The Damsel and her Knight

1st ☾ Crescent Moons

In silence, in silence I pray,

Of distant wishes and fairytales.

1st ☾

Crescent Moons

12 years later

When I saw the seal forming on my right palm, I knew that my life would never be the same again. I watched in amazement as the lines found their way into my shaking hand. It was already past midnight, and everyone was asleep. I couldn't raise my voice to ask my mother or father what was going on, so I kept my mouth firmly shut, hiding away whatever words my mind was screaming.

Ira, my caretaker, was sleeping in the room beside mine. She was an elderly lady, and she might know what these lines were for. But I was afraid to let her know what was going on with me.

"There are many eyes working for the king," my mother always told me. "Be careful, Cassandra. Even the walls could hear you if they wanted to."

All my life, I'd been cautious. I never had any close friends. I seldom talked to people. I was taught at home, instead of attending a Learning Center. We heard of the killing on the morn of my birth. Nobody knew why it had happened. But one thing was clear, they had killed the daughters of the dukes born on that morning.

And I was born on that same morn. Like those souls that had been lost, I was also a daughter of a duke. But our old house had been claimed by fire a day before, and my parents had to move to my aunt's home in the Northern Marsh. After the news broke out that there had been such killing, we didn't move back to rebuild our fallen home. My family had moved west to the Village of Moss, far away from the king's abode.

Nobody knew who we were. If asked, I was fourteen instead of twelve. These were the many secrets kept in order to make sure that I'd never have to go through such torment as those poor children my mother could only take pity on.

While I was lost in thoughts and wonder, I'd noticed that the line formation was finished. And even if it had stopped, my nervousness didn't still. The lines that were formed looked like two crescent moons facing each other. For some reason, I had an eerie feeling of familiarity with the symbol. It was as if I had seen this symbol in my dreams before.

Ira.

Of course, it was Ira who had told me about it. I closed my eyes, trying to remember her words clearly. She had said that once every thousand years, two crescent moons light up the dark skies. The curved, celestial bodies were placed in such a way that it was as if they were complimenting each other. And many believed that it had brought the people hope and good fortune in the years to come.

Those were the words she had told me every time I would ask her to share a story her grandma told her. Ira's grandmother was a well-known Headmistress in an old Learning Center. Ira even drew the symbol for me. But why did it appear in my hand?

I reckoned to ask my mother about it tomorrow morn. Stepping down my bed to look at the mirror on my closet, I saw that I was okay. I was the same person I was earlier this night. I still had the same streaks of fire in my hair. My vivid green eyes were staring back at me, and they hadn't changed color. The roundness of my face was the same. Ira teased me about it before, saying that I should go out more often and get some sunlight. Little did she know that my mother forbid me, and I fully knew why. I also wanted to live, as much as my parents did. And with all the sacrifices they'd made, I didn't want everything to go in vain by exposing anything that would harm anyone dear to me.

"It won't kill you tonight," I said to myself. "Go to sleep."

For one, I did hope I was right.

I made sure that my door was locked, and then I tucked myself back to bed. The full moon outside the window above me shed light directly to my bed. Full moon. Two halves. When together, they were one. The words were chanting in my head, and I forced them away.

I closed my eyes, trying to get some sleep. But the uneven beating of my heart kept me awake. It was as if something was about to happen. I glanced at my right hand, and the seal appeared as if it was shining with the moonlight. As I was carefully looking at it, the signet flickered in my palm, answering my thoughts.

As if it was alive.