Chapter Nineteen: The Traitor

Before he continued through the passage, Burk stopped to pick up his lantern, and quickly lit it with the matches in his pocket. He hurried through the passage as quickly as he could. He hated being underground. He always felt like the ground was going to cave in all around him. He nearly yelled out when he walked right through a cob web, but he quickly reminded himself what he was doing and kept quiet. He emerged on the other side sooner than he would've hoped. As much as he feared being in the tunnels, there was only one thing he feared more. He headed toward the menacing castle nestled right between two hills. The moon floated behind the castle and gave it an eery glow. The houses surrounding it had fallen into a sickly state of disrepair. A shiver ran down Burk's spine, but as quickly as it had come, he shook it off. Putting his head down, he started towards the castle.
The minacious lion knockers stared Burk down as he approached. They took up a large area in the centers of the main doors to the castle, and every other door as well. He slowly raised his hand and gripped the cool metal ring that appeared to be hanging from the lion's neck. When he brought the heavy thing down, it met the wood with a brutal force, making a ferocious thunder clap loud enough to wake all of Olvia. The entire door vibrated, and Burk winced, but quickly regained his composure before the door was opened.
The door opened promptly, and Burk found himself looking down at a young girl. Her hands were red and raw, and her skin was pale as a ghost. Her dark brown hair fell limply to her shoulders, and her hollow eyes looked up at him, showing no emotion. He nodded to her hesitantly and she stepped back, allowing him to walk by into the castle. Not a word passed between them, yet he felt her stare more the farther away he walked. The room he was headed for was right at the end of the long corridor. The doors were open wide, and as he approached, he heard the voice of The Lion Prince beckon him,
"You may enter, Burk."
He continued into the long room, and saw the prince sitting on his blood read throne being fed delicacies by a young boy with a silver platter. He looked very much like the girl--his hair was limp and greasy, and in need of a cut, and his clothes were ragged and drab.
The Lion Prince finished a few more mouthfuls and held out his greasy fingers out for the boy to clean. He looked up expectantly, and raised his eyebrows to show he was waiting.
Burk cleared his throat hesitantly. He took a few deep breaths and started talking.
"Well, the Taining Folk pack up to leave tonight. But there was more of them than usual."
"That's your big news?" the prince said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.
"Well," Burk swallowed. "Um," he coughed again. "No. Castor was leading them."
This the prince was not expecting. He blinked and quickly recovered from his surprise. "Is that all?" he said brisquely.
"All I could see in the dark, um, sir,"
Burk lowered his eyes. He noticed the girl cleaning the floor had been slowly moving down the hall, and was now pausing in her work as they spoke, though she was staring intently at the ground. He now noticed that the boy standing a few feet behind the prince looked very much like her. The prince snapped his fingers and the boy hurried forward with the platter. He carefully selected a piece of ham, and waved the boy off. Burk hesitantly looked up.
"Yes, yes. You'll have your reward. Only next time remember to get to the point. I won't have you waste any more of my time."
"Yes, sir, I will," he said quickly. "Thank you, my prince."
The Lion Prince only rolled his eyes. "Rometh," he called. A man in the corner hurried forward and presented Burk with a small sack of coins. Burk nodded at the prince and left as quickly as he could.

Burk shivered as he headed home in the darkness. He fumbled around for a time before finding the trap door that led into the underground. He tried his best not to think about the terrors roaming the woods at night, and just focused on how he would explain his late arrival. If anyone were to find out where he'd been tonight, both sides would fight over his head.
Melina quickly went back to scrubbing as the man, Burk, hurried away. She avoided eye contact with the prince, which was easy as he was schemeing, which happened in his head but ws usually spoken aloud. He was not one who enjoyed quiet rooms.
"And what would my dear brother be doing with such a group of scum? Well I guess he is one of them himself...Rometh! Send for Rojo. We must send out scouts immediately if we are to spot them before dawn." As Rometh ran toward sthe doors, the Lion Prince went back to schemeing in his mind.

Author's Note

First chapter in a while! Probably needs lots of revision...let me know what you notice. Thanks for reading.