A/N: this is my first fic!! please read and review! tell me what you think! All advice welcome! I even welcome flames! whatever helps me become a better writer.
Disclaimer: I do not own any recognizable people, places, or things. All the rest, is mine.
xoXoxOxoXox
Darkness surrounded me. It held me in its cold embrace for what seemed like eternity. Black. I held my hand in front of my face, not seeing anything I had to wonder, Do I exist? Again I attempted to search for any part of my body. Despair. Hope left me when I found that I could not move my legs for searing pain wracked through my body. What is going on? What happened to me? Golden light spilled through my eyelids as I cracked them open. I moaned as another wave of white pain flew through me. I heard whispers, smelled wood smoke, and again... I was in Darkness.
xoXoxOxoXoxA smog clouded my senses as I wavered back into consciousness. "Where am I?" I managed to rasp out. If this is my punishment for running away again then it's the best punishment ever. My watery eyes tear away to reveal a large dark red and purple room well furnished with cushioned sofas and fur carpets. I gazed at the tapestry on the opposite wall and saw, to my distaste, a tapestry with a scene from the Rogue Wars where my father was on top of a hill holding a head of a rogue prisoner declaring victory upon the land once again.
I pulled back the large coverlet from the bed and began to throw my legs over the edge of the bed. Suddenly I felt a constraint against my ankle and heard a loud chinking sound. Shutting my eyes I allowed a tear to escape me and slide down my pale skin. Locked in.
"You couldn't just shut the door and lock it... you just had to make sure I couldn't move at all." I muttered, cursing my father vehemently.
I watched as my tears fell against the red sheets of the bed I was bound to. The tears soaked up into the sheets leaving small dark stains against the blaring red. It reminded me slightly of my life. How every mistake I made seemed to affect me in a variety of ways and would, with time, fade away... but no matter what they were still there, haunting my every waking step.
When I first moved into the palace with my twin brother Colemnae at the age of ten I considered it an adventure. Colemnae and I would roam the corridors at night and explore all the spare rooms. It took us two years to get caught by a night guard... we never knew there were night guards then because we were very cautious to not go where we were not wanted. Even though they knew who our father was we did not go unpunished. We were forced to work in the Dragohold for two weeks. It was not an entirely bad job until my father brought his dragon in for a visit and threatened us with our lives. That was the day we learned that nowhere was safe. For another 3 months afterward my father had us followed by some henchmen who would not let me do a thing to get my skirts dirty, or in my brother's case his boots. Soon Colemnae and I learned to evade them and eventually my father let us off the punishment and began teaching my brother sword skills. Unfortunately because of my being a girl, I was not permitted to learn the skills my brother learned... but of course because of us being so close he taught me everything my father taught him.
I smiled as an image of Colemnae adjusting my stance flitted before my eyes. He was so kind... so gentle. He knew how to keep me happy in the bleakest of times. My father soon taught him how to use magic... I never understood how my brother got the power to begin with because he never told me. All that I know is that he was gone for a week and a half and he came back with powers. Colemnae used to take me out to the lake in his spare time and teach me words of power. When I asked him to teach me the forbidden words he refused telling me that the words should be used with caution for they drag much power out of a human's life force. I never pressed him for information after that. On our fourteenth birthday my father drew me aside and told me that he would soon be allowing me to learn magic and words of power. I was fairly excited and couldn't wait to tell Colemnae, but my father sensed my thoughts and told me to not tell Colemnae for he was becoming a greedy fiend and only wanted the power for himself. I kept the secret to myself until one morning, a week before our fifteenth birthday... My brother made me very angry.
(FLASH BACK)
"I will not show you any more magic, Arien!" he yelled frustrated after I had bothered him for over half an hour. "I'm tired and I don't want to exhaust myself anymore than I need to!"
I glared at him for a moment but then smiled slyly. "It doesn't matter anyway, brother. For father has told me that I will be learning the words of power very soon myself."
Colemnae sat up from his place by the waterfall... possibly the sunniest spot in the wooded area. "He has agreed to teach you?" he swallowed hard and stared at me fearfully.
I continued to smile and allowed a little bit of gleeful insanity to touch my eyes, "Yes! Isn't that exciting, Colemnae? Are you not excited that we will be spending more time together, just like in the old days when we lived up north with mother!!"
"No." he hissed gruffly, "No! I will not allow it! I forbid you from using magic with father... I forbid you from letting father teach you how to use it."
I looked into his deep green eyes that were slightly covered with his dark brown hair. Unlike me he did not have to dye his hair the royal blonde. He did not have to be restricted by a code of courtly dress. He had everything and he knew it... he was just being greedy. After a moment of silence I whispered heatedly, "Father said that you would be greedy, telling me not to learn magic. He told me that you would want to keep all the power to yourself. I didn't believe him. But now I see that he is right."
