Valley of Shadows and Roses | ONC 2024

Chapter 21

And so the princess became the queen. However, Luna was never crowned queen. Who would want a cursed queen? Who would want to live in a cursed kingdom? The council of lords took the lead and appropriated the power that was rightfully theirs.

People gradually left for the surrounding kingdoms. They had enough of living under the rule of the shadows when their king failed to protect them. And now that he had died and the succession was left to Princess Luna, the Cursed Princess, they saw no future in the Valley of the Roses. They just ran away from the cursed kingdom.

As they say, the drowning man grasps at straws and those who remained tried to survive. A riot broke out in the castle. The nobility turned against Princess Luna, and because the army also believed in her curse, there was no one to protect her. The Commander was the only one who remained loyal to the princess. Although there was much more to his loyalty than just a sense of duty. However, despite his loyalty, he himself had no way to protect Luna.

The Commander got the idea to run away with the princess, but he got to her too late. The enraged lords got to her first. They tied her up, gagged her so she couldn't scream, and dragged her away.

"Let me go!" she was screaming. "Let me go! I swear you'll pay for this."

Luna tried to get away from them, kicking and kicking. Nothing and no one helped her.

The princess was taken into the Dark forest. They walked quite deep. The turrets of the castle disappeared from sight. When Luna could no longer walk, she was pushed and dragged like an animal. They had her on a rope like a dog on a leash. She was walking behind their horses, not keeping up with them. At this moment, she definitely did not resemble a princess, but she retained the pride of a queen. She didn't let herself be broken. She did not yield to them. She did not bow down to mother earth. She did not bow before the Shadow Lord. And she will definitely never bow down to ordinary people like them. Luna was strong, even though she knew she was walking to her death, as she realized. She had died too many times to be afraid of death and too proud to beg for mercy.

"It started with you, Your Highness, and it will end with you," one of the lords hissed at the princess.

"Come on, Jonathan!" another man called out to him. "Guess you don't want to be here after dark?"

The call of his friend distracted Lord Jonathan. He was standing too close to Princess Luna. Face to face. When he turned to his friend, he turned to her perfectly. Animal instincts awakened in the princess, or maybe she was just a little crazy. She bit into Lord Jonathan's ear. He screamed in pain. Luna tasted blood on her tongue. Jonathan shook her off and punched her.

"You bitch!" he cursed.

He touched his sore ear. Deep red blood stained his fingers. Princess Luna laughed. She laughed at the top of her lungs. Her laughter echoed through the Dark forest. A thin trickle of blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.

"Come on, or she won't be the only one to meet her end here today." the friend pulled Jonathan, and they left in a hurry. After all, they won't risk the shadows deciding to have them for dinner.

The nobles of Rose Valley court decided to end the problem with shadows in the Dark forest by burning down the entire forest. Without a forest full of shadows, there will be no shadows. And they imprisoned Princess Luna in that forest to come off the face of the earth with them. Two birds with one stone.

The men lined up along the edge of the forest. In their hands, they held torches shining like a thousand suns. On command, they stepped forward and set fire to the trees in front of them. At first, it was a little spark that was fighting for its life. It looked like it would go out rather than become a wildfire. But then the flame got bigger and bigger and bigger, and the little flame became a fire. Tongues of fire crawled up and up the tree branches. They swirled around their motionless bodies. They climbed up to their green crowns and turned them to dust. They didn't stop until they were completely consumed. And when they claimed one tree, they moved on to another, and another, and another, until they owned them all. They were voracious. Their ravenous fangs took everything in their path.