Blood Inked

Chapter 1..It Begins

Death... It never came unannounced.

A being of shapeless dark clouds searched the city with hollow eyes, seeking its next victim to devour. No one could escape from its clutches, not even the beloved leader of Valngasia.

Ballads were sang in the palace, loud sorrowful mourning were heard everywhere in the nation, but in the dungeon buried within the earth, silence reigned. Nothing could be heard in dungeons, it swallowed up its prisoners and prevented hope from entering. The dungeons were a place of death and hopelessness. Death looked at a prisoner sprawled in a corner of its cell; bloodied and barely alive. Its hollow red eyes suddenly turned kind.

"What a sad life you have lived." it said, reaching out its bony fingers to collect the remaining essence of life in the body...

The scream that had been stuck in her throat was finally set free, echoing in the room and terrifying her even more. Adria flung herself off the bed and staggered to her feet. She tripped over her bed covers and stumbled to the cold floor, her eyes darting around the room, searching for the hollow red eyes that haunted her. She screamed and screamed again, feeling the chilling cold of its nails crawling on her flesh. Death was in her room. It had come for her.

The room door swung open and the Chief maid stomped forward. She lifted her with her night shift and slapped her hard on the face. "Snap out of it Adria!" The Chief maid raised her hand once more to strike.

"Forgive me mistress," She cried, falling to her knees holding her throbbing cheek "I had a horrible nightmare."

The Chief maid looked down at her with pity then turned to leave, "Prepare yourself swamp child, it is almost time for the Princess to wake."

Adria remained on her knees for a while, the nightmare was an omen of things to come. The evil that had been trailing her had finally arrived in the palace. Grudgingly, she prepared for the day, wearing the ugly brown calico of her station and covering her hair with a white scarf. She was a slave to the Palace. A life of servitude was all she had ever known, and probably all she will ever know.

For the rest of the day Adria felt the tingling sensation of someone constantly watching her. She could not shake off the feeling of doom. Whenever she slept at night, dreams fled from her and nightmares came to her. For the past months she had slept dreamlessly, but now nightmares visited her every night. Today she had broken five porcelain dishes and served Princess Yurla burnt toast; in the evening she would be receiving thirty lashes from the mistress. The ceaseless nightmares were affecting her concentration and bringing punishment to her. She wished she could hide away for a while and return when the nightmares had released her from its web, but that was unspoken of.

" Adria are you alright? You seem faraway and lost," The gentle voice of Princess Yurla disturbed her thoughts.

"I am perfectly well, your highness." She answered quickly.

"you can raise your head Adria, the dreadful women has finished her lessons." warily, Adria raised her head. Princess Yurla rushed to her and pushed her into the nearest seat. "Your back and feet must be aching, I would never understand how you can stay silently with your head bowed while the old bore drones on."

"It is nothing, your highness." Adria smiled. Watching the Princess complain about her tutors was one of her favorite times of the day, it humored her to no ends.

There was no one Adria loved more than the Princess of Valngasia. She was the light in her darkness and she looked forward to her duties because of her. Their companionship was forbidden, a Princess and a slave could never be close friends. The day Queen Yasmine had noticed their friendship Adria had been punished so severely that she had collapsed and taken ill. Surprisingly the Princess had also been plagued with a strange ailment and did not recover until Adria recovered. That was day Queen Yasmine's secret was revealed.