Kingdom Quest: 1

             Chapter 1

                                                           Little Girl In Red

Fable’s legs wouldn't stay still. They bounced against the velvet chair in a fast, happy rhythm, making her red dress swish. She loved this dress; it was the color of the roses in the garden. She reached up and tugged on one of her long white pigtails, waiting.

The house was very big and very quiet, except for the heavy thump-thump-thump of boots upstairs. Daddy was up there talking to the men in the funny leather clothes. They looked like the picture books of knights, but without the shiny silver. They just looked dusty and tired.

Two of the men were sitting on the stairs near her. They were as still as statues. Fable leaned forward, her blue eyes wide and curious.

"Is my daddy finished yet?" she asked.

The men didn't look at her. They just stared at the front door. Fable felt a little poke of worry in her tummy, like a tiny needle. She didn't like it when people didn't answer.

"I want to show him my drawing," she tried again, her voice wobbling. "Is he coming down?"

One of the men finally looked at her. He didn't smile, but he didn't look mean either. "Just a meeting, little bird," he muttered. "Won't be long."

Fable bit her lip. She felt like crying, though she didn't know why. The house felt cold all of a sudden. But then, the door upstairs opened, and Daddy came down. He was smiling, but it was a weird smile—the kind he wore when he accidentally broke one of her toys and tried to hide it. His eyes looked shiny and wet.

"Fable," he said, his voice sounding like he had a cold. He knelt down on the rug and opened his arms wide.

She ran into them, smelling his familiar scent of old paper and peppermint. He hugged her so tight she could hardly breathe, his fingers tangling in her braids. He kissed her forehead, then her nose, then her lips, holding her face like it was a fragile glass bowl.

"I have to go on a trip, Fable. A little adventure," he whispered against her hair.

"Can I come? I can pack my bag!"

"No, sweetheart. Not this time." He pulled back, and Fable saw a tear slide down his nose. He quickly wiped it away with his thumb. "You’re going to stay with Aunty. You’ll have a new room and a new garden. It’s going to be okay."

"But why are you crying, Daddy?"

He didn't answer. He just kissed her one last time and stood up. The men in the leather clothes moved in, their shadows swallowing him. "Time to go," one of them said.

Daddy looked back at her from the doorway. "Be strong, be brave, Fable Lee Kami. Always. I’ll be with you always."

Then, he walked outside into the trees.

Fable stood in the middle of the big, empty room. She waited. The woods outside were dark and thick. A minute passed. Then, a loud POP! rang out. Then another. POP! POP!

Fable jumped, her heart thumping like a trapped bird. "What was that?" she shouted. "Was that a firework? Is Daddy doing fireworks?"

She started to run toward the door, but the two men on the stairs were suddenly there. One of them reached down and picked up her favorite rag doll from the floor. He handed it to her, and his large, rough hand patted her head.

"Here you go, pretty girl," he said softly. "Don’t you worry about those noises. Just the woods talking. You like hearing the little birdies talk, right?"

He leaned down and hoisted Fable up, swinging her easily over his broad shoulder. It felt high and safe up there, like being on a tall tower. She gripped her doll tight, feeling comforted by the steady rhythm of his walking. These men were nice. They were taking care of her.

Daddy would be back soon.

Fable rested her head against his strong neck.

Outside, the other men came back from the trees. Daddy wasn't with them. Fable noticed some wet, dark spots on their leather sleeves—maybe they had been playing in the mud?

The man carrying her reached into a small pouch on his belt. He pulled out something that shimmered in the sunlight. A bright, cherry-red candy.

"For you," he said, handing it up to her. "Little girl in red."

Fable took it, her eyes lighting up. She popped the candy into her mouth. It was sweet and tart, making her forget all about the loud popping sounds and the way Daddy’s eyes had looked.

"Is Daddy at the new house already?" she asked around the candy.

The soldier who had set her on the horse looked up at her. His eyes were dark, like the bottom of a well, but he kept his voice smooth. "We'll be there shortly. Just relax."

They rode for a long time. Bouncing and boucning until Fable's inner thighs ached. She used to ride with daddy, but not this long and this hard. Time flew by slowly, the countryside bluring in dark green and long sleepy lashes. Fable nodded awake when the horses stopped and the man lifted her out and set her down gently in the grass. Fable stood on her wobly legs, yawned and rubbed her eyes.

Where was she?

A quick glance at her suroundings told her. The setting sun plastered her pale hair in soft pinks and yellows. The man knelt down and clutched her tiny hands to study her.

"This is your new home now," he said, pointing toward her aunt’s little cottage in the distance. He reached out and patted her silky locks. "Your daddy wanted you to be here."

Fable couldn't think of what to say. Daddy had said he was coming back for her. What was this man talking about now?

He gave her a long stare. Then he stood up and got back on his horse. He turned his horse and began to ride away, without another word. Fable sucked on her red candy, looking back at the woods. She waved her doll’s arm at the trees, waiting for her father to wave back. He said he’d be with her always, so he had to be there somewhere, hiding in the shadows, playing a game.

Maybe one of their hiding games.

She just had to wait for him to return.

Fable sat down in the grass where she was and stared at the place the men had disappeared. She heard soft footsteps and turned to see a tall woman walking towards her. The woman had long golden hair, light grey eyes and a motherly face. Her presence made Fable feel warm and safe on the inside. 

Aunt Adela. 

The woman came to Fable and took her small hand, a friendly smile warming her face. “Come inside, dear. It’s not safe out here with night approaching.” Just like  Fable remembered, her voice was smooth and soothing. “This is your new home now.”

Her new home? But what about Papa? Wasn’t he coming too?

Fable itched to ask many questions. But she was tired now, and very confused. All she wanted to do was change out of her red dress, roll up somewhere, and fall fast asleep. Maybe when she awoke, her daddy would be home. Just maybe.

