The Silent Princess

by T. A. Grey

  His wet boots squeaked with an infuriating sound as he paced the linoleum, studying the scene before him. His jaw cracked as he flexed it. Anger over this new situation was steadily growing. First, he had Lysette’s antics to deal with, which had nearly succeeded in distracting everyone from witnessing Alex Thompson and Hanna MacKellen’s escape. She’d done it on purpose, of that Xavier felt certain. Lysette was not a stupid woman and she loved nothing more than her kingdom. Not even Remi, that spoiled brat of a prince, could sway her from her empire. Unfortunately, for Alex and Hanna that meant they had to die in this equation.

  Xavier needed those two prisoners’ dead to secure his position among the Gerioux pack. They were the alleged murderers of Prince Remi Gerioux. Xavier didn’t give two shits about Remi. Hell, as far as he’d learned, Remi did have trouble keeping his hands to himself. There were many allegations, though nothing had ever come from them.

  Already Xavier had begun working his plan to take the kingdom he’d always dreamt of. More than just a fantasy, he needed to be king.

  He was a king, after all. In mind, body, and spirit. He was simply a king without a kingdom. And he’d narrowly had his kingdom, many, many years ago. Lysette had nearly been his, and then Xavier would have been crowned king and alpha of the Carbon pack. And didn’t that have a beautiful ring to it? If not for Etienne. Lysette made her choice of husband--the wrong damn choice. Xavier dealt with many things, but that particular cut against him he’d never forgotten. Nor forgave.

  Instead, he’d plotted and planned and prepared. Remi’s death offered the perfect opportunity to stage his coup. This was his time. Every second he grew that much closer to becoming king. Not of the Gerioux pack, for the name would change. He would be king and the pack shall be Carbon Pack and he shall rule it all.

  A guard cleared his throat. “Sir, we have two humans here. Still alive.”

  Xavier came back to the present with sudden clarity. “Ah, oui.” He knelt in front of them to look closer. “Two filthy, stinking humans.”

  The two men were handcuffed and cornered in the back of the office. They reeked of terror and fear. Pathetic. Sweat stained their shirts a putrid dark yellow, their beards were long and unkempt, hair thinning at the top and far too long for a man. Their bellies made him nearly vomit; they were so disgusting, fat and gelatinous, hanging over top oversized belt buckles.

  “Tell me, human. What did you see of the two people here before?”

  The man on the right sputtered, licking his lips nervously. “We shot at ‘em. Thought we had ‘em. They tried to rob us! Now, you’re in my store, fella. Why don’t you tell me who the hell you think you are!”

  A muscle spasm overtop Xavier’s eye, making the muscle twitch incessantly. He pressed a finger to it, massaging the delicate muscle. Headaches always put him in a terrible mood.

  The other redneck decided to finally speak up after gaining confidence from his friend. His question was asked far more delicately. “What do you mean human?”

  Xavier stood and kicked the man in the face. The man’s grunt made him smile. The man cowed, holding his sagging jaw as blood dripped from his slack-jawed mouth.

  “Now that felt good! Now. You,” Xavier pointed at the first human. “Tell me what happened or I’ll kill your friend. Easy enough, oui?”

  He didn’t have a gun on him, so Xavier held out his hand to signal his men. Someone put a pistol in his palm in the next second, safety already released, Xavier aimed down the sight at the forehead, up between the eyes, of the human.

  Suddenly, the human couldn’t stop talking.

  “O-okay, fella! You don’t have to kill nobody. We came in to work to open shop and found the place a mess. Someone had obviously looted us. We had no clue anybody was still here, ‘till we found the office locked. We thought they was tryin’ to clear us out, so we shot through the door. They escaped out the window. We tried to catch up with them but couldn’t drop out that window ourselves. So we ran through the shop to get to them outside. That’s when you caught us. We don’t want no trouble, sir. Please, just don’t hurt us.”

  Xavier sighed, then slammed the butt of the gun into the man’s slimy forehead. Why oh why did humans have to be so stupid?

  “You know, it’s really not wise to tell the one with the gun what to do. Just not very intelligent. Don’t you think?”

