The Royal Within

Chapter 32

Meanwhile---

Willow shivered as she heard the screams from the battlefield, and shoved Chris's arms away. "I can't just sit and hear them die."

Chris stood in front of her. "That ringing thing hurt you. You need to rest." His tone was soft, but she could feel the pity radiating from him. Willow didn't know how to feel.

But the only home she had was here, even if it was a harsh one. She had friends, who were fighting right now.

She pushed past Chris, who ran a hand over his face. "Plum-" he didn't even finish. Willow was out of the barn, and slammed the door. He sighed, and ran after her.

Willow grabbed her knife from her shoe, her slight earpieces, and charged into battle. The first fish person didn't even notice her, and she took him out.

She was handling them, one by one, and when Willow got closer to the middle of the fight, she saw the one in charge. The head of the fish people.

She was tall, and her hair was a light teal color. She held a long sword, which impaled fellow pixies. Nobody was a match for her, and the queen almost looked bored. Her eyes landed on Willow's, and her mouth twitched into a smile. She could sense her anger. Her pain.

She ran to her, as the battle raged on next to her. She was almost to the queen, when a rush of air went by her. The vampire, was right in front of her.

"Miss me?" He teased, which caused Willow to be even more annoyed. "Don't get in my way!" Willow warned.

He grinned, and easily kept pace with Willow. "I won't. I'm just here to help."

Willow tried to run faster, but Chris caught up. "I don't need your help."

Chris raised an eyebrow, and started fighting fish people as we were running. Willow rolled her eyes as he showed off.

When they were standing in front of the queen, she turned to them. She smirked as she saw Chris, and looked back to me. Chris glared at her, and didn't look away. "Be careful Plum."

Willow half heartedly nodded, but was too focused on the queen. She looked familiar. Willow froze, and didn't take another step towards the queen.

Chris saw Willow's hesitation, and was stunned when he looked from the queen to Willow. She wasn't moving, and her head was tilted. She looked confused, but fellow fish people weren't. They were about to attack her, as Chris swooped Willow up, and ran into the woods. Willow didn't complain. She didn't say anything.

Chris made sure the coast was clear, and set her down. She was still stunned, and Chris was unsure why. Did the mermaid queen do something to her?

Willow pulled out her earpieces, and stood up. She glanced back to the battle, and started walking back to it, almost in a trance.

"Woah woah woah". Chris wrapped his arms around her, and she continued to pull away. "Hey, what are you doing?"

She didn't respond. Chris turned her around, but her eyes were clear. "I know her." Willow's voice was soft and quiet, but Chris heard.

"How?" Chris was extremely curious to how she could know the queen. That was only his second time seeing the queen. The first, was when he was visiting all of the other kingdoms. It wasn't the best encounter, since the queen was already upset for other reasons when he visited.

Willow was lost in her own thoughts. Where had she seen the queen?! It wasn't fitting together. Her memory was scrambled, and she couldn't piece it together. "I don't know."

She looked to Chris, who was staring at her expectantly. Willow squeezed her eyes shut, frustrated with herself. "Why don't I remember?!" Chris looked sadly into her eyes, and pulled her into a hug. Willow was about to pull away, but her body didn't move. Something about having some support, was different. Willow would never admit it, but she liked having a friend. Even if he annoyed the daylights out of her.