Surrogate Soul

Chapter Seven

A child was left in the middle of the forest and wolves surrounded the girl but not one of them made a move towards her. The child was crying and continued to do so until there was a light, a dull red light, glowing from the shadows. The wolves growled and then whimpered as the dull red glow seemed to intensify. The child stopped crying and looked at the glow reaching her arms towards it. A shadow, which was the shape of a hand stretched towards the little girl’s outstretched hand. It was mumbling a song lulling the little girl to sleep. As it laid there slipping innocently the hand touched its forehead marking her to be doomed. Then it raised the little girl towards it and it disappeared along with the child.

“What was it? Was the little girl, my surrogate?” Alice asked as things suddenly shifted and the little girl was standing in middle of a little garden behind an old castle. Alice blinked at the familiar surrounding recognizing it to be her family’s property. She gasped as an old man looking very much like her grandfather and yet different appeared looking as shocked as she was. Then she realized that he was wearing the crown of the fourth King. “The Old Kingdom,” she whispered as she watched the scene unfolding before her eyes.

“Dear daughter! Allie!” The old king scooped up his youngest child and only daughter, Princess Geraldine Rose Alicia D’ravaign. She had been kidnapped by the black wizards as their sacrifice to the dark soul beyond the gray forest. He had sent his best warriors and magicians to search and rescue the little princess. No one had ever heard from them for over two winters. They had all thought they had perished. But here they were, or what was left of them standing in line before their King. The King had overlooked the marks on their foreheads too happy to notice them as he hugged and rejoiced for his daughter’s return. He hurriedly runs back into the castle to announce the return of her daughter. They all had missed the marks on the little girl’s as well as on the magicians’ foreheads. They were invisible to the untrained eye and no one bothered to look for them except for one certain creature hovering beside the King’s shoulder watching the little girl intently. He was the King’s right hand, the very first White Wizard to be included in the royal household. It was glowing brightly as people and creatures gathered at the great hall invited for the celebration of the Princess’s safe return.

“Your majesty, may I attend to your daughter?”The wizard asked the King when the little girl slipped off from his grandfather’s lap and run towards her mother. The Queen looked down at her daughter and frowned. She carried her out into the garden and the wizard followed the Queen at his King’s leave.

“Your Grace,” the wizards bowed at the Queen, “May I care for your daughter until she is needed by the King. He is tired.”

“Have you noticed something different from her, Sir Howard?” Queen Eleanor, who was a witch herself, saw what everybody didn’t see. “The mark, I am not a learned witch much more than a learned magician, but I know enough that that mark bodes ill upon the royal household.” The Queen sat down with her daughter squirming on her lap on one of the benches with worried eyes. She made a small spell which intensified the glow of the mark and showed it towards the White Wizard.

“I’m afraid you are right, your Grace.” Then Sir Howard lowered himself on one knee and bowed his head towards the Queen. The little princess tried to grab at his hair but her hands were too short and only managed to grace the strands of his white locks. “May I be so bold in the your grace’s presence as to utter the truth?” The wizard watched the Queen’s worried eyes closed and a deep frown creased her forehead. She nodded and clasped the little girl tightly to her making Princess Allie squirm even more.

“Your little girl is cursed, my queen, as well as everyone else who returned with her. The evil spirit had not accepted her and cursed her. As to what curse, I have yet to learn of it. And it is powerful, greedy and very evil. I can almost feel it around us, seeking its victim.” The wizard stopped as the Queen’s head and hand went still then relaxed. The little girl jumped off from her mother and run back into the hall squealing merrily. He looked aghast as the Queen slowly slipped from the bench and slumped into the ground. He felt as the Queen’s soul being snatched away from her body. He picked up the Queen and laid her on the center of the garden where she used to sit among her flowers then went back in search of the King and their cursed little daughter.

First, he heard the scream of the little girl then people running in panic towards the open door. He did not stop them and some still remained. They were magicians that had come into the castle to celebrate the Princess’s return at the request of the Queen. They were also considered to be the greatest in their skills. They came from different Kingdoms that had offered peace with the King and Queen. Reaching the Great Hall he saw his King slumped in his throne, his eyes glazed in a silver slime with a hunted look upon its face. He was dead. The White Wizard felt a great sorrow for their kind and loving King. He turned his head towards heaven and wondered what the King had done to deserve such death. He bowed at the creatures that were left facing the dead King baffled and angry at what had happened.

“Who had cursed the Princess?” One creature asked looking almost like human but the transparent skin and glowing eyes could not have been mistaken him to be human. His hand held an orb that kept a fire dragon and will strike its enemy at the command of its master.

“The dark monster beyond the forest that had been feeding on little children,” explained the white wizard. “The Queen is dead and so is the King. Their sons are not present for they are all in the South celebrating their victory against the black witches. I have sent a message for them. However their cousin Prince Keith, a very skilled magician is present. He had been dealing with the dark wizards which had started all this trouble.” The white wizard stood in front of the hall among those who had remained. The cursed little princess and the magicians had disappeared after the hall had been cleared.

“Where is he now?” asked one lovely fairy who was incidentally trained as a warrior and was sent to the castle to cast her pledge to the king and queen and to gaze upon the famous beauty of the young princess. The young fairy warrior was fond of anything and everything beautiful and had planned on becoming one of the young princess’s entourage. But it seems that she is now to help the others to kill the princess. “I’m sure this will be hard on the young prince, so I think it best not to involve him.”

“Indeed not. I love my cousins and it is my duty to cleanse her from the evilness that had usurped upon her soul in the absence of her brothers,” said the Prince Keith as he entered the hall with the little princess clutching at his sleeve. “May I present to you, Princess Allie. She is under my influence, but it is dwindling fast, do as you must before she becomes stronger. I had put her in a spell that imprisoned her in my illusion. I’m afraid she is finding her way out fast. There is no need to worry about her guards, they are all dead.” Then they all noticed her was pale and the little Allie had a blank look in her eyes seeing nothing and letters and symbols of magic was dancing erratically upon her eyes.

“What do we do, Prince Keith?” asked Sir Howard but his mind already knew what must be done. He started to shake his head but the sudden movement of Allie beside Prince Keith made him raise his wand casting an impenetrable cage upon the Prince and the Princess. Three circles of magic made to confine any creature within its sphere enclosed Prince Keith and Princess Allie. “Fellow magical beings, it is against my will to have to harm our beloved prince and princess, but we are in a difficult circumstance and we must do what the Prince had asked from us or let his effort go in vain.”

At Sir Howard’s word the magicians reluctantly encircled the two and summoned Death to their midst and cast its cloak on the two and to keep the little Allie in its prisons forever. When Death came they all bowed their heads not wanting to meet it until the time that is allotted to them. Allie tried to escape and the evil that had already captured her soul rebelled against Death and tried to trick it. However, Death was cleverer than her for she was young and Death was old, a thousand years older than she. Death swooped down at little Allie with his cloak as dark as night to bring her along with her brother on their journey down his lair. But before Allie was taken she had promised everyone that she shall come back to take her revenge and she shall cast her eyes particularly upon her family and all creatures who had helped in her demise.