The Poison Prince

Phryensh`a...Where had Taiden heard that word before? The burning agony wracked his body, and he knew he would drop like a rock in the ocean if Julius let him go. Still, the word - Phryensh`a - unlocked a memory and gave him a distraction from the fiery pain. Where had he heard it before? He recalled the scent of pine trees and morning dew. He remembered soot and ash on his skin that he couldn't wash off completely for days. There was sorrow and fear, hostility and rejection...Xylia. It was Xylia, and The Draca, and her uncle. It had been her uncle who had spoken that strange word, hissing it out in an old tongue. Taiden had spent many of those early nights trying to recall his childhood studies for a language it matched, but nothing fit, and then he had forgotten it as easily as one forgot a dream they had upon waking. Only now, hearing that word again, did he remember. The memory was unlocked and Phryensh`a was the key to the door it was closed behind.
"Your uncle called you the same thing." He said softly, tiredly lifting his gaze to Xylia when he realised no one had since spoken.
Her eyes flickered towards him, but she stood tense. Her body stiffened and she curled her fingers into tight fists. Frost coated her white knuckles and Taiden noticed the blush rising fast to her gaunt cheeks. Xylia had never kept secrets from him. He had thought she was as clear with him as the moon was with the night sky; but even the moon hid itself away once a month.
"Xylia?" He pushed, voice cracking with both the physical pain he was crumbling under, and the emotional pain that there was more to the heroine before him.
"You never told them." Allela's gently spoken words were a statement and not a question. "You thought you'd die in that battle and none of it would ever matter." She finally pushed the door open, revealing the hidden tunnels uncovered in the floor for anyone to find. "I'm sorry to disappoint, Phryensh`a, but that was never an option." Xylia flinched at the word, crossing the floor to ensure that everyone else was between herself and Allela.
"Don't call me that."
"As you wish." Allela nodded, bowing her head compliantly.
Even in the exhaustion brought on by the pain shooting through his body, Taiden could see the difference in the behaviour of the pastel haired warrior now. She showed Xylia a level of respect she had not granted him, and the determination to find her had metamorphosed into a commitment to serve her.
"We don't have the time to be standing around like this!" Julius almost bellowed, his hostility peaking as everyone in the room seemed to avoid meeting each other's gazes with all eyes fixed on Xylia.
"The Captain has a point. We must make haste if we are to escape the kingdom without detection." Allela spun in the direction of the tunnel hatch.
"Where are we supposed to go?" Zechariahs was the one who asked what they were all thinking.
"North." Xylia answered numbly, her eyes of ice still avoiding everyone.
Allela smiled with pride; pride Julius didn’t think any of them deserved to have right now. The prince was grievously injured, and there would be guards coming after them. They would be chased down like foxes in a hunt.
“The Draca won’t protect you.” Zechariahs said quietly, spluttering behind his filthy hand.
“And the prince won’t make it to the village – not without a Healer.” Julius added, hoisting Taiden back up onto shaking legs. He didn’t think the prince would even make it out of the castle like this.
“I can tend to the prince. You only need to get him to the tracks.” Allela promised, her confidence as sure as ever. She never faltered.
“What tracks?” Julius was suspicious.
Allela cocked her head and smiled slyly. She revelled in knowing what others didn’t, and the urgency of their situation didn’t encourage her to speak quickly. All that mattered to her was finding Xylia, and she had done that; everything else could now happen at a leisurely pace.
“Did you really think the tunnels were just about an escape?” She purred, silvery eyes twinkling like starlight as she dropped down into the dank tunnel. Landing neatly with a clank of her blood tarnished armour, Allela didn’t waste a second before striding off into the darkness. Still, she continued to speak as she waited for the others to catch up. “These tunnels are as old as Lyris. They have served many purposes over the centuries, but above all else they have been the only surviving link between this kingdom and what exists beyond the northern mountains.”
It was a struggle to lower Taiden down into the damp passage without hurting him. He hissed, and clamped down on his own tongue to stifle any screams. Xylia took over supporting him at the bottom while Julius climbed down the ladder.
“But, I thought there was nothing beyond the mountains? At least nothing but ogres and weather storms so fierce that the wind itself can flay your skin.” Zechariahs shuddered at his memory of the horror stories people told back in the village. No one went further north than there – at least not if they wanted to live.
Allela chuckled, her wide grin reminding Xylia of one time when she had seen a feral cat snatch a whole nest of fledglings from their nest. “Exactly. No one who is sane goes through the mountains, but we’re going under them.” She explained, veering into the midnight black suddenly, exposing a narrow passage none of the others had noticed before now. “The tracks will take us beyond Lyris’ borders in a matter of hours.” Stepping aside to allow the others through, the tiny channel soon opened out to reveal exactly what Allela had told them; tracks.

