Rhae struggled to open her eyes. A thick scent of mold and old stone infiltrated her nose. She could feel smooth, cold stone underneath her- and she couldn't move her limbs.
She finally managed to squint her hazel eyes open, everything was slightly hazed and spinning.
She groaned, suddenly hearing a shout of surprise before it was silenced.
Cold metal cooled her skin as armoured fingers held up her face.
"How... How is this possible?" A voice stuttered.
She winced, "Where am I?"
The figure became clear to see, it was a young Fae with cropped ginger hair, dark skin and armoured in casual metal and a slightly brutish build,
"Your majesty? How did you break the curse-"
"Answer me first!" She ordered, baring her fangs. She had attempted to lunge forward, but quickly realised she was fastened to a stone chair by vines and roots-
Rhae's breathing quickened at the sudden memory of her previous prison. She angrily thrashed at them, the Fae held her down gently,
"Listen to me... You're at the castle of Archaeya- your former kingdom before you were overthrown-" he started, but Rhae cried out angrily,
"What are you going to do to me?" She seethed, hiding her fear yet could not shield her complete confusion.
The Fae grasped her bound hands, "I'm here to free you- there's a group: a group of Fae who still believe in you, who want you on the thrown, I'm undercover as a guard, making sure I took the job of watching you in case the curse was lifted-"
"Then get me out!" She yelled, but he shushed her,
"Try to be quiet, your majesty! Someone might hear!" He hissed, gesturing to a heavily bolted door. There was another guard on the floor, most likely knocked out by the false guard before her.
She twisted her head around to see the room, it was overgrown with damned vines and mildew dotted over most of the cobbled walls. She was not wearing her blue butterfly dress- instead a flowing white one... Again proving that this was not the same world as the Garden her mind had been imprisoned in as her body was kept in this damned tower.
She then looked to the side to see another Fae bound by vines and roots... They had inky black hair and deathly pale skin. His mouth had engrained markings of skull teeth upon his lips and cheekbones and dark circles under thier eyes. The engravings were greyed, luminous-
It was then Rhae knew this was no stranger... He simply had a new face.
"Orpheus..." She breathed.
Without the skull engravings on his face, he would have looked entirely the same, yet he didn't look it, he didn't even look alive-
The Fae before her must have read her expressions as he looked over to Orpheus, "Don't worry, he's alive like you... He'll catch up in a moment." He reassured.
Rhae stared at Orpheus desperately, as if her yearning glare would be enough to wake him, but it didn't.
"What happens now?" She asked, eyeing him irritatedly.
The false guard stood back a step, analysing her situation. He should already know what to do, she thought angrily.
"There's one more shift after this and then I'm back... I'll have to sneak you out in the dead of night-"
"He's coming with." Rhae stated sternly, jerking her chin to Orpheus, shocking the false guard before her,
"Are you sure? I mean... He's an Ionos Fae." He exclaimed.
"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?" Rhae was loosing her patience very quickly.
The False guard continued, "Ionos Faerie are those who have had their wings destroyed or immobilised- thier face then begins to look like his-" he gestured to Orpheus's skull-engraved face, "It's believed to be a bad omen! Ionos Fae are banished from their own kinds in situations like these- people are afraid of them."
YOU ARE READING
The Queen Must Remember
Fantasia"Tend to the Garden. Do not release the darkness." I live in the Garden, the Garden is all there is. Filled with the most beautiful life and flourishing with magic, it's bliss. This Garden is all I know, though Orpheus says otherwise. The dark Fae i...
