Camilla

Dedication:

For all those who lie awake at night missing someone and are caught inside the memories.

Chapter One

Many people may think that my family has it all. A giant castle to live in filled with comfortable, expensive beds, maids and servants to scrub the floors and cook for us, and nearly three thousand knights to come rushing at my father’s call. But in truth, things really aren’t the way it seems.

I watched from the high balcony as the people on the floor danced with a sweet gracefulness, stepping and turning in time with the music. Dresses swirling and lifting as their partners held onto the woman’s waist or shoulder. I could hear their laughter even from up here as it seemed to fill up the entire room.

I spotted my mother almost instantly, dancing in the arms of King Aland, a useful ally to my family. King Aland and my father grew up knowing each other as children and usually tend to help each other out in times of distress.

I watched in a trance as my mother’s beautifully neatly braided blonde hair that she had passed onto me, bounced just the slightest as she skipped along with the music. The floaty skirt of her dress seemed to make her glide across the dance floor as she continued on, and the velvet corset my father had bought her just yesterday seemed to keep her breasts in place when she made a quick turn-around. I could see it in her flashing green eyes that she was having a good time despite being tipsy from the wine and as for my father, well he was probably getting ready for the upcoming announcement for my older brother, Aaron. My parents had already formed an arranged marriage for him with his new partner, Princess Abigail, and they decided to have the big announcement tonight.

But that wasn’t the reason why we hosted the ball in the first place, we usually held the balls regularly for the fun of it.

“Would you like to dance?” A honeyed voice suddenly interrupted my thoughts.

It’s definitely him. I thought to myself as I slowly turned to glance up at the prince. His milky brown eyes gazed upon me in a meaningful way.

“Well, of course, Prince Jayce,” I said in a pleasant tone, standing up as he took my warm hand in his.

“This looks like the most beautiful summer evening I have ever witnessed ” Jayce stated as we walked beside the wooden railing that was painted with a fake golden color months before now.

“It is.” I agreed with a soft expression.

Although Jayce and I had known each other for years now, we still never happened to grow that close since he had always lived so far away, and he only came around for the balls or during the holidays.

As he led me down the stairs, I looked admiringly at the beautiful carvings and paintings that had stayed on the walls far longer than my mother had been alive.

“What do you see?” Jayce quickly asked, obviously trying to make short conversation.

I glanced at him to see him staring up to the very detailed, painted clouds.

I searched the ceiling until I finally spotted something. “A dragon.” I breathed before taking the last step off the staircase.

“Like in the books?” Jayce asked with a hint of amusement.

I nodded my head, giving him a half smile and then at that, he turned towards me and placed his left arm over his stomach and gracefully gave me a short bow. Waiting for him to finish, I took my free hand to grab my dress and gave him a bow back in return. Only royalty could grab onto their dresses for a bow.

Jayce then pulled me gently by my waist, closer to him as I rested my hand upon his shoulder.

Jayce carefully lead us closer to the crowd, doing small but quick spins, my ankle high, pink and white, dress brushed softly against his legs as we continued on.

As we spun around the room, Jayce would occasionally glance behind his back to check for other dancers. My palms were already beginning to sweat inside my gloves and I could feel my heart beating loudly in my chest.

“So what did you see?” I asked Jayce after he made a quick check behind himself.

Jayce flashed me a short smile before finally answering with, “Flying fish.”

“If only they could…” I sighed with a thoughtful smile.

I glanced up into his sparkling brown eyes, and then at his golden yellow hair that seemed to illuminate from the lighting. He was like the guy that every girl secretly wishes for, with the beautiful looks of an angel. And here I was dancing with him, yet I wasn’t enjoying it the way I probably should have been.

“Why did you ask me to dance?” I asked him, slowly wondering if he had just been feeling sorry for me.

I usually preferred to watch and observe the dancing guests from above, but as duty of being the princess, I had to dance as well, or at least make an effort. But many boys my age rarely dared ever go near me because everyone knew my father’s short temper.

His eyes went round at the shock of my question, but then he shook his head slightly and said, “Well now, what kind of man would I be if I had just decided to leave the most irresistibly, attractive girl, sitting to be bored all by herself?” Jayce asked with a strange spark in his eyes.

So is that what this was about? Or did he just compliment me for the sake of dancing with the host’s daughter? This was certainly unusual since I know that we had never said much of anything to each other until now.

