Behind The Walls

Chapter 3 : Arcania

I woke up the next morning with a feeling of nausea but I was staying true and dedicated to my plan. I dressed myself in something Emma would wear; a washed out beige coloured dress with a small laced apron and Loosely tied my hair back.

There, perfect. My disguise was ready: an ordinary village girl. I made my way down from my chamber to the garden gates.

Immediately after I was out the castle I sprinted towards the stables. As soon as I saw Tucker I ran in his direction, pushing in through the wooden gate and leaping in for a big hug.

He neighed in delight as I stroked is dark brown mane. My escape. My saviour. Without wasting a minute I took out the saddle and layed it securely on tuckers dark brown fur. We were venturing to Arcania!

I was never good at map reading; the one I borrowed from the book back at the library looked pretty simple though. I read through it carefully.

South: it was the only sense I could make out. I laid foot onto the step of the saddle and swung my other leg around to sit down.

A tattered sound pierced through my ears as a felt a large rip at the base of my beige dress. The cheap material had already torn and creased.

Unbothered, I commenced my journey. Tucker cantering across grasslands and hayfields, the trip wasn't too long.

In around 3 hours of steady pacing, we had arrived. The temperature had dropped massively and the realisation struck me that my clothes weren't enough to keep me warm here.

Fog surrounded me as I climbed off Tucker to gave up at a tall castle that peaked up from the cloud of mist, scraping the sky.

I had to get in there. Find the Prince. 'Kindly' refuse his marriage and convince him to change his mind too. I know. It's a terrible idea but what else could I do?

I walked through the chattering village with Tucker trodding by my side. Despite the fact that fear was clenching my throat and I couldn't stand being alone, I tied tuckers lead line onto a village stalls stanchion before heading to towards the castle.

I crept around to the back of the castle where a gloomy, large garden orthe land. I paused after hearing the snap of a twig behind me. Slowly stepping back I turned around to face a small figure standing in the distance; it must be one of their castle guards!

If I get caught here then who knows what consequences I'd have to face! I started pacing up in an unknown direction away from the figure, legs accelerating beneath me when hearing my footsteps repeat behind me in the distance.

Subsequently I felt myself sprinting unstably just as I stumbled upon a large rock and collided unexpectedly against a large pebble wall that stood behind the thick layer of mist.

My eyes were tightly shut expecting more pain rather than just contusion on my knees and hands. I slowly lifted my heavy eyelids and was astonished by the mess of pebbles, which were once part of a wall, surrounding me.

I looked up, perplexed as to where I now was: a sort of confined cave, the size of a small chamber. The stone walls peeked through the deciduous vines revealing chalk drawings and illogical words.

I stood up, walking around in amazement; I had completely forgotten my purpose to come here. My fingers aligned next to the chalked words and slid down as I read them: 'day one, day two, day three... -day twelve.' It stopped at twelve.

I carried on walking observing the rest of the drawings, intrigued by the pictures of goats and mammoths. I stopped when I my feet stumbled upon a rusty chest that lay on the ground out of place.

I knelt down and unhinged the chest, coughing as dust sprung up and webs twined around my fingers. The chest contented with a small, black-leather diary and two photographs. I rubbed off the dust layer that had formed on top of the photos and held them at eye-length to take a closer look.

In the first photograph posed a royal family of four, dressed in fine clothing. A king. A queen. Two young children that looked like identical twins... Twin brothers?!

It wasn't long before I realised it was the family of Arcania but I had never seen their queen. I switched to look at the other photograph: it was an older photo of the kingdom's prince. I wasn't too sure which twin it was though but the diary I had also found, ought to tell me.

I turned to the first page inquisitively. Just as I began to read I heard a echo of chatter from outside the cave. I shuddered. Hurriedly, I slipped the two photographs inside the diary and grasped onto it, shutting the chest without returning its belongings.

The echo grew louder and insecurity colonised me into thinking 'they're looking for ME!'. Peering through the beaten wall, I tried to see what was going on.

The noises vanished into space and i took this as my chance to escape this kingdom before it was too late.

Still clenching the diary, I ran towards where I had left Tucker but my legs were jelly.

Tripping over every rock and accumulation of dirt in my way, I wasn't sure if I'd make it. My sprint had lazed into a slow jog and I felt something slip out of the diary I was dearly hugging.

There was no way I could go back to retrieve it; my eyes were guarded by a layer of thick white lace and strands of hair clung to the cold sweat on my face, blurring my vision.

There when I heard the neigh of Tucker near me, my tense mood lightened. I dragged myself to sit onto the saddle as quickly as I could and signalled for Tucker to hurry and leave this place. He galloped the fastest he could and surprisingly we made it...