Be the Beginning to my End

A short story inspired by a contest from Anorin Arssinous

    "Do you dream of me?" asked the young Queen. But there was no reply. The crisp winter air gently danced in through the open balcony and into her long, curly hair. The Queen walked away from the balcony and layed down in her bed. She asked again, "Do you dream of me?" This time, tears slowly escaped from her eyes and rested on her silk pillow.

    A voice from behind finally spoke and cracked the tired silence in the chamber.

    "I dream of you." The Queen heard the voice say as it came closer to her, her back still turned to it. "I dream of you." When the Queen turned to face him a few moments after, there was no one there. Just the drapes flowing in the wind and her reflection in the mirror looking back at her....mocking her.

 

****

 

    Kalorin shifted his feet and stared down at his hand frozen upon the queens bedroom door. He had heard the queen speaking as if talking to someone and even thought he had heard a voice. A voice from...the dead. It was impossible though. Gerik had fallen at Riven-or. They had all seen the Witch-Queen's Consort strike him down.

 

    He let go of the handle and scrubbed his face, letting his hands run threw the dark stubble of growth now upon it. Could it mean that Gerik was alive or that the queen somehow could speak to the dead? He shook his head. Impossible. We're all still grieving for what could have been, he thought.

 

    "She's just talking to herself in comfort," he said to himself. What he had heard in response was just wishful thinking on his part. He turned to walk away and return to his post outside the queens quarters, but the door to the bedroom opened and he found himself staring into the queens dark and misty blue eyes.

 

    "Is he alive?" the queen spoke into the silence that lay between the two of them. "Kalorin...I feel something. Something inside that gives me hope after such dark months. I feel..." The young queen paused as if unable to express what she wanted to say.

 

    There was such a look of longing and pain upon her face that Kalorin just wanted to wrap her in a bear hug and comfort her. He was struck once again by how much she resembled her mother in her strange fragility. "We all saw Analith run him through, lass," he finally said into her searching silence. "I wish...anything is possible, but we saw Azril descend and take his soul." Kalorin still struggled with see the Right Hand of Death himself come to take a soul."Anything is possible, but I'll be burned if I can say he yet lives somehow. Sometimes we just have to confront the truth."

 

    The queen sighed and tears shimmered in her eyes. "How can I go on without him," she said in a whispery voice. "I don't feel alive. I'm just barely making it through each day as if pulled by invisible strings." She looked up into the big mans eyes and let her hands clasp his. "I have to know for sure whether somehow he lives or if he is truly gone from me forever."

 

    Kalorin wanted to recoil at the unspoken suggestion in her words. "My queen...Serilya...if you're thinking what I think you are then that way lies madness!" He gently removed his hand from hers and began to pace. "You know what he will want in return! He was confined into the Chasm for a reason. If we ask him to make this journey to the Mount of Gods there is a chance he'll even make his escape during the journey. Mask was always one with a fickle sense of honor and duty."

 

   "I have to know," Serilya said quietly. "It's a chance we will have to take. Mask was once human. I have read the tales of what made him accept the challenge of the Gods. There is still a part of humanity inside him somewhere."

 

    Kalorin felt like smashing things to express his frustration. He could see the stubborn look coming into the queens eyes now that she had latched onto an idea. Gerik had been the only one who could dissuade her when she had decided she was doing the right thing. Gods, the thought of seeing Mask made his skin crawl. He sighed. There were a thousand different reasons to say no, yet he knew he couldn't refuse this request from his queen. He had to admit as well that there was a part of him that now had a glimmer of hope.

 

    "For you I will do it, your highness," he said keeping the doubt out of his voice. He held his arms out just in time to catch Serilya as she ran into his arms and hugged him. He could feel the hot tears as they fell upon his arms and he patted her back in alarm.

 

    "I knew I could always count on you, lord Viriz," Serilya said with a smile as the tears still came. "I know Mask will help us. This is greater than his antipathy."

 

    "Of course," Kalorin said, hiding his doubt again. Mask was an all around selfish b*****d. He released his queen and stepped back from her. " I had better leave tonight to make my inquiry with the Brotherhood then. I will need..." His voice trailed off as the queen pressed a sealed letter in his hands with her emblem pressed into the wax seal. Well, he thought to himself, it was nice to know she hadn't just thought this up on the spot.

 

    "By your leave," he said and bowed his way out of the room, the memory of hope upon her face burned brightly in his memory.

 

****

 

    The queen now stood upon the balcony looking off into the horizon. The stars shown as bright as her hope and she clutched the scarlet  cloak that had been gifted to her upon her first meeting with Gerik.

 

    "We are coming, my love," she said as the wind gently picked up around her.

Author's Note

Not exactly an ending ending, but what the hey ya know! All reviews are welcome.

Reviews

[Aria]

I love how you give names to everyone. I also love the fact that there is a backstory to each character even if it is not fully stated. There is a mystery with Kalorin and the Queen's mother. His age is not specified but, he could have loved the mother, or even love the queen. I also liked your imagery and how the story has more to say. I am thinking of having the winner complete the story and write more than 1,000 words. You have a great start and I would love to read more. I am so curios to see what will happen with the Mask and the Queens husband. Curiousity in a reader is a great thing to have put in them. Good work!

[Christine]

I really REALLY want to read more!!! Great job, both of you. You've got me hooked, do you think you'll finish it? If you do, please send me a copy or a link where I can read it. Good job!!

~Christine :-)

[Nely Amorim]

this is brilliant babe, I'm constantly seeing improvement in your writing style and this short story is captivating start to finish. Each paragraph clean and engaging. I would love to know more of this story, I think it really should be a longer story than this. Excellent read and well done hun xxxxxx

[Laura E. Aranda]

I wonder if she will fall in love with Mask instead? ha! i liked it, I really did....cheers, lea