Disclaimer: I do not own any recognizable people, places, or things. All the rest, is mine.
Dreamin' Angel: thanks for the review (my first :D) She had to be formal with her brother because there were court officials around and that's how things are done in court. Only when they are alone are they allowed to really be normal together.
Invaderm: Thanks!
Ok just in case anyone is wondering how to pronounce names this is how you do it.
Arien Are-ee-en or Air-ee-en
Colemnae Call-em-nai
Sabrina Sah-bree-nah
Josian Joe-zee-ahn
Bryttania Brit-tahn-ya
Emmalina Emma-lee-na
Lithelen Lith-el-en (exactly how its spelled)
Dectalia Dect-tal-lee-ah
Kordin Core- din
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I gazed into the body length mirror in my room. I had skipped dinner that night in an attempt to stay away from my brother, and most of all my father. My hands began trembling as I began to brush my long straw colored hair. The color did not match my skin which was a ghostly white. If I had the chance I would remain outside more often but when you are a princess and your father is a king who wishes to control everything you are not really able to do much without an escort, and my favorite escort was becoming more and more out of touch.
Colemnae's face flashed through my mind repeatedly as I stared at myself. You were warned this would happen. My mind told me, Colemnae warned you that after his training was done he would never be the same again.
"Though true that may be," I muttered, plaiting my hair into a long braid, "I was not expecting the change to be so fast."
"What were you hoping for?"
I did not need to turn in my chair. I knew who it was. The voice was soft and gentle, and his kind but confused presence radiated around the room.
"I do so hope that this counts towards the hour and a half I have promised to my brother." I kept my voice quiet just like how I was trained. "For I am fairly tired and wish to be getting some rest before tomorrow's ball."
Murtagh pulled up a stool beside me and took my hand. "We are alone, Arien, you do not have to be so formal." That was one thing I liked about Murtagh, he was always so kind, and handled me softly. He rarely ever gave me a hard gaze, unless we were around my father, but then my father was a difficult man to be around.
I hesitantly pulled my hand away and laid it on my lap across the other. I gently began stroking the soft fabric of my dress trying to think of something to say.
"What are you thinking?" he asked pulling a strand of straw colored hair from my face. When I didn't respond he used a finger to pull my chin towards him, "Arien, why do you avoid me so?" Again I remained silent, my eyes doing all the speaking. He sighed and released me. "Arien, I love you, you're like my sister—"
I glared and hissed, "And yet I am your betrothed... on some occasions your 'beloved betrothed'. I am done acting like I am in love with you Murtagh. I am sick with shame of living in this castle. I want to be free! I want to be who I was when I lived with my mother." I had stood at that point and began pacing in front of my bed. "But most of all—" I paused and sat myself down on the floor next to him, "I want my brother back, before he falls into the darkness I like to call, Magic."
Again we met blank stares. "I'm sick of being treated like the tenth child of the king. I want to be Arien to him... not Dectalia!! I mean, he couldn't be any more creative with my new name. "Dectalia" just like a ten sided polygon... a decagon he had to use "dec" in my name." I rested my head on Murtagh's knees and stared up at his big brown eyes. "Arien Lithelen Anwamane... not Dectalia of the Uru'baen. Arien. Just, Arien. Murtagh... what was I thinking? Staying here was stupid, but running away like I did last night was worse!"
He began to stroke the top of my head gently and murmur comfortingly, "Arien, my Arien, don't worry about your father. Don't worry about your brother. Just stay here, let me worry about how to keep you safe."
That night I asked him to stay with me and help me sleep. He knew how to lull me into slumber without using magic.
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Very, very early the next morning I awoke to see Murtagh slouched in the chair beside me. I studied his face as I often did whenever he stayed with me in the night. He was fairly pale compared to most men in the palace, although he was outside most often than most because he enjoyed riding with Thorn. He had a slight muscular build and if one looked closely enough you could see that his features were beginning to change into that of an elf, his eyebrows were more angular and his jawbone more defined.
I let my head fall back into the feather pillow as I traced his jaw line and fell asleep:
Blazing white dots contrasted against the black veil of the sky. My feet pounded against the cold mossy turf as I ran down the riverbank to meet with my brother. Incoherent thoughts ran through my mind.
Magic... FLYING... oh no... Father... trouble... what if... Colemnae... stubborn... run... Varden... Empire... Rider... Thorn... Saphira??... keep running... ow, knee... stupid hair is too long... just stay strong, Arien.
