[untitled]

For a contest I created.

       "Do you dream of me?" asked the young Queen. But there was no reply. The crisp winter air gently danced in through the open balcony and into her long, curly hair. The Queen walked away from the balcony and layed down in her bed. She asked again, "Do you dream of me?" This time, tears slowly escaped from her eyes and rested on her silk pillow.

A voice from behind finally spoke and cracked the tired silence in the chamber.

"I dream of you." The Queen heard the voice say as it came closer to her, her back still turned to it.
"I dream of you." When the Queen turned to face him a few moments after, there was no one there. Just the drapes flowing in the wind and her reflection in the mirror looking back at her....mocking her. Almost freezing her gaze on her own eyes and turning her tears to tiny snowflakes.

 

Her head fell, slow, to the side, her detached movement still grasping on to its grace. The lady's eyes clenched tightly shut, blinding her. But, no matter how tightly she kept her eyes closed, she could still see the broken images inside of them, effortlessly seeping out of their cage.

 

The wind was growing stronger and bringing with its strenght an even more frigid air to the Queen's body. That didn't matter, though. She couldn't feel the ice floating in the air, making its way to her olive skin. Numbness had taken over, claiming what ever was left of the Queen.

 

The sleeves of her dark blue nightgown were entertaining a few visitors now. The hands of the Queen were traveling up her arms, holding her and creating a shield. The shield was not to protect her from the air piercing her face with razors that only felt like feathers to her. Rather, the shield was to keep whatever was inside of her from ripping its way out. To be seen and heard. Smelt and tasted...and felt.

 

The tears holding the fragile memories had created a path down her cheeks and neck, finally resting inside the cloth of her dress. After a moment filled with fear, she decided to open her eyes, waiting to see again the empty room with no one but the twin residing in her mirror. She stood, although never meaning to, and moved her feet towards the open balcony. The air almost become colder with each step taken. Her empty hands gripped onto the stone as she was underneath the stars now, the midnight blue sky almost the same shade as her dress.

 

She breathed in the air that still attacked her, allowing it to coarse inside of her. Perhaps the ice would have an affect on her from the inside. Perhaps. But the Queen knew she would not feel a thing. No sharp sting of this element. For some reasons making her self believe she wanted to feel anything, anything other than him.

 

The full moon was accompanied by a few bright stars every night. The constellation on this night was Orion, which was visible just above the brush of the forest to the side of the sea below. The vast and enchanted forest was as much her home as this castle is. However, her body had not set foot on the dirt ground in months, too terrified to be inside the images that she tried so hard not to see. Her glanced flowed away from the stars and the trees and focused on her hands, almost white from gripping so tight. As if she would be whisked away with the army of the air if she were to let go.

 

Words began to make their existence on the edge of her lips now, although she had not the faintest idea of what they were. The sound was fainter than a whisper, the total opposite of the pounding echo of the heart still beating behind the hollow shelter of her ribs. Eventually, the words came out into the world, their birth forcing the Queen's gaze to turn back to the forest.

 

"I-I...beg of thee." The stage of her lips quivered with the force of new tears readying their cue. Not yet. She stopped and spoke again with the sound a queen has. The sound a queen makes when the soul inside was lost, taken.

"Come back." Another moment. "Please. Where are you?" The question was pointless and she knew this. She knew many things. These things though, did not have to endure the perpetual motion of each day. Wearing a mask to every person in their path, making each repeated day more torturous than the breaths the Queen took to keep her self alive.

 

Somehow, her hands loosened their safety net from the stone handle and floated for a few seconds. Wavering in the air as if waiting to be taken by the one thing they would be able to feel. The one thing they would never be numb to. They found their home around the Queens' waist and held on, yet not as tightly as they had the stone. The lady slowly stepped backwards, almost losing her balance, but not her grace. The doors were left open and continued to bring in the onslaught inside. Her hair was dancing behind of her now. Long waves of dark brown an extension of her eyes. Eyes that were hollow save for the pictures of them, together, screaming to be released. They would not be released. Not on this night at least. Perhaps tomorrow night the Queen would be weary enough from the day's charades and allow herself a few images of him and her. Only a few.

