Disclaimer: I only own what you dont recognize :D
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I submerged my entire head beneath the warm bath water and turned to the thoughts that roamed my head.
If you're going to run you have to actually make plans... last time it didn't work out. Don't forget to keep all secrets to yourself... Murtagh and Colemnae cannot be trusted when their minds are so easily persuaded into the dark ways... Quiet down!!... He'll hear your thoughts!! I pulled the iron wall down over my thoughts to protect myself once again.
I blew bubbles out of my nose and pulled myself out of the water. It will happen within the month.xoXoxOxoXox
I stood in the corridor outside of my room with my other sisters awaiting the daily morning greeting with our father. We all dressed in our finest garments that rustled when we walked.
Here he comes, I thought warily. As he walked by he made comments to every one of us; reminding us of our beauty, our heritage, the honor it is to be related to him... When he walked past me I defiantly looked straight into his cold black eyes.
"Be grateful, Dectalia, for I will not protect you any more than needed if you keep acting out as you do." His face was merely inches from mine. I was very tempted to smack that cruel look off of his smooth face.
I could feel a slight smile pull my lips as I leaned forward to say into my father's ear, "I fear, you, not."
A glint of hatred appeared in his eyes before he said, "Your brother wishes you to accompany him into the nearby forest for his morning ride," and turned away down the opposite hall.
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I pulled on my soft brown leather boots over the tan leggings worn under my skirts. My hair plaited neatly down my back I carefully painted my face with the ceremonial red lips and pale face. I never really cared about how I looked when I was in the palace... neither did anyone else that I was around. But whenever I am outside I am supposed to smother my face with the paints. Every time I am forced to stare at myself in the mirror I am disgusted with myself. The red paint makes my lips seem too wide and the white paint makes me look ill. Altogether plus the black khol I have to use around my eyes, the ensemble makes me look like the glass dolls I used to play with as a child, completely fake.
I went to my jewelry box and gently lifted the dark wood lid and laid it down on the side table. A sharp glint from the sunlight filtering through my window reflected off of the pure silver knife with an emerald studded hilt my brother gave me for my fourteenth birthday. I slid it into the sheath in my boot and pulled out an emerald necklace that complimented my eyes.
Kanira, my personal maid, had already laid out all of my travelling things: a large leather travelling pac ( I knew we would be gone longer than the morning... whenever Colemnae had taken me on "morning rides" we had been gone a few days... the longest trip had lasted nearly a month... before father's troops were sent to search for us) all of my clothes were laid out in neat piles... 3 dresses, 1 ball gown (if ever needed), many many tunics... about 9 or 10, 12 pairs of breeches, 2 leather belts, 2 extra pairs of boots, two weeks worth of face paints (if we decide to stop in to see a noble friend), a pair of shears (my hair tended to grow very quickly), and extra hair dye along with hair elastics. On the edge of my bed, in front of this large neat row of clothing and beauty products, was my silver and emerald tiara. It draped over my hair and fell in chain links around my forehead. Along the triangular dip that ended between my eyes were small emeralds encased by intricate twists of silver wire. Around my hair were long chains that could easily be braided into my hair or linked into drapes when my hair hung down over my shoulders.
I sighed and pulled all the little chains together and gently placed it into the pack between two pairs of breeches to keep it safe if ever I drop the pack. I slung the full pack over my shoulder and headed down to the stables to get my horse ready.
The most beautiful mare in the land, Séreméla, was my horse... She was not actually the most beautiful... all the best horses belonged to my brother and father, but I didnt want to have anything to do with those horses... they were bred with magic, I felt that they did not have a soul. When I was given Séreméla, I thought she was the blackest horse I had ever seen. It is quite ironic that I have a black horse and my brother a white. I would have thought it to be the exact opposite, seeing how his mind seemed to become darker and darker every day and mine seemed to become more and more clear.
I sighed again at took my saddled and packed horse out of the stable to meet Colemnae in the front courtyard.
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The first part of our journey out of the city was silent. People around the city had completely dropped what they were doing and stared at us quietly out of their houses and from the side of the street. After a few moments someone shouted, "THE EMERALD CHILDREN!" If it had not been for the excessive amount of paint on my face I would have had large red burns on my cheeks for blushing so much. The common people believed that Colemnae and I —The Emerald Children, as they liked to call us— would free the land from our father's terrible rule and create a new country, a joyous country.
As we exited the city gates my brother placed a hand on my shoulder, "Everything will be fine," he told me gently. "We will be all they ask."
I lifted my eyes to look into his seriously, "Maybe, maybe not. If one of us does not survive then who will keep the other in check?" His green eyes flashed questioningly at my face as we trudged on, "Power is a great and terrible thing, Colemnae. If father so chooses to kill me in the end to tap into the dark powers inside of you, what will keep you from living the same way our father does? If you die in an attempt to use magic that is not available to you, then I will surely fall into the dark powers, like father wants."
We tore our eyes away from each other and rode on into the surrounding forest. "I— I didnt bring you out here just for a morning ride... I'm planning on us being gone for a very very long time."
I smiled, "I figured as much. Where to this time? Shall we visit mother's family again? Or! We could go to the edge of the Spine, like we did last time! That was fun... Or—"
Colemnae's glare silenced me and I pulled Séreméla to a halt and stared at him. "What is it, Colemnae? What is going on?"
He twisted in his saddle, delicately wrinkling his black cloak and slid something dark green out of his pack. "I found this out in the forest... in the exact place you told me where you hid the egg" I hesitantly pulled the large crystal like matrial out of his hand and felt around its smooth edges.
"No." I whispered, quietly convincing myself that what I was seeing was a joke pulled by my brother. "This isn't funny, Colemnae, this actually scared me for a moment!"
"It's true." He growled pulling my reigns from my hands and pulling me and Séreméla farther into the forest. "I came out here the next morning and found it... It is done, Arien... you are the last—"
I held my hands against my ears and glared at Colemnae, "NO!" I yelled, "It's not funny anymore. Just stop it."
But suddenly, we were there... just where I had hadden the egg. There among the old tree's roots were shattered pieces of it... jutting out into the air...
"It is true." Colemnae whispered puling me out of my saddle... "I cant make him come out of the tree... I don't think he has eaten properly." He pointed up into the branches and smiled.
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(A/N) HAH!!! cliffhanger!! you gotta love em.. although.. i'm prety sure all of you readers know what's coming,... but its still fun to keep you all in suspense :D
Read and Review s'il vous plait!!