The Lost Princess - Volume 6

The Lost Princess : Volume 6 of 7

Three beautiful tailed girls came forth - half-demon, half-nymph, appearing to be around nine years - from the shadows, and Zelia was so stuck with the beauty of each. She knew she must have them ... Zelia called to the children ... cooed ... but the Dark Lady held them back.

"First you must pay ... what price will you give?"

"Anything ... anything at all."

The Dark Lady nodded, then stepped forth and cut the tendons in the princess's wings.

"The first price is flight ... do you go on?"

Bleeding and broken, the princess whispered a yes ...

The Dark Lady then stabbed her in the eye.

"The second price is that you may not know another faith ... then the other, the third price is that the beauty of life is no longer yours to see ...

"They are yours."

And as Zelia lay broken and blind and bleeding on the cobbles, the three girls rushed forth to tend her and comfort her; they carried her to a dark place far below the city and waited until she was healed.

Once returned, the Princess feigned attack to her family and over time they became used to her blindness and broken wings. She also slaughtered several of the priests and priestess of Aerdrie in the temple district and threw a curse over the area, making people avoid it.

The King married and soon announced a new heir was coming. Meanwhile, the darkness in the city grew ... even the commoners now slept badly ... there were many disasters, fires, sickness, madness ... missing children, and Zelia made the three sisters go about her usual work while she stayed in the palace. Consumed by hatred of the new Queen and itching to find Sareve, Zelia became more lax with her illusion and was beginning to earn the mistrust of many.

She decided to act! She sent the sisters south to find Sareve and destroy him, even though they were still children, and plotted to kill the Queen and her unborn child. This wasn't easy as the Queen had her own guard that came with her, and none held any love for Zelia.

It was many months before she got a chance to try, and in those months the sisters did not fare well. Without the life force of their bond with the Princess present, the young sisters become a little lost as they reached the south. They could not find Sareve at first and brought much attention to themselves, wreaking havoc wherever they went. The Nanshi tried their best to kill them on sight, but they could not die. A flash of smoke, and soon they would reappear the same, for their souls were kept with Zelia and while she lived, they must live. They laughed and burnt and played and spoke freely of the total destruction of the Spiritland. Their childish giggles became a feared noised in the forest.

It was Sareve's best friend, a Confounder named Kcil'te'tom who thought of a solution: We need to trap them ... hold them so they cannot be free ... then they will stop. Eem spoke with the Old Order of the Green for means that they might hold the children. After some deep prayer time and a few guesses, Kcil recruited an old friend and mentor, a gnomish wizard famed for his Fateweaving talents and making intricate magic devices, to design the prisons - three small vials with tiny keys to lock the sisters inside.

Kcil then went to find the sisters, dragging along Eem as bait, as well as pockets full of candy ... and waited for them to arrive.

Soon enough the three little girls came laughing and burning in their wake. He spoke carefully to them, and convinced them to send Eem away as he had a secret to tell them ... the smell of the sugar burned in their noses as the prayers to Forian had assured Kcil it would.

They argued but gave in, as they could not resist his charm, or his chocolate, their half-nymph blood enticed by the smell. He ummed and ahhhed at their beauty, and fed them the candy slowly from his pockets. The candy of course was heavily laced with mellow and other such things; the sisters soon were gathered around him as he spun a web of tales and delight. During this time, he laid the three vials in front of him and said nothing about them. He used slight of hand to look like he was taking the candy from the little bottles, and gave them more and more. Then, after a hand was held out again ... he said he had no more... the sisters were furious and each grabbed a vial to shake to get more candy out ... They threatened Kcil, and demanded he get more from the magical bottles.

He protested and said it was all good, the little switch at the bottle of the vial was off, and that was it!

They cried to turn it back on ... he said he was too big and could not reach.

The sisters grinned, and they all turned into fey and dived into the bottles. Kcil quickly turned the keys and raced back to the Green Order towers, Eem in tow with the trapped sisters.

As it turns out, this was the very same night Zelia decided to murder the Queen ... the King too! The drugged candy from the sisters minds affected her own ... and in a rage ... the same blooded knife in hand, she shadowed herself into the Queens Chambers, past the guards ... and with a scream leapt at the now-heavy Queen in a fit of rage.