The Magical Forest

Chapter 18

It had been an hour since Olivia had woken up. Olivia was sitting in a corner of the cell playing with her fingers. It was very quiet. The only sound that could be heard was the chirping of cricket somewhere in the cell. And if one listened closely, gentle snores coming from another cell could be heard.

Olivia was bored out of her wits. To her own surprisment, she was not afraid of Audrey this time. She didn't bother if Audrey had plans to put her to death. She had been face to face with death so many times to worry about it. The only thing she could think at that moment was her dream. Olivia was sure it meant something.

The heavy silence was broken by a sudden noise coming from the corridor. It was the sound of heavy footsteps.

"Walk straight. You will not escape this time. Audrey nearly killed us the last time you ran away." A male voice said.

The footsteps became louder. Olivia tried to search for the door of the cell. However, she could not see anything clearly in the dim moonlight.

After a while, she heard a click. The door of the cell opened and then a guard pushed someone to the ground, very hard making a loud noise.

Olivia took a step back, startled.

"Do not dare to run away again." the guard said in an angry voice.

After that, he shut the door of the cell and locked it.

After making sure that he had left, Olivia slowly tilted her head to look at the figure. It was a girl. By that time, she had managed to get up and sit upright. She was looking down and her hairs covered her face.

Olivia carefully took some steps and knelt down beside her.

"Are you okay?" Olivia asked.

The girl lifted her head up. Olivia looked at the girl. Her face was illuminated by the moonlight. It was pale with a cut on her forehead. Her shoulder length black hairs were a huge mess. Her lips were bleeding. And her shiny golden eyes seemed tired. It was evident that she was in a bad condition.

"Does it look like I am okay?" the girl replied with a smirk.

Olivia was a bit stunned by her reply.

"Oh well! You are Olivia Amador isn't it? I am supposed to be polite to you. After all, you are one of the Royals. Anyway, I am Scarlett or Scar for short." the girl said extending her hand.

"I prefer to call you Scar." Olivia said gently shaking her hand.

"What will Bellerose do with us?" Olivia asked.

"Oh! You don't know? Seems like this is the first time you are here. Everyone in the dungeon cell is put to death after a month." Scarlett replied, yawning.

"Aren't you afraid?" Olivia asked.

"I have been enough times in this cell to be scared of death." Scarlett laughed. "You should be afraid yourself since this is the first time you are here."

"What do you mean?" Olivia asked firmly. "I am not scared of the Queen Bellerose, or Audrey."

"Sorry if I had offended you. Well! I just meant that I had been here five times and each time I have escaped. This is my sixth time and this time it will be no different. I will escape but this time I will have Jace with me." Scarlett said.

"Now, who's Jace?" Olivia questioned.

"He's my brother. They have kept him in another cell. The guards forced him into the cell although no one below the age of thirteen is allowed. He is only ten. Poor Jace." Scarlett sighed. "You can come with us too. We will escape just after the queen's visit."

"Queen's visit?"

"Yes. Don't you know? Queen Bellerose pays a visit to the dungeons daily to see the newcomers. She will be coming soon. After her visit, we could escape."

"I haven't seen her before. If yo-" Olivia was cut off by Scarlett.

"Shh.. She's here. The queen doesn't like the inmates talking to each other." Scarlett whispered.

Olivia quickly distanced herself from Scarlett. She could hear footsteps. Slowly they came nearer.

Just then, two guards came and stood on either side of the cell carrying some kind of strange torches. The torches we enough to light up the whole corridor and the cell. Olivia put her head down.

She was a little afraid. How did the queen look like? What if Bellerose was a thousand times scarier than Audrey? What would she do if Bellerose put her to death before she escaped?

Her chain of thoughts was broken by an evil laughter. Olivia looked up.

Between the guards stood Queen Bellerose.

Hello readers! I am really sorry for the late update. Actually, I was very busy with my studies.

Nothing much happened in this chapter except the introduction of Scarlett. She is going to be a very important character later. Also, the next chapter will be much longer. And how do you think Queen Bellerose would be like?

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading the chapter. Don't forget to vote if you liked it. If you want to ask any questions about this book, you can ask in the comments. I would love to answer them. Any suggestion is welcome.
-Edith