The Exiled Gem

Broken Promises

The Council book full of quotes... she didn't remember the name really well... An Amalgam of Acuity? No, maybe it wasn't that. Whatever the name - that book had had one quote Alexandra couldn't get her mind off right now.

Broken promises are like curses. You might forget about them but they never forget. And in the end - they make you pay.

She had promised Liam she would find Sabel.

Exactly - you promised to FIND her. You HAVE found her. You didn't promise you would get her back, did you? You don't need to!

Mind was raising a fair point. But it wasn't Alexandra's nature to find loopholes. Her words might have been anything - but her intentions had been to bring Sabel back. And she counted the intention as her vow.

Sabel was getting bigger and bigger as Alexandra neared her. The Aunt's flowing caramel hair rested on her back like a coconut's husk. She was riding a spotless white stallion - turning behind just once - registering the niece in pursuit. But the white beauty, was no where competent enough for Mercury. Within a minute, Alexandra was almost at an arm's length from Sabel.

Then, Mercury and the horse seemed to recognize each other as sworn enemies. And the chase heated up. Aunt Sabel paced up, all of sudden. She rocketed ahead. After putting enough distance between themselves, and the white horse turned his head back slightly, as if to spite Mercury.

Mercury neighed angrily and huffed.

'No!' Alexandra cried, panicking, 'Not faster!' But as if Mercury was going to heed. He simply tossed his head to the left angrily, and rushed on.

Alexandra was almost getting dragged through the air now. She couldn't see - the speed being so much that her eyes were left unfocused. And still, somehow - Aunt Sabel kept ahead of her.

She was simply a better rider than Alexandra. And then came the fact that as Liam had said: Mercury was already tired. Five minutes of challenge and the black beauty slowed down some more. While the white one was showing no sign of relenting.

'Better!' Alexandra sighed, as Mercury slowed. Then she looked ahead, Aunt Sabel was speaking nothing. She seemed to have registered the fact that she couldn't possible get her queen status back. Her powers back. Or her revenge, anyhow. And she had give up on all those - wisely chosen to flee. Disappear from the face of earth.

'You can't!' Alexandra bellowed, 'You can't destroy so many lives and escape! You have to pay!'

Either Aunt Sabel didn't hear or she didn't want to hear. She just kept riding ahead, her mad effigy showing no sign of remorse - or of weakness.

She needs a whack on the head with a muddy boot, Fannel's voice ringed in Alexandra's ear.

Whack on the head with a muddy boot.

Alexandra did have a muddy boot. She had two! It was now or never - the Aunt was gaining speed again, she would leave Alexandra behind this way. If only, she could get one good shot with her boot...

Worth a try.

So Alexandra pulled her right leg up and wrenched her boot out. She raised it above her head like a javelin and holding Mercury's reins with one hand, flung it ahead.

At least sixty meters. The brown boot shot upwards, from where it descended in a perfect arc and hit... not Aunt Sabel, but the white horse - right on the tail bone.

'Dove's droppings!' Alexandra squeaked, raising a hand to cover her mouth. The stallion was alarmed: he raised his front limbs, neighed and dropped them back down - now rushing ahead like its tail was on fire.

'That, Mercury - is a live example of counterproductive.' Alexandra calmly mused. And as the boot fell to the ground and traveled across the land, she turned to have a look at it.

No, she hadn't been weaponless until now. Alexandra realized that her right boot - the one she had just flung at her aunt - had had a pocket knife in it. And right now, the pocket knife was lying on Ethorian grass. Having fallen loose from its stealthy attachment in the boot. The blade lay silently. Patiently.

She had to get that. But jumping from a galloping horse was the biggest no-no in Alexandra's rule-book. Then again, letting Aunt Sabel go... was a crime. When had she cared about rules? Not as a princess. Not as a spy. How could that day be an exception?

Alexandra put hand to her ribs. She was not going to break them. She had no inclination to be back with Nurse Rose. She took a deep breath, left Mercury's reins - and leapt to the side.

Stars danced in front of Alexandra's eyes as she collided with the rocky ground. But there was no thinking twice. She rolled to her right and pushed the boot aside, closing her hand upon the pocket knife.

No more Daggers for a week, had Fannel said? But this wasn't a dagger. This was a knife. And it was her last hope. Alexandra sat up on the ground. She pulled her hand behind, squinting to see the Aunt's figure. But there seemed to be a chain holding her behind.

If you promise to not use it on anybody, Alexandra... then you may keep it.

Another promise. This time - to her mother, who had - for the first time, put her trust in Alexandra. Fourteen years ago, when she had stolen into that fare. Her mother: who was... now dead. Did Alexandra have the courage to break such an oath?

Broken promises are like curses. You might forget about them but they never forget. And in the end - they make you pay.

'If that's the case,' Alexandra heaved, 'if that's what the price is - then fine! I WILL PAY THE PRICE!'

Somewhere above, her destiny must have changed a lot in that single moment - with that single statement. But to Alexandra - right now - it did NOT matter. All that mattered, was that she had to get Aunt Sabel.

Alexandra broke the chain. She thrust her hand forward and left the dagger. And she spoke the two truest words of her life with that throw. The most desperate phrase she could have uttered -  'FOR IDGARD!' Alexandra hollered.

And perhaps it truly took a queen to do that. 

The small blade cut through the air and flew across the length of the Ethorian forest. Alexandra watched, her mouth slightly open. Mercury stopped fidgeting. The trees stopped rustling. Only the hooves of the white stallion made any noise-

In a conclusive scrunch! the pocket knife reached its mark. A painful gasp, a sharp intake of breath, and then came the sound similar to when sacks were dropped.

Except for the fact that Alexandra's nemesis had been dropped.

And the white stallion didn't even stop rushing. He didn't even register its rider had collapsed. He simply carried on, galloping across the Ethorian forest and merging with the horizon. Never to be seen again.

Alexandra was stunned. 

In a daze she got up. In a daze she walked the hundred yards, until her Aunt came into view.

So much. For so less.

Just an Aunt - a single woman with a so-called injured pride. And for her, so much of trouble. An exile. Two wars. Countless deaths. And still - no solution.

Alexandra knelt down. The pocket knife was not very deep into her neck... Alexandra pulled it out easily. The fall had actually knocked her out.

She turned Sabel over and put two finger below her nose.

Breathing. Normally. If she died so easily, Alexandra would have lost her belief on death's immobility. Such devils - such hardened up individuals - who lived only for revenge... they never died so fast. Never.

And now, Alexandra knew she didn't have any time to waste in thinking about the ills of her aunt. With each passing minute, hundreds of soldiers were being massacred. She couldn't afford being even a second late. 

It was not too late. Not yet.