"Oh, gee, ya think?"

'Moving's not an option.' What a genius.

I took another step back to find myself directly against William. Pitch-black eyes blinked at us from behind the bushes, not moving, just staring.

Waiting.

Waiting for an order.

The single pair of bright red irises caught my attention again. They were different. The other ones were definitely Murae, but those were more human.

More familiar.

Merlin shifted his weight, which caused a series of growls to rise up from the ground.

"We need to run," he mumbled.

William turned his head to stare at him. "Please, tell me where to run to. I'll be more than happy to go."

Merlin shook his head. "That not what I mean." He lowered his voice to a volume that I could only hear a quiet hiss, but Will nodded his head like he understood him.

The bush containing the red eyes shivered. "Will," I hissed. "Please tell me you have a plan."

"Just... just follow Merlin."

Follow Merlin. What kind of idea is that?

One that'll get your butt saved, Rosi. Now shut up.

Hm. Thought you didn't trust him.

I glanced at Merlin. His fists were clenched and shaking so hard they had almost become blurry. His eyes narrowed the slightest bit, hardly noticeable. He scanned each section of the forest, searching for an open pathway.

No. I trusted him. Maybe not completely, but I trusted him enough to get us out of the muraes.

I believe in him much more than I believe in you.

Oh, ouch. I'm stung.

All of the sudden, every murae rose from the bushes. There were at least twelve of them circling us, standing on the tips of their toes, ready for a chase.

They were the hunters, we were the hunted.

Something still nagged at me though. None of the muraes had red eyes. Ever. They'd always been as black as a starless sky.

That meant red eyes wasn't a murae.

Before I could process my thoughts any further, a slow clap burst through the tense silence.

"Well, done, boys. Very well done."

My stomach dropped like a ten-pound weight. I knew the voice. The smooth, snake-like voice dripped with a type of hiss I couldn't name.

The leader stepped out from behind the nearest tree. The was more smoke-like than I remembered him being. Instead of obvious feet, a cloud of black oozed around his feet, a loose strand popping up every now and then to wave in the air. Gray swirls wisped around his body and coursed through his skin.

The Mouse King took a step closer. On of his seven heads smiled, while the others snarled or smirked. His eyes skimmed over me, lingered on Merlin, and stopped on Will. "I believe you have something of mine?"

The cavalier. Don't even think about it, buddy.

I wrinkled my brow. Every time Rosinka spoke, it felt as if a dagger was being drawn through my brain.

I couldn't afford that.

William tensed beside me. I could feel it--every ounce of him wanted to throw himself onto the seven headed freak and hurt him.

I placed my hand against his and met his eyes, trying to tell him 'no.'

He nodded the slightest bit.

William shrugged. "Sorry. But honestly, if you've lost what I think you've lost, you may want to check somewhere else."

I raised an eyebrow. His insult--if that's what it was--hadn't made a bit of sense to me.

It did to the Mouse King, however. All of his head narrowed their eyes and bared their sharp, needle teeth.

Holy ham sandwich.

William glanced at Merlin. He still hadn't moved.

The Mouse King plastered another smile to his faces, but that time it looked more threatening than somewhat reassuring. "Give me my cavaliers."

"Don't have 'em. What's a cavalier now?"

The muraes surrounding us shifted their weight. If the King was losing patience and his feelings tied into the other muraes' feelings...

We were in a heap of trouble.

"Listen, boy," he growled. He took a step closer to William.

Will's eyes flashed.

I got ready to run.

The King pushed against Will's chest, right where the lousy stitches I did were. "I can do this the easy way, or the other way. Your choice."

Will winced. It was small and he masked it before it was incredibly obvious, but he still made the face.

I noticed. Merlin noticed.

So did King.

A light smile flickered over each of his heads. "So it hurts there, does it?"

Will squirmed.

In an instant, the Mouse King's hands were gripping William's chest. One of them pulled Will closer while the other stabbed into the stitched up wound.

A cry like a squawk of a bird exploded out of William's mouth. His knees buckled so he was only held up by the King's claws in his chest and his own hands, which gripped the arm of the murae, trying to move him away.

I started to move to stop him, but my action was silenced by a glare from Merlin.

Does he want him to die?

King moved in closer, shoving his hand farther in. "The cavaliers, boy. Then I'll stop."

Where were the cavaliers anyway? Last place I saw them, Will ate one of them. With him turning into flesh and blood again, I doubted he still had them.

One of Will's hands slipped off King's arm. Shaking, he lifted his gaze to meet the monster's eyes.

"I hope you burn," he spat.

King snarled. He raised one of his hands into the air, then seemed to think better of it, lowering it to his side once more. He turned his head to stare at Merlin.

"Fine. If you won't do as I ask, perhaps he will."

William laughed. He grabbed my shoulder, trying to hold himself up. "Be my guest. I'm sure the murae traitor will tell you exactly what you want to know."

As the King moved closer to Merlin, Will brought his head toward mine. "Get ready to go," he hissed. "Run through there." His eyes darted to the path blocked only by the bush with Red Eyes.

I swallowed and bit my lip, heart pounding.

Something tapped my hand. A cool metal rod found its way into my palm. I ran my thumb down the side, sucking in a breath when pain like an itch ran through my finger.

William had given me a knife.

King paused. One of his heads tilted up at Merlin. "You may be a traitor," he growled, "but you hold no power over the boy. You both know the consequences of your actions. You chose this life."

