A Hidden World

Part 17

"Guess I'm with Lucy then," said Rose.

"The freak has a name?" somebody shouted. "How can it have a name? It doesn't even have wings!"

Lucy started crying. Quietly at first, then she got noisier and noisier until she was sobbing. Everybody's heads swivelled as they turned to look at her.

"Who said that?!" Rose's head scanned the crowd furiously. Her long, golden hair flew into her face and she blew at it angrily.

Ivan's voice suddenly piped up. "He did!" he said, pointing at a grown man, with blue and orange wings and a long red scar down his face causing his eye to swell up to the point where it was impossible to open. "It was him!"

The man looked furious, and his mouth opened and closed like a goldfish as he struggled to think of something to say.

"Thank you, Ivan," Rose said graciously. She turned to face the man, suddenly looking a whole lot scarier than she had done a second ago.

He backed away, nearly knocking the people standing behind him over. He looked a lot less confident than he had before. Rose's face was pure fury, and her frown was enough to scare even the bravest of soldiers. He turned around and tried to run, but the people he had nearly knocked over grabbed his thick, muscular arms tightly and held him still. Rose's face had grown from fury to disgust at the man's cowardly actions. He would certainly get punished, Rose made sure of that.

"What is your name?" She demanded.

"My n-name?" He replied, sounding more than a little scared.

"Yes, your name. Tell me your name."

"Erm, it's Ralph, Miss- er, your highness." Ralph's wings fluttered nervously.

"Ralph what?" Rose asked tersely.

"Ralph Jeyonker, your highness."

"Well, Ralph Jeyonker, your name shall be noted down, and you will be punished as soon as this crisis is over."

Ralph gulped, and nodded his head slowly as Rose took over trying to evacuate everybody again.

"Everybody find your partner."

There was a huge scramble as people pushed and shoved each other to find their partners, and Lucy reluctantly walked over to Rose and half hid behind her. She was unusually shy.

"Now quickly label yourselves partner A and partner B. Partner A's stand behind me, and partner B's behind Lucy. We need to walk in a line, but it needs to be as short and thin as possible so we are a smaller target for enemy ships flying overhead. We also need to be completely silent, so they cannot hear us either. Anybody who disregards these rules will be punished, mark my words. In line, now!"

Everybody shuffled quietly into line, too scared about the consequences to disobey the princess's orders. Then, following another set of rules, they made the line even shorter by standing in lines of four one behind the other. The first line was made up of Lucy, Ivan, Rose and Ralph.

"I really am sorry about that Lucy. Honestly, I feel terrible now. You must have gone through so much, and it is not my job to make it worse. I'm really, really sorry. Will you forgive me?"

Lucy had been listening to this with a smile growing on her face and the occasional nod, but Rose's face stayed stony.

"You are in enough trouble already, are you trying to make it worse for yourself?" She asked, obviously agitated.

Ralph shook his head, and mumbled a quick apology under his breath, but it was so quiet it was almost impossible to hear.

They all started a quick march out of the hospital, everybody else following in their lines behind them. They walked through a series of underground tunnels almost nobody knew about. The tunnels were like long, dark caves lit only by a few flickering candles on the walls. The floors were slippery and covered in mud, and everybody kept slipping and sliding as they struggled to keep their balance in the dark, perilous caverns. Drips occasionally fell from the roof, and there was a rotten stench in the air. This, though, was obviously a better alternative to whatever dangers there were above ground. Well not above ground, that would be the surface, but above the tunnel, which was Destiline.

As they walked down, so many people were wondering if the tunnels would ever come to an end. And when they did, so many people had to literally bite their own tongues to stop themselves from shouting out in joy and excitement, or breaking the line and running ahead into the sunshine.

In the tunnels, they had passed many other lines like theirs, led by hospital staff and brave patients who were natural leaders. But now they were out, Rose took a deep breath, and smiled for what felt like the first time in decades, but it was only really the few hours they had spent in the tunnels. The sunlight warmed her face, and she paused walking for a minute as she basked in the sunlight like a tired dog minus the panting.

Then, remembering the dangerous situation she was in, she started again at a brisk march. Her legs were growing tired, and all of the younger children were now being carried by kind volunteers. Rose made a mental note of this, and vowed to reward them when things were safe again.

Heeyy
soooooo..
What's your fave food?
I like chocolate 
or anything sugary really but chocolate especially