Chapter Nine

We have been walking for at least an hour. Desolin hasn't said one word to me and won't even glance at me when I try to talk to him.

I run up to him on the inside of the road so I don't get hit.

"Hey, Desolin?" He shakes his head and continues walking, trying to get in front of me.

"Desolin! Listen to me." He turns around and raises his hands.

"What Your majesty?" Glaring at him, I walk forward, my hand on my knife.

"Don't you dare-" There's a swoosh of wind and a little boy is standing next to me. Desolin yelps and jumps back, causing me to scream and fall into the ditch beside me.

The little boy peeks over to the edge of the ditch. "Hi! You okay down there?" He has an unmistakable Southern accent, but you can't make out his features.

I rise and run over to Desolin, who is drawing his sword.

"Who are you?…" His sentence trail off and his face turns into a frown. "I know you! You're that boy that gave me the note in the village." Turning to Desolin, I see he is biting his lip. Turning back to the boy, I draw my knife, which is tiny compared to Desolin's swords.

"We don't know each other!" Desolin shakes his knife like it's his head. "No, you're the same person." The little boy shrugs. "Whatever you say! I can tell you this though, "Not all is as it seems, something's won't help you, and different directions are better than the one you are going."

Desolin looks over to me. "See, look, I am telling you he is-"

"Uh, Desolin?" Pointing over to where the boy was, he's gone. "Where did he go?! Why weren't you watching him?"

"You were the one talking to me!" Desolin groans. "What did he mean by all of that nonsense?"

"You think I am aware of what happened?! I don't know what he meant! Maybe he wanted us to go in a different direction!" A few of the passing wagons glance at us. Desolin notices this.

"You're attracting people!" He walks closer to me, "What happens if they find out you're the princess? Huh?" Brining my hood farther over my face, I glare at him. "If they find out, it'll be your fault, not mine." Desolin lets out a yell before turning around. He turns back to me, pointing a finger.

"You shut up! We are going to the vision forest!"

"The boy wanted us to go a different way!!"

"He said some rubbish things and left! Do you want to believe him? Go the other way for all I care!" Desolin starts walking away and towards the vision forest.

"Fine! I will! The front lines are this way! I bet I will save the world why you get lost in the vision forest." Stomping away, I hear grumbling from behind me and then footsteps coming closer. Grinning, I lead us to the front lines of the central and southern battle.

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In the castle, Zion can hear again, he can hear the soft noises of water…

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Sighing contently as I lay on my bed, I take a deep breath. The voices are finally gone and I can hear again. I can hear the nice, soft, relaxing sounds of the small waterfall in my room, and I can hear people talking again.

For once in the last two days, I am not dizzy. I can walk around without falling. The only different thing is ME. All-day since I woke up, about an hour ago, I've felt a pull to go somewhere. Just, no Idea where.

One time, I tried to tell Cadence about it but he said he had to go before I could even get my sentence out. All-day I've tried to ignore the pull but it's so hard. I won't tell the doctor about it, I only want to tell people I trust. That may be stupid of me, but that's what I want to do.

Lilac has been missing for a little bit after the start of the festival. The king is furious with her and said she will never come out of her room until the day he dies. Which, in all honesty, will be soon.

When I told him he would probably die soon if he kept using sundrops, he threw a goblet at me -I managed to dodge- and told me to get out of the room before he struck me with a sword. So of course, naturally, I said "Oh but you couldn't. You'd be too drunk to do anything and end up stabbing yourself."

That's how I am now on bad terms with the king. He did tell me to get out of my room which doesn't make any sense. Why would he want to stay in my room? And why did he expect me NOT to say anything back? He may be the king and all but-

Stopping my thought process, I think about all I just said to myself in the last few seconds. Ever since I woke up I've also noticed my brain works a lot faster and that I am blunter than usual. I mean, who is stupid enough to say "You'll probably die soon." to the king.

My door opens and in comes Cadence. I should tell him everything that has been going on, even before with my father, but I don't want to. He is worried enough right now. Why worry him more?

"Hey, Zion? How are you doing?"

My chest hurts and my arms are still sore from all the work my dad would make me do..

"I'm fine." Cadence walks to me and sits down.

"Good. Honestly, I have no idea what happened to you."

I want to know so bad, Cadence. Is there something wrong with me? What did that transparent guy do to me?

"As I said, I'm fine. No need to know what happened." Cadence ruffles my hair and stands up from my bed.

"Okay, well, you sure you're fine?"

No, I'm not. I feel like my chest is going to explode, my arms feel like they will never be able to do anything again and the feeling that I need to be somewhere right now hurts my head…

"Yeah. Positive." Cadence smiles and walks out of my room, shutting my door behind him. The smile on my face falls, and I crumple back down into my bed.

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On the dirt road, Jaylin can't help but think how silky Lilac's hair is…

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Walking down the road, Lilac's hair blows in the wind, silky and long. It looks so soft like it's been treated with so much care.

For a while now I want to touch it, I know I can't. Lilac would probably kill me. Maybe after we get to the front lines I can accidentally touch it…

"Desolin? Hey?" Glancing up at Lilac, she is standing in front of me, facing me.

"What're you doing?" Waving my hand, I walk forward. "Nothing." Hearing whisper something behind me, I can practically see the scowl on her face.

"Well, we need to find a plan to get into the enemy battle lines." Staring back at her, I laugh. "Let's not worry about that. We have a while to go. Anything could happen between here and now." Lilac glares at me and pushes past me. We do that a lot, pushing past each other to get to the front to prove our dominance.

"When will we get to the next village?" Walking beside her I shrug. "Don't know. I only know that there is a rest stop up here somewhere. You need your tent and things and you just set up camp there. Hopefully, there will be traders and we can get some supplies. I hope you got money."

She takes out her bag and her knife. "I am about done with this dress…" Lilac stops and takes out her knife, cutting the dress up to her thighs, shortening it.

"Wondering when you were going to do that. The dress looked hot to be in." Lilac glares up at me and throws the rest of the fabric in her bag, "It was. Give me your bag." Holding my bag up to my chest, I turn my body away from her. "Why? It's mine." She growls and reaches for it. "I want the ax that you have in there."

"Oh." Looking through my bag, I take the small ax out and hand her the hilt. "You know how to use it right?"

"Yes, I do." Grinning as she walks past me, I turn after her as we make our way to the rest stop.

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In Cadences' small house, he moves his body around, getting used to it again…

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"Oh, it feels so good to have a body again! My uncle is gone and the pendant is safe.. My father won't get mad at me for losing it!" Cheering, I make myself a small bowl of blalatha, my favorite type of mushroom stew.

Dancin around my small kitchen, I think back to how I found Zion. If my uncle did anything to him, we will find out soon enough. Hopefully, he didn't do anything to Zion.

If he did do anything to Zion, I'd force myself to go home and have a talk with my family. They would be the only ones to know how to fix Zion..

"Hi, Cadence." Almost dropping my bowl, I turn around to see her, my fiance. Everyone thinks she was my wife but no, we never had the chance to get married.

"Y-you're here? You went to the gods?" She nods. "Yes, I went to the gods." Tears flow down her cheeks, even though she is dead, she has emotion. "Cadence. You must listen to me. The end is coming, Watch.. He will… You need to watch him, Cadence. He will end everything! I have to go now. I am fading." Trying to reach out to her and tell her I love her and don't know what she said, she fades away.

Sitting down on my chair, I stare at where she was.

"Who in the elven gods were you talking about? How do I stop him? Please.. Come back.." Hot tears flow down my cheeks, dropping into my hands that are clasped tightly in my lap…