Crown of Shadow

Chapter 10

Roy shook his head and tried to keep the desperation out of his eyes so that Saleyah wouldn't see. They had been traveling for days but there was no sign of Elisia or her captors. They had come to a dead end. He was begining to think he would never see her again. He looked over at Saleyah to see the same look of utter determination that she had developed these past few days.

Suddenly they entered a small clearing that looked as though it had been inhabitated recently. Roy went over to a nearby tree and noticed bits of frayed rope with blood on them around the tree. He winced and snuck a look at Saleyah hoping she was busy looking elsewere.

Unfortunatly she saw. She looked at it in shock. She swayed in her place then staggered over. She knelt by the rope and frowned. "This rope has very recently dried, in say a couple of hours or so."

She looked at Roy with unmistakable relief. "There's still hope!"

Ailiyah had been resting trying to recover. They would return the girl tomorrow and it would be a hard journey for her. Suddenly her head snapped up. There was someone in the clearing. They had walked a couple yards away from the clearing last night and she assumed William had'nt returned. She had allowed them to flee the instant he had woken up. There was no reason to klill them. They had other things to do.

Ailiyah quietly got up and motioned for Saleyah and Amaro to follow. She glanced at the clearing that they had recently vacated and saw a girl with long red hair stumble over to the spot were she and Andrea had been tied up. A young man stood next to the tree and was nodding grimly to what the girl was saying. Then he leaned in and gave her a tight hug. "They can't have gotten that far." The girl was saying and Ailiyah wondered if they ment William's group. Then she froze and realized they were looking for Andrea.

"Andrea." she whispered, laying a hand on her shoulder and gently guiding her out into the weak light of sunrise. Andrea gasped and ran toward the boy and girl with pure happiness and tears on her face.

"Roy, Saleyah!" she shouted racing desperatly toward them.

They turned around in amazement ther eyes widening. "Elisia!" They shouted running toward her. After many hugs and tears Elisia turned around to notice Ailiyah standing quietly in the shadow of a tree looking extremely uncomfortable. "This is Ailiyah." Elisia said nodding toward her. "She saved me from the men who captured me, and unfortunatly bore the consequences." she then nodded toward her heavily bandaged side.

Ailiyah just shrugged and said smoothly, "So your real name is'nt Andrea." she smirked .

Elisia smiled and replied, "No but I'm guessing that you won't tell me yours."

"No i'm afraid not. Names hold power you can't imagine.'

Elisia nodded grimly then turned back to Roy and Saleyah. "But how did you find me?"

Roy looked at Saleyah then back at Elisia. "Long story short, we ran away from home and walked a very long way."

Elisia nodded then frowned. "One thing I don't get. How come my kidnappers thought that I was some kind of Princess?"

Saleyah looked up at her with a strange look in her eyes. "It's because of me." she then slid down the sleeve of her old and tattered dress revealing the mark burned in her flesh. "Im the princess."

Everyone was silent until Amaro who had been completly hidden in the shadows spoke up. "Ailiyah I know this is very intresting and all but we've done enough. We need to go."

"Go where?" Elisia said with alarm.

Ailiyah sighed and started to pick up the few things she had brought with her.

"The leauge." Then to herself, "Airen is going to flay us alive."

"The league?" Roy said puzzled. "The league of shadows and chaos? But that's just an old myth."

I wish it was." Amaro sighed. "But the whole reason Ailiyah was here in the first place was to hunt someone down."

"The directions led me to William but it turns out he was the wrong one. But look out for yourselves. There is someone else out there and Im afraid that he won't be as nice as William." Ailiya responded.

"Wait! But why would he be after us?" Saleyah said confused.

Ailiyah opened her mouth to say something but at that exact moment Amaro grabbed her arm and they dissolved into shadow.