Kingdom of the fallen

Seventeen

Other than small slips from my fingers slowly untwining, my hands were glued together.
Gusts of wind blew by, grass rustled from below, the horses hooves galloped beneath us.
The sky was green, and the grass was blue. Everything seemed magical, as if sparkles were all around us. But that all changed in a moment.
Dark grey clouds rolled around above us. Bright lightning strikes were seen, with the following thunder.
“Do you see that?”
“The clouds.?”
I replied.
“How could I not?”
He laughed. He pulled the horses leash, making him slow down.
“It means we are close.”
“Where are we going?”
“You said you missed your kingdom, correct?”
He nudged my attention forward. The stormy clouds covered the sun like a lamp shade, covering the light. It was dark to see what is was. It seemed like pieces of walls, and dark ash.
“Is that really.?”
“Your home.”
The horse rode forward, stopping in front. The wrapped to lead to a broken looking pole, tying him in place.
Lucien jumped off the horse, offering me a hand. I flashed a warm smile, taking his hand and jumping down.
The ground felt soft, but different than normal. It wasn’t soft like the bright green grass, or the soft mud from the garden. Or even like the fuzzy carpet from Lucien’s bedroom. Not like the red carpet that’s lines the hallways in the castle, the hay from the ball, or even like the soft sheets in his bed. Not at all. Instead, it felt like sand, warm soft and squishy sand.
“I could not do anything else but watch my kingdom burn to the ground, with all my people. All my belongings. All the memories. Most importantly, my family.”
My eyes lit up, but not in the good way. They sparked in the occasional light from the lighting, from the water that was quickly building up in my eyes. I was crying.
I didn’t even have the energy to focus on Lucien. All my attention was placed on this broken down, burnt up place. The remains to my kingdom.
I slowly walked over, looking around. a soft ringing in my ears, of all the memories flooding into my head.
“Dad! What is-”
“Why are there people-”
“Take this and rule-”
“My dear princess-”
“I could not scream, squiggle, or fight-”
“For once, gravity was not on-”
“The last time I got-”
“My kingdom-”
The memories were fading in and out. I shook my head, then seeing a small sparkle. But what was it? For every strike of lightning, a small shimmer flashed in my eyes. I walked closer, letting curiosity get the best of me. It was a jewel?
I gasped, following the scattered trail of sparkles. A red one! Then next a green! Is that a yellow?
They were everywhere. I picked them up, placing them in small cut out pockets in my slip. My pockets were wet. Small sprinkles of water had started to fall from the sky, causing the ash to turn to mud, and the gems to be dirty. I didn’t care. That had been the only thing left of my kingdom, other than ash and rubble.
Thunder struck close. Lucien pulled my arm, pulling me back to the horse.
“No! Let go-there’s still more!”
“We need to go before we get trapped. Come on Kamilla!”
He tugged on my arm, but I kept pulling away.
“I can’t let the only opportunity to see this place go to waste!”
“We have to go now; otherwise, you will end up like them.”
Time felt like it froze. Silence filled the air, the only thing that was heard was the rain hitting the mud, and a rather quick gasp from Lucien, followed by a fast apology.
“I-I didn’t mean it-”
“…”
“I’m sorry kami-”
“Sorry can’t take back words! You only say the truth when you’re angry.”
Lighting struck again. No words were spoken, yet it was obvious what was wanted to say. Neither of us made eye contact. Lucien untied to horse as I jumped on. And after that, so did he.
We rode back to his kingdom. I tried not to look back as to what was my home, for the memories would plush back. The girl inside was in pain, knowing the loved ones she once had, were burned there, with no proper burial. The girl inside was in pain, knowing this could have been the last ever time she would see this place.
Thoughts like that flowed into my mind, but the girl inside wasn’t important, for a new girl has taken her place, and I am in control.
We rode off in the rain. Both of us were soaking wet, but we didn’t care. Or at least I didn’t care. We both stayed silent the whole time, it was too awkward to say anything. But the silence was nice, calming even. The sound of rain drops hitting the ground, the horses’ hooves slashing in the mud, the wind blowing the wind through my hair, it was all nice. It was soothing, calming, quiet.