The Castle of Sacrificial Sand

The Castle of Sacrificial Sand

Once Upon a time in the land of Hevarth, the city of Conwato was invaded and destroyed by the hordes that serve the malevolent Tyrant Reighmethod. Only a few hundred survived and were able to escape by heading toward the shipping yard and taking sail south toward Orefesto. They prayed Orefesto would open their doors to them as the remains of their city burned into ash filling the air with sardonic smoke. After a few weeks sailing in the bay of Windsor they reached the shores of Orefesto starving, burnt skin, needing treatment for wounds that were becoming rancid. More were sick then well and the sea wasn’t helping. Reaching the shores of Orefesto the beaches were white like the waxy pearls from the mouths of clams. Their vast yellow lime stone castle was built into the white cliffs, their lowest levels opened up to the shores of the beach while the highest towers surpassed the White Wood Forest that sprawled out on a verdant landscape behind the yellow fortress. As the ships reached the shores and the sick people of Conwato poured from the boats slushing around in the bitter salt water they fell to the white sands gagging and groping for help. Medical Aid and Orefesto citizens rushed to their aid as the ocean continued to thrash against their backs dragging them back into the sea. 

After two weeks the people of Conwato were living amongst those of Orefesto healthy and happy gratefully giving back to the merciful people. As gratitude they offered to work the fields, aid in anything that needed to be fixed, and even enlist within their military. The king of Orefesto observed Conwato and adopted the remaining people as their own, in thanks Conwato offered their royal princess to Orefesto’s Prince Casimir to wed. In the invasion Conwato had lost their king and queen and all they had left was their young princess, the last of her royal family. Luck was on her side when escaping the burning city, she was known as Princess Katrina the last of the Valarioux. The King and Queen accepted this gift and met with their son to hear his opinion. 

The young man accepted they offered and they were wed before the kingdom on the third week that the people of Conwato were adopted by Orefesto. After the wedding was finished the King and Queen of Orefesto sent a small party of agents around the Bay of Windsor to see if there were any survivors of the Conwato Invasion. These agents were equipped with knowledge of how to protect themselves from the dangers of Hevarth’s wilderness. They could spy on neighboring kingdoms for weeks unseen and return with their deepest secrets. After two weeks they returned bruised, cut, but alive with a message for Orefesto. They claimed from what they observed that Reighmethod was moving south toward Orefesto, and she has around ten thousand troops. They estimated it take her a little over fourteen days if they don’t move by sea. Most of them also understood that they didn't entirely know Reighmethod’s travel tactics, and that it may be unpredictable when she would arrive.  

The city immediately went on lock down as they alerted their neighboring kingdoms of the current climate. How Conwato had merged with Orefesto and the up in coming forces of Reighmethod that would be invading. The agents claimed they had special torches that enabled them complete safety from the terrors of the wild, ensuring them that nothing would slow them down. 

The King and Queen made preparations to send their son off to a secret tower deep in the White Wood Forest where he would be safe from the invasion. They offered the Princess a safe house deep underground the castle walls. Before anyone was able to dispute the idea of separating the Princes and the Princess, the future King and Queen of Orefesto were taken from each other after barely two weeks of marriage.  Conwato's most valuable possessions were their future heir’s and it was best to hide them as best as they could, especially not together so as to ensure if they lost one they din’t lose the other. Upon the impending doom Casimir’s mother was distraught and submerged into deep emotions, she often cried in her son’s room on his empty bed. Through out his entire life he had never been separated from his mother until this moment, she couldn’t help herself and found a small green leather bound journal laying on his desk. The quill and ink were still fresh, it looked as if he were writing up to the very moments they snatched him from his bedroom upon his fathers orders. Opening the journal where Casimir had left off his mother found something she shouldn’t have read, something Casimir knew and no one else did. 

