DEMON CRY

12.

'What are we going to do?' Pheobe asked. Once she had reached the dungeons, she had dismissed all the warriors there. She and her husband stood in the firelight, looking at the prince, worried. 

It was a good sign. Prince Damien's beast had shown some affection toward Amara but it shook the entire castle. All the Royals feared something bad was right around the corner; lurking in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to devour the little happiness that presented itself. Phoebe felt it the most. The growing fear. She smelt it everywhere. The warriors, the maids... Even all of the Royals were afraid. 

A strange sense of foreboding had taken over the castle. Phoebe had tried to communicate with the spirits but they told her nothing. Phoebe feared the most for her children and Felicia's unborn child. 

'I don't know, Phoebe.' 

Her husband sounded helpless too. He could feel it too. 

She looked at the unconscious Prince. He had healed a lot. Amara's presence had tampered with the curse and whoever had cursed the Crown Prince wasn't happy about it. 

'He will never tell us what happened, will he?' 

Tyhane gave her a sad smile, 'Never. He's too stubborn.' 

'The spirits won't tell me anything either,' She looked down at her hands. 'I wish I could protect our children from this, Tyhane. I don't know what's coming. All I know is that it is something bad. I don't want it to hurt them. I don't.' She tried to keep herself from sobbing. 

'You and I, both,' Her husband put his arm around her, 'And we'll be prepared love. I promise. Our children will live. So will this Kingdom. I promise.' 

'You didn't say about any of us.' 

He turned away from her, 'You know I can't.' 

Phoebe knew why. Ever since the Prince was cursed, Tyhane had predicted that he would die. Phoebe had tried to find out about the Prince's future too but she couldn't see it. She feared her husband was right. It would ruin the Kingdom. It would destroy the Royal couple. It would make their people vulnerable to the demons that roamed hungrily on the other side of the border. 

She nodded, grimly. 

The Queen didn't know it yet. Phoebe had kept it a secret from her. It wasn't the right thing to do but Phoebe cared more for the people that she did for the Queen. The Queen would lose her mind if she heard that Phoebe had seen no future for her only son. The King and Queen had to be sane for as long as they lived. 

'Is it wrong?' she asked him. 

'Maybe; but we've got a good reason.' 

Phoebe agreed. 

She felt useless. Her powers had left her, it would seem. The spirits stopped answering her whenever she asked about Amara or Damien or the Kingdom. She had heard once, a spirit that had whispered that someone more powerful had bounded them to silence. Phoebe thought it was her head. 

There was a reason she was the Supreme Sorceress.  

She had thought about it. Who could've been more powerful than her? 

She had asked a spirit that. It had surprisingly replied to her, 'Somone dead.'

It didn't make any sense but spirits don't lie. They play with words, lay our riddles that would wreck brains but they would never lie. 

Phoebe began to wonder if one of her predecessors had bound them. When she asked them, the spirits replied, 'No.'

It bewildered her. She came from a long line of powerful sorcerers. None could bind spirits to their will as those of her lineage. But she was glad the person who had bound them was dead. There was no one there to challenge her powers. She could protect her children. She could protect all those she loved. 

But the spirits came again, whispered in her ears that there was someone out there, more powerful than her. 

It scared her. Fear was unknown to her until then. 

She asked them who it was. They said they couldn't tell. 

She asked them if her family was in danger; they said they couldn't tell. 

She asked them if she had it in her to protect her family from harm; they said they couldn't tell. 

She had been so angry and upset. She had felt so useless. She felt crumbled and ruined. She thought of her three beautiful children. She would do anything and everything to protect them. If the time came, she would put her soul in jeopardy and destroy the magic that held the spirits from telling her the truth. 

Till then, she would wait. 
With every fibre of her being yelling at her to break, she would wait.  

Tyhane was aware of the turmoil inside his wife's head. He knew she was tensed and upset. Lately, she seemed depressed. She wouldn't talk about it. He almost smiled at the irony. She wanted the Prince to tell them what happened the day he was cursed but she wouldn't even tell her husband what bothered her. 

She was worried about their children more than anything. he was too. But they were trying their best to keep things normal and safe at the same time. He would never tell her what Rosalyn had asked him. His little daughter had observed that there were more warriors around and she had asked him about it. He was proud that she noticed it. He wished he could tell that to her. Instead, he just shrugged it off, telling her it wasn't like that at all. He also made her promise she would never ask her mother about that. Rosalyn was suspicious but she didn't say a word. 

He sighed as he pulled his wife closer. 'It will be better. There are always sunny days.'