  The human’s mouth opened to respond, but Xavier pulled the trigger. Blood and brains splattered. The other human’s squealed like a piggy, shouting to high heaven. A place that didn’t exist, unfortunately, and nothing could save the pitiful human now. Xavier swiftly ended him too, an ugly hole through the head.

  He turned to his team. “Let’s go. We’re close. I want them found quickly. First one to bring me their dead corpses, will receive a steep reward.”

  The men stilled with renewed interest.

  “If you can do it in twenty-four hours, I’ll raise the ante to one-and-a-half million. Cash.”

  He dropped the gun and exited, his boots crushing glass in his wake.

  That ought to take care of his problem.

  And then he would take his kingdom from Lysette.

  Finally. Victory was so near he could taste it.

  Chapter TWENTY-SIX

  Hanna and Alex managed to separate themselves quite some distance. Nightfall began to settle in. Winter in northern Canada meant sunset came early, when some of the rest of the world was just getting out of work. And already the sun faded into the horizon and the night sky began to glow. Snow. So much of it. Beautiful and deadly in its own right.

  After a while, one of the front tires blew out. Hanna ended up helping Alex to push the truck down into a snowy embankment off the road. Hopefully, with the fresh wave of snow falling, it would help to cover their (rather literal) tracks.

  They munched on bags of candy, chips, and protein bars that Alex had stolen from the vending machines, as they discussed where to go next. Fortunately, in the glove compartment of the truck Hanna had found an old map. They weren’t certain of their location, but all evidence seemed to support that they’d gone north. The exact opposite of where they needed to go. An obstacle that they would only have to conquer.

  If they wanted to escape, they needed to find safety (not some human-owned sporting good’s store). The only true safe-haven they had would be in the MacKellen pack. Their home. Which was far, far south from where they were. Not only that, but according to the map, they would have to loop some hundred-plus miles to go stretch around the Gerioux pack and reach the MacKellen’s.

  None of this was going to be easy. But, for once, Hanna was prepared for the challenge. No complaints from her, she had her “big girl” pants pulled up. Time to see what she was really made out of.

  Ever since they escaped Gerioux castle, she’d seen a whole new side to Alex. Never had she seen the man smiling so damned much. ASs if he was enjoying all this! And, on top of all that, Hanna couldn’t help but notice how good he was at this. This being: stealing cars, breaking and entering, fighting--all of it. Alex was damn good. Excellent, as a matter of fact.

  “Let’s head out,” Alex said.

  They shouldered their gear and meager supplies--Hanna had never felt so much like a soldier before--and then they set off into the snowy woods, leaving the disabled truck behind. The wound on her back from the arrow hurt like a son of a bitch, and the little pill Alex had given her didn’t do much to offer relief. She gritted through the uncomfortable pain, through the numb-cold fingers, and sore muscles. Fact was, she too, had never felt more alive than she did in these moments. And it was almost exhilarating. She didn’t share any of that with Alex though, because she didn’t want him thinking she was out of her mind. Because, she was afraid, he might be right.

  At least with these new clothes, white camouflage which had been engineered for hunters in the winter season, were incredibly warm compared to her previous outfit. She didn’t feel like she was stepping at frostbite’s front door anymore.

 
Alex’s longer stride led the charge. Quietly they trekked. Only the sounds of nature and their footsteps ploughing through the snow to hear. Something about being in nature calmed her comforted her in a healing way. There was no need to chitchat about anything. They each had a purpose, one they were intending on seeing through.

  Hours into the night, even colder temperatures tried to freeze them and slow them down. The cold didn’t bother her so much with the new clothes, but her stomach, that was a whole other matter. Her body was working hard, burning calories left and right; her stomach growled to let her know how hungry she was. She could only imagine how Alex felt about now. Their meager snacks didn’t give them much prolonged energy whatsoever.

  At a point along the way, Alex pulled her behind a wall of heavy bush and signaled her to remain quiet. Hanna watched him as he pulled out a gun, one of the pistols he’d stolen at the sporting goods store, and aimed at something high in a tree. She had not even noticed it. A bird of some kind. It flapped its wings and tittered about making an occasional tweet.