In his short time with his wife Casimir was told a secret she entrusted in him, a secret no one else knew. The secret that Reighmethod destroyed Conwato because she was coming for her, she killed her parents trying to finding information on where she was, and she was coming for her because she wasn’t entirely human but something different. Something more valuable then anything else, something that could be used to her advantage. Casimir’s mother read this secret and anger filed her chest as she threw the journal down and stomped out of her son’s room. Calling the guards she ordered that Princess Katrina be locked up in the brig for mendacious acts against them in order to sneak her way into the royalty of Orefesto. Removing her from her comfy chambers she was thrown in the brig deep below the castle with the rest of the filth that is often scrubbed off the streets of Orefesto. The castle was on full alert and lock down as Princess Katrina sat on a pile of filthy hay looking through the bars of her cell that brought in the lovely white beaches of the Windsor Coast. She could smell the salt water flowing through her window, the sounds of the crashing waves, and the cawing of seagulls. There were numerous other cells next to her but only one other attached to hers. Tears spilled down her rosy cheeks as her blonde hair clung to her fast and forehead while she stared at the wedding ring Prince Casimir had given her, it was a beautiful with an emblem of a white swan. Wiping her face she moved away from the window and sat in the corner trying to calm herself down, stop herself from crying. 

“Hey, hey there. Lady hey, are you okay?” A strange raucous voice said in the cell next to her. Turning her ocean blue eyes that were red and swollen she looked to a shadow staring at her through her cell bars within her cell’s left wall. It was moving trying to get a better look at her, then an arm reached through toward her. Flinching she began to squirm away when she saw something was resting in between the strangers dark brown finger tips. It was a handkerchief, there looked to be a badger sown across it.    

“For the tears miss, I mean no harm.”

“Oh why thank you,” Katrina said as she accepted the handkerchief and wiped her tears. “Are you from Adonia?”

“What makes you say that?” The stranger asked accepting the handkerchief back as his arm recoiled to his cell. 

“The badger sown on it, did you used to live there?”

“It’s where me mother is, I visit her every now and then. I spent my child hood there until I was fifteen then I moved out. What brings you down in these cells miss, didn't you just marry the Prince of Orefesto?”

“I did, it’s all been very overwhelming but I believe his mother discovered my secret and that’s why I’m down here. I think that's the reason, I don’t really know everything happened so fast.” Katrina began to sob again as she brought her ringed hands to her face. 

“Easy there m’lady you don’t want to dehydrate yourself, they only give you so much water down here.”

“You’re right I’m so sorry.”

“No reason to be sorry miss, it’s an upsetting day for you.”

“May I ask why you’re down here?”

“It’s a long story, I’m not sure you’d want to hear it.”

“I’ve got no where to go, not that I can go anywhere if I wanted to.”

The shadow shifted on the other side of her cell as the stranger readjusted himself so he could sit and speak more comfortably. Giving a sigh of relief he cleared his voice and spoke through the grimy cell bars. 

“To start off my name is Videl your highness,” the stranger said. 

“It’s nice to meet you Videl.”

“Pleasure to meet you as well your highness. I have been down here for almost two years now.”

“What were you convicted of?”

“Rape, of which never happened.”

“What do you mean?”

“I used to live with this lady, for a little over a year. My family lives in Pastoria, I’ve been working on the road and planned to finish up my route and head home. When the lady I was staying with was jealous I wasn’t attracted to her and that I had something she did not…”

“What didn’t she have that you did?”

“A family, it was something she always wanted. She tried to coax me to stay by any means necessary and to be with her, and to make a family with her. I said no, so in return of embarrassment and fear she tried to cover up her insecurities by implying to the entire city that I had raped her. Of course most of the city didn’t bat an eye because I’m big and strong, along with my race.”

“Were you tried before a judge?”

“I was and I was found guilty when she revealed bruises and cuts she had inflicted on herself, she had also paid off some friends to testify against me.”

“I’m so sorry life can be so cruel.”

“It indeed can,” Videl said with a morose tone as he turned his head away from Katrina. 

“Two years down here, have you discovered any way out?” Katrina looked to the shadow as Videl’s head shifted back toward her. 

“Yes, I’ve spent most of my time loosening the bricks in the wall and the metal bars in the window. It’s all structurally sound, I can’t budge any thing except for the right corner right here attached to your cell. I’ve spent the last year and a half using the utensil’s they’ve given me to eat with to carve the bricks loose. It’s taken a lot of time but I’ve managed to loosen every layered brick in this corner. One swift jump and I believe I could knock this entire wall down and escape onto the beautiful pearl sands of Windsor.”

“So what’s holding you back, why haven’t you done it? Why haven’t you escaped?”

