Amethyst Gem- Completed

Chapter 25

As we walked back through the dark staircase, I felt nervous. It was irrational and I didn't know what I was scared of but I had a suspicion that it wasn't actually my feelings. Hope was so frightened of going outside it was physically rolling off of her. Probably a side effect of being made up of, mostly, magic.

I knew, as we walked into the sunshine, this was where I was meant to be. I hated being cooped up under ground; there was a possibility I had claustrophobia but I think it's more that I'm too used to being outside, surrounded by nature.

Hope grabbed my hand from behind as she moved from the shadow of the rock into the light of twilight. I watched as her posture morphed into awe at the beauty surrounding her. It was like a little child who had been given a bag of sweets.

As Archer began to gather us around in order to discuss our next course of action, a dozen shoulders erupted from the trees and surrounded our group.

"Oh Amethyst dear, I was so worried about you," Princess Rosaline called as she emerged from within the guards before clutching me tight against her in a bone crushing hug.

A mumbled 'oh' was all I could think to say in reply.

"Well?" Rosaline shouted at the guards. "Arrest the others at once."

Although they made no move to withhold Comet, they clamped Honour, Griffin, Archer and Hope. I was surprised that Archer didn't make a fuss about being the Prince and command them to stop but decided if that's what he wanted I wouldn't say anything.

"Hey, stop it, they're helping us," Comet yelled while trying to get the guard away from Griffin. He smiled down at her in amusement.

"Oh really?" The Princess smiled sweetly. "How do you know they aren't spies?"

"Honour was sent by the Soothsayer, from Terra Nova and Griffin..." I looked at the Mage trying to work out if I should tell her the truth. Griffin tilted his head away, seemingly angry at me for a reason unknown. "We found him wandering, kicked out of his village at the base of Mage Mountain. He has no one to spy to."

"Hmmm," Rosaline muttered suspiciously.

"What are you doing here?" I asked suddenly.

Although the Princess looked taken aback she did not refuse to answer, "you disappeared dear, I was worried something had happened to you. So, I tracked you to your last known location and searched the surrounding area, then found you here."

"You were tracking us?" I demanded.

The Princess looked slightly sheepish, but not completely guilty, "I wanted to make sure you were safe."

"So you always knew where we were," I muttered to myself nervously.

The Princess nodded in agreement but I wasn't really listening. It meant she knew where the rebels base was, if she knew that’s what it was, and I didn't know if she could still be trusted or not.

“I even sent you a little present during your night with the Soothsayer, I do hope you enjoyed it, it’s one of my personal favourites,” Rosaline smiled sweetly.

My mind turned as I attempted to work out what she was on about. Rosaline waited patiently until eventually it clicked. “That was your dream?”

Rosaline nodded.

Turning, Rosaline completely dropped that subject and started inspecting my friends currently in her guard’s grips.

"Now, who are the other two? I sense Mages, maybe?" Rosaline asked as she slinked over to Archer and Hope.

I knew we couldn't let her see Hope under the hood, hopefully Archer would shock her enough to forget about her.

"It's your brother," I stated.

Archer's head jerked towards me, anger in his eyes.

The Princess laughed, "oh, oh, oh, little brother, what brings you here?"

"I needed to get out of your hair for a while, sister," Archer spat.

"Well, what a coincidence that you managed to find my little helper," Rosaline held up her finger and turned back to me. "Speaking of which, how is your quest going? Have you succeeded?"

Glancing at Hope, I quickly averted my eyes down hoping Rosaline didn't see the look, "not yet."

Scowling, the Princess bristled, her feathers slightly ruffled. "I believe you are lying to me. Did you truly think I would not recognise my own sister?"

Spinning to face Archer once more her face transformed into a maleficent grin, "I knew you were hiding something brother, although I didn't have any proof for Father, I am sure our sister here will be enough."

Reaching her hand out, Rosaline yanked the hood from Hope's head.

Beneath was not what I expected. As she had admitted before, there was no head, simply the usual patterns of a Mage steadily glowing, most likely casting the spell that kept her entity in one piece.

As everyone watched, the glowing slowly became less solid. Obviously Archer knew more than anyone else because he suddenly started yelling.

"No, no, you'd better stop right now. You can't, you may never come back."

"It's for the best, I don't believe the King would keep me long anyway," Hope shrugged, the cape falling to the ground as she did so.

There was now no sign Hope had ever existed, the glowing was gone and the cape bodiless. Archer wrenched himself from the guards grasp and threw himself next to it, sobbing into the fabric.

I was too bewildered to understand what had happened, "where is she?"

Archer looked at me, "she's dead. She stopped the spell and now I'll never find her again."

Rosaline stomped her foot angrily, "that's not fair, now Daddy won't love me again."

I glanced between the two siblings and finally realised there was more similarities than differences between them. It was as if they had a spell cast over them meaning they had never truly grown up, constantly switching between their mature adult selves to the young child they never got to be.

"Oh never mind. Let's go home," The Princess flicked her wrist and the guards complied.

A spell wrapped around us all, transporting everyone, including Hope's cloak, to the Castle.

The first thing I saw when landing was the familiar face of someone I thought I knew, but it couldn't be, could it?

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Ok, so not as long as the last chapter but less stuff happening. What do you think about Hope, I know we only just met her but any emotional attachment? Any at all?

Never mind, can you guess who it is at the end? I'm not sure about bringing them back but it might work, I'm not sure.