Amelia Merlin and the Game for Okamila

Part 75: The Blood on the Palace Walls

"What a fucking whore! I always knew the Dellisandros were nothing more than spineless cowards. Their gods know nothing of courage or honour." Al snarled in the privacy of his tent. He was alone except for the queen's brother who lounged lazily in a chair like a lion in heat. He was smoking, of course, and Al couldn't help admiring his effortless grace as he did so. "We need to talk to the Fiorvantes, now."

"Amelia won't like that." Jeremy blew rings of smoke.

"Why not? What does she have against them?" he paced the floor, infuriated with the circumstances.

"She's been doing her research, you know." The blonde man raised his eyebrows.

"So?"

"So she knows about them."

"What's there to know?" Al threw his hands in the air in disbelief.

"The Fiorvante's are fucking crazy. She doesn't trust them and rightly so. They're volatile at best." Jeremy said nonchalantly.

"So? Volatile is what we need in a war. We want their craziness now more than ever." He felt sure he was right about this.

The queen's brother shook his head. "Amelia would sooner contact the Lattantio's. She wants predictable. She wants stability. The Fiorvantes threaten that and she won't trust them."

"She doesn't need to trust them." Al went back to his pacing. "She needs to use them."

"I think you could suggest writing a letter to the Fiorvante's but she wouldn't approve of meeting face to face with them." Jeremy stood up and put out his cigarette. The mere act of being on his feet seemed a struggle and he looked as white and frail as a cloud but his eyes gave no such idea that he was weak in the slightest. "I can apparate there right now-"

"Don't be ridiculous." Al snorted. "You're going to pass out if you take three steps forward."

"What do you suggest then?" he asked dryly.

"I don't know, but at this point we need more help."

..............

For the days to come Isaac didn't sleep. He would get these dreams, where everyone was walking through the streets and nobody noticed she was gone. Or they would be sitting in the kitchens and she wouldn't be there and nobody thought it was strange. He dreamed that he went down to the basement and someone else was sleeping in her bed. He dreamed that she was back and laughing with him and was gone the next day and no one noticed except for him.

The days to come were shit, he thought about her every single second and couldn't figure out why no one else was talking about it. He wished someone else was friends with her so he could talk to them but no one came forward when he asked around. He couldn't do anything without thinking about her.

The days to come sucked. Isaac reached out to touch someone who wasn't there, it didn't seem right. It was like the whole world was playing some sick joke on him.

The days to come were brutal. He felt an ache every time he breathed.

He couldn't find a trace of her, he couldn't fathom that she was actually gone.

The only sound he heard in the streets of Okamila was his footsteps hitting the cobbled road up towards the castle. Canavar stood high over the city and the walls around it didn't do much in the ways of keeping people out but the heads skewered on top were enough to convince anyone it was a bad idea to break in. 

He needed to see her, he'd been putting it off for days and he couldn't anymore. He had to see her. 

Blood dripped down the palace walls from the heads. Their dead eyes stared down at nothing and their mouths hung open, they all looked sort of stupid. Flies buzzed around their blueing faces and their matted hair. The stench was indescribable, most people didn't go anywhere near the wall so Isaac was alone as he approached it. He walked along the length, staring up at each and every one of the faces who had fought and lost. 

It was almost an hour of walking before he found her. His hands shook when he saw her, everything slowed and he had to stop and throw up before looking any further. He doubled over, his hands pressed against his knees as he spat the last bit of vomit from his mouth. Isaac's whole body shook when he looked up and he felt himself want to throw up again but there was nothing left over from the first time. Tears poured from his eyes but it wasn't even like he was crying, they just came. 

"Fuck," he whispered. "I'll make it better. The whole fucking world, I'll make it what you wanted it to be. You didn't die for nothing." 

Isaac felt stupid saying it aloud, and he felt even stupider talking to her head because it was nothing like her. Seven had been so sweet and full of life and laughed, that purple face up there, with it's hanging mouth and half closed eyes wasn't her. He barely recognized her and that somehow made him feel better. The real Seven wasn't on top of that wall. 

The lizards were going to hell for what they'd done. Isaac wasn't letting that bitch, Sapana get away with this. They would all die and the Girl Queen would rule and it would be everything Seven had dreamed of. 

On his way back to the mansion he walked quickly. This was a good thing, he had a purpose now and he could do this, he was going to fix it all.