The Kingdoms of Blue and Green.

Part 62

The silence lingered in the darkness. The rise and fall of the wailing voices beat back from the cliffs, muddled and multiplied a river sounding as it bent over stones and rocks. Evelynn leant against a tree, helmet in hand feeling drawn into the sound, the sound of the rocks clattering down the river, pushed by the force of the water, like the pumping of her own heart.

Evelynn raised her hand to her face, pulling the braid out of her hair. Shuddering as she lifted a calloused finger and ran it down her neck. Inhaling sharply she pressed herself against the tree, wishing its bark out reach out and encapsulate her aching body. Every brisk movement of her sword spilt a part of her, cut so deep that she couldn't stand after. Her empty eyes gazed at her every time Evelynn closed her eyes. It had been days, yet the emptiness continued, the pit continued to grow. Night after night she wished she could sleep. Her hand shook as she lifted it off her neck. Her lips pressed tightly together, hiding the burning sensation in her throat. They were mere steps away from her. Watching in the shadows and gazing up to the brightly stared sky. Evelynn inhaled again pressing her hand on her stomach. Reaching for something she didn't know, her fingers grasping onto something invisible. Pressing her eyes closed she could still find the brown eyes staring at her. The smudged yellow mark plastered across her forehead and the small grains of soil wrapped over her dark freckles.

Gasping she slid down the tree, the bark cutting into her back. The threads of her shirt pulled tightly at the rough surface. Evelynn dropped her helmet. The soft thud of the helmet as it met the dark soil rang in the silence she knew was artificial. The distant echoing of soft breaths accompanied her. The bodies it protruded from lingered in the shadows. She attempted to bury it, placing her hands over her mouth. Holding in the sound. The ringing of screams in her ears. She shivered to place her knees up to her chest, pressing her head back into the tree. The high canopy of trees hid the rising stars, drifting in the sky.

"You were my sunshine and so it is always light in my world," She whispered between grasping her hair, pulling at her skin and scratching her face.

"Now that your gone-" She cried. "I'm so sorry" Evelynn sobbed, looking to the stars. "I'm so sorry,"

It was as if then the stars disappeared. Drifted into the shade of the canopy. The starless night cried back out to her.

"I wish I could turn back time." Evelynn huffed, tears dripping down her chin. "I wish I could of said goodbye." She lowered her head, pressing it against her knees.

"Lisandra forgive me," Evelynn pleaded into her skin. The guilt piled onto her shoulders.

The shadows winced at the sight of her. The princess laying against a tree crying out to memory. The painful sobs and tears spewed out of the princess. Her shoulders ached with the guilt that plagued her. The promises she tried to keep, falling apart at her feet. The wind attempted to cheer her as its brisk dance over the canopy, helping the leaves fall like snow around her. Evelynn pulled herself into a ball, shivering at the wind's attempt. The wind continued to try to cheer her, forcing the trees to dance along.

Her throat burned, at the lack of control she had. Not letting herself hold it together. Her tears dripped down her honeyed cheeks. Her blue eyes sang with lines of red and were glassy like tear-dropped windows. Her heart burned as it wished it did when her body was there. Instead, she has locked away until the sea of blue moves west to the river. She knew her lifeless body had been worshipped by her people, but her lack of acceptance ached her heart continuously. Not letting her mind speak for days.

As if the soul could bleed an ocean through the eyes, and in sobbing, there is a surrender to grief that brings an ability to rise once the wave has passed. Tears came as if her pain had at last condensed into a deluge of rain.

~

Azrael glanced at the glass that lingered in his palm. The light flickering in the cup. Bouncing back and forth in his hand. His gaze wandered up as he turned back to his court.

The empty chairs screamed a certain silence that grew in their souls. The empty chairs were represented by the ones that filled them, a land of whom was represented. The lack of certainty posed in this room was due to the lack of stability. They waved their swords around as if their dignity depended on it. Keeping themselves from slaughter in the process. Azrael looked away from the empty chairs knowing that the ones who were seated there were only due to one person. Her.

~

The indistinct noise of the generals and shoulders wavered across his thoughts. The indiscreet bargaining over the military and daughters presented to Azrael an unneeded representation of their power-hungry thoughts.

"Why a woman come do his bidding? Is the King unfit to lead?" Aiden questioned out of his glass. The clear liquid swirling around the glass. The glaze over his eyes.

"The succession is to her," Azrael spoke. The tinge in his throat at the final word. He didn't say her name but they all knew. They all knew that she was out there in the fields with them. Against their armies, their kingdoms and themselves.

He placed his glass down on the table and licked his lips. The sweet taste of the alcohol masked his aching stomach at the thoughts that clouded his mind. The inability to shake his mind off of her was surely driving him insane. She had killed his court and lied to him. But those feelings still lingered. Like a prick of a needle. The metal retracted from the skin, but the pain was still there.

"Her family shall be dead soon enough. Dawn in fact" Aiden glanced at the whisky being poured in front of him. His silver eyes glazed and a smirk grew on his face as he faced Azrael.

"What?"

"For the General has confirmed an ambush on the castle. The family shall be slaughtered and she will have to return to be Queen." An onlooker spoke his harsh, bitter response; a stab at Azrael's dignity.

He knew what she had done, her actions sending a lasting impression on his court. The empty chairs are a signal. But there was something inside of himself. Burning and crying out within him.

Azrael grasped Aiden by the neck, hosting him up. "What have you done?"

~

The sky bled darkness only death knew. Within the dark sky, there was a sprinkle of light of hope for Evelynn. She tilted her head to the sky and continues placing one foot in front of the other, even if it was painful. She continued to climb. Placing her silver boot deeper into the dark green moss that coated the hill. Pushing her hand on her knee and forcing herself upwards she stared into the black sky, with the speckle of white that brightly glistened from the splinters in the tree canopy.

Evelynn's eyes darted around searching for a break between the trees. Forcefully holding the torch up to the sky, illuminating the dark branches that extended across above them. Evelynn groaned unimpressed and turned to her army closing in behind her.

Evelynn's torch flickered the flame brightening and dimming at the brisk, cold wind that danced through the trees. Evelynn licked her lips and raised her head to the bright star that was raised above her. The star breaking out of the shell, that was the green leaves that encapsulated it in her gaze.

Connected to the star was an intricate line upwards of small lights and specks until it reached a tip then curved over. Her eyes drifted down the line at the apex until they met the twin star before. Her lips tightened as she remembers the tense muscles and soft skin that the constellation was inked on. His breath became shallow when her finger drifted over it, and his voice croaky as he spoke of where it led. The bottom of the diamond would always lead you south.

"South," She whispered under her breath. "Dam you" she shook her head. "Dam you Azrael."

~

Evelynn's gaze was struck across the plains. The outskirts of Delta in her army's wake. She inhaled the smell of sweet flowers and sea salt. Listening to the river flow down the rocks, jumping off the stones and snaking its way downhill. And she closed her eyes.