Ballad of Silence and Wings

I Memento

The wind was especially cold that night. It howled through the trees and the grass stalks, stirring the otherwise abandoned garden. Empty branches creaked, and dead leaves scattered in the air before winding through the open palace door.

Two cloaked figures rushed to the entrance, closing the door behind them. At once the howling stopped, and they were met with silence. Darkness shrouded the barren structure within, broken only by moonlight spilling from the windows.

The travelers walked further inside, inspecting their surroundings, until they reached a vast hall.

Years of neglect had been unkind to the palace; cobwebs invaded every corner, the wooden furniture rotted away, paints and colors of what had once been the magnificent throne room had diminished into mere shadows of their former glorious days.

"Do we stay here for the night, Princess?"

The Princess seemed to ignore the question as she explored the room. She let her fingers brush against the faded canopies, the curtains and table cloths, the sculpted pieces and golden plates, until she came before the throne.

Long deserted by its king and his people, the throne stood out as a lonesome, yet enduring, presence over the aging wilderness that is its hall. Placing a hand over her heart, the Princess bowed her head towards the throne, to pay her respects to the fallen king. She resumed her walk around the room, engraving the scene on her mind.

"I'll prepare our sleeping quarters, then." Her male companion bowed before leaving her to her thoughts.

In the earliest years of her life, the Princess had been a part of this palace. And yet, the memories that had fled out of her reach would still not greet her here. Ever as elusive, their absence made the place feel distant to her, ridding it of any sentimentality, that the refuge differed not from any other they could have chanced upon.

At length she found her companion in a small room, lying cozily on the floor with his hands under his head. Her bedroll had already been laid out for her, on a space that looked less filthy than the other parts of the room. Right then, she knew he had cleaned it for her comfort.

Kneeling down and settling her gold glaive by her side, she proceeded to undress, mindful of the dark that hid her bare form from the man. Even if it didn't, she was confident he would never disrespect her so.

The Princess took off the bandages that flattened her chest. She also removed the one around her head, revealing on her brow the golden cross that marked her as a direct royal descendant of the kingdom.

Having ridden herself of the troublesome bandage, she ruffled her short raven-black hair, relief washing over her as she did. Her hair used to be long, but she had cut it short to pass as a boy and had bound her breasts for the same reason. Though a bit reluctant, her companion had agreed her face would attract less attention this way.

"Were you able to remember anything from your past here?" the man asked. He could just make out her silhouette when she shook her head in response. It had been eleven years since the Princess had last been at the palace. She had only been a little girl, when the palace had lost to the Sorceress Queen.

Pleasant memories with her father and brothers were then nothing more than a blur. Her sorrow over their deaths, as well as the downfall of her kingdom, had drowned those memories, and the surging desire for revenge had swept most of it. The Princess had been nurturing this hate, letting it consume her.

The Queen reigned in her departed father's stead, in a mountain fortress she had built entirely of glass. That was to be their destination.

After putting her clothes back on, the Princess picked up her glaive and approached the man. There she laid down her weapon and sat by his side, folding her legs underneath her.