Ara'Manth
The young girl looked around her where she was standing in the empress private courters. It was a beautifully big room. Designed and decorated for a princess. This will be the first time that she will see the empress since the death of her mother. The girl turned around when she heard the empress entering.
"I'm sorry I kept you waiting, but urgent matters needed my attention. You look good Meredith." Elena said with a smile.
"Thank you, your empress, but there is no equal to your beauty." Meredith said.
"You know you can call me by my name Meredith. We are family after all. Please take a seat." Elena said to Meredith.
Meredith and Elena's mothers are sisters. The two girls hardly saw each other as they grew up in different circumstances. Meredith in a loving small home and Elena in a cold palace with no love.
"Have some of the ginger cookies. They are my favourite." Elena said with a soft smile.
Meredith had no appetite, but she had to force at least one down. Refusing will only be disrespectful. So she took one with a soft thank you and took a small bite.
Elena looked intently at Meredith. "I'm worried about you Meredith." Elena said at last.
"And I'm worried about you too, Elena. Your soldiers are causing so much destruction. Only you can stop them." Meredith said and put her cookie down with a trembling hand.
"We are still searching for traitors, Meredith and by any means necessary." Elena said in a calm voice.
"By any means necessary, you say, and this by molesting young girls?" Meredith asked with cold eyes.
Elena's eyes went wide for a split second.
"Come out of your palace and come and see the lower side of Ara'Manth, Elena. Innocent people are getting tortured and killed. This is madness. Do you want to wipe out all the witches in Ara'Manth?
"Enough." Elena said hard. "Are you forgetting your place, Meredith? The only reason your not in a torture chamber right now, is because of me." Elena said and narrowed her eyes at Meredith. "Your witch friend are wanted Meredith. Tell her to give herself over."
"She did nothing wrong, Elena," Meredith said in soft tired voice.
"I will be the judge of that. Now please finish your cookie and leave." Elena said before she walked out and closed the door behind her.
Meredith looked at the closed door with narrowed eyes and said to herself. "I will see myself out, but not before I have a look around, dear cousin."
-X-
Meredith opened the door just in time to see Elena disappearing around the corner. Their was no one in sight in the long corridor as she looked to her left then right. The old library must be behind that big double door at the end of the corridor. There is a secret passage way in that old library. I do hope I can still remember it, Meredith thought to herself.
Quickly she sneaked out on her tip toes. She had to use her body to help her push open the door. The heavy old door opened with a loud sound, and Meredith's heart almost stopped beating. She waited for a few beats, and when no soldiers showed up, she slipped trough the narrow space between the doors. Once inside she closed the door with all her might.
Silence filled her ear. The scent of old books prickled her nose.
Thousands of books lined the walls and floors of the library. It smelled of old books and dusty pages. In the corner was a hearth with a fire burning warm and comfy. A rocking chair with soft cushions on it and a red cloth draped over it was in front of the fire. One could sit there and read for hours. A spiral staircase led upstairs where more books lined the walls and floors.
There was a stone pedestal in the middle of the spacious library. Engraved in gold on the front of the pedestal was the family tree of the Emperor. A big book was on top of the pedestal. Its pages open at the middle. "The book of history" Meredith whispered. She softly traced her fingers over the old pages. "I remember we used to play here, me and Elena as little girls and Elena showed me the secret passage way. Now, to go back in time." Meredith said to herself.
Meredith walked to the fire place. What a beautiful illusion she thought to herself. Slowly she reached out her hand and put her hand in to the burning fire. She touched around in the fire to find what she was looking for. "Got it" Meredith said excitedly.
The fire place parted in two. Meredith walked through with a fast beating heart.
-X-
Ara'Manth: Open courtyard of the empress Elena's castle
There was about twenty strong young men waiting for the empress in the open courtyard of the castle. Amongst these men was Damon. Epitome of relaxed and sexy. His smooth pale skin in beautiful contrast with his midnight hair, his blue eyes and dark clothes. He was holding his bow nonchalantly in his hand. Swinging it back and forth, smirking at the other young men who looked nervous.
He smelled her sweet scent before she even had the chance to flip him in the air from behind. He quickly grabbed her and held her tightly with her back to his chest.
Elena's soldiers took out their swords ready to rescue their empress, but she stopped them.
Damon smirked, and Elena bumped him hard in the stomach with her elbow. He let her go.
"We meet again princess." Damon said with a mocking smirk.
Elena narrowed her eyes at him. "How did you make my personal squad?" she snapped at him.
"Judging by what you just experienced I think that answers your question." Damon said still smirking at her.
Elena grabbed the bow from Damon's hand. "Treat your weapon with respect for it will protect and safe your live against your enemies." She gave Damon a cold smile. "Smooth words will not help when your enemy is cutting out your heart."
Elena turned her back to him and said to the men around her. "You pledge your loyalty to me. I do not tolerate weakness. Word is that more witches are hiding in the ruins like rats."
Damon chuckled behind her.
Elena turned around and narrowed her cold doe eyes at him.
"You had me at rats." He said with a wide smirk and winked at her.
Elena's cheeks went red and her eyes darkened. She turned her back to him again and continued on with was she saying. "You are to escort me and find these traitors."
