Hunted Queen

Chapter Forty Six - Run for as long as you can

-Jade-

Trees... more trees... and look, even more trees. With a touch of grey skies. Lovely. 

With her elbow resting against her knee, chin resting in her palm, Jade studied the monotone view from the cart. Eyes almost drooping from exhaustion, but sleep so very far away. It  was constantly chased off by every stone or root the cart's wheels rolled over. For every hard and unforgiving bump, Jade's eyes never seemed to meet for what felt like more than a fraction of a second. The strong rank stench coming from Muma and her friends also kept her stark awake, despite her deep desire to fall into some state of sleep. 

Unable to find any form of rest, Jade's eyes wandered from what was around them. Only until they found Brother Richard that was, who seemed equally as uncomfortable as she felt, but he seemed not at all as bored as she was. Unlike her, he was peacefully taking it all in. Every bit of it all it seemed. Every tree and each single grey cloud.

Must be nice to see something else than that priory... She thought and felt an urge to appreciate their situation like he did. Follow his good example. It lasted for about five seconds until she was utterly bored again, and wishing she was behind those protective walls again. There is absolutely nothing to see except for these bloody trees? 

Jade pulled her fingers through her hair, trying to figure out how much time had passed since they had left Old Aangstown. Four nights. That much she knew, mostly from the lack of sleep, but what distance had they crossed? She had no idea, and Ove did not say much. Only muttering "we will be there when we will be there" whenever she asked how far they had left. Besides that, he was perfectly content with muttering to himself at occasion or shouting something endearing and sweet to Muma. Seeming to think she was in some sort of need of it. 

Holding in an extremely bored sigh she asked, despite already knowing the answer, "How long until we-" 

"Queen Jade!" A harsh shout echoed behind them. 

Her blood froze at the sound of the horribly familiar voice, like it had so many times before. She closed her eyes, the breath in her lungs slipping out of her as she did. For a second, she embraced the darkness. Bathed in it for whatever moments she had left. Hoping that what she had heard was only a trick of her imagination, that it was playing some evil game with her memories due to her lack of sleep. 

The cart bobbed on and Ove made no real notice of the call, not knowing who had made it or who it had been intended for. But she did. She could feel it through the robes, past her skin, all the way to her bones she could feel the resonance of that awful voice calling for her.

Maybe it was... just a daydream. A terrible one at that. She thought and swallowed hard, hoping to convince herself that this was the case. Ove did not notice... so maybe it was nothing? A hard knot in the base of her stomach persisted that it was something completely different, but terrible all the same. 

"Queen Jade."

When Jade's eyes opened, they first saw the monk's expression. Quickly deciphering it and realizing that the call had not been one of her imagination. The monk's face was blank. Then the space between his eyebrows wrinkled as he took on a perplexed expression, refusing to believe what he was hearing, and seeing. However, it was soon followed by a full rise of the eyebrows and the eyes growing big and wide. The old man's eyes grew alarmed and it spread from him to Jade only through their gazes. Fueling the nightmare come to life even more.

"Do not stop, Ove." Jade instructed the butcher as he twitched at the second call, catching a confused frown of his as she did. Ulf shouting continuing behind them as she did.