My heart was racing as the boy started to cry a bit and made me look back at the King. A sudden chuckle came from the king for a brief second before it became silent again.
Suddenly, a loud shriek came out from one of the people huddled together. I paid no attention to it, keeping my eyes locked on the General again. I already knew the King killed the boy, seeing some blood splash across the now stained white marble floor.
"Who wants to tell me the truth then? Where the hell do they go at night?!" He asked again the remaining three, facing them instead of the dead woman. Suddenly, I backed away, hiding behind the throne's chair again, not daring to look back at the mess in the middle of the room. The silence was killing me. I raised my hands up to my mouth, pressing hard on it to keep the small scream building up inside of me from slipping out. Remy watched me closely too; her eyes widened and her face paling by the second.
"Your Highness?" I froze, hearing Assistant General Ramani's usually loud voice call out quietly to the King. His deafening footsteps came closer to the chair before finally stopping.
"I don't think Val Whiteman or Remy Will are to blame. In fact, Val's been next to me for a while now. I kept an eye on him since others seemed to have it out for him. And when he does 'disappear' it's because I let him rest due to having asthma. I can't say the same about Remy, however. I don't see her much, let alone talk to her, but Mrs. Hart will be able to tell you her thoughts on the matter." It felt like a new man was talking about me just now. It went quiet again, but I was almost sure everyone could hear my pounding heartbeat and chattering teeth. A moment of silence rang out in the courtroom, seeming as though the King was thinking about the General's words.
"Very well then. Who are those causing trouble in your group?" The King asked, laced with an icy attitude, seeming to be even scarier now that I could hear the screams of the other three. I didn't need to look or guess to know what was going to happen next to them. I didn't move; my body was in shock from it all. Both from hearing the general, the one who seemingly hated everyone, now standing up for me, and from the screams being ingrained into my brain. Assistant General Ramani, the worst teacher and assistant general known to mankind, was defending me. Worse, my heart seemed to stop beating hard in my chest. My breathing was getting better too after hearing him finally settle down. It sickened me.
It was true; Remy wasn't around him much. She spent more time with the other people, as they seemed to like her even more than the others. But even so, hearing the assistant general's words made me feel at ease. But one thing wasn't right. He knows I'm here; is that not suspicious enough? Part of me wondered why he was doing this, but I couldn't help but wonder, Is he like us too? A traitor?
I rushed out of the chair, running off to the nearby trees behind us and behind the courtroom. I glanced over my shoulder, seeing no one following besides Remy. We kept running, finally reaching the tunnel we chose as our hideout for the time we were here.
I gasped for breath, leaning on the tunnel's dirty wall with my hands on my knees. "Damn, that was close." Remy said out of breath like me, looking around the dark tunnel to make sure no one was hiding along with us. The tunnel seemed to be the same from last time, still covered in vines and weeds now with lightning bugs swarming us.
"What the hell, I thought that General Ramani hated you?" She finally asked while being just as confused as me, sighing while pressing her fingers on the back of her neck. I nodded, finally standing up straight. "Me too. I just…" It didn't make sense. Assistant General Ramani hated me, so why'd he save me back there? Was this his twisted way of helping me? In a way, it worked. I shouldn't care about why he did what he did. As long as I wasn't caught, then it should be fine. Plus, having someone as scary and skilled as Assistant General Ramani on my side isn't such a bad thing.
"Well, one thing's for sure. He must have liked you since he was looking out for you for so long. If you weren't my friend, I don't think I could've helped you for long, brat." Remy chuckled, slightly hitting me in the side with her elbow. I rolled my eyes, huffing while trying to catch my breath still. "I don't get it. He hates me and... I glanced back up at her, seeing her wait for me to finish. "He saw me." She glared at me for a second before sighing, already getting a first-hand look at the whole thing. "You sure? Maybe you saw it wrong? There's no way he'd let you stay there like that. He'd be in trouble too if he didn't say a word." She asked, doubting me despite seeing it herself. She was right though; it didn't make much sense. I couldn't blame her for not believing me. The general was supposed to protect his people and make sure it's safe. Why would he lie?
"Yes! I'm sure he saw me. I saw him look right at me. I'm not stupid; you saw too." We both knew, though; he'd never let me go if he saw me. Even if he did seem to have a soft spot for me, he wouldn't just let it go. "Well, at least we're in the clear. And now I know just how much to be worried about the King. I just hope he doesn't want to use it as blackmail later." Remy said, leading me down the tunnel back to the castle's door. "Yeah, or we can kiss our sorry asses bye." Her and I nodded at each other. The door that closed off to the kingdom and into our hideout tunnel was much harder to pull this time. Sure, it was heavy before, but seeing Remy struggling, grunting as the door wouldn't budge worried me more. She groaned, annoyed, realizing that the door was probably sealed off now. "Great. Just what I wanted," she scoffed.
