I glance behind myself as I walk through the open doors and out into the chill night air, taking the path that leads to the gardens of the keep. Groups of my friends and peers seem to be enjoying themselves, dancing and mingling as the small orchestra hired by my dad plays cheery music drifts out to me as I start down the path. Faintly, I can hear Izzy’s voice as I move deeper into the garden grounds, she must be flirting with one of the many noble boys her age that she enjoys teasing.

  Angus will keep her in line. He won’t let her make too much of an embarrassment of herself, thankfully. I swear that girl can be silly when it comes to boys sometimes, at least she respects that I am devoted to Angus and doesn’t try to get me to join in her silly little games with them.

  I come to the large fountain that marks the center of the garden grounds and, thankfully, it is now silent all around me. I shiver in the chill air. The lavender gown I am wearing, while beautiful, is not exactly practical for being outside for an extended amount of time this early into spring. I gather the skirts up as best as I can and sit on a stone bench that is nearby, breathing a sigh of relief to finally have a moment of quiet. I am grateful to Angus who, upon seeing that the noise and press of people was starting to get to me, pulled me out of the throng of flesh and made way for me to escape to the gardens. I know it is only a temporary reprieve as I cannot stay away from the masquerade ball that commemorates my fifteenth birthday for too long, but I am grateful never the less for the lack of people.

  I remove the mask, which matches the soft lavender color of my gown, and sit it on the bench beside myself. The coolness of the air contrasts against the warmth on my face as the moisture that was trapped underneath the mask evaporates. I look up as the full moon in the clear night sky, admiring the silvery orb as it hangs high.

  I wonder what the world must look like from such a lofty position, bathed in the it’s lunar light. I wonder if Ramberg Loch, to the east, looks like a pool of quicksilver to it. Can the moon see itself in the reflection of the water’s surface?

  I smile softly at my childish thoughts before sighing softly.

  “I guess I should be getting back before too many people notice me missing,” I say to no one in particular, my voice louder than expected. I gather my skirts and stand up, the fabric gently swishing as I release it.

  Suddenly, I hear a loud crack behind.

  Laughing softly, I turn saying, “Angus, you didn’t have to- “

  I cut myself off as I notice a slender shadow step from behind a nearby tree into the silvery moonlight.

  “Who are you?” I ask, eyes narrowing.

  As I ask, four more shadows step out. Each of them are slender and short, maybe 4 feet at the tallest. They have no discernable features to distinguish them from one another, other than slight differences in their height. With them standing in the light of the moon, I can see that they are creatures of pure shadow, clearly magical creations.

  I take a hesitant step back, and as if I were signaling them, the shadow creatures suddenly rush me. Gathering my will, I conjure a shower of ice darts that streak towards the shadows, striking each multiple times, but it only makes them pause for a second before they resume their charge with no apparent damage done.

  I turn to run, fleeing into the nearby hedge maze, hoping to throw the creatures off long enough for me to double back and make my way back to the ball, confident that the beings of shadow won’t follow me into the well-lit ballroom. As I enter the maze of hedges, I feel something strike my left shoulder from behind, making me entire arm go numb and spinning me around, causing me to fall the ground, tangling me in my skirts. Trying not to panic, I throw up a wall of ice, blocking where I entered the maze, hoping the ice can stop them creatures from entering.

  I detangle myself from my skirts and stand. With a pang of regret, I conjure a blade of ice that I use to cut away the bulkier parts of the skirts, freeing my legs for better mobility before I begin to run once more.

  As I run, I try to keep my mind calm and review the last layout I knew of the maze, hoping my Daddy hadn’t changed it since I was in here last, as he liked to do from time to time in order to keep it fresh and exciting.

  I could really do with less excitement right now Daddy, please don’t have changed it.

  I took the first right turn I came to, then the second left, only to find myself trapped.

  “Shit,” I mutter breathlessly.

