The Princess of Light and Dark

1. Taken

 ‘Child, awaken.’

‘Open your eyes Elvira’

‘Something dangerous is coming, you must awake before it is too late’

‘NOW ELVIRA, WAKE UP NOW! ‘

My head throbs in pain at the swirling cacophony of voices inside it. They urge me to wake up but my eyes are heavy and my heart is bruised. I have foolishly let myself be taken. I moan in pain and try to move, but my body feels heavy, like rocks. I softly brush my hands outwards, away from my body and feel... Nothing but hard ground, that’s why my body feels sore, I have been laying on the ground stars know how long for. I try my senses; I push myself to hear what is happening around me, but all I hear are low humming sounds and the slow drip drip drip of water trickling slowly into something. Next, I test out my eyes. I slowly open them, already wincing at the pain that usually comes when one opens their eyes to bright light, but as my eye lids flutter open slowly, the pain never comes. I feel the tears moisten my eyes as the darkness envelops me. Surrounded by darkness, I lay on the cold hard ground. The sobs come unexpectedly, they rip through my body, making my whole being shake, despair consumes my every thought. What have I done?

****

My eyes remain closed, but I can sense the dangerous aura surrounding me. The need to open them is strong but I need time, a lot more time to brace myself for the evil that awaits me when I do finally open them. Time that I do not get, as rough calloused fingers grasp my chin and pull my head backwards, I feel a soft warm breath on my nose, lips and cheeks. I swallow dryly. This is it. My eye lids flutter open, my heart beating erratically in my chest, the soft light of torches fills my vision until my eyes focus and in front of my face is the most terrifyingly beautiful man I have ever seen.

“You finally woke up!” His deep gravelly voice wakes my nerve endings up and my brain finally registers how close we are. I shuffle backwards on my bum and he chuckles. “ I get it princess, you’re scared. You don’t need to be.”

“Who are you?” I manage to squeak out in a full sentence.

“You don’t remember me?” He asks, placing his hand over his chest “You wound me princess. I know I cloaked my true self, but I was hoping you’d at least recognise my voice. “

“Elvira.” I mutter.

“What’s that princess?” His lips turn into a mocking grin as his silver eyes twinkle in the soft light.

“My name is Elvira. Not princess.”

“Ah! But you are a princess, are you not?”

“Yes, but.”

“No buts, m’ lady. You are royalty and therefore I shall refer to you by your title. Princess.” He stands to his feet, brushing the debris off his knees. “Since you don’t remember, let me re introduce myself. I am Sarnarel, and this is The Northen Mountain clan. Welcome, your highness.” He mockingly bows and laughs. I try and fail to stand up, which prompts him to laugh even more.

“Poor little princess. Do you need a servant to come get you up off the floor?” He sneers at me and I shrink back until my back hits the cold rough wall. “Get used to it, you will be spending a lot of time down there.” He turns without another word and walks out of what I can now see is a cell. The sound of the iron bars being shut and locked make my stomach turn and I empty its meagre contents onto the hard rock floor between my legs.

‘Calm child. We will guide you through this. ‘ I have no way of knowing who is who in my head. The voices are so similar, are my thoughts theirs as well? I wonder why my parents never told me the real truth of my powers, always having me believe me and El were just magically gifted.

‘Elvira, we can tell you the truth. It’s long and pain filled, but you will need every bit of it if you are to survive. ‘

Their sad story lulls me into a soft pensive state. After hours of listening to Tharia and Thuria, I finally understand why only me and ElRey have these powers. We are connected by our souls. The souls of these two elven girls who let their powers consume them. I have learned what every adult in my life has hidden from me, that Tharia is a light soul while Thuria is a dark soul, they believe that the Lord under the mountain is one of a long line of elves who has been trying to consume their power for themselves. Tharia believes that I am the only one who can end this lunacy and release them and their powers from the mortal world. Thuria has been extremely quiet in my mind, only sharing what she deems important, I may have only known about them for a few hours, but something tells me Thuria has a few thousand secrets buried deep inside her.

