With Eyes of Green
Chapter One: The Message in a Bottle
Elizabeth walked along the golden sand, her bottle green eyes fixed intently downwards, the cruel wind whipping through her ebony locks. Suddenly, she bent down and picked up a small blue shell and quickly added it on to a string of them that she was carrying. Elizabeth sighed. She was making a necklace to wear to the Salamander Ball, a tradition that her people had had for centuries. At the ball, in two weeks from now, she would officially become part of the clan, and would then be able to carry out her duties of getting married and raising a family. Elizabeth was fifteen; she did not yet want a family. There was so much in the world that she had not yet experienced, and the chances of her finding a husband who was happy for her to go gallivanting off on adventures were very slim
All of a sudden, a glint on the sand caught her eye. She bent down for a closer look, and observed that it seemed to be a piece of glass stuck in the sand. As Elizabeth started to dig it out, she realised that it was bigger than she expected. When she finally pulled it free of the sand, she saw that it was a bottle, with a cork fixed in the top.
'Eliza!' the cry shattered Elizabeth's thoughts as she turned to see her friend Archer running down the beach. Without knowing why, she quickly pushed the bottle into her bag. 'Your Mother wants to see you,' Archer panted when he reached her, 'She says it's urgent.' Elizabeth sighed. Her mother was going through a stage where she thought that she had to govern everything that Eliza did. It was getting exceedingly irritating.
'I suppose we'd better not keep her waiting,' Eliza said 'we know what can happen if we do that.' they both laughed. They knew how frustrated she could get when Hope disregarded her wishes. The fact that Eliza did it often didn't seem to help this.
When Elizabeth got home, she found her mother was sitting in the living room with a slick-haired man, laughing and talking.
'Ah, Elizabeth, darling,' her mother cried when Eliza entered, 'there's someone here that I would like you to meet.' The man stood up and looked Eliza up and down, an act which made her feel very uncomfortable. 'This is Mr Harkshaw.'
'I am glad to finally meet you, Elizabeth. We have just been talking about you. I see now that your mother was just being modest when she spoke of your unsurpassable beauty.' said Mr Harkshaw with a voice as greasy as his hair. She looked at him incredulously; not believing that anyone could think that a line like that would actually work. He extended his hand, but Eliza didn't move. She threw a glare at her mother and then ran upstairs to her room.
Eliza lay on her bed staring at the ceiling. How could her mother have done that? Eliza was barely eligible for marriage and all ready her mother was selecting her husband. And the fact that he was about 25 years older than her didn't help. She didn't plan to be married for many years, and would only ever do so if she was in love. How dare her mother, to try and run her life like that!
'I will never marry anyone my mother likes!' declared Eliza, 'That's final.'
Feeling like she needed to get out, she grabbed her bag, jumped up to her window and slid down the wisteria branch that hung outside. She wasn't afraid as she had been using this as a means to get out since she was three. It was very convenient, as her mother still hadn't discovered it, and never even realised that Eliza was gone.
'How'd it go?' asked Archer who was waiting for her at the bottom, 'You're out early this time.'
'It was horrible.' Eliza replied, 'She's trying to marry me off to some dinosaur.'
Archer laughed, 'She'll need luck if she's trying to get you to do anything you don't want to.'
'True.' Agreed Eliza with a mischievous smile
Elizabeth and Archer had been best friends since they were born. This was mostly because their mothers had been best friends when they were born, but that didn't bother them. Neither of them had any brothers or sisters, but they were never lonely, as they had each other. When they were little, they were inseparable and were always getting into trouble, but now they were older, it was thought improper for them to spend so much time together. This rarely stopped them, however.
'Got a dress to wear to the Salamander Ball yet?' asked Archer as they started walking in the direction of the beach.
'Not yet. I'm letting Mother choose one. I wouldn't ordinarily, but she'll most likely choose something hideous, and maybe then no one will want to marry me.'
'It's highly unlikely that that's going to work.'
'I know, but if it doesn't, we can always sail away to another world and never get married.' said Eliza with a grin.
'Well it's nice to know that I have options.' replied Archer as they flopped down on the sand.
As Eliza let her bag fall, something fell out. It was the bottle that she had found earlier.
'What's this?' asked Archer, picking it up.
'I don't know,' Eliza confessed, 'I found it on the beach today.'
Archer held it up to the light, 'It looks like there's something in there.'
He passed the bottle to Eliza who pulled out the rotting cork that was fixed in the top. She tipped the bottle upside-down and out fell a tightly rolled piece of paper, fastened with a piece of old string. A message in a bottle.