glance behind her, she made out a man coming from the blasted area. She felt for her sword, refraining from any action, suddenly thinking that it might very well be the king, or perhaps the Demon. Yet, remaining still and unnoticed would be best either way, she thought, and now calculated every step and action made.

"...Your majesty?...Alicia, how could this be?" the man said astounded.

"General?" Alicia gasped, after making out Tailor in the darkness. Her face turned even more pale. For a second, she had wished it were the king, but seeing Tailor gave her some reassurance; though, at the same time, someone else to be concerned about.

"The king? You two? How? What has happened?! You should be far from here!" Tailor said disbelievingly.

"We do not have time! We were attacked. He is coming, Tailor!" Alicia cried turning towards the castle, with no other solution but to go there. Tailor ran after her.

"You must get help," she commanded.

"And leave you?—All knights are out in the battlefields...The little that are left of them, that is. But I will not go anywhere..."

"Yes, go!" Alicia said crossly. "I can handle it myself," she said not believing the last herself.

"You are out of your mind," he said, ignoring her order and running after her.

..

As they reached the castle, off in the distant grounds where she had come, a massive explosion shook the kingdom, followed by faint horrendous screams that stopped with the flow of the wind. The hideous cackle from before became much clearer with the sudden stillness.

"Oohh..." Alicia said painfully, knowing immediately who the screams had come from. She knew that the blast must have gotten the peasants she had passed a moment ago.

The baby continued to cry all the while as they hurried into the castle's throne room. Alicia looked down at her child: her precious daughter—their only hope.

"We'll be trapped in here!" Tailor shouted suddenly as he looked around to make sure nothing bad had made it inside.

"H-he's coming for us. You have to hide…You have to leave," Alicia turned to him sure of what she would have to do next.

"I have to hide? You have to hide, Your Majesty! You and your daughter!" he shouted again, as he looked out the castle doors into the void outside. Only a miracle could save them.

"Don't be a fool, Tailor…You do not even have half the abilities I have. And just because I am queen doesn't change that."

"But the girl?"

"What about her?" Alicia retorted, wanting to halt time for nothing to ever change. The grim truth was that she would have to leave daughter's side for now, and perhaps, forever.

Tailor's chest swelled with grief, knowing what she was trying to ask, though she couldn't put into words yet, and neither could he.

Alicia fell silent, blinked desperately off to the side, and turned away. She passed a dead knight lying on the ground and walked quickly towards the two fountains at the right of the castle.

An odd place for fountains, he had always thought.

She stopped and set the backpack she was carrying at her side. He watched from behind and moved carefully to her as she cradled the babe, slightly calming her down, as though she had all the time in the world to waste.

"Queen Alicia…where is Devin?" Tailor asked, but Alicia ignored his question; a question she didn't know anymore.

"You must hide, Tailor, and take her with you," she said painfully, at last. "You do not have any other choice."

"But you—"

"There isn't time! Do as I say!" the desperate queen said temperedly. "Keep her safe no matter what! Do you understand?!"

"But, but, but—" Tailored babbled. She reluctantly placed the girl into his arms, her own hand gently released the last of the girl's small arm.

"Just keep her safe! Keep her safe...Please..." Alicia repeated, knowing a pain she had never experienced before. But she did not allow tears to come or to curse the bitterness in the buds of her tongue out to the whole world, at how unfair it all was.

"But where will we go? Alicia, where?!..." Tailor asked, but Alicia turned her attention to her backpack.

"No-o-o," she yelped, suddenly realizing that the bag had torn and that many important items were missing. How could she not have noticed sooner? It must have torn when she had been running. Everything just seemed to be against them now.

Alicia frantically pulled out some of the few remaining restoratives into a side pouch she was wearing, and left some in the bag; though, not enough if Tailor were to need them for battle himself.

She searched quickly for the last remaining belongings, hurriedly searching for the thing they would need most to start over if they made it out of the castle. She found it—a small chest that had been full of coins, gems, and jewelry—but it had opened at some point, she realized. Only a handful of gems and a pair of gold-hoop earring were within. It was still a small treasure, but far from what a princess deserved to have. The thought of the peasants she had encountered earlier and how they hadn't attended to the baby's cries in the forest crossed her mind. Now she knew what they had stopped for. "Peasants!" she mumbled spitefully, feeling less pity of their fates. But none of it mattered anymore if her child could not be safe; none of these items mattered if they could not escape with their lives. Now…Tailor would get to stay with her daughter while she tried to stop destiny—without Devin—all on her own.