  The gunshot boomed like a cannon. Animals cried out, sounds of scurrying feet in all directions. Hanna, too late, pressed her hands over her throbbing eardrums. Alex sent her an apologetic look, then headed to his kill. Hanna felt gob smacked as he lifted the bird.

  “Protein,” was all he said.

  Hanna didn’t know what to say, stunned at the sudden violence. But her stomach did growl once more. “Yeah, protein.”

  “Let’s find a place to sleep for the night. And to eat this.” He tied a short length of rope to the bird and his pack to carry it easily. “Don’t’ worry, it’ll taste like chicken. Most birds do.”

  Hanna couldn’t believe it but...she was beginning to think she must be losing her mind. Going crazy or something. Because, crazy or not, she was truly enjoying this experience. The excitement, the feral thrills. All of her instincts were running on overdrive. She’d never felt more alive in her whole life as she did now, in this very moment, marching through two-foot deep snow. Her legs hurt. Hell, they were beyond hurting at this point.

  She didn’t even care. Because she felt like a warrior. And a warrior would not complain of sore muscles or an arrow wound in the back. Ha!

  Alex spotted Hanna grinning like a loon. She succumbed to a blush, and looked away, but not before he gave her a sweet, funny smirk.

  Not long later, they came across a small barn in a small valley. Obviously it hadn’t been used in ages. The roof had caved in, piled with mounds of burdening snow. The door hung off its hinges, eschewed. But a barn meant a spark of hope that maybe some kind of civilization was around here.

  They pushed past the old barn and Hanna’s eyes lit up. “Jackpot!”

  A house. Or a cabin might be the better descriptor. Old, rugged, heavily snowed on and obviously un-lived in. Dark in the windows, no light. The front porch also looked choppy and broken in places. No vehicles were outside, save for a rusted, old van parked beneath a big tree. It too was covered in feet of snow, Hanna barely made out the makings of the front window and the driver’s side door.

  Hanna felt a surge of renewed energy and took off for the house.

  “Wait!” Alex caught up to her. “Let me go in first. I wanna make sure it’s empty.” He once more palmed the gun.

  “So gallant.” Feeling a spark of sassy energy overcome her, she winked at him.

  Alex rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say, princess.” She swore she saw a hint of a blush on his cheeks. Did he, the great and powerful Alex, truly blush? How...endearing.

  He stepped one foot onto the front porch--and his boot went clear through it. “Well, we can’t walk here. Watch your step.” With a grunt, he yanked his foot back out. They headed around the side of the house, the windows were too talk for her to peer into, but Alex did.

  “What do you see inside?” It felt odd trying to break into someone’s house, even if it did appear abandoned. Hanna found herself eyeing the terrain for possible enemies, but found it all clear.

  “Hard to see, but it definitely looks vacant. Let’s check around back.”

  They found a backdoor that had some heavy-duty locks bolting the door shut. Someone had certainly tried to keep the cabin locked up tight. “Do you think this place is abandoned?”

  “Looks like it.” Alex pulled out his lock picking kit and got to work.

  Hanna took this time to look around. She found an axe laid up against the house. It had a cracked wooden handle, showing its age, and a semi-sharp blade. Possibly good enough to chop wood with.

  “A place like this isn’t going to have electricity,” she muttered to herself.

  Alex still overheard her. He chuckled. “Definitely not out this far. Do you see any power lines?”

  Not at all. They were completely isolated. To think she could die out here and be buried in snow. She could possibly never be found. Instead of finding the thought terrifying, she found the notion rather...peaceful. Being one with nature, perhaps, the great circle of life and all that. Hanna rolled her eyes at her own whimsy. She truly was being ridiculous.

  Hanna walked outwards from the house and spotted the top of what appeared to be a chimneystack. “Looks like they have a fireplace.”

  “It’s probably shit,” Alex said.

  “Why’s that?”

  “If a chimney isn’t kept up, with the kind of snow they get here, who knows what the inside looks like. There’s probably fifteen feet of heavy snow packed in there.”

