Moonlight pours down the mountainside, flooding its icy slopes in a translucent mist feared by none but the bravest of kings. It is not the great unknown he fears, nor is it the shadows cast which bathe everything evil in darkness, hiding their sins from even the sharpest of eyes.1
It is his own self, the skeletal orb reflected in his dark eyes causing his skin to writhe as it waxes and wanes with the ocean's tides. Panic grasps ahold of his throat, choking him, as the terrible reality of what is happening begins to sink like a stone into the pit of his stomach. He tries to make for the shelter of the wayside caves but it is too late - his blunt features are already changing, becoming more defined. His handsome square jaw grows longer and more snout-like, lethal canines now protrude from where incisors were previously set. Terrified, he covers his deformed face with his hands in a desperate attempt to stop the transformation but what were once slender fingers are now clawed and covered in mangy grey hair. Regardless of his new strength, he accidentally tears away flesh from his expanding chest, now twice its normal size, as he rips off a finely woven silk shirt and expensive embroidered jacket, his back convulsing with spasms of pain. 2
Through the stillness of the cold night, a melancholy sound shatters the silence - the demented cries of a helpless man mutating into the howls of a ruthless creature. Crouching on all fours, he puts his snout to the ground, hoping to catch the scent of blood drifting on the mountain breeze but all he finds is his own. In this beast-like form, the morals he once held as a noble king are long forgotten. Sitting up on his hind legs, he snarls in a blood thirsty rage, eyes rolling back in their sockets so they appear a ghostly white. He pauses.
In the distance, something or someone is beginning to ascend the stairway leading up the mountainside. 3
Deep within Mt Kova, a young woman had been awaiting his arrival for days. She was sitting in silence on an ornate armchair, a crumpled piece of parchment clutched in her hands. The words of the letter were badly smudged from being read time and time again and occasionally, tear stains had blotted out entire words. Although jaded and sorrowful looking, her face retained its timeless beauty, jet black hair falling elegantly down her back. She tilted her head slightly so as to read the letter yet again as if trying to gain some comfort from it. 4
Ilyah,
Whilst the moons may change over time and with them my form, I assure you my love for you will not. If anything, it grows stronger but with it does my pain. Not a day or night passes when I do not think of you, I can barely sleep. I know you do not wish us to see any more of each other for the terrible risk this puts both us and our people in but I cannot stay away any longer. I am leaving Tunbray tonight and should reach the mountains by dawn of the sixth moon. This still leaves four nights before my next transformation so we will both be safe. Meet me at the spring by which we first met, I promise I will be there.
Yours eternally,
Rufor 5
Another silver tear slid down her pale cheek and landed on the parchment, causing the ink he'd used to sign his name to bleed into an ebony stain across the page.6
"He didn’t come, did he?" said a sneering voice from behind her. She spun round to find herself looking into the sallow face of Idar Kyairah, son of Vampire aristocracy to whom her advisor had wished her betrothed. When she didn’t answer his question but merely stared mournfully back at the parchment held limply in her hands, he smiled indignantly to himself.
"I knew he wouldn’t" he said coldly. When Ilyah did not reply yet again he snatched the parchment from her, glaring down at the near illegible writing for a second before thrusting it into a fireplace beside them. At once, the blue flames engulfed the letter, dancing over and around it until there was nothing left but ash.
Smiling with satisfaction, he turned back to stare at her. She met his gaze with a look of pure loathing upon her beautiful face, grey eyes filled with bitter hatred.
"I'd have never accepted your proposal Idar, even if the whole stability of our bloodline depended on it" she spat at him and made to stand but he stood in her way, forcing her back down into the chair. 7
"So," he began slowly, eyes narrowing until they were little more than slits, "you decided to shame us all by running off with a dog , did you?" 8
"DON'T call him that", she snarled, hands clenching the arms of her chair tightly in anger, "I'm sure the Chancellor would have something to say to you if he heard about the way you've been speaking to me". For a fleeting moment, Idar's face contorted in panic but he managed to mask it quickly, his usual haughty expression returning. 9
"Your precious Chancellor happens to be away at the moment", he replied, "and won't be back until dawn, so I can speak to you how I like. You know, maybe my mother was right when she said I was too good for you after all". At this, Ilyah made to stand for a second time, preparing to fight him off if he attempted to stop her. 10
"If you think I give a damn what your mother says, then your as stupid as you are foul!" she hissed, pushing past him. He didn't attempt to stop her but merely stood aside sarcastically, sneering down his pointed nose at her. 11
"And you, Ilyah," he drawled, "are barely fit to be a servant girl, let alone Queen , for all the grace you possess". Ignoring his taunts, she kept walking away from him as quickly as she could, breaking into a run when she'd turned down the corner and out of sight. 12
The winding corridors were dimly lit by candles burning in brackets along the stone walls, their brilliant blue flames flickering menacingly. She wasnt aware of where she was going but kept on running, trying to put as much distance between herself and the city as she could. There were less candles lighting her path now which told her she must be drawing nearer to the cave's mouth. It was becoming impossible to make her way as sharp rocks were jutting out the floor at every angle. The corridor had grown thinner, not longer hollowed out like the elegant halls within the city but rough and jagged. 13
Fumbling around in her robes, she pulled out a fine black branch engraved with strange symbols. Muttering the incantation under her breath, she summoned the symbol of light, channelling its power into her wand. At once, a silver beam like artificial moonlight was cast from its tip, illuminating her surroundings. Now able to make her way carefully, she continued towards the mountainside, unsure of where to go when she reached it but determined to escape the emptiness she'd been feeling recently. Idar's sneering face swam into her mind and she began to run even faster, his last words still ringing in her ears. Was that really what people thought, that she wasn't fit to be Queen? 14
"It's not as if I chose to be either", she muttered unhappily to herself, "I can't help what I am." She felt as though she'd been suffering in silence for a life time. If it wasn't for the Chancellor taking her in like a surrogate daughter after her parents' disappearance, she doubted she'd have even made it this far. Then suddenly she began to think of Rufor, cursed to take on a monstrous form at the peak of each moon and all her self pity drained away, replaced by sorrow for her misfortunate lover. His suffering would not end, he could not just run away from it all as she had. 15
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