The Rift

Chapter 3

"You can save her..." Marie's eyes flickered behind her eyelids as a small creature made its way up her side. "A life...for a life."

A small, raspy coo echoed in her ear. She jolted awake. The room was alive with warm sunlight, and the window, despite being shattered, brought in a gentle summer breeze. Marie breathed in heavily, taking in the air and smiling. Another coo sounded next to her ear, and she slowly moved her gaze towards the source. A small blue salamander blinked curiously at her, its mouth open in glee. Marie's instinct was to hurl the creature across the room, but it suddenly sneezed, causing a light puff of orange flame to escape from its little mouth. Marie's own mouth fell open. "The fire spirit from the forest?" It leapt from her shoulder onto the bed behind her. She turned over to see it motioning towards a folded piece of paper that was resting on a pillow. She rubbed her eyes and sat up to read it.

I left some fresh bread and milk for you on the nightstand. There should be fresh garments for you to wear and a nurse is going to check on your head when you wake. Bruni might pester you, but he means well. Try to rest so you don't scare me like that anymore.

On the bottom, a shining snowflake spread across the parchment. Marie ran a finger over the cold signature. "Cool...Such nice handwriting, too." She rose and stretched with a yawn. The maroon dress slid up her waist as Bruni leapt onto her back. "You know, I almost trained my birds to do that." She smiled at the amphibian as he settled on her shoulder. "Minus the fire breathing." Her feet naturally strolled to the window. The breeze greeted her and tousled her long brown hair and the sunlight shone upon her pale face. Marie breathed in again and sighed. Beneath her was barren land that was littered with stray stones from the castle, but it soon dove into the expansive fjord. She had grown up around lakes, but none of them could compare to the water before her. Houses and other rustic buildings splattered around the shores of the fjord and an array of boats and ships floated idly in the water. Disembodied shouts sounded from their decks. Marie spread her fingers across the windowpane. "It's so beautiful," she said breathlessly. "They didn't show this in the movie."

A strong knock sounded on the door behind her. She turned to see a tall, dark skinned man push the door open and place his hands behind his muscular build. "Good afternoon, Miss," he said firmly. His brown eyes flitted towards the window before landing on Marie once more. She lifted her hands and faced him nervously, dipping her head as a greeting. "I am General Mattias and I have been instructed to inform you that Your Highness would like to speak with-"

"You're awake!" A head of red hair shot in front of the man. Anna smiled widely. "Good morning, Marie!"

Mattias took a breath in. "It's past noon, Your Grace."

"Lighten up, Destin! I woke up not too long ago, too! Give us girls some slack?" Her large eyelashes fluttered over her greenish blue eyes coyly.

The General lifted a corner of his lips in a fond smile. "Let me know if you need anything."

"Always!" she chimed. Mattias turned and left the room. Anna strolled into the room, her dark green dress gliding effortlessly across the stone floor. She stopped at the side of the bed and peered down while cupping her chin. "Hm...so that's why I didn't hear her go into her room last night."

Marie followed her gaze and felt her chest tighten when she saw that next to the covers was a slender body imprint. "What exactly happened?"

"She was worried about you." The Queen's hand ran over the imprint in adoration, a warm smile on her lips. "Last night, she came down and told us you had fallen unconscious. She came back up and watched over you for a while, even after we all went to sleep. If a friend of mine was hurt, I'd probably stay by their side, too."