The Seven Deadly Kingdoms

Chapter 31

     The stars were particularly bright that night. Adelaide found herself gazing at them through a break in the trees' canopy that speckled the road with moonlight. A sigh escaped her as she stood in silence. She had been waiting for Caspian and his men to meet her for several minutes now.

Adelaide sighed again, tilting her head back down to observe her surroundings. Silence rang through the woods around her, taunting her with solitude. She wasn't fond of the road she had met Caspian on. It had always managed to place the creeping feeling in her stomach that she was being watched. Observed. Though, for the past few months, everywhere Adelaide had ventured managed to force that feeling upon her.

Adelaide thought about the conversation she had had with Aragon earlier that night. She recounted the things he had said about the kingdom of Ira, and it's mysterious king, Abbadon. A shiver ran down her spine at the thought of the poor men that were sent to spy on the king, only to return home with a curse. She hadn't been able to shake the image of the man with scarred skin from his tears from her mind.She couldn't imaging how cruel, how soulless you would have to be to destroy a mans life in such a taunting way.

Adelaide shook her head, her lips pressed in a thin line as the brushed away the visual of the cursed men as she heard the faint jingle of a bell. A brow quirked as she turned her head towards the distance sound, wrapping her arms around her chest in a cheap attempt at warming herself in the nights cold.

The silhouette of two figures came into view, and it wasn't until then that Adelaide had noticed the wall of fog that had rolled into the wood, snaking around the trees and seeping onto the rocky road. The jingle of the bell grew louder as the figures approached. Adelaide squinted her eyes, able to make out a young girl leading a donkey with a woman on its back. Her eyes widened slightly as she recognized the travellers; they had been the same woman and girl she had passed on this road only two weeks ago.

Adelaide stepped off of the road, trying to avoid being seen by any passers by, even if they appeared harmless. She observed the two from the side of the road as they grew nearer, now almost parallel with her on the road. A chill ran through Adelaide's body a second time. She squinted, attempting to make out the girls features with the dim glow her lantern cast on her face. It wasn't until a moment had passed that Adelaide realized the girl was staring directly at her.

Adelaide took a second step back, startled by the girls gaze. Her shoulders tensed and her fingers clenched into fists as the feeling of being watched made her body grow stiff. Though it was only the girl watching her, Adelaide could have sword there were a hundred eyes staring at her through the girls two small eyes. Her face stood still, her eyes peering so deep into Adelaide's that she could have sword the girl saw directly into her soul. The girl had stopped walking. The woman sitting on the donkey was still, no noise coming from her cloaked face as she hunched over. She stared ahead, as if they had never stopped.

The girls eyes were still locked on Adelaide's as she looked back to the girl. The lantern being held up by the girl's small hand flickered orange light onto her features. Silence hung heavy in the fog between them, begging Adelaide to break it. Adelaide opened her mouth to speak to the girl, but a low rumble resembling a laugh swept through the woods behind her. Adelaide whipped her head around, her heart clenching in fear. She had heard the laugh before. She thought it had only been a dream. Possibly even a hallucination.

The dark forrest was empty behind Adelaide, though the laugh continued, travelling around her and towards the girl, still standing eerily still in the road. Adelaide followed the laugh, taking in a sharp breath of air as she looked to the girl again, only this time, her eyes had turned black, as if they were shadowed. The laughter grew louder, circling Adelaide as if it were running through the trees.