by Tina Silvens
Soris became numb with fear. He gaped at her, unable to think at all for a few seconds. During the tumultuous years, he had learnt to cope with unexpected situations, but this was a situation beyond his imagination, one that surpassed human reasoning. No one in the kingdom, or from the entire continent, would have found this conceivable.
His mind paralyzed entirely. He started panting. His heartbeats accelerate in a crazy rhythm that he wasn’t aware of. Only the slight tremble in his limbs awoke him from the terrible numbness. Am I having another nightmare? he asked himself, swallowing hard as his mouth went dry. I must run! he realized, starting for another place.
Hardly had he moved his feet, wobbling, when he heard a deafening blow like thunder. At that moment, Vittria’s globe emanated a large, expanding red wave that went through the air, through him, through the building, and spread all over the yard. After this, a series of other waves carried on appearing and following the same path. The song of the crickets and the noise of any animals went silent at once.
Soris felt his legs getting considerably heavy, as if someone was wrapping thick chains on them. He tried his best to take another step, but the unseen weight climbed on his arms, unbalancing him and making him fall on one side. He hit the floor on his unhealed shoulder. He cried out in pain, shutting his eyes tightly; then he rolled on his back. But his pain wasn’t ending here.
Little by little, the weight gathered on his chest, making breathing difficult. Unexplainably, something was pressing his torso, obstructing his breath. Frightened, he opened his mouth, trying to get more air, but even the air seemed to have changed; it became suffocating. Soon, his sight went blurry at the same time as his consciousness.
Am I... Am I going to die? he asked himself, exhaling deeply. No, no... it’s probably just another nightmare. I have to escape. I must... protect... the kingdom... was his last thought, with which he entered the subconscious. He let his eyelids cover his sight and gave up fighting. His body relaxed completely.
Vittria twirled once in the air, the mysterious red blaze following her movement. A wave of black current went up and down, then in reverse, all over her body, and then gathered in the big crystal globe. It gave out one last ripple, this time black. It blew like fireworks in just a few moments, covering the yard. It fell, taking the shape of a dome, like a thick rain of fine particles that disappeared on contact with the soil. The spell ended.
The whole magical veil round Vittria withdrew into the staff. The whirlwind dissipated spontaneously while the crystal globe turned off slowly.
Vittria landed smoothly on the polished stone of the terrace. She looked around, pleased. The entire place had been brought to silence. Not a soldier moved, not a cricket or any other insect was heard; the world had gone into a deep sleep, as if dead. Only the Bardanians continued to swarm in the park, one half preparing to climb on ropes to the terrace, and the other one running to the palace entrance.
Nothing held them back now. Wherever they set foot, the soldiers, maids, and all the palace people lay down, as if cut off by an invisible force or a terrible pestilence. The royal palace had been conquered effortlessly by the Bardanians, who now ran joyously up the entrance stairs. Their steps echoed in the deadly silence, like in a cave.
Vittria, drained of powers after the laborious spell, but also fully satisfied, went for her trophy: Soris. She looked at him compassionately. Poor boy! He had more to suffer because he was so close to me. The others must have dropped down immediately. But it was worth it...
She pounced over him. She knelt beside him and stretched her hands over his shoulders, like a spider surrounding its prey. Now he was hers. She fondled his face as if to make sure he was real, not just a projected image on the magical screen. The touch of his soft, warm skin made her curve her lips in a sensual smile.
Soris, the young prince she’d been worshipping in her imagination like a rare sample of handsomeness, was in her possession, in the flesh. She analyzed in detail each feature of his face: the dark-brown strands of hair graciously spread on his forehead and temples, the symmetrical brows that harmoniously lined his arches, the fine eyelids bordered by a row of short, black lashes, the straight nose, the firm face contour and finally, his lips—a perfect artistic composition of fine curves and soft lines. Vittria couldn’t resist temptation any more: she grabbed his head in her palms and bent over to kiss him.