“Waiting for the right moment. This incoming invasion maybe the perfect storm I’ve been waiting for, the distraction I need. May also prove a good opportunity for you my lady. If you were to escape Princess what would you do? Where would you go?”

“I’d find my prince, and bring him back to me and start all over again.” Katrina smiled at the thought, she wiped the dirt from her cheeks. Some life seemed to return to her. Hope crawled back into her fingers as she began to find a reasons to live, to keep going. 

“Well that’s a lovely sentiment my dear, but what if you don’t find your prince?”

Katrina let Videl’s words sink into her skin taking the warmth away and leaving her cold and scared. Fluttering her long eyelashes she grabbed a handful of dirt from the floor squeezing it tight as the ancient rocks and pebbles poured from her fingers. 

“I will find my prince,” Katrina smiled with rage in her heart. 

“I applaud your endeavor, if my word means anything I would like to help you find your prince if you could help me find my family again.”

“Your words means the world to me, and if you can help me I will do everything I can to help you!”

“My lady if it’s not too bold to ask, but the reason you’re down here is because your secret was exposed to the public. May I ask what that secret is?”

“I’m sorry but I can’t tell you, I promise I will bring no harm to you as long as you promise to bring no harm to me.”

“You have my word, your highness.” Videl’s shadow bowed before Katrina as the two of them understood each other. 

“What should we do now?” Katrina asked feeling more vulnerable and exposed then before.

“Now we wait, for the right moment which will come soon. Once the opportunity strikes we have to work together to get out understand?”

“I understand,” Katrina said as she bent her knees and held her head. 

The next twenty-four hours were long and monotonous, the air itself felt heavy as if they were sitting in an unbearably humid swamp. Katrina’s skin began to crawl as she ate in silence the left over mutton and ale given to her by the guards. Videl and her conserved their energy and prepared for the worst. Katrina watched the sky turn black full of stars before her eyes grew heavy over the remains of her dress, it was the best sleep she’d had in nearly six months. The soft hum of snores came from the cell next to her. Videl had an interesting tune when he slept, Katrina felt it helped him sleep deeper. In their corner there wasn’t anyone else but them, most of the cells were empty on their block. The guards mentioned there were a few others but Orefesto didn’t have as many prisoners as most cities. 

Katrina jumped awake as she heard the sounds of soldiers marching and an army laying siege to Orefesto. Brick rained from the sky as catapults were launched at the yellow sand castle. Jumping to her feet she looked out beyond her bars through the open window, there were so many soldiers she couldn’t even see the sands of the beach. Arrows were flying, the air was full of screams and blood, stones from the castle fell as Katrina saw bodies rain from the sky and stain the yellow beaches below. 

“I’ve been up for a while, they started earlier then I expected.” Katrina heard Videl’s deep voice echo from his cell. 

“How long have they been fighting?” Katrina turned her head toward his dark silhouette. 

“Almost an hour, give or take.” Katrina realized there weren't any guards around, changing shifts, or monitoring the halls. 

“What do you think Videl, should we act now?” Katrina stared at the corner, the interlocking walls that connected her cell to Videl’s. Beams of light poured in through the bricks that Videl had loosened. Spending the last year scraping away all the material that held them together. 

“Now is our time, I will strike first and then you will strike quickly after.”
“We do this until the wall caves in?”

“Yes, at least the connecting walls.”

“Then we get out of here as fast as we can, and ride for the White Woods?”

“Yes, we’ll grab torches and supplies but we’ll ride hard and fast for a tower first. They are a family I know who can take us in for a little while and help prepare us for the White Woods. Hopefully I’ll be able to see my family again, and you’ll see your prince again.”

“We will, I’m ready.”

“Alright I’ll go first,” there was a small moment where Katrina could hear Videl counting to ten. Slowly but surely he got to nine and once he reached ten she saw his shadow run fast in his cell and throw his own body into the weak stone wall. The stones shifted and wobbled as he through his entire body weight at it. Deep breaths poured out of his mouth as he recovered from the impact. “Okay, your turn,” Videl said catching his breath. Katrina stared at the loosened stone and saw some of the bricks had shifted almost entirely out of their place. Tensing her muscles in her mud stained under garb she flexed her calves and sprinted toward the wall. Throwing her body in the air she through her weight through his right shoulder into the stone wall. The stones shifted, she could feel the entire wall tremble to the inertia of her body weight. 

