The stones are cold beneath my fingers; the winter air creeps in through the wooden shutters, blocking my only warmth from the sun.
The tower is frigid as usual, but Ice Mages are numb to it, so why wasn’t I? It must be a myth or a lie that I have been told by my father. Falsehoods have often left his lips.
I can feel the coldness - so bitter, it makes me tremble. I hold my body tight, and I don’t hear anything but the constant howl of the wind as it rattles the shutters trying to reach me.
So cold…
I’m lonely too...
When was the last time I held a conversation with somebody? Anybody?
It is the guards’ fault, they’ve recently forbidden speech. Prisoners are to remain silent so we can repent for our sins. They have taken our last joy from us.
They take everything from us.
When was the last time I was touched? I can’t recall... I don’t even remember my exact age.
How long has it been since I’ve been placed in this tower?
I know I am now a woman or at least, close to being one. I can’t see for myself, but my breasts feel ample, and my face and body have changed with time, or so I can tell.
I don’t know if I have grown taller. Feels like I have, perhaps just a little. My dress is shorter and tighter, has been for a long while.
Sometimes I forget why I am here... until I remember that day so many years ago.
I wouldn’t be suffering if not for my curse. Because of it, I don’t have control over the magic that flows through my veins. A sudden strong emotion and I can freeze an entire nation, they say. Maybe it is because my vision was stolen when I was a babe.
My mother used to say I would cry every single second I was awake since my birth, and I wouldn’t stop until I was held by her.
The warmth from her body, or perhaps her affection, was the only thing that prevented me from falling into complete madness.
It is a strange feeling. Everyone around me can experience the world in colors and sight, but I have never been blessed with such.
Darkness was the only thing I was gifted. It took time to get used to. I often got hurt easily since I was very clumsy, but I have learned with sounds. Now, I can move around with ease, with a click of my tongue.
Sounds are a miracle; I don’t know what I would do without them.
There is a sudden noise as I hear a door shut directly below me.
Strange... It isn’t time for the maid to bring me food. She doesn’t come until the bells ring twice, signaling morning has become midday.
They feed me once a day as I don’t need much sustenance for being confined in such a small room. Usually, my plate consists of stale or moldy bread and, if I am lucky, soup.
The soup is usually cold but still a delicacy on my tongue.
Over and over again, it is boring and hardly satisfying. I faintly remember being spoiled as a child. There were times I would feast on rich meals filled with flavor, but even if I try, I can’t recall how it tasted or what I ate.
I listen to the person’s footsteps all the while becoming tense and rigid. Even my shivering ceases.
Their footsteps are heavy, and they walk with confidence. I can hear a small presence fall behind them.
Who is it? I’m frightened, excited, and curious at the thought of who could be coming to see or have anything to do with me. This is a tower full of prisoners after all; no one has visitors, not of the pleasant company anyway.
I wait. I listen.
My back is straight, and I turn my head toward the door as it is unlocked and pushed open, the hinges squeak in response to the motion.
I stand to my feet.
“Who’s there?”
My voice sounds odd. I don’t use it very often after all. Before I used to sing the songs I have heard from other prisoners but with the new rule, it gives the guards more reasons to hurt us – they are always watching and listening.
I am barely alive. I’m not even a person to them, just like the other prisoners in this tower.
I hear there is a young boy they captured months ago who is of Dragon blood. I am interested in him, and I hear the guards talking about him as they roam the halls.
They are saying he was detained by the royal’s best Mages after he entered our Kingdom. It is another victory for the King, my father, another praise in his name.
Dragons are our enemy. They are beasts meant to be hunted down. They are harmful, large, and bloodthirsty for Mages since the start of the world. Tales are told of the humans who killed the first Dragon and how they are gifted with the abilities of magic after eating its flesh. To this very day, the Dragon’s magic runs through every Mage in the Kingdom.
We are no longer called humans but Mages, specifically Ice Mages due to the nature of our powers.
The boy of Dragon blood is young, barely a man, so the only way the royals could have taken him down so easily is because of his age.
The Dragon is even below me in status, which is saying a lot, and when I sleep at night, I can hear his screams, and within the darkness of my dreams, I am able to see a shape. A shape that eventually turns into something, something powerful and frightening.
