Emily looked as the cart was led out of the northern gate, Lo huddled in the back and still wearing a dress. She'd been allowed to take her bow, but nothing else, not even a spare change of clothes or any of the books she had collected. Emily started drumming her fingers on the window sill, this had worked out well, John had fallen ill after the fight with Tristen, with him and the elf out of the picture it left the throne clear for her, she couldn't interfere, that would be too suspicious. Right now though, she'd have to help with the elves, her father seemed intent on having one of his children at any royal event, and with her brother incapacitated it left her.
Lilith was watching the same view, although she was in the lower streets. She hoped her presence would go undetected and it seemed successful. The king would fall sick soon, it was an unfortunate side effect of manipulating minds but it would be useful now. Both the king and his son having uncontrolled aggression before collapsing. Why, it couldn't be coincidence, could it? Then the butcher's boy would come out, saying how his father raised him and teaching him how magic was wrong and evil, like the empire saw it, he wanted to send a message, poisoning the two people who were letting monsters into civilized society. Just a poor, misguided boy, acting on what he thought was right. He would be killed for treason of course, but in the grand scheme of things he wouldn't matter. She would leave to the netherworld latter, right now though she would need something to keep her going on the long trip, she hadn't eaten in days, and the men there were so willing.
After two weeks of traveling, the cart finally came to a halt and Lo glanced up at the intimidated stone gate, statues of angels marked either side of the gate, a stark contrast to the name her fellow prisoners gave it, the door to hell. They had all heard rumours about the other side. She didn't think any could be true as no one escaped from the wasteland. The man sat next to her was older than the rest, from the looks of it in his mid-forties, and unlike the others he was gagged, she didn't know why, apparently he had been spouting heresy, saying that the abominations created in the war against the overlord were not monsters, merely men. At this point she didn't know what to believe.
Her and the three others that sat on the cart were roughly shoved towards the gate, Fengir following but his mouth was muzzled. There was a loud clank as the chain that held up gate moved slowly until there was a resounding thud, revealing a second one. Lo glanced down to her shaking hand as a small tinder box was forced into her sweating palms and everyone else received the same treatment, the gagged man having the strip of cloth cut from his face before all the guards walked away.
The gate shut behind them and the one in front of them opened. Two of the men walked off straight away, moving in opposite directions while the previously gagged man walked forward slightly before turning around.
"We need to find somewhere to camp, maybe some other prisoners as well, hopefully they'll be friendly."
Lo's hands were still shaking. "What makes you think there are other prisoners in here?"
"What makes you think we're the first."
"That's not how the kingdom works, they wouldn't send anyone here."
"The fact that you're here shows you're wrong, never mind the rest of us. Now, be quiet, we need to find shelter before nightfall." He turned around and started to walk away.
"But who are you?" She yelled, half-jogging till she came to his side with Fengir next to her.
"They call me the Prophet, the paladins sent me here for speaking out against them, now why are you here girl?"
"It's a long story."
"We have a considerable amount of time."
"It's complicated."
"I'm smarter than I look."
"I don't want to."
"We are in a place described by many as a living hell, it would help if I knew about you."
Lo let out a sigh before beginning to explain, she left out a few parts of the story such as Morg, and being the long lost daughter to the ruler of an evil empire, that was something she wanted to keep quiet.
"And that's how I got here. It's not my fault really, if the king's son hadn't overreacted then everything would have been fine."
"You do not understand your actions have affects most minds cannot perceive."
"And you can? You act as if you can predict every possible outcome and work out a response, you can't otherwise you wouldn't be here."
"Not all the time, no. But otherwise it's very useful."
Lo gave a disdainful look, the man was obviously insane, but he seemed to have some plan with the way he was leading. The further they walked in they started seeing more ruins they began to see, along with a pale blue liquid that seemed more common than water, considering they hadn't seen any of the second. They finally found an area that The Prophet deemed usable, a wooden structure that was less rotted than the others. There was a small kitchen filled with rusted knives that the prophet had begun sharpening, a pantry filled with rotted meats and stale bread, and a small area with a wooden table and chairs that broke as soon as you sat on them, there was also a small bathroom, but it was essentially a bucket.
Lo glanced over the selection of inedible food, her stomach was rumbling and for the past two weeks she'd been given dried near and stale bread. She walked out into the kitchen where her knew companion was, holding a single stone and sharpening a large serrated knife. Despite being called the Prophet, a name that is usually associated with men of peace, after a few practice swings she could tell he had used it before. She turned back around and started trying to find something soft to lie down on, she needed some sleep.
