shadowfrog's Diaryland Diary

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Amiel, a girl I came up with for a spelling story.

woohoo. My story. You don't have to read the whole thing, but if you do, please tell me what you think in my tagboard.

Amiel’s black horse slowly plodded along at about .00001 miles an hour on a path lining acres of vast city. She turned her horse towards a small passage leading the way to an inn. Finally some rest. Amiel was glad; her detailed white dress was travel-worn. Her brown hair was dirty and unkempt, kept piled up on top of her head. Her long white, layered skirt had been dirtied during a tumble down a hill and the small hair ornament that signified Amiel’s clan had lost one of its jewels.
Amiel brought her horse to the small stable, which sagged next to the wrecked and vandal stricken inn. The endless river of customers for the inn had worn the place to its bones. As Amiel walked into the building, she noticed small architectural details and designs that had been worn away by years of weather.
The people inside the inn were as worn as the outside. A small woman sat perched on a stool behind a short counter. When Amiel came in, the woman looked up and placed the book she had been reading on a hidden shelf. Amiel let her eyes linger on the woman with jealousy. She had always wanted to read, but she had never been allowed in her country. The woman forced a smile and asked how long Amiel planned to stay. Her eyes lingered on the long wrapped parcel that was on Amiel’s back. Amiel let this go; everyone stared at her.
Amiel paid for a room for 2 nights and dragged her saddle bags to her temporary room.

§ § §

After about an hour and a small meal, Amiel lay on her back and stared out of the gaping hole in the ceiling. She remembered why she was here in the first place and not in her old home, laying in a wonderfully soft kamisa-bird feather bed, wearing a clean nightgown with the taste of a magnificent meal still on her lips.
And Christopher would be there.
Amiel squeezed her eyes together and hugged herself. Christopher? Don’t think about him, you fool, she thought and tried to push the thought out of her mind. But, as the reader of this short story might know, one does not simply push a thought of the mind. It will stay for as long as it wants to.
Christopher. The best friend of Amiel, soon turned... more than best friend?
Until the night.
Amiel slowly drifted off to sleep, her memories taking over her dreams...

§ § §

The sun rose over a gorge. The walls of rock on both sides were decorated with vines and plants that had grown over the past thousand years. A man on a palomino horse trotted through the gorge until he came to what seemed like a plant waterfall. He got off his horse and led the horse through the veil of plants. He came into a low passageway, just tall enough for his horse to pass through. After a few minutes of leading his horse, the man came to a window. The window had silver streamers as a curtain and a small girl sat curled up in the window. When she heard the man coming down the tunnel, she sat upright and called out to him.
“Father!”
The man smiled and held out his arms to her. She ran to him and he lifted her up in the air. She laughed as her father put her on top of the horse and lead her to the window.
He reached out with his hand. The ring on his hand glowed and the window seem to ripple and turn into an archway. The girl smiled as her father lead her through the arch and into a vastly different world from yours, dear esteemed reader. To explain this world would take another story, so I shall clarify this story in as simple a form as possible.
This country name was Ilared. The entire country was carved into a mountain two-thousand years ago by the great deities that protected the Ilariates today: Idara, Ekevia and Medea. Idara of heaven, Ekevia of hell and Medea of Earth. Each goddess was a part of the life cycle of an Ilariate. Idara symbolizes birth, heaven, light and other such things. Ekevia symbolizes death, hell and darkness. Medea symbolizes life, earth and war. They all symbolize various kinds of art. The three moon goddesses that descended from the moon to compose a new civilization. This country focused around sculptures, art and music. Most of the buildings of the country do not have walls made of a solid material, but of bewitched flowering trees that weave together to form a building. Only the palace, the capital of the country, is made of real crystal. The country is not very advanced technology wise. They didn’t have anything like postage stamps, journalism, video games or modern things like metabolism or legislators. This country operated on monarchy.
Anyway, back to our story.
The girl’s father led her through the bustling hollow in the mountain to a smallish building of trees. The girl was picked up and placed in the doorway.
“Amiel, stay here. I’ll be right back. I need to do guarding duties.”
“Okay, father.”
Amiel went behind the house and climbed down a set of steps that lead to a small grove of bewitched trees. This was her place. A small fountain with colored lights spewed in the middle of the grove. Amiel’s hair quickly grew damp from the flying moisture that came from the fountain, but Amiel didn’t care. She played with a small set of delicate dolls that were stored in a wooden box. She played silently for a half-hour until she heard someone coming down the flight of steps to the enclosure. Amiel looked up, hoping to see her father, but instead she saw a boy only about a year older than she was. He had long messy hair and was wearing a detailed tunic. He saw her and they stared at each other for about a minute, when the boy broke out in a large smile.
“Hello. Let’s be friends!”