I realize that for the first time in my life, I am able to see something other than funny shapes in the blackness. That something is what I imagine to be a Dragon, although I don’t know the true shape of one.
It is humongous, with teeth longer than my body and colors I cannot describe due to the fact I have never seen them. I have been described colors, but in my world, they are strange and impossible to understand. And in a vision, I saw this creature, what I believed to be a Dragon in color.
I am in denial, but every time the boy screams, I see the scary Dragon in my head, bellowing in pain and thrashing as it tries to escape the chains placed around his body.
I quickly grow used to those screams. I feel connected with a boy I’ve never met when I dream at night. I believe it is my magic or even his, linking us together.
Even though I have been taught that Dragons are evil, including their menacing King, the boy I feel is not. In my last dream, the Dragon saw me, and it didn’t look happy. I could feel its fear and since then, I haven’t seen it or heard the bellows or cries of the boy below me.
A person speaks to me, a man from the sound of his voice, “Princess Vrai, you have been summoned by your father, the King. You are not to say anything unless you are asked and are to keep silent otherwise. Understand?”
I nod my head, wondering why I am being called by my father. I begin to feel fear as I cannot imagine it being for a good reason.
The other person with lighter footsteps grabs my arm and drags me forward. The fingers are dainty, leading me to believe it is a woman, and the man takes the lead.
She follows him while maintaining her hold on me, and all I can think of is how her fingers are as cold as ice, but we are naturally cool to the touch.
Each step I take down the descending stairs, my throat feels tighter. I feel as if I want to run back to the cage I am imprisoned in. It sounds crazy, but at least I have the comfort of the walls and routine. I feel safer inside those walls than outside of them.
I hear thumping, moaning, and crying. All sounds come from the prisoners.
My legs start to tremble, and it’s hard for me to move. I want to ask why my father has summoned me, but I remember the promise I made to keep silent.
We move outside; the bitter cold freezes my bare arms and feet the moment I step out of the tower.
As we walk, I hear noises in the street - whispers and mutters from the townsmen and women. I hear sounds from animals, too - grods barking, tiggs oinking, and rickens clucking. It must be hard for them during the cold winter months, but I imagine that no one truly cares about them.
These are the noises that comfort me, sounds that I haven’t heard in such a long time. People... Animals…
I slow my steps to enjoy the fresh air, but I am immediately tugged forward by the woman holding my arm. I imagine she thinks ill of me since she is showing me no remorse. Everyone knows who I am, I am the King’s bastard daughter.
It is hard to miss me… I wish I weren’t so noticeable. I know they stare as I hear their feet slowing as they pause to look at me. I tense, feeling uncomfortable as I assume more people begin to gather.
Maybe I am overthinking it, but it is as if I can feel their gazes burning my skin.
We move through the town, and my stomach growls loudly. I have had no food. I can tell it’s morning as the bell has only rung once, and the rays of the sun are low and strong.
I may be the way I am, but I am able to see light. If the world is dark, mine is even more so. If the sun is out, the darkness is somehow brighter. I can tell if a room is well lit with candles or fire.
However, I am unable to make out shapes, faces, or even bodies.
It isn’t long before I grow weary as the long winding roads and hills are exhausting. My bare feet are sore, the road unkind. I want to slow, but I’m forced to keep up with them. Every time I fall behind, I am jerked violently forward. Sometimes I am even thrown off balance.
We eventually stop, and I can sense it is a quiet and peaceful place. I can hear another man’s voice at a distance.
“State your business!” His voice is loud.
“We are here with the King’s imprisoned daughter, Vrai, who has been requested by his majesty himself.” The man replies in a booming voice, which bothers my ears.
It isn’t long before I hear the gates creaking open and men’s feet scurrying across the stone ground.
The sounds eventually stop, and we move forward abruptly. I’m barely given a chance to catch my breath or even try to take the chill from my flesh by rubbing my arms with my hands.
Another door opens, and we enter. I know it’s the palace because the floors feel different. It is warm underneath my feet; the stones are said to be mined from the Silvertop Mountains carried here by our ancestors.
It is a relief to my battered feet, and the chill starts to disappear.
I hear a woman’s voice and the click of a heel as it hits the stone floor, which creates an echo within the silence of the palace.
“Is this Vrai?” a woman questions. Her voice is like silk, and I hear her heels snap closer.
