Chapter 1 – Queen of the elves
“Your majesty, the invaders have reached the castle!”
My faithful royal guard Rosanne shouted towards me. She’s been in my service ever since I defended her home country of the fairies from the humans ages ago.
Now the Elven Kingdom was being threatened with invasion by the human forces, despite the help from its many allies.
“Follow me, your majesty I’ll escort you through our escape tunnel.”
I followed her reluctantly. Did I even deserve to run away from the disaster of my own doing?
I had sent all the elven wizards on the offensive in a desperate attempt to turn the tides of the war, but they stepped right into the human’s despicable trap. With few spellcasters left in the elven kingdom, the humans effectively sealed the remaining magicians with a forbidden spell. The capital of the strongest spellcasters in the world was effectively conquered by the depraved humans.
I buried the guilt down deep and ran after my royal guard.
Left, forwards, right, backwards, up and down. We ran through the escape tunnels with the clanging of armour behind us.
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We approached the hatch to the outside, and Rosanne handed me a robe. I hid myself underneath its heavy fabrics. Concealing my purple embraided dress that signaled my royal status.
“Rosanne, you need to escape without me. Fly to the fairy realm as fast as you can.”
“But your majesty, Laurel, I’ll protect you with my life! I have to make sure you escape…” Rosanne had tears in her eyes as she readied her sword.
“Don’t worry about me, Rosanne, I’ll make it somehow. Two people is easier to spot than one, and I’ll cover more ground on my own. Just trust me Rosanne.” I smiled assuringly to my loyal guard and long-time friend.
“Your majesty…”
The clanking of armour behind us droned closer.
“Find me in a few years’ time, when everything has settled down.” I whispered to her before opening the hatch and running away. Abandoning my castle and people.
The outside was dark, with the burning buildings being the only thing lighting up the streets. I moved quietly past a block before I was spotted by a pair of soldiers.
“You there, stop where you are! Unhood your cloak right now!”
I ran as fast as I could, but the fear or something else must’ve slowed me, because my legs seemed to cover less ground as I ran, and I almost tripped on my cloak. Why did Rosanne give me such a long cloak?
One of the soldiers grabbed my hood and yanked it off. He looked much bigger up close. Almost twice my size. Were humans always this big?
“George, did you find the queen?” The rest of the soldiers caught up and stopped where the soldier I assume to be George held me by the hood of my cloak.
“It’s just a poor brat, let’s continue the search.”
‘brat’
Elves are slightly shorter than humans, but there should be no way to mistake me for a child.
I approached an intact window from one of the ruins nearby and looked at my reflection.
Back stared a young girl’s face illuminated by the nearby fires.