"I heard something as well," the man said. I gripped Abe's hand harder than I should be but from his intense grip on my waist, I don't think he noticed. I held my breath not wanting to risk any sound, however minuscule. Crunching from feet pacing in dead leaves and branches came closer. The metal of the lanterns they held squeaked as it swung on it's handles. Should we just start running and hope they don't bother to run after? If they did, they would easily catch us, a injured soldier and 5 month pregnant woman would not exactly be a challenge to catch. To fight would not be an option either. Besides even if we were at our fittest, they are probably carrying a weapon of some sort. Two spies would not go for a meeting and not come prepared. So our only hope is that they do not find us.

"Hello? Is someone there? I think I've sprained my foot and I need assistance," Margaret's voice came from less than ten feet away. Her voice was back to the sugary sweet tone it normally has. But now I know, there is poison in that sugar. My heart was beating incredibly fast. The tree we were hiding behind pressed uncomfortably into my back and my arms were being cut by the rough bark. I was pressing myself so hard into the tree I am surprised I haven't melded into it yet.

Light could be seen casting shadows on the plants around us. If we are not perfectly hidden behind this tree whoever is approaching with the light behind us will see us. "I do not see anyone," the man called somewhere far away to the left of us. "It could have been an animal."

Margaret's voice was so close it made everything in me seize. The baby must have felt the tense situation, I could feel a fluttering in my stomach from him turning. "I do not think so." The light came around the tree, Margaret's figure walking forward in front of us. She held her lantern out in front of her, swinging it around to see every crack and crevice of the forest in front of her. Her posture and the way she walked seemed different somehow. Before she would walk with a straight back and head but relaxed, her arms held daintily in front of her usually clasped together. If she had to carry something she carried it with both hands usually swinging it merrily. But now, her head slouched forward and her back was stiff, she held the lantern with one hand moving it methodically, up, down, to the right, then back up and down. Her other arm hung limply at her side. If I had not heard her voice I would have assumed this was another person, not the person who had lived with me for a little over a year.

She turned slowly around. The orange light of the lantern lit the features of her face in a haunting way. She could have been a malevolent ghost from any number of movies. I certainly felt as petrified as the victims in horror movies. Her eyes scanned the forest with the cold look that can only be explained as the lack of emotions, compassion and everything else that makes a person good. Then her eyes landed on her targets and it felt like my heart stopped. We did not move as she walked towards us, her eyes focused on mine. There was no recognition or love in her eyes for me, her best friend and cousin. She stopped two feet away from us, her eyes briefly unlocking from us and looking towards the direction of her partner, then focusing on us again. Was she going to call him? I shook my head, silently pleading with her.

She turned her head back toward the forest and called, "Over here!" I could hear the crashing of branches as someone ran through bushes.

Abe stepped in front of me and spread his hands charismatically, "Margaret, if you would-"
"What do I need to do?" She sighed frustrated. Abe stopped talking.

"What?"

"What do I have to do to get rid of the both of you?" She dropped the lantern at her waist, casting her face in shadows. Her partner came crashing through the woods, his lantern adding to the pooled light around us. I guess you could say it is illuminating the situation. Bad time for jokes. "Several times we have tried. Most people would not have survived the first time but you Elizabeth, you have always been a bitch. You just had to ruin the plans and not die like a good girl."

"What first time?" I asked, my voice cracking from fear. I wanted to have some clever retort but the fear smothered my wit.

She cocked her head to the side in a very un-Margaret like way, "Two and a half years ago, I was supposed to pose as your cousin Margeurite Dufort, who happened to died of syphilis months earlier. I guess she wasn't the good girl everyone assumed she was because we all know exactly how syphilis is contracted. I was supposed to arrive here to gain influence amongst the nobles and royals of England. Your parents had last seen Margeurite when she was four, so they could easily be convinced that I was their niece, but you, you were a problem. You had visited her the summer before and would immediately notice an impostor. Thus we were forced to make arrangements for you that would not affect our goals here." She paused, inviting a reaction to what she was telling us. Margaret may not be who I thought she was but she was still dramatic.

I gave her what she wanted, a reaction. I clutched my chest and stared at her with large pitiful doe eyes, mimicking starlets I had seen in movies. Playing along with what she wants may give us more of a chance to get out of here. "You mean- you mean you were the one behind what happened to me?"

She smiled, "Yes, and-"

Her partner spoke up, his eyes glaring at her, "I would not advise continuing with this conversation, Margaret."

She waved away his comment, "You will have them killed soon enough, Jacques. It will do no harm to let them know the truth." My heart sped up, if they were going to tell us everything there will be no way for us to convince them to let us go. I looked up at Abe and I could tell that is exactly what he just realized as well. His eyes remained hard and determined.

"We do not need to know what happened. If we leave right now, we will not repeat anything we have seen. We will leave the county, allow you to do what you do without interference. You know this is a guarantee because if we do talk, we have everything to lose, by keeping quiet we have nothing to lose. " Abe said in his 'lets-make-a-deal' business man voice.

"You Abraham Warlest, a business man and nobleman, must understand to great lengths what a risk is," the man said chillingly," if we allow you to leave, even if you swear on your soul that you will not say a word to anyone ever again, there is still a chance that you may say something whereas if you were to die, it would be guaranteed that what you have seen will never be repeated to anyone."

