Lucy Wickshire 203 Chapter twenty-two 24

Back at the nunnery, she led them through a winding cave path, down to the core of the mountain; the same hall Matriarch Lilac had brought her to. There, a convoy of oddly large carriages awaited them. At a corner, Walter could see Mr. Jodanham trying to go unnoticed.

"Is everything ready?" Walter asked Commander Gallion and he saluted in response. He had returned with his remaining troupe from the emperor's shed, a different person. One could feel a suffocating dark aura around he and his men. They had experienced things inside the testing grounds, that turned them into brute killers. After being moulded thin by the emperor's shed, they had returned to their first order. Walter had stepped out of the shed to assassins, ordered to kill him. He had turned around and ordered the commander to kill everyone in the Tree tribe. It had been a bloody scene.

"Load up. We are leaving soon." Walter instructed and shadow guards joined hands with his men and loaded up money, food and other necessities into the carriages. The maids were already seated in their designated carriages, waiting. This was going to be a long journey.

Lucy looked away from the topaz statue to the door way. There, Matriarch Lilac stood. The two did not bother with words, as Lucy looked away and stepped into an outrageously large carriage with Walter and Helen.

Outside the carriage, Matriarch Lilac nodded to her nuns and they begun a spell; their chants, soft and unified. After watching them chant for a while, Matriarch Lilac confirmed that all those travelling were inside the special carriages she had prepared for their journey, before she made her move.

In a blink, she stood before a large drum made from untamed tree trunks. She flicked the leather lightly, with her forefinger and one big bang rang through the air. At the sound of the drum, the root-like lower body of the statue started to move.

It ripped itself from the ground and opened a circular path in it's middle, tearing apart the hard mountain rock like bread.

In one of the carriages in the middle, Lucy was in a solemn mood.

"Do you think it wrong that I destroyed the Harnian gate with so many innocent people on it?" she asked Walter. How was he supposed to tell her that he had killed off the entire Tree tribe, so that no one knows he had taken the inheritance?

"It was necessary. They probably provoked you like the Mclears had." Walter answered.

"They did worse. They killed my mother." Lucy said and Walter turned solemn.

"My mother and I had gone on a trip to the Isne countryside. I remember Nanny Han running in and grabbing me away from my toys. We escaped into the forest; she moved like the wind. It was the first time I confirmed that she was of martial arts descent. No matter how fast she moved, they were on our tail. In seconds, they surrounded us.

"I suspect, my mother was to have run in a different direction acting as bait, so we could escape. But, she must have found out that they followed us instead of her and returned. Her shadow guards did everything to protect us, but it was not enough. Her head was ripped from her shoulders right before my eyes. I almost died too, if not for a young boy in a good mood, passing by. That was the first time I met my fiancé. Do you know why she was killed?" Lucy asked.

"No."

"Anyone that rules Thriegor, is the ruler of the lower realms. Of course, they did not usually care about this law, but something changed. I used to wonder what, till I met the Thraines. The direct descendant of Lillian Vaine, was my mother. This linage was a closely guarded secret amongst Thraines, so someone must have found out about it. It was as though they realised that, if there is a direct bloodline, the tendency of my mother and I ruling Thriegor was high; therefore, becoming rulers of the entire lower realms." Lucy explained.

"Don't you wonder where we are going?" she asked Walter.

"I do." he answered.

"Shin Realm. Unlike the Harnian gate, I will not kill them from a distance. I will look them in the eye." Lucy said and a bright light engulfed them.

Chapter end