Oh No, You're Not Romeo!

Disclaimer: Though all of the plot and storyline is mine, I have borrowed some really awesome characters and names from the Inheritance Cycle, Star Wars, and Final Fantasy VII. Hence, you may find some familiar names and characters in my story. My story does not involve any of the above franchises though. For those things that I borrowed, I do not own them. Christopher Paolini, George Lucas and Sqaure Enix own the respective characters and names. 

Chapter One - Bad News

As the starlight filtered through the pale curtains, an elegant silhouette stood poised in front of the mirror. The room remained ominously silent except for the occasional footsteps on the hard worn tallow. Upon closer inspection, it was a woman, or more accurately, a young lady. One could tell by the moonlight that illuminated her presence that she was an exquisitely crafted beauty.  Combing her long, amaranth tresses with graceful liquid movements, the twilight that fell on her fair face betrayed no other emotion other than one of great confidence.

She slipped off her satin robe in favour of a humble cotton tunic and a trimmed blue skirt. Securing her armored breastplate, she reached for a long silver sword that glinted sharply in the moonlight and fastened it to a belt that slung around her shapely waist. Casting one last glance at the majestic palace behind her, the woman leaped out of the window into the darkness beyond.

*****

  “What! She’s gone! Again?” fumed Duke Castiel of Illyria.

  “Y-yes, my Lord! I went to rouse Her Ladyship because it was already past noon but when I knocked on the door I got no response. In good faith, I opened the door, only to find garments strewn all over the floor. There was no sign of her, My Lord,” explained the trembling maid.

“Never mind that,” hissed the Duke through gritted teeth, “But how could she even have left the palace? I had guards stationed in every nook and cranny of this place I could think of! I cannot bring myself to think that she can fight off a dozen grown men all by herself!”

   Just then, his general, Sachiel Evanders, entered the throne room. His thick, heavy footsteps made all of their attentions turn towards him, as his heavy battle boots crashed against the rich marble flooring. “Allow me to explain, My Lord,” he said in a calm, steady voice. With the Duke raging across the room, most would not even dare open their mouths, for if they said something, in a moment of folly, they could potentially end up as a headless, butchered corpse. But as if to defy the laws of convention, the Duke’s Own General dared to break the unspoken law of silence in front of the angry Duke. The news he carried was not good. If anything, it would further incense his Lordship’s anger. Unperturbed by this fact, he continued, “My Lord, apparently Her Ladyship had bribed all of the guards stationed near her chambers with a lifetime’s worth of riches and sent them away.”

The Duke hung his head in defeat. He had the power over everything in his land, wealth to last another millennium even if his palace was burnt down to smoldering pieces of wood and the influence of a monarch, but it shamed him to think that all these paled in comparison to his niece’s wit. He had no idea why, but that girl had a strange, growing obsession for the night. Every night she would sneak away into the wilderness to do hunting. Hunt what; he had much ado to know. Whenever he had asked her about it, her explanation always became an incomprehensible jumble of gibberish involving things like “vampires”, “dragons”, and “exotic creatures”, and it always left him utterly confounded and speechless. Being the rational, firm leader he was, he could not bring himself to think that one of his own kin would believe in such wickedly conjured fables concerning the creatures of the night. What outraged him even more was that despite the countless number of times he had reprimanded his niece not to indulge herself into such pointless endeavors, she simply ignored him. Even after he had placed his guards all over his palace, his niece had somehow managed get away during the night.