183 Careful Planning

CHAPTER 183

"Hot…So hot, my body…hot…inside," Astrid muttered subconsciously as he gnashed her teeth.

Jareth's eyes darkened as he stared at the dead snake.

"Her powers are raging war inside of her, making her cold and hot almost at the same time. If this continues, who knows what would happen? This is bad."

He turned to the little White beast and said, "Let us leave here and find a suitable place for her to rest. I doubt that is the last of these beasts. It is getting dangerous inside the tunnel, we must be at alert."

The little beast nodded in response and watched as Jareth stood up with Astrid in his arms and pressed against his body.

"Master, fight it. You can tame the power struggle. Do not let it take over. You have us here for you,' it whispered softly in her mind, encouraging her to fight whatever it was and win.

*********

~ELVEN FOREST~

Meanwhile, the soldiers continued to search everywhere for her. No one slacked only took occasional breaks and continued right away.

One of the soldiers climbed on a tree to scout the vicinity. He had one hand on the tree's branch and the other on his forehead acting as a shield for his eyes against the sun's rays.

His eyes wandered to and fro from where he stood on the tree branch. Checking and hoping for anything out of the blue.

After a while of scouting, he pumped his fist into the tree and gritted his teeth. "Where are you, damn it?" He asked no one in particular and hit his fist against the tree again.

"General Aelfdene!" A voice called out from below.

Aelfdene looked down and caught sight of the one who called him. It was none other than General Lyklor's assistant, Borak Daemaris.

"General Aelfdene, General Lyklor requires your presence!" he said, increasing his tone so Aelfdene could hear him.

"I would be right down in a minute," he yelled back.

"Yes sir," Borak replied and then returned to where they had camped.

Aelfdene still had his fist pressed against the tree. His eyes trailed off to where he had created a dent on the big tree.

He noticed a red stain close to his knuckles and instinctively pulled them away to check. True to his thoughts, he had injured himself.

He turned his wrist in and smiled bitterly when his eyes saw the injury he inflicted upon himself.

'Yes, this is nothing as compared to what Her Highness suffered and endured. If I catch you, hybrid princess, I would make you suffer much worse.' He thought to himself inwardly as his eyes closed shut, briefly.

He took a deep breath and released it slowly. His chest rose and fell with motion. After which, he took one more glance at the vicinity before jumping down the tree.

Unhurriedly he made his way over to the others, right after he bandaged his hand.

"You called?" He asked General Lyklor in a demanding tone.

"Why, yes I did."

"Okay!" he replied impatiently.

Lyklor got up from where he sat together with Borak and walked over to Aelfdene. Together all three of them made their way to a separate corner away from the others.

"We may need to change strategy I searching for the hybrid," Lyklor stated, breaking the silence.

"How so?"

"We need to fish her out. You said she jumped over the cliff?"

"Yes, but technically she fell over when an arrow was shot at her."

"She may have survived somehow," Borak added.

"True, that is why we are searching."

"Then why didn't someone jump down and search for her?"

"The depth was unknown, I wasn't ready to send any of the soldiers to their death. We threw a sword to check, but we didn't hear it hit anything. That would have been risky if I allowed someone to jump."

"Very well. I suspect we go there. Who knows, there may be a hidden cave down there."

"Even if there is Lyklor, it would lead to one place and that would be out of the forest. I have made sure that every exit out of the forest is sealed."

"Okay, since the exit is taken care of, we should try with the entrance."

"Fair enough, we would make ample preparations with ropes and all then," Aelfdene concluded.

"We already have the rope, General," Borak informed them.

"Good, we start at dawn."

"And if we do not find anything?"

"It is better to leave no stone unturned, Borak."

"Yes sir. I understand."

They just couldn't believe that the hybrid died like that. They couldn't take chances. It was better to bring her dead than just assume her death.

Together, all three men returned back to the others and sat down to rest.

Somewhere close by, a pair of eyes blinked from between the trees. No one noticed the presence of the person as the person perfectly concealed his or herself.

It was not until they left that the person revealed herself. It was Lady Lorelei. She had a sinister smile on her face as she watched the retreating figure of the soldiers.

"Thank you so much, soldiers. While you go search up at the forest peak, I would wait at the exit. Hehe he, my plan is going smoothly."

After saying that, she moved backwards and withdrew into the dark.

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~ELF KINGDOM – INFIRMARY~

Princess Avery laid peacefully, facing up on a bed in one of the infirmary rooms. A cloth was used to cover her up to her chest with a white wet towel on her forehead.

To her left-hand side was King Regin, seated on her bed with her left hand in his. He had a gloomy expression on his face the entire time, and his gaze fixated on only one spot, her face.

His eyes never left her face as he waited for any sign that she would get up and be okay.

To Avery's right was Prince Terrence who stood by the window, leaning against the wall and his legs crossed in front of him and his hands in his pockets.

His gaze also lingered on her face just like his father's. No one spoke or said anything to comfort the other. The room was quiet save for the occasional noise from outside the room by patience.

After some minutes, Terrence pulled his hands from his pocket then crossed one over his chest and the other one, he used it to rub his forehead, bending his head.

Bang!!

The doors open with a loud sound as it hit the wall at the side, ushering a figure into the room. It was a Lady dressed in a red and green crossing V neck gown with a cascading cape flowing behind her.

Terrence and Regin turned their heads to look at the Lady who came in.

"Mother!"

"Aelinor…"

She stood motionless in front of the bed. Her eyes were opened in shock while her hands held tight unto her gown by her side.

It was a look of terror, fear and pain. She did not reply to either the King or the Prince. All her mind was focused on was her daughter. Her one and only daughter! The only Princess of the Kingdom and her last-born child.

After what seemed to be like forever, she finally found the voice to speak. "A–Avery!" She mumbled her daughter's name with her hoarse voice.

Her eyes stung as the tears began to form around her eyeballs. She swallowed hard before trying again, this time her voice came out louder and more hoarse than before.

"Avery, my baby," she said, shaking her head as the tears broke free from their sockets.

The next moment, she moved forward and hurried to Avery's side and knelt down close to the bed. She reached up with both her hands on either side of Avery and rested her head atop her stomach as she let the pain wash over her in a pool of tears.

The sight of his wife crying her heart out at her daughter's injury broke King Regin's heart.

Suddenly, a loud voice broke out. "Wake up, baby. Wake up, please." Aelinor burst into int another round of tears again.

Regin couldn't take it anymore. He reached for Aelinor's hand with his and rubbed over the back of her palm affectionately.

"Aelinor… She's going to be okay."

She raised her head at the sudden contact and from hearing his voice. At first, she wanted to nag at him but when her eyes met with his… They were particularly red from all the crying she did as compared to his.

Although his, wasn't as red as hers, it showed pain and that was the first time in a long time since Aelinor saw her husband show any form of emotion.

Her words got cut up in her throat as she stared into those dark green eyes. The very green eyes she once fell in love with. But then he did something that made Aelinor's thought change. He turned his gaze away from hers.

"Regin!"