The Hunter Becomes the Hunted

It had been nearly two weeks since he had sent Amy and her men to deliver the message to her and she had not yet returned, he was growing ever more impatient, he wanted answers and he wanted them now but it was two more weeks before he was sat in his hall that he received word that four men had turned up along with Clayton

“bring the four first” he shouted and they entered the room, he recognised them as the men that had gone with Amy “I hope that Amy is behind you somewhere” he added “no, my king” replied the one at the front “then where is she?” the king asked

“my king” was all he replied

“where is my sister?” Leigh shouted

“I am sorry my queen but” he said

“what are you holding?” the queen asked noticing that the man had something covered in his hand “my queen” he replied

“show me” she shouted

“I am guessing that you have a message for me” the king said

“only that she is coming for you and this is what is waiting for you” the man replied pointing at what he was holding

“what is it?” the king asked

“my king, the queen should not be here” he said

“show me” Leigh shouted

“but” he went to protest

“I want to see” she shouted and was on her feet and in front of him in a flash, the queen lifted the cloth and saw her sister’s head, she screamed in anger “I want her dead” she shouted

“Leigh sit down” the king shouted “tell me what happened” he said

“I want her dead” Leigh shouted at him

“enough” he shouted back

“my king, Amy said something that made the woman angry” the man said

“and why is she not dead?” Leigha asked

“she moved too quickly and we did not see her” the man replied

“but Amy was better than anyone” Leigh shouted

“no, my queen, I have never seen anyone like that before” the man replied

“you should have protected my sister” Leigh shouted

“she was to fast” the man said

“that is just an excuse, you weasel” Leigh shouted

“if we could have protected her then we would have” he said but the queen was not listening anymore, she was angry that these four men that were meant to protect her sister had not

“Leigh, sit down” he shouted “the four of them did not stand a chance, they are lucky that she let them go, you have no idea what she can do and how wells he can fight, I warned you sister not to say anything to make her angry, and your stupid sister did not listen” he said

“do not call my sister stupid” she shouted turning to face him “do not think to shout at me and do not forget your place, I told your sister not to make her angry and she did not listen so she is stupid” the king said

“do not call my sister stupid” Leigh shouted again

The king was angry now that he rushed over to Leigh, put his hand round her throat and pushed her against the nearest wall, lifting her from the floor

“do not forget your place, I told you not to shout at me, your sister is dead because she did not listen to my advice, I made you queen and I can damn take that away from you, do not forget who I am” he shouted

“I want her dead” Leigh said and she started to cry “and she will be” he said letting her go and sitting back down, “Clayton, here now” he shouted and the four men left the room, Clayton walked into it bowing with every step

“yes, my king” he said

“why are you here?” the king asked

“Amy came my king” Clayton replied

“I know that you fool, I sent her, I want to know why you are here now” he said

“we have her” Clayton said

“what do you mean, we have her?” the king asked

“the one that Amy came about, she turned up six days ago” Clayton replied

“how?” the king asked

“we treated her like she was special, I invited her for dinner and I drugged her wine” Clayton replied

“and she fell for that?” the king asked

“she did at first, she realised when it was too late, she had already drunk it and is chained to the wall in my basement” Clayton replied

“what about the person that is travelling with her?” the king asked

“he will be no trouble my king, he is human” Clayton replied

“I was not sure what he was, do you have him?” the king asked

“no, my king, but we know where he is” Clayton replied

“let’s go” Leigh said jumping up

“I have things I need to get ready” the king said and stood up

“we have to go” said Leigh

“you will not be going” the king said to her

“I want her head and I want revenge” Leigh shouted

“and you will get both my love, I will bring her back to you” he said

“I want to come” she said

“no, I cannot have you with me” the king said

“why?” Leigh asked

“you are letting your emotions get the better of you at the moment” the king replied

“my emotions” Leigh said

“you have too many” the king said

“she killed my sister of course, I have emotions” she snapped”

“Emotions can let her get the better of you” the king said

“and what about your emotions?” Leigh asked

“Our think that I would let my emotions get the better of me, I have been this way for over 400 years, I can control me, it is what i trained to do” the king said