Chapter 11
In the palace, not everyone had been affected by Vittria’s spell. In her room, now illuminated by a simple light bulb up on the ceiling, Selunia was perfectly awake. She continued on her rounds, exercising alone the techniques of attack and defense for hand-to-hand combat.
At a certain point, she crossed to the far wall; then with a run, she jumped with a leg stretched to the front, landing noisily on the wooden floor. The echo of this fall in the room, followed by a tomb-like silence, caught Selunia’s attention. Panting, agitated by the long training, she looked around, bewildered. She concentrated on the sounds. Complete silence. The hum created by the rustle of the inhabitants and palace workers had gone away.
What the heck? Has everyone gone to bed? she asked herself, looking at the clock on the wall. It was around nine in the evening.
Selunia, confused, rested her hands on her hips. Do these people go to sleep this early? What about the general? Did he give up on visiting me, and go straight to sleep? I can’t believe something like that! That’s it! I’m not staying here anymore! she decided, going to the door.
But as she unlocked it, she found it hard to open. The problem wasn’t the door itself, but the general. She hadn’t his approval.
She knelt, took a deep breath, and pulled at the handle. She slowly opened the door a little. She looked through the crack. Nobody out there.
She returned, putting on the helmet to hide her hair, laid the large thick soldier’s gloves over the magical ones, then went to the door and swiveled her head around for a look. She found the hall empty. The servants usually didn’t have much to do in this area where she was. She wanted to go, but the doorstep had become an invisible barrier on which the general’s interdictions rolled over and over.
She shut the door, pressing her lips, unsure. She turned and went quickly to the one and only window of the room. From the inside, through the glass, she couldn’t see more than part of a path and, behind it, a row of trees and shrubs from the garden. She sighed, as she had a bad feeling about this.
Instinctively she put her arms on her chest. Her palms tingled. Worried, she struggled to get out the talisman she wore round her neck through the soldier costume. It was a precious object she’d received at the White Castle to protect her from witchcraft. All members of the stronghold, no matter what ranking they had, took care to wear a thing like that all the time.
Successfully getting it out, she stared at it. The crystal stone had turned purple. It was a clear sign of a spell. Normally the crystal was colorless, but near a magical attack, it took a tint according to the seriousness of the situation.
A spell? But how’s that possible here? she wondered, startled. Purple usually means a dubious energetic field. But what’s with that here? It’s really strange, just like this bizarre silence. I definitely must check. What if Soris is in danger?
*
Up on the terrace, Vittria got her lips very close to the prince’s. Desire attracted her like a magnet. But just then, a thought made her open her eyes and back off. It could be our first kiss, but for what use, if he’s not awake? The first kiss should be something memorable for both partners. I can kiss him like this as much as I want when he’s dead, too. But no, I want our first kiss to be that explosive sensation only love can give. I want to surprise him again, to see him struggle to get out of my trap, out of the pressure of my kiss, and then to see how he gives up opposing me and surrenders to the sweet control of our forbidden love. What if I woke him up a little? she thought, slipping her fingers down his face to his neck.
Unfortuna
tely for her, at that moment the Bardanians arrived in a row. They landed one by one with noisy fallings, accompanied by the rattling of the metallic decorations on their costumes. As soon as they saw her, they came to her, along with Leido.
“Vittria! What are you doing?” asked Leido hastily.
She got up slowly, regretfully taking her hands off the prince. She replied as an aside, “I was just making sure he was sleeping.”
A Bardanian gave Soris a kick in his thigh, saying amusedly, “That’s the best way to make sure! A-hahaha!” The Bardanians laughed. Vittria watched them spitefully.
In ecstasy to see the prince down on the ground, two of them—a bit more humped than the rest—approached him to do that too.
“Hey, you!” snapped Vittria, stopping them. “Don’t touch his perfect body, you beasts!”
