DoKP Part 1, Tarek's Diary

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Diary of a Kidnapped Prince

Part One

One Day....

One day it occurred to me, if perhaps I wrote down all my dreams and thoughts I could perhaps make sense of my strange existence and discover who I truly am. All that I know of myself is that I live in a place of solid ice. The furniture and walls are made of ice. Coldness is always about. Yet I dream of something quite different. Something called heat. I can climb up the uneven walls of ice, and read whole volumes in one day. I live with the Queen. She has hair as dark as night and eyes as black as shadows. Her garments are white and cold. She is the only other person I have seen. Yet in my dreams I see other people. Warm people with laughing eyes and smiling lips. The Queen never smiles.

This Day....

This day I wandered the empty tunnels of the Ice World with the Queen at my side. We never said much to each other.

“Do you think this staircase would like finer with a gargoyle jutting over it?” the Queen would said after an hour or more of silence.

“What is a gargoyle?” I would respond politely. That would consist of our entire conversation if we took the west tunnel. If we took the North tunnel we never spoke at all. The South tunnel would have no conversation, but the queen would make ice sculptures and flurries to amuse me. It was the east tunnel where we talked a lot. It mostly consisted of me asking questions, which the Queen answered without actually telling me what I wanted to know. She is like that, quite often.

Another Day...

Another day the Queen took me to her secret ice chamber. She has a large floating bauble in the center of the chamber and seats all around the edge. The room is round like a large ball, but colder then any other room. I think the Queen took me there lots of times, but I cannot say for sure. My memory is never the same.

“Show me, my little sister.” the Queen said, as she touched the bauble. The glowing ice ball went dark, then a scene appeared in it. A young lady, not unlike the Queen, but much merrier was dancing barefoot in a forest admits orange, red, yellow and brown leaves. A young man with curly golden hair in a plain tunic, was seated on the branch of a tree holding a tiny wiggling bundle.

“Who is that pretty lady?” I asked.

“My little boy,” the Queen said tightly, “That is my little girl.”

“She does not look so very little.” I pointed out. 

“Ebony Black was my little sister and I cared for her, before I found you.” the Queen explained. I studied the merry dancing lady.

“She looks very happy.” I said.

“She is false!” the Queen snapped peevishly, “See here, little boy, when our mother died, she and I swore never to leave each other or get married, but always to care for one another. She broke her promise!” She glared at the bauble, then made it go black.

“But Queen, I said, why would she ever want to leave you?” The Queen smiled and embraced me. I felt cold and would have forgotten everything, but the memory soon returned as the Queen continued talking while my mind thawed.

“Our father was a king of a shadowy valley.” she explained, “One day he married another, she was beautiful cold, heartless and proud.” I wondered if others saw the Queen in just such a way, but I did not ask, “Our stepmother had a magic mirror which she would inquire daily, who was the fairest one in all the land. One day her mirror claimed that I was fairer then all. My stepmother flew into a rage and banned me from all of Royaume. I have been trapped in this cold waist land, doomed to walk where mortals walk but once in ten years. But never could I find my sweet little Ebony. But I watched her daily in the bauble. Then one day she married a stupid klutz.” I said nothing. What did I know about the ways of other men, but I thought Ebony's husband looked kind. 

We left the magic chamber and walked through the frost covered tunnels back to the chambers I usually frequented. Suddenly a thought came to my mind.

“Ebony did not break her promise.” I said thoughtfully, “You did, by leaving her.” The Queen looked long and hard at me, then walked off. I think that I may have offended first. But when I speak the truth how can I help it if people become offended.

One day...

One day the Queen was nowhere to be found. I wished to speak to her on something important. My dreams had been full of the mysterious people again. Since she was not to be found, I sneaked into her round chamber and approached the bauble. I had never been in there on my own. I put one hand on the bauble.

“Show me the lady I dreamed about.” I said. The bauble grew bright then faded and a picture scene appeared. There was a small cottage surrounded by funny things I could only guess were trees. They were really tall with leaves and branches only at the top. The woman I dreamed about was sitting in a rocking chair on a porch sewing. Two ladies, one with dark hair, and one with golden hair, were seated at her feet. The girl with the golden hair was holding a white flower and the girl with dark hair was holding a red flower. The three of them were talking earnestly together. I looked at them hard. The woman in the chair was certainly my dream lady, but her clothes were plain and she was wearing no jewels. In my dream she had been clad in fine garments and many sparkling gems. 

“Little boy?” the Queen's voice thundered throughout the chamber, “Where are you, little boy?” I abandoned the bauble and fled out into the corridor. The tunnels echoed and reechoed so horribly, that it was quite impossible to tell where the voice was coming from, or if the caller was anywhere nearby.

To Be Continued