26

The Princess and I had been conversing for minutes. We forgot that we were still captives and a frown formed on my face when they came into the tent.

"Where are they?" The knight who came along with the old sorceress asked her and scanned the vicinity which probably appeared empty to him.

"You asked me to make sure no one could see them, I can see that you are indirectly telling me I did a good job," the old lady responded.

The knight walked around the tent surprised. " Yes, if they are in here as we speak then you did a good job, I'm not sure what you did but could you undo it, we have to leave not to get to Tersian before sunset."

After he said that, the lady took out the same cylindrical container and blew more of this black powder into the atmosphere, she also cast spells and chants to reverse the invisibility.

"Don't you find it strange that we could see each other?" The Princess asked me suddenly and I was even shocked.

It was true that we saw each other but no one else did, "yes my princess it is strange, but I believe the sorceress did it on purpose,"

"Alright stand up, time to leave," the knight's voice resounded I'm my ears as he dragged me to my feet so that I stood and did the same to the Princess.

He untied our hands and legs and threatened to strike us dead if we tried anything against his command, and for some reason, at that moment I felt like Allesio should stare into my eyes and give me courage as usual to beat him up.

He took us back to where the other villagers were. I looked at the crowd and hoped not to see someone that I knew. I didn't see my parents nor did I see any of my friends, but I saw Samantha Rowan.

She stared at me and I tried to look away but that was impossible, her lips did not move but I heard her voice clearly inside my head and she asked,

"Where is Allesio?" 

I also responded without saying a word "He is safe- 

The knights pushed me forward away from her, "Move !" He yelled.

"We don't have all day,"

I recollected my senses and could not figure out what happened, how I heard her voice in my head and replied was a mystery to me.

He walked up to a black horse and instructed the princess to get on it.

I was amazed, despite being captured, the princess was still treated differently. She reluctantly got on the horse and the knights hopped on after her and left me behind.

"Make sure she stays behind us!" He commanded another knight who grabbed my arms and yelled at me to move.

I walked at a slow pace because I was completely exhausted, but the knights who were behind made matters worse, their conversation was not one that I liked to hear.

"She is pretty," one said to the other and my face squinted into a frown of disgust.

"Yes I know, it's such a shame that she ended up as a handmaid to the Princess, she is the kind of girl that the prince would love to be with, not the Princess," the second knight responded and I raised a brow.

I wondered what he meant by the Prince faking his love for the Princess,

"Could it be Prince Andrew?" I asked myself and also responded to myself,

" No, it can't be, Prince Andrew is from Ionia, not Tersian, although I have never heard of Ionia so it could be lies, or maybe not, "

I found it hard to weigh the options that were on my mind. The possibility of Prince Andrew being Tersian felt too high for me to overlook, so I paid attention and listened to everything they said.

"Shut up fool, say that out one more time and you may not live to see the next sunset!" He slapped the head of the second knight and I heard the sound it made and I knew that it must have hurt him.

"Well if the prince will not take her, I will," I was exasperated by the way that knight spoke, all his thoughts and speech were naughty and it wasn't what I wanted to hear,  they deviated completely from what I wanted.

"What does the king plan to do with all these people now?" Another question was raised and so were my ears.

"I believe he'll keep the as slaves until the king of Aeradon agrees to his request, if he still refuses, then each villager would be killed one after another daily until he agrees- 

"And what if he doesn't?" The other interjected.

"King Romeo Caesar would not be too greedy to let all his people die rather than divide the kingdom, however, if he refused after that, then we may threaten to kill the Princess or even kill her.

My sudden gasp made them stop and they called out to me,

" Hey! " They said

"What did you hear?" I was asked but I gave no reply.

" Are you dumb or something? " He yelled but I remained silent.

"Let her be, what we said was of no use to her, besides we haven't said anything that we shouldn't have," the other knight stopped him from pestering me further but after that, they spoke in very low tones so that I wasn't able to hear them.

"Where are Allesio and Adriel now?" I asked myself, it was such a shame that they didn't see us but I wondered where they went after that.

We continued the journey and for a while the entire crowd was silent, the only sound I heard was sobbing and quiet cries from the captives, but as we walked further, we approached my second greatest fear, height.

We were going along a cliff edge, and even though it was wide enough to hold seven horses standing next to each other I was still afraid. Down that cliff was a huge river with several rocks that were visible above it and that made my heart panic.

"I see some knights coming!" Someone yelled from behind and there was a commotion in the air, everyone was afraid because they thought a fight was going to break out.