“His Majesty, King Lucas Cameron lives up ahead in that castle.” Agnes gestures towards the old, crumbling castle in the distance. Dislike curls into her tongue at the mention of his name.
They had passed by a stable when Sela asked, “This king of yours is a fair ruler?”
“If you ask the rest of the kingdom, yes,” She accompanies this with a shrug and a disappointed sigh.
Sela raises her eyebrows, “And if I ask you?”
Agnes glances at the road behind them. Upon finding no one she speaks in a hushed tone, “Lately, the king has been inviting young women to his palace. And they have not returned.”
“They came willingly?” When the girl nodded, she added, “How many have there been?”
“Sixteen over the past few months,” Agnes paused as the sound of clopping resounded behind them, “and possibly more today.”
She pushed Sela to the side of the path as two men on horseback- one of them carrying a flag with vibrant blue waves embroidered on its parchment yellow cloth- sped towards the road and past the two women.
Sela and Agnes exchanged worried looks before following them.
---
When they arrived at the cluster of houses, the two men had already halted. One of them read from a scroll before the gathered townspeople, “The King invites the following young women to dine with him tomorrow night.”
A
murmur spread through the people, who all whispered amongst themselves in anticipation.
“Dorothy Kenneth, and Lara Charlotte,” The crowd parted to give way to the two women as they approached the horsemen.
“The purple-haired one-” Agnes’s voice nearly broke, “That’s Lara.”
Sela gazed at the young girl for a long time, the stiff set of her jaw, the rapid blinking of her eyes as she seemed to hold back tears. She knew enough about grief and decided not to question her for now, but her heart twinged in regret for her.
“I know a way to stop this,” Sela said to her, mostly in reassurance.
Lara took a piece of paper from the horseman, an unreadable look on her face as her eyes scanned its contents. Whom Sela guessed as Dorothy also took her copy and smiled in delight as she tucked a strand of brown hair back behind her ear.
As soon as the horsemen took their leave, life returned to normal. People resumed to selling chickens and fruits and vegetables from the harvest.
“They’ll be escorted to the palace at sundown the next day,” Agnes finally spoke, holding her arm, “Come on, there’s someone I want you to meet.”
---
The Island’s only tavern seemed to multiply the lively atmosphere of the outside, adding alcohol and chaos to the mix. Raucous voices hollered about as people challenged each other through arm wrestling, exchanges of insults, and a drunken version of fencing using wooden mugs.
Sela and Agnes had taken the table in the middle of the chaos, the eye of the storm, to say the least. Using a knife, the sorceress spread jam over the surface of a split bun as she told the girl, “Spirits from the Hellish Yard possess individuals near the Virtue in order to lure them out, and kill their host- their Eye, in order to try and weaken them.”
Agnes looked down at her bowl of chicken soup, “So Purity must be around. Where is its Eye?”
Sela avoids her gaze and lies, “I don’t know, but I hope they’re safe,”
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Find the Virtues
Fanfiction(Cover by katieishere) (As of now, please start reading from Chapter 5) (A Parody Series of MOTHY's Evillious Chronicles) In this universe, the four main Gods created three worlds. The first was their home but it was destroyed, prompting them to es...