The two of them continued this back and forth for the next twenty minutes until Videl thrust his body into the connecting wall one last time. The stones fell to the ground as a hole emerged, a hole big enough for anyone to walk through. They fell in favor of Videl’s cell but not for Katrina’s. Moving fast Videl crawled through and appeared on the other side as he came to Katrina’s cell window. For the first time in the twenty four hours Katrina saw Videl’s face. 

The man looked to be from Locutar, he had thick necklaced beads hung around his neck, his skin was a dark rich brown. Wide broad shoulders fell to his sides as a his lanky fingers wrapped around the bars. A thin sharp jaw line appeared into the light as dark brown eyes appeared under thick curly black hair and a black beard with white patches. There were scars covering his body, some looked to be from bites of wild animals, others looked to be from weapons. Videl expressed great sorrow as his mouth slunk to his chin and his eyes grew heavy. 

“I’m sorry Katrina, I’ll be quick and get help. Keep trying, I’ll be right back!” Before Katrina could retort Videl’s fingers left the iron bars and he disappeared into the shadow of the stone hallway. She jumped up and ran to the window watching his shadow vanish like smoke. Wrapping her arms around the bars she stood and thought to herself wondering if he would return, or if he was simply trying to use her. Trying to understand if she should trust him or if he was another parasite manipulating her for everything she could give. 

Standing there shrugging she returned to the corner of the wall where the stones were loose. She could see some gaps where sunlight flowed through. The war outside continued to rage as an explosion filled the air destroying the flood dam about thirty feet from the bottom of the yellow castle, thirty feet from where Katrina stood trapped. The tide of the ocean was thrashing against the dam but now it was flowing through crashing against the castle. Katrina could see the sea water splashing on the outer window, droplets of the cold salt hit her face. In only a few moments she would soon be underwater. Every minute that passed was another three inches the ocean water rose outside the castle and slowly within. Katrina began to beat against the stones in the corner of her cell, hoping to shift them and create an opening big enough for her to pull through. Sweat beaded down her brow as pain erupted in her shoulders and tired back muscles. Tears swelled in her eyes as she clawed at the rocks, trying everything she could to break free. The ocean water poured in and began to build up on the prison floor. In just twenty minutes of beating and punching the stones Katrina was sloshing in three inches of water in her cell. The sky outside was growing blue as the sun was beginning to set. The battle continued as smoke filled the starry night, soldiers laid dead in the yellow sands with arrows filling their chest, the dead bodies were taken by the ocean. It’s wet cold fingers gripped their boots and dragged them into the open waters of Windsor. Fire filled the night as did screams as stones rained from the sky and Reighmethods soldiers inflated Orefestos walls spreading within the city like a pack of wasps. 

Forty minutes had passed when Katrina smiled with relief as a few stones fell out of the wall, a small opening about three by two feet appeared near the floor. The only problem was now the ocean water was a little over a foot in her cell and still pouring through the window. Katrina would have to dive down into the water and squeeze through the opening to survive, and if she found herself stuck in the stones she could drown. Staring at the opening beneath the waters surface Katrina inhaled a big gulp of air as she plunged her head in diving under. Swimming forward she stuck her hands through the hole and began to push herself through. The rest of her arms popped out on the other side as she squeezed her body through. Soon her head and her shoulders made it through, then her chest, and her hips were beginning to head toward the opening in the wall. A smile wrapped around her full cheeks as bubbles left her mouth, she was almost out she was almost free! Then her hips hit the sides of the opening, they couldn’t fit through. Katrina tried, once, then twice, then three times and realized she had made things worse. On her third attempt she managed to pull a good majority of her hips through but then she had wedged them in the wall, she couldn’t go back or move forward; she was trapped. Moving her head to the surface of the ocean water to hopefully grab some air she realized the water was too high. Stretching her arms out her fingers reached beyond the surface, she could feel the warm air. She just couldn't get her head above the water, it was too high nearly two feet now swashing back and forth in the dungeons. Katrina’s eyes grew wide as she realized there was nothing she could do, she couldn’t move forward and escape and she couldn’t retreat back into her cell. Thrashing her arms and legs she tried to pull herself free, but the more she thrashed the more energy she expelled and the weaker she became. Air began to leave her mouth as her eyes glazed over under the surface of the water. Death creeped in through her teeth down her throat and into her veins. Soon her arms slowly gave up as her legs sank beneath the surface. Katrina’s life ended on this road, betrayed by a friend who promised he would return, betrayed by a mother in law who promised to look after her and protect her, and with the understanding that she would never see her prince again and rescue him from the depths of hell. The water continued to rise as the tide poured in through the window. Princess Katrina accepted the sweet embrace of death as she let go of her fear and fell to the swaying of the ocean current.

