Dilemma {33}

The shadow casted on her face blurred out the crimson eyes pulsating heavily, needing to be extra careful not to be recognised.

The stark expressions that surrounded her turned to dust in her peripheral vision as she focused her attention on the foul man standing metres away.

She truly was going to enjoy this...

She would play a game, rile the king up, just enough for everything to work; for everything to fall into place, so that her rough idea of a plan could actually go ahead.

So, Aloysia tilted her head to the side, peering at the cart with a smug expression.

She did that.

"Goodness you treat your possessions with great reverence don't you?" She sniggered, drawing a long animalistic scowl from the king.

"Oh I do apologise your majesty" She curtsied in response with a smirk plastering her lower face.

"How inconsiderate of me to greet you in such manor"

Her voice was sharp, sarcasm laced in every syllable.

"And Prince, how are you?" She mused.

The king snarled at her, drawing back the attention away from the confused Prince.

He was not happy.

"Shadow"

His lip curled in displeasure, but not un-expectance.

"We meet again" he spat, rage invading the line into cockiness.

"What a day to meet if I might add" he paused "on the funeral of your latest victim?"

Aloysia dropped a cold stare, hatred consuming her vision. How dare he.

She stared down her opponent, sizing Mort while the blade grew hotter in her tingling fingers, aching to let loose, to go feral.

A prowess so fierce, even fire would burn.

The bystanders noticed this, eyes glazed over in terror to their king only metres apart to The Shadow.

This was not something you see everyday; the chill surrounding the air only heightening the fear.

He continued, grin supporting every word, flushing out the fact that they were not alone, and she was surrounded.

"Why do you destroy my only means of transport, do you plan on killing me?" He laughed, face scrunching as he did so.

The grip on her blade she pulled earlier gained visibly tighter as she growled lowly. The king froze.

"You are?" He questioned, chuckling to himself; raising an arm dressed in fine silk to his rugged face and scratching it; as if in contemplation on how she would accomplish her daring feat.

Aloysia didn't utter a word. Instead, she hurtled the dagger directly at the king, so swift it could not have been reacted to in time. And because of that, the silver blade cut deeply in the kings cheek, slicing it, and drawing blood.

That would scar.

Her hand remained poised, body twisted as she followed the iron with her eyes.

The dagger, dripping blood, flew into the street behind them, in the direction of the dreaded castle; falling to the ground with a clang.

The king cursed, stumbling back; mind foggy from wrath, he turned his body, cupping his burning cheek as he roared someone to attack.

No one came.

An empty bellow into the preys mouth; the wind.

Just as she thought silence fell, an arrow was fired.

Aiming directly for Aloysia's head. Shot from an unknown direction.

Any normal person would be dead, impaled, however, only inches between the tip and her eyes, the shaft of the arrow felt a hand grip it in place, solidifying it in the air. Almost instantly.

She caught it.

Her arm snapped in place, faster than the arrow could travel...

The movement was monstrously quick, not even flinching at the gush of wind it travelled through.

With her eyes glued to the tip of the arrow, remaining it to stay fixated in the air, she looked up in the direction of the shot.

Aloysia was angry, very angry that he had set up an archer to fire at her, as if she was in a trap.

Viewing a mere outline of the kings puppet,

she snapped it; two half's of the arrow splintering to the ground, a sound of mocking.

Foolish people.

"Wow" Aloysia huffed. "I expected better".

She kicked the reminants of the arrow toward the king, whose face was drenched in blood and boiling in animalistic fury.

"You will get better-" he faced the archer, side glancing Aloysia.

"-I tell you" he snarled "This is a fight you won't win"

On cue, the archer leapt from the roof-

That bow...

That hood...

Those- her daggers...

Were all too recognisable when the wind swept in her face as her body landed solidly; right side of the king.

Aloysia stepped back. This was not part of the plan.

She could only hold her heart in her throat at the next words spoken...

"Miss me sister?"

~

Aloysia's blood ran cold. Never in a million years would this ever happen.

Not willingly at least.

And that voice, was like venom, it was not her own and sounded forced.

But the stifling wind gave her no time to ponder in fear, as within its roaring midst, Zillah launched.

Aloysia, who momentarily froze, was caught off guard, causing a blow to graze her lower rib cage by her own dagger.

She stumbled back on impact, grunting and holding the pain in her side as she found her footing. Her eyes shifted to her hands, a dark red coating them.

Shit.

Blinking in disbelief, her eyes went back to Zillah, still feeling the stinging down her sides.

What was happening?

The king just watched in glee, the street lights illuminating his horrid smirk; causing the air around everyone to thin.

He was enjoying this...

Aloysia looked up, searching for an escape; and for once, fear displayed pungent on her face; her heart pumped rapidly, almost rattling her ribcage as she tried to keep it steady.

"Zelek!" She screamed. Head swinging low at the amount of effort it was to hold it upright. She could not fight this on her own, she needed his help.

The weight of her situation was too much to bare alone.

Instantly, Zelek broke through the crowds, anger, pain, torment ripping through his self-control at watching Zillah being used, controlled.

He was not going to remain hidden any longer.

"I'm here!" He answered.