The two looked at her, bewildered. One said laughingly, “What perfect body? Do you call this bag of bones perfect? Can’t you see how loosely the clothes fall on him? This is a skeletal body, not a perfect one! Hahaha!”
All laughed in approval; even Leido grinned, amused—he who most of the time tried to look more dignified between them.
Vittria watched them disgusted. She shouted, “What can you understand, you barrels? He has an athletic body, tall, well-shaped. He’s a real Adonis, unlike you piles of rocky meat!”
The Bardanians calmed down. They looked at her with regret. Her lack of appreciation towards them saddened them.
“Let’s not waste our time on such trifles!” Leido interfered seriously. “Take the prince and let’s go to the main hall, where the others probably already await us with the rest of the royal family.”
One with a gay attitude took the prince by the legs and started dragging him. Just a few steps, and he received a hit in his stomach from Vittria’s staff.
“You idiot! Carefully! I need his body in a perfect state, not harmed by your stupidity! Carry him nicely on your back, ‘cause that’s why you’re such a buffalo. Do as I say or I’ll turn you to dust!” she warned him, lighting up her globe to scare him.
Frightened, the Bardanian delicately lifted Soris from the ground, helped by two others, put him on his back and went inside, along with the entire crowd.
*
Selunia opened the jammed window with difficulty—a sign of its not being used for a long time. She bent over to look outside. The night’s chilliness was the first thing she noticed. Good thing this soldier costume is thick enough. And to think that in the daytime, I was complaining about the hot weather... But what a creepy silence!
Looking to the left, she saw nothing but the wall of the palace, the long path that surrounded it, a short lighting pole, and, of course, the garden. On the right, the same view; only, behind a tree about a stone’s throw from her, she could see something similar to some soldier’s boots, as if someone was lying there.
Selunia apologized to the general in her mind. She got up on the border of the window, then slid out the room, and went straight to those boots. Arriving beside them, she saw that indeed there was a soldier who seemed to be asleep. Is he drunk, sick or... she wondered, analyzing him closely. It was as if he had been drawn into deep sleep.
She tried to wake him up by moving him with one hand. Nothing happened, but she started to have an idea about the spell. To make sure of that, she continued walking to the right to the main entrance of the palace.
Advancing, she got to the end of the path that ran by the garden. She entered a large open area, well illuminated here and there. She gasped with fear. In the sinister silence, a number of people were lying scattered on the ground. No one moved.
She stopped by the first people she stumbled upon, kneeled down, and examined them thoroughly. They were sleeping tightly. From here on, looking around, she had a view of the main stairs in front of the palace. Some servants were dozing off on the steps, scattered in all directions. Selunia thought, frightened: This is one powerful spell. It brought every being in the palace to silence. But the general said they had no idea about such attacks in the entire kingdom. Strange! Really strange! What to do now?
Suddenly she heard a clamor coming from inside the building. A few seconds later, to her great surprise, she saw two unusually tall and stout men running energetically and then stopping on the landing at the upper end of the main stairs. They both roared in a chorus, like two wild animals, “Hooray! The kingdom is ours! Hooray!”
Selunia’s heart stopped beating for a moment. She quickly realized that she had to hide before they could take note of her—because, just as she could clearly see them, so could they see her, from up there above the stairs. She looked to the left and to the right, desperately searching for an exit.
Nervously shaking, she got the idea of pretending to be asleep like the rest. Out of panic, she threw herself on one side by the group of enchanted people facing the stairs. She immediately regretted that move.
She had made noise.
Chapter 12
The two Bardanians turned in the girl’s direction. They stared at the open area in front of them. They didn’t see anything wrong; still, something had happened. They both agreed, nodding their heads, to go down and check. They went down, scrutinizing the surroundings with a hunting dog’s vigilance.
Selunia, lying down with her eyes shut, heard their steps. She broke out in a cold sweat. She bitterly regretted her reckless action. During her stay at the White Castle, when she was sent to the little fights in the forest, she never became fearful, not knowing what to do. On the contrary, she was very sure about the decisions she took. Now she understood that all that was out of habit.
