Climbing up the rest of the mountain, I kept thinking about that experience with that man on the platform. He seemed so familiar, and he acted like he knew me, but I was sure we never met before. He gave off a horrible vibe, and scared the both of us. I prayed to all the Gods, hoping the King wasn't that man. I turned to Eric and said,
"Do you think that man was the King that Aysh was talking about?"
" I hope it's not. You know he seemed familiar to me, but I can't place where I've seen him before. Maybe I met him around the same time he claims you met him, at about 7 or 8 years old." Erik replied, still focused on the mountain.
"Same here. I'm sure we've never met the guy, but he seems familiar. Maybe he's someone my parents met with a lot, and we just saw him every once in a while at the shop." I said, utterly puzzled.
We finally hauled ourselves up over the summit, and stared out at the huge expanse of forest surrounding the other side of the mountain, and at the garden in the far off distance.
"I guess that's where we are headed. Let's hurry through the woods, so we can be at that little "tree in the distance" Aysh mentioned." Erik said, sighing. As he said that, a horrifying roar eminated out of the forest ahead. It was followed by a chorus of similar roars, more than Erik and I wanted to hear.
"What. the hell. was that." I whispered, afraid that if I spoke too loud it would cause us to find out what the things that made that sound were.
"I don't know. I don't want to know. I hope we don't meet whatever those things were." Erik whispered back. We climbed down the mountain as slow, and quiet as we could. We got to the bottom a while later, and decided that the thing we heard probably didn't climb trees, so we would traverse through those, so as not to disturb it. Jumping across tree limbs, and swinging along branches we made part of the way through the woods, before we saw one of the monsters. It looked like a rat, but covered in black scales from the chest down. The top half of it's back was covered in black fur, while it's underside was white skin. It's bones could be seen beneath it's skin, and the claws peeking out of it's paws were black, and coated in the dried red blood that every mortal being has. It had a large barrel chest, and a high waist, as if someone wrapped a string around it, and tightened it, till it had a body shaped like a Whippet. It's long face had a white pattern across it, making the creature look like it wore a skull. It had the nose of a wolf, and the beady eyes, and spindly tail of a rat. Tiny, black ears peeked up out of it's fur, and it's lips parted to reveal sharp, pristine teeth, and a long, slimy purple tongue.
"I guess the Gods didn't hear your hopes, cause I think we just met one of those things." I whispered under my breath. Before Erik could respond, the creature whirled around towards us, and roared right at us. Erik's eyes widened, and we quietly crept along the branches, trying not to disturb a single leaf. A breeze blew in, going the opposite direction that we were, and the creature raced after it, as we continued going towards the crystal castle. We met three more creatures before we reached the end of the forest, and the start of the gardens.
"Whew. Thank goodness. Those...things are terrifying." I sighed, as we dropped down from the tree onto the dirt path before the gates. Still within the shadows, I pulled out the small tiara, and set it into my hair. The moment I did, my black suit transformed into a beautiful blue gown, that went from a light, almost white blue, fading into a midnight blue, and ended just before my ankles, and I was wearing matching slippers. The dress had glitter along the bottom, giving the effect of stars. The top of the dress had pale blue tulle sleeves, that draped off my shoulders. I felt that I had makeup on, which was blue smoky eyes, and deep red lipstick, along with mascara, eyeliner, blush, and under it all, a lot of foundation and concealer. I glanced at Erik, and his suit was still black, but a lot more sparkly and decorated with fake military badges. His weapons had disappeared into one sword at his side, with a tassel on the end, colored purple, dark and light blue, and white. I could see that he was holding in a laugh, at his own costume, the same as I was. I quickly schooled my features into a more regal look, while Erik stood at perfect attention at my side, hand rested on the hilt of his sword. We calmly walked up to the gate, and the guards, raised their weapons, before noticing the tiara, and quickly lowering them again.
"Please, state your business here, Majesty." One of the guards called to us.
"I am Erik, personal guard to the sister of the King. Our presence was requested." Erik called back, the perfect replica of a bodyguard.
"Of course! Our deepest apologies for not recognizing you, Your Highness. Let us escort you to the castle. Our Lord put in a puzzling maze, to keep out intruders." The guard said.
"Thank you, good sir." I said in the most diplomatic voice I could muster. We followed the guard through the maze, marking every turn the opposite, so we could escape later, if need be. The guard saluted and left us at the foot of a grand staircase leading up to the castle doors. Another foot soldier dashed down the stairs to greet us, and to take us up the stairs, announcing us to the King, Princess, and his court. We arrived at the top of the stairs, and the grand doors opened to a huge throne room. The room was silent, and empty aside from the click of our shoes on the floor. The doors shut behind us, and we turned, startled, and noticed the foot soldier was gone. We glanced at eachother and continued walking. We reached the throne and there, upon the throne, was that man we saw on the mountain. He sat with one leg over the armrest, and the rest of his body draped across the chair. A smaller chair sat beside the main throne, and surrounding it all was large stands for an audience or a court.
"Good evening, my little starlight." The King said.
"Don't call me that." I growled as I tugged the tiara out of my hair, turning me back into the warrior I was.
He chuckled at my displeasure, and continued on.
"You spoke so nicely to the guards outside. Why don't you speak that way to me? You should always be kind to your family."
"You are not my family. My family is dead. Erik is all I have left." I hissed, furious at how nonchalant he was. Erik gently squeezed my hand, calming me a little.
"Is that what you think?" the King said, sitting up in his seat, "That you're whole family is dead? That your brother and sister are dead? Well news flash princess, they're not. In fact the two of them are here, in this castle." he sneered at me, as I glared at him, furious.