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Amber Millington was no fool. She consulted with her mirror who was the fairest, and it still said Mara, so obviously, Mara was not dead. Her guards had tried to soothe her at first 'The Huntsman must track her first, your highness' and 'maybe she's hiding' or 'just one more day'

But now Amber knew, Amber knew the Huntsman must have let her loose, and now in her eyes, the Huntsman too, must die.

"State your name." Amber said, in her tight pink gown, that swept the clean marble floors as she walked quickly yet gracefully. Her hair tied back with tight plaits, showing her pale face, blue eyes gleaming.

"Al-Alfred Dwarf." Stated the young man. Probably no older than her, Amber wondered. The Dwarfs… they were an institute, a group of refugees that had no family so had banded together and lived deep in the woods. Where they looked out for each other because no one looked out for them. As far as Amber knew, there weren't a lot of them. Not enough for her to worry about an attack or anything, she doubted they barely had ten.

"And you live in the woods, don't you Alfred?"

The dark boy looked around nervously, he had just come into the main village for food, when the guards had led him here. "Actually, I prefer to be called Alfie…your Queenliness,"

"Fine," she shrugged simply "Alfie. Do you live in the woods?"

"Uh, yeah, yeah I do."

"And tell me, lately, have you heard any commotion? Any sounds? Seen anything odd?"

Alfie frowned, thinking hard, shaking his head "No, the woods have been quieter than ever, Queenie, nothing odd,"

Amber nodded, before dismissing him.

Line Break

"Look, just untie me, and don't touch me!" Mara cried, as Jerome fumbled with the ropes on her wrists.

"I'm trying, Princess. Maybe if you quit struggling so much," he grumbled under his breath, working hard. And what didn't help matters, was the fact that he had realised his attraction for the young beautiful Princess, and it was affecting his actions, he didn't know how solid the ice that he was stepping on was. And with her attitude, it seemed paper thin. But he understood where she was coming from, he had tried to kill her…three times, after all. "There, happy?" Mara looked up at him, rubbing her wrists slightly, he could see the red marks there.

"Thanks, now what? You can't go back, I can't go back, what are we going to do?"

Jerome kicked the logs that had served for their fire last night, scattering them around, so there was no trace they had been here. "I think there's another village, on the other side of the forest, far away, no one will know you there, fresh start, if you like," he offered.

"You mean…leave everything behind?" Her eyes were large and wide with disbelief, but it wasn't as if she had expected differently. Jerome's eyes flickered up to her gold crown, which she still wore.

"Yeah…and you'd probably have to," he gestured to the crown. Her hands flew to it quickly,

"Oh…of course," she whispered, taking it off her head, and although the removal of weight was relieving, she missed it. Jerome took it off her, placing it in his bag. They both clambered onto their horses, and Mara followed Jerome through the thick woods.

Line Break

"Alfie!" Nina scolded as the tall boy walked through the door, closing it behind him. Alfie looked up startled, but let out a breath when he saw her.

"Hey," he whispered, handing her the bag full of food. Nina was dressed in a long thin brown dress, nowhere near as rich and beautiful as the royals, but it was simple, and enhanced her features, plus she had made it herself. And it made Fabian like her.

Nina and Alfie walked into the main room, where everyone else was gathered "Alfie," Joy greeted grinning "What took you so long? I'm starving!" Mick nodded beside her.

"The Queen wanted to see me," he sighed, sitting beside Eddie. Everyone turned to look at him in utter shock.

"Sorry what?" Fabian asked, utterly confused

"Yeah, some big scary dudes led me to the Palace and I spoke to the Queen,"

"You spoke to the Queen?" Patricia exclaimed in shock "You? You spoke to the queen?"

Alfie glared at her "Yes! Why? Couldn't someone like me talk to the queen?" Everyone turned away, suddenly very interested in their shoes. "Well, she just wanted to know if we'd seen anything weird."

"Weird? Weird like what?" Mick asked, flicking his blonde hair out of his face.

"I don't know," Alfie shrugged "I told her I hadn't seen a thing and then she let me go,"

Everyone sat there for a moment, stumped. Then Fabian spoke up "I heard something weird has been happening in the main village for a while, I thought it was just a rumour," Nina started the fire place, and they all gathered round to hear what Fabian knew. "Well," he lowered his voice, even though the wooden windows were closed and there was usually no one for miles around.

The sun was gone by now, outside was dark and the last of the birds had finished their songs, the deer and the antelope had gone to sleep. Now was the time for the other creatures to wake up. The creatures who didn't want to share their song or beauty, creatures who wanted something else entirely.

"Apparently, a few days ago, Mara Millington went missing. Rumour has it, she ran away. Some say it was because she was jealous her sister was queen, some say she was sick of royal life-"

"Spoilt," Eddie spoke up, shaking his head in disgust "How could you ever tire of food on the table and a warm place at night? I mean some people, we're struggling for meals one every two days, and she just walks away,"

Fabian continued as if Eddie had said nothing "Some say it was because of the killings." Fabian's eyes lit up as he waited for them to interrupt him.

"The killings?" Patricia frowned "But that's all been taken care of, the Queen exiled Rufus Zeno,"

A smile spread across Fabian's face as he lent his knowledge to them "Well that's the thing, Mara believed that Rufus wasn't the killer, that her sister had murdered an innocent man."

"Wow," Mick breathed

"And apparently, she confronted her sister, yelling at her for killing a good man, and her sister got angry, and in her fit of rage, Mara ran away, fearing her life. And Amber has sent out an army of 1000 men to kill her,"

Everyone's mouth opened slightly. Before a small laugh wriggled its way out of Patricia's mouth. "No way Fabian. There is no way the Queen would want her own sister slaughtered," the others nodding, smiling slightly.

"I never said they were true, just rumours that circulate," he shrugged

"Shouldn't believe everything you hear, Fabian," Joy and Nina said in unison.

Then a new voice rang out, loud and confused, and the seven of them, whipped around to the windows.

"You have no idea where we are, do you?" the voice challenged. Everyone shared a look of confusion.

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