A piece of the dead grass snapped as he made his way to me. One of his wisps of a hand waved against my cheek.

I bit back the urge to flinch away.

He moved his heads closer to mine--too close. The middle of inspected my eyes. "Blue," he said. "Blue painted on brown eyes. Did you know, I know of someone with those exact same eyes?"

Dad.

I clenched my fists. Rage boiled up in my stomach. The monster was talking about my parents--my parents. In such a leisurely manner, he just brought up my father. My mother.

I wanted him dead.

His laugh snapped me from my rage. I glanced down, right where he was looking.

A small fire burned away the little bit of snow left on the ground.

"What I expected," he growled. "Little Miss Miralis."

I held the knife tighter.

"I think," he whispered, "I think I may know your father and mother. Oh, your mother didn't want to scream at first. She thought she was strong." A smile peeled away at his face. "She screamed the loudest. Then your father--oh, he didn't last long. Not against m--"

Slap!

My hand stung. The King's head that was speaking was turned to the side. An ooze of black blood bubbled at his bottom lip.

I hit him.

King's eyes flashed a darker black. "You little brat." He grabbed my shoulder and squeezed.

Pain racked through my arm for an instant.

Then I swung the knife.

I didn't wait to see if he had paused or not. I just ran. William and Merlin were right on my heels, breathing down my neck as we ran by murae after murae. Each one turned their face to the sky and screamed a silent shriek into the air.

They all feel King's pain.

I didn't have time to think about what to do. Just as we got out of sight range, the enraged cry of King shot through the trees.

"Get them!"

You need to hide. There is no outrunning them. If they catch you now, you die.

I ducked under a tree branch. Great. Really awesome, Rosi. Now, how does this help?"

All of the sudden, I felt my line of sight shift to the left the littlest bit, right to where three giant rocks formed a circle.

There.

I grabbed William's hand and beelined for the rocks. He slowed down just enough that I was dragging him along and Merlin was pushing him.

We ducked behind the stones. William panted for breath.

He touched the now-bleeding wound. "Wha--what're you doing?"

"Breathing," I hissed. "We need to hide, not run. We'll get caught if we keep doing what we were doing."

Merlin stared at me like I'd lost my mind. In a way, I guess I had. "What you propose?"

Good question.

I ran my hand over the knife absentmindedly. "I'm not--I'm not sure."

Oh yeah. Death was imminent.

Will snatched the knife from my hands. "The King. He can't die, which means he has to do something after he's mortally wounded, right? It's the law of magic. No healing yourself, but you can slow the process of death. It also may make the muraes leave with him."

A murae's snarl came from a few feet away. I lowered my voice. "They need a leader. So... we stab him?"

He nodded. "Yeah. That's our only option."

"The middle head." Merlin opened his mouth in sudden understanding. "Stab middle head. That enough to stop him."

"Great." William pressed his hand against the rock to help himself up. "I'll be back."

As if.

I grabbed the blade from him as he started to fall back down. Blood started to roll down his chest. "Not like that you won't. You'll die. I'm going."

He shook his head. "No! Curly, you this isn't your fight."

I glared at him. Disbelief started to bubble up inside me. "Like heck it isn't. King was right, you and Merlin chose this life. I didn't." I squeezed the knife tighter like it had suddenly become my last lifeline to the world.

In a way, it had.

I forced myself to smile. "I'm choosing it now."

"Clair--" William pushed against his chest, where the small amount of blood was growing into a huge problem.

My hand rested on his shoulder. "Did you not hear how he spoke of my parents? Like they were animals, Will. Animals. If anything, I'm doing this more for them, not me."

I nodded to Merlin. "Make sure they don't get to him. Distract them or something."

His face lit up with a smile. In less than a second, he was over ten feet away, screaming something in an unrecognizable language.

"Wait here," I whispered.

A faint "Like I have any choice," was my answer. My heart pounded so hard it should've burst as I ducked from tree to tree, trying to find where King went. He was nowhere. He couldn't have just vanished. Even muraes didn't do that for extended distances or more than once in an amount of time. They had their limits.

I pulled the knife closer to my chest. What was I thinking, volunteering to stab someone? I'd never really used a knife in my life, except for slashing at King moments before.

A cloud of warm breath tickled the back of my neck. "Boo."

I shrieked and whirled around, ready to stab.

Only, I would've been stabbing air. No one was behind me.

And muraes are cold.

Shoot! I tapped my hand against my leg. I forgot about Red-Eyes!

Just in time.

A hand snaked around my throat and forced me against the person holding me. I lifted my foot and slammed it against the other one's foot, then stabbed down with the knife. It met little resistance as it dug into his leg, causing him to cry out and let go.

The cry--I knew it.

I whirled around, finally far enough away to see who had held me.

The man held his head down. His teeth were bared in a snarl, with wads of phlegm hanging off them like he was an animal. Veins stood out in his arms. His body shook like he was cold, but the shake wasn't--cold. It was--it was the same one I felt when Rosinka took over.

The red eyes were Dad's.

_____________________________________

I'm so sorry for the cliffhanger. That seems to be all I do in this😂

Oh well. Sorry 'bout dat.

Hey, question! I have character in something that I'd like to have somewhat of an Irish accent. If I wrote out the accent every time he spoke, would it get kinda... monotonous? Annoying? He's a main character so... *shrugs* I dunno. How do you think I should do it?