Chapter 4

This was the second time I've been unconscious and I don't think it's been a week yet.

Unlike last time, my head didn't throb painfully and instead I felt like I've been asleep the entire time.

I found Baynard but he casted me away like he never cared about me to begin with.

As I struggled to make sense of the situation, memories of Helena casting magic in public flooded my mind, intensifying my apprehension about our current predicament.

But I guess that would explain why the wound in my head healed fast but this wasn't good.

Helena was a witch.

What makes it worse is that she casted magic out in public, a lot of people saw her. She could get killed for that.

Did she not think the consequences through?

I heard noises fading in, I was unconscious but I could still hear and it sounded like two girls arguing.

Helena was one of them but I couldn't figure out who the other was.

Slowly, I opened my eyes and it was a bit blurry but things were making sense over time.

We were in a place that was dark, it looked liked we were underground.

In the stone walls, there were chains stained with blood and other…substances.

On one side, there were piles of skeletons that were intact with their bodies yet looked like they had been there for a long time.

And just a few feet away from me, was Helena arguing with the thief from earlier.

Her face and hair was visible now unlike last time where she wore a black hood.

She wore a gray sleeveless halter top, paired with baggy black pants and boots. She had leather arm guards on both sides and had a dagger strapped onto her belt. And of course, the black cloak over everything and a scarf around her neck.

Her hair was dark brown, nearly black and was cut really short. It's length followed her jawline and she had multiple healed scars around her body, most of them were small.

"Apologize." I heard Helena say sternly, glaring intensely at the girl.

The girl scoffed like it was the most ridiculous thing she's heard, "Oh come on, there's nothing in your pouch with value. If anything, I did you a favor for getting rid of all those vegetables you keep."

"They're herbs, you dim witted– "

"Helena." I called out her name before she could finish whatever insult she was going to say.

Both the girls turned around to look at me, Helena looked stunned for a moment before going over to me, "Koen, are you okay?"

"I'm I just–" I cut myself off, how I was feeling was not what should be prioritized, "Where are we?" I asked her.

"I don't know, it seems your friend got us here." She told me, her tone in the last part was a bit mocking but I could still feel the sympathy.

"Uh huh, and what about her?" I was pointing towards the girl.

"That, Koen, is the one at fault." Helena proclaimed loudly enough that the girl heard.

She turned her head towards us in disbelief, "How is this my fault?"

"If you hadn't stolen from us then this wouldn't have happened." Helena accused her.

"Well If you hadn't shot me with your little witchy powers, I wouldn't have fallen on him." Her voice changed to a high mocking tone when she reached the witchy part.

They both started bickering again and it was nonsense for me at this point. The sounds faded away again as my thoughts came back.

Why did Baynard do that?

Since when can he do magic?

Where are we and why are skeletons all over the place?

I just wanna go home.

Their argument became louder again and I was fed up, "Alright, enough you two!"

Both miraculously became quiet, "I get that you two have a grudge against each other, but do you really think this is the place to be arguing right now?" I scolded them.

They both shook their heads no while I kept glaring at them frustratingly.

"Look, I couldn't care less if you two fight but can you please just put a pause on it until we find a way out of here?" I pleaded, they agreed and both went silent.

We all started pacing around the room, looking for ways to escape this place.

Eventually, I decided to approach the heap of skeleton bodies and analyzed every one of them.

They were all women. Every single one. They all had dresses on, peasant or noble, it didn't matter.

My stomach churned at the sight of them and the smell didn't help either. I was about to leave that side of the wall but something caught my eye.

As I sifted through the macabre sight, my eyes landed on a body with a familiar pendant dangling from its skeletal remains, buried amidst the others. With a surge of dread, I realized it was my mother's necklace, the very one I had given her.

It was silver with a ruby gemstone.

My mother's necklace.

The one I had given her.

I felt a pain in my heart, like someone had ripped it out. My eyes were widened by shock and my hands were trembling.

My heart was racing and I was struggling to breathe. I turned my head around so I could focus on something to calm myself, but my mind couldn't grab a hold of a single thought.

I was shaking terribly, tears were welling up in my eyes and I was gasping for air, I collapsed to my knees with my hands clutching my chest.

My hearing was no good anymore, everything was muffled. I heard the rhythmic sounds of footsteps running towards me and just then, I felt a hand on my back.

I looked up and stared at Helena, she was kneeling down beside me, her face looked panicked and she was yelling my name, but it was muffled.

Behind her stood the thief girl, her hands were crossed as she watched me in astonishment, she didn't look all that worried.

Just then, Helena's other hand touched my chest and a glow materialized there, I felt myself calming down at that moment. But I held on tightly either way.

My heart was beating steadily, I could breathe again and everything was coming back together to me.

Her voice was getting clearer and clearer, "Koen."

I took one look at her and bawled. I held on tighter and kept crying like a baby while she tried her best to console me.

At the moment, I didn't care much for whatever impression I was making on them, I was crying for my mother.

She never abandoned me.

She did in fact love me.

And she was murdered.

But by who? That was the question that came to my mind.

Was she in pain?

Did Baynard do this?

I felt murderous, a desire for revenge. My thoughts shifted to imagining the deaths of every single one of whoever was responsible and involved in this.

But why her, why my mother? She has done nothing wrong. Nothing worthy of death.

I calmed down after a while. There was no use crying now, it wouldn't bring her back to life. Now, I will bring justice to my mother and all the women who have suffered.

Starting with Baynard.

We were all quiet after I had my breakdown, I took the necklace off of my mother's body and put it on me.

So much for a lucky charm.

A light appeared in the middle of the room and we all ran as far away from it as possible, out of fear that our deaths had come but I couldn't allow that.

The light disappeared and a man stood in that spot, he wore the exact same cloak as the thief girl but it was Helena who reacted first.

"Jace?" She called out in disbelief and he looked surprised to see her. The thief girl was even more surprised that Helena knew him.

Who was he?