Chapter 1
I kicked a rock on the sidewalk, dragging my feet on the short walk to school. It's not that I didn't want to go - I loved school! Rather, I'd barely slept the night before and was struggling to keep my eyes open. I'd had the strangest dream that kept me up the rest of the night. I couldn't quite remember the details, but I remember a beautiful land named Elmira...
It was a kingdom, I think. I remember the vast forests, long winding paths through the palace gardens, large rooms with beautifully crafted furniture, and a knight who lead me through the journey. I could still see the knight very clearly, his messy black hair constantly falling in front of his green eyes. In fact, I could see him so very clearly I could swear he was walking right up to me.
I must be really tired, I mused to myself. I continued walking until the mirage of the knight was so close that if he were real I would walk right into him - and that's precisely what happened. Wait, what? The knight caught me and looked down at me with concern in his eyes.
"Sabrina? Are you alright?" he asked. I must still be dreaming, I reasoned. I smiled and closed my eyes, ignoring the worried voice. "Bri, please wake up, Elmira needs you!" he continued. It's just a dream, I thought. It's okay to sleep now. I let myself fall asleep in the knight's arms, too tired to wonder what was going on.
***
"Sabrina?" My eyes fluttered open at the voice, and I looked around me. Where am I? I was laying down, presumably on the ground, with the knight - what was his name again? - kneeling next to me. There were trees above us and a bright blue sky. Elmira. Am I still dreaming? "Sabrina! You're awake!" he exclaimed, wrapping me in a hug that I barely registered before he let go again. "Elmira is in trouble," he said quietly. I shook my head in confusion.
"What are you talking about?" I asked. This was an odd dream - in most of my dreams, the knight was always happy and smiling. Right now, he was sad and frowning. "What's wrong?"
"Elmira is under attack again," he explained, "Last time you were here we defeated the army, but now Queen Valuren has a new army of... Undead soldiers."
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Valuren used the forbidden spells of necromancy to bring her army back to life..." the knight said, "She wants you dead, Sabrina. We need to fight back, we need to save Elmira again!"
"I don't remember that dream..." I muttered to myself.
"What dream?"
"The dream where we destroyed the army," I shrugged. His eyes widened.
"You thought that was a dream?"
"Yes, and so is this," I reasoned. He shook his head.
"No, Bri, this is real! You need to remember! We have to win this battle, if we lose we'll die!"
"It's just a dream," I giggled. "But what's going on?" He sighed.
"Um... I just explained that we are in a war. We need to win, or else a lot of people will die!"
"Why me?"
"Sabrina, you're the princess! You must lead!" the knight said, running a hand through his hair in frustration.
"I'm the princess?" I repeated, questioningly.
"You really don't remember?" he asked, defeated.
"Not really, those dreams were a long time ago."
"They weren't... Oh, nevermind. I am your knight and royal advisor, Sir Killian," he explained. "You are Princess Sabrina of Elmira, and your mother, Queen Valuren, sent you out of Elmira so she wouldn't lose her throne to you when you turn eighteen. You only have two more years, and since you keep coming back, Valuren decided you need to be killed in order for her to keep her throne." I furrowed my eyebrows.
"Why does she even think I want her throne?"
"It doesn't matter if you want it, you're the heir and it's the law."
"Can't she change the law?"
"Probably, but she won't," Killian shrugged.
"Why not?!"
"Because at this point, it's a show of power. If she lets it go after all these years she will feel weak, or as if she's given up."
"That's stupid," I replied. Wait, how does he know so much about the queen?
"Yeah, but that's just how she is I suppose,"
"How do you know?"
"How do I know what?"
"How do you know why she's doing all of this?"
"Well, I still work in the castle. She isn't exactly secretive about it..."
"What do you mean?"
"She's made loads of allegations against you. Everyone in Elmira is looking for you this time... This war won't be so easy to win, Sabrina."
"I don't expect any war is easy," I laughed. This is the weirdest dream I've ever had.
"Listen, it's getting dark. We need to find shelter," Killian warned. I looked to the sky to see it was pitch black now. Wasn't it just daytime? I shrugged.
"Okay. I'm really tired anyways..." I said, letting him help me up. "Where are we going?"
"The Jasper Forests. It shouldn't be too far, but I'm not quite sure where the portal brought us in the Loran Forests," Killian said, leading me on a winding path through the woods.
"I don't know why I asked," I laughed to myself. I didn't remember any of those names.
"Oh, we're much closer than I thought! It should only be a few minutes to one of the safeties."
"Forgive me for asking, but what's a safety?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot you don't remember. A safety is a hideout inhabited by someone on our side. As you can imagine, there aren't too many..." he trailed off. "But there are enough for us to get around safely." I gulped. Obviously there weren't going to be too many friendly faces this time around. Calm down, Sabrina. This is just a dream.
"Alright... Well, what kind of people are on our side?"
"The first thing you need to know is that most of them aren't people, per say. A lot of the beings in this world aren't human, including the queen's army," Killian said.
"Then what are they?"
"Animals, mostly," he said, "But don't worry, we all have a common language."
"Um... Okay..." How was I supposed to defeat an army of animals? Was that even morally legal? This really is an odd dream...
"Ah, here we are!" Killian stopped in a clearing and gestured to a tree.
"Where's the safety?"
"Right here, princess," he said, dragging me closer to him and pulling down on a low branch of the tree. I felt the sensation of falling, but everything had turned black. Had I passed out? No, I could still move and breathe... I felt Killian wrap me in a hug so we would stay together, but I still couldn't understand why we were still falling. It had been a few minutes, shouldn't we have hit ground by now? Suddenly the falling sensation stopped, but I didn't feel any impact. I opened my eyes and saw that we were in a tiny room underground. Killian was floating a few inches above the ground, which I guess explained why I hadn't felt him hit the ground, and he set me down on the floor gently before standing himself.
"Where are we?"
"Jasper safety," he said. "The only safety in the Jasper Forests."
"I thought you said there was going to be a-"
"Good evening, Killian," I heard a smooth voice behind me and whipped around. "And Princess Sabrina, so good to see you again..." she continued. There, right before my eyes, was a human-sized fox. Killian expects me to trust a fox?
"Good evening Lana," Killian bowed politely.
"Do we have a plan yet?" Lana asked. Killian shook his head.
"On the contrary, the princess hardly knows what is going on," he replied.
"It's not my fault!" I said.
"What do you mean?" Lana wondered, looking confused. I didn't know foxes could look confused.
"Let's talk about this in the morning," Killian said softly, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. I smiled gratefully. "I apologize for the lack of information, Lana, but thank you for the use of your home. We both need some rest."
"Of course," the fox replied, bowing her head. "Right this way."
Author's Note!
This is going to be a short novel, and this is just me playing around with different genres. I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I do! Love you guys!
Savy
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