Chaos erupted as swords clashed, soldiers groaned, gunpowder exploded, cries of battle, the pungent smell of blood and the last cries of the people before they breathed their last filled the air.
The kingdom of Illyria was being attacked without warning, invaded by grotesque creatures with massive bodies, hefty arms, rough manes, and fox-like pointed ears. They expertly manurevered their swords and slaughtered everyone in their path, sparing no man, woman, nor the innocent little children.
I stood by the window for fresh air, coverin my ears with both hands to block out the cries, but the stench of blood and death still reached me, making my heart race.
Suddenly, a severed head hit my window, it was thrown from far outside. I opened an eye to peep and met with the most gruesome sight I ever recorded in my eighteen years of life, it was a young child's head, her long hair and hairpins indicating her gender.
Her eyes were wide with shock, her face frozen in a painful expression.
It was a painful death, I could tell because the pair of familiar red eyes staring right into mine were scared, I tried hard to remember where I knew those eyes, although I never went outside the palace and barely met with unidentified children.
I could trace a dry tear down child's cheeks, fresh bruises on her once beautiful face. She must have fiercely struggled I imagined, calling severally for her parents, or she might have been caught unaware and was beheaded even before she could cry for help, it must have been the former because the painful look in her eyes were begging me to save her, it was hopefully seeking for a quick help.
I shut my eyes tightly, desperately wishing it was a dream, a nightmare that will have me panting when I woke up.
A thud on the ground made me open them again and the sight of red fresh blood splattered on the pane evidenced that the head had actually been plastered moments ago and that it was infact not a dream but reality, I wasn't imagining those eyes, they were real.
It hit me then why the eyes were familiar I remembered those eyes so well, they were the eyes that gave me nightmares, the exact same eyes I saw in everyone of my dreams.
I felt myself falling and my eyes closing, I struggled to keep them open, to stay in the world of the living, but the dragging force was powerful, and the last thing I heard was my maid Daisy coming into the room before I gave in to the darkness and let it engulf me.
***
It was raining heavily when I finally woke up, my maids were by my bedside tending to me.
"Thank goodness princess, you are awake" Daisy sighed
I let the sour medicinal liquid she fed me seep past my throat and go down to my stomach, I made an effort to sit up so Jasmine adjusted the head rest to support me.
Swords were still clashing outside, only that this time the sound of the rain blocked it out, it felt like my head became a new battlefield to the thousand fighting soldiers who tried to escape the rain, my head was blank, I was down with a terrible fever and my temperature was extremely high, I felt sick to my stomach.
" What happened to me" I asked weakly
"Your highness, are you hurt, you fainted by the window?" Jasmine said with worry
I fainted.....
Then it dawned to me, the head!!
I saw a human's head. Quickly, I glanced towards the windows, but someone had drawn the drapes shut, I stood up and half-ran to check, there was nothing on the window, only the strawing rain.
Daisy placed a hand on my shoulder
"It is gone your highness" she whispered comfortingly "The rain has washed it away"
I released the breath I didn't realize I was holding and almost slumped again, Daisy caught me halfway and helped me back to bed