A God's Mercy (Apollo x OC)

Chapter 12

Never before had she been so scared, so confused. A  group of people surrounded her, most of them with familiar faces: Lyra, her father's 5 most closest guards, the old slave woman who baked pitas in the kitchen, and, of course, her mother and father. All of their faces were grim as they sped-walked across the city, but mostly, she saw, her mother. Leida had not been seen since the festival, and now that Melantriche was really seeing her for the first time in forever, she was appalled. This woman had once been beautiful, proud in both stature and mind. Now she looked exhausted and old. Like the aging peasant women that worked in the fields, her dull, miserable eyes were sunken in and dark. Wrinkles made themselves known across her cheeks, and she slouched noticeably. No matter how much Melantriche pestered her, she remained dead-looking, silent as a shade. All the while, Adrianis bickered to himself.

"My child! Of all people," he mourned softly to himself. "A drought, they said! Dying cattle? Oh, how could this have happened...?" 

"Father?" Melantriche called out cautiously, "What are you talking about? What's going on? Father!"

"Hush, child!" Lyra scolded her in a hushed voice. "Don't make much sound, don't even breathe, lest we get caught."

"Caught? By whom?" Melantriche demanded. "What's happening? I'm getting scared, Lyra, tell me what's going on! I command you!"

"Oh, Lady." Lyra smiled pitifully at her through her veil, and Melantriche swore she saw her eyes shining with tears. "Oh, my sweet, sweet, Lady. You'll be told everything, that I promise you. But for now, please just be quiet, just for now..."

One of the guards looked towards Lyra. Through the slits in his helmet, Melantriche saw spitefulness, as if he wanted to hit her. Understandable to him, she supposed. How dare a slave order her master around in such a way? But still, he did nothing but march forward as he had been doing. Silently, Melantriche itched at the scratchy new peasant clothes Lyra made her wear as she did the same.

No one was out at this time, because it was most likely very, very early in the morning. In the quiet darkness, made alive by only the sound of crickets in song, a single torch led the way, for the moon, like so many nights prior, stayed hidden. Like the way that the Greeks moved silently through inner Troy, a swift and malevolent fog, so did their little group move to the gate. 2 guards had been stationed there for the night shift, but when they saw them coming, they nodded to each other and cranked the gate open. With a handful gesture, they were led outside.

The walk was long. Judging by the familiar directions, they were traveling to Brauron Temple again. Though it was a summer night, it was terribly chilly, and a strong wind was beginning to blow. Like Melantriche's optimism, her hopes, the torch light flickered and waned, less likely to stay strong by the second. As they walked, Melantriche evaluated the past occurrences. When she woke, Lyra had been wearing rich clothes... her clothes. Wait, no, those weren't her clothes, they were Leida's clothes. Lyra's physique, which was tall, lanky, and strong, was more to Leida's likeness than Melantriche's. However, Melantriche was hardly awake when Lyra hurriedly pulled her own clothes over Melantriche's tired, perplexed head and sped her out of her room, where a guard awaited them. He escorted them down to the courtyard, where the rest of the troupe awaited them. Melantriche stared at them all, baffled. The entire house was dark, so why was everyone getting ready to go somewhere? When it was night? She received no explanation as they left. Melantriche mulled this over. This must've had something to do with the past occurrences that she had been investigating, but how? She had been right when suspecting that Lyra had been holding something back from her, and a part of her was angry. Why had everyone been in the know except for her? Just because she was young, and a girl, she should be left in the dark about such important things? She knew now, for sure, that this incident involved her in some way, and that was why they kept it from her.