Violent delights

Chapter One

Kassrya

           Kassyra awoke with a start. She had found that in her twentieth year her nightmares had become even more vivid. This one had been similar to the others, a tall dark figure, blood dripping from the ceiling, and gut wrenching screams. Violent memories that had plagued her since she was five and ten. She sighed and brushed her messy braid behind her shoulder. Soundlessly, so as not to wake her sister, she slid out of bed and tiptoed across the room to her balcony doors. As she thrust them open, moonlight filtered into her chambers.

      Though it was the middle of the night, the air was still sweltering with the fading heat left over from the afternoon. This summer had been a particularly hot one, the sun had deeply tanned her already golden skin each time she had stepped outside. As she reached the edge of the balcony, a beautiful landscape laid before her. The lights of the city below twinkled to her left and to her right was the ocean, as smooth as glass. Quietly she surveyed the glittering sea below. She watched as a lone ship glided through the still waters.

         It must be more suitors. She rolled her eyes at the thought. Her father had once again taken up trying to marry his daughters off. He had halted his efforts when their mother had died. Though, whether it was out of respect or grief she did not know. She closed her eyes and sighed. When she opened them again, she looked up. The moon was full and the sky so clear she could see the map of stars sprawled across it perfectly. She would never tire of this view. Her mother used to wake her up in the dead of night and take her out on this balcony to watch the sky. Her mother knew every constellation by heart and would tell Kassyra the stories of the Gods that created them. How she missed her mother at times like this. She never missed her during the day when she was surrounded by servants and the lords and ladies of the court. It was always when she was alone, staring up at the stars, that she felt that part of her heart she had been missing ever since her mother's death. She felt a shiver wrack down her spine at the thought of the last time she'd seen her mother. She sighed again. Suddenly she felt eyes watching her. She turned, expecting her sister had come to see if she was alright, but she was alone.

           A eerie feeling settled around her. The air, despite the summer heat, turned cold. She could see her breath billow in front of her as she exhaled. Suddenly uneasy, she began to walk back into her room across the balcony, gooseflesh formed on her skin as she went. She quickened her pace as a chill ran the length of her spine, she still felt eyes somewhere in the dark watching her. As she neared her room, she felt a hand clasp around her arm. With a shriek, she whirled around to see a hooded figure before her. Its sickening smile glinted in the moonlight as a gravelly voice spoke.

"Do not go in, Princess. You will not like what you see." Though its eerie grin remained intact, its voice was wary.

"Why?" She asked the figure, her voice barely audible as she spoke. Before it could even acknowledge the question, the figure disappeared into black smoke. Darkness slowly crept into her vision as she felt her body go numb. She could not scream, she opened her mouth to call for her guards but nothing came out. As the darkness consumed her she felt something coil around her leg.
It crept up to her calf slowly, tauntingly. This entity was in no hurry to wind itself around her paralyzed limb. It was almost arrogant, taking its time as if to display her imminent demise.

There is no escape.

       Her mouth opened in a silent scream as she was ripped down into the darkness. She felt as though knives were cutting into her skin as she was rapidly dragged into the abyss. She screamed as she awoke a second time, this time to reality.

"Oh dear heavens! Are ye' alright princess?" Her ladies maid, Margret, stood at the edge of her bed, face white as a sheet. Kassyra sat up, eyes wild with sweat coating her brow.