The guards surrounding the inner circle didn't stand a chance against him in his enraged state, at his blades that he drew from within his cloak.

They did however, keep him occupied and put up more of a fight than expected.

He couldn't help her in time.

Aloysia peeled her attention away from her brother fighting through, back to her sister who was still stalking toward her, head hanging low and shielded.

By the unsteady steps, it was clear something was not right.

"Look at me sister"

No reply. Another step taken, Zillahs body gaining on her, as well as her own blades.

She was running out of ground to back up in, only metres from her position were civilians, and Aloysia would never purposely endanger anyone. She was not her father.

"If your going to kill me..." her breath staggered out . "Then do it while not hiding behind a mask"

She stopped.

"Kill me with honour"

That she heard.

Slowly halting her movements and reaching for her hood, Zillah's fingertips pulled back the tough material, revealing the long blonde strands, the beautiful face... and the crimson orbs that told a thousand secrets. Within the hair, blood splotches stained it's roots- crisp and dry, as well as slight cuts on her face.

People around them turned pale, gasping in horror or awe, no one could tell over the loud thundering of Aloysia's heart.

The pair of crimson orbs stared directly at her.

A battle of torment behind those eyes.

A tear forming in the corner, glistening over.

It made her look even more stunning.

Zillahs eyes wavered, dropping down to her own chest for a split second, then bringing them back to meet Aloysia's, as if pretending that she ever gazed away from her target.

A subtle hint against restraint.

Aloysia followed the flinch, only to be smacked in the face with a necklace of an ore not born from the rock of this world hanging round her smooth neck.

It was a light green blurred with a gold that could pass as any normal alloy.

Half was buried in her body suit and her cloak, but it was still visible.

Only barely...

She leaned her head, Zillahs body no longer obscuring her vision to peek at the kings attire, and sure enough, there, punching her in the gut, was a matching bracelet with a green gem in its center poking from underneath the black material.

So this explained it... Zillah was ordered around like a voiceless animal; enchained in the mystical iron cuffs of slavery.

How did she not clock it earlier?

Placing two and two together, her lips tightened, and her body, once in a tense state relaxed back to its swagger.

She was being controlled, not betraying.

In light of her discovery, the hood over Aloysia's head was firmly placed and repositioned, allowing no light to escape from the eyes that shone underneath.

A new plan that did not stray from its origin came to life- a plan that completely depended on the one fact that she is valuable to the king.

Her senses honed to a killing calm the moment she laid eyes on the king's bracelet and who stood at his side in peril.

She would save her sister, if it was the last thing she could do.

She would save the Prince, if it was the last thing she could do. She would do what she failed to do with Celimine...

Emotions rose, but Aloysia wouldn't let them, gulping painfully and pushing them back into the depths of her tainted soul, glistening black.

Zillah on the other hand, was shaking with the strength needed to fight the order, the instruction by the king to kill her sibling. It ran in her nervous system, her blood and soul.

Her hands were twitching with the foreign blade resting within her palm.

It was groping her mind into submission as she felt the reins tugging behind her.

She could not hold it for long.

The connection was incredibly strong, tethered to him the day she was taken, which was still only a hazy fog in her mind.

Bright light and pain being the only description for that ghastly day.

Aloysia straitened, body stance ready as her fingers trifled with an arrow, hanging low on her hip.

A grin edged its was onto her face.

Zillah launched.

Unable to hold back the tug on the puppet strings, her limbs -that seemed universes away from being hers- went to strike Aloysia.

But Aloysia was not fighting back.

In fact, she allowed any damage, any tearing by the blades to be done.

She would not harm her sister.

People could only watch. Wondering why The Shadow was not fighting back, and why floods of tears were streaming down the attackers face.

The Shadow remained motionless, only slightly avoiding the deathly blows.

Zillahs face was pale, watching her arms betray her very being; deathly scarce of blood as a death warrant was written on her face. To know what she was doing, yet having no control was something indescribable.

"For gods sake Aloysia" her body screaming at her as well as her voice "FIGHT ME!!" She croaked, tears streaming down, mixing with sweat.

Her voice... her voice was her own to control.

Aloysia remained silent, deflecting in no protest.

"PLEASE!!"

"Please.." she sobbed, swallowing hard "fight" a plea... "save yourself"

But Aloysia did the opposite, swinging her bow around her front and flinging her hands in surrender; her life now in the mercy of her own flesh and blood.

The king laughed hysterically, cupping his bloodied face and erratically ordering a few guards to grab her, eyes glowing in amusement and luck.

They did.

And she held not a protest to it.

Being yanked harshly around, rope tied her hands behind her back; Zillah could only watch in horror.

The king cannot get that stone.

Zillah couldn't move, not an inch without a harsh reminder clasping round her throat, daring her to take a step that would cost her her own life.

The pain that surged through, the feeling of helplessness burned, etched its way into the sensation of the necklace on her pale skin.

Zillah's face resembled that of a child, gaping at the sight of an atrocious, horrific event; as if a murder.

During the quick flurry to tie her however, the rough pulling of her cloak and swaying of her body caused Aloysia's  hood to slip, falling off her head to settle on her shoulders.

Everyone froze.

Including the guards holding her in restraints.

No one uttered a word.