Fate

By: Sweet Honey

Chapter Three: The Love of a Mother



"A disgrace! It could not have gone any worse!" screamed the Queen, her voice echoing in the hall. Erik, Zaden, and Abby were all standing in a row, Kel being absent because she had apparently twisted her ankle on her *fall* and had been rushed to the sick ward. When Kel's dress was to big to fit through the door to the ward, the nurses had resorted to cutting it off in front of everyone. However, the days events had sobered Abby so that she couldn't even find humor in that. "I can't believe that this happened!"

Abby looked to the two Champions, their faces full of regret and disgrace (or at least Zaden's was...Erik looked unmoved as usual). Zaden cleared his throat and said "I'm sorry that my handling the situation was so crude." His eyes glittered a little and narrowed, the corners of his mouth turning up. He's smiling!? thought Abby wildly, looking at Zaden in shock and fury. That's sick!

Abby opened her mouth to say something when suddenly a hand reached out and grabbed her hair, pulling her in close. "This disgrace is your fault Abby!" whispered the Queen, her voice a low murmur. "Pulling that knife on that assassin may have been the stupidest, most humiliating thing you have ever done. What were you thinking!" Her voice rose higher and higher, and her hand pulled on Abby's hair more viciously than ever. "What will they say about you now Abby?! What am I going to do with you?"

The beautiful Queen continued to pull on her daughters hair as she thought. "Well, for starters I'll send you to your room, indefinitely." she said. "Yes...Abby, you are hereby sent to your room without food until you repent for what you have done."

Abby's eyes glittered evilly, and she yanked away her head. "And what exactly have I done, Mother?" she hissed, the word mother sounding like the most abominable of curses. "Protected myself? The shame the shame! I will NOT apologize for my actions today. Would you rather that I had died?"

There was silence in the hall, a sort of thoughtful silence. Abby looked at her mother, and realized that she hadn't denied it. She hadn't denied it! She took a step back in horror. There had many times when Abby had felt unloved and uncared for by her mother, even times when she had been physically hurt by her, and she looked down at her gloves as tears came to her eyes.

But never had she really thought (or heard her mother admit) that she wanted her dead! She stammered, couldn't put two words together, looked at her mother and then looked at Erik, feeling shamed and wishing that she could disappear.

"Go to your room; I need to attend to your sister." she said, turning around and walking out of the hall. "I'll set up guards at your door to make sure that you can't get out. And as for that atrocious question...it wasn't even worthy of an answer."

Abby went to her room quietly, put on a more comfortable blue silk dress and grabbed her Nana's Fairy Book from under her bed. She got about halfway through one story before she burst into sloppy tears. It was to much to take, the whole day had been to much to take in fact. She threw the book back under her bed She sat in front of her mirror and tried her best to make herself look prettier, but the outcome was still nowhere near Kel and her mother's shared beauty. She wanted to cry but the tears wouldn't come out.

When the door opened soon after she was startled to see it was her sister enter, carrying a large book. "What a miraculous recovery." Abby commented, looking at her sisters familiar swagger. Kel made a face and sat down on Abby's bed.

"My, what a dreary and plain room this is." she said, looking around in disgust. "Really, this decor would serve a maid better than a Princess!"

Abby sighed. "Kel, why are you here?"

"Why, do I really need a reason to see my beloved sister?" she asked, trying to make a create a look of hurt but failing miserably. Abby repeated her question. "All right, all right! Look...you know I can't read as well as you can."

Abby nodded with a smile. This little problem of Kel's was well-known.

"Well...I need you to read a passage from this book for me." she said, pulling out the big, gray and blue book.

"Where did you find this?" asked Abby, her fingers tracing the old binding and words Treasures from the Reign of Leonard III. "This thing is really ancient."

"I had someone find it for me, ok?!" said Kel, getting impatient. It was obvious that she didn't want to stick around for any longer than necessary. "Could you please just read this ONE page for me!?"

"Fine." said Abby, and she opened up to the marked page. On it was the beautiful picture of an emerald that was larger than her fist. "Okay, listen up Kel 'cause I'm only going to read this ONCE."



Pictured above is the Divine Gem, found during the reign of Leonard the III. It was initially considered to be a myth, but it was found after the King had raided the cave of an ancient Dragon. This stone, although beautiful, also proved to be a terrible thing. For reasons unknown it had enormous power that could cause disastrous or wonderful results, depending on the person who wielded it. After it was found a terrible slaughter broke out in which the calvary man with the stone destroyed half of his comrades before the energy in the stone destroyed him. To keep his people and men safe, the King handed the stone to his most trusted son and had him take it to an unknown location, which we believe to be somewhere near Glittering Falls. The Prince nor the stone was never heard from again.

"There, are you happy?" asked Abby, handing her sister the book. "I read the stupid thing: now leave."

Kel looked at her sister and smiled wickedly. "Zaden was very brave yesterday, don't you think? I mean, saving us all like that."

"Are you mad?!" asked Abby. "He made a man EXPLODE! There had to have been some way he could have saved us without...doing that. Not only that but I think he liked it!"

Kel waved her hand at her sister. "He saved us, you know that. Besides, I thought what he did was amazing and brave." she said, and then turned to her sister with a sparkle in her eye. "Remember when Zaden kissed you on the cheek that day? Well, he kisses much better on the lips."

Maybe yesterday this news would have startled and hurt Abby, but now all it did was disgust her. "I'm glad your so happy about getting kissed by a murderer." she said, grabbing her sisters arm and pulling her toward the door. "But you stories nor your company are welcome here any longer."

Kel turned around and her eyes became golden slits. "Watch that tongue of yours or I'll see it's ripped out!"

Abby slammed the door in her sisters face and sat down hard no the wooden floor, bring her knees up to her chin and wrapping her arms around them. The surprises all kept piling up, until she felt she may never be surprised by anything again. She had a sudden urge to read from her Fairy Book and escape the reality that served as a prison, and grabbed it from under her bed.

She opened the book and looked at the picture it held. On it was Kel, her book under her arm and her face close to Zaden's as she told him something. Zaden was smiling down at her and his hand was one her...

"Oh, my." murmured Abby, and she quickly flipped the page. On it was a picture of Erik reading a note, and on the opposite page was the note.



Dear Erik,

How goes everything? I hope all is better now than it was before. Personally I feel that the Princess Abigail cannot possibly be as bad as you described her, for I have heard great things about her kindness. I don't think you should call Abby your "Stupid human pet" either. If the council ever heard about that you'd be in for it. Cheerio!

Mr. K

"Erik, you stupid, worthless, lying...." raged Abby through clenched teeth. She slammed the book shut and jumped onto her bed. If sleeping was the only way to escape her reality, than so be it.