The babe began to cry again.

Time was nearly up.

Black mist or smoke—she could not tell which—was slowly seeping through the doors and creeping into the room, all the while the hideous laughter seemed to be getting closer and closer.

She took one last thing out and held it tightly in her palm, then pulled the strap of the backpack over Tailor's arm. Tailor tried taking off the bag, but Alicia furiously grabbed his hand to stop him.

"My Queen, I do not know if I'll be able to…You should flee, not I."

"Tailor, do not fight me. Do not make this more painful for me than it already is. And do NOT, under any circumstances, risk my daughter's life, knight!"

He looked at her as though she were mad. He was no one special to be protecting princesses from demons. Yes, he was a knight, a decent knight and general, at that; but certainly not qualified for a task like this. He should be the one fighting, not her!

"Tailor, please! Pleas—"

"Aye, okay! Yes, I will protect the lass as you or the king would," Tailor agreed, unable to take her gaze of infinite sadness any longer.

Alicia looked at him, surprised that he had not fought her anymore. Though, still hoping that he would change her mind about everything; that there was some other way. But she knew deep in her heart that there wasn't another way: this was the only way.

She carefully opened her palm. It was the last of the sleeping dust she had left: only a small amount, enough to keep her daughter from crying—from knowing what might happen to her mother and kingdom, should the worst happen. She sprinkled the dust over the crying girl; this time she would not wake until morning.

"Stay with her," Alicia managed to utter. "No matter what happens to me, do not do anything that will put her in danger."

"Do I look like your husband? Of course I will not sacrifice her safety," Tailor said, wishing Devin were there to nudged him for saying such.

Tailor then began to look for a way out, dumbfounded by why they had been so foolish as to go back to the castle, only be trapped like easy prey for a predator.

However, Alicia had other plans. Only in times of great danger was it to be used. She looked up at the now leaky fountain; it was only less than a third full of its original capacity and the water that remained was a filthy grey color, far from the sparkling blue contents it once held. The two lion heads, one on each side of the fountain, now barely trickled.

The archaic fountain, a place of durability, in spite of its limited uses besides aesthetic, was truly an unsuspecting fortress: strengthened by both structure and magic. Long ago she had learned that if ever the whole castle were to collapse this would be the only place strong enough to hold up the structure. Of course, a castle would not be a castle without its secret places; she had been instructed if ever the castle were invaded to go to them.

"Up there! Hurry! Do not say a word until it is safe," she ordered.

"But there is nowhere to go in there!" Tailor said as he stepped forward near the fountain's edge.

The room began to tremble violently.

Without warning, Alicia pushed him in. He fortunately landed on his feet, relieved that the water only came to his knees. Baffled, Tailor looked back, but Alicia was gone, and so did the trembling which had mysteriously ceased in the same way it began.

At the bottom of the pool, he faintly spotted a star-shaped marker in the center through the grayness of the water. He had never noticed it before. Had it always been there?

He took two more steps forward, thinking that there must be a hidden door further on against the walls somewhere. But at once, upon stepping on the marker, he and the child were taken to another room. The hidden room, if it could be called a room, was more like space somewhere in the walls. Where? He could not tell. The darkness made it impossible to see where they were. Suddenly feeling drops of water over head, Tailor looked up and realized the stone ceiling was leaking and semi-transparent like frosted glass. He tried moving away, but there was no way out. He struggled for a moment, seeking for an escape, until he heard movements coming from the outside. He fell silent and hugged the sleeping girl securely. Fear seemed to be everywhere…

..

Alicia stood calmly, but focused, near the stairs in front of the castle entrance, even as the ground shook. She held her sword close. As she waited, she closed her eyes to pray for Devin to come; that she would not do this alone.

Loud, cruel laughter echoed from beyond. Suddenly, everything fell strangely silent. A moment later, there was a knock on the castle doors.