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Chapter 1, The Meeting.
Clara sat on the window sill of her room, her feet dangling out the window and hanging over the ivy that laced it's way up the wall of the castle. She quickly glanced behind her at the door into her room. When no one came for a few minutes she gently spun around on the window sill so she was holding herself up by her hands as her feet rested on the wood that held up the ivy. She whistled and a white horse with a black saddle rode up to the side of the castle. Clara gently maneuvered her way down the castle wall until she jumped gently down next to her horse. "Good girl Ayesha." Clara patted the horse gently before gently unstrapping her skirt showing that she was wearing riding pants under it. She mounted her horse and gently rode around to the front of the castle to see the visitors from the other kingdoms to the party.
A shadow of a man moved through the capital city of the kingdom of Nion. He avoided sunlight as best he could, but it bothered him little to confront it when needed. The man was dressed in gloomy mage robes, mainly dark-blue, with armor pieces sticking out here and there. His face was covered his hood, so only his chin could be seen, thus taking most of his eyesight away. Yet he had no problem guiding himself through the crowded streets. This man's name was Ice.
He had stayed hidden in the castle's secret rooms and halls for far too long, had simply had to talk a walk outside to remain sane. No wonder how long he searched the castle, the thing he sought seemed to always slip through his grasp, and the constant hiding from guards and servants alike was wearing out his body as well as hid mind. It wasn't good for him to remain for too long in the darkness; that I knew all about.
He strolled through the city, without paying much notice to anything around him. The walk was soon over, and Ice found himself standing in front of the castle gate. He could walk straight in, as the guards seemed to be stationed elsewhere at the time being. As he entered the royal garden, he noticed that there was some fuss going on over the castle entrance, so he decided to have a closer look at the situation. He entered the shadow of the some of the great, fine-looking trees and became invisible to the eye. Moving through the shadows of the trees, he got close enough to both watch and hear all the nobles, servants and guards outside the grand door to the castle. He could even smell the perfume the females used when the wind blew towards him.
"Clara! What are you doing out here with...RIDING pants on! Go back and put your dress on."
Clara hushed her mother. "Mother! Don't shout so loud!"
"If you don't want me shouting go back and put on your dress."
"Mother!" Clara sighed.
"Go!" Clara's mother pointed her finger back towards the castle.
Clara, still riding her horse began to slowly walk Ayesha back toward the castle, but when she found her mother had lost interest in her Clara and Ayesha bolted quickly to the left and rode into the forest. 'Good girl!" Clara patted the horse on the neck. She laughed before she lifted her head to see a man standing in the shadows. She immediately shut her mouth.
While he spied through the dim shadows, Ice observed that a young woman, possibly a teenager, rode up to the scene on a proud, white steed. He couldn't hear the words clearly, but it seemed as the lady who greeted the other nobles where scolding the girl for some reason. Ice quickly guessed that the two of them were blood related; possibly mother and daughter.
The girl left the scene, and rode towards the forest, very close to where Ice were hiding. He followed her with his eyes, before he lost interest and turned towards the group once again. Shortly after Ice turned to see if the girl was out of sight yet, however she was much closer than he had imagined. There was only a few yards away from him, and she were staring in his direction. Is it possible that she can actually see me? Ice thought to himself, and made sure he were in fact invisible by looking at his own hands. There was nothing out of the unusual, but somehow the girl seemed to be able to see he regardless that. After looking behind himself to see if there possibly could be something else that caught the eye, he decided to confront her. "Can you see me?" he whispered with a cold, calm voice.
Suddenly shocked out of her frozen stare she looked at the man quizzically. "Of course I can see you! Do you think that I'm blind?" She sighed and slid sideways off the horse still keeping a sharp eye on a man and a hand on the handle of her saddle bag. Which contained a few things that I may add can be used for attacking someone...
Ice gave a short sigh. "Of course I don't. It's just that no one has been able to see me when I do that before." He spoke back to the girl. He let the invisibility magic fade away; he had no need of keeping it up if it didn't work. "It is unusual to have a vision such as your own, one that can tell the false from the truth just by looking at it. What is, what is not... How come you have that ability?" Ice whispered to the girl while walking slowly towards her, trying to seem as harmless as possible. He didn't want to scare the girl off, much less make her draw attention to him.
