The Dark Princess

Brooke

I'd heard his scream, though I didn't know it was his. I went to his room immediately the following morning to see why there was such a demonic scream in the middle of the night before. I sneaked into his room already asking my question.

"Do you know wha - ooooh." I turned around, just barely holding in my vomit.

Milo laughed once, without humor. "That bad, huh?" He was lying on his stomach, shirt off, sheets only covered his lower half. I won't describe to you the wounds I saw on his back. For your benefit.

"Oh my," I whispered. "Milo . . . what happened?" His reply couldn't have sent me into more of a panic.

He only managed to choke out "Sasha . . ." That was all that needed to be said before it clicked. Demonic scream . . . Milo's wounds . . . I paled.

"Milo, what did you tell her?" I now correct my earlier statement. The one about sending me into a panic. Apparrently I lied, because this panic topped my previous one by far.

"Everything." I shuddered, suddenly nauseous. I was probably going to die. Milo had tried to warn me. No one double-crosses the Dark Princess. I had ignored him, and now I was as good as dead. Then an idea occurred to me. What if I left right now? She wouldn't have time to kill me. I told Milo my plan as fast as I could. By the time I was done, however, it was too late.

----------------------------*-------------------------------------------

"Come on, Milo, where's something I can carry you with?" He just shook his head. He was crying. I'd only seen him cry once before, and then only a little. This new Milo was new to me. He appeared completely broken. Like he had already given up.

"Brooke, go without me. She'll be here any second! Go NOW!"

"NO! I won't leave you behind. You're my friend. Now tell--" A black cloud erupted in the center of the room.

Sasha stepped out of it, her black eyes glittering with anger and her mouth twisted into a smug smile. She knew she had won. I'm surprised that I didn't. I glared at her tall figure. She walked forward and stood over me. I looked up into her eyes, and the things I saw in those black holes were enough to let me know that I had no chance. I began to shake.

"Insolent, stupid girl," she hissed. "I should've done this a long time ago." Quick as lightning, she lunged forward, bringing a deadly sharp knife out as she did, grabbed my neck, and slammed me against the wall. She did it so hard that black spots appeared in my vision. I tried to gasp for more air to replace the stuff she'd knocked out of me, but I couldn't. She squeezed harder. I felt a tingling sensation in my fingers, and she let go, allowing me to breathe. I would've collapsed, but my knees wouldn't bend. I looked down to see that the stone wall had liquidized momentarily and encased my arms and legs all the way past the elbows and knees.

My head shot back up. Sasha stood before me, evil glee in her eyes. Those dark eyes flashed for a moment. She held up her knife. It glowed white hot. I decided that Sasha rather enjoyed playing with fire. She lifted it to my side, and slowly. Ever so slowly, she pushed. Pain. Indescribable, unimaginable pain filled my thoughts. Too strong and bad for me to pass out. I knew then that I would die. But something strange happened.

A voice. A voice I knew from my dreams penetrated my mind, and broke the everlasting scream that filled it.

It said just one word. "STOP" slowly, the pain diminished. I could see things other than white light again. Sasha was tilting her head a little to the side, as if she had heard the voice too. That was the voice of the Serpent that showed me visions of things to come. She could speak to Sasha too?

I heard Sasha reply, but her lips didn't move. "Why should I?" My vision got clearer as she slowly took the knife away. I could see Milo's empty bed. Where was--there he was, unconscious on the floor, back wounds now more of an angry red.

I had lost concentration on the voice. I had missed something that it had said. Sasha was nodding, lips turned up in a smile. She dropped the knife that had been completely removed from my side. Curiously, she began to heal the puncture wound with her magic. I don't remember what happened after that. My vivion faded, and the last thing I saw was Milo begin to stir. I felt a brief surge of hope, and everything went black.