Chapter 21: I don't know you anymore...
I tugged at the hood of my black cloak as I followed Conley who was making his way through the crowded market place, this was definitely not the moment to get busted. Someone grabbed my arm and forced me to turn around, frightened, I tried to withdraw my arm but the grip was too strong.
"Miss! A wish granted in exchange of your name!" an old woman offered in a trembling yet strangely menacing voice. In spite of my many refusals, the woman wouldn't let go of my arm and panick began to rise in me.
Fortunately, Conley had realized I wasn't walking behind anymore and he went back to get me. He snatched me out of the old woman's grip, his arm remaining protectively around me. Thankful, I gave him a smile and he adviced me to be more careful and to keep looking at the ground.
I did as he said but at some time, I heard the enchanting sound of music... Completely under the spell of the harmonious sounds escaping from a violin, I began to run towards the musician. Surprised, Conley had let me go and he quickly lost me in the crowd.
A human was standing on a wooden chair and played a wonderful song with his violin. Elves were surrounding him, listening to the music in awe. After some time I realized he could not stop playing, it was as if his body did not respond to what his brain was ordering. You could guess that when you looked at his face which bore a look of agony as tears were streaming down his face.
Beside him was an elf which had the appearance of a forty-year old man and who was certainly his master. He smiled each time he could see the man wince in pain. Other elves did not seem to care of the performer being hurt but were simply content to enjoy the show.
An elf-girl aproached the master and whispered something in his hear; the elf smiled and nodded. He clapped his hands before shouting: "Dance, now!". The young musician immediately put down the violin and began to dance as the elf clapped his hands to give him the rythm. He began to dance to a furious rythm, a bit like an Irish dance but he did it so quickly you could barely see his legs. He's going to pass out! I thought as I saw his eyelids beginning to droop. Tears filled my eyes as I realized the cruelty of the scene and suddenly the young man collapsed. Everyone smiled and clapped as the master began to shake him to wake him up. I was about to run to him when I felt arms go around me. I looked and saw Conley. He looked hurt too and he told me we couldn't help him.
When I asked him why, he said we would get spotted and that the musician was too enchanted to be his normal self ever again. I looked one last time and I saw the poor man being taken away by two other human boys.
I couldn't get rid of the grief I felt for the rest of the day, why are they so cruel? Don't they ever feel guilty?
We finally arrived to the castle and I shuddered. Even though it was beautiful, coldness radiated off of it and I definitely not felt at ease. It had been three days we had not seen Zéphyr and he did not send us a message. We had decided to look for him in the castle to see if he was okay but it was not going to be easy.
It seemed there was a ball as a lot of elves wearing fine clothes were entering inside the white and silver building. We would obviously stand out, me in my human clothes and Conley in his clothes from the Autumn court.
-"What do we do now?" I asked my friend. He had a concentrated look on his face and he seemed to be thinking hard.
-"We need to disguise ourselves... We obviously are not looking like snow elves but luckily cloaks are fashionable here so we only need to find some clothes."
-"Clever but where do we get those clothes?"
He remained silent for a few seconds before smirking.
-"You can thank my good looks and unresistable charm, Eden, because I know someone who will die to help me!"
I laughed quietly as he energetically walked away.
After travelling up and down the dark streets of Giveragh we ended up in front of a small wooded house in which we could see there was still light.
Fixing his hair one last time, Conley straightened and walked towards the house with confidence and knocked on the door.
An elf maiden opened the door and a smile appeared on her face before an angry look appeared.
-"Conley! It is now that you come visit? You miserable..." she was interrupted by Conley taking her in his arms and I could see she softened.
-"Why do you always do that... But sincerely though, you could have come sooner, I have not seen you in two months!"
-"I know dear, I know, I'm sorry but you see, I had a lot of things to do..." he said in his sweetest voice. The girl gave him a wary look before asking what he wanted.
-"Well, I kinda need your help to get clothes for the winter court for my friend and I..." he answered. She suddenly looked at me, a surprised look on her face like she didn't notice me before.
-"You're travelling with a girl?"
-"Yes, but don't worry she's just a friend, she's Zéphyr's friend!" he quickly answered as he could feel she was getting jealous.
She quickly made us coming in the house and kept repeating she was going to get in trouble because of him. We hurriedly put the clothes she gave us on and she asked us to give them back as soon as we were finished with this whole story.
He grinned and gave her a kiss on the cheek before going out. The blond elf blushed and told him to come back soon and not to get too much in trouble. I thanked her and said goodbye before waving at her from the other side of the street. I saw her wave back and close the door, leaving us again in the darkness of the deserted street.
The dark blue dress I was wearing looked like it was reflecting the night's sky as the diamonds which adorned it looked like little stars...
"Come on Cinderella, we must find Zéphyr before we turn into pumpkins again!" the autumn fey exclaimed after admiring his refined silver suit.
We managed to sneak inside, the stuarts and the guards too busy with the nobles coming towards them. Conley took the lead since he knew where was Zéphyr's room and I followed him distractedly while I observed my surroundings.