"I am an animal spirit. I guess that's why I can see you." Clara gently leaned up against a tree as he walked towards her. Even if he was going to attack she wanted to play it cool so he might let down his guard and change his mind. "And may I ask, what are you to have the power of invisibility?"
Animal spirit...? Ice thought to himself as he slowly came closer and closer to the girl. As her question was heard, Ice gave yet another sigh. "You're able to see what cannot be seen, but you're unable to recognize one of the kingdoms most feared beings when you see one? You're an odd little girl, aren't you?" he said, and grinned so his vampire fangs were revealed.
Clara also grinned. "I guess I can't tell a vampire from a regular demon...but your little fangs don't scare me." As she spoke her voice turned into a growl as she morphed into her animal form, a jet black panther. She opened her mouth and growled. "You’re not the only one with fangs mister." She clicked her teeth together.
"You're... not scared?" Ice said with a fake shocked tone, but still smiling, sarcastically. One that doesn't run away because of my appearance and race... Ice thought to himself, glad that someone at last didn't run off after he understanding what he was. Still, he weren't sure if the girl’s attitude was out of bravery, or ignorance. His smile went serious and hard.
"What do you, child, know of vampires? I can assure you, there are no other creatures you should fear more, even if you have paws and fangs of your own." he said as a test to prove if the girl was of real material or just faking it.
"Not much..." Clara replied as she sat down her tail flicking back and forth behind her. "I know they have fangs, suck blood, and turn other people into vampires...but that's about it." She flexed her claws a bit and dug into the ground. "And why would I fear vampires over any other creatures? I know animal spirits that are much more dangerous than me."
Ice hadn't stopped coming closer when the girl had turned, and now he was merely five feet away. "As do I. However, I do not intend to tell you about them. Some of the greater evils in this world shouldn't be heard of by mortal ears. Trust me, you're better off not hearing of it."
He squatted down to look her more face to face. He knew if she had a reason and the speed, she could easily claw his face, but he was willing to risk it, trusting his own skill and luck. He then lifted his hood, which previously had covered his face's upper part, and revealed his two cold, icy blue eyes, staring directly into hers. His eyes had no emotions whatsoever, as if they were empty. Even when he smiled, he never looked neither happy nor kind.
"What are you going here, riding towards the palace all on your own? Do you work there?" he said, with renewed interest for the girl. He thought she might have been a worker there, as her clothing (while she was wearing them) wasn't exactly a noble.
Clara smiled her teeth glinting a bit. "I am the princess." She cleared her throat and took a mighty stance, her golden eyes glinting with delight.
He grinned his fangs again, this girl was full of surprises. "The Princess, huh? Princess Clara of Nion?" he asked, studying her appearance. Even as a beast, she had some sort of royal resemblance when he looked closely enough."Well, I must say, you're not exactly the typical princess, are you?".
"Unfortunately, I am not the stuck-up, frilly dress, waiting for her prince, kind of girl." She smiled as she transformed back in to her human form. "What brings you here? Interested in finding anything important? Hmm?" She went over to her horse and lifted off her bridle sticking it unceremoniously into the saddle bag. Ayesha gently trotted off into the forest to find something good to eat. "I've heard storied about vampires and demons. Attacking villages, killing people, sucking their blood. But, you’re not like that...right?" Clara seemed to be a bit more skeptical of the vampire now she was back in her human form. She didn't want him attacking her or anything of the sort.
He stood up as princess Nion transformed and moved around, his grin faded quickly away when she spoke of vampires. He looked as grave as always. "You are correct. I'm not like most of my kin. I do not slaughter for fun sake." he said with a low voice. His eyes looked even colder and emptier than before when he talked of his kin.
Clara looked at him a bit startled at his dark expression and tone. "Did...I-uhh-say something stupid?" She smacked her head and began to mutter to herself. "I am so horrible with conversations, why do I always have to say stupid things." She looked down at the ground her hand still resting on her forehead. As she looked at her feet she noticed a strange orange-pink glow on the ground. She spun around to see the sun getting lower and lower in the sky. "It's getting dark." She said softly, her back to Ice, staring at the sun's rays.
 Ice of the North · Sat Aug 23, 2008 @ 06:49pm · 0 Comments |
