The forest.

After successfully leaving the palace grounds, disguised as a maid, covered by a hood– and the outfit she always kept in her room– Adaliah moved through the city, careful to copy the behavior of the commoners, she usually blended in the masses with ease and always passed unnoticed. Passing by the town square, many merchants as usual were calling unto people to check on the goods they were exposing. They had everything. From pieces of jewelry and clothes to potions and some spells. They even had "exotic" plants and animals coming from other continents. Of course, they were mostly scams as the plants were concocted from a mixture of innocent weeds and element-type spells.

A little farther away, she could see a group of men discussing out of a building, drinking mugs of odd-smelling liquid she didn't doubt was alcohol, and roaring in laughter. Young women passed by chatting heartily about something she would probably never know about.

Kids played, chasing each other, and laughed when one of them was caught by the chaser. One of them used a little bit of wind magic, which threw one of the kids to the ground making him easy prey for the chaser. She chuckled as they started bickering.

The noise from the marketplace died down the more she walked and the houses were spacing out as well, till, there was nothing but a forest, the pride of Luxia.

The Undying Forest.

Throwing a last glance behind her, she made sure no one went after her, before walking into the enchanting forest. During the day, the beautiful forest seemed like it was made of gold, shiny and, a wide variety of medicinal plants and different species of animals. On nights when the moon was out, it would glow like it was made of silver, and the best place was probably the small lake next to her self-appointed cave. It would usually glow at night as if the lake was sprinkled with sparks.

People would usually get lost as soon as they got in the forest, as she knew it like the back of her hand. A few squirrels were playing in the trees, while the birds were singing joyfully.

Her smile widened seeing a mother bird, landing in her nest, feeding the eager little birds with what she collected from her little hunt.

She walked into her cave, happy to find nothing was out of place. She closed her eyes and threw a spell in the room, just to make sure no one came in and it was alright.

She changed out of her clothes to wear a pair of trousers, and a cotton shirt. Taking her bow and a few arrows, a dagger in her boot, she walked out of the other cave, progressing deeper into the forest. She started shooting at the targets she had placed on trees. After a couple of perfect shots, she started practicing while running.

Initially, it was kind of easy, but later on, she managed to strike it almost at the center. She beamed, deciding it was enough for shooting, she pulled out her dagger and fought against an invisible opponent.

The reason she was hiding to train was that her mother refused to assign her a combat instructor and only gave teachers about magic and manners. A few on philosophy, history, sciences politics though she was bored out of her mind during those all classes, she still tried to at least get the basics. All except magic.

She was recognized as a genius in magic as her knowledge in the subject far surpassed that of those in her age group. That and the fact she had an affinity for all elements.

Commonly, witches had an affinity for a single element and their derivatives or were good at other things like healing, singing, dancing, and other numerous talents.

"Ha!" She gave her imaginary enemy a kick on the side of the head, which she imagined he blocked. As soon as she landed, she twirled on herself and crouched imagining she was giving a dagger strike in the stomach of her opposer which fell to the ground. Satisfied with this outcome as well, she caught her breath deciding to call it a day when she heard the sound of a branch cracking, followed by voices.

As if her body had been taken over by something else, she ran silently, her steps as light as a cat's, and ducked behind a tree, just in time for three figures to emerge from the woods. One from her left, hooded, and she could not tell if it was a man or a woman. From her right came two men, clad similar to the first figure, but with their hoods lowered revealing their scared faces.

She asked silently and muttered a spell under her breath to conceal her presence. The scars the men had were a sort of branding made on exiled witches as a result of a despicable crime.

'They are not even supposed to be in the territory, how did they breach the spell mother placed on the kingdom?'

"I hope you brought what I asked of you." A masculine voice, strangely familiar spoke out. Where did she hear this man's voice before? It was surely in the castle as she didn't pay attention to those on the way when she sneaks out.

"Ay, but the payment first." Asked one of the men, his head void of hair. His voice was raspy and odd sounding.

The hooded man fumbled with his innermost pocket and pulled out a small pouch and threw it at another long-haired man, who caught it effortlessly, opening it to pull out a glowing emerald stone.

Her eyes widened in shock. The emerald stone was the symbol of the Royal family of Luxia and only the people destined to ascend to the throne could imbue their magic permanently into an emerald stone. As far as she knew, the only person who could do it was her mother. But again, while eavesdropping on one of their meetings, she heard the amount of these stones produced was decreasing greatly.

The emerald stones were sold to other countries as fuel, medicine, and magic for witches out of the country, in exchange for money used to build Luxia.

If the emerald stones are that scarce, why did that hooded man have such a great quantity? And why was his mother not producing more?

"They are real" Confirmed the long-haired man and the bald head nodded pulling out a box from his sleeve.

"Here it is. The strongest poison ever. Golden Viper Venom. No cure. The source is still unknown" He explained forwarding the box to the hooded man.

"I hope I won't fail as the other poisons you sold me?" He asked menacingly and she could feel a shiver run down her spine.

"I assure you that even if the Queen is as powerful as an army of dragons, this would finally take her down," said the long-haired man.

It took time for Adaliah to register this new information.

'There aren't talking about queen mother, right?'

"If it is just all a prank and it just weakens her like the other poisons, you'll regret it"

"Haha, have confidence in us. The poison is effective. My only question is how you'll get rid of the princess. She would be a nuisance too to the lord" Said the long-haired man and the hooded man lifted his hand in the air, a dark light emanating from his hand.

Dark magic.

"It is none of your business, just due silently" with that, both men clutched their throats as the pressure in their brains built up, resulting in the blood vessels bursting and blood seeping out of their every pore.

She fell to the ground and she decided she had seen enough, turning to leave (silently) when her leg stepped upon a branch, and her heart leaped along with the cracking of the despicable wood.