Crown Of The Damned (Damned Book 1) [On Hold]

Chapter 1

Yeah, hi~ I just edited this and changed it to chapters... I apologize if it was a pain to read before! I'll try hard to finish this story and make it better... (:

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The narrow dirt road leads through the busy town to a sprawling castle of clear glass deep in a forest. This holding, which belongs to a notorious king, abounds in dangerous wildlife. The midsized city is well-populated. It stands in the heart of the kingdom and is mainly constructed of stone. It is defended by spiked walls, and its most noteworthy feature is the beautiful central square. I’ve lived in the castle for all of my life. My father said I was never cut out to be what my mother wanted me to be before her death. She died after giving birth to me. They all said her eyes were as bright and beautiful as a full moon. Her skin was as fair and soft as my own. Hair as soft as silk, I wish that I had known her. I was never told her name. My father never mentioned her once as I was growing up. I do recall some of the stories I was told at a young age. I always assumed it was about my mother and father; he describes her as having the ability to be compassionate not only toward others, but also and especially toward herself. I heard that story too many times but he left too, disappeared one night. My brother, twenty, two years older than I, took over his thrown. He resembles my father. Looks and acts just like the damned fool. Both have short brown hair rough to the touch, fair and soft skin, and eyes as dark as the night itself. Just saying they’re both fools is enough to tell you how they act.

I couldn’t find my sword or bow today; well I found the arrows, but not the bow. I knew that my brother had to have taken it and hidden it again. He’s stupid enough to hide my things. Leaving my chamber, I took one last look at my father’s portrait; mother was completely scratched off of it. I had to find her; I couldn’t just accept that my mother was dead. Bounding down the steps, I passed servants dealing with all the clothing. Damn how I hated this. I had my own arms, why couldn’t I just do my own things? Walking through the corridors I headed up another long, winding flight of stairs to my brothers chamber. Out of all the castles in the land, ours had to be the most fancy of them all. Knocking on the door I walked inside and looked around. Heading over to the door to a room that he uses for his writings, I opened the large wooden door a crack and poked my head inside the room. I saw both my sword and bow in the corner of the room behind his desk. 

“Robert, I want my things back…” Looking up from his papers, he looked at me and then gestured to my things. 

“If you want them, come and get them then.” Nodding, I sauntered over to them and picked them up, not a moment later I was already hovering over his shoulder, looking at what he was doing. I was rather interested when I realized what he had been writing, or attempting to write all of this morning. 

“Brother, are you still trying to win over the affection of Lilia? Her parent’s would never allow it and you know this.” Quickly covering the love letter, he pushed me aside. He and I both knew that he would never win her affection. 

“Shush, you don’t know that. Don’t just go around saying things like that Mira… Her parents could change their minds later on.” Giggling, I started to head towards the door to leave him to his hopeless daydreaming of marrying the daughter of the second richest family in the country, ours being the first riches. Everyone in our kingdom knew of his love for Lilia Scottman. I do understand why all men seemingly love her. Her hair is the brightest blonde you’d ever see, and it’s seemingly just as soft as my mother’s was. Her eyes are brightest piercing green and her skin is just as white as the snow. I’ve never met her, but I have been told she’s nice, just like mother was. Nobody’s met or seen her parents. That doesn’t seem to bother brother though. I’ve always thought it was mysterious, but that’s just me.

Heading back through the corridor I took to get to brother’s room, I ran down the stairs, passing a servant, I handed her my sword and kindly asked her to return it to my chamber when she finished her current tasks. Going down the main stair case, I ran through the Grand Hall and past all those visiting the castle. They were only aloud to wander around the Grand Hall and no further. Most just prayed at the many statues of the fallen from the past wars we had. Leaving the Castle, I headed back behind to the stables and wandered over to Midnight. She was a beautiful Thoroughbred horse. She had been said to be my mother’s, given to me when I was born as a gift. She was an incredibly beautiful horse. The colour of her fur was as dark as midnight, and her eyes were just as dark. Grabbing her saddle, I put it on and then climbed on top of her. Gently patting her, I grabbed the spare arrow quiver from a hook in her stall and carefully put the bridle on her before heading off. 

Riding into the forest, I decided at the last minute to take a different route to my shooting area, I always enjoyed using my bow in private. It wasn’t normal for a princess to be using weapons, let alone be riding a horse without someone by her side. At least those were the rules in this kingdom. Heading down a different path, I realized that I wasn’t quite sure where we were exactly. Shaking it off, I directed Midnight into a different direction. Through the trees, I could see an abandoned camp site. Pulling on the reins, I stopped her and led her to the camp through all the trees. Letting go of the reins, I let Midnight wander around, cautiously walking into a tent, I found a couple sword and a shield. The shield had the symbol of Lilia’s kingdom on it. Something definitely didn’t feel right, grabbing the sword; I left the tent and went over to Midnight. I wrapped it in my shawl and put it between some of the straps of Midnight’s saddle. “Come on girl, we should leave.” Leading her away, from the corner of my eye I could see something odd. I didn’t trust anything here, leaving it there; I headed back through the forest and towards my shooting area.

Reaching my destination, I got off of Midnight, grabbed my quiver and bow and started practicing shooting. After what felt like forever, I started to get the feeling that I was being watched. Setting my things down by a tree I sat and glanced around. Hearing a rustling in a nearby bush, I jumped up with my bow and an arrow in place. Aiming it at the bush I let go of the bow string, I listened to the sound of the arrow flying through the air, only for it to hit something. Hearing a whimpering-like sound I rushed over to the bush rather quickly, afraid I had accidentally killed a hare or possibly a squirrel. Rushing through the bush, I found a man on the ground, arrow through his spaulders. I couldn’t believe I had injured a man. Kneeling down next to him, I looked at him. Face pale, hair nappy and sticking to his face, he looked awful. He was oddly handsome for a dirty looking soldier. He had bronzed skin, short, swirling flaming red hair, and eyes the color of sparkling amber. He seemed to be of average height and very muscular. Whistling Midnight over, I took the sword from the straps and unwrapped my shawl from it, tossing the sword aside I tore up the once expensive shawl and set it down.

“I’m so very sorry! I thought you were a thief, maybe a rabid dog or something.” Barely shaking his head, he coughed out words I couldn’t understand. The sight of the blood was more than enough to make me hurl. I couldn’t stand blood at all, helping this man was going to be hard.

Removing the spaulders from his shoulder I deeply sighed. “This will hurt, please don’t move.” Reaching down, I put my right hand flat down on his shoulder where the arrow was between my thumb and index finger and grasped the fletching’s and pushed down on his shoulder while I pulled the arrow out. His screams of pain he emitted were enough to make me cry. Upon pulling it out of his shoulder, I discovered that the arrow head was still embedded in him. Damn, I couldn’t put my hand in there and pull it out. I’d have to take him to a healer. I wasn’t sure how exactly I would explain this to my brother, but I had to help him. “Come, I’ll get you to a healer.” Using my shawl, I wrapped up his shoulder tightly to try to keep the blood from seeping out of the wound. I wouldn’t want him to bleed to death.