Two Princesses, One Throne

Chapter 18

“Arrrgghhh.”

Arianna threw all her bottles of potions and destroyed all the herbs she sees. Her eyes held anger and frustration. One of her generals came into her sacred chamber when he heard the noise.

“Is everything alright, my Queen?” the admiral frowned and was surprised to see the mess inside the room.

“Everything is NOT alright Primero. It’s been ten years and I’ve tried everything to find that wench but I can’t. Something is blocking MY MAGIC.” Black shadow erupted from Arianna’s body as she shouted in anger.

“You did it once before my Queen. I know you can do it again.” Primero tried to calm Arianna but she’s still angry knowing that Amara is still around and sooner or later she knows Amara would try and take back the kingdom from her, also, she needed her. Amara holds the last ingredient she needs.

“When is the next set of newborn coming?” Arianna asked.

“Tomorrow my Queen, but according to one of my captain stationed in Green Village, they were only ten newborns.” Arianna gritted her teeth and walked closer to her general dangerously.

“Is that going to be enough Primero? Would that be enough for our plan?” Arianna asked through gritted teeth. Primero shook his head as he answered, “No. No, my Queen.”

“Then do the same thing to all the villages in the kingdom and ALL women who’ve bled will bear a child young or not as long as they still bleed. Tell that to the rest of the generals.” Arianna ordered.

“But my Queen, we chose the Green Village as the base of our operation for they hold the highest number of population but if we do that to all the villages in the kingdom it might attract the attention of the High Kingdom.”

“It goes without saying isn’t it, Primero? Be careful, and don’t let anyone or any living this leave the kingdom.” Primero bowed his head in response and walked out of the sacred chamber to carry out his Queen’s orders.

Arianna walked over to her altar where she placed her mother’s urn that contains her mother Raquel’s ashes. Arianna caressed the urn and said, “It won’t be long now Mom. We will be together again and we will rule this world.”

~~~~~

Amara’s hand formed into a tight fist she listened to Koro’s story. The Green Village which was once filled with flowers and green plants is now nothing but shadows and darkness.

“Koro, do you happen to be the village leader?” Amara asked with a frown on her face. She’s been looking at Koro the entire time and he find him quite familiar thus, she can’t help but ask.

“I used to be.” Koro answered sadly. “My inability to protect the village resulted to this. All sorcerers in this village were stripped off their magic and all healers were only allowed to heal the laborers. I am the only one who managed to escape.”

“What do they do to those children?” Barbara asked but Koro shook his head not knowing the exact answer.

“I do not know but once every three months, a general from the castle will come to collect the newborn.” Koro answered. Amara’s been quiet the entire but she’s not closing her ears to everything that Koro said. The anger she felt for Arianna got worst as well as her desire to kill her and take back the kingdom got stronger.

Barbara glanced at Amara sadly. For the last ten years she knows how much Amara wanted to save the kingdom but she’s still powerless against the evil Queen. She may have treated her differently before but Barbara promised to herself that she will do anything she can to repay Amara from saving her back then even it means fighting alongside with her and risking her life for the TRUE Queen.

“That’s the current situation here in the Green Village. Which is why, you can’t just get further into the village without permission. They will not hesitate to kill you; especially when you’re travelers.”

“We understand.” Wilson said slightly nodding his head in the process.

“I suggest you leave immediately. I have an underground tunnel which you can use. It will lead you to the river.” Koro added.

Koro then lead them to his room. He lifts up the carpet and opened a secret door to the tunnel.

“Thank you Koro.” Barbara said as they all jumped into the tunnel. There were about to leave when Koro noticed something.

“Two of your companions are missing.” Rosella gasped, realizing who those two are. Koro hurriedly ran outside of his house but he can’t see Damien and Amara anywhere.

“What are we going to do?” Rosella whispered trying to stay calm.

“I’ll go after them, you three stay here.” Wilson was about to climb back up but Richmond stopped him. “I’ll go with you Wilson.”

Shaking his head Wilson replied, “No, Richmond. You have to stay here with Barbara and Rosella.” Wilson climbed back up and looked for Amara and Damien.

~~~~~

Amara secretly and quietly walked closer towards the gates of the mansion. Upon hearing footsteps, Amara hid at the corner and peaked.

“The captain is summoning all the soldiers in the mansion. There is an announcement from the Queen.” one of the soldiers said to the other.

“But we can’t leave the post unwatched.”

“I’ll watch over the post.”

“Alright. I’ll be right back after the announcement.”

Most of the soldiers left leaving only one soldier for each corner of the village. Amara used this as an opportunity to free the chained people in front of the gates.

Amara opened her palm and five blue butterflies came out. Amara softly blew the butterflies to the direction of the gate and it flew.

When the butterflies reached the gate, each of them landed on each chain freezing it in the process. Upon freezing the chain, Amara stretch her bow and used her magic to create an arrow shooting each of the chains continuously without a millisecond to spare.

When the chain broke, they fell on the ground and that was when the gates opened. Amara’s eyes grew and she hid once again. She peeked through the edge and watched.

“How did they severe the chains?” asked the person in front of the soldiers which Amara presumed to be the captain.

“Nevermind, just cure these vermins and make sure they do their jobs correctly this time.” The captain ordered and the five people were taken inside the mansion.

Amara decided to ran back to Koro’s house but then a soldier almost saw her. She gasped when she felt someone pulled her to the corner, looking up she saw Damien looking at her like she did something wrong.

“They almost saw you.” Damien whispered almost not enough for Amara to hear.

“I know. I’m sorry.” Amara breathed. Damien silently observed and feels the vibration from the ground trying to figure out where the soldiers are.

When he finally make sure that there were no soldiers around they came out of hiding and went back to Koro’s place. On their way, they crossed paths with Wilson who was looking for them for a while now.

“We need to go.” Wilson whispered. The three of them went back to Koro’s house where Richmond, Rosella and Barbara were silently waiting inside the tunnel.

When the tunnel opened Rosella sighed in relief when she saw the three of them safe.

“Let’s go.” Richmond said the moment Damien, Amara, and Wilson came down.

Looking up to see Koro Wilson said, “Thank you Koro.”

Koro nodded his head and closed the door. They walked through the dark tunnel but Amara’s heart was still racing. As if feeling Amara’s emotions, Damien held her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. Amara was taken by surprise but the gesture calmed her racing heart. Because of the darkness of the tunnel, Amara can’t see Damien’s face but she knows no matter how much she chose to ignore it Damien will always by her side, soulmate or not.