City of Starlight

Chapter 12 - Cursed

(Daniella's POV) 

The shuffles and grunts around me gradually amplified. When I opened my eyes, I immediately sensed that something wasn't right. My head pounded with a pressure that made me feel as if I was enveloped in swabs of cotton. What happened? Didn't we just arrive in Camelot?  

My vision cleared and I gasped at the sight before me. There, right in the middle of the tavern and leaning against a wooden pillar, was my father with his arms around my mother. Like mine, her eyes were roaming around the tavern in an attempt to comprehend what was going on, but when she caught sight of the space above me, her mouth opened in surprise. Suddenly, I felt a pair of hands release me. Whirling around, I nearly fell back when I caught the shocked gaze of a boy with dark brown hair. He was dressed in a uniform of some kind. 

I was barely able to make sense of bloodied hand when I felt myself being pulled back forcefully. I looked to the side and saw that it was mother who had strongly tugged me to her side. After seeing the boy's bloody hand again, I instinctively raised my hand up to my cheek and touched it shakily. I breathed in sharply when it stung. When I removed my fingers and looked down upon them, I noticed a bit of blood. My gaze snapped back onto the boy who was standing no more than three metres away from me. 

Everyone started talking at once. Snow exclaimed, "Where's Emma?!" Frantically, we looked around for her, but she was nowhere to be seen. What the hell...

Then, I heard an unfamiliar, "Mom!" which made me whirl around to locate the source of the voice. My eyes fell upon a girl with light brown hair who ran into the arms of a blonde woman. The woman's face was not visible to me, but I gasped upon recognising who it was. I only tore my eyes off them when mother spoke up to no one in particular, "This doesn't make any sense, we were literally just walking into Camelot."

I tried to move around but was surprised by the heavy weight that pulled me down. I looked at my outfit and realised that I wasn't wearing my usual style of dress. I glanced around at everyone else and said slowly, "We're wearing clothes from Camelot."

Suddenly, the door to the tavern burst open and a bewildered villager cried out, "You're back!" For a moment, we simply stared at him, utterly perplexed. He must have taken our reaction as a warning for he immediately dipped into a low bow and murmured, "Please excuse my rudeness, Your Majesties, Your Highnesses."

Snow was quick to reply, "Oh no, you're fine. Tell me good sir, how long have we been gone for? You seem quite surprised to see us standing here."

The man stammered as his eyes roamed over each of us, "Six weeks."

Mother was the first to respond as she breathed, "What?" As all heads turned to her, her brows knitted together and she questioned, "Has there been disorder?"

The man must have been native to our kingdom for he replied, "No, my Queen. I believe word of your mysterious disappearance had been contained by the palace authorities until perhaps a week ago." Mother looked like she wanted to reply but she seemed to be too shocked to string together a coherent reply. We looked around in worry as David pointed out, "Our memories-they're gone." Indeed, as I tried to remember what had happened, I found that I couldn't. It was the worst feeling as I could feel a physical barrier that prevented my mind from reaching into the depths of my memory. 

A thick silence filled the tavern until a chilling familiar voice suddenly echoed, "Don't worry. I'm here."

Our heads turned instantly towards the doorway. There she was. But her hair was white and her lips were painted a bright shade of red. As Emma stepped closer, I could feel myself stepping back. I wasn't normally one to retreat, ever since my magic had gotten stronger but I sensed a change in the magical aura that surrounded Emma. She began in a cold voice, "You went to Camelot to get the darkness out of me and you failed." Then, she came up to Snow and lifted her hand to stroke her cheek. It all but gave me shivers as I watched Snow wince under her own daughter's touch.