Castle of Vines

Chapter 3

The castle of vines blew its forbidden magic across the forest, owned by the monster who ruled the night and everything dark.
   Something struck him, a sensation of shrouding power. A maiden of war had been unleashed from the ropes from her guild, he returned to his reading room. She'd struggled for years, he knew. An orphan living in the slums with an unforgiving concrete, tainted skin, and tattered clothing. Oh, Marvin knew everything.
   More than what that girl had imagined.
   A figure in the shadows eyed him, a grin plastering his face. "You found her," Ryan said.
   "Indeed, I have," Marvin answered, raising a brow. The fire crackled in their silence. He pocketed the necklace of that maiden, one glittering in scarlet, like her hair. It dangled between his fingers as it swung back and forth,
   Ryan's amusement faded. "The guild---"
   "Don't you fret," he interrupted, waving a hand. "She knows I did it by now."
   Marvin decided he really didn't give a shit about anything. Particularly the curse upon the castle itself. As the prophecy went, his great, great, great, great-grandfather, Edwin Silvers had sailed his flotilla to send aid for a certain war between the Northern and Southern Kingdoms. The Niczebecs of the Southern sides offered their gratitude in return, but the remaining ones of their kind had told a very dissimilar history. That the curse had been forgotten, along with this forest. It hadn't. The curse willingly took a wizard's control each year, and, as a result, they died until they gave into their inner darkness. To break it had been to let a maiden of dark blood to bring this castle to ruin, which several have tried, even mundanes. Not a single fire would bring this place to ashes. And their life had been the price.
   He didn't know why they'd rewritten their stories if it had to protect themselves or their offsprings. The demons never bore babies, unless they were gifted. Some were immortal. Some were cursed of an eternal beauty. Some were blessed with the natural hands of a warrior.
   However, one would only claim all of the above. And it had been her, the maiden who panicked by the circling Flanks.
   "You," Ryan settled his arms on his sides, brows scrunched. "You allowed our only hope to die with a pack of wolves. No. Worse. You let the Flanks take her!"
   He nodded concisely. Marvin's mouth still curved at the thought of it. "We need to see first if she's really the one."
   "The wizards are at stake in this castle, Marvin," Ryan spat out his name like poison. His pale face had been enough to let Marvin know that he'd been in his fraught quiet for more than one night. The transition of his sanity gripped Marvin with fear--- the prophecy had added that some will be lost to the curse. Ryan's eyes drained of color, not a gleam of thrill lingering in those tawny eyes.
   Marvin's jaw clenched, holding the arms of his chair so tight, his knuckles turned white. "Princess Elaine, from a Northern Kingdom, had agreed to our terms and circumstances. She signed the goddamn contract, Ryan," his throat burned with the words of hope he'd been willing to give to his friend. "Their flotilla still sails across the seven pirate oceans. There's..."
   He hesitated for a moment. Marvin's throat bobbed once. Twice.
   "...hope," he finished.
   Ryan tucked the pale expression away from his face and seemed to consider his words. As though Marvin had never said the word.
   Hope. What an ugly word. Too... mundane.
   An hour past evening, both of them walked to the balcony, their boots crunching on the cobblestones of this rutting castle. Thorns keep growing from thin spaces of the walls, indicating that the curse slowly arrived with their death. For the Wizards' deaths. His blood thrummed as they focused on the girl, whose body danced with the ballad of blood singing within her.
   Ryan scanned the girl. "She looks just like the ones drawn in the prophecy."
   "Legends never lie," he murmured.
   The wind swept her hair while she swayed with her sword. No matter what weapon she'd grabbed, sticks or fists, she excelled in defeating every beast that stood above her. Despite the size, she was stronger than anyone he knew.
   When his green eyes met hers, coated with dark umber, he felt his veins yelling to stay back. Turn away. He had--- when full moon revealed its light. As he ran, his mind spat out a name. Niczebec Queen.
   A wolf readied its pounce, growling from behind her. The leaves hissed but she'd been too busy on the Flanks in front of her. Ryan propelled Marvin to the Weapons Room, tugging him forward, and let him go as Marvin hauled on his heels, and began walking himself.
   "We could just transport there," Marvin groaned. "You're the Wanderer."
   "What if we get our asses kicked?" he argued. "Do you suppose we go out there to make a fool out of ourselves?"
   "If it saves her ass," Marvin pierced him with a glare, "then we'd save millions. We'd save our people."
   Releasing his own anger, Ryan held up his chin, cocking his head to the forest. "Let's go, then."
Both of them leaped out of a nearby window, the glass in smithereens from an old quake. They dashed to her for different reasons. Ryan raced to the queen who'd save everyone, even with her blackened soul. But Marvin's...
   He sprinted on the muddying ground, daring to rescue the woman who'd hate him for the monster he was told to be.