 

When she turned to face her vacant bed, a sudden cringing came over her. An image escaped. A memory of the two of them making love on that very same bed. His breath against hers, his hands holding her. His body a shield from everything and everyone. The feelings nearly crippled her to the ground but she managed not to meet the bricks beneath her with her knees. The hands that had cradled her reached up to cover her mouth and muffle the crying that could not be stopped. The wind from behind grew so strong it was able to move her a few inches toward the evil that was making her bed it's home. The ache of him that once was there. Now, the emptiness between her sheets was mocking her, more so than her damned reflection had done.

 

The cage inside her eyes was rattling now. Memory after memory, image after goddamned image was escaping, able to make their existence painfully known in the Queens' mind. It was maddening. The sudden feeling of every kiss she would never have. Every warm touch of his hand on her body that would never return. The sound of his voice, the lullaby of his heart, his breath. Her hands reached her eyes and then her head. Holding it hard, trying to keep it from breaking apart as her hear had done so long ago. Her hair met with the tears on her cheeks and her dress flowed away from her hunched frame as if the night sky from outside was coming inside her chamber through her body without mercy.

 

The pounding of her heart was untamed and could be felt in every inch of her. The blood giving in to the cold, flowing like a river of ice inside her veins, cutting the Queen from the inside out it was running so fast.

"No...No! Stop it please!" Her pleas were barely heard by her ears. She didn't realize it but, the harder she tried to scream, the more she spoke in an unchanged volume.

"Please...! Please..." The cries trailed off and formed a name that she did not hear. That she would not dare to speak, but this had to be an exception. Saying his name only brought on more agony. More of the beautiful moments in time they had that were thrown away.

 

She would not sleep tonight if this went on. It was a war of its' own, aside from those the Queen fought with her army, that she battled each second of each day. The nightmares were horrifying as well. She didn't know which were more petrifying: The ones where they lay blissfully in the forest grass or the ones where they...where he had to--The thoughts only made her shiver and let out a small scream, finally. Could she endure anymore of this? How much more time would she have to spend without him? Was he alive? Was he dead? Did he forget her? This inquisition was merging the breaking pain of her with the insanity now creeping along the edges of her skin.

 

She shook her head, swaying with the wind, back and forth. But as tranquil as these movements were, it was transforming into something all too violent. Finally, with the surrender she knew was bound to her, as she was once to him, the Queen began to fall to her knees. All of this chaos only ensued with a matter of moments. Each moment laughing smugly at eternity for its slow pace in time. But, in the midst of her fall to the beckoning ground, she stopped. The clenched eyes were not open yet but she was suspended in the air, as if puppet strings were holding on to her from her waist. But, puppet strings should not feel like what she was feeling.

 

 

Warmth. Her hair slowed its frenzy against her now pink face. More warmth. Was she feeling her memory again? The very mention of it in her broken mind sent her head to shake, objecting the possibility and the pain that came along with this memory. Of his hands holding her, gently. Keeping her close to him where he told her she always belonged. Amidst this haze of confusion and torment, a voice was heard. A sound that would never be forgotten and so clear, the thought of it being only a memory could not be possible. So, what was it then? What was holding the Queen from falling, surrendering to the hell that followed her? As she was slowly lifted to her feet, she heard the anomaly once again. This time, it frightened her so that her heart stopped and began again.

 

"I'm here." The answer. The answer? No, this cannot be the reply to the question of just a few moments ago. But again, the anomaly made its existence known to the Queen again.

 

"I'm here. I'm here." His hands found their home around her waist and his breath against her sweaty neck was dangerously warm, warmth that could only reside inside a man, not a ghost. The cold air had ceased for he had shut the doors to the balcony just before his beloved began her crash to the dark brick. The feeling, her feeling him was an insanity all its own. She could not fathom what was happening, who was holding her even though she prayed for it every moment she could. Even though, through the waves of time that had crashed on to her, she could feel his heart beating next to hers.

