Paladin

Why did he leave me here...

She was covered in a sticky substance when she woke up the third time that night; she was covered in blood. She realised whose it was when a dismembered head rolled in front of her.

Rufus's head.

She crawled backwards on her hands and ceased when she felt a person's shoe under her hand. She twisted her neck and whispered into the shadows, "Mahaz? What are you doing here? Did-did you do this?"

"That's a good question," Seni Ana entered the room; that was when Illyria realised, she was in a room without no windows, no light and the walls were smeared with blood. "That's a very good question."

"What the hell is going on here?" Mahaz left the room and Seni squatted down in front of her.

He took her hand and placed it on top of his collar, "That depends on you. You can either choose to get out of this room. We can forget this ever happened. You're a princess now; you don't belong here or even the Human World really. You can take your place as a Princess and reunite with your grandparents or you can end up like my old friend Rufus here."

Illyria dropped her hand, "Why did you kill Rufus? He is-was a good person. He had a family."

Seni sighed and unbuttoned his shirt himself, visibly annoyed, "Because there are people in this world who need to maintain order and peace and I am one of those people. I only did what I had to now are you going to shut up and-"

The blood spurted from his nose and Illyria gave a quick thank you to Ian Cross for teaching her basic self-defence. She kneed him in the gut before heading out the door the moment she could. It took her a minute to realise she was in the abandoned training ground section and the room she was in used to filled with broken and used equipment. It was early morning and she waved down the first runner.

"Hey-HEY!" She yelled desperately, running desperately towards them.

It was Aurora, "Princess-what are you-what happened?"

"I don't know what to do," Illyria sobbed, "They-they killed him."

"Who?" Immediately Aurora covered Illyria with her jacket and escorted her to take cover in some nearby bushes. "We should go to your grandparents-actually ill call Vilath-"

Would they even believe her? Seni was a Prime Minister, the Prime Minister. What would happen? Would he pay them off? Would they all kill her off? His words haunted her, end up like my old friend Rufus here.

"No-no, I can't go to them," Illyria breathed unsteadily and wiped her tears. "I-should go back myself and find my parents."

"You don't look like you should be going yourself right now," Aurora's voice broke her trance. "If you don't want to go to the King and Queen, then what about Madame Vera? She's the mediator and she could help."

Vera had helped her parents and maybe she could help Illyria too which was why she said, "Yes."

But she was going to make it to her family one day, no matter what.

***

"Hold on tight," Vera said motherly, watching Illyria get on to a dragon's back. "It's going to be a bumpy ride."

"I didn't think you were going to get a dragon to save me," Illyria said bleakly. "Where are we even going?"

"Somewhere safe," Vera said, as the Dragon expanded its wings and flew into the sky. "Called the Abda Jungle."

The Abda jungle was located on the outskirts of Ishidil, on the borders of Gashaek and Ishidil. When they set down on the ground, Illyria didn't know how she was supposed to react. There was herds of centaurs, mermaids, dragons and Pterippus. And they were all growling at her; the jungle was a symphony of sounds and she had an inkling that it had to do with her.

For the first time in weeks she used her telekinesis.

Sister of a murderer-

She'd be a tasty morsel-

Do you know who she smells like-

"Yes, I can smell her," Ameon said, a centaur and member of the Guild, "Vera, did you bring us a hostage?"

The jungle exploded into a symphony of neighs, growls, and squeaks. A flurry of fairies attacked Illyria's face and her already ruined clothes, picking at it like vicous children. Illyria swatted at them feebly but that only made them more vicious with their attacks until she was forced to push them back using telekinesis, using what little energy she had.

She has the same blood as that murdering Prince. I hope Ameon would just hurry up and kill her already-

Of course, Ira was at fault for this. Over the years, the Crown Prince was systematically killing Occult creatures and forcing most of them to band together if they wanted to survive.

It's true. I am the sister of the man you speak of, Illyria said shakily, silencing their thoughts, but I'm not anything like him. And I can prove it to you if you help me.

There was a pause and then the Pterippus, named Kirades stepped forward, you ask for help when your brother is at fault for all of this. We once were driven to the point of extinction by humans and now we must contend with absolute extermination by your brother. Your suffering is minuscule compared to all that we have endured, useless mortal.

"Telepathy? Your ability is telepathy?" Vera said into her ear and she nodded distinctly, disconnected, "Telekinesis actually."

He killed my brother, the true Crown Prince of Ishidil, Illyria knew there was no turning back down now as the entire tribe fell into a hush. They were finally listening. Ira shouldn't be here. I shouldn't be here. And in a year he's going to be King and I know I'm going to stop him if it's the last thing I do. Because he's a monster and I'm done being a bystander.

You want to kill him-your brother.

No. Illyria was honest with herself, for the first time in years. I want to kill them all.