I could feel my face burning, but I wasn’t sure if it was from Jayce’s compliment or the fact that we were moving so fast.

From out of the corner of my eye, I realized I could see my father’s tall figure, and when the song had erupted to a stop, Jayce halted us to a stop.

Everyone in the room bowed to their partners and stood in their place.

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!” My father’s booming voice came from the front. “Tonight is a very special occasion,” he continued on. “But first, we have a special announcement to make.”

We watched as he turned towards the door he had come from and made a special gesture to the two knights who stood in front of it. As they opened the door, my mother was guided by a different man she was dancing with towards my father who took her hand in his.

When the doors finally opened, my brother and princess Abigail stepped out, my brother holding her hand up.

All of a sudden, the room was filled with a quiet excitement that was ready to burst out of everyone. Princess Abigail looked absolutely gorgeous tonight, her breathtaking beauty was noticed all around. Everybody’s heads seemed to turn towards her and her petite body and black locks. My brother looked effortlessly illuminating by her mesmerizing beauty.

I was proud that he had finally found the perfect bride, I didn’t feel any bitterness towards him getting married at all. I actually felt relieved in honest words.

My father glanced towards the couple with a look of satisfaction on his face, “As you all can now see, my son and Princess Abigail will be soon married.”

A sudden burst of clapping and cheering filled the room at the news and because of this, new secrets and gossip would soon fill the streets, to the villages, to the hallways of our palace about the pair. My family usually didn’t have anything to hide, but in times like these people couldn’t seem to help themselves but start up rumors about us. My father always seemed to think it was either the maids of other palaces or the small worthless villages.

When the cheering had finally died down and my father had said a few words more, my brother and Princess Abigail made their way out onto the floor, their hands holding, but their elbows bent upwards. They strolled together in time with each other’s feet, a beautiful, elegant beauty coming off both of them.

“Should I return you back to your rightful place, milady?” Jayce grinned.

I glanced towards the balcony and said, “Actually, I’d prefer being alone right now. If you wouldn’t mind.”

“Of course I’d mind.” Jayce paused and then explained, “A lady like you shouldn’t be all by herself at a party like this.”

I shyly looked away, I could feel the slight burning on my cheeks.

“Here, let’s go outside.” He then guided me away from the crowd and towards the garden.

“How did you know which door it was?” I asked once we were finally away from the music.

Jayce linked his arm around mine and began to led me towards a brown bench I had never sat on before.

“Just a guess.” He answered as we sat down.

I looked out towards the pond, noticing the dark green reflections that the green and orange flowering Trumpet Vine made from the bright moonlight. The music seemed to be hushed out here and nothing except the cricket’s soft chirps and the frog’s croaking could be heard in this dead silence of the night.

“This is so much better.” I sighed as I leaned back in the bench.

“Do you not like parties very much?” Jayce asked curiously.

I let out another soft sigh and eventually met his soft gaze, “It’s not that I don’t like them- I just find them sometimes tiresome sometimes.”

“Like you don’t want to attend them and that you’d prefer being alone at the time,” Jayce said, finishing my sentence.

I looked back at him, “Exactly.” My voice came softly.

The door to the ballroom opened for a few seconds before closing on its own and a group of laughing, drunken ladies came outside, laughing wildly, their voices carried on by the warm night’s breeze.

“I think we should head back inside.” Jayce’s voice sounded compendious.

“You can go, I think I’m going to stay here for a while longer,” I said formally.

“Are you sure?” He asked with a tenderness in his voice.

“Of course.” I gave him a last brief smile before he finally turned back around and walked back to the ball alone.

As the princess, I probably should have gone with him, but I was lost in my own thoughts at the moment and the stuffy smell of wine and beer that had filled the ballroom had made me nauseous.

I leaned back again in the seat and looked up towards the sky. The stars seemed to twinkle red and blue lights at me as I admired their lights. I looked towards the roof of the palace to instantly notice a green-blue streak across the sky, I watched with a strange consuming curiosity as it seemed to fall from the sky, landing somewhere far off in what seemed to be the forest.

I hadn’t noticed until now, that I was already standing up and not a single soul was in near sight to have surely witnessed the falling, green blur.

…

“Are you alright, princess?” Jayce came up to me, brushing my arm softly with his hand.

