A/N: I know Septimus in the movie is standing alone on the beach waiting for the soothsayer, but I changed it into some guards staying there with him as well as the horses.

Chapter 2

Holly woke to a violent earthquake. In the midst of confusion while her eyes adjusted she started wriggling like a snake thinking she had to find shelter only to find that she was tied together on hands and feet. It did not help that a furious voice shouted at her to keep still. When she had gained control of her dazed mind she found out that it wasn't an earthquake at all, but in fact a horse she was hanging over! Stunned and taken aback she searched for the man who had told her to stop moving and to a not so big surprise it was the prince who earlier strangled her till she fainted. He was keeping her in front of him while he was handling his horse to keep a good eye on her so she wouldn't try anything.

Finally grasping the situation she was in she started wondering why she was not killed by him, but also who this other star was. Had they arrived at the same time to earth? Was she okay? Holly gave out a silent grunt. The other star was probably in a better situation that herself. Her neck was sore and her breath was rough and it hurt slightly to breathe. By the looks of it this man was a merciless devil. Nearly killing an innocent sta... woman was crossing the line!

She turned and looked at the dark prince once more deciding whether she would dare to ask him if she could sit up. This position was extremely uncomfortable, but she figured that her wellbeing was the last thing on his mind so she dismissed the thought right away. "Excuse me." she had to raise her voice over the thundering hooves of the riding group. The prince turned and gave her a little surprised look, but it immediately vanished and was replaced by the same cold eyes he had given her when they first met.

"What?" he asked, but she could see that he was really not interested in hearing what she had to say.

"What do you want from me?" the brown haired woman hurriedly asked. Like saying it faster would lessen the risk of pissing him off. She looked at him with a questioning look, which turned into a slight fear when he gave her a sly grin.

"I know you have more information about the star than you care to admit. I have only just started with you." he smirked at her a moment longer before he turned to focus on the path again.

Holly slowly turned away while the blood drained from her face. She started cursing her blasted luck while she in frustration started flickering with the rope around her hands to try and distract herself from being overwhelmed with fear. Nothing would go her way today!

A moment later they arrived at the beach. Septimus jumped off his horse and quietly watched the sea in front of him. With a calm voice he spoke to one of his guards, "get me the soothsayer." the guard nodded and hurried off back to the castle.

In the meanwhile Holly was curiously looking at the broad back of the prince. Was he angry? Had something not gone exactly as planned? After all that had happened this pleased her a great deal. Seeing him lost and frustrated was extremely satisfying.

In a sudden realization panic filled her and she immediately tensed. She was moving, but there was no one within range. She carefully looked up and noticed that she was slowly, but steadily sliding off the horse. With a small whimper she tried to snake herself back in the steady position she had been in, but her wiggling only made the matter worse. Her tied up hands and feet were of no assistance at all. Unable to hold back the fearful tone in her voice she shouted, "A-anyone, help!" unfortunately it was too late. And by the time the prince and the guards turned around Holly was flipping over and dashed into the sand, back first. The impact slammed the air out of her lungs and sand went flying all over her. The horse who, thanks to Septimus had experienced it's fair amount of surprises in its lifetime didn't even budge. She slowly turned on her side to cough the sand out of her mouth when a sudden uproar of laughter started ringing in her ears. Surprised she turned to see the guards laughing whole-heartedly at her. She blushed a bright shade of red and turned to look at the prince. He was not laughing, but a smile was playing on his lips. She wanted to be angry at them, but even if one of them intended to help her she was asking too late.

The laughter slowly decreased and to her surprise one of the guards came to her aid, only to be stopped by the familiar unfriendly voice, "Leave her." she looked at Septimus turning back to the sea, but she caught a glimpse of the satisfied smirk he had smeared on that arrogant face of his. He was in no way trying to hide it. He wanted her to see how much he enjoyed tormenting her.

What a disgusting jerk! There is absolutely no flicker of good in him!, Holly thought to herself. He was set on making her regret not telling him what she knew about the star, but she didn't know anything! She gave herself a mental warning not to lie again. Lying only gave her trouble like this. If she hadn't pointed in a random direction this wouldn't have happened in the first place. Maybe he eventually would have seen she didn't have any valuable information if she just kept honnest. That was Holly's problem. She was very naive for a star who had seen the bad side of earth.

