Royal Blood

Chapter Eleven

Instead of either of them answering me, Jasper walks over to a bush and lifts something off of the ground. "Come look over here princess." I walk over to where he is stood and I see that he has removed what looks to be a grate and below us is a tunnel which goes underground. I seem to be miles above from where the tunnel starts underground but even from up here I can smell rotting which makes me gag at the back of my throat.

"What is this? And what is that smell?" I ask while backing away from the tunnel.

"They used to be sewers but after the unspeakable disease, they got blocked off because they were not needed anymore. Less people meant less human waste. Don't worry, it is only the smell that remains behind." he tells me.

"And you want me to walk through that? All the way to the Mainland? I don't think that is going to happen." I tell him.

"Alright then but you'll be stuck on The Island with an attitude like that." Jasper says to me very casually. I know he is right but who in their right mind wants to travel through sewers. "If it helps you will only be traveling through old sewers while you're still on The Island."

"Let's just go back." I say to the two boys and they lead me back to their house.

"So are we all agreed that we get off of The Island?" Jasper asks once we are all say back around the table. I nod my head at him reluctantly but agree to it because I know it is my best shot at getting far away from here. Max also nods at him, almost as reluctantly as me. "Great then. We'll leave in a couple of days!" He says enthusiastically.

"But when we get to the Mainland, where are we going to go?" Max asks before I can.

"Well I think we have two main options at that point." Max and I look at each other wondering what the hell it is going to be. "We can either go south towards The Desert which I wouldn't recommend or we could go east towards the boarder. I think it would be even less expected of you to go towards the boarder because -"

"Because it's so dangerous and full of rebel groups? But you're right, no one would think that I would go there. And there will probably be plenty of people that I can help. I say we head east then." I finish Jaspers sentence and agree with him. My mother would never have expected me to flea the palace never mind running away to one of the more dangerous parts of the country.

"How will we know that we are going in the right direction though?" Max asks us and I just shrug my shoulders at him because for this entire journey I have just followed Jasper everywhere.

"We follow the signposts you idiot." Jasper says to him in a mocking voice which almost makes me spit out the tea I had been drinking. Almost, not quite. "Right, lets go over the plan so far. Within the next couple of days we leave this house and go underground. The tunnels." He clarifies when I give him a blank look. "We move through the tunnels until we reach the end of The Island where we then travel through the ocean tunnel."

I'm pretty sure another blank look creeps onto my face at the mention of an 'ocean tunnel'. "What do you mean now? What is the ocean tunnel and how come you didn't mention it before hand when we were talking about the bridge?" I ask him but instead of Jasper replying, it is Max.

"The ocean tunnel was used before the unspeakable disease. It allowed people to travel between The Island and the Mainland without having to travel by plane or boat. Trains used to run through it. Most people would get on the train at a station near the palace and would remain on it until they got off at the Mainland, which, according to the history books, was called France. The bridge was only built after the disease when people thought that travelling under the ocean would cause the disease to spread further. The tunnel was left completely abandoned and has not been touched in over a hundred years. Locals believe it is haunted." I raise an eyebrow at him at the last comment.

"Bullshit." Jasper coughs into his hand. "I mean the part about it being haunted. If ghosts exist we would sense them everyday. There are more dead people underground than the living standing on top of them. The rest is all true though." Jasper comments and I just stare at him and I notice that Max is doing the same. Neither of us quite know what to say to him.

"Lets go back to the plan." I say to him and he nods at me.

"So we'll go through the ocean tunnel which will then connect us to the mainland. Altogether it shoud have taken us about a week to get to this point." I feel my jaw drop open, a weeks worth of walking? "Once we've reached the Mainland then we will start walking towards the boarder but that is where it is going to be difficult.

The zones that are closer to the boarder have more unrest and more rebels. They are also the areas where the B Group infiltrate into the country and cause unrest. If any of the rebels see Alexandria for who she really is then we are over so we'll have to find someway to sneak around. I imagine there will be abandoned tunnels on the Mainland so they will be our safest way to move. I also suggest that we don't go any closer than fifty miles to the boarder. That way you will still be further than where the queen will imagine you to be but hopefully safe enough from the rebels.

Also if the Maximes find out that you are so close then they will also go after you. Thinking about it, you have a lot of enemies." Jasper explains what the plan is and how it is going to work but with him being him, he has to throw some kind of joke in at the end.

I repeat the plan in my head so it sinks in but it doesn't feel real that we are going to do this. I'm actually going to leave The Island, the palace and my whole life behind me which is exciting and terrifying all at the same time.

"Alexandria, do you agree?" Jasper asks me which causes me to furrow my eyebrows at him.

"Huh?" I don't even pretend that I was listening to him.

"I was saying how this is going to be really dangerous and I just wanted to make sure that you understand everyone has chosen to do this themselves and has not been forced into it. Especially you because if we get caught I don't want to be arrested for kidnapping a princess. So, do you agree?" I nod my head him. It was my idea to runaway, just mine and no one forced me into it. "Great, everything is sorted then. We'll pack bags later on though I don't know how much we should carry." Jasper finishes.

I get up to leave the table where we are sat but I realise I don't know where I should go. This isn't my house where I can just walk into another room and make myself at home there.

"Will you be staying here tonight?" Max asks me sensing my confusion.

"No, I was planning on going back to the palace but I'll meet you back here in the morning." I snap back him but immediately regret it. He has allowed me into his house and has helped me so much already. I mumble an apology at him which he thankfully accepts.

"You'll probably have to sleep in the living room. As you have probably noticed there isn't much room here." He tells me but I see him blush.

"Really, it is all more than enough. I can't thank you enough." Max just bows his head at me and walks off. He is a hard person to understand. At some moments I think he likes me and we can get in but there are others where he acts cold towards me.

"Right I think I'm going to bed now. I think we should leave tomorrow night so the chances of being seen by anyone are lower." Jasper says and then walks into another room which was the bedroom.

"I think I'm going to go to sleep as well." I reply but then realise there is no one around to hear me.

I curl up against the battered sofa and wrap my arms around my knees to keep me warm although it doesn't work. When I close my eyes I am lucky enough to drift off straight asleep.

A/N: ahhhh it's #RoyalWednesday again. Sorry for the long break but I am back and hopefully for good this time. I've got up to chapter 23 written and I'm currently writing chapter 24 along with having up to chapter 32 planned so you shouldn't be short on updates.

Thank you so much for getting this story to over 2k reads already, that means so much to me and I can't quite believe it.

What did you think of this chapter? How do you think the plan is going to go?

Credit goes to Nadeen-Hussien for making the picture above.

As always don't forget to comment and vote!