The sounds of the river became more harsh sounding as I went closer to the rockier areas. My mind began to wander as I slowed down by the bend. The light from the full moon reflected off the water and into the face of my brother. His eyes flashed to my face in shock and then relief.
"You're late, Arien." he whispered. Taking my hand he led me to the other side of the bend and handed me a package. "Take this as far away as you can. Arien, this is important! Pay attention."
I glared at him and rubbed some sleep out of my eyes. "Colemnae, its nearly midnight. I am exhausted from running nearly 4 miles nonstop!" he gave me a questioning look to which i answered, "The stable was locked."
With shaking hands I received the package and opened it gingerly. Inside was a polished glowing green stone that was warm to the touch. "Colemnae... did you—"
"Steal it?? Yes," he whispered. "I took it away from our father, for this is what he deserves. I don't want another being to suffer because of his cruelty." He then grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me close to him. "No matter what happens to me, I want you to run to the Varden. Run as fast as you can. Take Janora!" He passed his horses leather reigns to me.
The shocked expression on my face was not for just any reason, my brother was letting me use his horse. He was very possessive over Janora, the beautiful white mare that Murtagh had given him. Everyday from the day he had received the mare, he spent nearly 3 hours exercising the beast, feeding it, and cleaning it. The fact that he was giving me such a gift made me tear up terribly. "I love you, Colemnae."
Suddenly there were shouts from behind me. Colemnae's eyes went wide and he dropped my embrace. "Get out of here." But I was frozen to the ground in fear, "GO!!" he shoved me onto the horse and forced it to move. When I looked back, he was sliding down the river edge and struggling to stay afloat. The last words I heard were, "RUN!"
I did run. I rode all the way into the nearby forest just outside the city walls immersing myself in the green mass of the trees and bushes. I dismounted Janora after a few moments of riding off the path and stored the egg under the roots of a large tree. "Stay here." I prayed. I knew that I would never make it past my father's palace military and I certainly was not in the mood to even try. "You will have to wait another day."
I mounted Janora again and rode toward the palace. What took 10 minutes in a gallop, took nearly half an hour at a walk. By the time I made it back to the city walls I had fallen asleep on the horse, and was incapable of waking, for I was frozen.
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Again I awoke to the sounds of people talking. I turned to my side chair to see a different man sitting where Murtagh was previously sleeping. A pang of fear struck my heart and I quickly shut my eyes again. Oh no. I though miserably. Father.
"Yes, it is me." he growled menacingly. He turned his dark eyes to meet my bright ones. "You have a lot of explaining to do, Dectalia."
I groaned and attempted to throw up my defenses around my mind to no avail. My father was stronger than me. He simply pushed the iron wall back down and plunged into the pool of memories.
"Did you steal the egg?" he inquired with his eyes shut, concentrating to make sure I did not lie.
"No." I replied. It was the truth. I also thought the same thing. I did not steal the dragon egg.
His voice grew cryptic, I felt a silver dagger stab into my mind and slowly began breathing in and out to relieve the pain. "Did you take the egg out of the city?"
"No." This was also true. I never took it out of city bounds, just out of the wall. I did not inform my father of such. I did not take the egg outside of the city.
"Very well," he sighed lifting himself off the chair. I glared at him darkly attempting to invade his mind as he invaded mine, unfortunately his defenses were stronger than mine. "For your punishment of attempting to runaway into the night I am going to ban you from leaving the palace walls... for two weeks."
I bowed my head allowing stray blonde hairs to fall onto my face. "Yes, father."
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That night there was a large party, only among the girls of the family. I sat with my back against the cold hard stone wall of my elder sister's, Bryttania. My other elder sister, Sabrina, straightened out the table cloth over the table we were going to play cards on.
"I heard you got into a bit of trouble with father last night...rumor around the palace has it that you stole the last egg." another elder sister, Emmalina, said gazing at me from the east wall balcony. Her intense chocolate eyes never left mine, she had a way with making people tell the truth whenever people locked eyes with her.
I lowered my eyes and softly told her I had been searched and cleared. When I first arrived here Emmalina made certain that I was very very miserable. She hated not being the favorite child anymore. She, as well as the rest of the palace, knows that without me Colemnae would never survive. The only reason I am treated with more respect than the rest of my sisters is because Colemnae would never do anything without me. And Colemnae is the King's last living son.
"Emmalina, if I knew you were going to act like a spoiled brat I would never have invited you." Sabrina scolded.
Out of all of us Sabrina was the eldest and, had my brother not been born, the next in line for the throne. She had natural golden hair, and blue eyes. Her skin had just the right pink undertone to make her hair look just splendid. She had a very etherial feel about her. Whenever she entered a room everyone would know it... almost like she could command attention without speaking.