Bright light obscured her vision as she flew through the air, stone bricks floated like clouds in the sky, water fell to droplets shooting in all different directions. She didn’t feel her heart beat, she didn’t feel air in her lungs, she didn’t feel pain, she felt peace, serenity, catharsis, almost as if she was everywhere at once understanding how the world worked. Slowly she felt her matter change, as if she were transforming from a solid to a gaseous state heading straight for the stratosphere. Katrina felt her essence pass into the next life as all of her worries, stresses, unanswered questions didn’t even matter because she was passing on into another world. 

Pain erupted all over as she opened her eyes brushing sand out of her face, her hearing was nearly gone everything was coming in all muffled. Looking down at her hands she could see blood, her blood. There were some burn marks scattered through out her back and shoulders as her limbs ached. Everything was dark and grainy as she continued wiping sand from her eyes. As her vision and hearing returned she saw what had happened. Reighmethod’s soldiers had been using black powder in their catapults. One of them landed right in Orefesto’s prison and ignited sending her flying out onto the beach along with the stone walls keeping her trapped. The ocean waters were kissing her feet as she looked up and saw the great sand castle on fire. Soldiers were running in and out of the walls, some fell off their edges with arrows filling their bodies, others ran for their lives into the White Wood Forest where in seconds they would be slathered by the creatures of the night. 

Beyond the flames Katrina saw someone, they looked to be in charge they had armor that looked bright purple with a crimson red cape. They were tall, taller than most around them. Then they turned their head and Katrina saw their face. She assumed it was the general of the forces, the captain of the guard, she was staring at Reighmethod the Reighmethod. She was the tallest known Woman in Hevarth, her skin was kissed brown by the gods of Locutar as big brown eyes and black curly hair flowed from her head. Bright red tattoos flowed under her ears down her neck and onto her chest and back, they were criss crossed patterns giving her the image of a tiger. Many had no idea that the woman who tried to end everything in Hevarth was from Locutar one of the most peaceful and artistic kingdoms ever known. It was foretold that she made her armor herself with her own anvil. Directing her forces she entered the flaming walls of Orefesto as she took the city for herself. 

A boot stomped down next to Katrina making her jump in fright as hands flew on her. 

“PLEASE DON’T I’M PRINCESS KATRINA MARRIED TO PRINCE CASMIR, I MEAN YOU NO HARM! PLEASE LET ME GO PLEASE!” Katrina kept her eyes shut as she waited to be dragged away into another dungeon, nothing happened. 

“My lady please let me help you,” a familiar voice said. Tilting her head up to the blue diamond sky she saw Videl looking down at her. 

“You came back, I thought…”

“You thought I lied, that I tried to use you? You are not the first, I have the reputation but by the time I came back the entire place was in pieces and I thought you were dead. Please let me help you, and we’ll find your prince together.” Videl reached down and scooped Katrina up despite how much pain she was in, tears fell from her eyes as they both escaped the deathly sands. There were some horses tied up a quarter mile away. Broken pieces of the castle walls scattered through out the sands as Videl ran through them carrying Katrina. They both evaded capture of Reighmethods’ forces as they ran in the shadows with their feet dipping in and out of the great blue sea. They rode their black horses into the night igniting their torches as they moved down the coast to an unknown tower, where a small family lived that Videl had been exchanging letters with for a little over year. They stayed at the tower for three weeks until Katrina felt healthy enough to travel. Reighmethod took Orefesto but Videl and Katrina rode into the White Woods in search of her long lost love Prince Casmir.