The Traitor Queen

Chapter Thirty-Six

I urged my body to move against the phantom restraints that had appeared around me, but it was no use. It was a struggle to even breathe as an invisible force pushed me. All I could do was watch as Sabre was secured with several pieces of rope, thrashing and kicking in an attempt to break free.

We were all stuck.

"Axel!" Mace called another one of his lackeys over. "Send word to the generals at the border to send a battalion of soldiers through and take over the nearest villages they can. Don't harm any civilians yet unless they fight back, just secure their homes."

The figure set off without wasting any time, heading further up the main path that led to Icrodeia if you travelled for long enough.

"So, that's it?" Lorella managed to get out while trapped in her own frozen state. "Racaea doesn't have this damned shard and you're sending out your forces anyway."

Mace shrugged, his burst of anger from before having cooled down. "I was always going to send them out no matter if I got the shard or not. The only difference was whether or not I got what I needed out of it."

"Leave Sabre out of it!" Auron retorted, attempting to break free from the phantom force Mace was holding him with. "She's done nothing more than the rest of us. If you let her go, we can continue looking for your stone."

"But the Sephirans left the Idaphite for her, she is the next and only other lead I have. You three are an unnecessary weight. Truly, you're lucky that I'm planning to let you keep your lives." Mace motioned his hand for more cloaked figures to approach. "Sabre won't be too cooperative in giving me information if you're all dead."

Sabre cried out in anger as her head was pulled back and a thick piece of rope was secured around her mouth. Her brows furrowed as she glared at Mace and tears of fury built in her eyes.

I couldn't allow them to do this to her. Sabre wouldn't give them information freely, I knew that for sure, so Mace would have to be a little creative in the ways he got it out of her. Rage built beneath my skin at the thought of what he would do. I couldn't let them hurt her.

But we were stuck. Even if we weren't trapped by Mace's power, we were outnumbered. If we tried to fight back, we wouldn't be any better off than we were at the ball. It would result in injuries we wouldn't be able to treat. We were days from the castle and heading back to Bellgrave Village sounded like a death sentence with all the warnings we received about what lurked in the forest.

We were beaten. There was nothing we could do except watch as they tied Sabre up tighter.

Mace chuckled as he turned back to his captive. "Any final words?"

Sabre only glowered at him, breathing heavily against the rope around her mouth.

"Good." The miscreant brought out his dagger and used the pommel to hit her on the back of her head, dragging unconsciousness to greet her. One of the cloaked figures then threw her over their shoulder, heading towards the path that led to Icrodeia.