<P>"It's for own good," said the said the handmaid to Princess Amazon. </P>
<P>No it's not; it's for the good of the kingdom," she replied, twisting a jet lock around her finger. </P>
<P>The handmaid nodded reluctantly. "Right, Your Darkness."</P>
<P>Princess Amazon shook her head angrily. "Darkness above, how many times have I asked you to call me Amazon? And you're only agreeing with me because I'm the princess of the Nightlands!"</P>
<P>The handmaid shrugged. "Maybe so, Your Darkness."</P>
<P>Princess Amazon sighed. "You really don't get it, do you, Leila? Me being forced to marry the Prince of the Skylands is not for my benefit..."</P>
<P>Leila began combing Princess Amazon's hair. "Why is it not for your benefit, Your Darkness?"</P>
<P>Because the only reason I'm marrying him is to seal the alliance between the Night People and the Sky People, Leila. It's a political, strategic thing to do."</P>
<P>Leila whispered to some spiders clustered on a nearby wall, they scuttled over and settled in Princess Amazon's hair, pinning it up with their silky thread. "Well," Leila began, "isn't it worth marrying a handsome prince to end a war that has been raging for thousands of years, Your Darkness?"</P>
<P>Princess Amazon stood, admiring herself in the cracked mirror before her. "You're right, Leila," she replied, her voice full of dejection, "I am a Princess, after all, and princesses don't marry for love."</P>
<P>Leila stood as well, and smiled, sharp teeth glittering. "That's right, Your Darkness. It won't be that bad."</P>
<P>"Thank you, Leila, you always know how to make me feel better." Princess Amazon lied. </P>
<P>I'm pretty, thought Leila, gazing at herself in the mirror. Her ebony tresses flowed over her shoulders, her stark white skin contrasting with her shining, starlike eyes and cobweb dress. Smoke dribbled lazily from under the hem. Princess Amazon, however, she considered, would be prettier than me any day...but today she's the most radiant being I've ever seen. If you could call someone from whom darkness emanates 'radiant'. But somehow that was what she was. Smoke didn't just dribble from under the hem of her gown, it shimmered around her in hazy waves. Onyx jewellery glittered on her fingers and at her neck, but that was nothing compared to the quantumite nestled innocently in her necklace. It shone like a star yet somehow brighter, but it didn't hurt to look at it. It lit Princess Amazon up and gave her an untouchable, extraordinary beauty. Leila shook her head slightly-that quantumite made her thoughts fuzzy just looking at it. A Nightlands legend said that none but a true noble could look upon quantumite without experiencing confusion and disorientation. Princess Amazon seemed to snap out of a reverie of some kind. </P>
<P>"I need some...time." she murmured. </P>
<P>Leila nodded. "Of course, Your Darkness, you may take as much time as you need."</P>
<P>Princess Amazon walked out of the room, smoke drifting behind her like a train. She walked down the shadowy hallway, then out into the courtyard. The sky above her head was pale grey and the landscape, she saw as she walked to the edge of the courtyard, was quiet for once. As long as she could remember, the landscape that was now all dull and craggy had been alight with fire, and the sounds of war. For now, there was a truce. But...Princess Amazon looked down. The sheer drop of the castle's wall was immense. She'd plunge to her death, but maybe that was better than going to the Skylands with a prince that obviously didn't love her. No, she thought, don't think about that. Then you'll do it, and that-she breathed out-would be a waste. She went away from the edge, proceeding through one of the dark archways and down, down the teetering tottering stairwall lit only by black wicks that blew out as she walked past. Unknown beasts chittered, scratched and flapped at the railings, but they would not harm her, she knew that. Down the stairs and it was dark, darker than the blackest, moonless night but for the faint glow of the objects around her. Princess Amazon sighed, content. The Treasure Room was always her favourite place to go, everything was beautiful and there was always something new to look at-her mother and father were always importing strange new treasures from faraway lands. She wandered amongst the glittering jewels, furs and ancient books when something caught her eye. She turned around to find a piece of quantumite shining at her from the ground. Quantumite, she knew, was extremely valuable and rare as rare could be-the fact that she wore a piece at her neck was a great honour indeed. So a piece of quantumite just lying there on the ground-even if that ground was in the Treasure Room-was odd. She picked it up and slipped it amongst the folds of her dress, then sat on one of the rugs. She thought of the landscape she had seen before, and she thought of war. She thought of the people's lives that had been wasted, so many wasted. <EM>You can end this, </EM>she told herself, <EM>and all you have to do...is marry Prince Skylark. </EM>Her mother was always reminding her what a great honour it was to marry the prince of the Skylands, what a wonderful honour indeed. Ever since she was a child, her mother had planned the match. She'd had no say in it at all. The Nightlands and the Skylands, united by marriage. That would be a noble feat for her to perform, to seal that alliance. She would be down in history, and surely that was worth not being in love with her future husband? She stood up, and made her decision. She, Amazon, would not marry Prince Skylark. She would run, hide, die, anything would be better than marrying him. Princess Amazon walked off then, feeling like she was walking away from another path, another life. She felt sure the answer lay ahead, deep within the bowels of her castle home. So she walked calmly into the deeper darkness, until it was black as pitch and she couldn't see a thing. But wait, no, a light. Around a corner and there it was. Seemingly bright as a star in the darkness, it lay far beyond. A light-no, an outline. She walked quickly towards it and saw that the light was made out of hundreds of white, glowing dots like little stars. She reached out to touch it...and a bolt of pure, glowing energy burned her finger. She jumped back in shock. She stepped back to see what the outline was. It seemed to be-she squinted at it- a box, of some kind, with square things on the front. She stepped closer, wondering if it was solid. She stepped closer, forgetting about Prince Skylark for the moment and wondering why on Nightland there was a weird box made of stars in the depths of her castle. She stepped closer...and then the ground disappeared beneath her and she was falling. </P>
