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A grand dragon rose from the depths of the shadows around Amity. Her blood chilled at the sight of the purple beast as it rose higher and higher. It towered over her like the moon itself and blotted out what little light there had been in the cave she cowered in. The creeping darkness clung to Amity like ice, freezing the small princess where she sat. Helpless. Defenseless.
All she could do was stare at the emeralds that made up the drake’s eyes as it lowered its head. Its mouth opened, showing teeth made of diamonds that reflected a light from within. For a moment, it made Amity become hopeful that something was to come and save her from within the dragon. As the light became more clear, and its orange sparks escaped the creature’s maw, her heart sank lower and lower.
She… She would wake up. It was just like the other dreams she’d had. She would wake up and be okay. The flames wouldn’t come out. It wouldn’t devour her, something that became all the more clear as a possibility as spit dripped on her face. She didn’t even shake though. Even at eight, her mother had made it clear that a princess didn’t run or panic. She was simply better than that.
So she would accept her death gracefu-
“Fuck you too!”
The dragon’s eyes widened for a moment before its head appeared to be pulled by its lower jaw. A scraping sound as harsh as Hell itself ripped through the cave as it shifted its claws to help it keep purchase but it didn’t appear able to move its head to look back at Amity. Whatever was holding it had too good of a grip on it.
Of course, it was still a dragon and so holding its jaw open wasn’t exactly a solution. Instead, a silhouette of someone only a bit bigger than Amity was illuminated before a roar popped Amity’s ears. The entire mountain shook by the force of the scream and soon it became so much that Amity couldn’t hear anything. Her ears couldn’t take it.
And yet, in the silence, there was a snort and laughter right at the edges of her senses. Just barely there as somehow the flames didn’t crawl towards Amity. Instead, she was protected by the fact that they circled around and consumed a child that didn’t seem to flinch from the fire for some reason.
Instead, the silhouette girl looked at Amity and a smile broke through as she asked, “What are you looking at?”
======+++++======
“Can we please stop walking Amity? My feet hurt.”
Amity glanced back at her brother before harrumphing slightly as she headed for the only part of the castle she hadn’t been so far: The training grounds. She wasn’t supposed to deal with things as messy as combat and so was supposed to ignore the squires and knights for the most part. She’d be assigned a champion by her mother eventually. The best of the best. And yet, she couldn’t get the dream she’d had out of her mind. “You don’t need to follow me.”
Edric grumbled slightly before running to catch up with Amity. “Yes, but mom would kill me if I left you alone. Emira could only go off to have fun because I stayed with you.”
Oh. That explained why they didn’t both leave after she’d visited the kitchen. They were often nothing but troublemakers after all. It made the fact that mom let them do what they wanted more than her all the more annoying. They were older than her after all and told her stories of when they were eight where they could have fun. They didn’t get only one day off a week, if she was lucky, or have to constantly be harassed by tutors. Not that she could say anything. Princesses didn’t complain. Not… Not unless they wanted something to complain about.
She took in a sharp breath and decided to simply ignore her brother’s complaining as she stepped out of the walls and into the inner courtyard where the knights trained. Indeed, they were busy at work as they practiced. Slash, parry, block and everything else that was a part of the grand art of combat that made Amity wilt slightly. She’d been attacked by a wolf when she was around two years old and ever since, anything sharp made her freeze up. Let alone anything that knew how to use it.
There she stood as she looked upon the knights and sighed internally as she realized there were no children here. She should have known better. While training started early, these grounds were for the people who actually knew what they were doing. No one like her savior would be here.
“Squires, attention! The princess is here!”
There was a noticeable shift between the younger squires looking excited to glance over and to when they saw Amity. Amity still didn’t understand why no one seemed to like her, especially when compared to Emira. She was a good princess after all. Shouldn’t people care about that? No. No. It hurt but it didn’t matter and she tried to remember what she was supposed to do here. Wave? Smile? Nothing? Nothing was certainly the easiest but mom always made sure she felt a sting similar to the disrespect she inflicted upon others when she messed up.
The old knight that was helping with the training, a decorated commander who had lost his arm in the last major war, didn’t seem to care about her lack of response. Instead, he came over while sheathing his greathammer before bowing deeply. “Hello, Princess Amity.” He then stood up and clicked his tongue before asking, “Might I ask what brings you here? While my men and I are more than honored by your appearance, it is new for most of us.”
Amity took a deep breath in before sighing internally. She had no good reason, nor any reason to stay here. Not that they should question her if she gave them a reasonable excuse. She was the princess after all. “I simply took a wrong turn on my walk and decided to watch for a moment. I’ll leave you momentarily.”
