My Coronation

Back in my room I'm slipping into the traditional garb of my people to prepare for the evening's festivities as the sun starts to crest the horizon.

My dress isn't practical, a silver lattice of patchwork gems over a silk slip. My blonde hair is wild and wavy but there are gems threaded throughout them. The part on the top of my hair is lined in deep green emeralds like my eyes.

Our people did not wear crowns. We originated from a collection of lost tribes who had better uses for the metals.

I could hear the ceremonial music waft into my room stroking at my soul and I glance outside to note just how bright the tree looks tonight. The drums beat a chord that resounded deep in my chest and I can't help the excitement that's probably spreading across my face.

It was a big responsibility but I'm ready for it. I've trained my entire life for this and I will do my role justice. In a few months, I'll even solve the biggest crisis faced by the crown in my lifetime by securing grain through a political marriage with a man I actually fancied.

My cheeks flushed but there was time to think about him later. The knock at my door tells me it's time.

The priests and priestesses are waiting, their red silk robes reminiscent of the dragon on our house crest. "Princess Cecilia, do you agree to take this next step and ascend to your role as queen?" One asks as I open the door. I nod, a soft smile playing on my lips.

They begin to lead me down the long corridor for the walk to the tree. The whole castle is lit by candlelight and it flickers, dancing, celebrating the occasion as I take steps towards a bright future.

The path downstairs was slow without using the passages and each steps brings me a sense of urgency I don't understand. I pick up my pace and a priestess bars my path.

"You must not rush princess, all things arrive when they should." She whispers mysteriously before dropping her arm, her point made. The anxious pit in my stomach could wait, it would melt away when I saw my parents in a few minutes.

When we began to descend the next stair case the hall became flooded with bright red light from an unidentified source. I pause but this time the priestess urges me forward and I nearly stumble down the stairs, catching myself on the bannister.

Something is very wrong.

I hear sandalled feet sprinting towards us at the base of the staircase. Guards surround us, aligning into formation while shouting heartily to 'protect the princess'.

I push forward, shoving aside the princess's arm for the first time and break out into a run down the hall. The guards following me closely as I break into the clearing.

I see my brother Eli dragging Margot towards the castle. There's fire everywhere and people wearing the Blackwater crest look to be revolting. I get a chill, picturing Erik from earlier today.

I call out to Eli and wave to tell him to come to me. He drops Margot's hand they both rush forward. A branch falls in the way blocking their path. I can't see them.

A balmy hand grasps mine and between gasps, it's owner says, "Come, come, we must run. He doesn't want them my love. He wants the crown. He wants you."

My mother's face is pale and I realize the balmy palm clutching mine isn't covered in sweat. It's covered in blood.

I recoil. My heart racing. My mind racing with grim possibilities.

"Father?" I ask her quietly and she gives me a sad smile. Pulling me along firmly with her back into the corridor I'd just exited.

"I couldn't save him" she whispers, her voice sounding slanted and broken.

She then looks back at me, speeding up, "but I can save you. At least I can do that. You will be safe. You must be safe because you're our future."

We rush into an area of the castle I seldomly went. It's well-lit and the sounds of fighting fade away. My sandal catches on an uneven stone and tears but my mother catches me before I fall. I rip the thing off my foot and we keep running.

When we turn a corner there is a group of soldiers in black armour waiting for us and the men surrounding us rush forward to meet them in battle.

My mother pulls me down another corridor, her pace speeding up more quickly than I'd ever seen her move. We turn left, the right, then right, we go up and then down. Soon we're in a parlour I'd never seen and I struggle to catch my breath. My mother stops moving.

I kick off my sandal and toss my broken shoe on the floor before leaning against the nearby table, winded.

"What's going on?" I ask, even though I had an idea about what was happening based on the insignias of the men in our halls.

"The little lord has risen up to try to take the throne, but he can't do this without you. He needs someone of our blood, a blood of old, to bond to the tree. We're special, you and I." She says turning to face me and I don't understand what she means.

Her shadow clears her throat behind me and I jump. A secret passage I was unfamiliar with opening up into a wall of darkness. I turn back to my mother.

"Many years ago our family had real power, but it was sealed away -- bartered away accidentally, to a dragon for a sapling tree." She starts.

"The dragon promised us that if we stayed with the tree, our people would remain safe and prosperous forever. But your ancestor was as curious as she was powerful and so she accepted the tree without listening to the dragon's words of caution." My mother continued, wiping at her brow with the cleaner back of her red hand.

"She planted the seed and from it sprung the most beautiful tree. For years she delighted in its' splendour. It provided shade, fruits and it grew so large that it became known as haven."

"That girl matured into a woman and met a man she loved, but she could not leave the island or the tree. So he took her child from her, and with that child, the light faded as her heart broke. From that moment on, her magic was gone. The bubble of protection faded. The island, our homeland, became lost to time." She finished.

I tilted my head, confused, "What does that mean? How does that have to do with us?"

"We are the descendants of the child my love, and the special magic that bound our family once to haven's end now binds us to Salva. There's no time now." She answered in a whisper, bridging the space between us.

"My love you need to go to Haven's End and break the contract to take back the power of our blood before he finds you, that will be the only way you can defend yourself. My shadow will take you." She whispers, motioning at the woman who looks like and unlike my mother who stands behind us impassively.

"How am I supposed to do that?" I whisper, somehow more overwhelmed than I was before.

She sighed, "I wish I knew my love."