Chapter 3
She certainly grew up well. Her once awkward, childish posture is now that of a woman who knows her influence and uses every ounce of it to get her way. Her hair, once short and choppy, long and beautiful waves of brown tinted with red only visible in the sun. Her eyes gleaming with youth and beauty. Her frame less than a head shorter than me, lean with perfectly sculpted muscles, and such a beautiful endowment of her chest. She certainly did take after her mother.
My thoughts of the Princess were broke when the carriage's door opened, "We have arrived at your destination, Master Reaver."
I stepped out of the carriage, thanked him with a bullet in his head, and continued on my way up the steps of the castle. As I stepped through the doors, the barbarian king, Walnan, walked down the stairs leading to the throne room.
"I always know to expect you as soon as I hear the gun fire."
"You flatter me so."
"What did the man do this time?" The king asked as he came to a stop in front of me.
"I found his voice offending."
The king chuckled, "It's a wonder how you have any servants left, given the way you go through them. It's something I've always liked about you. Do you still have that Barry Hatch fellow?"
"Yes, I've grown rather fond of him; minus the vulgarity of some of his actions, however, I working on beating it out of him."
"Of course, now, on to why I asked you here. I have a few guests that will be arriving in a month and I need you to organize a welcoming party for them. All expenses that are required will be taken care of by me. I just need you to plan it."
"If I may ask, will such a get together be hosted at the castle?"
"I was rather hoping that I could use your 'Wheel of Misfortune" for the event, if you'll allow it, that is."
"I would be honored to host such an event at my manor. Everything will be planned to your preference."
"Good, I just have one thing that I require of it."
"Yes, Your Majesty?"
"Make it a masquerade."
"It shall be done," I quickly walked out of the castle and to my carriage, already having a new carriage driver waiting.
Arriving at my manor, I ignored everyone while walking to my study. I quickly opened the door and closed it behind me, locking it. After I had locked it, I noticed another presence in the room. I reached for my gun, but before my fingers even brushed the stock of the pistol, the business end of a gun was pressed to my temple and my gun was removed from its holster on my thigh by the person.
"You know it's interesting that you have a Dragonstomper .48 when the only person rumored to have one in centuries is the Hero of Skill, and he had all but one. Given that I have the one he didn't have that leaves you a few options: one, you found it; two, you stole it; or three, you are him."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"I think you do know. In fact, the way you handled the gun, you either have great skill, have had the gun for a while, or both; which means you know exactly what type of gun this is and its history."
I turned around when the person lowered the gun pressed to my temple and was faced with the princess, "How is it that you got in here without any of my servants noticing?"
"I'm sneaky and really good at staying in the shadows. Now, if you will, answer the question."
"If I was the Hero of Skill, then how is it that I am still young and devilishly handsome?"
"Reaver, I would prefer if you didn't talk to me as if I was an incompetent child."
"But if I am what you're insinuating then you are a child to me," I started walking towards here, backing her up against my desk.
"I know that there is something strange about you. You haven't aged since I first met you twelve years ago and you have hazel eyes instead of green, so either I'm crazy or you're immortal and have the miraculous ability to change your eye color."
I sighed, "You're going to find out eventually anyway, so why not? You might want to sit down."
I moved to sit on one of the chairs in front of my desk and she sat on the other one.
"I assume you've heard about what happened with Oakvale's destruction?"
"All I've read about it is that something happened that killed everyone living there and eventually the Darkwood Marshes spread out to engulf the area."
"The Shadow Court and I happened. I used to live there, before it was destroyed; I grew up there, had family there, the love of my life there, but one day, I nearly died. I was swimming in the ocean and went underwater without realizing there was a riptide under me. I got caught in it and, obviously, started struggling to reach the surface. As I continued struggling, I got deeper and deeper. It wasn't until I couldn't see any light that I started thinking, 'I don't want to die. I don't want to die.' And it was as if the Shadow Court read my mind because they were there. I made the deal in dire circumstances; I didn't ask questions I just did it. I wanted life and I got it, but at the cost of my home, my family, and my love.
"I had managed to make it to the surface after that, but, when I did, I turned to look at the town and it had been engulfed in flames. I could see people running from the burning buildings only to be chased by shadows. I could hear the screams of women trying to save their children, men yelling at others, trying to fight the shadows and save people from the burning buildings, the children screaming for their mothers and fathers before they were quieted forever; but what I heard most was the familiar voices of my loved ones calling out for me.
"I swam back a fastest as I could and when I reached the shore I ran to my home only to find it burning and my loved ones lying on the ground dead. All save for one, Her, the love of my life. I ran to her, holding her in my arms. I had just enough time to tell her what happened and for her to tell me she didn't blame me and to say goodbye before she died in my arms. I just stayed there for a while, clutching her to my chest, crying, begging Avo to bring her back to me even just for me to feel her kiss one last time. Eventually, I stopped crying enough to notice a whooshing noise. I looked up and saw that the shadows were retreating and the town was quiet. I quickly got up and started following the shadows, hoping that they would lead me to the Shadow Court.
"They did. I practically had steam coming out of my ears by the time I was in front of the Shadow Court. I yelled at them, telling them to bring everything back. They told me they couldn't and that that was part of the deal. I said that it wasn't fair for them to keep a deal that was struck under life or death circumstances, but they didn't care and they said that I would find out the rest of the deal later.
"I lived on in misery for another year hoping that the Shadow Court had forgotten about me, but I was a fool to believe so. Nine months later, a seal appeared in the house I was living in along with a note telling me, in detail what the rest of the deal was. I had to bring a young and beautiful sacrifice to the Shadow Court or they would take my life in return. I was going to give them my life willingly, but then the day that I was supposed to bring the sacrifice came and went and the next morning I woke up, think that I would be dead but instead had a different eye color and the seal along with a few of my more valuable possessions were gone. Apparently, a thief came during the night and stole them. After the day ended the seal and any that hold it get teleported to the Shadow Court and get used as a sacrifice.
"The next year, I was ready for the sacrifice. I didn't want to die so I had someone already in line. By this point I had already been crowned Pirate King and made ties that I didn't want to lose. I had become cold and heartless but I didn't care, I still don't care. I continued to live on making the sacrifice and, yes, I was around when the six Dragonstompers were created and I killed everyone who had one except the owner of the last one, as you can see you are still alive. Now, does that answer your question?"
"Why did you tell me all that? I mean, you could have just given me a simple explanation, but you didn't."
"You just remind me of someone I used to know."
"Oh, well, you've answered my questions. Here's your gun back," she placed the gun on my desk. "I'll just be going now," she walked over to the window, opened it, and swung a leg over the sill.
"Charlie," she looked back at me, "use the front door next time."
"Who says there's going to a next time?"
"I just know there is."
She smiled at me before swing her other leg over and dropped down, into the night and out of sight.
I got up and walked over to the small table where a crystal decanter of whiskey and crystal glasses was placed. Filling a glass with whiskey, I thought back to who Charlie reminded me of, "Damn you, Celeste. It's been centuries since I held your dying form in my arms and yet you still have found your way back into my life."
"You're right she has found a way into your life just not in the way you're thinking."
My glass crashed to the ground as the hand holding it, instinctively, went to my holster and I whipped around.