Author SkyTate19

Title Spellbound

Summary Once upon a time a young prince called Bridge was about to take his place as ruler of his reign. One day queen Kat betrothed him to lord Kruger and he had no choice then run away, finding himself in New York…

Disclaimer Characters belong to their creators. Other things are mine.


Chapter 1

Reign of Idlewild

"Bridge! Bridge, wake up, Bridge!"

Bridge groaned and pulled the covers over his face. "Five minutes..."

The blankets were rudely torn from his grasp, and someone gripped his shoulders firmly, giving him a rough shake. When Bridge's eyes flew open in surprise, Syd's pretty face was contorted with fear.

"You have to leave. Now!" her voice was a low hiss, and her golden hair the only splash of color in the dark room. She grabbed his arm and pulled him off the bed, barely allowing him time to find his footing.

Bridge stumbled after her, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his palm. "Syd? What's going on?"

"Be quiet!" she whispered fiercely, and tugged him into a run, out of the room and into the corridor lighted by torches held up high in their metal cradles.

When they passed a thin slit of a window cut into the castle wall, the moonlight briefly offered Bridge a glimpse of the worried frown on her face and the grim line of her mouth. Their feet scraped over the cold stone floor noiselessly as they ran, Syd twisting and turning into deserted passageways and dark stairwells, and Bridge soon realized that she was taking him out of the castle.

"Syd!" Bridge said as softly as he could. "Syd! What are you - "

Syd navigated a sharp corner, but before he could follow her, she had turned back, stifling a gasp. She pushed him away from the corner, pressing their bodies into the wall, and her fingers dug painfully into the back of his hand.

"Syd?" Bridge said again.

"Z, Z," Syd whispered anxiously, ignoring him. "Where are you?"

"Did you hear that?" it was a deep male voice, and there was a thin scrape of metal against its scabbard when the royal guard drew his sword.

Syd covered her mouth with a hand, and she was pulling Bridge away when there was a small, muffled explosion followed by a woman's loud cry.

"Help! help!"

The guards did not hesitate, and their footsteps hurried down the corridor, away from them. There was a squeak of heavy wood, and they were gone. Syd yanked at his hand again, and neither of them looked back when they burst out of the castle through the very same entrance the guards had used. Their toes sank into wet, spongy grass and muddied earth and they both slipped a couple of times, but Syd did not allow them to slow their pace.

The moon was only a tiny cut in the sky, and Bridge followed Syd blindly as she led him deep into the garden, plunging them into a thicket of leaves and vines. When her outstretched hand met the defensive walls surrounding the castle, she dropped to her knees and patted her hands on the solid bricks. Bridge knew what she was looking for; there was a small hole cracked into the wall, big enough for someone to crawl through and escape the confines of the castle. The servants often used it for their personal errands, and Bridge had used it quite a number of times himself.

"Syd," Bridge said, and his voice cracked on his nanny's name. He could hear people shouting, and there was an orange glow in the distance; a fire.

"Bridge," Syd said softly, trying to smile at him. Her fingers found the edges of the broken brick. "It's okay. Trust me."

His heart fluttered wildly in his chest as he tumbled through the small gap, Syd coming through right after him. She reclaimed his hand when she got to her feet, and then they were running again, and Bridge did not know for how long, but it was long enough for his breaths to shorten into harsh pants, and for the soft ground to feel like cut glass. When they finally stopped, the castle was far behind them.

Syd plunged her hand into the pocket of her dress, and the small, crystal ball was bright blue with speckles of silver and strokes of gold swirling restlessly within the glassy orb.

Bridge gasped. "How - where did you - "

she pressed the orb in his hands. "Go! Now!"

"What? No! What's happening! why - "

"the queen is betrothing you to lord Kruger tomorrow, you have to go, you cannot stay - "

Bridge was shaking his head in a combination of horror and disbelief even as her words sank a heavy weight of defeat in his stomach. "No, no, father promised - "

"Bridge!" Syd said sharply, and then she turned away from him, eyes growing big with dismay as she scanned the horizon. "I hear the horses."

She set her jaw and squared her shoulders, reaching for the orb clutched tightly in Bridge's fingers.

"No! Don't!"

She threw the crystal orb onto the ground and the glass shattered, releasing a burst of blinding light and whipping up a fierce, howling wind. A pool of shadows rose and shimmered in the air, a portal.

The horsemen were getting close; they could hear the faint clap of the hooves over the raging tempest. Syd grabbed him into a tight hug, and hot tears were sliding down his cheeks as he whispered, "I'm scared."

"I will come get you," she promised, and she kissed the top of his head and let him go.

"Come with me," Bridge begged, and she shook her head, tears glistening in her blue eyes.

"I can't, baby," Syd said, trembling as she pushed him towards the portal. She pulled the hair back from her face, holding it in a tight fist. "Be safe," she whispered, and then he was gone.