 

Her name was spoken with the most familiar melody, his melody. The calming of the pounding heart had already begun and the warmth of his body against her back was enough to melt the ice inside her veins and bring back the heat to her blood.

 

His body against her back. No. She knew she was more afraid of turning around and seeing her husband standing there then she would be if it were all just a trick. He waited though; knowing the shock it would bring to her. He waited only a few seconds. Until her breathing was no longer struggled and her body was only barely trembling. Her hands were against her chest, balled up in to fists, not daring to search for, and hold, the hands that were holding her again. But, they began to shift, tenderly, as the warm fire from behind her grazed around her. He was making sure his body kept its touch on hers as he changed his position.

 

As she felt this, all of it, her eyes went from their wide-eyed shock to their former, more comfortable, clench.

 

"Shhh. Tis all right. Hush now." The words blew softy to the map of her loney face and the scent of his breath was immense.

 

"I'm here." The words were repeated so as to reassure his love that this was reality, not another dream. A small whimper was coming from the lady. A sound that was both afraid and relieved. His hands ran up her sides and on her arms, finding their way to his wife's face, almost shaking. His own tears had traveled down from his eyes but the blur of the water in his eyes had to be eliminated. He could not see her clearly and that was killing him now. His eyes closed, letting go the last of the water that was hindering his vision, his vision of her. The man's head lowered and leaned to the lady’s so that his eyes were level with hers. His hair tracing the tops of her cheeks while her waves were entwined in his hands.

 

Without a thought, he breathed in her scent. The smell of her hair and the smell of her breath trickling from her mouth, which was still trying to keep the whimpers inside. His face stood there and did not shift. He allowed his breath to wash over her face and his chest was gently being pushed towards her fists still safely tucked against herself. He hoped that the pounding of his heart would break through that cover and be noticed. As though the sound of his beating heart next to hers would be the absolute sign that he was there.

 

Against her judgment and against the fear of an echo from the torture that had just occurred a minute ago, she opened her eyes but still careful to look down, and away from whatever eyes were there to meet hers. She saw, in the dim glow of the candle-lit chamber, a chest covered in dark attire. They had no familiar scent but she could not deny the heart beating against her fists and the precious breathing that danced lightly on her skin, as it had so many times before.

 

She slowly brought her fists away from her chest and layed them, cautiosly, against the chest an inch from hers. The material was damp and it was then that the Queen's bare feet could feel the cold mud on them. Is what she felt real? Are the hands full of warmth against her face real? This is just the sickness of her mind. There is no one here with her. Then, the call of her name, spoken from the safe confines of his lips, snapped her focus and broke her denial. She wanted to cry but she knew that if water were to enter her eyesight now, she would not be able to see clearly. To see him clearly.

 

The Queen's head began to lift up to let her eyes see his. A smile stretched across the mans' face as he saw his wife's eyes about to greet his. However, the lady did not see him. Her head was positioned to do so, but her eyes stayed low, focusing on her hands against his chest. So, the man bent down another inch to make his eyes find, and keep, hers.

 

"I'm here." The brown of her eyes were locked to the blue of his, the same blue of her dress. His black hair resting haphazardly against his face and neck. The repetition of those two words were working, but he realized that as soon as she saw his eyes staring intensely back into hers was when she knew, for certain, this was not all a twisted reverie. Like the ones she had every night.

 

Her hands held on to the cool cloth on his body, fearing he'd disappear if she let go. His grasp on her face became stronger and his lips went to where they had longed to be. The touches of his lips were unbearably pure and tender, only growing more passionate at certain points. The numbness had ceased to exist now. Now, in the warm shield of him, she could feel again. Kiss him and be kissed in return. The act became too much at one point, the man had to pull his lips away from the lady’s and rest his forehead against hers as they both drew panted breaths from one another. But only a second later realizing the mistake he had just made, tearing himself away from his wife, he went back to where he'd never leave. The lady was held up now, her feet a foot in the air as her body stayed close to her husbands as they approached their bed.

