The Dark Side of Forever

Chapter 1 - the girl from the pool

The healer left amongst a swish of robes and Andrek soon followed him out with a reassuring look to Dran. He knew Dran was worried about this mysterious girl from the woods and that he would sleep little that night.

Dran settled onto the couch in the sitting area of his chambers with an extra blanket and watched the girl until sleep overtook him. His only thought being of how beautiful her eyes had been and that he wished to see their blue depths again.

**girls POV**

I awoke slowly to the morning light, surrounded by a silky softness that I had never experienced before. The events of last night coming back to me in a tsunami of images; my mother screaming at me, sending her beast after me because I ran away, my flight through the forest, and finding myself at the edge of a cliff with only the thought of leaping over the edge.

I slowly opened my eyes knowing that I wasn’t in my home in the dank castle in the woods, part of me hoping this soft bed wasn’t just a dream. I opened my eyes only to see a canopy belonging to an ornate four poster bed, decorated with carvings of elk, horses, and falcons. Dark blue silk draped from the top of each post. I gently lifted myself a little and felt every muscle in my body scream at me to stop moving as they remembered the long run and impact with the icy water. I had certainly felt worse from my mother’s wrath though and fought through it.

I sat up enough to get a good look around the room. The furniture scattered around the room matched the bed perfectly with the same ornate carvings. Then my eyes landed on the coach and the lump of blanket resting on it with a mop of messy blonde hair at one end. My curiosity, which often was the source of all my trouble, got the best of me and I gingerly climb out of bed and tiptoed to the coach. I crouched by the coach gently tapped what I presumed was the shoulder of the person under the blanket.

There was a groan from the figure under the blanket, so I tapped again. The figure rolled over and his eyes flew open. I was met by the most stunning pair of green eyes I had ever seen embedded into the most handsome chiseled face I had yet to lay eyes on. I was so shocked is quickly stood and stumbled backwards into the coffee table and fell onto the floor. The next thing I knew the pair of green eyes was hovering over me. As I looked deeper into those forest green orbs I was suddenly lost to all thought and completely missed him asking me if I was ok and him picking me up and placing me back in bed. As soon as his eyes left me I felt suddenly colder as though all I needed in life was to look into those beautiful eyes.

**Dran’s POV**

I had drifted off to sleep on the couch in the sitting area of my chambers. There was something probing my shoulder and I groaned and went back to sleep. Then the same thing poked me again and I rolled over and came face to face with the most exquisitely beautiful pair of sea blue eyes I had ever seen. They were large and looked like they should belong to a doe of the woods rather than to the petite girl I had rescued from the cold water.

She scrambled backwards and fell over my coffee table. I quickly rose and kneeled over her to ask if she was alright. She didn’t answer me but only stared into my eyes. I gently picked her up and placed her back in bed all the time our eyes locked like we were trapped in some kind of spell. I quickly looked away as soon as I had her tucked back into bed and went to call for the healer to check her over again.

**Girl’s POV**

A healer arrived in the room and began looking me over and asking all kinds of questions. First of which was…

‘What is your name my dear?’

‘It is Saffurie’

‘That’s a lovely name; I have never heard it before. Where are you from and what where you doing in the woods?’

‘I’ve lived in the woods my entire life, although my home is many days travel away from here. I’m afraid I became lost in the woods and was chased by an incredible beast and was forced to leap from a cliff into a pool of water in order to escape it’ I answered.

The man from the couch and the healer looked shocked by my quick explanation and exchanged looks of concern. The healer pronounced me fit but in need of rest and a good meal, he said he would have one sent up from the kitchens. The man walked him to the door and they exchanged a few words and the healer left.

The man came back to me and sat at the edge of the bed closest to me. We watched each other for a time before he spoke.

‘My name is Dran, I’m the one who found you in the water. In fact I saw you leap from the cliff into the pool by the waterfall’

I was slightly stunned both by his voice and by the fact that he had been there at the moment I had leapt. Which means he had seen the beast and it had possibly seen him and mother would know where I was and that I had probably survived her beast.

He continued speaking and elaborated on how he had been on a night ride through the woods and came to the waterfall that I had leapt over the edge of.  The more he spoke the more I fell in love with the sound of his voice. Suddenly it was quiet and I noticed him looking at me with a concerned look on his face. I realized that he had asked me something and I had completely missed it as I was so enchanted by his voice.

‘You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. Why don’t you get some rest and I’ll check and see were that breakfast is at.’ He then left the room and returned moments later followed by a servant in green with a white apron tied around her waist carrying a tray of fresh fruit, cream, and bread. She placed it on the bed side table and curtsied out of the room all the while her eyes glued to Dran. I thought it odd behavior as I began to dig into my breakfast. It was the first thing I had eaten in days and I was glad it was fresh and light.

‘why would she act like that?’

‘well I suppose it’s because I’m the prince’

I nearly choked on a piece of melon and Dran rushed to hand me the glass of cream.

‘You’re the prince of Ulica?!? but you don’t act like him!’

‘What do you mean I don’t act like him? What are you talking about?’

I realized what I’d said and quickly clamed up, refusing to answer any questions. My mother had always raged on about how the royal family of Ulica was evil and ruthless and had stolen the kingdom from our family. Yet as kind as Dran was, perhaps she was wrong. After enduring his quizzical stair I relented a little and came up with a quick lie.

‘I’d just always heard that you were mean. I suppose people are just still upset over the war that happened four hundred years ago, but I suppose the rumors aren’t true. you've been nothing but kind to me so far.’

‘I suppose they’re not. I always thought I was a pretty nice, albeit handsome guy’

“Great,” I thought, “his ego is bigger than mother’s castle” At least my lie had worked well to satisfy his curiosity over my blundered words. He simply can’t know where I came from.

‘So where are you from? You said it was many days travel from here’

‘Oh, it’s in the kingdom of, ummmm, Churkis. Yes, it’s on the other side of the mountains, I lived with my mother in a cottage in the woods until she died a few years ago. She was very ill and passed quickly, so I lived alone for a time’

‘Churkis is farther than a few days, how did you ever make it this far?

‘I’ve always lived in the woods. I can handle myself. I escaped the beast didn’t I?’

‘Yes, well you certainly did. I will leave you to rest while I find you a pair of suitable clothes’

With that he left me alone in the room with only my thoughts. I certainly wasn’t tired and little did he know my body was very capable of healing itself quickly. I only hoped he didn’t see through my lie, I could only imagine what they would do if the found out who I really was.