BETH
Present Day, Ivypool Castle, Pinewane, Lemoneishca.
It was a dreary day. Fog rolled over the evening air, and a fine layer of mist covered the towering silhouette of Ivypool Castle, a huge stone structure with intricate turrets, obscured presently by the shadowy gloom.
Unbeknownst to everyone in said castle, Beth Regina stood in the shadows unseen, slinking away from the great building. She snuck away from the castle, keeping her footsteps feather light, and her face obscured from both the elements and any... prying eyes.
As soon as she was sure she was alone, she pulled down the itchy fabric of her hood and walked down to the stables, looking sadly around at the gardens. This would be the last time she ever saw those flowers her mother had loved so. Beth quickly shook the thought from her mind as fast as it had come. She couldn't afford to turn back now. She finally reached the stables and quietly stepped up to a cream colored horse.
"C'mon Eva, let's get out of here."
Beth's normally clear voice sounded strange in her own ears, all raspy and crackly from both emotion and lack of use. She slung herself into the saddle and adjusted the simple knapsack she had brought with her. Beth touched her side softly, lamenting the loss of her bronze great sword, it had been too heavy to bring with her.
She rode away on Eva, the wind rushing against Beth's flushed and freckled face, her pulse pounding in her ears as she broke from a canter to a gallop, the hard patter of hooves against dirt roads leading away from her old life. Away from the castle. Away from the empty, too-big halls and her ever busy mother. Away from the place she had tried so desperately to get back to. Her mother, just before Beth left, flashed before her eyes, the Queen's blonde hair mixing with her tears, instructing Beth to leave again. Insisting it was better, safer that way.
She blinked back hot tears, staring straight ahead at the road flying in front of her. Bitter resentment coiled inside Beth's stomach, making her insides burn with an awful hollow feeling.
Beth rode away from it all, auburn hair fanning out in the cool air. She was leaving all of this behind. And she didn't intend to turn back anytime soon. ____________________________________________________________
As it turned out, Beth had to stop eventually. She halted her horse at a small, rickety building with a sign that read: The Trading Inn.
Beth eyed it uncertainly, and flinched when a board on the door fell down. It was shabby, but it would be better than sleeping on the forest floor. Wincing from the thought of pine needles stabbing her skin, Beth urged Eva to the beams where several horses, two donkeys and a goat were already waiting in place. She was reluctant to leave Eva on her own, but her limbs felt leaden and her eyes started to close.
Here goes nothing, she thought warily. Beth blinked back sleep and walked into the Inn.
It was surprisingly busy, for such a small place. A few travelers were sitting at tables, drinking and talking amongst themselves. Beth tentatively walked up to the counter, praying to all the divine ones that nobody recognized her.
Her discomfort must have shown on her face, because Beth attracted quite a few curious stares. She gulped and forced herself to relax. Beth walked up to the counter and asked for a room, and the girl behind the desk blinked wearily and handed her an old fashioned key, and said in a tired voice,
"Room number 85. Enjoy your stay here. Whatever."
Beth nodded numbly and stumbled into the hallways of rooms. The many, many doors gave her vertigo, and she fumbled with the key and bemusedly wondered who in their right minds would make a place with so, many, doors.
She finally found her room and the door swung open with a click.
Beth dropped her bag on the ground, causing a loud thump.
She had just collapsed into the thin sheets of the motel bed when it finally hit her.
Beth was no longer a spoiled princess. She was no longer royalty. She wasn't even a scared little girl in a remote mountain village, longing to go home. She was yet again something entirely different.
For the first time in her life, Beth Regina was a runaway.
YOU ARE READING
Through the Dimensions: The Ten Elements Of Magic
Fantasy*On Hiatus* When ten outcasts in a highly developed and magical world get thrown together by magic, fate, tragedy and lies, they are forced to face their pasts and each other. The ten teenagers are called upon to save multiple worlds from destructio...
