The Last Queen [Work In Progress]

Chapter I

Elyse cried herself to sleep in her sister's room that night. The entire kingdom now thinks she's a monster, and she doesn't know what to think. No doubt the townspeople will come to try to kill her the next day. Elyse knew that with her newly discovered powers, she was not safe and will not be accepted. She snatched a red cloak with a hood that covered most of her face. The ballroom is quiet in morning. Elyse passes the scorch marks from the night before, and runs back to the bedroom to grab some gloves. Taking a moment to look at her hands, she realizes that she was not the monster last night. David was. It was then she decided she must kill the man that killed her sister. So she head to the blacksmith in town to prepare for her journey to find David.

She avoids eye contact with anyone on her way to the blacksmith. Adrian was busy working a horseshoe. Elyse's hood slips off as she steps in and Adrian recognizes her right away as the girl he had danced with the night before, but Elyse had too much on her mind to recognize him.

"I need a sword." Elyse says as she pulls her hood back over her head.

"A sword?" Adrian looks at the girl with amazement, who had seemed so delicate in his eyes just a few hours before, "What might you need a sword for?"

"Don't ask questions," She says, and places a bag of gold coins on a table near her, "This should cover the cost. Get me a sword."

Adrian looks at the bag, then back at Elyse and smirks, "For you, this one is free."

Elyse pulls back her hood, surprised by the gesture, she wanted to see if she knew him. But he had already head into the back of the shop to find her weapon. Slipping the hood back over her face, Adrian returns with a gleaming silver sword with flame details etched into the blade and a lion's mouth forming the handle.

"This used to be my dad's," Adrian explained, "But being a blacksmith and all, I haven't got much need for it. I think you should have it," He tries to look into her eyes but was met with her shaded face. "Under one condition."

"And what might that be?" Elyse asks, clearly irritated but takes the sword and listens to his request.

"You promise that I will see you again, someday. When you finish this journey seem to be going on." He smiles at her, a genuine smile this time.

She responds reluctantly, "Yes, when I'm finished I will come back and return your father's sword." She starts to look up to try and meet his eye, but a bit of sunlight glares off of the jewelry hanging from his neck, taking her attention.

"Why do you wear two rings around your neck?" She asks, narrowing her eyes at the jewelry.

"Oh, they were my parent's wedding bands, they died in a fire and this is all that was left of them." A deathly moment of silence was shared between the two, and Elyse remembers why she had come to the blacksmith in the first place. Images of her sister being set ablaze flashed through her mind and she gripped the sword handle more tightly trying to hold back tears.

"I have to go." She says and storms out of the blacksmith's shop. Adrian starts to run after her but she vanishes into the woods after he crosses the threshold of the little shop.

~~~~~~~~~~

Deep in the forest, Elyse is wandering when she hears two rouged voices coming the other side of the thicket. Quickly, she crouches beneath the underbrush and inches closer to the rough murmuring.

"You remember the password Jim?" Elyse hears as the ogres come into her view.

"Yeah, 'The Goblin Never Sleeps'." The ogre, who's name appears to be Jim, responds to his friend. Elyse watches as they approach a giant oak tree at the end of their path, out of earshot for her. One of them knock on the circular door cut into the base of the tree, it opens slightly, just enough for another ogre to poke his head out. Jim the ogre says something to the new ogre, he accepts them and lets them in.