The Shadows of Blood

Chapter Three: A Trip to The High Towers

'I went looking for my dreams outside of myself and discovered, it's not what the world holds for you, it's what you bring to it.'

-- Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables)

Alina could not sleep that night -- mangled thoughts kept floating in and out, once or twice she even thought she could hear the sound of someone screaming inside her head. She tossed and turned in her covers, trying to force them into the dark corners so she would never hear that piercing sound again, but no such luck. In the end, she resided in lying flat on her back, staring up at the ceiling with her eyes wide open, her nightgown plastered to her back with sweat, no sign of sleepiness what whatsoever. 

The clock tower chimed midnight. Twelve muffled chimes that seemed to echo throughout the village, sinking it into a pit of endless darkness.

Alina groaned, abandonning her painstaking attempt to fall asleep, she tossed the bedcovers aside and slid off the bed.

She hesitated for a moment, thinking. Then, as though a sudden inspiration had struck her, she crossed over to the door, slipping and sliding several times on the loose pages of paper, and put her fingertips to the cool metal of her doorknob.

She was going to take a night tour of the castle. Why not? She reasoned with herself, she was princess, the castle was her home.

But yet there was still a sort of empty feeling in the fit of her stomach that she'd never felt before as she grasped the doorknob. Hesitating for the space of a heartbeat, she turned it and the door swung open with surprisingly little resistance.

She sucked in her breath as she stepped outside. She had never roamed the castle at night, and did not realize how eerie it looked with candles casting  ghostly shadows on the walls that seemed to dance in the flickering light.

The eyes of the portraits hanging on the walls seemed to follow her as she tiptoed, barefooted, down the silent corridor. As she neared its end, however, she could distincally make out the babble of talk coming from the room at the very back.

Heart pounding, she quickened her pace to reach it. Who was up at this time of night?  Still panting and pressing her ear to a crack in the door, she listened.

'Elijah, I want you to guard the towers.'

Alina had to stiffle a gasp, she bit her tongue just in time as he spoke once more.

'All the towers, especially the South Tower.' Her brother's voice was solemn.

There was a murmur of consent.

'You know where it's hidden.' Saffi said in a whisper, 'I want you and your team to guard it at any risk, and more than anything,' His voice was so quiet Alina had to press her ear painfully against the polished wooder in order to hear. 'Don't let my sister near that.'

There was a slight pause. 'Adelyna?'

'She has a strange liking for it, no doubt it was the same attraction that brought my mother to possess it. Yes, I ask you to guard it at all costs.'

'Very well, I'll rally up my forces tomorrow morning.' Then another pause. 'It's not broken then? It's not shattered?'

'No.'

Footsteps, Alina barely had time to duck into the shadows, before the door swung open and Saffi walked out.

He was pale, almost sickly looking, his hair tangled as though he too hadn't been able to fall asleep. Alina watched her brother walk towards the other end of the corridor, then he rounded it and was gone.

She stood there, panting. Then, without a split second's hesitation, she turned. 

The South Tower.

She had to get it.

Not knowing or asking why she had taken this dangerous decision, Alina surveyed her suroundings. Sprinting down the way she had come from, she swung herself onto the stairwell, and ran up the stairs three at a time. By the time she was on the fourth floor landing, she already had a stitch in her side, doubling over and gasping for breath, she rounded the corner and crossed the hallway. At the end of the hall, she found a spiral staircase leading upwards. She flung herself onto it, ignoring the burning sensation in her side, and began clambering upwards.

She was practically crawling on all fours when she finally saw the last step illuminated by moonlight, and collapsed on it, gulping down lungfuls of fresh air, her chest heaving, her hair damp and plastered to her face with sweat. 

That was when she saw it.

A shimmer of silver up ahead told her that the crystal pendant was lying in her wake, waiting for her. Alina stretched out one trembling arm and clamped her fingers around it, securing it in her fist.

It was as though she had been electrocuted. A spasm of pain jolted down her frame like fire on ice. Jerking upwards, she dropped the pendant with a yelp of surprise, panting, her frame still shaking.

It lay there, its glow as soothing as ever, like moonlight spilling out of the dark. 

She stared at it for a moment, then carefully tore off a strip of fabrique, and wrapped it around the pendant. Her hand paused it midair as though considering the decision to take it, then reached out and seized the cloth firmly once more.

The crystal seemed to vibrate against skin as she rushed down the flight of steps.

In what seemed like no time at all, she was back in her room. Slamming the door behind her, she collapsed onto the bed, her chest heaving. Her treasure still clutched in one hand pressed to her heart, she fell asleep.