Here, in a place that she barely remembered, where the world was leading itself by other rules and she’d never been in a fight, she didn’t know how to act. She felt awkward, hesitated a lot, and tended to make a beginner’s mistakes. She still couldn’t believe that she was the only one awake besides the enemy, and the future of the kingdom now lay squarely upon her shoulders. Horrified, she pushed those thoughts away.
The Bardanians arrived on the ground. Selunia heard, with progressive intensity, how heavy steps were coming to her. Her heart was hammering. No, no! Don’t come here! she thought, frightened.
One of them reached the group of people where she was hiding. He started moving each one of them with his foot. Selunia got into a panic.
I hope he avoids me! Oh, what to do? I know I should calm down, but I can’t. They’re just two. I could crush them immediately, but only if they don’t shout for help. Who knows how many of them are inside? Oh, and there’s another problem: they’re people. I’ve never fought with people using the crystal-gloves. The White Castle strictly prohibits anything like that.
To her dread, one Bardanian stopped by her in the end. He put his hands on his hips, conflicted. He looked around, then lowered his eyes to her. He moved her a bit and then remained beside her, with his foot resting on her back. Selunia’s heart froze. Has he caught me?
The Bardanian noticed her costume was a little different from those of the group. He examined her more attentively.
“Ya! I think one fell who didn’t take a proper sit after fainting!” the other Bardanian finally shouted, pointing at the yard’s wall. “Just take a look at that one there who hardly stands on his feet, with his back on the wall. He’ll fall soon too, just like the other guy beside him.”
Indeed, some guards had fallen asleep standing by the wall, with some slowly slumping to the ground.
“Yeah, but the noise came from here somewhere,” said the first Bardanian, with suspicion. “The wall is that far away!”
Selunia tensed entirely. Leave, leave, leave at once! she begged him in her mind.
“Eh, maybe it was that one by the tree, behind you,” replied the second one, laid back. “Who the hell could resist such a spell? These guys don’t have talismans like us.”
The Bardanian took his foot off Selunia. He turned to see what was behind him. At the ba
se of a tree trunk, a soldier lay on his side, as if he had fallen. The Bardanian went to examine him too, painstakingly, for a few seconds. He then returned, not convinced entirely, saying, “Oh well... Be as you say.”
He looked once again at the area, then beckoned the other one to retreat inside the royal building. Selunia exhaled, relieved to hear the steps going away from her. She had almost become numb after staying so tense.
When the big metallic gate from the entrance had been closed, Selunia relaxed. She waited a few minutes, not moving an inch, fearing it was a trap. Maybe they’d planned to return quickly to catch her moving. But the Bardanians didn’t return.
Selunia got up slowly, warily. She withdrew to the path back to her room. She gave an even longer sigh of relief. She had almost gotten caught. She shook her arms and legs to relax better; then she lifted her right arm to her chest.
She was agitated, panting as if she had run for miles. Damn it! I’m in huge trouble! It seems I’m the only one awake. The general must’ve fallen victim to the spell too. When did this begin? I really don’t like knowing that I’m the one who’ll have to save this palace. It’s much too great a responsibility for me. What if I screw up? ...But no, I shouldn’t think like that now. I can. I have enough experience. I’m big enough to face this situation!
A mean thought crossed her mind: Yeah, grown-up with a child’s skills! What do you think you can do like that?
She shook her head. It wasn’t the time for such damping visions. She had to be pragmatic. What she needed was a good plan. She knew she was capable of fighting those people, but first, she had to find out the whole situation. That meant she had to get inside the palace, in the place where the Bardanians were gathered. She surmised they would be in the main hall. It was obvious that getting in directly by the front door wasn’t the right choice. All she had to do was return to her room and, this time, get out through the door, not through the window.