Beasts Of Blackcastle

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven: Walking Right Into The Beast's Den

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For now the night was silent and she was in fear, if the night would not speak to her then she would never know where it will take her. The night was her gentle companion but it dawned on her; the realization that she never truly knew this darkness she found so delightful? Was it even so? Or had she been charmed by the dreams that she created herself? A question remained once the silence reigned- what was the night truly? The absence of light or the beginning of light? The princess wondered and she felt herself fall deeper into the mystery; much to her dismay, dawn was never to break.

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There was no way of princess Venia knowing whether she had entered the deemed Forest of Evil or not. Nothing was compelling her fear more than her own imagination and that was not something she could control easily. The words that Vye has fed her mind were finally working and she never anticipated them to catch up to her at this stage. It was as though the tenacious woman was living in her head and controlling the direction she should take. Fear was never an emotion that could ever influence her into taking any decisions. She had actually never truly experienced it until now. Until now the princess had always thought fearing the unknown was ridiculous, how could one possibly fear something they don't know? Something that has not happened?

She was finally within the grasp of it; the fear of the unknown. Walking deeper and deeper felt like lengthening the trail of mistakes she had made. It did come to her; the painful anguish of regret. Maybe she should have never allowed her negative emotions towards that Dragon king influence her to such a decision. Maybe she should have waited and truly had facts and actions convince her of King Hearst's contemptible personality. Oh how she could hear Vye scolding her; yes, she was going to admit that she had overreacted. She could not wander these lifeless woods forever, that was not freedom as well. She had been wrong. She did not have freedom here, all she had was rue and fright and the ever growing temptation of abandoning her foolish mission.

Ahh she had been foolish to come here. The one feeling that was entirely new to her ambushed her as she found herself within greater darkness and less of a sense of direction; she felt truly powerless. She was a nobody here, She did not imagine the monsters of the forest will tremble and kneel before her and pledge her loyalty to her. She was actually a foreigner here and they were the authority. It hurt. It really hurt her mind to think of it that heavily. She did not realise how much she had taken her status for granted until now. She had no one here, she only had herself. She did not have guards and siblings willing to give their own life to protect her and now she truly believed her father when he said these words to her;

"Another war," princess Venia had scoffed at Prince Esgar's announcement, "I cannot see why these men would march out straight into slaughter, what compels them like this?" She had asked her younger brother the question, he was the first commander in the army after all, but her father was the first to give a reply.

"You will not understand what it means to be served because you are the one being served. Do you know what a royal bloodline truly means; it means power. That is the greatest aspiration of any being; power. With power you have a safeguard for the very existence that you need, you have a safeguard not only for your life, but for the life of many. That is why as queen you will have to ensure that our bloodline remains on the throne for as long as it exists. There are only two places you can be, dear, you could either be here leading the masses and making men bent the knee or you could be out there groveling and giving your life for the desires of other men. Power is a great fortune and an even greater burden, if you are not cautious it, it will turn into the very end of the existence you thought it was protecting. I sit on the throne for you, for my family, for my descendants yet to be born centuries after. I know the feeling of being powerless and it is one I don't ever want you or my sons to feel."

There was an intense emotion as he uttered that last sentence, like he spoke of something that once hurt his heart deeply. Witnessing this did prompt the princess in her twelve years to ask a very deep question,

"And this feeling of powerlessness, when did you experience it?" She had touched a subject that was very painful to her father but he was as he usually is upfront with her.

"The night that Iost Icesena," he voice deepened with despair even though he tried to hide his sadness behind a straight face, "I never thought it would happen to me. I have everything, a large army of men at my disposal, I have wealth that could buy many kingdoms and still, I lost her. Still they took her from me. It has been twenty five years and I still wonder till this day what happened to her. I love your mother, dear, but Icesena was my first love and I eventually had to convince myself of her death in order to heal. I had to accept that when it came to the force that took her from me I was powerless. All the men and wealth in the world could not find her and bring her back. That is why I had promised myself that I will never experience that feeling again, that is why I was always so cautious with you. I was determined to never lose you to that evil bastard, still am. I will never lose anyone I love in that manner again."

When Prince Eclix and prince Eclair showed up at the palace door, it was a ray of hope King Thorton had been praying to shine upon him but the boys did not have their mother with him and in another three years the search for the first queen became just as hopeless as before.

"I don't think there is much I will ever feel, I don't think there's much one can face when they are as safe as I am." Princess Venia remembered the disdain she regarded her safety with, she remembered being envious of that hurt in her father's eyes.

To her he had lived, he had loved, he had experienced a very beautiful love story and the tragedy of it while her life was just plain safety. She remembered wondering what she could do just to feel that deafening thrill of danger just once. Just to feel anything other than being secure and protected just once. Until the very moment Allura announced that she had lost the mark of the Beast, princess Venia had been having a strong craving for danger. It was her way of saying that she would feel much more alive and would know the value of her life if she had something happen to it.

Now that she was in that very danger she had been wanting, she was not so sure that it felt like something she would want to experience again. Being powerless and in danger was not all that she hoped it would be.

"Just do it." She kept chanting to herself as she took smaller steps deeper into the forest. Why was she still hesitating? Why couldn't she just turn back and forget that any of this ever happened? Maybe she was denying herself a love story by doing this.

Marrying king Hearst guaranteed her a story but getting killed here would not bring her to a story. It was not just a miscalculated step, she had made a very horrible mistake and she needed to fix it. If only she could stop herself from making the mistake for longer. If only she could turn back right away and stop acting like she is looking for something.

No matter how strongly she willed herself, she just could not turn back, she just could not get her body to tilt and face the other direction. She just kept going and going and going.

Oh no. What if it was happening to her? What if the magic that Vye had told her about had captured her? What if she was going to uncontrollably walk to the very end of this forest and roam it until she withers away and dies? What if that is how all the others met their end?