A Tale of Two Princesses

Chapter 10 - Charlotte

I hurried into my room, trying to find my traveling clothes quickly. I can't believe my brother would just leave like that. Or break Eleanor's heart like that. He really does care about home...... Maybe I need to care like that. 

I found the clothes I was looking for and hurried off my dress over my arms. I pulled on the pants and then the tunic, still searching around for my boots. I spot them over by my trunk, brown leather boots I had gotten from a maid. I slip them on and start to head to Eleanor's room.

As I was about to leave, I remembered my necklace. It was one my parents had put on me when I was 12, when I had run off from the castle for a month. It gives them the ability to see where I am through an orb they take with them everywhere.

 I had run off when I still had my best friend, Raya. She was a villager and we would always play together and hang out. One day, I just wanted to get out of the castle and asked Raya if she would want to travel somewhere. We packed up some stuff and just walked through the gardens and went through the forest that was forbidden for me to enter. I felt so free, away from palace life, away from rules. I had escaped my once so boring life to this new and exciting adventure. We cleared through the forest within the first two days of our leaving. We were having so much fun. We'd swim in any water source we found and would run through open meadows. It wasn't until we had reached a mountain that anything bad happened. 

Raya and I stumbled upon a mountain and decided to climb it, check out what was up there. We had gotten up maybe three-fourths of the way to the top where there was a big ledge. We stopped there to rest and enjoy the view when suddenly, a huge, purple bird with large wings swooped down to us and started squawking. We didn't know what to do, we were so scared. Raya struck it with a large stick she had found a few days back and it didn't exactly like that. It came at her really fast, crashing into her and slamming into the side of the mountain. When the bird pulled back away from her, she was covered in blood and it looked like one of her arms was broken. Yet still, she struck at the bird again. I will never forget her bravery, for after the second blow she gave the bird, it came and knocked her off the edge. I just stood there at the top, my mouth hanging open. I couldn't even let out a scream. 

I had hurried down the mountain, but couldn't find her body, only a puddle of blood. I assumed that the bird had come down to take her corpse. That day, I swore to never venture off away from the castle again. That didn't last very long. 

I began trying to pry the necklace apart with my fingers, but it wasn't working. I took a pen I found in a desk drawer and tried to break it using that, but it didn't do anything either. 

I hurried down to Eleanor's room and explained that it won't come off and right away, she called one of her maids. The maid finally came in, carrying with her some pliers. She sat me down at a vanity and began prying with the pliers until finally, the necklace fell from my neck onto my lap.

I picked it up, looking at it carefully. I could see liquids swirling inside in many different colors. I asked Eleanor for a pair of heels she didn't care for much and slid off my boots.  I slipped on one of the blue heels she gave to me and put the pendant on the floor. I took the heel and stepped right on the pendant, crushing it. The liquids came out and turned to smoke as it hit the floor. I was ready to be free once again.

                                                            END OF CHAPTER