“What if she escapes you?” Leigh asked

“She will not” the king said and kissed her on the head, he spent the next half of the day getting ready to go and get her, he got some men ready to take with him, after all he would not go alone, he would need some help even under the influence of night shade she would still be strong enough to escape him, when he was ready to leave he went back to see Leigh “I will be back in six days and you can have your revenge” he said

“You had better make sure that you do” Leigh said

“Trust me my love, you will have her head” the king said

“I will see you soon then my love” Leigh said and watched as he left the castle

The king left the castle with an entourage of twenty five men, he had to be sure that he could contain her and get her back to the castle without any trouble and as for her human friend he would decide what to do with him when he got there, the king had some carriages that he had blacked out so he could travel during the day and reach Baren quicker, the humans working for him drove the carriages so that they could travel through the day, Clayton rode in the carriage with the king, nearly three days had passed since they left the castle

“We are almost there” Clayton said

“I thought that we would never get there” said the king

“We have made good time” Clayton said

“Not good enough” the king said

“Why my king?” Clayton asked

“Because I have had enough of your constant chatter to last me a life time, if it was not for the fact that we had a deal then you would be dead already” the king replied

“Will you stay” Clayton asked

“No I will take her and leave” the king replied

“Okay” Clayton replied

“I can smell her” the king said it had been over four hundred and forty years yet she still smelt the same as the last time he had seen her

“She is chained to the wall in my basement, I will take you to her when we get there” Clayton said, they arrived at the village as the sun set in the sky and everyone stepped out of the carriages, Alex was there waiting for them

“Clayton, I need to talk to you” Alex said

“not now, the king is here” Clayton replied

“Clayton, I must talk to you” Alex said

“no, Alex I am taking him to her” Clayton snapped

“but” said Alex

“not now” he snapped

Clayton led the way into his house and to the basement, when he reached to bottom of the stairs, he turned to face the king

“here she is” Clayton said

“is this some kind of joke” the king shouted

“what my king?” asked Clayton

“where is she?” he shouted

“she is there” Clayton said turning around to where he had left her, to see that she was gone

“where is she” the king asked pointing at Alex

“I tried to tell you” Alex said

“where is she?” the king shouted

“I don’t know, I came down here fifteen minutes again and she was gone, all that was here was that message” Alex replied pointing at the wall” Jack must have helped her escape” he added

“you let a human help her escape,” the king shouted

“no, my king” Clayton said

“what would you know, you wasnot here, you were with me” the king shouted at Clayton

“sorry” Clayton said

“sorry does not give me what I want, I told you never to under estimate her, you should have captured her friend” the king shouted

“we did not think that he would be any trouble” Clayton said

“why because he is human?” the king asked

“yes” Clayton replied

“then you are a fool, she can make anyone follow her” the king said and stood and read the massage that she had left for him, how could this happen, she always seemed to get the better of him, he was so angry that he turned and grabbed Clayton by the throat “you should never under estimate anyone” he shouted

“I am sorry, my king” Clayton gasped

“it is too late for sorry” the king said and bit into his neck draining all of his blood “you should have been guarding her” he said dropping Clayton and turning to Alex and wiping blood from his face

“I thought she was safe I only went to see my family” Alex said

“you think because you had her chained to a wall that you could leave her” the king said

“yes, all that Clayton said to us was as long as she was being given the nightshade then she would cause us no problems and when Jack corneredme whilst I was visiting my family, he asked me for help” Alex replied “but I didn’t help” he added

“you knew that he was going to try something and you let him” the king shouted

“I am not trained to fight, where he has been trained by her” Alex replied “he would have killed me” Alex

“and you think that I will not” the king said

“I thought that you would show mercy, my king” Alex said

“idiot” the king said and turned to his men “find and kill his family and then he comes with us” he said

“please don’t my king” Alex said, “my family has nothing to do with this” he added

“begging will not help you, you will be punished for your part in this mess” the king said and walked from the room and back to the carriage, what a mess, how was he going to explain to Leigh that she had escaped, he knew that Leigh would not be happy, Leigh wanted revenge for her sister, why were humans so stupid