ONE (Book 1 in the Amnesia Archives)

Chapter 15

Prin was the one who would catch the least amount of attention. And thus, she was the one who went ahead of us, alongside Senka who stayed on her shoulder. I was only slightly jealous of the fact that she had to carry Senka. I grew up with two siblings, of course I was rather possessive of all my things. It wouldn't be too bad if we all generally shared in the household, but we never did that growing up. We looked out for each other, sure, but our objects were always our own. It even felt wrong to describe Senka as an object now, since she was very much had a mind and personality. But that just made my jealousy stronger, thinking that not even my doll wanted to be with me.

"Stop it," Aknon hissed. "You have to concentrate."

I rolled my eyes and continued walking along the path quietly. We were still technically on the land of the King. I'd been threatened several times when I tried to make too much noise. Or rather when I declared that I was going back to the kingdom and dealing with the king. Prin didn't seem to mind it too much, but it was late and there could still be patrollers out there. The silence was deafening, almost maddening.

"Be quiet," Sarphi hissed, not turning to look at us as she had her eyes pinned on Prin. She had easily grown obsessed with the girl, and I didn't know who I felt worse for. I loved my sister, but she loved passionately. I'm surprised she didn't draw Prin's portrait when we were back down in the cell.

It was a few miles away from the prison when Prin finally turned around and clapped her hands, the sound echoing. She then jumped up and down and cheered, her dress dancing in the air as she spun, her arms outstretched. Senka was clinging to the strap of her bag for dear life as she was spun around. It was the picture of a girl who was now free to listen to the sounds of life.

I quickened my pace to catch up to them, wanting to be able to hear birds again. But that's when I heard something I didn't want to hear. A shouting came from behind and my jog turned into a sprint.

I grabbed Aknon's hand, who grabbed Sarphi's and the three of us ran towards Prin. I let Sarphi take her hand, even though it would've been more sensible for her to be in the middle of two of us. But I trusted that Sarphi's infatuation would help keep Prin safe.

I felt the relief when we broke through the magical barrier, but I couldn't saver the sound of the wind passing my ears without paying attention to the continued shouts of patrollers. I didn't know if they would stop at the magical border, so I continued to run. I feared that some of them would have ranged weapons, something which would seriously pose a threat to us.

The four of us shifted formations, Sarphi pushing Prin beside me, so I took her hand with my other hand and ran quicker. An arrow whooshed past my head and landed on the floor just in front of us. I jumped over it quickly, not trusting that it didn't have some kind of contraption to it.

"Run, run, run," Sarphi repeated quietly to herself. Her voice sounded high-pitched and desperate as I felt like I was being pushed. "Faster."

We were going as fast as we possibly could, running straight ahead, and dodging any oncoming arrows which may be sent our way. That was until we fell off the corner of the earth.

Okay, it wasn't that dramatic. But the sudden drop made me let out a yell. My grip on Aknon's and Prin's hands tightened like a vice as we all tumbled down a very steep hill.

It felt like we'd been rolling for hours by the time we'd stopped falling. We were all covered in dirt and scratches, and my head was hurting quite a bit from the amount of times I'd been hit in the head by rocks on our way down.

"Everyone okay?" I asked, grumbling and letting go of the other's hands. I rose shakily to my feet and looked at our surroundings. It was dark and the trees which surrounded us were tall and thick, creating a rather precarious terrain.

"I am," Aknon replied, standing up and brushing off his horns with a frown, turning to look up at where we fell from.

The patrollers were still standing up there, looking down at us as Prin and Sarphi struggled to stand. There were archers getting ready to aim at us, but I could barely see their expressions from this far away. They hesitated. It would've been too easy for them to shoot us down right now, especially with half of us on the ground. But they didn't seem to want to bother.

"Why do you think that is?" I whispered to Aknon as I helped Sarphi get to her feet.

"Maybe they think it would be a waste of time?" Aknon asked, helping Prin to her feet and looking over her wrist, which she held out to him. I assumed that she had some kind of injury or concern she wanted to address. "Just a sprain."

"You think that there's something down here which means they won't bother shooting us?" Sarphi inquired, raising an eyebrow and getting out her dagger.

"Probably." I sighed and did the same.

Senka was rolling across the floor, complaining loudly that she had a tear in her side. I wasn't sure how painful that was for her, but I did feel a twinge of sympathy. I wouldn't react too well to having a wound that big on my body.

I gently picked her up, my hand scooping her like sand. "You'll be fine," I said softly. "We'll fix you up as soon as we get out of here, okay? If we get out of here in one piece ourselves." I gave her a small kiss on her forehead and stroked her hair, as though trying to sooth a child.

I had been so focused on the sound of the birds that I had almost missed the growling which I began to hear. It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I held my breath and glanced around, my eyes meeting Sarphi's.

She heard it too.

I slowly stepped towards the three of them, being as quiet as I could. I was trying to figure out which direction it was coming from. But it felt like it was coming from every direction.

I nudged Aknon's side, giving him a cautious look. His eyes widened, as though he had only just noticed the noise. But I supposed that he had noticed something else.

Otherwise, I would've cursed him for all eternity for tackling me to the ground, my dagger ripping my trousers even more.

"What?!" I exclaimed loudly but froze when I saw a hole in a tree where I had once stood. The hole was sizzling, as though it was hit with fire or acid. There were shimmering flames licking at the tree bark, slowly and steadily moving up it, igniting it like a torch.

"Don't just sit there. Run!" Sarphi yelled and darted forward, Prin following her.

Aknon dragged me to my feet and pulled me by the shirt until I was able to shake myself out of the shock and run on my own. I clutched Senka to my chest and let my eyes dart around the dense forest around us. I was looking for the origin of the rainbow fire, but I couldn't see anything.

"Are they invisible?" I asked, beginning to grow even more paranoid that we were being pursued by something more powerful than I'd previously anticipated.

"No," Aknon replied. "They're just difficult to see."

We darted through trees. We tried not to split up but sometimes it was unavoidable when someone anticipated going one way whilst the others went the other way.

"But they know what's down here," I pointed out, getting more out of breath, finding it harder to talk. "The patrollers know what's down here. They were too scared to come down."

"Which is why we should run," Aknon replied with a huff. His voice was becoming more desperate, and his breathing was also getting heavier.

I wondered what kind of creatures were that difficult to see. But I didn't get to wonder for long as a furry-looking, big-toothed, small creature shot at me from the side, tackling me to the ground, making horrid noises like it was eating the air.