An arrow flew over my head, but I managed to duck in time. Caelus ran towards his horse, to try to get to his sword, but didn't make it in time.
'Well well well, what do we have here?' someone said, pointing an axe at Caelus' neck.
'Trevor,' he recognized him instantly.
It was a boy a little shorter than him, but he looked quite young. His eyes were light blue and his hair dark black.
'Let me guess,' Caelus told him ignoring that he still had an axe pointed at him. 'Your lapdogs are with you.'
From the darkness of the branches, two people emerged.
A tall, slender boy carrying a bow, he looked concerned, as he didn't want to be there.
And another wearing a mask, which he took off when he saw us, who had only a knife with him.
'Say that again,' the boy with the knife told him.
'Come on Lewis, don't tell me you took offense. You should learn from Mandacol, he sure knows how to deal with a little teasing better than you.'
The bow boy, Mandacol, lowered his weapon and nodded his head.
There was a level of respect for Caelus that I couldn't understand. How could he achieve that without being a sovereign? There was nothing that made him special, he was just an arrogant guy ruling a fake Kingdom.
Seeing Mandacol let his guard down, Trevor pulled the sword from Caelus' horse and pointed it at him as well.
'Hey Trevor, we don't want to anger him,' Mandacol finally spoke.
Lewis watched him, as if his words had a meaning that I could not quite grasp.
What could it mean to anger him?
Trevor smiled at this, and just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, he turned his head to me.
'Maybe we can't do anything to our sweet leader, but that girl... by the way, is this the human you wouldn't let my sister murder? This pathetic girl?'
His sister?
Trevor was Aurora's brother?
Seems like evil ran in the family.
My skin froze.
I wanted to summon the breeze under my skin in an instant. I could use the tree branches, the earth around me and in just a few seconds I'd have all three of them under my feet.
But then I remembered.
Condition two. Since I left the cave, I am strictly forbidden to use my magic. If I used it, I would never reach the Tree.
I was totally unprotected.
Lewis also smiled and approached me with his knife.
'You stay away from me,' I said imposing my voice and trying to access my knife, the one I still had in my belt.
'Or what?'
To my surprise, Caelus raised his hand.
'Lewis, stay away from her.'
Trevor's gaze was filled with curiosity, traveling between our faces.
'Lew stop,' Trevor told him and he simply obeyed. 'Who is this girl Caelus? And why do you show even the slightest interest in her? You never care about anyone, why her?'
Caelus watched me, his blue eyes full of intensity. The message I interpreted was something like "trust me". But how could I trust him? I didn't feel I could trust him at all. I didn't know him.
'I don't care about her, but I need her for something.'
At least he was being honest.
'What for?'
'It's none of your business.'
'You see Caelus, it is my business when she's about to go with the Gods.'
A hand grabbed my hair and pulled me to the ground.
I fell against the dirt, stopping the weight of my body with my hands.
Then a kick impacted against my ribs.
The pain was instantaneous.
I managed to straighten up, but in vain.
She stomped her boots directly on my chest.
I began to cough, short of breath.
'Aurora, that's enough,' Caelus ordered her and apparently she still respected his authority, because she stopped. 'I told you to stay out of this.'
'And leave all the reward to you alone? I may be afraid of you darling, but that doesn't mean I'm going to miss the chance to fill myself with gold, even if that angers you.'
'Reward?' Trevor repeated as I tried to pull myself together.
The pain was so deep I feared she may had broken one of my ribs. I couldn't even use my magic to heal myself, I was going to have to endure the pain until she was gone. Like when I fell off Lord Polteney's roof fixing one of his leaks, or when my whole arm gave way under the weight of some rocks I had to carry from one side of town to the other.
Bieno had prepared me to endure physical pain, they just didn't know it.
I started to get up and wiped the dirt off my clothes.
Aurora smiled and hurried to answer.
'Apparently she's a princess, the princess of Crescendo.'
Never had the word princess sounded so bad. Because I knew they would take advantage of that word, use me to get whatever they wanted and then probably kill me.
I could only hope that one person would stand up for me.
'Yes, I captured her to sell to the highest bidder,' Caelus stated and I couldn't help but look at him in surprise.
What was he playing at?
'And you were going to keep her all for yourself?' Lewis asked and I was repulsed in a second.
'I was going to catch her before you scumbags jumped in. If Aurora had listened to me, I'd have her on my ship today tied up and ready to trade. She thought I'd join her on a quest, can you imagine that?'
'You as a companion? A guardian?' Trevor replied and at last lowered his axe. 'Friend, I thought you'd really lost your mind.' And then simply hugged him.
My stomach churned at that image.
Had it all been a lie?
Maybe I was so used to lies that I didn't differentiate them from the truth any more.
'Then why didn't you let me hurt her when I had the chance? Why bring her here? You humiliated me in front of this worm, Cae.'
Aurora reached up to him and stroked his hair.
This time, Caelus didn't flinch at the touch.
'Because I wanted to find out as much as possible about her, to see if she wasn't a threat. Sometimes you just have to trust me,' he said and kissed her.
It was no ordinary kiss, but a passionate one, with so much lust that it made me feel uncomfortable. I couldn't see it, I just couldn't.
Lewis noticed my expression.
'What's the matter princess? Are you jealous?'
'Shut up.'
'Make me.'
I pulled my knife from my belt and attacked him. In a second, I had slashed his face and blood was rushing out.
I froze at what I had done.
The kiss stopped and Caelus looked at with surprise in his eyes.
Even the traitor was surprised.
Where had so much hatred come from?
I was more than angry, I was furious.
'You damned witch I'm going to...'
'Don't hurt her,' Caelus interjected again and clarified. 'We need her in a good condition. Better condition...'
'Better price,' they all replied in unison.
It was Trevor who grabbed me from behind.
I fought but he had more strength, however, I was able to give him a punch in the jaw, to which he responded only with a smile.
'She's a feisty one, let me tell you that,' he said as he tied my hands, then threw me to the ground again.
This time, my face hit the ground, unable to stop myself. I felt blood emerging from my eyebrow, but I ignored it.
What was I going to do?
I couldn't fight, that was obvious.
It was four against one.
Well, actually, it was now five against one.
I thought of all the times I shared information with Caelus and hated myself for it.
I wanted to convince myself that I could trust him and lowered my defences so he could see me as more than just a princess.
Now I was paying the consequences of my actions.
Was this a test from Syform?
Maybe he wanted me to fight everyone. Maybe I stood a chance with my magic, but I couldn't use it.
I still intended to go to the Tree, even if at the time that idea seemed crazy.
I was at the mercy of those vandals, and I could only wait to see if the opportunity to escape presented itself.
Either way, there was something to consider.
Caelus had the other half of the map, I had to take it from him before I could escape.
I would go on without him.
At that moment, I was even thinking of killing him, to be honest.
He draped his arm over Aurora's shoulders.
'Bring her along, we'll camp in that direction.'
Great. Not only did he have me trapped, but we'd be even further away from the cave, so I'd have to run desperately to get there in time.
Based on the position of the stars, and the three moons, I guessed it would only be about two hours until sunrise.
How was I going to escape in two hours?
How was I going to escape at all?
When Trevor picked me up and I walked past Caelus, I couldn't help but tell him what I thought.
'I hate you, you're a bastard and I'll never forgive you.'
'A bastard? That's the best you can do? I truly fear for my life now,' he answered me in mockery and managed to make Aurora laugh.
'Fear, because you will regret it. Believe me false king, you will regret it.'
One blow to the head was all it took to send me into the dark silence of unconsciousness.