  My father had rearranged the maze. I now have no clue what the proper path out is now and will have to rely on blind luck to get myself out as. Luckily, my father tended to keep the entrances and exits in the same place, as well as keeping the Rose Gazebo in the center of the maze with the true path leading you to it before continuing on to the exit.

  I backtrack to the previous turn and see one of the shadowy beings step out on to the path about twenty yards away. It spots me immediately and hurls a lance of shadow toward me. I hastily erect a shield in front of me and see it shatter as the lance strikes it, piercing through to strike me in my right leg. My leg goes numb, all the way from my hip to my toes but I can’t see any actual visible damage to my flesh.

  Groaning, I erect another ice wall between myself and it, this time as thick as I can muster. I stumble away, struggling to move forward with my numb leg that won’t obey me. I take the next right, grasping at the hedges to help me stay upright.

  By sheer luck I make it to the Rose Gazebo at the center courtyard of the maze, the roses entwined around its columns and trellises, their thorns sharp, not that I expect the thorns to harm the creatures in any way considering they could just shrug off my darts. Still, I had to try.

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  “Dùin.” I whisper, triggering the defense spell my father had placed here years ago.

  The roses unwind from their tangled perches and snake behind me to the courtyard entrance I had came through. As they reach the entrance, they create a thick tangled web that anyone other than my father would have trouble getting through. Their thorns then begin to grow in size until they are the size of a parring knife, and equally as sharp.

  Satisfied that the creatures won’t be able to get through the roses any time soon, I turn and hobble my way to the exit of the courtyard… Only to see more of the shadow creatures enter from that direction and fan around me. I know I can’t escape; they have me surrounded.

  “What do you want from me!” I cry, defeat weighing down on me.

  “What do I want?” I hear an ethereal voice coming at once from all of the shadow beings surrounding me. “I want to see the great Duke Braemar as well as the Royal family suffer for what they did to me. I’m going to take the Duke’s precious daughter from him while also destroying the woman that young Prince Angus loves. Two birds, one stone.

  “I also want the raw power you are capable of, Lady Beira. Your magical potential is so much more than you know, and with that power…” The voice trails off. “Ugh, why am I wasting my time telling you this? You’ll be dead soon anyway.”

  At that, the shadows all launch lances of darkness at me. Knowing my shield can’t block the lances from a direct hit, I instead create multiple panels of ice at angles it to deflect the trajectory of the lances instead. I am rewarded by several of the lances flaying off course and piercing some of the other shadow beings, causing them to fade, but one still gets through my defenses and strikes me in the hip, causing my other leg to go numb, dropping me to the ground with only one working arm left. Desperately, I encase myself in a shell of ice, knowing it won’t protect me for long, but hoping that by now someone would have noticed how long I have been gone and come looking for me.

  I hear the sound of chipping at my icy shell and wonder why they aren’t just piecing it with their lances to finish me off. At that moment I feel a sharp pain, followed by numbness in my right arm. Looking at it, I see a blade of darkness that is piercing my forearm pull out bloodlessly, leaving me completely helpless.

  Soon, my icy cocoon is broken down completely, leaving me exposed. Above myself, I see a blanket of shadow form before descending to cover me completely. I am lost in the darkness and I feel something the size of a large gemstone placed between my breasts.

  “Lady Beira, you are about to become a part of something greater than you’ll ever know,” I hear a female voice that sounds familiar say with mirth. “Too bad you’ll not live to see it.”

  She laughs.

  I hear some shuffling around me and feel a soft feminine hand press to my forehead and another cup over the object on my chest, pressing it down.

  “Don’t worry, oblivion will be greeting you soon, Lady Beira.”

  Suddenly, I feel a sharp pain, worse than anything I have ever felt before, in my chest. It feels as though there is a great vacuum on my chest drawing me in, but pulling me in through a hole no larger than a gold coin. I try to cry out as the pain continues to increase, pulling me further in, but no sound emerges from my mouth. I feel myself collapsing on upon myself, folding down into one tight and painful point.

