KING ELIJAH

I rushed into the room and knelt down beside the cold body of my mother. I placed my index and middle finger on her neck, trying to see if there was a pulse but came up with none. I sniffle, my eyes blurry with unshared tears but as I blinked they fell running down my cheeks and falling on my mothers hair.

Gently, I removed her head from my lap and lay it on the floor. I searched the room in case my son was hiding somewhere but came up with nothing.

My heart beat excitedly with the thoughts that they might have escaped through the portal but when I faced the dark mirror, I put my hand on the glass and gasped when it went through it.

They never escaped, if they did the portal would have closed back and a that would be left will be a solid glass.

Glancing at mom on last time I left the room in search of my son. Elijah was right. If I had know I would not have left them alone.

I try not to dwell on that and focus on the mission at hand. It seems like everyone in the palace were running helter-skelter trying to save their lives and find a place to stay as the men outside the palace fought.

I searched almost everywhere for them and couldn’t find them. I tried using my heightened sense of smell to sniff them out but with the mixture of fear, anxiety and other smells I just couldn’t trace which one belongs to either Josephine, her son or Micah.

I climbed the stairs to the highest part of the palace but stopped when a woman who looks oddly familiar was at the top of the stairs with an evil smirk plastered on her lip.

“Remember me?” She asked before laughing as she took a step down. When the green light from outside reflect on her face, I gasped taking a step backwards.

She was the same witch who had cut the face and heart of the innocent child in the Hilda’s’ coven three years ago.

The daughter of the high priestess, Mlika.

I tried turning around and running but was forcefully grabbed by my arms locking them behind my back.

“You should have listen to me when I warned you about Elijah” Said the raspy voice of Cedric making chills run down my back.

“Let go!” I screamed hoping someone will hear my cries and come to my aid.

They both laughed at my weak attempt at escaping.

My back arched uncomfortably and I tried wiggling out of his grasp. My eyes snap up as the witch took some lazy steps down. Shiver ran down my body at the thought of her doing to me what she did to that child this years back.

With wide eyes and in fright, I jerked my head backwards hitting Cedric in one of his eyes. He lost his balance, holding on to my arm as he fell four steps down with me.

A gasp left my lips as the back of my head made contact with the hard floor. With shaky hands I got up whining when i touched the back of my head. I felt the wet sticky substance of blood on my fingers.

As I tried running away, the chubby hand of Cedric grabbed my foot making me fall the the ground and twisting my ankle.

“Ahh” I screamed at immense pain that shot through my leg. I still tried getting up, limping on one foot while trying to get away from them.

I haven’t even limped up to ten feet when I fell to the ground again but this time, it felt like the whole palace was placed on my body.

The witch tsk as she turned my body around making me face her. I was breathing heavily and she smirked at that. She knows I fear her.

‘Elijah… Help’ i called through our bond praying to the moon he comes to my rescue.

She sat on top of me and her hand came to wrap around my neck. My eye widen but I couldn’t move, all I did was stare at her as she choked me to death.

I could feel and tell that my face was turning purple as she cut my air way. Life was slowly slipping out of my body as she pressed harder on my neck, her long nails also digging into my flesh and drawing out blood.

Cedric came in view with a bloody nose and a cut on his forehead and eyebrow.

“Stop,” he mumbled blinking away the blood that fell in his eyes. “Derrick needs her and the king alive” he added and she let go of my neck with a hiss.

“I wish I could just finish them now” She grumbled getting off me to my relive.

“They will be dead soon” Cedric muttered under his breath. He bent down and grabbed my jaw harshly moving my head side to side.

“What a pity” He said to me pushing my head to the ground. It sent joints of pain to my skull but all I could do was grit my teeth.

“Release her from your spell,” He told the woman who stood by his side. “Derrick would be impatiently waiting for us by now” he finished.

The sensation of moving my body came back to me after a few words were chanted.

Quickly Cedric pull me to my feet making me scream out as I hurt my bad foot more. I sucked in a deep breath before asking the people who left me up the stairs.

“Where’s my son?” I choked out whimpering as I had to use my twisted ankle to climb up the stairs.

Mlika laughed sinisterly at the back. “Oh you will see him soon” The way she said it sent shivers down my spine.

When we got to the top, Josephine was curled up in a corner with her son in her lap. When she looked up, her face was covered in blood and cuts.

I snap my eyes from her to the man who had my son by the neck as he cried and a smirk on his face.

“Finally, now we just have to wait for that husband of yours”

Derrick.