Caelestis

Chapter 4

Chapter 4 I Feel Like I'm in a Dream

* * *﴾The sunlight of the morning blinded me as I woke up, squinted, and looked around. I was lying on a small bed, spread out on the floor. Looking up I saw a fire in the fireplace and a large black pot hanging over it. It was a small room and I guessed that only one person lived here because the single bed and pillow I was on. A wooden table and two chairs sat below a small open window. Sunlight poured in the window like lemonade into a cup.

A boy was sitting on a strange looking stool near the fire; his back to me. I sat up a little. A wave of pain shot through my head and with a little moan, I collapsed back down onto the pillow.

"Oh! Your Highness! Are you all right?" He jumped up.

"What?" I murmured. I think I had reached the maximum weirdness my mind could handle so I just went along with the boy.

"Um, you are the Princess aren't you?" He raised his eyebrow. His voice was soft and sweet and reminded me of the waterfall I had seen on the ride here.

"Princess?" I asked, raising my eyebrows in surprise. I laughed and blinked. "What are you talking about?" I struggled to get up and with a cry of pain, fell back down.

"Whoa!" the boy put his hand on my shoulder and held it there. "Easy now, don't go hurting yourself all over again." He handed me a piece of bread and smiled. I took it and smiled. Here I am again, eating strange food from a strange boy. Then he reached up on the table and took down a cup. It was full of a reddish liquid and smelled of tea and peaches.

"Drink it. You'll feel better," the boy instructed. I placed the cup to my lips and relief rushed through me. Wow, I thought. Drinks here are amazing!

"You have a pretty bad bruise and you weren't breathing when I pushed the Gramore off of you." The boy spoke again. A bazillion things went flying through my mind. So, that's what a Gramore was! Now I knew! But then...

"Oh, no. No, no not my horse! Where's the Pegasus?" I flung myself out of the bed and, in an attempt to reach the door, I almost fell. The boy had quickly jumped up and come to my rescue again.

"Who? Zanzibar? Oh, yes. He's fine. A little scratched up, but fine." Bang! Just like a hurricane, it all came back to me. Now I knew what made the horse so familiar in the woods. Now I knew where I had seen this place before and why I sort of knew what the Gramore looked like before I had seen one!

When I was little, a whole army of Gramores led by their leader, General Ares, had attacked our castle. Lord Ragus wanted to take over my mother's kingdom. WAIT did I just say mother? Holy cow. I was a princess. In a desperate attempt to save my life, my mother had sent me to earth on my beloved Pegasus, Zanzibar where she knew I would be safe because the Pegasus would be there all the time, as my own Dark Mountain! It all made sense now! And then...This must be...

"Ben!" I flung my arms around the boy in a hug. "It is you! I thought you were dead! When that Gramore attacked you I...oh, Ben...I'm so happy to be home!"

"What?" Ben shook his head and gulped. "Oh, no. I...I'm really all right..." Ben said.

"I'm so sorry, Ben."

"That's all right. I was willing to do anything for you." He looked at me softly. His brown eyes twinkled. He was a tall boy, much like Zach, and had dark, brown, wavy hair that fell down wildly into his face. Ben and I had been best friends before I was taken to earth. We used to race our Pegasus in the summer and we had a "secret hideout" in the woods. I smiled as I recalled the memories. Then Zanzibar came back to mind.