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Chapter 3
Cat had lived for four thousand years and if she had learned two things it was that royalty can never be trusted, and prophecies never work out as expected.
She’d been riding for two hours, making her way back towards her home in the mountains. The sun was high in the sky and she felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders now the nasty business with the Lonergans was over with.
She’d approached Molly with news of the prophecy and the promise that she could one day be Queen, because she knew it would eventually lead to her freedom.
She had spent hours searching through ancient texts trying to find an angle she could leverage to her advantage. When the prophecy revealed itself she couldn’t believe her luck.
Getting Molly to agree was easier than expected, she gave them the throne by removing Hanora from the equation, they save Cauci from destruction, and they provide her the means to set herself up a nice home away from mankind, on an island for the next few thousand years at least.
As usual though, the Lonergans had ruined the plan. That wretched family were greedy beyond belief. If they could make a deal and stick to it she’d have had no concerns, she’d have done what they asked and everything would be set.
Instead, she’d been forced to make contingency plans to keep her hand in the game, and that meant risking everything: Her life; the kingdom of Cauci; the lives of thousands of naive soldiers being sent to their deaths. All because one soppy prince couldn’t handle losing his fiancé and the other was too arrogant to fulfil a promise.
As she neared the base of her mountain she turned up towards a different path along the edge, towards a river.
In the winter the snow would slowly melt and fall down the mountain into the water below, causing the area to become marshland for miles. There were hundreds of nooks and crannies that spent half the year submerged in water and mud.
She’d mapped them out and knew roughly where it was safe to ride and which ones were most useful for storing valuable items.
She made her way across the marshes towards a large rock leaning against a tree. She climbed off her horse and pulled a rope around the rock, tying the other end to her saddle before guiding her horse away slowly, dragging the rock forward to reveal an opening behind.
The smell of damp was overpowering, slime covered the walls of the cave. She held up her hand to create a flame so she could light her way through the tunnels. Before she had moved more than a few steps there was a shuffle of rocks up ahead.
“You’ve come to kill me at last?” a voice called down the tunnel towards her.
She held up the flame further ahead and made her way towards the sound.
“No, princess, I-”
There was a scream, Cat managed to step aside as a large stone flew past her head.
“Stop!” she called back as another barrage of smaller stones came flying towards her in a shower, clashing with her arms and chest.
She ran forward holding out a flame to help her see what was coming, but knowing she was also providing a bright target for her ambush.
She could hear footsteps around her. Suddenly a rock hit her on the back from behind, another to her head. She felt herself falling to the ground, as a third stone cracked against the side of her skull. Suddenly she couldn’t see.
She awoke surrounded by stones.
“Are you burying me?” she called out, not sure if there was anyone there to answer.
There was no reply at first, but she could hear steps in the darkness further down the cave, they were getting louder and coming towards her.
“You misunderstand,” she hissed. Desperately trying to say her piece before she found herself completely covered and left for dead.
“I kept you here to save you!”
“That’s a joke, surely?”
Cat tried to light her hand and her hair so she could see the princess.
“There’s a prophecy that you must hear before you kill me, it explains everything I’ve done!”
“I suppose you want me to let you free before you tell me? I’d rather bury you and go home ignorant of what’s to come.”
“No, you can free me after, if it pleases you princess?” she smiled in the darkness, knowing she was gaining the upper hand.
“Fine, you have ten seconds to impress me.”
Cat tried to remember the wording, the devil was always in the detail in prophecies and if she got a single word wrong it could completely alter the path of an entire country. Ten seconds was not enough time to do it justice.
“You are destined to destroy Cauci if you become Queen. Your sister would win many battles and the Roses shall reign for centuries to come with her as Queen.”
“Why would I destroy Cauci? I’m destined to become Queen once my parents pass, what would I gain from destroying my own Kingdom?”
“I do not write the prophecies; I only uncover them with my research.”
“So this is why you kidnapped me, some stupid prophecy that makes my sister Queen instead of me? When Fin finds out where I am he’ll come for me and you’ll be slaughtered.”
“He already came for you princess. I’m afraid he’s dead.”
“You killed him?” she lifted a rock up above her head in anger.
“No, I didn’t. He killed himself. I had to make it seem like you were dead, to keep you safe!”
She couldn’t teller everything; it didn’t seem like the right time to tell her that her sister and future brother in law had paid for her murder to avoid the fall of their entire kingdom.
“He killed himself? He was always an emotional man who loved me deeply; I can’t believe he’d go that far though-”
“I assure you he did. It was not my intention. I had planned to scare him back to Cauci to tell your family that you were dead so you could be free from the throne.”
This wasn’t strictly true, she had planned to send him back gravely wounded so he could confirm Hanora’s death and then die himself, the price of being a Lonergan. Once she’d been paid she intended to kill the girl herself as promised, to tie up loose ends before disappearing to a quieter and less threatening place until the day she died.
“What do I do now then? If what you’re telling me is true my fiancé is dead and my sister is about to become Queen? You could have killed me if you’d wanted to, so why am I alive while you’re buried under all these rocks?” the princess asked.
She’d stepped closer to Cat as they spoke.
Cat could see she was starting to believe her; she needed to seal the deal if she was going to get out.
“I had no reason to kill you, I don’t benefit from your death, the prophecy doesn’t need you to die, you just can’t be queen of Cauci. Let me go free, I’ll guide you out of here and you can use my horse to flee and start a new life,” Cat offered.
This was far more generous than she was used to being, but she had no reason to hate the princess, she didn’t care if Cauci burned, she was just part of the deal to get free of Manapii. If they’d kept their side of the bargain the princess would be dead by now, but as usual they didn’t.
The princess stood still for a moment, it didn’t seem like she was going to respond. After twenty seconds or so she lifted a rock off of Cat’s right arm.
“There, you have one arm free, you can do the rest. I’ll make my own way out, I can see the light ahead, and your horse will be fine.”
She raised a flame in her hand, and looked the princess in the eye.
“You must not go home, it isn’t safe. Go north and seek somewhere you can lay low. It’s for your own good and mine, princess. Believe me.”
She needed time to flee herself before the Lonergans found out she’d double crossed them.
As much as they deserved it, part of her thought it would be more sensible to kill the princess, and avoid their wrath, but mostly she hoped this might serve as revenge for years of torment, and if by chance the prophecy still came true, then good riddance.
She’d had enough of the human race to last another four thousand years.
“I shall not believe a kidnapper like you. With my father dead, I am now the Queen of Cauci; I can command vast armies and make sure that my kingdom remains safe from the likes of you. I don’t believe your prophecy for one second and will prove you wrong by leading my people with an honest and noble heart.”
With that the princess turned away towards the exit.
“Prophecies are never wrong princess, as queen you will destroy Cauci, and thousands will die.”
There was no response.