Daughter of Water

Chapter 8

After the dinner, many of the guest had come up to me and introduced themselves as allies of my family. Although many had brilliant smiles on their faces, many had sorrowful looks that made me wonder what exactly I had coming for me.

At a moment like this, I wanted Aberdeen's comforting presence. He was mine, yes, but I felt calmer around him.

"My lady, please follow us to the outside garden," Clarence politely asked. I stood from my large chair and nodded, my dress pooling around me like waves of the ocean falling from me.

He offered his hand, which I politely turned down, and led me to a new door from the dining hall. This door led directly to the rear fountain and pond I had seen earlier with Aberdeen. And speaking of the Water Steed. Aberdeen stood next to the pond, the guest all admiring his great form and flowing mane. When I approached him, he bowed his head to me.

"Do not do that Aberdeen. You are my friend, not my subject." I took his massive head into my hands and stroked his white stripe, putting my forehead to his. Calmness took me for a moment before whispers from the crowd behind me had me turning to see them.

They were murmuring among themselves, looking at the way Aberdeen and I acted. Didn't they have a Steed like Aberdeen?

My lady, they aren't of a certain house. They are followers of the house of Liquis, not a part of it. In fact, I am one of the few remaining Water Steeds. I felt sad for Aberdeen and hugged his neck, hoping to take away some of his loneliness. If he was one of the few remaining Water Steeds, who were the rest?

"Lady Arina. If you would follow me please?" I glanced back at Clarence and watched as the crowd walked past the pond and into the shed. With how many people there were, how could they all fit in there?

My eyes wandered back to Aberdeen, a silent question in my eyes. The soft glow in his stripe didn't falter but his eyes glistened a bit and his massive head began to usher me towards the small building.

I will be right behind you, he said. I gave him a small smile and followed the throng of people through the small door and down into an underground room. I hesitated at the top of the stairs. The darkness that shown below made me frightened. Would I ever come back out of this place.

I was going underground in an underground world. Was I going to the center of the earth like that movie on the surface? Would I find dinosaurs that want to eat me? Would I start burning up because the core of the earth was heating up?

A snort from Aberdeen had my feet moving forwards and my dress disappearing into the darkness below.

If it wasn't for my Water Steed's glow, I would have tripped and fallen by now but he gave off just enough for me to see the stairs. I had to lift up the skirt of the dress as I walked, afraid of ruining it or tripping on its beautiful velvet.

It wasn't too long before I saw a light ahead, the flickering colors beckoning me toward it. When I stepped out of the stairway, a great field of grass was present, a series of gates near the center. The grass on my feet felt familiar and warm, like summer on my skin. My fingers let the skirt of my dress fall to the ground as I took in the little patch of surface.

For a moment, I felt like I was back in South Carolina, looking at the grassy fields that were warmed by the summer sun and watered by the spring rain.

Come my lady, Aberdeen chided and moved next to me and out of the stairway. It must have been small for him to move through. I looked at him for a moment before smiling widely and taking a handful of his mane into my hands for comfort as he led me to the ominous looking gates in the center of this little patch of heaven.

The guest were already standing inside the iron gates that surrounded large stones with etchings in them I didn't understand. It looked like something from a history book. Was it a form of Latin? Like a dead language?

Aberdeen kept me moving thought, gliding slowly with me as I took in the stones. They were placed in lines with little stone paths leading to through the rows and strait to the largest one. It was an eye catching red color, almost like an ore. On it was two sets of what looked to be names and dates.

Fiamata atque Raphiel de Liquis: Rex atque Regina autem Arina.

I murmured what I could say to myself but I didn't understand it at all. I knew that 'Liquis' was written on it and my name 'Arina' but what was the rest?

Everyone circled around around the great stone and I with patient eyes. With heavy hoof-steps, Aberdeen led me up to the rock. He stopped and motioned for me to go forward. I hesitantly let go of his mane and hovered towards the large mass.

"Fiamata and Raphiel de Liquis: King and Queen of Arina." Clarence's strong voice echoed in this little patch of heaven. I ran my fingers over the words as I realized that they must be Liquis' like my father, mother and I.

"As this is their resting place, so this shall be the place where we will rise up." Only then did it occur to me that this was a tomb stone.

This isn't a rock garden, it is a cemetery.

I pulled my fingers away and turned towards everyone behind me. They were all down on one knee, including Aberdeen, but the only one looking towards me was Clarence.

"We shall take back the kingdom of Arina with Fiamata and Raphiel's daughter, Princess Arina de Liquis, true princess of Arina." The group looked up at me and raised their hands towards me, the stone, they sky; whatever they wanted to point it at.

Some of the men present had swords on their side and had taken them out and raised them into the air.

Clarence stood and came towards me with a sword in it's own sheath. From the hilt of the handle to the tip of the scabbard, shades of dark and light blue lined it like little spirals of water were coating it. Dark browns covered the rest.

He kneeled down before me and raised the sword towards me to hold. But I couldn't move. I couldn't feel anything except a pressure pushing down on me. However, my body moved on it's own and took the sword into my own palms.

My fingers found the handle and pulled it out a bit, my reflection showing on its sleek surface. I no longer saw that girl in the blue dress looking like a princess of the ocean. No, she was back in the room trying on more dresses. The girl who stared back at me now was a fish out of water. Her mouth hung open, her hair perfect, bags of exhaustion under her blue eyes.

"Under the crest of Liquis!" Clarence shouted in front of me, the group repeating his words and rising to their feet. Aberdeen rose to his hooves and reared back onto his hind two legs, letting out a shrill whinny.

I stood frozen. Who was I? The names on this large stone are my parents; my birth parents? So I had no family. I was all alone yet again. And these people wanted me to take back this place for them. From who? How did my parents die? Why must I fight back?

Spots appeared before my eyes before I felt cold soil under my shoulders, cries of distress and a whinny of worry the final sounds that reminded me that this wasn't a dream world I ran off to.

It was a nightmare waiting to begin.

And with that final thought, my body shut down and light drained from my conscious.