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Dinner

I stepped into the room. It was completely empty except for the tall mirror on one of the four black walls. I walked over to it, and cocked my head to the right. King Xavier stared back at me, his joyous golden eyes looking at me with pride and something else. Slowly, so slowly that I barely noticed, his face began to become warped and more bent out of shape. My heart was racing. My palms were sweating. My throat closed up and I wasn't able to scream at the horrific face that now looked back at me in the mirror. His face was no longer handsome or lovable.

Instead, it had been replaced with a gruesome painting. An eye patch covered one of his eyes and his other eye looked at me with such hunger I felt my insides strain to work. His hand reached up and he held his hand out to me, a purple powder lightly dusted his fingers from something he had dealt with earlier. When I didn't reach up to grab his hand, his fingers dug into my wrist, drawing blood. I was finally able to scream. It came out as if it were a flood.

"Princess Vanessa, wake up!" Someone shook my shoulders and my eyes sprang open. The cold air made the wet streaks on my cheeks feel like ice and my breaths were coming fast. The knights stood above me, their swords thrown to the side so they could wake me up.

I was speechless as I looked from one to the other, both wearing the same stricken expression. "Princess, you are bleeding." The knight went to grab my wrist and, still in a moment of shock and confusion, I let him wipe the blood off on his handkerchief.

"I'm sorry. I--I was just having a nightmare. I didn't mean to scare you both. It's just that... um, I was just having a nightmare." The tears continued to fall down my cheeks when one of the knights took off their helmet. It revealed a rather young man, with golden hair tied back at the nape of his neck. He must not have been too much older than nineteen or twenty because I didn't spot a single sign of age on him. From the look in his maroon eyes, I knew that he felt sorry for me. I tried to look away but he wouldn't allow it.

"You know, Princess, I don't think it's very healthy for you to wear that necklace if this is what it does to you. Your personal being is at risk and it is our job to protect you. We can't protect you when you are the cause of your own pain. Please, do us all a favor and take off the necklace." His eyes were sympathetic and I bit my quavering lip. The other guard took off his helmet to reveal a shaved head and the same beautiful, maroon eyes. Maroon was a beautiful color. especially with the gold of their armor and the rich tone of the second guards skin.

"I appreciate your advice..." I tried to think of their names but I couldn't quite recall them ever telling, or, more importantly, me ever asking. "I'm sorry, but I don't know your names."

"I am Rune, and this is Rain." The blonde one gestured towards the darker colored one.

"Nice to meet you both." I took off my necklace and threw it onto the other side of my bed.

"You should get going, Princess Vanessa. You should probably talk to Wizard Marda yet again this morning. Not only that, but you also have the Time of Talia to worry about. I wouldn't know, but I'm sure that getting ready for that won't be a tea party." Rain nodded his head towards outside where snow coated the grass and the dead trees swayed in the small breeze.

"Thank you both." I hurried from my bed, holding the hanker chief to my wound, and grabbed the first pair of clothes that I could find. The guards excused themselves from the room and I was free to get ready for my meeting with Professor Marda. There was so much I needed to tell him.

The entire way to the office, I let Rune and Rain follow me right by my sides. We talked about how cold it was outside and how fun it would be to wear a dress outside. When I opened the doors to the office with my guards close by, Professor Marda seemed surprised. "What happened? Why are you actually with your guards? Vanessa, this is great. You're finally making progress." He smiled and leaned back in his chair with a sigh.