Princess of the Moonlight

__*__Chapter XVI__*__

Skylar's POV

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" Mother, mother, are you alright?"

She coughs. Her face is very pale, and she is very sick. " Y-yeah. F-fine... "

Her voice is shaky. I rub my hands against my wet cheeks. She was too young to die... She still had a life ahead of her. I hear a loud noise. I rush to the noise, calling out behind me. "Mum, I will be right back." I leave her bedside, staring out the window.

The city was lit ablaze.

My hands cover my face in shock. I am truly frightened. My heart is racing.

What do I do?

What do I do?!?

People were dying. Mum was already sick... She was deathly sick. But somebody had, as if it weren't enough, lit my great city on fire. Probably the bloody kingdom did this. The king, the queen.... I knew it. without a doubt, this was their style. Whatever did we do to deserve this? Our countries capitol was burnt to the ground. And then I smelt it. Smoke. I sprinted to Mum's room, picked up her body in my arms. She seemed out of sorts... Surprised. She burst into a fit of coughing.

" Mum, it's going to be alright... " I pull her close as I run, dropping her off in a tree, on the edge of the forest, far from the fire.

I sit beside her, holding her hands gently. "Where are Ivy and Teryn?" She asks.

" Safe, running away as a second and third. They will reach a beautiful land, called Paris, far away from this kingdom's reach... "

" Why aren't you with them, Skye?"

" I promised Professor I would keep watch the castle... The signs. Before the war." The castle was going downhill. Everybody knew it too. I thought of poor Lük with a gulp. That was proof enough. That knight. Why had he saved me. Not him?

" Why are you staying here though? There are others who need saving. You have a whole city. Don't choose one person, over a whole city of people."

" Mum, I'm not going to leave your side."

" You must." She sniffles, her forehead is burning, like the fire... I can see there is no arguing. But this is... This isn't logical. She whispers in a raspy voice, " Please."

I nod. " Mum, I love you... Always know that. I will save every single one of those innocent lives, in your honour. But I will come back. " I kiss each of her cheeks, she smiles faintly.

" I am proud of you, son. You are a good person. "

I run into the valley, helping the scrambling citizens to the forests edge.

" Gwenivere," I address the small girl, a friend of Teryn's, only about six or seven. She finally looks up at me, her eyes panicked.

" Hmm?"

" Look after my Mummy... Please?" She nods. I hand her a sparkly bracelet.

" Danke!" She grins and hugs me, as though forgetting about the fire.

" Bitte. " She then leans down beside her. I smile to myself. Childhood is so precious...

But then I realize the fire isn't stopping. I tell the citizens to go to the waterfall, not from there. They nod. I would have followed but I heard a scream in the distance. It sounds like a man. I run towards the blazing inferno, following the scream, inside a house. I trip over a chair, landing in the fire. I scream a blood curdling scream, I feel saltwater tears leave my eyes. The man pulls me away from the fire. But it hurts! I'm full fledged crying, the door in flames. Mum... You got your wishes, I thought bitterly, trapped in four walls of flame, left to die.

I hear one last scream from the man, then silence. He is dead.

Great.

Just fabulous.

Not only am I left to die... I'm left to die alone.

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