Unveiled

Chapter 14

     Even though all the servants and maids took cover in the dungeons below the castle, Princess Ember wandered the halls, silently thinking as she took in the tapestries and oil paintings on the walls. Her dress flowed behind her as she wandered. Ember knew it would be smarter to take cover with everyone else, but she felt she should be in the throne room since the Sovereign and Mistress were not there. She stopped to check her reflection in a mirror, and saw the tiara glitter on her head. The gems were lavender and silver and similar to her dress.

     The wind howled against the stones of the castle, and heavy drops of rain tapped against the tall windows of the hallway. "A gales a'blowing through the moors!" a servant told her before he retired to the dungeons with the others. 'It's just a gale' so Ember thought, 'I'll be fine.'

     She ambled to another tapestry, and stared at it for a long time, deciphering its meaning. It was her before she turned into a fox. She was in a gorgeous green dress with gold trimming. Her long red hair flowed down past her shoulder. Behind her was the castle. She missed her human form. It was so hard to be a fox because she couldn't even verbalize an opinion anymore. Ember sighed, and walked the rest of the way to the throne room. She pushed the heavy door open, and thanked the fact that the door was cracked open already. 

     Princess Ember slowly sashayed down the narrow carpet to the throne, and heard the wind outside intensify. She splayed her fox ears back, and continued her venture to the throne. Once she finally reached it, she curled up on the lap of it, and put her thick tail over her chilled paws and legs. 

     The howling of the wind and the constant torrent of rain against the windows in the room eventually lulled the princess to sleep as a loud yet soft Celtic tune filled her mind as unconsciousness took over. 

     Sovereign Nathan and Mistress Mary were still out of the kingdom, and just received the message that a gale was blowing over the kingdom in the moors. They hoped their daughter was still doing well, and that she would be able to take care of the kingdom while they were gone. 

     They have been going from kingdom to kingdom to find an antidote for their daughter, but they hadn't realized that there was no cure around them. It was merely at their own empire, a cure no one could have thought of, except the writer perhaps. 

     Princess Ember felt something in her unconscious state, something stinging and wet. She tried to think of all the reasonable answers to why she would feel this in the room she was in, but nothing reasonable came. The stinging wetness continued, and she finally opened her eyes, yet everything was still hazy from sleep that once held her so dear. Her hearing finally cleared completely, and reality set in. As she began to check her surroundings, she noticed the window was shattered by a willow tree that fell in. 

      The princess shot upwards on the throne, jerking her ear at the piercing sound of the wind and rain that flicked her. She debated on whether to take cover or not. Suddenly the crumbling of the ceiling above her made her spring out of the throne and dart for the door. She flew through the corridors, and went down a spiral flight of stone stairs to the dungeons below. Several met her there, and one even threw a quilt over her. 

      "My princess, are ye alright?" a maid with Yorkshire dialect inquired. 

      Ember nodded, and flicked her tail as she was lead to a stone bench along the wall. 

     "Have a seat miss." the Yorkshire maid told the Princess. "I'll bring ye another blanket." 

     Ember nodded as if to give her consent of approval for that action to be taken. The Elder Jeanne was led forth by a maid of hers over to the princess to sit with her. She gracefully took a seat next to the shivering Princess, and began to talk to her. 

     "My dearest Princess Ember." the Elder began. "We must go out to the gardens when this storm passes away, because I have something very important to tell ye, my child." 

     Ember nodded and blinked. She so much wanted to talk to Jeanne then, but all she could do was rub her furry face onto Jeanne's aged face. Jeanne put her arm around Embers furry body, and embraced her. 

     "Everything will be alright, my child." the Elder told her.

Author note

   Hi everybody, I hope ye are enjoying the story still. Oh yes, and if you love this story, some of my inspiration is my love for Instrumental Irish and Celtic music. That is a radio station on Pandora by the way. Thank you to all that are reading my book still! Much love