Aranel

Two figures fell with a splash into the lake.

The man grunted. His rough crimson hair dripped water into his violet eyes. His dark grey robes drenched. He put the silver glistening dagger back into its sheath. A strange bird shaped crest on the sheath glinted in the harsh sunlight.

The other figure, a girl around sixteen shivered in the ice cold lake. Her wavy, deep sky blue hair clung to her almond shaped face. She blinked once, twice, her crystal clear, soft blue eyes utterly perplexed.

“I am sorry Princess; I must have missed my target. Please forgive me” the man apologized looking at the landscape around them.

“It’s ok Neurion, now get us out of this mess” when she spoke the words seemed so alien she froze. She took a deep breath and tried to speak again. “What is this?” Again those alien words spilt out and yet somehow she understood every word as if it were her own language.

“I must have forgotten to mention, but here you shall not speak our tongue, their language will come easily to you almost as if it were your own. It may take some time getting used to but as you know we are running out of it.”

“I understand” she nodded. “Why are we inside this water, do you not find it strange?” Her memories raced back home to the one waterfall that reached up to the skies. She had never been inside water, only stood on the bridge across it feeling the cool spray rinsing her face. She longed to go back home, but this was the only way to make sure an heir remained safe.

“You have all the knowledge you need Princess, you father made sure of that. You only need to look a little deeper into your mind. We should get going” he said helping her out of the water.

Within a few minutes they were out of the water and dried up. They walked a little further into the woods and came across a small, shabby cabin. Neurion led her inside and dusted a chair for her to sit. Then he moved on to explain to her the task at hand.

“I shall have to leave you as your father needs me by his side. Fit in and mix with the teenagers here. I shall drop you off at a hostel as your uncle. Try and lay low, you shall have to change your appearance a little, maybe dye and cut your hair-” when he said those last few words she stood up and stomped her foot.

“That’s outrageous”

“So are the circumstances Princess” he said taking a hard tone. “There may be a spare pair of jeans in the wardrobe; you shall have to change into that. Here is some money; you will have to buy clothes and whatever else you require. Am I clear?” he asked.

“I guess so” she sighed.

She was only fifteen, about to turn sixteen in two months, and the entire future of their existence already depended on her. She just wished there was an easier way out or if one of her brothers could be with her.

“Oh and Princess” he said

She looked at him.

“Try and have some fun for once. There won’t be much of it when you get back home”

She smiled and hugged him. Neurion was always there for her.

“Oh and one last thing, the next time you see me, its Jacob not Neurion”

“Very well then Uncle Jacob, lets get going shall we?” she smiled.

She got up to get changed in the other room. Neurion sat in the chair and took a deep breath, his eyes glistening with pride and compassion. Even if she wasn’t his own kin he had raised her like one. It saddened him to see her miss all her childhood in training and preparation and now this.

In a few minutes Aranel came out all dressed in a faded yellow T-shirt, a navy blazer and grey jeans. Except for the hair, she now looked like any normal girl her own age.

“Her Royal Highness Princess Aranel of the House of Elen” she whispered softly “Now just a school girl”

She gave it a moment to sink in. The extent of her situation hadn’t quite hit her yet. In a while she was going to be all on her own in a strange new land with no one and nothing familiar.