A while later the old soothsayer came to the beach. The prince conversed with him for a moment and Holly could see by his actions that he was up to no good. The old man started throwing runes in the air while answering yes and no to the princes questions. In an instant the atmosphere changed when Septimus asked the question, "Do you work for my brother?"

When the runes hit the ice cube between the two men Septimus quickly dug a dagger into the old mans chest. Holly held back a choked scream as she watched the soothkeeper fall lifeless to the ground. Septimus had just killed someone like it was the easiest thing in the world! In one day he had slapped a woman AND killed an old man. She did not think that her contempt for a single person could grow so strongly in such a short time. This person was truly disgusting on the inside.

"So, do we continue west?" the prince suddenly asked and threw the runes in the air. As soon as they landed he gave new orders to his men.

Soon after he walked over to Holly who was still sitting in the sand and grabbed her by the arm to lift her onto the horse again. The brunette however was not planning on staying another second with this beast. She furiously ripped her arm out of his grip and turned away from him while she sneered, "Do not touch me!" Where she found the courage to utter those words was a mystery to her. She was rarely the one to burst out like this. On the other hand, this was no ordinary situation.

Septimus who was already in no mood to play around tightly clenched his jaw and violently grabbed her arm again making her flinch in pain. He got so close to her that she could feel his warm breath on her face. He slowly took forth the same dagger he had used to kill the old man and let the blade run down her jawbone. "Oh do tell me, miss Holly. If you so strongly wish to die I will gladly grant you your wish. However if you obediently do as I say you have for the time being nothing to fear. So, what is it going to be?"

Knowing when it was best to keep quiet she gulped and reluctantly answered, "I will behave." but she knew she was lying. As soon as she found another opening she would try to escape again. Thinking about it he must have been lying as well. Killing her would be of no benefit to him seeing as he thought she knew more about the star, but that was too big of a risk for her to take. When the night would come she was determined she would escape from this beast. Her flickering with the ropes had already loosened them just a tiny bit.

Looking at her a bit longer Septimus slowly moved the dagger away from her face. He then rose and grabbed her around her waist making her yelp. In one big movement he swung her back over the horse. Horrified she had to lay in that terrible position again she immediately protested, "Sep...your Highness I told you I will behave, please let me sit up!" Ignoring her the prince climbed up on the same horse and grabbed the reins. Again she tried, "I promise I will not come in the way of your riding. I will be silent as a mouse!"

This time Septimus looked at her and arrogantly replied, "First of all, Holly, You are already in my way, and second, I am in no mood to care about your wellbeing so if you don't like your current position I see no problem as to let you be dragged behind by my horse in stead."

Clenching her teeth tight together Holly held her tongue again, but she silently swore he would pay for this inhumanity!

Late at night Septimus decided it was time to rest abit before they continued their search. They lit a fire and everyone except one guard went to sleep. This gave Holly time to work on her plan to escape. She had been wriggling her hands for several hours and her struggle had finally payed off. The ropes were loose enough for her to slip one hand out. Now she just had to wait for everyone to fall asleep. Though the one watch guard would be a problem. And of course the ropes around her waist that was connecting her to a tree, but as long as her hands were free, that was most important.

While she was waiting she realized that her stay on earth had given her more of an idea of what kind of person she was. And to her disappointment she got to the conclusion that she was a weak coward. Not only had she been lying to save her skin, but she had tried to give the dark prince directions to the other star. She tightly closed her eyes shut to try and get rid of the guilt, but it was impossible. Being human sure wasn't easy. Right now she just had to get away from these monsters before she could think of what she could do next. Staying like this would do no one good.

About an hour passed and all the guards and the prince were soundly asleep. Holly kept a watchful eye on the guard that was keeping a look out so that she would be able to find a loop hole. The ropes around her waist were not too tightly knitted so she could slip out of them when she had untied the ropes around her feet. The guard was sitting on a rock on the other side of the fire not far from the group. Holly closed her eyes when he looked at her and pretended she was about to fall asleep. She bent her feet up so that she could rest her head on her knees. This also gave her an opportunity to sneak her hands down to her feet and untie the ropes.

After another hour passing the guard stood up and headed for the forest. He was probably going to release a certain urge. That was the moment Holly had been waiting for. The second he was out of sight she rushed to untie the ropes around her feet. Lucky for her the ropes around her waist were poorly tied and she wriggled free from her prison within seconds.

