The Blade in the Mist: A Story from Araluen

Prologue

          Ara stopped in front of the wooden gates. She could not hear the roaring waves of her home country anymore. Only the light lapping of water on the shore. She shrugged, Skandia was behind her now. It would not do to think of it anymore. Then, she pushed the gates open. The swung open with ease and she marveled at how far she had come. She remembered when her father had kicked her out. She would never forget. It had been both the worst and best day of her life. She did not want to go back to show her father he had been wrong to think she was weak. She could be strong by herself, she never had to see her father again. That is why Ara had come to Castle Araluen. To be free at last.

          Inside the walls of the castle were what looked like millions upon millions of people. No one paid attention to Ara as she walked through them. Every once in a while someone would say excuse me or say sorry after they had pushed her to the side but most people did not realize anything out of the ordinary about this quite normal teenage girl, even if she was on the larger side. 

          Ara was almost past all the market stands when she felt that someone was watching her. She whirled around and found herself glaring at a tall smug looking boy who looked about 18. 'Ugh!' she groaned. Why did the most insufferable boys seem to attract to her? She hated them and avoided them like the plague but that did not stop them from bugging her constantly.

"You're new," said the boy

"Yes," she said, "Thank you for observing that." She started to walk away but the boy caught her arm.

"My name is Damian." the boy said.

"That's good for you." Ara snapped and tried to wrench her arm from him.

"Why so unfriendly?" Damian asked. Ara could tell she was going to have to talk her way out of this one.

"My name is Ara," she said, looking down at her feet, "I am in a rush can you please let me go?"

"Well, now that you asked politely," Damian said, "maybe I will think about it." Just as he was about to say something more Ara twisted her arm back and pushed Damian sending him sprawling backward. Before he got the chance to regain his feet she ran, pushing through the crowds of people. 

Damian quickly got back up but Ara had gone. 'Humph,' he thought, 'I didn't like her anyway.'

Ara kept running but she soon realized that Damian was not following her. She slowed down and in front of her was the castle. She had not had time to really look at the castle before now. it was truly beautiful. Ara had seen castles before in Skandia and she had seen some in Araluen too but she had never seen one of such elegance as this. There was no mistaking it, this was Castle Araluen.

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I hope you like the story so far, it is the first story I have written on Wattpad and it is pretty short right now but this is just the prologue. I don't have too much time to write but I will try to get the first chapter out by next week.