Before them stood a very basic open topped carriage, just big enough for them all. It was a rich blue, with the same crest from Allela’s armour affixed to the front, but much larger. It rested at the end of tracks that vanished deep in the wide open mouth of a tunnel.
“Everyone in.” Allela instructed, pulling open the door to the cart.
“Where will this take us?” Julius demanded to know. “I will not risk Prince Taiden’s life any further.”
Behind them voices began to echo from the depths of the tunnels. Guards had discovered the hatch and started to venture down into the shadows.
“There isn’t any time to argue, Captain. This is the only way to guarantee your prince lives.” Allela gestured to the carriage, nodding in approval as Xylia climbed in first.
“Julius, do you trust me?” Xylia asked, tired eyes wide and pleading.
“I do.” Taiden rasped, lifting his head and struggling forward on his own to clamber into the simple cart. He fell, bouncing his chin off a seat and howled in pain as Xylia dropped to her knees to help him.
Julius pushed forward, climbing up only to tend to his prince, and not because he was overly keen on this plan. “I don’t know where we’re going or what we’ll find there.”
“Aegis.” Allela assured him, with a nod at Xylia, too. She stepped aside to let Zechariahs in and closed the door.
Xylia blinked at her. Allela was still outside the cart.
“What are you doing?” She asked warily.
“My task was to find you, Xylia Ileana Alewyne.” She answered proudly, gripping the sword sheathed by her hip. “I’ve done that. Now, I need to keep you safe until you reach the end of these tracks. The only way to make certain of that is to destroy this tunnel after you’ve left it.” She peered over her shoulder at the echoes growing louder, and smirked wickedly. “If I time it correctly, I might even be able to bury some of Devanna’s men with it.”
“But we need you. You were going to help Taiden!” Xylia exclaimed, hands tight on the edge of the cart, knuckles white with her grip as she leaned out to Allela.
“Everything you need is under the seat. And everyone will be waiting when you reach the other side. They’ve been waiting so long.”
Zechariahs fumbled with the closed door and toppled out of the cart as it swung suddenly open. He coughed, a smatter of blood shining from his lips like death’s own morbid glitter. Straightening up, but wheezing still, he looked at Allela and nodded nervously.
“I’ll stay.”
“What?!” Xylia roared, trying to climb out herself, but her path was suddenly blocked by a forlorn looking Julius. He refused to meet her gaze and she was force to hang over the edge of the cart again instead. “No! Zechariahs, no! You’ll die!”
“I’m already dying.” He said quietly, explaining himself unnecessarily to Allela. She knew already, but if saying it aloud helped him, she would honour him by listening. “I probably won’t see the next new moon if I go with them. I left the village of The Draca so I could help, and maybe die a hero, or at least doing something good.” He glanced back at Xylia who shook her head furiously at him. “She needs you. I don’t know who you are exactly, but Xylia needs you. And if you’ve been looking for her then I guess she’s more important than my people have ever thought she was.”
“Zechariahs…”
“Xylia, let me do this for you. For all those times I called you a mutt.”
“None of those matter now!” She whined, trying to push by Julius again.
“It’s not like we’d get to laugh about it one day!” He shouted, coughing again and tearing up when he saw the speckles of blood on the back of his hand. “I’m as good as dead already. Let me go out with a bang. You can tell my story.” He flashed a tearful smile and pulled out his sword, peering at his warped reflection in the steel. “One day you can go back to the village and tell them how I didn’t lay down to die like the rest of them. That I fought and chose to do something none of them could even dream about.”
“I hate you.” Xylia sobbed, ugly fat tears streaking down her cheeks.
“No, you don’t. But pretend if it helps.”
She wailed, feeling her heart aching deep in her chest as the grief set in and twisted with her exhaustion. “You were the closest thing I ever had to a friend.” She admitted softly, remembering all those years when he took a chance on the girl everyone else kicked about.
“And now you have the real thing.” He reminded her as Allela climbed up into the cart.
“There’s a switch at the end of the tracks there – on the left. It looks just like a rock, but feels smoother. Twist it to the right to send us on our way, and then all the way to the left to destroy the cave. Make sure there’s at least one minute between the two or the aftershock will hit us.” Allela explained gently.
“I got it.” Zechariahs confirmed as he slipped into the shadowy part of the cavern, his hands feeling the way until he found the disguised switch.
There was a loud crunching noise as he twisted the switch one way and the carriage jolted backwards before slowly moving forward into the mouth of the tunnel, gradually increasing its speed. The last sight Xylia had of Zechariah was as a blurry man, stooped over the switch. Half in shadows, skewed by tears, but brave.

Then there was the pitch black darkness, and in that darkness only the voices. Voices of the guards shouting that they had found something – a man – that everyone else had escaped. Were these railroad tracks? Someone needed to follow them, quickly! Then, the darkness shook and shuddered, and clouds of dust invaded the black. Then, there was silence.