The knight nodded at that before opening his mouth. Before being able to say anything though, one of the squires shouted, “Get away from those!” It was enough to turn just about every head towards the back of the training yard where one of the men was marching towards a magenta haired child. They were dressed in fairly basic, poor clothing and holding onto one of the training swords that she must have grabbed while everyone had been distracted.
In other words, someone who Amity could absolutely care less about. She turned around as she heard more yelling and even a sickening crack from the edge of the yard. The squire was even forgetting his manners as he got crass around the princess. Not that she cared. Words were simply words after a-
“Fuck you too!”
Amity froze and Edric stopped just short of running into her. He then glanced down at Amity before sighing. “Look, I know what mom says about cursing but some random child is hardly worth our time, right? We should just get out of here and let them deal with this.”
Amity blinked a few times as she failed to notice the shadows from inside reached out for her fingertips. Instead, she was staring into space before whispering, “I’ve heard that voice before.”
That got Edric’s eyes to widen before he got closer to Amity than she expected. He seemed to be much more invested in her bout of insanity too as he whispered, “Are you sure? How did you hear it? When? Is it why you wanted to walk around the castle?”
Why did he care so much? Amity hardly focused on that as she turned her head towards the growing ruckus behind her. The child was trying, futilely, to fight off the couple squires that were now trying to force her to give them the sword back. They seemed to find it impossible to remove her hands from it, even as they smashed her hands directly. It was an impressive, iron grip. One that could even keep down a dragon…
Amity turned properly before shouting, “Stop!”
The sun must have very briefly been covered by clouds with how the world darkened for a moment. No one else seemed to really notice though, not as they turned back to their princess. Even the child did before sneering and giving her a sarcastic smile before asking, “What are you looking at?”
Amity paused before remembering the dream and simply saying-
======+++++======
“My champion, do I have any guests for today?”
A tall, armored knight glanced back at Amity before nodding slightly. Despite how she stood firm and respectfully, her voice had the same sort of sneering confidence as it had when the princess and her knight first met a decade ago. Of course, her snark didn’t help. “Oh? Did you forget something for once? My job isn’t to keep your schedule, you know.”
Amity sighed slightly before shaking her head. “Boscha, please. I didn’t sleep well last night so my head’s a little scattered right now.” She then shut her eyes with a long breath out. Another vision of course. One that made even less sense than usual. Such was the curse of her having apparently been cursed before she was born to be one with the shadows but such was her burden. Her nightmare. “So please, just tell m-”
Her nightmare relented slightly as an armored hand gently placed itself on the side of Amity’s head. It was a far more tender touch than a knight was supposed to give to their ruler. Even being her champion, it was inappropriate. Not when Boscha was supposed to stand at guard all day while Amity awaited visitors.
Boscha was hardly simply a knight though. In fact, if not for several times when Amity forced others to continue training her champion, Boscha wouldn’t be a knight at all. She was rude, cruel, mean, had hardly any honor after living on the street before Amity saw her and in general was about as far from the image of nobility that the Blight household tried to hold itself to. Even Amity’s own mother had wanted to banish Boscha to simply be done with her in the past. After how the shadows that followed Amity had responded to threatening Boscha’s life, no one had questioned the girl’s place in the castle afterwards.
Besides, all of those things were true… If you didn’t know Boscha. For the one she loved, Boscha was loyal beyond what was even expected of a knight. True to a point of pain for both. Kind and caring in ways that Amity still didn’t entirely fathom as being possible. It made touches like these cause Amity to flinch out of reflex before relaxing. Before being able to relax with maybe the one person who had never run from her shadows nor ever cared about her station.
So when Boscha asked, “What’s wrong? Do I need to make an excuse for you to go back to bed,” Amity knew it wasn’t with an agenda in mind. With some desire to gain power or status. Boscha was too blunt, too direct for those things, let alone with her. No, it was simply that she was worried for her beloved, something Amity hated causing for her knight. Her girlfriend. Her friend.
Her only friend… “I-”
SLAM! “EEEEEXCUSE me, Princess but your new jester is here!”
Amity’s entire demeanor changed so quickly that the fool that entered the room didn’t even get a chance to see her looking tired or worried. Instead, she sat tall and proper like a princess was supposed to. Like all saw her besides Boscha.
Speaking of, the knight was less graceful as she removed her hand from Amity’s head and curled it into a fist. “What is wrong with you? Do you think proving your brain dead will help you get the job? You know first!”
The young woman, some foreigner by the looks of her skin, froze for a second with a hand on her lyre before beginning to strum a tune that was absolutely from somewhere else than their own lands. Not that it was necessarily bad mind you. The tune helped ease Amity slightly and even Boscha’s hand lowered slightly. After all, the jester at least wasn’t talentless apparently.