  Good point. “So...it’s gonna be cold inside?” Hanna eyed the axe. “Maybe I’ll chop some wood.”

  Alex paused to wipe sweat from his brow. There were four deadlocks and many of them were stiff or frozen. “Fuck this door. Gonna kick the son-of-a-bitch open,” he grunted.

  She grabbed the axe. “I’ll just chop some wood for us.”

  Alex sent her an arched look. “Don’t use that on me, yeah?”

  “Ha, as if I would have a need to. Just don’t give me a reason!”

  He rolled his eyes then finally unlocked the first one. “God damn, these locks are frozen as fuck. I’d kick it in, but this heavy beast wouldn’t budge of a tractor hit it.”

  “Now you’re just being silly.”

  “Well, you’re the silly one, princess. There ain’t no good wood out here to chop, so you can relax with that axe.”

  “What do you mean there isn’t any wood? I see trees everywhere?”

  “It’s wet. Snow-covered. The wood wouldn’t burn. It’d smoke at best. You need dry wood to burn.” He fidgeted with the next lock, metal tines clicking as he maneuvered his scalpel-like tool inside. Snick. “Got another one.”

  Hanna wandered around. “I’ll be back.”

  Alex host her a quick, discerning look. He checked their surroundings. “I’d rather you not leave my side at all actually.”

  “I’m just going to go see what’s inside the barn.”

  Grumbling, he went back to work.

  Hanna trudged back to the barn. The wind was turning brutal, pushing against her so that she had to lean forward to gain momentum and now fly end-over-end backwards like something from a cartoon. She found herself chuckling at her own thoughts.

  “You are losing it, girl,” she murmured.

  The barn door was wedged around packed snow. Hanna tried to push it open so she could squeeze inside, but it wasn’t open far enough. So she pressed her shoulder against the old beaten door and shoved with all her might. Her boots slipped in the snow, she sweated from exertion, and then with a great heave the door finally budged, shoving open.

  Hanna squinted and stepped inside carefully. The floor groaned beneath her feet, unsteady like the boards had warped over time and neglect.

  No light, but using her gloved hands as guides, she found and made out a workbench against the wall. She brought her head closer to see--no windows made it incredibly difficult to see a thing. Her hand bumped a box that made a distinct noise. She lifted the box up and peered at it. Matches--perfect! Hann
a lit a match and faint orange glow lit up the barn.

  Hanna’s eyes lit up. “Jackpot.”

  She returned to Alex, dropping a load of pre-cut timber at his feet.

  “What’s this?” he asked, impressed.

  “Found some wood in the barn.”

  Alex stood, brushing snow off his knees. “And I got us in.” He turned the doorknob and shoved the door open, flashing her a grin. “After you, my lady.”

  Snow began to fall again. Hanna and Alex headed inside to make the best out of their temporary new home.

  Things were beginning to look up.

  Chapter TWENTY-SEVEN

  Jo tried breaking through the chains one last time. His muscles tightened, flexing and pulling as he strived to rip the silver handcuffs from his wrists. At last, he collapsed, exhausted. They were too thick, too strong. And he was too weak.

  Every few hours a woman in a white coat wearing a black ski mask came into his cell and inserted a needle into his neck. Every time she did so, he warned the woman whom he’d taken to calling White Death, “When I get out of here, the first person I’m gonna kill...is you.”

  She’d hesitated the first time, before she stabbed him with the needle, pumping him full of some neon blue liquid. What the fuck was in it? The toxic liquid seemed to keep him weak and exhausted, made it difficult to even keep his eyelids open. His muscles hurt, and his entire body throbbed. He felt heavy and feeble as a baby kitten. Even so much as lifting his arm took tremendous energy. That and the room kept spinning before his very eyes with even the smallest turn of his head.

  He was fucked up. And fucked. Period.

  Why wouldn’t they just kill him? What did they need him for? He must have some leveraging power, or else they would have already offed him. But hell if he knew why. The most he’d been able to deduce was someone speaking French who murmured the name Xavier. He had no proof but it looked like Xavier had wanted him removed from the pack. Had he been sold to some nefarious bidder? Just what the hell was going on?