I had gone back through the ballroom, trying to get to my chambers but Jayce had stopped me on the way.

Music swarmed around my ears, and the dancers’ feet were loud against the floor.

“Yes, I just need to go somewhere real quick,” I said with urgency but also with a slight hope that he would let me leave already. “It won’t take long.”

Jayce stared me down for a few quick seconds before finally letting go and saying with the dip of his head, “Very well.”

I gave him a grateful smile before rushing up the stairs and heading out of the ballroom.

I ran with my hands lifting up my dress, the heels of my shoes tapping softly against the hardwood floors. If my father knew I had left, I knew that he would make a big fuss later on about it, but I was always ready to face him, even if our arguments didn’t turn out so well.

Once I finally got to my chamber, I quickly rushed towards the windows to see if I could spot where the green blur had gone, but all I could see were the dark trees and the dim glow of houses. I continued to search with a flickering hope until I finally spotted an area in the forest where the trees seemed to bend in an odd shape, so I guessed that that was where it had fallen.

I fled back down a different flight of steps, knowing that I probably didn’t have the time to change and quietly sneaked out from a hole underneath the towering, metal gates that I had dug for myself a year ago for whenever I needed to go to the village without my father knowing.

I ran as fast as I could go in my high shoes, I knew that I was more than bound to have gotten a blister already.

The surrounding trees seemed to be pitch black from the darkening night and all I could see was the dirt road ahead of me.

When I was almost ready to give in to the aching pain in my feet, I strangely felt myself flying through the air, leaving the ground. I felt my body fall forwards as I crashed to the ground, the sharp roots of the trees, slicing through my dress. I slid deeper into the woods until the slope finally flattened out.

I could feel the scrapes and bruises that I had gotten from the fall beginning to burn slightly as I stood back up. I brushed my dress off, but I knew that it wouldn’t be enough to clean or fix the whole thing. My hair was a mess, and my shoes were gone, but I didn’t care at the moment, I was more eager to find my crashing star.

I stared up from where I had fallen from, only to realize that the surrounding trees had been bent strangely as if something big had crashed through them. The road that I had been on, had suddenly ended with the slope.

Slowly, I began to follow the trees desperately searching for whatever I had seen until I finally came into an area with a dark green figure laying silently on top of a row of crushed trees.

The figure lay still for a few seconds before stirring in its sleep. As I carefully began to back away, it let out a soft, but strange noise that seemed like it was in pain.

My feet stopped in their place. I wasn’t sure what this thing was, or if I should get close to it, but I could tell that something was definitely wrong.

I carefully began to inch closer towards it, afraid of what it might do.

I slowly raised my arm up and softly spoke, “Hello?”

It stirred again before falling silent again. Suddenly, a strange light seemed to come off of it as it illuminated against the trees. I watched it carefully, as the faint glowing seemed to get brighter and the figure made an echoing purring noise.

The bright green glowing slowly began from its tail, reaching towards the spine, down part of its legs, and then on its forehead and wings, slowly forming the body of a dark green dragon.

It’s eye suddenly flickered opened, revealing a soft brown, almost amber coloring. It seemed like the eye could almost resemble that of a human’s. I could tell that it was far too exhausted to fly away or fight.

A dragon? I thought to myself, I still couldn’t believe my eyes.

I was too astounded by the rarity that my eyes weren’t deceiving me. I got to stare at the beauty of this barely known creature that lay in front of my eyes to finally notice the long and deep gashes that ran along its sides.

“You’re hurt.” I breathed.

I watched as it closed its eye and then reopened it in a slow manner.

I carefully made my way towards it, reaching my arm out to show I meant no harm, but the dragon didn’t move a single muscle. Instead, it stared at me with a half-open eyelid.

I edged towards its side and carefully reached my hand towards its thick scales. I could feel the smoothness to each of them individually as my fingers traced from two of them when the glowing faded away and the dragon immediately flinched further away as if it had left its moment of peace.

The dragon thrashed about in the darkness, throwing me against the dirt. with it’s lashing long tail. It then let out a threatening growl and I watched from the darkness as it’s dark figure took back into the sky.

Seconds later, the stars were all that was left in the sky.

