SUN & SHADOW

Chapter 3:

 As Sandra guides me through the shifting passageway, the fullness of what has just happened comes into focus.

The queen has just confirmed what I've feared from the start of this troublesome journey, Ellie is gone.

But it doesn't make sense, I think as Sandra pulls us through a circular ledge on the mountain, and then back into a passageway on the opposite side. I don't even know this woman, much less trust her. The only reason I even asked her about Ellie in the first place was because of her powerful position.

I can't deal with this right now. I need to be able to learn more and to be able to survive in this place. I won't be able to do either if I let myself follow that dark thought. I'll leave it at this; if no one will help me rescue Ellie, I'll have to do it myself.

We turn one last corner into a separate hallway and turn to enter a stone door on the left. Keeping up with the theme I've seen throughout this place thus far, the door is wrapped in intricate carvings of vines and other leafy plants.

Sandra opens the door to the most beautiful and terrifying room I've ever seen.

The layout is similar to the throne room we were just in. Marble pillars encircle the room, the constant pattern of vines wrapping up around them.

Again, no barriers in between the gorgeous pillars to stop me from leaning over and falling to my doom.

Imagined death aside, the room itself is quite breathtaking. From the maroon satin comforter of the full bed in the center to the classic wooden wardrobe and dresser. What I've seen of Aspidans so far is unpleasant, but their taste in decor is incomparable.

I hear the door creak ominously behind me and turn to find Sandra peeking her head out the door.

I've never seen her like this. Sort of empty, like she's lost everything that makes her, well, Sandra!

Head hung low, eyes on the floor, Sandra, the woman I have come to respect so much, is mumbling, "This will be difficult, Lacie, that much I can understand. These people are powerful, and they can detect weakness from a mile away. I regret the fact that I cannot protect you here. Not only am I helpless against forces such as the Conradina and her children, but I am also handicapped by the fact that I have another assignment I must leave for. You have to fend for yourself. Do you understand Lacie?"

I knew this new place would be difficult, but not having Sandra with me? It would be unbearable. But why now? Why does she have to leave tonight?

I open my mouth to protest, but Sandra beats me and closes the door with a soft, "Goodbye Lacie."

She's gone. My last rock to lean on.

I didn't even say goodbye.

I stumble to the bed in the center of the room, in a sort of daze. I sit myself down and find it to be extremely comfortable. But it doesn't matter, it feels like it's suffocating me. I bolt upward and wander to the edge of the room to get my body moving and find myself in wonder at my surroundings.

Through the gap in the pillars, I get this view of the edge of the mountain, lined with several windows revealing a hall connected to my own, and at the end, another room on a cliff, slightly bigger than my own,covered with dark green curtains. But above all of that, far away from the problems and anxieties of the world I call my own, are beautiful lights shining in the night sky.

Stars.

Night after night, and yet they never fail to burn brightly. Maybe, just maybe, I can do the same. I lean against the side of a pillar in a miraculous moment of peace, until I hear a clatter, drawing my attention back to terrible reality. I glance around for the source of the sound and find nothing except for a curtain of the room on the other cliff, swaying violently, possibly from the wind.