Colemnae sat down next to me in the grass and took my hands in his. We looked deeply into each others eyes for a moment before he spoke again. "This power is overwhelming. I would gladly share it with anyone if I knew they could handle it. But I know that not even you, the strongest, most stubborn woman on earth, can handle this. I know what my limitations are, and they are few, but I struggle to not pass them. I struggle to not overuse my power. I get greedy with my power and very easily get caught up in projects that are bigger than my strength."
Again our eyes met. Just like old times I could feel him saying a million things to me with just one look. I bowed my head and began crying. "I'm sorry Colemnae. It's just... I don't have anything interesting to do and I am just so sick of looking and playing the part of 'the beautiful Princess Dectalia of the castle!'"
He laughed and took my face in his hands and touched our foreheads together. "That is exactly what you are though, Arien. You are not only the most beautiful princess of the castle... but of the land. Everyone knows it, I've heard it said on the streets. When people gather around the walls to watch me and the stable boy sparring, they aren't watching us! They are watching you watching us! You are a sensation among the people! They say that you will make a beautiful Duchess someday! They say you have a heart of pure gold! That you will make Alagaesia a better place!! But to me you are something different. You are Princess Arien, daughter of Josian. You are certainly not Princess Dectalia! Nor will you ever be! You are my sister... My twin sister!! Someday you and I will change this land for the better, you and I will be the best rulers this gods forsaken country has ever had!! No longer will this country live in fear of a man with so much power! They will soon live in a place where there are two rulers, Brother and Sister, who will make sure that there is plenty of food on everyone's table, who will do their best to make sure that the dragons and the people are at peace! Just wait, Arien. Just you wait and see what I have in store for this country once our father is gone."
(End Flash Back)
As I remembered all of this I slipped the sheets back over my head and began to cry uncontrollably. The memory faded into the others in my mind and another fell forward.
(ANOTHER FLASH BACK)
"Arien!! Arien!! Wake up!!" A familiar voice called me. I pulled the covers from the top of my head and met Colemnae's green eyes.
"Colemnae! It is so early! Is everything well?" His eyes showed worry and fear, something that I hadn't seen since we were toddlers. "Colemnae? What has happened??"
Next thing I know we are running through the winding corridors and halting in front of our mother's door.
"What is it, Colemnae?? What is wrong with mother?"
He held out is small hand and lead me into our mother's room. We walked up to her bed and I touched her arm. It was burning hot.
"Mum's got the fever! Oh Colemnae! What are we going to do?!"
Suddenly the door burst open and a regal man stepped through the door. Although a stranger to us our delirious mother must have known him for she gently leaned her head against the stranger's hands. "Keep them safe." and those were her dying words.
We were eight.
(End Flash Back)
"Princess Dectalia?"
I lifted my head out from underneath the covers of the bed and looked at my brother. "Colemnae!! You are safe!" I flung my arms around him and held him close to my body. "I thought you were dead for sure!! I thought that You were thrown over the edge of the river bank!! Oh Colemnae!! I was so worried about you!!"
He smiled sadly at me. "It's Kordin now, Dectalia. You've known this for months."
I lowered my eyes. "I apologize, your highness." I muttered. I looked up from under my lashes and saw behind him three of my father's highest advisors. "I have learned my lesson and will never escape again. I will remain in my room for another 2 months and spend my hour and a half with Lord Murtagh."
Colemnae's face turned serious, but there was a slight sparkle in his eyes. "No, princess, I came here to ask where you have taken the Dragon Egg."
I dared to meet his eyes and allowed some amusement to skip into them. "I do not understand your accusation, brother. I simply tried to run back to our home in the North—"
An older man by the name of Dorindalus stepped forward and cut me off with a wave of his hand, "You were heading South, young lady—"
Suddenly a sword was drawn and pointed at the elder's neck and Colemnae whispered heatedly, "You will always refer to my younger sister as, Princess Dectalia or Your Highness. Is that clearly understood?"
My brotherÕs forceful behavior frightened me. This did not seem like him to be so cruel to another human being.
"Brother, let it be." I whispered lowering my eyes once again, fearing that i would meet the same reaction. I could sense the tension let up around the room and I carefully said, "I swear to you, my brother that I did not take the item in question."
Colemnae gruffly lifted his hand and spoke a few words of power. Weight left my ankles and the chains clanked to the floor. I rubbed my swollen ankles and threw my legs over the bed. "Thank you, Your Highness." I said tenderly touch the cold stone floor with my feet and hobbling to the door.
xoXoxOxoXox
A/N: So what did everyone think?? I tried to edit this during study hall!! I hope that was enough time!! Please Review!!