The Rosewood Prophecy

Chapter 43

                                                                      Indigo

I came to slowly, blinking in the afternoon sun. I was lying on a sleeping bag on top of a flat boulder. I tried to sit up, and suddenly two concerned faces were hovering over me.

"Don't move, Indigo, you need to rest." Rachel said, pushing me back down. Beside her, Lucian nodded vigorously.

"What—" I croaked, but my throat was hoarse and my lips were too dry. Lucian passed Rachel a water canteen, and she fed me some water. I swallowed the cool water and tried again. "What happened? Where are we?"

"We're beside the creek that Ashley was talking about. If we go downstream, we'll exit the forest." Lucian explained. "Rachel and I ran like you told us to, but after a while we realized that you and Ashley weren't behind us. We tried to double back, but that's when the explosion happened, so we had to take cover. You wouldn't believe the wreckage, Indigo. The radius of the damage area has to be at least half a mile, but the area around our campsite suffered the worst damage. The entire area was ablaze. We couldn't even approach the area without feeling like we're being burnt alive."

"We couldn't find you or Ashley," Rachel continued. "After Lord Victor's soldiers doused the fire, we saw them rooting through the wreckage. We tried to sneak past them, and that's when we saw you, lying half hidden in some bushes. We were going to get you and leave, but then one of the soldiers wandered towards us, and we didn't dare move."

"Did they see me?" I asked fearfully. Rachel shook her head.

"Surprisingly, no. A soldier was literally right there, looking into the bushes, but seemed to just look right through you. Even we could see your arms and legs sticking out. You don't know how scared we were, Indigo. We thought that you were going to be found and captured for sure. But somehow, they didn't see you and left after a while."

"Magic...it was Ashley's magic..." I muttered to myself. Lucian looked at me oddly.

"Indigo, what happened to Ashley? How come she wasn't with you?" He questioned. "We searched for Ashley too, but we couldn't find her. Where is she?"

I sighed, knowing that I had to tell them the truth. "She sacrificed herself to protect us. She...she stayed behind to throw Lord Victor off so that we could escape." I didn't tell them about how Ashley worked with Lord Victor. They didn't need to know that, especially now that Ashley was dead. No need to tarnish their view of Ashley.

Rachel sat down on the forest floor, her eyes hollow. Even Lucian's body trembled before he steadied himself. The forest was quiet for a few moments, with only the chirping of birds in the air.

"...What?" Rachel whispered in shock. "Ashley—Ashley's dead?"

"You're kidding right?" Lucian's eyes pleaded with mine, refusing to believe the tragic news. I shook my head sadly.

"I tried to reason with her and take her with me. But Ashley drew a circle around the campsite, and her magic blocked me out." I said softly. "She said that Lord Victor was probably watching the campsite, so she conjured up illusions of us to fool him. She had to stay behind to maintain those illusions. Her magical barrier contained the blast so that it was mostly concentrated around the campsite, in order to keep us safe. Some of her magic must've lingered to hide me from the soldiers."

Lucian closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. "We already lost Jason. Aaron and Katherine are still in Lord Victor's deadly grasp. And now, we've lost Ashley too."