THE SILVEAN

CHAPTER 2

The car increased its speed.

I knew it before the driver did, the way the engine whined, the way the streets got empty fast, too fast.

Something was wrong, but I couldn't place my finger on it.

My chest was already tight, I looked out the window and let the city blur.

My mother died when I was just 3, Cancer.

That's what they told me,

My father died weeks ago, they claimed it as an accident.

How laughable, I stood there powerless while my father drew he's last breath before my very own eyes and now they claim it was an accident what a terrible lie.

The Council did this, they took my kingdom.

My name,

My Home,

Now they were coming for me, my breath hitched, Once, Twice, then it wouldn't come at all my hands flew to my chest, scratching like it could rip the panic out.

'Princess, you're having a panic attack', my nanny said her voice shook.

'Please, breathe with me, In.. and out' I tried I really did, but the wind tasted like ash, like the last time.

The world tilted, and I fell.

- - - -

I woke up to voices screaming, not mine, not yet.

Smoke,

Thick

Black, it filled my lungs before my eyes could open.

Fire, everywhere, burning the seats, eating the glass....the same fire. The one in my dreams, the one that took my father.

'Save the Princess !' Someone yelled, a guard or what was left of him, I sat up, cold

Too cold, even with the flames, something ticked down my forehead wet.

I touched it, BLOOD, not again, please not again. I was just 7, I wasn't supposed to remember this.

The door was jammed, my only escape route.

Hands reached for me, I grabbed one. A lifeline. A prayer.

Then the world went dark.

- - - -

Cold air. Wet grass, my nanny's arms around me.

'Eira, Eira, look at me', Her voice was thin laced with exhaustion, we were running through the woods behind the debris the palace once stood, the same we used to pick fruits in.

'After her !' voices behind us, their footsteps getting closer.

I sobbed into her shoulder, 'They're gonna catch us', 'Shhh, it's going to be alright princess' she whispered, she lied, We both knew but I nodded anyway.

Another arrow, it whistled past her head hitting a tree nearby, THUD.

I screamed. My breath hitched, panic again as dark spots clouding my vision.

'Breathe, Princess. Please breathe', she was shaking I could feel it, we broke through the trees and stopped.

A Cliff, lay ahead of us, 100 feet down.

Rocks.

Rivers.

Uncanny edges.

Behind us their footsteps echoed, 6 men with Council sigils on their armor.

The same who bowed to my father their heads low swearing their loyalty to him. The leader stepped forward, 'Hand her over and we'll make it quick', my nanny put me behind her, tone defiant 'Never'.

I clutched her shirt my whole body was trembling from fear.

'Why help me ?', I whispered 'An abandoned princess, why?'.

First my dad.

Now her.

Everyone who touched me encountered death, she turned just for a second her eyes rimmed in tears.

Sacrifices are meant to be made to keep us alive' That voice, not hers, deeper. From inside my head, the same from the fire.

Deal, it whispered Remember the deal

I opened my mouth to ask about what deal---

BANG

The sound was too loud, my nanny jerked then looked at her chest Confused, then she fell to her Knees. Forward, off the cliff

'Nanny !' I lunged, grabbed her hand.

For one second I had her, her fingers cold eyes lifeless then she slipped. GONE.

I fell to my knees at the edge screaming. Screaming until my throat bled, the voice in my head screamed back.

Up it said Stand up or you'll die too

The men where coming, I could feel them looking down.

No way to survive that fall, No way, so I did the only thing left.

I jumped, not off.

Into the bushes. Into the dark. Into pain.

Black again.

- - - -

'Is she breathing ?'

'There's a lot of blood'

'Check her pulse'...... voices. Far away. Muffled.

Something around my neck, tight and cold.

A chain. A necklace. My mother's.

I gripped it firmly yet it wouldn't come off, I pulled. It burned.

Opening my eyes to the cracked ceilings, water stains evident on them and worst of it, the smell of old soup and bleach.

An orphanage.

A woman leaned over me, '

She's awake'

'Don't touch the necklace dear, the sisters said its cursed'

Cursed. Right. Everything I touched turned to ash, closing my eyes again as the voice whispered

We made a deal, Eira. I kept you alive now you'll keep us both alive

Outside the rain, Inside me a seven year old alone with no one to hold.

With ash in my lungs and a monster in my head.