We arrived in a hall which was where our friend's chambers were according to the Autumn fey. And, to our surprise, two guards were standing at each side of the door, stopping everyone from coming in.
Conley pushed me towards them, whispering: "You distract them while I sneak in!"
"What? No! Are you crazy?" I protested but I was already in front of them. I turned towards them to see they were looking at me.
"Errr... Hi!" I said shyly. Think of something, quick!
"I think I'm lost... you see, I hum... I was looking for the restroom because I wanted to do my make up again" I said imitating the tone of the Barbie dolls that were in my school.
"Make up isn't quality anymore, really, you always have to check if it isn't running down your face, you know?" They didn't move, not even blinked.
"Well, obviously you don't know, because you know, you're not... girls. You indeed are very manly!" Oh this is terrible, and not working at all...
"So, hum could you guys lead me to the bathroom? You would be real gentlemen!" I said, giving them my best smile. They looked at eachother and went back to their initial position.
"Okay this is obviously not working..." I sighed and did something I didn't think I was able to do. And kids don't do this at home, or even outside...
I punched them both in the face. Yeah, incredible uh? I was completely gobsmacked at what I did and immediately felt guilty, the poor guys didn't ask anything.
"Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry!" I apologized and they began to stand up but Conley knocked them out.
"Hey good job missy!" Conley grinned
"Yeah! You're lucky I'm here! You should be ashamed to let a lady do the job!" I playfully punched his arm as I pushed the door.
"You! Stop!" a guard shouted at us. At that moment the door opened and I fell into the arms of a man.
I looked up to see Zéphyr, dressed in a very princely suit with a cape. I smiled and exclaimed: "Zéphyr! You're safe!". But the serious look he bore didn't leave his face and he seized my arms tightly.
"Ow, it hurts! Stop! What are you doing?" I protested as he lead me towards the guard.
"Put them in the donjons and tell the queen." he coldly ordered.
Okay, what happened to him? I'm like really confused... The feeling of betrayal sank in and I refused to let the tears leave my eyes. I looked in his eyes as the guards dragged me away and I was surprised to see such coldness in them, such inhumanity... I looked at Conley who was looking at me worriedly before shouting: "Don't worry, it'll be okay! I'll come get you!"
His words reassured me a bit and I saw him stay at Zéphyr's side though some other guards were grabbing his arms, stopping him from running away.
I shivered as I entered the dark, cold donjon; not only because of the cold but also because it was exactly the type of donjons you see in films: sordid with rats running everywhere. The guards closed the door behind me and I began to think about what just happened.
"Why did he do that? I don't understand at all... Maybe he couldn't let people see him help a human? That's probably it, he couldn't let anyone suspect him..." I said to myself.
"I just have to wait for him to get me out of here right?" I concluded, sitting on the stone floor. I waited for hours, or maybe it was just five minutes but I really couldn't just wait, could I?
"Oh! Really? Why am I waiting for my prince to come save me? I'm not a damsel in distress! I can take care of myself!" I exclaimed as I energetically stood up.
I began to inspect the room for a stone or some heavy object to break the door down.
"Aha!" I shouted when I saw a big stone lying on the floor in a dark corner. I made my way towards it and undertook to move it near the door. After multiple attempts, I couldn't even lift it up.
"Oh come on!" I moaned. I tried one last time and as I did, the door flung opened and two guards appeared.
"What's going on?" I asked, frightened as they dragged me away, but they didn't answer.
We entered a huge ballroom, decorated in gold and white.
In front of me, a woman with long strawberry blonde hair was sitting on a throne, a cold and threatening smile creeping on her lips. She was staring at me with her icy blue eyes, exactly the same colour as Zéphyr, and I held her gaze, feeling fearless as I thought I was doing that for my mother. She snapped her fingers and someone began to make its way to her. Bowing to the woman on the throne, obviously the queen, the graceful silhouette was that of a woman, an elf, with long light brown hair and a graceful gait.
The queen suddenly grabbed her throat, forcing her to face me. I almost fainted when I saw that woman was my mother. She was oddly ans slightly looking different with her long ears and panicked eyes.
"Is this your human daughter Ena?" she asked in a disgusted tone.
A look of anger passed on my mother's face as she remained silent. In this instant, I was not able to do a single move, not even move my lips as I was paralyzed with fear.
"Answer to your queen!" the infuriated elf shouted.
My mother, without a world, made her way to me and put her hands on my throat. My eyes widened as I realized this was not my mother, it couldn't be right? She then whispered only for me to know: "Sorry, this is going to hurt..." before I suddely saw darkness and felt a raging pain in my head. Before I passed out I managed to hear vague sentences; one was directed to the queen: "Would a mother do that to her child?"
"Certainly not..." the queen answered desperately.
A/N: Hi everyone! Thank you so much for your reviews! They are so encouraging :) I hope you liked this chapter and please tell me your thoughts about it! Thanks to AriaRose7, I likemutemath, Pokemonchen and DaughterOfNoOne for all your lovely reviews, they made my day :)