Heart Over Sword

The following morning, Evanna woke up to the sound of feet shuffling or more like rumbling. Her brows drew together, and she stopped herself from groaning as she fluttered her eyes open, her hand once again reached for her blades. As she sat upright, swords in her hands, she blinked in shock.

Axel was returning from somewhere, and he looked as 'fit as a horse!' Evanna jumped up and jogged towards him, flinging her arms around his waist. She would put them over his shoulders, but he was far too tall for her to reach them.

Axel chuckled after taking a careful step back from the force of her hug. He patted her on the head.

"Easy now, lass. You're starting to pick bad habits up," He chuckled once again. Evanna looked up at him, questioning, "If the king saw you now, I think I'd lose my head."

Evanna pouted before stepping back, "Well, I think he would let me have that one. I thought you were going to die on me!"

Axel rubbed the back of his head, "That was quite something. I don't remember much of what happened. But I have a killer headache right now," He rubbed his thick fingers in circular motions next to his eyes.

Evanna frowned in concern at her friend, "Is that all you feel?" She questioned. Axel looked down at her and gave her a small smile, "Yes, lass. I'm fine. I'm as strong as an ox!" He knocked his head lightly before rubbing it, unintentionally making his headache worse.

Evanna grinned broadly and returned to where she slept on the floor; after searching her bag, she realised she didn't have any ink or quill to write in the book about the aftereffects for survivors of the faceless. Though it still made her wonder if they truly were the only ones to survive. That was something else she would look into when their quest was over.

With Axel now back in full health and after a quick breakfast, the group began venturing further into the forest, following a trail. Axel was quick to pinpoint where they were on the map, and they were back on track to make it to the Flori's palace. For the next four days, the group stayed quiet, only speaking when they settled down for the night, and even then, it was about the plans for the next day.

The atmosphere was thick with tension about the upcoming events that were to come, they knew they were nearing the palace, and after meeting the Flori first hand, they took each step nervously and hesitantly. They became tired from the continuous apprehension and scanning of their surroundings; however, they couldn't complain. If they weren't always vigilant, then they could end up dead.

Evanna was the least apprehensive, and that was, in some form, comforting to the rest of the group. If her senses weren't picking up on anything, then they could at least relax a little. At night, she joined in with 'guard duty' and took her shift first. 

The men were not happy with the new plan, but after much bickering between Ger and Evanna, he relented when she used the 'princess card' and commanded him to stand down. She felt triumphant and was pleased with being able to help the men, especially after the many times' Axel was always found asleep; she believed it was her duty to make sure that everyone got the right amount of sleep.

For the most part, she felt that the group needed to recover from the onslaught of the faceless. Unlike the others, she did not fall into the mind games of the creatures; she was only beaten up. Evanna could see, though, how that day affected them all. Even if they did not complain, their faces showed signs of fatigue. There were shadows under their eyes as though they were not sleeping well.

In the early morning of the fifth day, Evanna woke up to a cold back. She rolled over and brought her cloak over her head more to try and stay warm; although they were climatised to the cold now, it didn't mean she couldn't feel the chill in the air. However, scrunching into a ball didn't do anything to help her. 

She huffed and sat up; her eyes searched the darkened trees and waited to feel if there was a gust of wind that woke her up. But it was not. A cold shiver then went down her spine, and she immediately jumped up alert; although she grabbed her swords, her steps were light, and she did not stir the others.

With her swords ready, she crept towards the direction she felt herself being pulled towards, then stopped as she looked through the gaps between some leaves. Her eyes widened, and she sucked in a sharp breath. There were Flori guards of about twenty walking nearby the area they were sleeping. 

They were well camouflaged with the night hiding them and their steps being just as quiet as hers, even though they had armour on with intricate details on them. Evanna shook her head. This was not the time to admire their handiwork with metal! Taking a few careful steps backwards, she turned and quietly woke the others up, placing her hand over their mouth as she shook them lightly awake. No message was needed from the princess to convey the message that if they did not move, they would be in danger. 

Cilv was nowhere to be seen. Evanna didn't know how she missed it but presumed she left when Evanna was checking out the woodland elves. The group swiftly packed up and tiptoe in the opposite direction of where the Flori was elegantly marching. Evanna went back to where she saw them and became alarmed when she could not see them anymore.

It was better if she stayed with the others and let her senses pick up anything on the way. She was, however, worried about Cilv's whereabouts, but she did not hold it against her. The woman was capable of looking after herself. 

