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Scene #11
The day my father killed me, I'd just met the girl of my dreams.
As Prince Merik of Castlebar, I was next in line for the throne. Unfortunately, my greedy father had other plans. He'd been abusing me for years. I think he hoped that I'd simply flee the country and never return but I stayed to protect my younger sister Clarista.
She is why I'm here now, as only a mere phantom ghost of the man I was just a few days ago.
My father is an evil man, who must be destroyed before he sells my sister to the highest bidder.
So, alas, I watch over her as she does her chores and mourns the loss of her only brother.
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Princess Clarista was so overwhelmed with grief. She thought that she wouldn't be able to make it through til another sunset without collapsing from the weight of her loss.
Merik had been the only good thing in her life and now he was gone. Their father would most assuredly turn his anger towards her now. She trembled at the thought of it.
Somehow her father had won his battle with Merik. He'd finally put him into the cold ground and now there was no one standing in his way. Naturally, he'd found a way to make Merik's death look like a suicide but Clarista knew the truth.
As she folded the linens in neat, crisp squares she chewed her lip in anxiety and fear.
The wooden door crashed open and her father, the King, strode into the anteroom with his voice booming loudly.
"What are you doing? I thought I told you to clean my chambers!"
Clarista jumped at the sound of her father's voice.
"Yes, my lord," she responded, not raising her head from her task but rising slowly to exit the room.
"Never mind now, you worthless child," he spat the words out at her.
Clarista halted her movement and stood stock still in the center of the room. She didn't know what was expected of her.
"Come over here so that I can teach you a lesson."
She shook her head in the negative.
"How dare you defy me!" He barked as he began moving towards her in three quick strides.
He raised his arm above his head, intending to strike her forcefully but something stopped him.
Clarista had prepared herself for the punishing blow but when nothing happened, she looked up tentatively to see what was going on.
Something had a hold of her father's arm. Something unseen.
A cold breeze blew through the room and her father was knocked backwards and fell to the floor.
She gasped in surprise.
"What is this?" her father screamed with incredulity.
"Are you a witch? Have you summoned some dark force into my kingdom?"
"No, my lord. Of course not."
After a moment, the breeze died down and the King was able to return to his feet again.
Clarista watched as his eyes darted suspiciously to and fro as he searched for the unseen force that had restrained him. She saw something in his eyes that she'd never seen before...she saw fear.
"I don't know what wickedness you're up to but I'll put a stop to it right now. I will not be made a fool of in my own castle!" His voice was loud but it had lost a little of the confidence from just moments earlier.
Without another word, he pushed past Clarista and headed for the door. He swung open the door and yelled for the guards.
Clarista felt her heartbeat quicken as she waited for what would happen next. She took a moment to glance around the empty room but she couldn't see or feel any remainder of the protective force that had saved her. She swallowed and tried to steady herself.
Just then, two burly guards pushed into the room and each of them grabbed one of her arms and began to roughly shove her forward.
"Where are you taking me?" she squealed in a high pitched voice, barely able to breathe as the fear squeezed at her throat.
She struggled but found that their meaty hands gripped her like a vice. She knew that her thin, white arms would be bruised come morning. Chills ran through her as she remembered the bruises that she'd so often seen on her brother's body.
Their father could be beyond cruel. He was absolute evil and now he'd set his sights on her.
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Clarista lay on the hard ground as she struggled to recapture the breath that had been knocked from her lungs.
She barely acknowledged the sound of the gates closing and locking just a few feet from where she lay. She looked up at the dark clouds in the sky and watched them drifting into ominous patterns. She knew what those clouds meant...rain would soon fall. That would make her day complete.
She finally found the strength to sit up and study her situation. She'd been thrown completely off the grounds of her father's property. He'd had the guards toss her away as if she were mere rubbish.
By birth she was a princess but this evening, she'd have to live the life of a mere beggar if she planned to survive the night.
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