She dashed through the dark , eerie forest using only her hands to guide her. Her naked feet felt the moist ground beneath her and the air was cool and windy. but that didn't bother her. Her only focus was getting away from that tyrant. She stumbled and crashed into trees, but did not take a break in fear that they would soon notice her disappearance. The guard would probably notice the second he came back.

After running for quite some time she stopped out on an open field where she caught a glimpse of the glimmering lights up on the sky. "Sisters! Please answer me! Who is the other star? Is she close by?" Breathless, Holly patiently waited for answers and to her surprise her sisters replied.

"Yvaine," Was all they said. Holly gave out a sharp gasp. Up in the sky Yvaine and Holly were quite close to each other, but Hollys light was much weaker than Yvaines and therefore it was much harder to spot her. Maybe that was why no one had noticed her arrive to earth. The sisters had practically looked like one star before Holly changed course and landed somewhere else. Holly searched the sky for Yvaines light, but it was true. She was gone from the sky! In that moment something changed in Holly. She was going to find her sister and they would both go back to the sky together. That was her goal and she promised she would keep it, not matter how scared she would be and no matter how hard it would be she would find Yvaine. She just silently prayed that her nerves would handle it. After all, the coward in her would not dissapear so easily.

For a moment longer the brunette was caught up in her own thoughts before the familiar furious voice shouted from the forest she only moments ago had come from, "Over there!" She turned to spot some of the guards dashing towards her on their horses and hurriedly swung around to run from them. Sadly, only short time after they had caught up with her and was circling around her victoriously. Breathlessly she looked at each and every one of the guards in fright.

"I am of no use to you! What is the meaning of this? I know nothing about a star!" Holly couldn't stop her voice from trembling. Even so she had decided to stick by her goal. She would be brave for Yvaine! The prince suddenly appeared beside his men forming the circle and looked at her with that familiar cold expression, but she spotted a change. Something was wrong.

"Take her." Septimus growled. One of the guards jumped down from his horse and came towards her holding a rope in his hands. Horrified Holly walked backwards and continued shouting.

"What do you want from me? Leave me alone you monster!"

"Do not test my patience, WITCH!" Septimus practically spat out the last word and looked at her in pure disgust. Holly turned to look at him in disbelief. Was this a joke? Where had he gotten such a ridiculous idea from?

"I am not a witch! Who told you such a lie?"

"It is not a lie. I saw her!" Holly turned around to spot the guard who had been keeping a look-out before she fled. "The ropes just fell off her! And in the blink of an eye she had disappeared!" She knew he was too scared to tell the prince the truth. Probably because of what Holly had heard and seen when they were at the beach. The prince held no mercy for anyone who betrayed him. If he knew the truth the guard would have been killed in an instant, no doubt about it. Still, now he had gotten her in danger because of it.

Before Holly could speak again the guard who had tied her hands forcefully dragged her towards Septimus. Seeing the looks upon every ones faces she shivered. There was no mercy for a witch in this world and she knew it. She struggled as best as she could the short distance she was being dragged, but the guard held her with the greatest ease. She had no chance against these men, but she was not ready to give up just yet. She had to find Yvaine and help her!

"Now that I know who you are I assume that your mission is also to track up the star. No witch would leave such a treat behind." surprised, Holly looked up at the prince who was towering over her on his horse. He knew she was searching for the star, but not why. However her reaction made Septimus think that he hit a nerve and grinned victoriously. "Too bad you will never see the day where you will find it."

Holly let out a terrified scream when one of the guards grabbed her hair backwards to make her neck visible. Holly started struggling, knowing that he was going to cut off her head if he got the opportunity. She swirled around and started kicking and screaming like a wild animal. Her nails managed to scratch into his cheek leaving two deep gashes and he let her go screaming in pain. Unfortunately Holly didn't get too far when two other guards grabbed a hold of her arms and forced her on her knees. A third one came from behind and grabbed her hair and tossed her head backwards again. She noticed the blade he was holding with his other hand and gasped. With fear boiling from the core of her soul she hurriedly thought of a way to escape this madness. She was going to fight with all the little bravery she had to save Yvaine. If Septimus got to the star she would never forgive herself.

The dark haired prince looked at her in pure disgust while he uttered the fatal words, "Kill her."

A/N: Please share with me what you think of this story so far. Even something as small as "bad" or "good" will be greatly appreciated! If you find any spelling errors or anything else I would be grateful if you told me about them. Thank you!