As we turned back, a sudden shout from the tunnel entrance that led to the forest startled us. I stopped, dropping down to the ground. A soft thump followed after me, seeing Remy lay down next to me. I held my breath, trying not to worry as I started watching a pair of boots march past the long vines in front of the tunnel. Luckily, it was pitch black; no one could see anything towards the back of the tunnel, let alone two small figures hiding in the tall grass. But even so, a quick flash of light would be able to catch us. I covered my mouth, hoping they couldn't hear my harsh breathing. I watched as the vines slowly began to open up, as if someone were opening them up like a curtain. My heartbeat was the only thing I could focus on, the thudding beats making it hard to hear anything else, as a familiar face appeared from the vines.
"Are you ok, your highness?" A soft voice called from behind him. He glanced around the tunnel a bit before letting the vines drop back down.
"Yes. Sorry, I thought I heard a voice. It must've been my imagination. Let's go." He rushed off without thinking too much about it, followed by another pair of four shoes right behind him. Zeke wasn't supposed to be back yet. Why was he here still? My head was a foggy mess already. Worse now that Zeke was back.
Would he care to address the rumors about us? Or did he even know about them? Knowing him, he would if it bothered me too much. Crouching down still, the smell of dirt was flooding my nose, clogging it before finally I couldn't stand it anymore. I slowly kneeled, locking eyes with the outside light shining in as Remy followed my movement. "We need to report this. Tell him his highness isn't gone." I nodded, glancing back at her.
I still had many questions. More than answers that I desperately wanted to know. It was an understatement to say I was on edge. Every little moment was making me anxious to the point I felt jumpy, as if my bones wanted to jump right out of my skin and run for the hills. I was scared, a feeling I knew all too well when living here or anywhere, as a matter of fact. I kept checking my surroundings, looking for him. For his glares, quiet yet captivating voice, and his towering shadow casting over me. But he never showed. I wanted to figure it out. Question him on everything; make him spill his guts even if he didn't want to. I wanted to tell Zeke about the rumors, make him address it all, and have the others listen to him. I wouldn't do either.
Unfortunately, I wouldn't figure it all out later after all, like I secretly hoped I would. Remy and I finally got the heavy door to open, rushing off to our dorms before we could get caught by the generals lurking around for being out late. The night felt like it was dragging on forever despite already being past midnight and into the early hours of the day. I tossed and turned that night, trying to sleep for at least a few hours but not getting even an hour in before I woke up again. The loud wind blowing against my window was annoying me, sounding like a madman banging on the window, before I finally decided I had enough. I sat up quickly, hearing the rain now tap against the window like a finger of someone drumming against the glass.
Tap Tap Tap.
I slowly reached for my white shirt off the dining chair, slipping it on before putting my newly cleaned boots on as well. Normally, when I couldn't sleep, I would just lay around, hoping to finally relax enough to fall asleep at some point. But, just being in this room, staring at the lightning and the same boring color of white on my walls, was making me sick. As I locked my door, loud footsteps were coming closer behind me. I stopped for a second, stuffing my keys in my pants's pocket before glancing up.
"Whiteman? What the hell are you doing? Go back to your room. No one wants to see you out late, y'know." Normally, I'd try to be as respectful as I could in the presence of someone with a higher ranking, not wanting to make a mess or stir up rumors any more. But this time I couldn't care less.
Just as he was about to turn and walk away, I spoke up. "Why'd you help me?" I asked, staring right at his back. He paused before he scoffed, turning his head back around to face me. He looked different now, much more serious than before. Annoyed, more likely, but with him he was a closed book, so he could be feeling any sort of way.
"Who said I did it for you? Maybe I was just doing it for my own selfish reasons." A flicker of mischief flashed across his face as he faced me. Fear was rising in my chest, my body frozen. Here I thought I had him figured out. A guy who was hard on his students but really wasn't a bad guy and maybe had a weird way of showing his affection... was only doing it for himself? My mind was cluttered with terrible reasons why he'd do such a thing. He hated the King? Maybe he wanted to keep me around just to torture me? Maybe he thought this was fun and wanted to see me get caught eventually? Maybe he didn't want to put in the work to catch me? Maybe he'd force me to do something vile in order to keep my secret?
He huffed out a long, annoyed sigh, turning away. "Just get back to your dorm. Last chance." He threatened, a threat I didn't want to know the consequences of. I watched him a bit more as he stormed off, unable to ask him more questions. But one thing was left on my mind... There's a lot wrong with this man. Maybe even more than me.
It was only early morning, almost five now, and he's already grumpy as ever. Finally, I stepped back and threw my door open. How could he do this? Acting like this is fine when it's anything but fine?! And yet… I still felt grateful to him. All the possibilities on why he would've helped me kept me up all night. But… The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to see what I could gain by spending time with him.