A soldier led Elena's horse to her. A powerful beast. Its midnight coat glimmered in the sunlight and warm steam came out from its nostrils. The horse was wild, but when it saw Elena, it bowed its head. Elena mounted the horse. The men and soldiers mounted their horses and followed the empress.
Damon was in awe of how Elena handled the power of the beast under her. Her black tresses played in the wind as she steered her beast through Ara'Manth's narrow streets. She turned her head around and looked straight at him. Damon was at a lost of words. They kept eye contact before Elena turned her head away from him. She bent down and whispered something in her horse ears. The horse picked up speed and it sounded like thunder when its powerful hooves made contact with the ground.
-X-
The fire place closed behind Meredith and she found herself in a damp narrow passage with stairs leading down. She had to walk carefully. Some of the stairs was crumbling under her feet. Lucky for her there were candles along the damped rugged walls. Meredith came to the end of the passage way only to find a big iron gate blocking her from finding out what's on the other side.
Wait, these bars looks wide enough, maybe I can squeeze through. The girl thought to herself. Painstakingly slowly she begin the process. When Meredith was finally done and on the other side, she let out her breath that she was holding in the entire time.
Meredith looked around her. She was in another corridor. This one short and dimly lit by candles. There was two big wooden doors on either side. These doors had iron locks in front of them.
Slowly she walked to the first door. She placed her ear against the door and with her finger she tapped on it. Nothing happened. She cleared her throat and whispered. "Is someone in here?"
There was utter silence. She did the same with the second door and still nothing happened. "I need to get out of here", Meredith said to herself.
"Please do not go." A voice said from behind the first locked door. Meredith's heart almost jumped out of her chest. With a fast beating heart she leaned closer to the door.
"Who said that?" Meredith whispered back.
"Help us," another young girls voice said.
"Please can I have some water for my sister?" Another girl said in a trembling voice. From behind the second door.
Tears rolled silently down Meredith's cheeks, and she whispered through the door. "I'm going back for help. I promise I will come back. How many of you are here?"
The girl behind the first door answered back. "We are four in here."
"And we are five in here. My little sister is just asleep. She needs water." The young girls voice ended in a sob.
"I'm coming back." Meredith said with determination.
She had to ignore the girls pleading voices. She is their only help out of this hell and she needs to find a way out fast before something horrendous awaits them all.
-X-
The lower side of Ara'Manth: The Ruins
There is nothing on this side. Damon heard a soldier called out. Of course there will be no one. Its just ruins and more ruins. Damon though to himself and kicked the side of a fallen wall in anger. He heard a soft cry. He bent down and looked under the wall. He saw a little girl crouched down with her eyes shut tight. She whispered in a language that he have not heard before. Damon's eyes went wide when the little girl disappeared. When she reappeared she slowly opened her eyes and looked at him with wide blue eyes.
Did you find something? A soldier asked behind Damon.
Damon stood up and said. "Nothing down there."
He watched the soldier walk away. He bent down again to see if the little girl was still there, but she was not. Good. Damon thought to himself. When he looked up he looked straight in Elena's eyes. Was she smiling at me? Damon thought to himself.
"I have found one." A soldier said sharply. He held the girl's hands tightly behind her back. The girl did not struggle. In fact with her head held high she glared at the soldier with a mocking smirk. The soldier slapped her hard across the face.
Damon vamp sped to the soldier and snapped his neck. He glared down hard at the soldier's body.
The girl looked at Damon, and said his name softly.
"How do you know my name, witch?" Damon snapped at her.
The girl gave him a longing look and then turned to the empress and said. "Your empress, are you aware that this one," she pointed her head in Damon's direction. "Is the lover of the witch you are searching for?"
Damon looked at Elena as if to say that what the girl is saying is not true.
"I do not know her. I have never met this girl in my life." Damon said in anger.
"Damon, its me." The girl said softly. "You are my one true love, Damon, nothing can change that." The girl's green eyes flashed angrily at the empress. "Nothing and no one can come between us. Not even death."
The girl sobbed and wrapped her arms around Damon's neck. "Oh Damon! My beloved." The action of this girl was so unexpectedly that Damon was stunned when he felt the girls soft lips on his. He pushed her away from him hard and she landed hard on her back. She looked up at him with pain in her eyes.
The girl stood up slowly. She looked at Damon with love, hurt and pain in her eyes. Damon looked away from those green orbs.
This did not go unnoticed by Elena. She felt like ripping the girl's heart out.
"I'm the girl your looking for. Bonnie Bennet, only daughter of Altheya Bennet. Too much innocent blood has been shed. I ask this of you, empress Elena. Let my people go. Look around you. There is nothing left. My powers are bound I will not harm you. Take me and only me, spare my people. Its me you want. Just let my people go back safely to Anvard."
Elena narrowed her eyes at the girl. "Give me the drawing." She snapped at the soldier on the horse next to her. She grabbed the drawing out of the soldiers hand. Elena focused her eyes intently on the drawing of Bonnie in her hand and then she focused her sharp gaze on the girl in front of her. Taking in her haggard appearance. The girls wild untamed curls hanged loosely and dirty around her face. Her dress was dirty and torn.
The girl's green orbs stared back at Elena with so much fierceness and fire that there came a cold expression over Elena's beautiful features.
"Cease her, Elena said and then Elena turned to Damon and in a cold voice she said. "And him."
-X-