 

As his boots and shirt came undone, he never released his lips from hers. Always lingering, tracing her lips when they had to come apart. But, as his chest was made bare, the Queen could feel something that she never felt before. The kiss broke and she bore witness to the array of scars imbedded in his arms, chest and stomach. Not in her sight were the scars on his back. Stab wounds and burn marks and lashes. Wounds she knew too well on the battlefield, and a few she had obtained on her own body. He had fought during his entire absence. Fought to come back to her, alive.

 

The look of horror on her face scared him. He wanted nothing more than to be with his wife. Fearing her with his old wounds was not something he desired. One hand was on her now naked waist and the other was raised up to her chin, lifting her face to his again. The look he gave her was a look she had not witnessed since he had left. His face was sincere and calming. Telling her that he was well and that she need not worry. A small smile was created on her face from that look. His blue of his eyes keeping hers safe.

 

A kiss was taken and then another. He held her naked chest against his and pulled down her gown, which had been resting around her hips. Their lips locked again and this time, nothing would break the hold. The man layed his lady slowly on the bed and covered them both with the blanket. Although the five years, to the day, had kept their bodies apart, the time did nothing to what was kept safe inside of them. No emotion was lost or forgotten. She was not forgotten.

 

After a long while, the two lay beside one another. Both were half asleep and still held on to each other. For a moment, he recalled the swim from the forest in an attempt to evade the castle gaurds. Then, the climb from the garden wall and on to the rocks that led to the balcony. He remembered the moment she walked in and how he hid, instinctively, behind the balcony door. He wanted so much to crawl into bed with his wife as she cried for him. But he could not go to her. Then, against all his will not to, he relived the terror of her breakdown. The pain that was created by her pain had paralyzed him, taking him forever to get to her. He shook his head briefly, reminding himself of the love he had left behind so long ago so that she may live. He was here now, back home and back with her. The past did not have to matter right now. It would all be revealed in the days to come. For now, this was everything. This was the memory he would never forget.

 

 

The breathing was calm and soothing and the sound of his breath was slowly beginning to lull the Queen to sleep. His hand kept her face warm as he looked into her sleepy eyes. He smiled as one more kiss was given and taken and rested his forehead on hers. Then, the King lay in bed with his now sleeping Queen, his heart beating next to hers.

 

 

 

     Copyright ©2008 Anorin Arssinous

Author's Note

I was not planning on having this be so long, but it just kept coming. Also, I was very tempted to make the ending totally different from how it is, but I refrained from that urge and the result is what you will read. Enjoy!! ---I might write an alternate ending, just to appease my soul. lol.

Reviews

[bluessadmood]

This is a strange dreamy write..its like you are writing in your sleep,or while writing you fell asleep but you went on writing..or rather i would say you were very awake and decided to write this about people dreaming this happening to them..or it could be just as well you wrote a dream about people dreaming,which makes it a very beautiful strange write..
i read here two people so much in love..for her it was like impossible to get together with her love..
and she keeps calling to him and hearing voices replying back to her..she is like calling to his ghost to join in her..something she knew very difficult to be possible..but she was intent on defying all possibilities..to abolish time and space..to call for his presence..somehow she knew love could make everything possible and easy to happen..
and he did join her somewhere outside this world,make love to her ,make her at peace and bring her serenity..
strange dreamy write..
lovely and strange write

[Fallen_Immortal]

This was so sweet. I love the style you used. It was elegant and flowing, just like I love to read, and even though you only breifly described the place, I could envision it perfectly. And I love how seamlessly you are able to jump from one character's consciousness to another. It is very impressive, in all of your stories, not just this one. You are very, very talented.