The Princess of Darkness

Chapter 1: Kidnapped

Chapter 1

I am Elizabeth. My family and I were living in a small hut in a large village until they came.

We had been told that the soldiers from the Kingdom of Mortalius were searching through small towns like ours.
But we didn't know why.

My father had told us that we must stay inside, stay still, and stay quiet. I never thought that the soldiers would come. I never thought that I would have to endure the pain that I did, and I never though that my family would be ripped away from me.

We sat still in the house. No movement, no sound. We were frozen statues, unable to speak or breathe. Then a knocking came from the door, muffled voices were just barely understandable, even in our eerie silent house.

Then something unthinkable happened.

What seemed like an entire army of men stormed into our newly unfrozen house. The men shouted words that I couldn't understand and grabbed all of us by the arms. I heard my sister scream.
The strange men lifted me onto some sort of cart, and my parents and my two sisters were gone.

I cried out their names, but no one could hear me. The cart rolled away with me in tow. I was alone in the darkness.

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I didn't remember closing my eyes, but I woke up and was no longer on the cart. I sat up and looked around. The room I was in was totally dark except for a patch of moonlight that shone through the window.

The room was large, definitely not small enough to make me feel confined, but I felt as trapped as a bird in a cage.

I was used to the tiny home that my family and I had been living in for so long, and this room was the same size as our hut.
I felt comforted by the moonlight.

I stood up and walked to the patch of moonlight. I sat down and let the cool silvery light fall over me.

I was protected by the moon.

"Why are you awake so early?" A voice inquired from the shadows.

I jumped up, startled and frightened. "Who's there?" I asked.

"A friend." I identified the voice as masculine. I assumed that the voice belonged to a boy my age.

"I have no friends." I say sadly. There were never any girls who had shared my interests in our village, they all wanted to braid each other's hair and gossip about outcasts like me.

I had made friends with the trees, and the flowers. I was friends with the moon and the stars, the sun and the plants.

"You do now." The boy stood up. He looked to be about sixteen. His hair was brown and his eyes were bright blue. I realized that I was staring at him, and I turned away shyly.

He stuck out his hand, and I shook it delicately. "I understand that this will be very awkward if I do not know your name. Mine's Alex, what is yours?"

Alex. I thought. The name sounded strange. I had never met anyone named Alex before. The name was so unfamiliar that I just kept saying it over and over again in my head.

"Hello? Nameless girl, are you there?" I realized that I had been staring into space for a while, and I quickly turned to Alex. There was a smirk on his face. My cheeks became hot.

"My name is Elizabeth." I tried to sound dignified, but I don't think that I succeeded. Alex looked at me. He mouthed Elizabeth a few times, and then said, "Elizabeth is too long, I'm going to call you Elle."

"No." I said firmly. "My name is Elizabeth. You can call me Elizabeth or nothing at all." I didn't appreciate that someone I had just met was calling me by a nickname. Not that the situation had ever occured before.

"I don't particularly feel like calling you Elizabeth, so I guess I will have to call you Nothing At All." He said. "So Nothing At All, where are you from?" He smiled. It was a beautiful smile. His eyes lit up, and his white teeth sparkled in the milky moonlight.

"I didn't mean that I wanted you to actually call me nothing at all you know." I said, a little frustrated now.

"I know." He said. "Well Nothing At All, I have to leave now. It was a pleasure meeting you, we should do it again sometime."

"Wait!" I shouted. "Where am I?"

Alex turned around. "You are in a palace your majesty." He winked and disapeared.

I was again alone with only the protection of the moon.