As Hollow As A Mannequins Grin (Keveridge)

28 - It's Time...But I'm Too Scared To Take Control

It was almost time to head back and meet up with the rest of the guys, and safe to say that things between me and Kier had been pretty quiet other than the odd attempt at small talk. We just didn't know what to say any more. We had to keep our hoods up at all times, in case someone saw us and reported back to The Cardinal - and we didn't have time for that.

There was hardly anyone in the streets as we travelled through them, only the odd person here and there, but no one paid any attention to us and focused on getting to their destination. The whole place was in shambles since we were last here, and the whole city seemed too scared to even be living properly.

"We should head back..." I heard Kier murmur from beside me as he stopped and glanced behind him.

I nodded and muttered something in agreement, turning back and we both began walking back to the place that we all decided to meet at. That plan came to a stand still when a group of four boys - all fairly young - came out of an alley at the side to meet us.

They were all dressed in black, two had black hair, one had blond and the last one brown, and they all looked about little Luke's age. They were all about his height as well... come to think of it, I was pretty sure I'd seen them working in and around the palace.

"You're Prince Laurence," the blond one said, stepping forward with wide eyes.

Kier stepped in front of me and shook his head, "You must be mistaken. Go back to... wherever it is you came from."

The kids all ignored him and looked past straight to me. One of the black haired ones stood beside the blond one, "We don't support The Cardinal, so it's alright. We're friends with Luke Lucas - we know he helped Mr Illingworth escape."

Me and Kier both stood there silent for a moment, neither of us exactly expecting that one to come from them. A single "oh" came from Kier's mouth as I stepped so I was in line with him so I could talk to them.

"Luke's a smart kid, he's got a big future ahead of him that's for sure. Especially how he's been with helping us and the cause in general," I half smiled at the boys, which earned four nods all at once.

"Alright... so you know about us, but we need to know some things as well. What happened here after we left?"

They all shared a look until the black haired boy continued, "The whole place was chaos. The Cardinal sent every Heartatack and guard he could to attack those in the streets. Most of the general palace guards refused and were taken to the dungeon to 'learn who they work for'."

"How do you know all this?" Kier questioned.

"We work in the palace, going in and out the basement door. The Cardinal doesn't care too much for us because we're not adults, thinks that we can't do anything to harm his cause and-" the blond boy answered.

"Anyway," the black haired boy interrupted, "The Cardinal sent his men on a killing spree of anyone and everyone who tried to come between him and power. He didn't want to stand opposed after you escaped. Lots of people who supported you tried to fight back and ended up dead - others just thought better and fled, hiding out in their houses until you came back.

"There's no idea about how many were hurt or killed because The Cardinal took anyone that was interested away, saying that they were also traitors - no one dared after the first few went away," he glanced between his friends, "We tried to stay...found Luke and helped him until Mr Illingworth collected him again... but he told us to run and get out because he didn't want us to get hurt."

I felt my fists curling up as his short story went on. The Cardinal would never get away with killing people, especially now that I knew that there were people in the city that would back me up on the battle against him. He wouldn't stand a chance.