Trust No One

Trial By Fire

Moon's POV

I woke up in a very bright room. It was hard to see, but I forced my eyes to open.y eyes adjusted and I realized I was outside. I looked around: I was in the woods, in a hammock. I could hear the birds singing and water running. I was home. I got up, swinging off my hammock. I walked around, taking in the much needed sunlight. Years living in the human kingdom had bleached my skin of color.

"Moon!" A voice spoke.

I turned. It came from Agatha, my handmaid. I almost burst into tears as I ran into her arms. We hugged for a long time as my mind was closed with old memories. She still smelled of hazelnuts, caramel, and cinnamon. I remembered when we would bake pies and roast hazelnuts in caramel.

"Agatha! It's so good to see you again!" I cried out.

Agatha wrapped her thin arms around me.

"It's good to see you again, little Moon," she said.

Her voice carried her age: small, wise, old. I hugged her tightly, as if she was going to float away.

"Come inside, we have work to do," she said.

I nodded and followed her. Then I stopped and turned back to the bed. Luna was still asleep. I shook my head.

What a bum... I thought.

I followed Agatha to the kitchen. I'll make Luna's favorite breakfast: Pancakes, homemade cinnamon applesauce and black currant juice.

We worked for about a hour. Luna's breakfast took longer than I wanted because Agatha was constantly asking me to help with the cinnamon apple pies, her specialty. I finally make Luna's breakfast perfect (I had to start the applesauce over because I put too much cinnamon in). I put the breakfast on a tray and carried it upstairs. I gently pushed the door in. She was still asleep. I put the tray on the little nightstand next to the bed. I then crawled on the bed. Feeling much like a cat, I pounced on Luna and she exploded.

Luna's POV

My head hurt...a lot. As I started to wake up, I noticed that my body was really cold. My eyes opened to see a large spider near me. I screamed and tried to swat it away. However, I couldn't move my arms. The spider, thankfully, fell to the floor and skittered away. I looked at my arms. They were chained to the wall by the wrist. I pulled against them, but they were bolted down tightly. A door opened in front of me. A man walked in, stepping on the spider that scared me.

"Hello, your highness," his voice was silky and smooth, like the voice one would hear from a snake.

I knew exactly who it was.

"Italian..." I growled.

The Grand Duke waltzed up to me and took me by the chin.

"Luna, my dear, it is good to see you again," strangely enough, there was none of his famous sarcasm in his voice.

"Where am I?" I demanded.

"In the dungeons awaiting your trial," he said, "In front of every important body of he kingdom: The Grand Inquisitor, The High Priestess, all of our advisors and counselors as well as the Lord Regent himself."

He smirked at me, like he could see my heart drop and my stomach flip-flop. The Lord Regent? I was in a very bad situation.

The door opened again and a Blue Guard walked in.

"Sir, they are ready," he announced.

Ithalian nodded. He pulled a key and unlocked my chains. I moved quickly and punched him in the face. However, I suddenly felt a wave of fatigue and my punch failed to make contact with his face. He smirked again and picked me up by the arm.

"Come along princess, it's time for your debut," he said.

He picked me up and carried me out of the cell. The strangest thing was, it didn't feel malicious. He carried me like he did a few years ago, during the Siege of Granaheim.

I was leading some soldiers in a clean-up detail while the terms of surrender were being negotiated. We were ambushed by some of the remaining soldiers. It was a short fight, but a burning building collapsed and separated me from my detail. I was under the burning rubble for an hour before Ithalian saved me. He cut his way through and carried me out.

He opened a door to the hallway. Moon and I used to call this the "Hallway of No Return," since everyone we've seen go down the hallway has never come back. Wait...Moon?

"Wait..." I said weakly.

Ithalian stopped and looked at me.

"What's wrong?" He asked, "Other than you're going to trial."

"Where's...Where's Moon?" I asked, "Where's my sister?"

Ithalian just nodded at me.

"She's fine. She's with Agatha right now," He said.

"Who...Who's Agatha?"

Before my question could be answered, the doors opened and two Blue Guards came out.

"They are ready, Lord Marshal."

Ithalian nodded. He put me down. The Blue Guards stood next to me and led me through the doors. I looked back at Ithalian one last time. He nodded to me, telling me that everything would be alright. Then the doors closed behind me.

I was alone, standing amongst the people I had abandoned so many years ago. They shouted insults and threw things at me. It felt like I was among the crowd, throwing insults and objects at a tired woman. I was with them. I hated myself for leaving them. Yet, I still left. I was so full of regret and homesickness, that I cried myself to sleep every night. Still, I refused to return for twelve long years. This woman had left her people. I had left them. I watched her as pieces of trash hit her. Her clothes, already soiled by confinement, were covered in new colors of grime and filth. Then I saw it, a light in the dark crowd. Someone had lit a firebomb and was ready to throw it. Suddenly, I was there, holding the man's arm back. He looked back at me and spat in my face. I simply stood there, holding him.

"She doesn't deserve that..." I told him, calm and undeterred.

"Yes she does!" He yelled, tearing his arm away, "BURN IN HELL WITCH!"

Before I could stop him, he let go of the bomb. It flew in the air. Time had seem to slow down. I watched in horror as it exploded at the woman's feet. I cried out in pain as the fire burned her feet. She screamed to the sky, crying out for the forest gods to save her. I screamed with her.

The Blue Guards ran into chamber, dousing me in water. I fell to the ground, my legs too weak and damaged to continue. The Blue Guards pulled me away, covering me with their shields.

"Who did this?" A guard yelled to the crowd.

The crowd would not listen. They continued to throw things at me.

"Kill the witch! She abandoned us to the humans!" Someone yelled.

The people's rage grew more and more ravenous. They started to spill over the barrier. The guards formed a protective circle around me, pushing people back with their shields. Ithalian comes in, taking me by the hand and pulling me through the doors.

I woke up a few days later. I was still under arrest, but now it was more like royal protection. The Ithalian's unit escorted me everywhere. I would always see the glares of the people as we walked by. I survived like this for weeks. All the while, I dreamt of Hunter. How he cared for me for so long. We would walk through a happier version of my kingdom. We were married, as king and queen. We loved each other so much. I also had nightmares of how he just left me, stoic and remorseless, as Ingria took me away. That nightmare would interrupt my dreams, shattering it like glass on a rock. I would also have dreams of the others: Aaron, Xander, Maelstrom. However they were more like phantoms, spirits that assisted Hunter in tormenting me at night.

I had one dream of Moon. We laid down in a field, looking up at the clouds. I rolled over and grabbed a handful of grass. Moon would giggle as I sprinkled it on her face. She would respond by putting a flower in my hair. Then the dream shattered. I knelt before Moon as she stood on my throne. Next to her, stood the rest of my family, all of the advisors, and Ithalian. Moon pointed at me and everyone reached for me. I ran and ran and ran. That's all I was good at...running.