Alexandra did know Aunt Sabel.
For all the self-centered woman she was, she'd try to escape. The throne had been passed, she hadn't succeeded in anything other than starting a full fledged war.
Which also implied that she would definitely stay out of the war. If Nicholas saw her, or Fannel did, or Liam, or Alexandra, or Austin - she would be finished. And anyhow, in the war - there was possibility of some harm coming her way. Aunt Sabel, would definitely not want the harm.
So the war was not where Aunt Sabel was. To one side, was the Palace: unquestionable. To another side was a dead end: useless. And to the third was the moat: impossible.
The only possible option was the southern belt of thick forest. Montrosky had been carved out of a forest - this one Southern belt, was extremely dense, rocky and deceptive. Everybody had decided it was safe to stay out of it.
And needless to say, it was uninhabited.
Alexandra shook her head slightly. If the Aunt wasn't here; she could be nowhere on earth. 'Come on, Mercury. One last time.' She urged, stroking the horse gently. It seemed to be aligned to her thoughts and emotions. It seemed to realize her pent up excitement.
Mercury took her across the rows of surrounding men. Alexandra was pretty sure she didn't want to go into another woods. Woods - seemed to be where all the unusual things happened. And instinctively, because she felt threatened, Alexandra's hand reached her sheath - for Moira.
It was not there.
Alexandra closed her hand around the empty scabbard and cursed. She was riding into a forest - which could lead to anywhere. She hadn't had anything to eat for more than twenty four hours. Not even a drop of water. And now, she was going into what could be her death unarmed.
'Don't think about it,' she advised herself. But the fact was too terrible to get her mind off - a seemingly final, deciding day. And she didn't have Moira? And let alone Moira; she had NO weapon?!
Silly woman, see the ground! Mind snarled.
Alexandra snapped out of her cloud of thoughts. She pulled Mercury to a halt - right at the entrance of the Forest.
Down?
Alexandra leapt off the black horse - on the ground, dusty and almost indiscernible from the rocky, sandy earth - was a thin, black fragment of a cloak.
With some difficulty, she wrung it out of the soil and dusted it. Definitely it was the Aunt's blindfold. Which she had tossed here.
And if Alexandra stared harder, if she concentrated - amongst the shiny crystals of sand, there were a few green particles. The trail. But it wouldn't combine with sand until it was violently trampled.
Alexandra picked up a fistful of Ethorian soil and let it fall from the gaps between her fingers. The spy in her knew to recognize smaller details. The sun wasn't harsh enough to heat the land. But the sand in front of her, seemed warmer than the sand elsewhere.
Aunt Sabel, for her part, was no more than a walking skeleton. Alexandra was pretty sure she didn't weigh more than a ten year old. She could neither violently trample the trail, nor could she run in such a frenzy that the sand would heat up.
Aunt Sabel surely had a horse. And the sand was still warm - which meant she wasn't far away.
Alexandra turned to Mercury. The horse was quietly munching on some nearby grass. She wished she could munch on grass - there would be no need for extravagant meals, then.
'Come on now, stop glutting, Mercury.' She sighed, stroking its back. But the horse wouldn't oblige. He strangely reminded Alexandra of Jade - loyal; but keeping a mind of its own. Not hesitant in disobeying, if it wanted to.
And she couldn't bring herself to pull the horse away. Especially, when she knew that she could be leading him to his death too.
'Please?' Alexandra ventured. Horses were moody creatures, she couldn't bark at Mercury like she could bark at Jade. He'd simply refuse to let her mount. Or worse: topple her off when she was on.
But the horse didn't move, in fact... Alexandra realized that it wasn't eating. He was just staring at one point, beyond the grass, in the shrubs. And whatever could make a fidgety and wild horse like Mercury - freeze - definitely deserved a look.
Alexandra walked to his other side, holding the horse's face in her hands. She peered down the shrubs.
'Dove's droppings!' She inhaled, covering her mouth. A thin, coiled structure. Its skin reflecting the sun in a blinding flash. A huge, Iron snake!
Iron snake?
Alexandra's brows furrowed. She stared harder. It was making no movement. None of them were making any movement. Then, with a rare surge of courage, she shot out a hand and picked up the coiled thing.
She was utterly ashamed to find out that what she had mistaken for a coiled snake, was nothing but an iron chain. Its cold surface painfully familiar. And how many iron chains could be thrown into bushes? There was only one chained woman on the loose!
Conclusive proof - Alexandra had to enter the forest. Alexandra had to pursue a mad aunt. Alexandra had to make that final stand - alone.
* * *
Riding into the Ethorian forest, brought back a warm memory. Sixteenth March. A bright, sunny dawn. And somebody named Liam had entered her life: only to turn it upside down. But the upside down version, was what Alexandra personally preferred. That Idgardian forest had had the same uneven, unpredictable and rocky terrain. And Alexandra - rather annoyed at having to share a ride with a common man who got onto all her nerves - had been cooked with worry.
Mercury, meanwhile was showing his true colors.
The extreme, breakneck speed he had achieved, gave Alexandra the feeling of gliding through space. Trees - now only a blur of green and brown - whipped past her. They were slicing through wind, and Alexandra was not enjoying.
The familiar, disturbing feeling of her body moving ahead, but her stomach trying to stay behind engulfed her. Mercury's head was slightly bent. He was staring ahead, unblinking, and speeding up with each passing second.
Not enjoying was still fine. But when the speck of in-motion black appeared in front of her, whom she recognized as Aunt Sabel immediately, Alexandra completely lost her spirit.
With Mark and Liam, a strange, secure confidence had gripped her. Alone... Alexandra felt vulnerable. She was not at all ready to face Aunt Sabel again. Somehow, whenever she faced her, Alexandra felt afraid. She almost felt as if somehow, she deserved all that suffering.
Just her stupid imagination. Alright, Alexandra could agree the Aunt had suffered. But she wasn't responsible for it - she hadn't even been born then. Still, Alexandra had half a mind to ask Mercury to slow down. To let Sabel escape. To let it all just be over - the simpler way.
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.