“Yes, Your Majesty.” The man responds instantly.
Majesty... So this is father’s real wife and the Queen of the Ice Mages. I wonder if the rumors are true and she is as cold as the ice powers she wields.
She is quiet, and I can feel her stare as she stops in front of me.
“So, it is true..?” Her words are slow as if she struggles to believe it. “It’s the first time I have seen a blind Mage unless their eyes have been gouged out of their skulls.” I attempt to pull back, not liking her words, but the woman on my other side keeps me in place.
Even though my eyes are useless, I still like the fact that I have them, and I am not eyeless. I made sure to check one day, feeling the wet gloss on my eyes and pushing slightly to make sure I did have them.
“Close your eyes, dear. Why keep them open if you do not need them? You will just creep everyone out with eyes like yours.” I hear her walking away, and the woman pulls my arm silently, telling me to go forward with them.
We continue walking, and I close my eyelids like I am told. Are my eyes... creepy? I have never been told what I look like, but when I feel my face, it feels normal. When touching, I can only imagine what I look like. It seems colors matter to them….
Colors.
The only time I have seen colors is in my vision of the Dragon. Is this how it feels like to have sight? My dreams have always been strange, but the one where I imagined a Dragon is the most abnormal.
I can still feel the cold gaze of the Queen even though she is walking ahead of me. I wonder if she is staring at me.
Suddenly, the two guards stop and the woman who has a tight grip on my arm lets me go, and I hear both of them sink to the floor. I realize I must be before the King and I follow suit and carefully lower myself and bow before him.
“Your Majesty, we brought her just as you requested.” The woman’s voice is light and airy as she greets royalty.
He doesn’t reply instantly, and I hear the click of the heels stop along with the swishing of clothes. I imagine the Queen is now seated by the King, “You may leave us.”
I hear them rise and walk away, and I ball my fists as they move further away, leaving me alone before the King - my father - and his now-wife and my step-mother - the Queen.
“Vrai. Stand!” he orders, and I get up from my bowing position. I turn my face toward the direction of his voice.
I feel like a grod, but I have always been treated like one since the death of my mother.
“May I ask why I am here?” I question nervously. Wondering if I am going to be sentenced to death or perhaps a worse fate, but I cannot think of what during this time.
“I summoned you here before me because of a war,” he replies in a serious tone.
“A war?” I ask with uncertainty. Maybe he wants to use a new science on me and extract my powers for his own or give them to one of my sisters. I have heard rumors from the overly loud guards of such new sciences going around.
I don’t have anything to live for... Yet, I still yearn to live in this world.
“Yes, the Dragon King, Orval, has declared war on us once again. It seems the one Dragon shifter in our possession has sent him into a fit of rage,” he announces. “But it does not make up for the hundreds of our people he has slaughtered. I wish I had done much more than torture a young boy to his death.”
So that boy is dead…? My heart pangs in my chest, and it tightens. A meaningless death.
No, I shouldn’t feel sad over a Dragon. Remember, they have killed hundreds of us Mages.
“So... What does that have to do with me?” I am afraid of what his answer may be.
He doesn’t hesitate with his reply, “Well, if there is one weakness the Dragon King has, it’s women... Or so I have been informed. Hence, I have offered him to take one of my daughters for ten years of peace.”
I grow cold and ask, “So even though I’m just a bastard... I’m included in this?”
“Yes. You’re still my daughter. The Dragon King does not need to know you’re a bastard or a curse.” He stands up, his clothing rustling. “Maids, come clean the girl and get her in some decent clothes. Have her ready before nightfall. At least try and make her seem... presentable.” He orders loudly.
From either side of me, there are footsteps and in unison, I hear, “Yes, Your Majesty.”
“This way, Princess Vrai.” A maid’s soft voice announces, and they guide me from the room.
I never thought I would be back in the palace, much less being offered to a King, but I imagine that if by some chance the Dragon King chooses me, he wouldn’t want me for marriage like I am currently praying.
Maybe my curse is a blessing and will save me from a monster of a King. Why would he want me as a wife?
My father said take. That the Dragon King is to take one of his daughters for a wife.
It doesn’t sound too promising.
I don’t want to become a toy for a sadistic Dragon to play with, but now that is all I can imagine…
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