A Chosen Path

Hope

    When they reached the staircase, Eric and Lizzy parted from Ella. Apparently, Eric wanted to unpack and Lizzy went with him wanting to hear all about his mission. Ella declined the offer to join them, under the pretense that she had a splitting headache. She keeps remembering the words Lizzy uttered after Ella had said no to their offer.
    “I keep forgetting that you've seen it all. Nothing can surprise you anymore. That’s probably why you don’t go on assignments anymore. It’s become all too boring for you.”
    Ella knew that her cousin was just teasing her, for she didn't know the real reason why Ella stopped hunting and going on missions. Everyone was shocked when Ella had made that choice. She loved hunting; the thrill it brought her and the adrenaline rush that made her feel unstoppable. Plus, she had been the best and brightest of all her kind. No one could match her skill set. But no matter what happened, no one could ever know the truth behind her sudden change of heart – with the obvious exception of Michael, that is.
    Ella was in desperate need to clear her head, so she went to the one place she knew to be empty right now; the royal training room. There were two main training rooms in the castle: one for the Royals and their guests, and the other for the servants. Upon hearing that fact when she was nine, Ella had found it unjust that they can’t train together. But now, looking back on the amount of servants in here, she understood the reason behind the split. Besides, the servants were treated fairly and trained by some of the toughest instructors out there. Michael made sure there was never any differentiation between the inhabitants of the castle, Royal or not. It was one of the many qualities about her grandfather that inspired her to follow in his footsteps.
    She opened the doors and entered the training room. The room itself was huge and immensely well-stocked with every kind of weapon that can cross your mind, form the basic weaponry like swords and daggers and sprees, to even old medieval ones like katars, maces and scythes. The contents of the room weren’t restricted to just weapons, but also to gears and outfits for each kind of combat, not forgetting the numerous books and volumes on how to master the many types of fighting techniques that they taught them in the castle. There were books that illustrated theoretical moves that could make your enemy beg for death, books on killing, even torturing; there were some truly grotesque books. Ella herself, despite her passion for books, hated getting anywhere near these. She preferred the technical side of combat, where mostly you have to rely on your skills and strength.
    Upon entering, she went directly to the weapons display and picked out ten daggers. She then stood in the middle of the room, held a dagger in hand and took aim at one of the circular targets painted on the wall. She threw the first four daggers at the target, all four of them sticking in its exact center. She had the fifth in hand and was about to let it fly when, all of a sudden, she saw the flicker of a movement out of the corner of her eye. She pretended not to have noticed the shadowy figure standing there and turned her back to it. Instead of taking aim at the target on the wall, Ella threw her dagger backwards so that it stuck on the wall mere inches from the figure’s face.
    “I thought you never missed a shot”, said the figure. As soon as Ella heard its voice, she knew immediately who it was; Aurum.
    “I didn’t miss”, Ella responded. “That was just the warning shot, in case you were an intruder.”
    “I forgot”, Aurum teased. “You’re the perfect shot, never did get it wrong.” A wide smile spread across her face. Aurum had such an infectious smile that Ella couldn’t help but smile herself, despite her bad mood. All of a sudden, Ella found herself engulfed by a tight hug from Aurum.
    “Le voyage semblait ne jamais finir. Tu m’as tellement manqué.” Ella’s attention always went to the fact that, despite all the time she’s spent in the States, she still had a hint of her French accent when she spoke. On the other hand, speaking with Aurum has really improved Ella’s French.
    “Tu m’as manqué aussi, Aura”, Ella replied as the two of them broke apart. “How was Paris?”
    “Didn’t change all that much since the last time I’ve been there. I missed you guys so much, I had to come back. But enough about me, what’s this I hear about you being engaged? What the hell’s going on?”
    “Don’t get me started! It’s another one of my grandfather’s ingenious ideas to improve the Kingdom’s political status, to preserve the bloodlines.”
    “So what, he’s having you marry some sort of rich duke? And does he actually expect you to go along with this madness?” From her angered tone, Aurum was clearly pissed off.
    “No, he’s not a duke”, Ella said. “Or even the son of a duke for that matter. He is of a very pure bloodline. There are old family ties and friendship. And as for grandpa, he expects me to obey whatever command he gives.”
    “And you’re planning to do nothing about it?”
    “What can I do? It’s not like I can just bolt. I can’t just leave the castle and never look back. That’s not an option for me.”
    “Or is it?” Aurum said, her tone implying that she was up to something. She gave Ella a look that implied she had a plan in mind.
    “What are you up to?” Ella asked, raising her eyebrow in wonder.
    “You’ll see. I have a foolproof plan that will get you out of this ridiculous situation.” Upon saying that sentence, Aurum had that spark in her eyes that implied that she had her heart and soul in this matter. Ella couldn’t help but smile, for there was hope, even if it was a tiny shimmer of it.