When the two witches finally caught up with the rest of the group, Alicia somehow manage to regain some of her strength, and she wasn’t panting and trembling that visibly anymore. Even if she was, her determination to hide it was enough to fool those looking with their eyes. As soon as they stopped on a deeper part of an area which was surrounded by tall sand dunes, Kyle immediately approached the two witches at the back.
“Your Majesty are you alright?” the boy looked worried.
“Oh, I’m fine. No need to worry, Kyle.” She smiled, looking as though nothing had happened. The boy sighed in relief, but his eyes soon fell on the witches intertwined hands and blinked. As though he had seen something he shouldn’t have, the young prince blushed lightly and hurriedly turned and dashed back to the two vampires ahead of them.
Zeres attempted to let go of Alicia’s hand but Alicia stared at him as she grasped his hand. Alicia saw the surprise in his eyes, but she can’t let go of him right now. She had stopped feeling breathless and even the trembling in her knees had also stopped but she could feel that there seemed to be no more power left in her. She saw that the young vampire did not seem to notice this anomaly about her, and she was quite certain that it was because of Zeres’ powerful presence that was overlapping the symptoms she was experiencing. His power was literally oozing out of his pores that she surmised that as long as she sticks close to him, the vampires wouldn’t notice. And besides, in the event something unexpected happens, she did not want to be left out there, useless and just waiting around for them to rescue her again like a damsel in distress – which she was not! She could not take it – no – she refused to accept it. A helpless and powerless queen was something not just herself, but others would not accept as well.
“Bear with it, Zeres. I don’t think I can keep going without your support yet.” She said those words like usual, with her head up proudly and voice sounding firm.
“Understood, my queen.” Was all Zeres said and they both approached the vampires, hand in hand. And then they all entered into an entrance that Zeke found. He had asked Lucas to clear the mound of sand covering it and the strong man did just that in a matter of minutes.
The inside of the cavern was otherworldly. The crystals this time were a combination of white and ice blue. This was probably the largest cavern out of all the others they have seen and gone into during the whole journey. They could just tell due to the huge path that seems to be leading them into a deeper and larger space inside.
Alicia still could not feel any resonance with the cavern even when she let go of Zeres’ hand for a minute to see if something would be triggered inside of her. But there was nothing. She thought that this cavern seemed to not be as ordinary as it seems, so they needed to go deeper inside.
But suddenly, Zeke halted. “This is not the place,” he said, and Alicia was about to protest and insist that they should at least go a little deeper to make sure it was the case, when the atmosphere suddenly turned heavy.
Lucas and Kyle seemed to have sensed it and their weapons were already flashed out, all poised and ready for battle. But Zeke and Zeres did not even move to touch the hilts of their swords.
“Alright,” Zeke sighed and sat on one of the flat blue crystals. His expression as dead and flat as usual as he motioned Lucas and Kyle to fight.
The next moment, crystals shattered all around them and a fierce fight broke out. Alicia was shocked and felt extremely awful again. She had lost even her sense to detect danger.
“What are they?” Zeres asked Zeke after watching the battle between Lucas and Kyle and their opponents for a while. The enemies were wearing cloaks that were the same colour as the crystals in the cavern.
“Rogues.”
“Not normal ones…”
“Yes.”
“They look strong. They’re stronger than Dinah’s men.” Zeres commented as they watched Lucas smashed one of them against the crystals, then proceeded to slash one of the creature many times before beheading it. “But your bodyguard is stronger and… savage.”
Zeke didn’t respond. His gaze now was on his younger brother. He was exceptional and too strong for his age but there was huge difference between him and Lucas. Kyle was fighting in a somewhat honourable way and lacked the intent to kill. What his younger brother lacked right now was real life experience and the encounter of fighting for his life – kill or be killed.
“Why are these rogues here? I thought Alexander had killed all rogue vampires already.” Zeres said again.
“Alex didn’t set foot in this continent for hundreds of years. So, this place had become the haven for the rogues.”
“But don’t you think these rogues are strange? There’s something different about them.”
The vampire prince was silenced again. His unfathomable eyes never strayed from the fight, but he suddenly did not feel like just watching anymore and being a mere bystander.
“There’s more of them.” He said as he stood before calling out to Lucas and Kyle. “We’re leaving.”
“H-huh? Hey, wait. What?” Zeres protested. Even Lucas and Kyle were taken aback by the sudden and unexpected order, especially Kyle who was not used to being interrupted in the middle of a fight. Due to the sudden distraction, he had suffered a minor cut on his arm.
“This is not the place.” Zeke merely said.
“Are you certain about that?” Alicia was the one who spoke this time, pulling Zeke’s attention to her. “This is the only place where we actually encountered any enemies. And there are strange and extraordinarily strong vampires present too. Don’t you think there’s a reason why they’re here? What if they’re guarding something inside?”
