The Dark Princess

Mary

I turned toward the cliff. My idea was crazy. and would probably get me killed, but it was better than dying for sure. Besides, I thought, if I'm going to die, I might as well go out in style. Plus, I had discovered recently, with Brooke's help, that I had magic. In fact, she thought I might be a full witch. Naturally, the first thing she taught me was how to create a protective shield to go around your whole body. I had thought of using one to get past the elves, but I could only make it last about two heavy blows. That left the cliff. If I could keep it intact the whole way down, I might survive. I didn't have any more time to figure something else out, because as soon as these thoughts finished flashing through my head, the lead elf, the one that was heavily adorned, burst through the foliage, carrying a very painful looking club. I had no doubt he could use it. I put my foot at the edge of the cliff, and jumped as far out as I could, holding back a scream as I willingly plummeted to my death, two hundred miles below.

I mentally recited the spell Brooke had taught me. It didn't work. I remembered Brooke's trouble with Milo's eye, and concentrated on just the area around me. It still didn't work. I finally screamed, both with frustration and a surety that I was about to die. I could see the ground rushing up to meet me, only a few seconds away, and it would be a very hard landing. I squeezed my eyes shut and said the spell one last time. I felt the impact everywhere, but it wasn't the painful death I'd imagined, because instead of going splat, I was thrown back up into the air. I opened my eyes, shocked, and saw a wall of cracked, translucent red. My shield finally worked. I was alive . . . for now. I hit the ground again and it shattered, though not before I bounced again. I fell a full seven feet before landing painfully in a bush. Unfortunately, the bush grew roses . . . and thorns. Just my luck. I slowly picked my way to a sitting position and stood up. I has rips in my dress and little nicks all over. I still ached from the impact, and I had no idea where I was. But I was alive, and that was enough for me. I looked up the cliff. The elves had lowered a rope, and already had two men down it. They were trying to come after me. I ran, frustrated at my own luck, into the forest.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was the next morning a couple hours after I woke up when the monkey landed on my head. I'll admit, I did screech a little bit, if about ten minutes counts as a little bit. Finally, the monkey jumped off, and I could see that it was a monkey. It was so cute . . . about a foot tall and red-orange in color. It had the biggest eyes. So big, in fact, that they almost distracted me from the paper in its front paws. Almost, because it had the word "Brooke" on the front. I lunged forward and snatched the paper away from the monkey. I unfolded it to find only one word. I felt my stomach drop. My former servant and friend had written to me to say . . . goodbye. I sat down, momentarily forgetting that I was starving. Why had she written goodbye, of all things? Was she planning on getting herself killed? Or . . . or was it something else? I looked up at the monkey . . . or should I say, I looked down at the monkey. It had run off for a few seconds, but had just returned with a miniature armful of fruit. I looked at it in awe. How had the little monkey known I was starving? I grinned and held out my arm after a short breakfast and the monkey jumped on and scrambled up onto my shoulder.

I smiled and said "I think you need a name."

The monkey squealed and jumped up and down a little bit.

"Well," I continued, "there's Sara."

The monkey vigorously shook its head. I laughed, and continued,

"Well, how about . . . Figi?"

Figi squealed and jumped up and down again. I took that as a yes. Then my thoughts turned toward less happy things, like Brooke's letter. I had a feeling I wasn't going to be able to get that out of my head for a while yet, and only later, in the woods, would I know why she had said goodbye.