Treasure

From the tiniest strand of his hair to the tip of his toes, the only thing that Asher Anderson felt was pain.

Even if he was half conscious, he still felt the discomfort travel his veins. He opened his eyes slowly, finding out that he was the only one in the dark room. There was not even single beam of light in there so he concluded it was night-time.

He stared down at his chopped off pair of fingers, dried clotted blood covering the whole area, if the wound was left like this for long it was probably going to be infected. Every movement made was another stream of agony. They had managed to leave his right pinky and his left forefinger. It was like it purposely done it so it would look more horrendous, if only he had the strength he would have screamed.

And then he heard a door creek open, and saw the familiar stature in a black hooded coat. He began to panic and shake himself violently. His captor was here.

Again.

"Oh no Asher" the familiar deep voice had said. "It's a pity you had been too stubborn, all of this wouldn't have happened"

The dark-haired male came closer and Asher shrieked moving backwards against the hard steel chair.

"So, tell me now" He looked into his fearful eyes "Where is The Phoenix's descendant?"

Asher gulped.

"Where is she?!" He yelled.

"S…She…she" Asher stammered.

"Yes Yes! Speak!" His captor commanded excitedly.

"The girl and I had been living together…But, I have been searching for her for…the past week…She had escaped from the house…"

"She…Escaped?" His captor's voice turned stone cold.

Asher nodded in fright and watched as his mouth curved into a smile.

"And how am I supposed to believe you?" he asked.

"I…I'm not lying…I have sent some men to find her…they have searched the whole of California_"

 "I'll find her" his captor said.

"And if you're lying?"

Asher quickly interrupted him "I'm not, I swear_"

"I would personally cut you in bits"

......…

Ava stared at her beautiful face as Rosslyn added the final touches of her makeup. They had dressed her in a plain red dress and wore a very tight corset under it. Ava wondered why she was so decked up when she wasn't even the one that was going to be wed. So unnecessary!

The only thing that was on her mind was the lake and Neville's coin.

 "You look perfect" Annabelle complemented.

"Hmm" Ava nodded impatiently.

The trio walked out of the chamber and down to the hallway. Ava turned to them and finally said;

"Um…I think you guys should let me be alone for a while. Like I said earlier I have something important to do"

"Okay My Lady" they both bowed slightly and left.

Whew!

Now she had to get out of the palace. All these people were so busy going up and down, she really hoped she wasn't going to be distracted by any of them.

She walked briskly to the exit of the palace where a lot of horses had stood with different carriages. This was probably for the guests, she thought.

She walked past them speedily and whosh!

She collided with a someone. It was a girl probably her age with straight blonde hair and freckles. She was dressed very nicely so she was perhaps one of the guests.

"Oops sorry" She without paying too much attention, flashing an apologetic smile before fleeing.

Maya turned to see the girl who had just bumped into her. She was so rude, she did not even acknowledge her presence. Who was she anyway? She had seen the expensive red dress the girl had worn, she was most certainly of noble birth.

Maya had only come to take her bracelet that had fallen in the carriage after a short conversation she had with her Neville. She hoped the girl wasn't a spy or imposter, she did look suspicious…

Meanwhile, Ava was desperately racing to the lake, the huge dress had made it harder to walk or run. The lake wasn't as close as she had imagined from the palace building. She wondered why she had not seen any commoners around the way, where did all the normal people live then?

She had reached the lake and spared some minutes to admire the scenery. Not letting her mind to be further distracted, she started to think, where did Neville drop the coin?

She slowly took off the flat golden slippers that she was wearing and dipped her legs into the water, it was surprisingly warm. Perhaps because the sun was blazing hot today.

Swiftly and carefully she began to search, the lake was very clear so it was easy for her to see through it. As she walked closer, the lake became drastically deep. She quickly withdrew herself from the water. Her dress had become terribly wet.

It was useless searching like this. She couldn't swim, she was going to drown for sure.

All this for a stupid coin.

She sat on a huge stone on one side of the lake and watched the splendid sky where a large bird soared. She thought of her home, Sir Asher, she thought of Aaron and her dreams. Where was she heading in this strange world?

Ava watched as the bird slowly became bigger in the sky. It kind of looked like it was coming towards the lake-or was it? To her surprise, the bird dived with full speed and landed in the centre of the lake. Ava watched, amazed.

The animal dipped his beak into the river and brought out something. The object glowed slightly, which made Ava pull all her attention towards it.

Wait...hold on…

The shiny object was round and flat and had a distinct design on it. Ava's eyes widened realising what it was. It was a coin.

The coin.

She watched as the bird shot up in the air with speed. Ava ran after it and cried.

"Hey wait! Don't go!"

 But it was useless, the bird had soared back in the sky with its treasure. And Ava could only watch it fly in utmost frustration…