                                                                 Chapter 2

                                                                     Arrival 

The trek from the wagon was a blur of mud and iron. Fable clutched her leather sack—the only thing that still smelled like her aunt’s house—as she followed a boy named Kael. He wasn’t a man, but he walked like one, his shoulders stiff and his eyes fixed straight ahead. The dark red spots on his armor sent a shiver up her spine. Six years hadn't changed everything. Memories of long time ago still scurried through her being like a huanted thing.

"Move! Keep the line tight!" Kael barked. He led their small group from the wagon through the guts of the camp.

Fable’s eyes wide, she took in the impossible scale of the place. It wasn't just a camp; it was a city of gray stone and black timber. Thousands of soldiers moved in silence. Some were giants with scars running across their throats; others were boys her age, their faces pale and drawn. Their were a few that were not Elves. But it was the silence that scared her most. Even with thousands of people, the only sounds were the rhythmic clack-clack-clack of sharpening stones and the heavy thud of marching boots.

"That's the Great Forge," Kael pointed to a building that exhaled thick, greasy black smoke. "That's the Pit. Don't go near the Pit unless you're told to. Understand?"

Fable peered through the gloom, looking for a faminie face. She had heard stories of another female recruit--the onely other one--and she felt a desperate, clawing need to find her. Being surrounded by all these men felt like being a bird in a room full of hungry cats. If she could onely find that girl--

"Here," Kael said, stopping at a long, low mound that looked more like a grave than a building. "Bunker Four. Your new home."

They descended into the earth. The air inside was heavy and wet, smelling of rotted straw and the sour tang of unwashed bodies. There were no rooms, no walls. Just rows of low cots made of rough wood, topped with piles of sticks and damp leaves.

Fable found a cot in the far corner, tucked against a weeping stone wall. She dropped her leather sack onto the straw with a dull thud. The sound felt like a door closing behind her and she shivered.

The rest of the day was a slow crawl of dread. They were marched to a mess hall where they ate a thick, gray paste that tasted like dust and copper. Fable sat on the edge of a bench, the hood of her cloak pulled low. She watched the leaders—the Generals in their high-collared black coats—as they watched the recruits. Their eyes didn't look like human eyes; they were flat and cold, like the eyes of the men she tried to remember everyday, for six years now.

As night fell, the mood shifted. The smelly men,  as Fable thought of them, began to pile into the bunker. They were loud, their voices rough and jagged. Some laughed, but it was a harsh, joyless sound.

Fable crawled onto her pile of sticks and straw, pulling her cloak tight around her. She was terrified to close her eyes. The man on the cot next to her was already snoring, a wet, rattling sound that made her skin crawl.

Then, it started.

From far across the dark valley, beyond the spiked fences, a sound rose. It started as a low vibration in the ground and then tore into a high, piercing shriek. The Gore war cries. It wasn't a human scream; it sounded like metal grinding against bone, layered with a hundred hungry voices.

“Those bloody things!” someone grumbled.

Fable pressed her hands over her ears, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird. She thought of her daddy’s smile , trying to drown out the shrieks of the monsters in the dark.

The Entwinement is tomorrow, she whispered to herself. I just have to survive until tomorrow. I'll find the girl. We'll be partners. We'll be safe.

But as the shadows in the bunker seemed to stretch and twist along the ceiling, Fable couldn't help but feel that it would not be that simple. Life had thrown so many things at her. She didn't expect different.

"Souls of my ancestors guard me. Heart of my father protect me. I shall not fear." Fable whispered into the dark. The words fell heavy and dragged from her lips. It was the prayer Aunt Adela had taght her. And it gave her enough comfort to drift off to sleep, wishing for morning.

   ****

Fable woke in the middle of the night shivering, her skin feeling clammy and hot all at once. She bolted upright, her breath coming in fast, shallow hitches. For a terrifying second, her mind was a blank fog, but then it all came flooding back—the wagon, the long trip, and Stone, the brutal Elvin training ground she had signed up for.

Panic flared in her chest. She needed to get out. Slowly, she eased herself off the rough bedding, her bones screaming in protest as a sharp twig poked into her side like a dagger. Moving like a ghost, she began to creep past the sleeping forms of the men, stepping over heavy boots and avoiding the rhythmic, wet snores that filled the air. She reached the door and slipped outside, the midnight air hitting her face with a crisp, startling cold.

Low torches flickered at distant guard posts, but otherwise, the world was draped in pitch black. Her bladder was aching, so she hurried toward the edge of the clearing, seeking the cover of the tall grass to relieve herself.

She had just crouched down when the snap of a branch shattered the silence.

"Who’s there?" a man’s voice barked from the shadows.

Fable froze, her heart hammering against her ribs so hard it hurt. She looked up and saw a dark silhouette stepping into the moonlight, a bow drawn taut and aimed directly at her head. She was too terrified to even scream. Shaking, she scrambled up, fumbling with her clothes as she turned and bolted.

She ran blindly, her feet thudding against the hard-packed dirt as she raced back toward the safety of the mound. She stumbled through the door of Bunker Four, her lungs burning and her heart racing like a trapped bird. She threw herself onto her cot and buried herself under her thin, scratchy blanket, trembling until her teeth chattered.

What have I done? she whispered to herself. Did I really think I could make it through this? Even the men had a hard time, and she was just a girl. Unwanted tears sprung to her eyes, and she let her arms slide limply off her stomach. She was exhausted—spirit and mind.

But as she lay there, she scrunched up her face and squeezed her hand into a small, tight fist. This is your life now! she screamed at her inner self. You cannot give up! Daddy would be proud. You might loose yourself out here, but you will also find yourself...and something greater. She had to get through this, even if it killed her. She had to stay. She had to find him.