Emmalina, the second eldest, was the very opposite of her sister. Dark brown eyes, nearly black, and fake blond hair similar to mine. Her build as slightly on the larger side and she was very very short. People, other than our father, tended to ignore her. Just as I had decided to do then.
The thrid eldest sister is Bryttania. She is a very plain girl and tends not to be noticed by many people. She is very quiet and shy. The only thing she had ever asked for in her life was to have her own room filled with books and documents.
Bryttania looked up from beneath her dirty blond hair and whispered something incomprehendible.
"What?" I hissed. I was really tired of not being able to hear her when she spoke and was beginning to become frustrated with being in the same room with Emmalina.
"I said, I found something in the library this morning." she said a little louder than before. From the folds of her skirt she pulled out 4 scrolls. "These are titled, Dragon Riders of Alagaesian History." she excitedly set them down on the table and lifted two more, "This is titled, Family Line." she passed this to me and Bryttania, "And this last one is titled, Recent History of War."
Excitedly the other three girls began reading the history because that is all they really cared about. As for me I unrolled the thick crinkly parchment that was given to me... At the top of the page a flourish of letters were written "Family Line". I teared up. At the top of the page was my father's name and connected to it were four different women's names. From beginning to end they were: Anara, Clamanacha, Brecharde, and Josian. Underneath each name were rows of other names and underneath those were other names. These were the names of my dead brother's and sisters. All their names had been changed from their birth names, given by their mothers, to different names given by our father. I gently pulled at the edge of the scroll where my name and my brother's name were written. Arien/ Dectalia... Colemnae/ Kordin.
I leaned back against the stone wall again and pulled on my braid which was laying on my lap. I studied the lines of the paper that were not in ink as I reminisced about the days when Colemnae and I lived with our mother.
"I'm going for a ride." I whispered shoving the roll of parchment into the belt of my dress.
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I heald my head high as I walked past the gaurds and into the stables... none of them seemed to know of my punishment. I slipped a bridle onto Lithelen, my horse, and pulled the saddle around her body. "Let's clear our heads, shall we?"
Just as I began leading Lithelen out of the yards a sword fell in front of me and sharply hit my torso. I looked up at Murtagh and Colemnae and winced. They knew my punishment... and because my father knew their true names... I was in for a long night.
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"You dared to defy my orders." my father said pushing me to my knees on the cold stone floor. He knelt down next to me and whispered in my ear, "When are you ever going to learn? I am your father, and your king... you will obey me at all times." when I did not reply he grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him. "Do you understand!"
I glared at him and roughly pulled my face away, "I understand only what my heart and mind tell me. If you do not treat me like your daughter, you shall not own me. If you do not know my true name, you shall not own me." I could not believe the words coming out of my mouth. Though I had rehearsed them in my mirror before I had never believed that I would ever relay them to my own father.
He straightened from his sitting position and gave a quick hand motion to Murtagh and Colemnae. "Do not kill her..." he muttered before closing the door behind him.
Murtagh pulled out his sword and swung the flat of the blade against my back, I fell onto my stomache and cried out in pain and anger. Colemnae kicked me in the ribs. And again I felt another burst of pain... In the end I blacked out.
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I awoke to see Colemnae sitting next to my bed clutching the seat handles so tightly that his knuckles were white.
"It is not fair." He hissed to himself over and over again. I closed my eyes again and began to search myself for any serious wounds on my body. I had a long cut down my back from where Murtagh just caught the sharp end of the sword, and a gash on my left temple. A headache raged me to near insanity but I calmly surpressed it with thoughts of the forest just outside of the city. My whole body was sore, that much I knew... and there was blood caked on my night shift and blood matting down my hair.
I kept my eyes closed until I heard the door open and shut. Assuming my brother left I gingerly opened my eyes and gazed at the ceiling.
"Oh, Arien! You are awake!!" My brother had not left... instead another visitor, Murtagh, had come in. "Arien, are you alright? do you need anything? Water? Food?"
He tried to hug me but I pulled away. "What I really want is to be free." I whispered. "I dont want to be anywhere near people who are so easily controlled by my father. I want to be out where people act normal and dont have to worry about foolish things such as dying your hair every other week, or coloring your lips an unnatural red."
I steadily pulled myself off my bed and leaned against the wall. "I think I need a bath."
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A/N:
ok this is all just stuff that is leading up to the next chapter (which is only written in my head)
please review :D