Chapter Two: What Happened After Sunrise
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“Last night? When? How?” I asked desperately.
He looked at Nathan, who nodded for him to answer my question, then closed the door behind us so that we were all in the hallway.
“I was reading about Him, you see. I’ve been trying to figure out why some people talk about Him as if He’s real and alive.”
I nodded and told him that we would discuss the subject further after my father’s funeral, laying what I hoped was a comforting hand on his arm. Tobias and I continued on to meet with the advisors.
“What are we supposed to say to them?” Tobias asked. He had yet to attend meeting with my father’s advisors, despite being the king’s heir.
“I doubt they’ll let us do much of the talking.”
We opened the heavy wooden doors to the meeting room. No one was present, however there were signs of a hurried exit. The chairs around the table were left pushed back, and papers were scattered on the floor. On the table, scratched into the wood, were the words (of course) “Homo Fuge.”
“What the f-” I started.
“Homo Fuge, princess.” A voice whispered from above. A black caped figured dropped from one of the ceiling beams onto the table. It (I could not tell if it was male or female) extended a hand that closed and locked the doors behind us with only a flicker of motion.
“What do you want?” Tobias stepped in front of me.
I had no proof, but I thought I perceived a wicked smile from underneath its cloth mask. I stepped back to try to unlock the doors, but the locks had been melted. I tried the second set of doors, only to find those shut as tightly and securely as the first. I pounded on the doors and heard a crash behind me. Tobias had grabbed its long black cape and had pulled it down off the table.
Looking back, I felt the doors’ lock heat under my hand. Withdrawing, I moved out of the way just in time for the door to burst open. Nathan stood on the other side, hand outstretched.
“Tobias get back from her!” Nathan ordered. So it was a she. Tobias shoved her away and Nathan pointed for him to stand by me. Then he spoke to her. “You were bound away from this palace on pain of death! Why have you returned?”
“You cannot keep me out, Nathan. Your magic and your spells cannot hold me back forever. We both know what happened.” I had not noticed until the transformation was complete, but while she was speaking she had somehow clothed herself in a beautiful gown, one that only royalty would wear. She saw me standing, half hidden behind Tobias, and slowly approached us. Tobias remained standing, but could not move a muscle to halt her advance. I found that I couldn’t, either. “Besides, I have missed my daughter.” She reached towards me, as if to stroke my hair. I grabbed her wrist, but my hand fell limp by my side. Noticing the blood stain on my shoulder, she said, “Princess, you’re hurt.”
“It is my father’s blood, which you no doubt have spilled.”
She laughed. Her laughter was perhaps the most beautiful sound I have ever heard – the chiming of the soft bells that announced the coming of spring, or the sound of snow melting from the roof, running through rivulets in the stone walls.
“She speaks openly for one so young. How old are you?”
“Old enough to know the corruption of man and young enough to know its innocence.”
“Quick-witted, too.” Her eyes went between Tobias and me. She pulled us to her and was about to whisper something in our ears when Nathan stopped her.
“Speak and I will sever your head from its body,” he threatened. I had wondered why he hadn’t stopped her initial advance, then realized he probably suffered from the same paralysis that Tobias and I did.
“Nathan, you are in no place to be making threats. I thought you would have learned that by now.”
Her hand grasped the back of my neck, numbing any resistance I would have put up. She pulled me to the center of the room. Her dress made a rustling sound that I would have enjoyed had I not been petrified by its wearer. She began to speak, but the words were muddled in my mind and I could not understand them. Whatever she was saying, it was loud and made my head throb. Finally, it grew unbearable.
“Enough!” I shouted. “Enough of your words. Enough of your laughter. Enough of your presence. Leave!”
If looks could kill, her stare would have brought my last breath. I blinked, and she was wearing black again. I blinked once more and she was gone.
The room seemed to be tilting at a strange angle. I felt myself falling, but was unconscious by the time I hit the floor.
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