***

Months went by, slowly at first as I was mostly kept inside my cell, eating nothing but stale bread and muddy water, but then the guards started to talk to me, I was but a child and some of them felt sorry for me, they used to sneak fruits and nuts into the inside of the hard bread crusts so I would have something else to eat. One of the guards went as far as having his wife sew me a new dress, it was a bit big, but the long sleeves and skirt kept me warm at night. After that, the guards started bringing me small items to make my life more comfortable, a hair brush, a small pail and a few clean rags so I could wash myself, a candle, some matches and a couple of old romance books to keep me entertained. One guard managed to get me a pillow filled with hay and an old blanket, it stunk of horse manure but it was better than nothing. After months of gathering small things for me, the guards finally brought me a bed. It wasn’t much, a small iron cot, they had filled the bottom of it with hay and wrapped some old horse blankets around it so it wouldn’t scratch me and I was thankful for that and them, these guards, whose names I never even knew, whose faces they had kept hidden behind their scarves and helmets, these guards were my salvation.

One morning I woke up to the sounds of screaming outside the cell. I had learned from one of the guards, that the cells were at the pit of the mountain, a pit that had been dug millennia ago by the first ruler of the Northern mountain to punish his enemies. But ever since then I had been the first and only elf to reside down here. To get here, one would have to make it pass the guard at the gate, then down a thousand steps into the dark pit, there were 5 cages custom built down here for the clan leaders who had betrayed Lord Lupin, yet Lord Lupin had failed to achieve his goal of revenge, and his sons had taken up the mantle after his passing. I tried with all my might to ignore the sounds of pain filled screams echoing through the pit. But I couldn’t, each excruciating wail reverberated through each fibre of my soul. In my heart I knew, the moment I heard the very first cry, that somewhere, on this enormous mountain, the guards who had helped me were being punished for their kindness. Confirmation came, many hours after the wailing had died down when 3 new guards opened the bars of my cell and threw 4 limp bodies inside.

“Keep them.” One of them sneered, “You enjoyed their kindness so, they are all yours now, princess.” He spat at me on his way out. In the semi darkness all I could make out where 4 pairs of milky white glazed eyes staring straight back at me. Their dead bodies slowly desiccated in my cell for 91 days before the guards came and took them away, 91 days I spent wishing I had never taken the fruits and nuts the first guard offered me, 91 days of drinking muddy water and stale bread, only to vomit them straight back up once the smell of rotting flesh entered my nostrils again. Bruised and battered from the constant fight against the iron bars, my fight went unnoticed and mocked. My powers useless, incantations placed around the cells locked my powers inside me. The only consolation was the fact that Thuria was able to communicate with me. I would have turned feral if not for her angelical whispers in my mind.

For all of their powers and wisdom, the twins fought and bickered like two bucks during season. Their fighting inside my head got so bad I didn’t sleep properly for days. I had truly at some point doubted I ever would again. Until one morning I awoke to just my own thoughts. My small cave dwelling looked like a storm had passed through it, at first I wondered if the guards had come in here while I slept and destroyed everything, but then I realised that it was awfully quiet, not just around me, but inside me; inside my head. I called out to the twins, but no one answered.

It was days before I heard from Thuria. She calmly explained that she had banished Tharia into the world, creating her an elven body and sending her to my mother. I couldn’t understand why she would send her and not all of us, she kept telling me there was a reason for it, but as the sound of slow, heavy footsteps rang around my empty cell, Thuria retreated into my mind, the jingling of keys followed by the locks opening had me forgetting what had happened and close my eyes hard until the steps stopped in front of me, I dared not open my eyes and witness what monstrosity would be awaiting me again.

“Princess?” the deep gravelly voice both soothed and terrified me. He was back, I had not seen him since the first time I awoke in here. “Open your eyes, Elvira.” The way he said my name caused my heart to tremble in fear. Or delight. I couldn’t be sure. I opened my eyes and locked them with his stormy grey ones. I had never seen eyes so vivid and expressive. Maybe El’s, but his were warm and soft, filled with wonder and calm. These, grey pools of coldness were hard and uncaring.

“Elviria, I am taking you up above. You are finally ready to meet the Lord and unleash your true power. “