Hollow Kingdom

Nuxvar Town had barely changed. The town was still run down. The people were still poor and unhappy. Alec still felt depressed. By the time they’d gotten to town, the things Lily had given Alec to lighten his hair and change his eye color had worn off, and he was looking like himself again. He had thrown the round spectacles into the river after he simply could no longer take the way they slipped down his nose every second. Still, even looking like himself, no one seemed to recognize Alec. He was aware that he’d definitely matured and gotten a little taller since the last time he’d been there, but it wasn’t just that. The people of Nuxvar Town just didn’t care who came and went anymore. They stared straight ahead and continued on their way. These newcomers couldn’t make their lives better, and they didn’t want to know how it could be worse.

Belle was quick to tie her horse to a post and hop off, half-running in the direction of their childhood home. Alec was less eager to see their father. Unlike Belle, who was still relatively young when he was forced to leave and had been a Daddy’s girl until the very end, Alec still felt some resentment towards his father at times. He didn’t have any explanation for why, other than the fact that he had no choice other than the dull life of Nuxvar.

Lily came up behind Alec, eyeing him a little bit before nudging him. “Well, go on. It’s now or never.”

Alec sighed and nodded, following behind Belle to the little run-down house that he’d grown up in. Belle was still outside, hands clenched around her skirt as she stared at the boarded up door and windows. It was a tiny little house, but there were a lot of memories. Pleasant ones, at first. Memories of his mother keeping the house full of life and positive energy. Those memories turned grim when he remembered sitting outside on the porch step with Evan, while Dr. Camden made a weak attempt at reviving Alec’s mother inside.

Belle turned around and looked at Alec with a look of heartbreak in her eyes that he hadn’t seen since she heard that Daniel had been sentenced to death. His heart sank slightly, realizing that Tobias Spaulding no longer lived there.

“What about all of our things?” Belle asked. “What about Mum’s things?”

“Well, there’s a use for those strong legs of yours, Alec,” Erwin pointed out, poking his head out of Lily’s bag.

Alec stared at the door, then glanced over his shoulder to make sure no one was around. With two hard kicks, he was able to knock down the old wooden door. Belle rushed inside first, and Alec followed closely behind. The interior looked as if the residents just left one day and never came back. There were some books on the table, and one of them was left open with a bookmark laid inside, collecting dust. There was a tea kettle left out with some dried up leaves inside, and the bed hadn’t been made. Alec wandered over to the bedroom and ran his fingers over some etchings in the wood that tracked Alec and Belle’s heights over the years.

Alec did have to give his parents one thing: No matter how much their lives had gone to shit, Alec couldn’t have asked for more loving and optimistic parents. Had they not both been ripped away from their children, Alec was sure that they’d still be just as optimistic and just as adoring.

“Alec, look at this,” Belle called out from the other room.

Alec walked over to find Belle and Lily sitting on the floor beside an old leather trunk that used to belong to Mrs. Spaulding. Alec remembered that she kept her sewing and knitting supplies in there, but after she had died, her things were collecting dust in it. Belle handed a small piece of parchment to Alec, which had a note messily scrawled on it in charcoal.

Jacun Forest

Alec recognized his father’s handwriting, but he couldn’t understand what the note meant. He looked up to find that Lily had pulled a yellowing old wedding gown out of the trunk, which was falling apart from old age. The beads along the bodice were loose and falling out, and the long, off-shoulder sleeves were torn slightly. The bottoms of the lighter layers of the skirt were starting to tear in feather-like strips. Belle gently ran her fingers over the gown, then reached into the trunk to take out the matching veil, which was also starting to fall apart.

“I used to wear this dress around the house,” Belle said, a sad smile on her face. “It was far too big and I tripped and stumbled all over the place.”

“Was this Mrs. Spaulding’s gown?” Lily asked.

“Yes,” Belle nodded. “I always thought it was the most beautiful thing in the world. Terribly outdated now, but part of me would still wear it on my own wedding day. Well, I would’ve, if it was still in good shape.”

