Post Mortem : The Fates

Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Cat and mouse

Rochelle had fled under the cover of darkness. A thousand thoughts eating away at her like a hungry tapeworm. Because of the map, she had an idea of where she was going next. A nearby town about a day's walk away. The soldiers were right behind her. She would not be able to take any breaks or even sleep for the night. Not just soldiers, the boy that had found her, he was not human. She had heard of them but never seen one in person. The only evidence she witnessed were the charred remains of the people in her village that James had betrayed.

They were marked like her. She knew that they all controlled fire but what she did not know was how the boy had lived.

I hit him with the hatchet, right in the middle of the neck.

She too was marked and yet that same wound would have killed her. He healed instantly leaving not even a scar for evidence. Rochelle knew the Queen had unnatural life it was possible, she thought, that she had given it to her sons.

There were stories throughout the years of her sons. The Queen had gone through hundreds. If they betrayed her or were deemed unworthy they were killed. If they were immortal like her how did she kill them?

Is it possible there is a way? A way to kill the Queen?

The people in her town after all burned because they thought they knew. Maybe they had truly known. Unfortunately, no one was left alive to tell their secrets. It was probably for the best as getting close enough to kill the Queen was very unlikely.

"Killing the Queen of course."

That woman that she last spoke to had given her chills. After she had said what she wanted to say she had disappeared into the darkness. Rochelle had looked for her, called out to her, but it was like she vanished causing her to question her sanity. But if she was real and what she said was true it meant she was not in control of her own life. The girl had told her that if she did not kill the Queen that she would die no matter what. What a ridiculous idea. If what the girl said was true, then she was following a pre-destined path and she refused to believe that. It was like a bad dream and she had yet to awaken.

"Two souls in one, isn't that fun?"

Rochelle did not know much about reincarnation and had always believed that a person is only given one life and that was it. She did not even know what she thought about a God, or a heaven and hell. Her mother had prayed almost every day. Her mother was a good woman, she was kind, and she was selfless. The woman she knew and loved did not deserve any of the horrible things that had happened to her.

Mother is probably dead already.

She forced the thought away burying it deep down inside her. If she pretended that everything was okay she could go on. For now, she had to keep it together and that was the only way she knew how. Her only focus should be her survival.

Still, she could not believe the boy had helped her. When he first left the house, Rochelle was certain he was toying with her, any second he was going to come to kill her, to roast her alive. But he never did. If he was a son of the Queen he was trained to be loyal and obedient. So why?

Too many had aided her. Their deaths, their blood was on her hands for accepting it. If the boy had no ulterior motives and he truly did only wish for her escape than he too had willingly placed his life into her useless hands. How many lives was hers going to cost?

While never actually walking on the dirt road, she did follow it to the next village. Unfortunately, cover was far too scarce, a bush or tree here and there if she was lucky over vast areas of long knee level yellow-green grass.