Once she caught up to the others, they crept throughout the remainder of the early hours. It seemed that they were very close to the palace now as there were guards stationed randomly in the forest. Evanna wondered what the difference was between the elves they came across with the white-haired elf in particular and the ones nearer the palace. 

She wondered if the elves placed nearer the palace couldn't move as quickly because of the armour they wore, whereas the white-haired elf and his men roamed freely without it, making them that much more lethal. These made her think further ahead when they would be in the palace, stealing the gem; if they were ever caught, were they quick enough to leave without any dire consequences?

While Evanna was thinking deeply, Ronan, who walked beside her, watched her intently. He wondered what the princess was thinking about, but he did not question her; they needed to stay quiet and stealthily go past the guards they kept coming across. 

However, when dawn came, the group became anxious again, and they squatted on the ground in a huddle behind a huge tree. Now that it was becoming lighter, they knew their chances of being found had increased.

"We need to find a spot that is out of the way from the Flori but close enough for us to assess the palace," Axel spoke in a hushed tone.

"Is the palace nearby?" Ronan asked; his eyes were set on Axel as he kept the map spread out on the dirt.

Evanna responded instead, "I can take a guess that it is. My senses have been on overdrive all morning, and they have only increased further."

Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a figure dropped to the ground; Evanna had her sword already placed at their neck as they stayed crouched on the floor from the fall. She removed the blade when she saw Cilv smirking at her.

"Nice of you to turn up," Ger muttered with annoyance straining his voice.

"I took the initiative to scout ahead. As soon as I heard Raven stirring in her sleep, I took to the trees and saw how surrounded we were by the Flori," Cilv snapped back at Ger's sarcastic response.

This riled him even more, "So you didn't want to stay and help if we were in trouble?" His voice and temper rising. Evanna placed her hand on his arm and squeezed, silencing him. When he became angry, he acted rashly and forgets the situation he was in; Evanna was quick to quieten the fuse within him and to stop them from being exposed.

Some guards were walking past their hiding spot right at that moment, and they stopped marching, looking at each other. The group held their breaths; Cilv had elongated her nails, Evanna kept her sword ready while Ronan looked through the gaps of leaves to see what they would do. Fortunately for the group, Ronan saw them begin to interact with one another in Muranthian again before continuing on their way.

"I didn't think big, strong men such as yourselves would need me. Or was I wrong?" Cilv mocked after the elves had surpassed them a great deal.  This infuriated Ger, and Cilv smirked when she saw his face becoming red from anger. 

Evanna rolled her eyes at the pair and spoke up, "What did you find?" Her question was directed at Cilv as she ignored Ger's hard stare on her face.

Cilv smiled victoriously, showing off her pearly white teeth as though she won something. It took Ronan and Axel back for a moment, the smile made her look beautiful, but it was so odd to see it on a person that seemed to hate everyone and everything. Cilv pointed at a spot on the map, "Around here, there is a cave. It is on a sort of hill in the forest. It is the perfect location to see both the palace and to stay out of sight."

"Good work, Cilv," Axel praised, earning a sharp eye from Ger.

"Lead the way," Evanna stood up along with the others. Cilv set off at a brisk walk, she would have preferred running and jumping from tree to tree like she had been, but when there were more of them, they had to be more cautious.

As Cilv led the group, Evanna punched Ger in the arm, and this time it wasn't light or in a joking manner.

"What was that for!?" He whisper-shouted after learning from his earlier mistake and nearly giving their position away.

"You need to give Cilv more credit," Evanna said sternly, her brows were creased together as she looked at him, "she's a good asset to have. You need to trust her a bit more," she watched as Ger looked at her incredulously, "please? I know you don't like her, but you have to admit, she just saved us hours of work."

Ger grumbled under his breath something incoherent, but he raised his hands in surrender when he saw the glare he received from the princess. While they had discussed Cilv, she smirked after listening to their conversation at the front of the group. Although they were whispering, her hearing was too great not to pick up on their words.

For the rest of the morning, the group traipsed through the forest and ascended the long slope. But by midday, they made it to a small clearing. The wind blew powerfully against the oncoming group as the grass flattened in waves, the rustling of leaves from the trees and the bitter cold made them realise how high up they must have walked. Their eyes lit up when they saw a rocky formation and when they looked inside, they saw it was a dark cave.

Evanna was quick to turn around to see how the palace looked and stopped immediately. She gasped in awe as her eyes widened while she took in the scenery before her. The others caught up to her to see what caught her attention, and they too gasped. The Flori palace was not how they expected it to look.