Only once the two had calmed slightly did the jester curtsy low while continuing to play. “My apologies. Any good performer knows that a grand entrance is mandatory for any play that’s going to mean anything and what could mean more than serving the princess of shadows?” It was only then that the jester looked up at Amity as she said, “Though with how ra… Ra…”
Boscha and Amity blinked a few times as Luz seemed to just stand there. She even stopped playing her lyre and so nothing but silence sat between them. Worse yet, the jester, who wore clothes more befitting some sort of ranger or the like with how plain they were and how much was covered by her cloak, was already being rude by staring at Amity. By having those beautiful, brown eyes be boldly beholding the princess.
Between the lack of sleep, the audacity of the entrance and the now sheer rudeness of failing to even make the same compliment that everyone did, it was enough for the room to darken as Amity let her manners drop for a moment. “What?”
Compelled by the magic, Luz jumped slightly before stammering out, “J-Just, I mean, um, royals are normally pretty because of their clothes but you’re beautiful. And not like normal beautiful. Not even diamond beautiful. I mean beautiful like a star shower during a sunset sort of beautiful. No, that’s not quite it. More like if those stars were exploding into brilliant cascades of color in the sky that painted it like a canvas. Not by some amateur painter though but like a ma-”
“Enough!” It took every part of Amity’s strength to not have her face resemble some sort of tomato. Instead, her willpower kept her blush to her cheeks as she hated the fact that she could hardly handle such a complex complement. It was maybe one of the things Boscha was worst at after all. She wasn’t eloquent with her words. Not that Boscha couldn’t make her blush but, well… It was more with her actions and her eyes than it ever was with her tongue.
It didn’t seem to bother Luz at all as she beamed at the princess. “Just remember; It’s a jester’s job to get a rise out of both the public and princess!”
Boscha decided she’d had enough as the growl that came from within her helmet made it all too clear that she wasn’t too happy about the complement. “Yes, fool , so why don’t you try to actually tell a joke instead of continuing to be one big one?”
Luz nodded at that before starting a more jaunty tune. “Oh, a jest? I might have to hunt for one then. The woods are often a source of adventure and humor after all.” She then glanced back at Amity before saying, “And what could be funnier and more exciting than the tale of a noble toddler who managed to be bathed so much to smell of pork chops rather than their own mess?”
The question was met with silence before Amity coldly asked, “Are you trying to imply that your joke is about my near death experience with a wolf? For I would assume a smart fool might avoid making fun of the noble they work for.”
Luz paused for a moment as she picked at her lyre for a second before continuing to play. “Well, um, I take after my dad’s theory on jesters. That there is almost nothing that cannot be used to make one smile and that sometimes, telling a joke that might make a ruler upset, can make them see where they may be going wrong if people laugh. You know, that there’s a silver lining in even the bad news so why not turn it into a joke or learning experience?”
Amity narrowed her eyes at Luz. Such optimism was hardly what her mother had taught her after all. A mistake was a mistake. Period. “And what lesson would you learn if I decided to recreate your own joke on you?”
Luz didn’t miss a beat as she grinned and said, “Oh, I hardly think that would work.” She then did a flourish to her face as she giggled out, “After all, I don’t bathe so much as to keep the shadows out of my skin, like some princess does.”
“ I do not-”
And then Amity was cut off by a snort and a laugh made her pause. It spoke of a long ago echo of some sort. One that pulled at her mind and her spirit. It was bizarre but also pleasant in a way that she couldn’t quite place. The smile and lack of fear on Luz’s face only added to the confusion.
Confusion that she would not have as she stood and lifted a hand up. Instantly, the light from outside vanished as to allow darkness and shadow to rule. Amity then swallowed hard as she tried to close her hand. To control the shadows to grab Luz like she commanded it to. She was the princess of shadows and something as simple as this should be no problem for her, especially with her emotions at a low froth like they were.
And yet, her hand wouldn’t close. Instead, she could feel the shadows within her constricting her muscles and instead opening her hand open more. Beckoning more of the shadows into the room. Inviting them to begin to cover her and turn her snow white skin as black as pitch. All the while she couldn’t breathe or speak as the shadows closed around her throat.
Just as they had the night before in her nightmare.
“Are you okay?”
The question was asked in unison as two hands grabbed her. One on each arm as they pulled her back to reality. Pulled her out of the shadows and to eyes that peered through steel with resolute determinism and a second pair under a hood that shone with such pure, true concern without a hint of fear.
Pulled her to two lights that shone in their own ways. Lights that quickly held her when she began to shake and quiver. Two lights that were indeed the silver lining, for if not for her visions, she never would have met the two who would make sure she could be happy with such a curse. And for that, she could never fully discount it actually being some sort of blessing.
Not when it had come with love.