The Nightingale's Dawn

Chapter 1: We Met.

I couldn't sleep.

Some noise down the royal hallway just wouldn't let me... 

Honestly, I wasn't THAT scared. I was just.. you know... creeped out, I guess... 

Since my childhood, I was always very cinematic. I thought my life was a movie... or a book, and I was the main character. And it was because of particularly this emotion that took over me, I was quietly tip-toeing in the hallway, with weird, intrusive thoughts taking over that said, "What if it's some weird animal, who found its way in through the window? 

Impossible.

 The maids close all the windows and doors before 9:00... Then what could it be? Could it be a maid who just forgot her pills? [Yes... Most of the maids here take pills.] But no... the maids keep their pills inside their side table drawers..."

Ughh... The suspense was killing me... Suddenly, I came to a halt in the powder room. 

What I saw wasn't an animal... or a maid taking her pills... It was an injured girl, probably in her early twenties, frantically going through every single cabinet and drawer, searching for something.

 She was cut on her upper abdomen, maybe around her appendix. She was pressing on it, lightly, trying to lessen the bleeding. 

I was just standing there in shock and didn't know what was happening. 

"Eleanor! Eleanor, help me! Where's the medical box?!! Eleanor!" 

How did she know my name? Were they thieves? Were they here to steal? 

Regardless, I returned to my senses and was about to rush to help when someone loudly whispered my name. 

"Eleanor! Over here!" 

I looked towards the window and there was a boy around my age, who seemed peculiarly familiar... But for me, that wasn't the worst of my problems.

I had to urgently attend to the girl, who was groaning, unwillingly. I rushed to one of the cabinets, way down the room, and rushed back with the first-aid box and did what I could. 

I didn't like the sight of so much blood, it made me nauseous. But, I still did it. [Cinematic feelings, you see...] 

I carefully dressed her wound. And helped her up onto the couch. I breathed a sigh of relief... When there it was again. The loud whisper.

"Eleanor! Pssst! Over here!" 

This time, I wasn't going to ignore it. 

I carefully took off the girl's hand and walked towards the window. 

The girl also left a sigh of comfort and relief. The boy was dangling on a single rope which was stuck on the window frame. 

And there I was again. I just stood there, almost paralysed in shock, not knowing what to do.

 Down the window, I saw a guard around the corner, and he was heading in the direction of the rope. 

I quickly pulled the boy in and pulled the rope up, just before the guard looked up. 

The boy sat down on the floor, panting like anything.

"Who are you?! And why are you here?! Are you here to steal?! Are you both accomplices?! Answer me!!", I shouted, not very loudly though. 

"Calm down", he said, chuckling lightly. "One question at a time. And, yes. We are accomplices, but we aren't here to steal. We're here for you." 

"Me?!", I exclaimed. "What do you guys have to do with me?" 

I looked up to see the girl walking towards us, slightly groaning in pain. 

She sat down on a chair and said, "We're here for you indeed, but not to take you away, so don't worry. We just need to talk to you urgently. It's quite a serious matter, so you better stop being a goofy, weird princess and be serious for once, Eleanor. And, also, Thank you for taking care of me."

 "DON'T CALL ME GOOFY, YOU FLUFFHEAD!! AND HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME!!?? And you're welcome lady." 

"And please keep your voice down. Trust me, you do not want to be seen with us.", the boy added in slight irritation and fear. 

"Why?" I asked, in confusion as to what was happening. 

"That's not the point right now. What we need to talk about, is your dad Eleanor." 

My dad? What did they have to do with my dad?

The girl said, "You see Eleanor, a few years ago, your dad came to our village in search of the enchanted tree. We don't know why but when he came, it was chaos. He destroyed all of our houses and killed so many people, ruined our crops, and whatnot. 

We were terrified. 

He looked quite angry when he couldn't find it. Indeed, the tree belonged to our village. But it was far from where we resided. The tree holds the power of healing and protection, but not every good thing is only good...". 

"What do you mean?", I questioned. 

"The tree also holds the power of mass destruction and the tree gets aggravated easily when not handled carefully...", the boy added. 

"Indeed.", the girl said, agreeing to the boy's statements. "We came to ask you the reason behind as to why the king wanted such a power."

"I don't know," I said.

 "I have no memories of my dad, going out, and doing whatever nonsense you just spouted. I think it's time you leave, boy and girl." 

"We should indeed.", the boy replied. "It will be dawn soon." 

The girl slowly got up, tore a piece of her checkered jacket over her white shirt and tied it around her wound.

 The boy then proceeded to lower the rope and just as she was about to go down, I stopped her.

 "Wait!"... "What's your name?"

 "You can call me Aurora. Aurora Stoneheart." The girl, or should I say, Aurora, replied, lowering herself down with the rope. 

"I'm Jasper Sullivan. Nice to meet you, Eleanor."

 I turned to him and said coldly, "I didn't ask."

 He frowned a bit and slowly let himself down as well.

I was tired. 

I quickly cleaned everything up and went to bed. 

So many questions were lurking around in my head. 

How did she get hurt? Was whatever she said about my dad true? Did my dad attack a village? What was this 'Enchanted tree' he was in search of? 

Despite everything, I finally managed to sleep after some time...

Stay tuned for chapter 2!!!