"As a business man I also know how powerful the right deal can be and-"

"What can you offer us that would be worth anything to us. Money? Fame? Opportunities?" Margaret sneered, "I am the future queen of England! You can not offer me anything that I do not have. I know a Warlest never quits, its in your moto; qui obturat avis volans avis, quod sit ex inruerit,the bird that rests it's wings is the bird that falls. But you should know when you are defeated, Abraham."

He stood there without a counter offer, his expression the same as when he realizes he has lost a chess match before it is even over. He looked at me, his eyes softening to an apologetic and hopeless look; he knew he was defeated.

"Wait everyone backup, what happened to me?" I said. Maybe if she begins monologue-ing again it will give me enough time to think of any plan. Any plan at all.

"Yes, so one day while both the Duke and the Duchess were out at a celebration for the birth of the son of an associate and your servants were busy, Jacques posed as a wealthy suitor wanting to court you. Despite being already courting Abraham, you accepted. Did you know that Abraham?" She smirked maliciously, looking at Abe.

He did not seem to be listening entirely but staring hauntedly out into the dark, he responded without emotion or conviction, "No, I did not."

"We took you into the country and shot you in the back and threw you into a ravine. So you can imagine my utter shock when you are found. Alive. A week before I was to show up! That was the first time that you had somehow evaded the hands of death. But God seemed to smile on us; you had lost all of your memories, so we could continue with our plans. Though your presence would give us an idea to lure the prince to the area. The unfortunate death of a relative. The night you and Abraham got drunk at the pub, Jacques was supposed to kill the both of you, this time successfully. But tell them why you refused to do your job that night, Jacques."

Jacques stuck his chin out defensively, "I heard the music of the devil and I took it as a sign to stay away."

"So fortunately for you, you went unscathed. I began warming up to you after that, I thought perhaps there are better ways you can assist me, such as connections. Which I really must thank you and your family for, you in the end did greatly assist me in my marriage to the prince."

I spoke up, attempting one more try at grovelling, "I must say I really appreciate that and whilst you have been here I have considered you my best friend and-"

"Stop talking! Do not be pathetic in your last moments! I know you were rarely a strong woman and frankly your moodiness would grind on me, but act uncharacteristically and for once show some strength!" She yelled at the brink of tears, from anger or sadness I could not tell, and then immediately becoming icy cold again. "As I was explaining. I considered you as close to a friend as what a person like me can have despite your numerous things that irritated me. But then, as I was helping you into your gown for your wedding, I noticed your back." My hand subconsciously touched my lower back. "No, no, not what was wrong with it, but what wasn't wrong with it. Now for a girl who was shot in the back, there was a surprising lack of marks. No wound, no scar." She stepped closer to me, examining my facial movements, "Have you ever been shot in the back, Elizabeth?"

"N-no I don't think so. Maybe the shot missed and I just fainted and was unconscious when you guys threw me into the ravine," I rambled quickly. I looked up at Abe, whose eyes were now alert again.

She stepped back again, "That is what I assumed at first as well, but then I began thinking. How your odd mannerisms and speech which someone who was brought up as a noblewoman would not act like, whether she lost her memory or not. So I took a trip to the ravine. Elizabeth's skeleton was still there. Unless there had been another body thrown there in fine clothing, I think we can safely say that Elizabeth never was found. So who are you?"

The forest was so quiet that I swear you could almost hear the breathing of the animals in the forest. My heart fired against my chest, blood rushing in my ears. The silence only lasted a few seconds but it felt like it lasted for ages. In the time it took for the last words to leave her mouth and for me to respond, kingdoms rose and fell, seas dried, valleys formed, and civilizations were forgotten from the minds of their descendants. I forced my appearance to appear calm and truthful, "I am Elizabeth Warlest."

Margaret narrowed her eyes and seemed to contemplate something for a few moments. "I must admit I respect your tenacity. You saw an opportunity and you took it. Too bad you will die for something you were not meant to be a part of. But please tell me, no one will know who you are of course, but I would like the truth to satisfy my own curiosity. Are you a con-woman?"

A pause in the conversation before I answered,"Yes."

Margaret clapped her hands in excitement, "Oh-ho! And did you know this Abraham?"

I spoke up for him, "He didn't know until after we were married. That is why he left for the war, he didn't want to be around me." I was improvising on the spot.

She smiled a soft and remorseful look, "I wish you would have confided this with me before. The fun we could have had! C'est la vie."

"Are you ready to kill us yet?" Abraham said gruffly.

Margaret looked at Jacques for a few pregnant moments. He spoke quietly, "I think public execution would be less suspicious. They will search for two very influential people such as themselves."

"Yes, yes I agree. It is a regret that they will have to be shamed before dying. I wish we could do it quietly," she looked mournfully at the both of us, was it sincere or was she already practicing her reaction for the funeral? "But you are of course correct." she sighed as she reached down to the ground picking up a rock the size of her fist. She strolled over to me and took me by the arm forcing me to walk with her and Jacques did the same to Abe. We walked at a slow pace, Jacques' gun swinging in his free hand and Margaret tossing and catching the stone.

After several minutes of walking in silence I spoke up, "W-Where are we going?"

"To the edge of town."

"Why?"

"People need to see this."