Crown Games

Chapter 2

We walked out of the cell, and my eyes darted between the unconscious guards on the floor. They couldn't have been dead, hence my uncle's warning that they might wake up. But, what if they were dead? After all, my uncle's hands weren't pure of his wife's blood. 

" How did you get in here?" I whispered, my voice strained.

" You'll figure everything out when we get out of here," My uncle whispered back curtly.

I followed him reluctantly with feathery light steps, still apprehensive about his mysterious plan but going along with it nevertheless. The Tower Of Laws was suspiciously quiet as if a spell was put on it, and that made me remember what my uncle did to the bars earlier in the cell. Foreigners didn't have any special abilities, unlike the people of Nizina, and the fact that my uncle did something like that aroused doubt in my heart, though I tried to ignore it and focus on the way. 

We crept through a series of alleyways with stone walls that almost looked decayed and about to crumble. The path was lit by numerous torches that hung off these walls; they looked easy to grab, and I was tempted to do so. However, as if he had read my thoughts, my uncle shot me a warning look that made me quickly lower my gaze. Then, the tip of my shoes hit something that almost made me trip over, I looked downwards and I saw that I had almost tripped over an arch pull. I was momentarily confused when my uncle knelt and knocked a pattern on the ground then my confusion turned into shock when there was a click and the ground opened like a basement door. 

" Get in, you wasted our time, Idris" A voice came hushed from there. 

My uncle gestured for me to hop inside and I did so hesitantly then he jumped after me and the basement door shut. 

I found myself in a dimly lit, secret room with the same stone walls and rough ground. There was a big wooden table in the middle and a magnificent map of the isles hung off one of the walls. A few empty barrels of liquor were in one of the corners completely abandoned and speaking of liquor, the entire room smelt like a rotten drunkard. Then, my eyes settled on the individuals. There were 3 of them. The one who addressed my uncle had silky wine-coloured hair and a black eyepatch hiding his left eye but his right eye was a delicate blue, he wore an earthy green tunic, tight brown trousers and a cloak draped over his shoulders. A Nizina born. The other 2 were twins with similar features that included maroon hair, pale skin, vibrant red freckles and inky black eyes. They wore the same clothes the red-haired man wore and they all seemed to be from here and they were beautiful. 

" Great. You rescued your niece using my drugs. Now what?" The red-haired said bitterly, giving my uncle a cold look.

" Your drugs are very good, but I must get credit for my ability to glamour metal, " My uncle said arrogantly.

I just stood there completely confused. Drugs? Magic? What was going on? " Uncle, you have some explaining to do "

My uncle turned back to look at me. " Right. Let's start by introducing these people to you then, shall we? " He turned and pointed to the red-haired, " This is Enis and I'm sure he'd love to tell you about himself "

Enis sighed and looked at me. " I'm the one who makes medicinal potions and drugs for the royal family. "

I instantly felt a strong aversion in my chest towards him, he was working for those heartless royalty after all. However, I wasn't an idiot; I knew the picture was much bigger than that, so I waited for the others to finish introducing themselves first.

" I'm Petal, " One of the twins said cheerfully.

" I'm Sepal " The other twin muttered.