Lo woke when she heard a smashing sound. She'd ended up using her wolf as a pillow so when she grabbed her bow and got up, he followed. Two dozen arrows, that's all she had. She pushed the door open slowly and started moving forward, Fenris was keeping an eye out for anyone behind. She rounded a corner and then she saw it.
It was human in form, but it looked like it hadn't been fed in weeks. Its skeleton was scarcely covered by scarred and pallid skin. Any sign of muscle was missing from it's hunched form and its fingernails were long and talon like. It turned around slowly and when Lo looked at it's face she felt a mixture of pity and horror. It's eye's were shriveled and its skin was torn in patches, revealing bleeding and rotted sinew.
It lifted it's head and its nose started to twitch as it sniffed the air. She pulled back the string of her bow and let it go. The arrow hit it in the chest and Lo watched as it went through the other side before its flesh started to knit together. The creature realised what was happening and charged, swinging its arms and flailing like a mad man. She tried to move out the way but instead fell over when a single talon tore into her gut, regretting the fact she was still wearing a dress.
The creature stumbled over her. It was blind, Lo had worked that out, but it still had it's hearing and smell. She quickly pulled herself up Fengir leapt at the creature, biting down into into its throat and trying to maul it with his front claws. The creature clawed into his side, making the hound leap off and start circling it, bareing his teeth and growling.
Lo threw her bow to the ground and tried to freeze the creature, it worked, but she felt her hands freeze as well. Fengir leapt at the creature, knocking it to the floor and smashing the frozen statue. She quickly rolled the sleeves of her dress up to her forearms and looked, they had turned almost blue, making the markings almost disappear.
"Backlash? Something that simple shouldn't cause backlash. Where is he?" The Prophet should have been there, where the hell was he. They were supposed to stay together, they had agreed to that before she went to sleep. She glanced down to her stomach and saw blood running out and staining her dress. "It's always the guts, whenever I fight it's always the guts." She pressed her hand to her stomach and started healing. She gave a hiss as fresh pain entered her body. It didn't work. She tried again. It didn't work.
"No, it can't be." And with that she collapsed, falling unconscious.
Emily gave a well practiced smile as her brother sat in his bed, unfortunately for her, he was awake.
"Where is she?" John asked, trying to pull himself up but one of the healers assigned to him pushed him back down.
"Who?" She said innocently.
"Lo, where is Lo?"
"Before he fell ill, he told me not to tell you."
I don't care, this is all my fault, I should have listened to her. Now, where is she?"
"I don't know if I should tell you, you might go running off." And leave the throne nice and clear for me.
"I needed to find her, get her back, this is all my fault."
"Now, now, if she hadn't tricked you then this wouldn't have happened."
"I don't care. Where is she?"
Emily tilted her head and looked as if she was deep in thought. Her brother always wanted to be the knight in shining armour to some fairytale maiden. Now he had his chance, but he'd be riding into hell not some dark tower. "Father sent her to the wasteland."
"She would've been sent by cart, if I take a horse I could get there in two, maybe three days."
"But if you go alone, you won't last long there. There's a reason it was chosen for the worst criminals, with the paladins as wardens."
The door was forced open and Tristen burst in. "He's not going alone, it's my fault she's in there, if I hadn't of pulled off that dumb stunt then nothing would've happened."
"You've got more honour than I thought."
"And me." Neither of them recognised the voice and all three glanced towards the door. An elven woman was leaning in against the frame, holding a piece of paper up. "Is this drawing accurate."
She quickly placed the parchment in John's hands. It was the drawing of Lo that his mother had sent him. "What interest have you got in her?"
"Can you tell me any details, hair colour, eye colour?"
"Red hair, grey eyes."
"Then my people have interest in her."
"Why?"
"That is not yet your concern."
"The paladins said you were hiding something, now this. You are hiding something, I want to know why before I even trust you."
"I am not allowed to inform you of anything."
"You're staying here then."
"You can't stop me, diplomatic immunity prevents your people from touching me."
"She's got you there." Tristan said.
"Fine then, I want someone with us to keep an eye on her."
A/N TY for reading, I was struggling to write this chapter then I got a new review and that made me a bit more motivated as I only had two previous reviewers.