“Gowns like this can be fixed,” Lily said. “I know quite a few seamstresses who could make it brand new again.”

For a moment, Alec thought that there was a slim chance Lily and Belle could be friends. Belle seemed to realize this too, and the expression on her face quickly turned startled. She shoved the dress and veil back in the trunk and walked out the front door, mumbling something about needing fresh air. Lily gently refolded the gown and tucked it into the trunk a little nicer, and Alec could have sworn he heard her whisper a “thank you” to his mother, like she was there with them.

“I wish we could bring all of this back with us,” she sighed. “We’ll have to come back for it. It would be a shame to just leave all this here to rot.”

“That’s sad,” Alec muttered. “You care more about it in these ten minutes than her family did in ten years.”

“You didn’t mean to leave it behind,” Lily pointed out. “None of you did. It’s not your fault.”

Alec sighed and shrugged, looking at the note on the parchment again. “Jacun Forest isn’t far from here. This note doesn’t appear to be too old. Clearly, my father isn’t here. I’m thinking the forest is our next best bet.”

“We should go quickly,” Erwin said, poking his head out once more and twitching his nose. “This house smells horrid.”

Alec nodded and walked out with Lily, stepping over the door he’d kicked down and feeling a little guilty about it. He doubted anyone would steal anything. If there was anything to steal, it would’ve been stolen already.

Soon, they were back on their horses and headed in the direction of the forest, making it to the outer edges near nightfall.

“Maybe we should camp somewhere for the night,” Alec said slowly.

“There’s nowhere to camp,” Belle told him. “We should keep going until we find a village. There should be one somewhere around here.”

Eventually, even the horses needed to stop and rest. They stopped in a small clearing that seemed safe enough, settling down for a bit of food around the dim lighting of an oil lantern. Belle wandered around the clearing while Lily tended to the horses, neither one of them wanting to deal with Alec. Even he was starting to get annoyed with his own bad attitude. He blamed it on the anxiety of the idea of seeing his father again, but there was no way he was going to admit to that.

“Hey, look at this.”

Alec looked up when Belle called out to him, following the finger she was pointing up into the branches. He frowned and moved next to her so he could see what she was seeing, and noticed what looked like rope weaved between the tree branches. Well, that was odd. Lily got curious and wandered over to see it too, looking equally confused.

“Maybe there is a village nearby,” she suggested. “There’s no way nature did-”

Her sentence was cut off when the ground beneath them suddenly shifted and rose up. Belle shrieked as the three of them toppled together in a pile of limbs and rope walls rose up around them. A net. They were caught in a net, dangling from one of the trees. Alec scowled in frustration when he couldn’t move without kicking someone in the face, and he could tell the girls were equally startled and frustrated.

“Get your stupid feet out of my face,” Belle growled.

“Get your stupid face away from my feet,” Alec snapped back. “Lily, can you reach my dagger?”

“I can try,” she huffed, reaching through the net to try and grab the blade on Alec’s belt.

They struggled for a few moments before a couple male figures emerged from the shadows, both wielding daggers of their own.

“State your business!” One of them ordered. “Are you the Queen’s spies?”

“No!” Belle yelled at them. “Get me down from here, you brutes, before I shove a branch up your-”

“Belle, that’s not how we talk to the only people who can cut us down,” Alec reminded her. “Please, can you two cut us down? We’re not spies.”

“These horses bear her mark,” the other man said. “And you expect us to believe you’re not with the Queen?”

Alec struggled to move again, only to end up in an even more uncomfortable position. Well, this was it. This was going to be his glorious end. Caught in an animal trap.

“Wait!” A third voice cried out, which Alec couldn’t see because of his position in the net. “Cut them down! Cut them down right now!”

“What? Are you sure?” one of the other men asked skeptically.

“Yes! Cut them down! Smite me where I stand if I don’t recognize my own children!”