Elf Lock (Re-write) book one

Chapter One

Lloyd looked up at the palace that belonged to the kingdom of Celestine in horror. Lloyd knew the smoke that spewed out from the enflamed turrets would be seen for miles. A monument to what happened when demons want on the rampage. The shadow like forms of the demons swarming over the building like locust, their red and yellow eyes glowing in the darkness like the flames that sprouted from sections of the crumbling building, sending ash and sparks flying into the nights sky; but even with the palace in flames Lloyd battled to get back inside pushing past his limit to enter what was once his home.

Once Lloyd had managed to enter the aging knight ran through the corridors looking for Prince Constantine. Without doubt once the first clawed hand of a demon had been spotted the Prince had gone into hiding.

Lloyd could hear the screams filling the palace as the demons despatched the humans like they were just stepping on bugs. Their heavy feet stomping on fallen human and crushing bones like discarded shells from freshly roasted nuts. The once rich golden and cream hall ways were covered in blood like a drug fuelled nightmare.

Lloyd knew two things, one he had to find the prince. The other was that the only way to stop the onslaught of demons is by finding The Grand Grimoire. The book was long ago written by the most powerful of mages in a time when humans were still on good terms with the fey. Though over time humans and the fey had grown to distrust each other. Humans distrusted the faeries and elves magic, and the fey didn't like the way the humans treated the nature that surrounded them.

Lloyd shook his head at his as he pushed open doors looking for the prince, he wanted the races to get along. He took the vow to protect Constantine when the prince was still a babe in a painted wooden crib , and as a knight of the kingdom he would brake such a vow . He had hoped the prince would take after his mother  as he may have been the hope they needed to unite the races. The prince could help rebuild bridges to the fey kingdoms, but that was never to be.

Lloyd regretted his vow now, the prince had grown into an arrogant, spoilt and often spiteful young man. Constantine was every bit his father's son. Every bit the product of a devious kingdom that had become malicious to extent that for the poor life had become more of a nightmare then corridors soaked in human blood and rampaging demons.

Lloyd had only taken the vow because of the late queen. Queen Amberlil showed kindness and grace to the denizens of the kingdom, she showed mercy and she wanted the kingdom of Constantine to become a beacon of hope that humans and the fey could live in peace. It really had become a golden age for the kingdom, and with the Queen's pure heart the kingdom had started to bloom into a utopia where commoners lived their lives in safety.

Lloyd when his now grey hair was still black believed the queen's words, he believed in peace and equality despite most Celestine nobles scoffing at the idea. The day the queen passed away would always be etched on his mind, her red hair fanned out like a sea shell against white silk as she lay in bed. He skin as pale as fine china and her breathing heavy, her vibrant green eyes hidden behind paper thin lids. He had sat by the side of her bed holding her delicate hand when the king didn't show to comfort his dying wife, and he took the vow then on his queen's death bed that he would protect her son like he was his own. The prince that was only a few hours old, so small, a child who wouldn't grow up with a mother, the prince had grew up wanting for nothing but the love of his father.

Even now when the prince prowled the towns taverns looking to make sport with a serving girl or a hapless commoner, even when he was found beating a maid for dropping a tankard of beer, Lloyd would protect him because that was the oath he made. An oath to the only royal he met that was worth serving.

Lloyd knew the Kingdom Of Celestine was already rotting long before the demons came. Under kings Gallyford's rule the kingdom had became a perverse cesspool. Gallyford had encouraged slavery; the queen hadn't quite managed to outlaw it she had certainly started to turn the public against the concept though not the nobles who didn't want to give up their elf and faerie slaves.