The sudden sound of screaming fills the castle, followed by a bang. The screams intensify, jolting me out of bed. "Zif??" I cry out, hoping to find my faerie spirit servant and friend. The small floating boy dashes about the room, searching for something. "Zif.. What on the wilds is happening?" The spirit stops for a moment to look upon me with pity. "The castle is being rampaged by gods knows what! I don't want to be around when we find out! Get dressed quickly; we have to leave now!"
Olga, an elderly faerie, rushes into the room, her hands clasping around my face. "Princess Xia! Darlin, they are here for you. They've already captured your parents. We have to get you out of the castle." Both clatter around the chamber, grabbing a few of my most important belongings, including my crown and staff. I still for a moment, eyes wide and chest heaving as panic hits me. "There's no time for this! Get up! Olga, grab her; there's no time to dress her now."
Olga, a very large woman, picks me up into her arms and follows Zif out into the hallway. A loud crash sounds out behind us. A man like wolf stands to attention next to a giant red demon, the demon covered in blood, his large, curved horns on fire. The wolf's golden eyes snap onto me. "Get the princess; she mustn't be harmed." Commands the demon, his voice gravelly and inhuman, shaking me to my very core. It begins to charge forward, both determined to get to me. In moments, a knight appears from his chambers and draws his sword upon the wolf. Sapphire wings beating behind him, I can sense his fear, and as he falls to the wolf, his screams of pain fill the hallway.
With this distraction, Olga races through to the next hall, her large and plump body moving with a speed I've never seen from her. Zif uses some of his magic to barge through the giant double doors. "We don't have long now. They know where we are. I've been preparing for this day since your father made me your guardian princess. There is a tunnel here that leads to Wilden Forest. We may face greater dangers out there in the wild, but I will do everything within my power to protect you, always."
Zif leads the way, looking back with a look of grief as he begins to crawl. Olga places me in the tunnel and pushes me to crawl forward. "Go on, don't be afraid, Darlin." I can still hear the screams; they torment me; my body shakes while I move forward; my tears falling from emerald eyes. "What will happen to my parents?" I ask, sobbing silently. Neither of them answer me; both holding back their own emotions. At the end of the dug-out tunnel, I see a large rose bush blocking us in. Zif uses his magic to part the bush for us to crawl through, each gaining scrapes and cuts from it's thorns.
I am pulled out by Zif, feeling the cold air of the forest hitting my body. I wish at that moment that I had gotten dressed and out of my nightdress. The white cloth clings to my fair skin. "Where can we go? They are looking for me. It won't be long till they search the castle and find the tunnel." Olga places a heavy hand on my shoulder, wiping my face from any tears. "I overheard your father talking of a vampire lord that he wished to ally with. I believe he lives in a fort at the edge of the forest." I turn to look into the dark forest, the whispering wind calling to my soul. "This place seems to go on for miles. It will take days to escape it on foot. Do you even know the way there, Olga?"
The older Faerie woman shakes her head, the glint of hope that her eyes held disappearing in an instant. Zif steps forward, taking my hand. "We do not know the way, but I do know that there is a village nearby. We can go there to find help, or at least to find a horse or carriage to take us to the vampire's fort. Try not to dispair. It isn't over until It's over." I nod, attempting to shake off the cold and the grief that envelops my soul. The walk towards the village is long, taking the whole night to get there. But as we do, I notice that it is eerily quiet, as if no one lives here any more. Zif stops in his tracks and forces me to look away.
"The demons that ransacked the castle came here first, it seems.. Olga, take her back to the forest opening; I'll find a horse." The little fae spirit takes no time and comes back with two horses in hand, one white with splatters of blood coating its hoofs and some of its legs, and the other black with a crystal-shaped white patch of fur upon the bridge of its nose. Xia, knowing how to ride a horse, takes the black horse, Olga the white, with Zif in front. "I say we follow the edge of the forest until we find his fort." Zif mumbles, driving the horse forward with a light "Hyah."
It takes hours of day time, the night's darkness slowly burning through the red sky. A light turns on up ahead, inside a castle-like building surrounded by tall stone walls. It is not unlike my own home, but much smaller and darker in color, having a strange aura that warns my instincts to run however my instincts calls fall on deaf ears as I race forward. "This must be it?!" I shout, relief flooding my system. I click my heels, leading my horse to go faster, not hearing Zif over the rumble of hooves. "Wait Princess! The Lord is not said to be kind. We should go about this carefully. Princess.. PRINCESS! XIA WAIT!"
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