  I want it all to end, it is too much!

  ******************************************************************

  Gasping I sit up in my bed, hands clasped to my chest. I feel tears on my face and sweat coving my body.

  I have to escape; I have to get away!

  In my panicking state of mind, I propel myself off of the bed, tumbling heavily to the floor. I crawl hurriedly in the direction that I remember the door to being, a part of my consciousness recognizing I could feel my limbs again.

  Right as I reach the area, I estimate the door to be, I hear it swing open. I feel a sharp pain in my in my forehead as the door hits me, stunning me and sending me sprawling on the floor.

  “Lady Beira!” I hear Mary gasp. “I am so sorry!”

  I feel something warm and wet trickle down my face. I move a hand to my forehead where the door had hit me and feels sharp pain as well as a wet stickiness on my fingers.

  “Owwie.” I groan.

  “Hold still, my lady.” I hear Mary say and then I feel a cloth pressed to my forehead. “Here hold this here while I go get a wet washcloth to wipe it off and see how bad it actually is.”

  I hold the cloth in place and I hear her leave. A few minuets pass before I hear her coming back accompanied by thunderous footfalls that could only be coming from my father.

  “Beira, my little girl, are you ok?” I hear him ask as Mary comes over and places something on the floor beside me. She pulls the hand holding the cloth away and I feel a warm wet cloth begin to wipe around my tender forehead.

  “I’m ok, Daddy.” I reassure him. “I just had a- Ouch!”

  “I’m sorry, my lady.” Mary says softly.

  “I just had a nightmare and fell out of the bed before hitting my head on the door while in a p-panicked state.” I explain to him, hoping Mary hasn’t told him that she was opening the door at the time my head was struck. She pauses cleaning my forehead for a brief second before resuming, confirming to me that she hadn’t mentioned that part to him.

  Good, I don’t want to get her in trouble because of me.

  “A nightmare?” He asks.

  “I think so…” I say, my voice trailing off. “It was about the night of the m-masquerade.”

  I tell him about the nightmare, up until the part at the end in the maze’s central courtyard. I shudder when I reach that part and decide not to tell him everything about what I went through in that part of the nightmare, just vaguely telling him I felt as if I were pinned down and experienced a sensation like I was being drawn out of my body through my chest. Plus, there was no guarantee that my nightmare was an accurate account of what had happened to his daughter on that night and considering how upsetting it was for me to experience, I felt it would be even worse for him considering he would know exactly how little he could have done to protect her.

  “It doesn’t look too bad.” I hear Mary say after I finish recounting my dream to my father. “Where you struck your head, that is.” She quickly clarifies.

  The duke is silent, likely deep in thought.

  “Daddy?” I ask, getting a little unnerved by his silence.

  “Aye, lass?” He asks, his voice betraying how lost in thought he was.

  “Are you ok?”

  I really hope I didn’t upset him too much, it can’t be easy hearing about your child’s potential last moments, even if he doesn’t realize that’s what it likely was.

  “Yes, sweety, I’m ok.” He assures me unconvincingly. “I just need to look into something.”

  I feel him gather me up into his arms and he carries me to my bed, sitting me down gently.

  “Mary?” I hear him inquire.

  “Yes, Your Grace?”

  “Have Jonah get my horse ready immediately, then send someone to bring Dr. Tilson here to see to the wound on Beira’s forehead.” He says.

  I don’t hear Mary reply but do hear her leave the room.

  “Lass, I’ll be back as soon as I can. If you need anything, just let Mary or your mother know.” He says, his normally warm voice tight with concern. “I’m sure the Prince will probably come by to check on you tomorrow so don’t give him too much trouble.”

  I feel his warm hand on top of my head and I assure him that I’ll behave myself.

  He removes his gentle hand from my head and I hear him turn and leave the room, closing the door behind him.