…

“Where have you been, princess?” My personal, well-trusted maid, Avila burst out as she gazed at me with dreadful eyes. Her green eyes flicked towards my knotted hair and as expected, the moment her eyes extended down to the ends of my dress her second question was, “What happened to your dress?” Refusal trailed in her voice.

“It’s just a little torn, Avila. Just- get rid of it for me, please?” I waved it off and began to attempt to untie the ruined lace in the back and after many failed attempts to reach the string, Avila had to help assist.

“And your hair?” There was a tone in her voice because she was the one who spent an hour brushing it.

“I got lost in the woods and fell, alright?” I finally confessed.

Although Avila was just a few years older than me and a maid, she had always acted like an older sister to me. She had been my personal maid since I was only nine when she had been fourteen years old. Avila lived in a neighboring village, and she had a big and busy family from what I heard.

“What made you decide to go out there?” She asked, tugging at a stuck part in the string.

“I thought I saw a deer or something, so I decided to check it out.” I quickly answered, feeling nervous that she’d catch my lie.

Avila nodded her head and to my surprise, she didn’t ask anything else.

By the time Avila had combed through my long hair once more, disposed of the ruined dress, and cleaned the scraps I had gotten, it was already past one in the morning. The noise of the dancers had eventually stopped an hour before I thanked Avila for helping me, and I finally relieved her from her duty for the night.

I climbed into my bed and blew out the candle that was lit by my bed. My body ached from the sudden exhaustion and my eyes felt droopy.

I stayed awake, turning and tossing beneath the covers to my bed all night, my mind couldn’t stop thinking about the dragon. After I had eventually drifted off to sleep, he was there still in my dreams, quietly waiting in the woods with flashing eyes of brown.

The next morning, I had been woken up again from the noise of the maids outside my door, hustling around to get their morning supplies to clean and cook.

I yawned and stretched my arms, I still felt like I had gotten no sleep.

I laid in my bed, listening to the sound outside my room until Avila finally burst into the room.

She quickly shut the door behind her and my eye had already flown open.

“I see you’re already awake today.” She said as she turned back around. She went into my wardrobe to pull out my clothes for today.

“Can I go with something plainer today?” I asked her, already getting out of bed.

“Plain?” She questioned.

As I began to fix my hair in the mirror I explained that I was going to ride my horse, Sigma later today and I didn’t want my prettier dresses to become ruined. Secretly though, I was planning on searching for the dragon again even though I knew that I would most likely have no luck.

After Avila had finally picked out a light blue, lace gown, lined with white around the chest, I slipped on my shoes.

“Don’t you need me to tie your hair?” Avila called, rushing behind me as I ran out the door.

“No thanks, I’ll leave it down today!” I hollered, leaving her behind.

I raced down the stairs and walked quickly to the eating hall.

My mother and brother were already seated when I came in. Both of their heads turned and they both greeted me with sleepy faces.

“Where is father?” I asked, sitting down in my chair.

“He’s still asleep.” My mom explained.

I grabbed a blueberry muffin from a metal tray and shoved part of it into my mouth as our servants began to pick the different foods I would point to.

“As if you’ve had enough.” My brother scoffed, shaking his head after taking one look at my crowded plate.

“She must be going through another growth spurt.” My mother commented.

“But I’m sixteen, mom ” I stated, taking a bite from a fig.

“Who knows.” She shrugged and began to fork through her eggs.

I was completely starved from last night’s chase that I had forgotten to eat anything during the whole night.

“Where’s your fiancé?” My mom asked my brother, Aaron.

Aaron paused from his writing to answer her, “She went back home last night to say her goodbyes.”

My mom just nodded her head and let the maids take her empty plate. She then got up and said, “I’ll go wake your father up now.”

I nodded my head and continued to eat until I was finished.

“Well, that’s impressive,” Aaron emphasized once he had taken another inspection at my finally empty plate.

Shortly after finishing my meal; I rushed outside, avoiding the guards on my way out and eventually made it to my hole. I climbed through the shrubs and bushes and eventually made it under and past the gate. I pulled on the white shawl that I snuck out on my way and ran into the woods.

I followed the vaguely familiar path again, carefully tracing every step back to the broken trees until I finally made it to the clearing.

I slid down the slope again, only more carefully this time. The trees were still broken and bent from the dragon’s crash.

I touched the bark of a snapped tree, it felt hard and rough like any other tree in the forest.

Where could you have gone to? I wondered endlessly.