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Alicia had never known how humid the forest was, or how lame and completely underrated it was. But then again, she had never expected more than a normal forest, you know? It wasn't magical like the forests in the books, "romantic" like the forests in the books; there was no Edward Cullen or Jacob Black running around shirtless, but she knew the forest had monsters of its own. Of course, monsters in the forest varied depending on which forest she was in and what time of the day it was; knowing this wasn't helpful to Alicia at the time because Alfairia had like, four different forests and with the heavy canopies of the trees, she couldn't exactly tell the time but she could tell it was late afternoon. She wondered why she had appeared here - it was really humid and there were insects everywhere - but the girl wasn't too ungrateful; after all, she could have appeared smack directly in that traitor, Advisor Phillips's office, where he would have sent for some guards to get her all locked up in a cold, damp jail room for some unknown reason. Alicia had considered the possibility that he could already be sitting on the throne - her throne, with Lord Rosa as his new royal advisor, making commands and useless decrees that leaked out a commoners pocket. She wasn't power hungry and she didn't think being monarch was all that, but the thought still nauseated her; Phillips was vain and took delight in praise too much and Lord Rosa was just mean and greedy.

The south east woods, she decided. She'd walk in a north easterly direction then. Didn't someone say something about moss and fungi growing in the northerly direction? An hour or so, she saw the trees thin out, indicating a clearing nearby. She could almost hear the ocean churning from the far east of Afairia and the trees were not as gnarly and old as those from the Dark Forest. She could bet good money that if she continued in a south easterly direction, she'd walk right up to the kingdom walls, but it would really be wasted money, as her navigation skills weren't exactly the greatest; it's not like suburban street signs showed direction. She had reached the clearing, but somehow, it didn't look right. She could see the old couple's house which had fostered and cared for her when she had first arrived in Alfairia after their boat wrecked. Alicia had last been there once, and although she had mostly been out of it, she was pretty sure it wasn't so...burned up and empty. The once beautiful, cosy, wooden structure now stood blackened with coal and dilapidated, with its frames scattered as debris. Alicia transversed the path to the house slowly, listening for any wild beasts within the house while beetles crooed in the far distance like it was some twisted horror film. Of course, this wasn't too scary for Alicia, who had survived something far scarier than a haunted looking cabin, but she was scared of her friends; she hoped they were okay.

She climbed the wooden stairs on the patio carefully, hoping she wouldn't fall through. The door was slightly open, and now that she was close to it, Alicia saw that it was broken, as it hung on its hinges. With a cynical laugh, she walked into the house - if this was a horror film, the door certainly wouldn't slam close; it was too broken. Inside, the broken cups and dishes were scattered on the floor and Alicia saw that there was a thin layer of dust on the furniture; they hadn't been here for a while. Suddenly, she heard the sound of a guy being activated from behind her. Of course Advisor Phillips' men would have spotted her and followed her here, where they could kill her. With her luck, it was bound to happen.

Alicia lifted her hands to the air slowly and said,

"If I told you that I could do some martial arts, will you let me go?" 

The stranger said nothing, and the only thing there was to indicate his presence was his or her breathing and the uncomfortable feeling between her shoulders of having a gun pointed at her.

"No. Like serious, I know you people of Alfairia know a bit of karate, I think. It was great back in the good ol'days, wasn't it?"

Alicia felt the gun being lowered and she turn to face the culprit, who said, "did you not say you did the arts of fighting only in your first year of education?"  She beamed at Margeret's husband, John, who was holding his old rifle which he usually took for bird shooting. She was glad he was okay.

"Well," Alicia said, biting her bottom lip thinking of a witty response. "People say things they don't really mean at gunpoint; I did do karate in first grade though but never mind that. What happened here? Where's Margaret?"

John's face turned stormy.

"Phillips' rebels. They came here looking for you."

"Me? Do you know what they want from me? I mean, I didn't kill anyone or break the law or anything. "

He looked at her drily. "You are the queen. They are rebels; they want to take your title and to do that, they need to actually have you. I thought you were smarter than that."

That made sense but something wasn't still adding up. They knew that she would rather go home using the portal than come here, where she had arrived cold, scared and exhausted. It just didn't make sense.

"I see," she nodded. "So where do you stay now? I mean this place is trashed."

"Margaret's sister, Coral, has a house in the farming sector. That's where Margaret is right now. Its not too far and we should go; its not safe here for both me and you."

Alicia cast a final glance at the house that had once housed her before she exited through the broken door after John, who closed it as best as he could.

He sighed.

"What else has Advisor Phillips done? I mean besides ruining your beautiful home." Alicia asked as they began their journey through the forest.

"Well, apparently he's accusing you of working with the rebels. He says you let them into the walls of Alfairia and together you're planning on taking over the city."

"What?!" Alicia stopped in her tracks.

"I know. It's stupid, but please, we have to keep moving." He pleaded with her.

She swallowed and nodded angrily before she stomped after him.

"Is that it?"

"Yes, that's basically all of it. He's turning the people against you."

Alicia shook her head in disbelief and then she couldn't help but chuckle at how stupidly clever the whole thing was.

"Why would plan to take over the city I rule? Why would I cause more trouble for myself? Wait, do you believe him because I promise I would never---"

"I know you wouldn't do such a thing, girl." He said impatiently, his English accent slightly more prominent than before. "He's making it seem like you want to tear the kingdom down and rebuild it the way you supposedly want to rebuild it. But it's him who is doing just that."

"And people believe him? But why would he do that?!"

"The more he gets people to hate you, the less people to back you up. Even he knows that a queen is nothing without the support of her people. As for why he would do that? Why do people do bad things? Is it greed, revenge or anger? Are they born that way? Who knows." He shrugged, stepping over a fallen branch.

Alicia paused in her step when she realized.

"I can't go with you. If you're ever caught with me, you'll be the accomplices of a traitor. I can't do that after so much you've done for me."

He looked at her, his face creased with concern.

"You can't not go with me. It isn't safe for you. We'll keep you nice and hidden until you can go home, away from this mess. It's what Margaret would have said if she was with us right now." 

Alicia backed up slowly, shaking her head.

"I'm sorry, I just can't. I'll be fine.....and thank you for everything. Stay safe and send my love."

She turned around ran the other way. She'd never be the reason she lost someone she cared for again. She just couldn't. So she ran.

After a while, Alicia walked for a little bit, wishing she had her water bottle or cigarettes with her and most of all wishing she had asked John for directions to somewhere before stupidly dashing in the opposite direction but it wasn't until she had a crossbow pointed directly at her that she realized exactly how stupid it was.

Before she could react, she felt a sharp pain on her head and passed out before she hit the ground as darkness filled her vision.

  ~~~~~~

Hey, thanks for reading. I went through a major writers block but I'm back.
Please comment, like and share.
Thanks.
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