Arcanum

Chapter 26: Aiyana

She looks so adorable!" I heard giggling and my eyes flung open,

"Huh?" I looked up from my bed to see Charlene and Kyrin staring down at me,

"Oh hey." I smiled at them,

"This boy wouldn't admit it, but I think he was thinking about how adorable you are." Charlene playfully poked Kyrin's shoulder, and I watched the boy's face go red,

"Yeah, well..." He chuckled,

"Anyways, I should get dressed." I explained to the two, and they nodded and left the room. I was going to be questioning the General today, and I was trying to figure out what to wear. "This will be fine I guess." I pulled on a tight and strapless full body outfit with slits in the sides. The outfit was dark green and light green, and the upper half was low cut. I examined my body in the mirror, and grabbed a pale green fabric and attached it to my hips, watching it flow behind my body as I took a step forward. "That should be fine." I sighed, and decided to put my hair in a french braid down my back.

I walked into the prison, and headed down the long hallway, glancing at the few prisons as I passed. When I came to a stop in front of The General's prison, I found him and another knight sitting in the cell. I stopped and looked at them,

"Hello." I said, and the General and the knight looked up at me.

"That's the princess?" I heard the knight gasp, and I rolled my eyes, and opened the cell. I took a few steps toward the two men, and closed the door behind me.

"I'm not going to tell you anything if that's what you're thinking." Lucas said, and I crossed my arms,

"Well, you'd be a fool if you did tell me." I sighed, and fixed my outfit. Then, I walked close to Lucas, and brought my face inches from his. He kept a cold expression as our eyes locked,
"I have something I want you to tell your race." I turned away from Lucas, and walked to the cage bars,

"Speak." Lucas growled, and I looked at him,

"I know the humans hate the Catori rebels just as much as we do. I want to make a truce." I explained, and the knight's mouth dropped wide in shock,

"I will tell this to the king, but I doubt he will agree, Princess." Lucas said, and I smirked,

"Actually, I wasn't asking for his help. I want you're help, Lucas." I proposed, and the guy's eyes widened.

"Do you know how much trouble I would get in for that?!" He shrieked, and I leaned against the cage bars,

"You don't have to help. Although, if you led your army to fight the rebels at the same time as my army, I'm sure you could trick the King into thinking it was an accident. To make it even more believable, we could pretend to fight one another." Lucas got up, and walked as close as he could to me, since his chains were holding him back,

"You know what we think of Catori, Princess." He spat, and I chuckled,

"Those rebels are the ones who steal your food, not us. In fact, we would way rather have peace." I explained to Lucas, and the guy snarled,

"Yeah right, everyone knows you started the war."

"Excuse me?" I raised an eyebrow at the guy, "the king was the one who started it. He is to blame." I snarled back. "As I was saying before, we will be going into battle tomorrow night. Be prepared, Lucas." I said, and unlocked the two Knights chains. "See you tomorrow, Lucas." I gave him a smile, and watched as the two left off into the woods. As the left, I smirked, "and if you don't show up, I swear I will murder you. For real, this time.".

"My princess." Kyrin walked toward me, a smile on his handsome features.

"Hello." I smiled back,

"I was here to see if you'd like to join me at the ball tonight. Unless you've chosen someone else." He blushed, and I wrapped him up in a hug,

"I would be overjoyed! I almost forgot about it!" I ruffled the boy's hair, and the two of us laughed and headed to the village.

"Hi Princess!" Villagers waved at me, and I giggled,

"I guess I'll see you tonight, Kyrin." I waved to my friend, and headed into my house. I had to find the perfect dress for this ball. After searching for what seemed like forever, I finally decided on a gorgeous royal red dress with mango coloured fabric attached. I slipped the dress on, and examined myself in the mirror. It defiantly was a gorgeous dress.

---

Two hours before the ball, I was covering my arms in shimmering golden beads. When I put the dress overtop, I realized how beautiful the dress looked with the golden beads. I needed to fix my hair next, and I tousled my hair again and again, leaving it once it had beautiful ringlets.

"You look gorgeous. I can so see you as a queen in that dress!" Charlene giggled, and came up beside me.

"Thanks, and what about you?" I turned to face my friend, and examined her appearance. She looked like a fairy, with a mint strapless dress that reached her knees. The girl's green hair was down, and wavy, with a braid interwoven into it, "Charlene, you look beautiful." I smiled, and the girl giggled,

"I would hope so." We both laughed. "Oh, the dance starts soon!" The green haired girl grabbed my arm, and pulled me out the door. I giggled as she led me into the main part of town, where I could hear ball music.

"Oh, and there's Kyrin!" The girl wiggled her eyebrows, and took off. Kyrin turned to look at me, and I noticed how handsome he looked in a tuxedo.

"Hi." I blushed, and walked toward the guy.

"Wow." Kyrin examined me, and smiled, "want to dance?"

"How could I say no to that." I giggled, and laced my fingers with his. Kyrin placed his hand on my waist, and we smiled at each other as we danced around.

---

"There's the princess. She looks stunning." Akira and Kenji walked over to Kyrin and I as we stood around the food table,

"Wow, everyone is complimenting me today." I beamed, and the three laughed.

"Would I be able to have a dance?" Akira bent down on his knee, and kissed my hand. I rolled my eyes, and nodded, letting the guy hold my hand, and put his freehand on my waist.

"It's General Lucas!" I heard a scream, and I spun around on my heels. General Lucas was standing a few feet ahead of me, and he leaped forward and grabbed my wrist. I didn't even have time to react as the guy threw me over his shoulder, and took off into the jungle,

"What are you doing?" I sighed, hearing guards behind us. Lucas pushed me into a small cave, and crawled in beside me,

"I'll be leading my army with yours tomorrow." He explained, and I rolled onto my back,

"Are you kidding? That's why you came here?"

"No." Lucas's hand suddenly slammed against my mouth, and I struggled to breath.

"Let go of me!" I mumbled through his hand, but my consciousness was fading. Before I knew it, I fell into darkness.