• Chapter One


    Alyss had finally made it out of the castle. She had been wandering around for hours trying to find an exit. She looked up to the night sky and breathed the crisp air. The moon was full and lit up everything in it's path. Alyss started down a trail that went through the woods. She had always had a good sense of direction and felt this would get her home.
    As she trudged through the forest she thought about how she had gotten in this sticky situation. Being sixteen she didn't get out much. She was just a peasant girl, the only thing she was good for was being a maid. Her parents owned a farm in the county of Ireland. It was always her dream to get away from the dirty, boring life of farm work and to persue her own happiness. She wanted to be an apprentice of the local seer. Her parents would never allow it though. They didn't believe in things like fortune-telling. If only she could escape. She had thought of that. She had planned and took action. It was her own ignorance that landed her in this exact situation.
    She had succeeded once. Alyss made it to the seer. He accepted her as his follower and said that they would set out on a journey the very next day. She, being very foolish, thought that it was fantastic. She would be out of town before her parents even noticed her absence. You must know that Alyss was very attractive. She would have had no problem being courted. Darragh, the seer, wasn't too bad himself. He was very confident because of his looks. He decided to lay down a few rules of her apprenticeship. If she were to be his follower and to learn from him, she would have to marry him.
    Darragh was raised properly by his parents and knew exactly what to do. He would never take advantage of Alyss. She was very bussiness like and knew where he would be going with this courtship.
    "What duties would I be taking on if I accepted?" she asked.
    "The simple tasks of a normal wife. I would not make you do anything other than what you have done before on your farm." Darragh replied.
    "Then I accept your offer." And the discussion was over.
    They did not have a formal wedding, they kept the news to themselves. Darragh kept true to his word and did not force her to do anything out of the ordinary. Alyss grew to love him, to her surprise. She thought he loved her aswell. She was too naive.
    After four days, they arrived at a grand castle.
    In awe, Alyss said, "To whom does this castle belong to? And why are we here?"
    "We have been summoned." was all he replied.
    That was the first time he had ever been mysterious about anything. Alyss was automatically intrigued by it. She gazed and took in everything as they walked throughout the castle. Darragh had been teaching her simple magick on the way to their destination so that in case something were to happen, she would be ready. He led them to a room with a large bed and then a fairly smaller one. He set his knapsack on the larger one and pointed to the other.
    "That will be yours."
    Alyss sat on the bed. This castle was obviously royalty, everything was silk or satin, sometimes velvet. Everything was red, blue and purple. She brushed her hand on everything, knowing this would probably be the last time she would feel such things.
    "We have to decipher the king's dreams." Darragh said.
    He led them out of the room and down a long corridor. Darragh turned a corner and when Alyss turned, he was nowhere in sight.
    "Darragh?" she called. "Where are you?"
    There was no answer. She started wandering the halls looking for her informal husband. She started to speculate things as she walked down the corridors. Should she have made him marry her properly? Does he really even love her? Was this all just a hoax to get rid of her?Little did she know that all of her questions were about to be answered.
    "Darragh! There you are! I've been looking all over for you. Where did you disappear to?" she shouted.
    "I wasn't looking for you." he mumbled under his breathe. "I got lost, my love."
    "That is not what you just said. . . What were you doing?"
    Darragh sighed. "Look, this just isn't working out for me."
    Alyss played the words over and over in her head.
    "Y-you mean your b-breaking up with me?"
    "Yeah let's go with that."
    How cruel can he be? Alyss thought.
    "Fine, go. I'll get home by myself. Hope you have a fan-freakin'-tastic life."
    And Alyss stomped away from him. She wandered around that dreaded place for hours and finally emerged, thus, bringing her here.