Topaz sat dejectedly on her burnt, smouldering bed. She couldn't control it. Impossible. Her parents did not love her – The damage to the bonds was too great to fix. Now, they were her "Masters". Ma'am and Sir were the other names she could call them. The once elegant four poster bed had been replaced a while ago with a simple single bed. This plain bed had now become a burnt, black, cindering structure. She heard the same rapping at her door that was heard every week. It was Esme, her younger sister.
"Topaz? Do you want to watch the sunset?"
Topaz made no reply – she could never see the sunset, or sunrise at that matter – her window faced neither west nor east. And of course, as it had been for the past two years, Esme left sadly, feeling alone and bored. But she could never be bored for long. Their mother and father must spoil her terribly. Topaz got nothing. Esme would receive grand fantastic meals to have with her parents and staff, whereas Topaz had stale bread and water all alone. Esme would wear elegant and fancy gowns, and Topaz wore the same simple white dresses.
There was a knocking at the door as the stale bread and glass of water arrived. As usual, the same horrible memory was haunting Topaz's mind. The Accident.
Long before Topaz's parents turned against her, she had been living the same grand life as Esme. But that wasn't going to last much longer. One early, early morning, as the sun was rising on Arundel's gorgeous horizon, Esme awoke. She saw the sun rising through the huge, grand window, she know exactly what to do. She clambered onto Topaz's bed and shook her awake.
"Topaz! Wake up! The sun is rising! So we have to play!"
Topaz knew exactly what she wanted.
Before she could blink, they were running down the stairs to the Great Hall to play. Play. Not in the way ordinary princesses would. Topaz was different. It was considered a gift at this time by her parents but back to our story's real time – now a curse. But Topaz would create grand things for her sister to play with. Huge fiery poles. But at one point, as she was creating a huge fiery slide – she slipped. The slide had not been completed and it was so high up. Esme had started going down. She was about to squeal with delight, but there was no time. She had shot off the end of the slide.
"Esme!" Topaz yelled.
There was no other way. Better a few burns than death. Topaz shot a fiery blast at Esme and she careered into a pile of cushions. Topaz ran over. She didn't know how much damage the fire could have done. She still could have caused her death. Esme was unconscious and her face was very badly burnt. She knelt down and called out in desperation,
"Mother! Father!"
A few minutes later, the King and Queen came sprinting through the now burnt doors.
"Topaz – what have you done!?" The King cried.
"It was an accident." Topaz replied, sadly.
Their parents examined their daughters face. The King nodded to the Queen with extreme seriousness. She just looked at him with worry, but understood.
They were soon racing along on their horses to the Centaurs of the East Mountain. They would know what to do. They came to the middle of a misty clearing. They stood in the middle and their father called out;
"Please help us! My daughter needs your help."
The Centaurs came out slowly. The Pa of the Centaurs came forth, grey with age and full of wisdom. He said to them with great calmness;
"She can be healed, but it will take a while, the burns are very severe. But to help heal her quicker, I suggest we remove all memories of magic, to be safe."
As he edited her memories, the fresh vermilion streak of hair that had formed in Esme's hair, flashed in the dawn light.
"So she won't remember I have powers?" Topaz realised suddenly.
"Listen to me, Topaz. Your power will only get stronger. You must learn to control it. Heed my warning – Fear will be your enemy."
The King promised she would control it and they rode off. You could see the hatred burning in his eyes as he glared at Topaz. From then on she was confined to her room like a prison cell. Repeated training lessons to control it occurred. But two years on and still no success. The control was worse. But they had all forgotten the warning. "Fear will be your Enemy."
The bread was so dirty and dry – she just could not eat it. It was like a rock. She lobbed it at the wall and it pulled away more of the once white, mouldy peeling paint. She got up and picked at the disgusting greenish grey paint. Topaz used her powers to burn the wall. It made more black chunks swirl up the wall in thick spurts, making even more paint flake of the wall.
The water was just as old and disgusting as the bread and the paint on the wall. She spat it out over the chamber pot and ended up having to stay parched and starving. She couldn't remember that last time she had had decent food. Two years ago. She wished she could die, but she was immune to the fire her power gave birth too. The door was enchanted – as was the window glass and walls. The padlock on her widow was too, but was so old and rusty now.
Topaz heard a scuffle outside the window. She glanced up confused from the cindered remains of her bed. There, on the small window sill, outside the castle, perched a beautiful Golden Eagle. The Family Crest was a Golden Eagle. The sight of this magnificent bird twigged a spark in Topaz's mind. She could escape. No more torturous training lessons creation cuts, bruises and scars on her pretty, flawless, princess flesh. She stared at the rusty, "enchanted" padlock. It was worth a shot. Topaz aimed her powers at the lock in a perfectly controlled beam.
It shattered into small rusted pieces over the windowsill. Freedom. The eagle spread his wings and hovered outside the window. Topaz leant out the window cautiously. She was so high up, there was no way down. The Eagle got closer and nudged her. The shove was hard enough. She screamed as she plummeted to certain death. Her powers reacted and huge fiery wings shot from her should blades. She opened her eyes in shock. Flapping gracefully the large fiery, phoenix wings beat gently by her side, just a few feet off the air. She was free! Well and truly free. She looked intently at the Eagle. Something seemed different. Golden Eagles in Arundel's area always had amber eyes, but this one's eyes were a deep, dark orchid purple.
"You're not from round here are you?" She queried. What was she doing? She was talking for a bird for crying out loud! She landed, her bare feet landing daintily on the grass. The Eagle's eyes were suddenly filled with fear and worry. Topaz knew Golden Eagles had fantastic hearing, but now she could hear it too. Guards. They had realised she was gone! They flew off hurriedly before the guards had even reached the side of the Palace that her room was. Or used to be. Topaz had decided she was never going back. Ever. They landed in the heart of the Woods, at the Stone Emblem of the Enchanted Woods. The guards would reach them soon but both their wings ached terribly. Topaz and the Golden Eagle watched each other curiously for a moment. Her wings retracted and the weight on her back vanished. Not that they had actually weighed much. The Eagle's form began to change. It's body grew taller, maybe six and a half feet, meaning he was quite a bit taller compared to Topaz. He moulded into a beautiful young man, maybe fourteen years of age. He had dark blonde spikey, messy hair and the same deep, orchid eyes. She was lost in those eyes for a full maybe minute. He had tanned, olive skin and a muscular build. Eagle to human? Then Topaz twigged. He was a shapeshifter! Then there was a snap of a twig. The Guards! Topaz did not know how to make her wings reappear! They ran into the trees in desperation. The boy turned back into the Eagle, but Topaz could not regain her wings. He nudged her, meaning concentrate. But Topaz concentrated just a bit too hard. Her body transformed into a beautiful fiery phoenix. She stared down in shock. Because they were both birds, the two teenagers could understand each other.
"We'll head to the East Mountain! I have a place there." The Eagle cawed to Topaz. They headed off to the Mountain and had a conversation on the journey.
"So what's your name?" The Eagle asked.
"Well I was Topaz, but because we can't be found, or we're both dead, my name is Ember," Topaz decided. "What about you?"
"Einar." Came his simple reply.
"Nice to meet you Einar." Laughed Ember.
They came up to the East Mountain and landed on a cliff edge with a large boulder up against the wall of rock. Einar shifted into black bear and pushed away the boulder, to reveal a large, spacious cave filled with cushions rugs and lanterns.
"Welcome to my humble dwelling "Your Highness"." Mocked Einar.