Malekith

Chapter 7

"I know, grandpa. I know", Malekith thought as she rushed out of the study, letting her hairs fall on her eyes, hopping that they will stop the incoming tears. It did the trick. The Princess did not look back on the dark corridor, which she loved and had missed so much. She believed it would make her weak, make her stay. She was on a mission. And nothing would avert her focus from it.

The Dark Forest or Forbidden Forest, as many people called it had many dangers in it. Foul vampires, savage wolf packs, poisonous berries, hallucination inducing air that would be enough to creep any common man.

The Princess had particularly trained for such situations. But, these circumstances were different. Without the feeling of her parents beside her, and her ancestor's ring, she felt a little disadvantaged. She still carried on.

The ring would give its holder unlimited control over Endora and to rule without any opposition. It also had the power to defeat any evil that wished to harm her kingdom. It was the ring of Queen Malekith, who was a perfect model of equal light and equal dark. Even years after her death, her ring still stood as symbol of the true balance of both the powers, something which Princess Malekith had wished to achieved all her life.

The Princess had entered the Dark Forest and slowed down, taking in the view.

The charcoal black trees were thousands of years old. Malekith couldn't help but feel a little sad, but at peace. People regarded these trees as phantom. But, Malekith still saw them as beautiful as they were before the Curse. "It isn't their fault that some stupid men thought they were better. The trees shouldn't have to suffer for the knights errors". Her fingers gently touched the dark, rough barks of one of the trees. "I will make it better. I promise." She wasn't sure how, but Malekith had never broken a promise. And she wasn't about to start now.

It was still some time before dusk, but the sun's rays no longer reached the Princess and her horse, Beauty. Fog appeared around her and she felt a bit cold. Her eyes turned to slits. "There is no reason for the fog to be here. And why the hell am I cold!?"

"Halt! None shall pass", a cold, teasing voice echoed. "Ugh! Isn't that line a little old!", Malekith thought hearing that sound. Most people would have been scared hearing the echo. It was oddly attractive. Almost like piquing someone's interest, the person couldn't help but seek it out, all the while acknowledging the obvious dangers to their life.

It was like an invitation to death that nobody could decline. "God! Will you please complete the bloody line!", Malekith though, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. Well. Almost no one could decline it.

"Without answering my question", Amaruq, the only vampire who freely roamed around the Seven Kingdoms, said. He held a strange smile on his face. Almost like he was forcing it. Like the acts of teasing and playing with his food and satisfying the insatiable thirst no longer brought him any joy.

Amaruq, the vagabond vampire, was the only one of his kind who travelled so far and finally, settled in the infamous Forbidden Forest. It had been his home for the last 300 years.

"Beautiful", the Princess looked at the vampire in torn tunic and muddy pants, with bare feet, a cold snare with his pure white fangs and blood red lips.

No one who dared visit the forest had managed to pass through this vampire. He was famous for playing tricks with his victims. Torturing them, hanging from branches, turning them into the un-dead and then killing them were some of the stories that the Princess had heard. But his cruellest persecution was asking the travellers an impossible riddle.

The last known person to answer his riddle correctly was Queen Raven of Nethilor, a witch. As a parting present, the queen had set him on fire. He had grown more bitter after that.

He came close to the Princess, his eyes staring into hers.

"Tell me how is it that an un-dead can become alive again?"

Malekith now understood the reason that no body had able to pass through before. Amaruq's impossible riddle, has been about his own life. Or rather, his death.

Most of the people would have thought Malekith was as good as dead. The un-dead could never be alive again. It was impossible. Malekith had half a mind to draw out her silver blade and cut his head off. It wouldn't be hard. Vampires were fast. But so was she. She could walk away with minimal injuries at most and no one would ever have to die at his hands again.

Amaruq had his back turned to the Princess when he began laughing. But his eyes held some sadness.

Malekith seemed to sense something was off. "I might regret this." She took in a breathe, dropped her sword on the ground, and went to him.

"You don't."

***

Hi, everyone.

So, Malekith has some weird problem about leaving before her loved ones can say something to her. She's afraid that they will tell her they love her no matter what, and she won't be able to keep her tears in.

Also, she has a very unorthodox sense of beauty. She thinks that ordinary things like a sunset, rainbows, reflective lakes are indeed pretty. But there's something stimulating and rather intoxicating about a burnt out forest, or a scared face, or a storm. She has the ability to see beauty in darkness.

And, she is very logical and maybe, a little sarcastic. So, a little like me!

Thanks for reading guys.

Byee