§ § §

Amiel rolled over in her sleep. No, not Christopher...

§ § §

A month later, Amiel and Christopher played princes and princesses in the grove.
“Oh fair lady,” declared Christopher as he bent upon one knee, “Will you grace the land with your presence and be my queen?”
Amiel giggled and said, “Of course, gallant knight. As long as I get that one white dress in Jeala’s shop. You see, it’s magic and it will grow with you! So I could wear it forever!”
“Is that all...?”
“Oh yeah, and the necklace at Peoria’s shop and the spear at Tern’s shop...”
“Is that all...?”
“I’ve got a list at home!”
The two giggled and fell to wrestling.

Meanwhile-

“Treason! How DARE you speak against the moon goddesses?” cried a member of the royal council.
“Aye!”
“Banishment!”
The King, Jeret, sat on his throne. “Raed, have you been spreading lies around the country about the three goddesses?”
“No, they are not lies, your eminence.” Mr. Raed Kirian bowed before the king, trying to remain composed.
“If you read our list of country laws, and I am sure you have, it says that you are not permitted to speak against the goddesses. And, if you do, the only punishment available is banishment,” said the King.
“Banish him!”
The King sighed and closed his eyes to release the pressure in his head. “I am sorry Raed, but I have no choice,” he said, “You may think this brings me pleasure, but I wish I didn’t have to. However, you knew the consequences of your actions and you must be prepared to take them.”
Raed gave a quiet sob and blinked back tears. What would happen to his wife? What about Amiel? She would be shunned from the rest of the community if he were banished.
Raed bowed again to the king, “Please sire, I beg to take some other punishment. I don’t want my daughter to be treated wrongly, when she did nothing. Please not banishment.”
“I’m sorry. There’s nothing else I could do.”

Amiel pulled on the sleeve of Christopher’s embroidered tunic through a sparsely-populated street.
“Come on! The dress is this way!” she put her entire weight into pulling him, but he wouldn’t budge and the tunic wouldn’t rip.
A group of people came over the hill.
“Uh oh,” said Christopher and Amiel stopped pulling on his sleeve.
“Father!” cried Amiel.
Her father was in chains and he was being lead towards the Window.
“Where are you going? What happened?” Amiel ran towards her father, but was shoved aside like baggage.
“I’m sorry Amiel,” said her father through the stiff royal council, “I have failed. Be a hero for me. Live for me.”
The last Amiel ever saw her father.

§ § §

Six years later (Amiel is fifteen and Christopher is eighteen)

Amiel woke up to the warmth of soft light on her face. She rolled over and watched the fountain spray its endless spew of water. She had been sleeping in her grove for the past six years. Ever since her father was banished for treason, her mother had died of an illness and people had burned her house; a great insult to anyone.
Amiel lay in the light for a long time, contemplating what to do with her life. She had rarely come out of the grove and she felt as if she had neglected her father’s wish to live his life for him. What should she do now?
A whistle came from the top of the stairs. Amiel sat up and straightened her hair. Christopher.
Christopher came down the stairs with a smile on his face.
“Amiel! How did you sleep?”
“Ne, not so well. It’s difficult to sleep on a bare dirt floor!”
Christopher smiled and gave Amiel a basket filled with breakfast.
Amiel looked up and him. His hair was hanging in his eyes. She reached up and brushed it away. Amiel curled herself into a more comfortable position in front of Christopher. Christopher gathered her into his arms and pulled her closer to him. Amiel smiled and Christopher gently kissed her. She returned the gesture.
The two friends (more than friends...?) were too distracted to notice the person slowly descending the steps to the grove.
The kiss grew more passionate, until...
“YOUR HIGHNESS!”
Amiel’s eyes snapped open and she pushed Christopher away. The both stood up to confront the intruder.
“Your highness! Who is this peasant? How could you? Think of the many girls in the inner palace! The royal council has spent valuable time choosing special girls for the queen! Not randomly picked girls out of a hat! We have remained optimistic that you would notice the girls, but you haven’t even been in the palace!”
It was a member of the royal council. His short mustache shook with fury and his eyes were squinted. He advanced on Christopher and Amiel. Amiel shrunk back, but Christopher held her next to him.
“Her name is Amiel Kirian and she is no peasant!” said Christopher proudly. Amiel looked up at him in terror. Christopher told the royal councilmember her last name!
“Kirian? The daughter of Raed Kirian? He was banished! You cannot marry this girl! She shall be banished!”
“No!”
“Mind your manners, boy!”

The series of events happened too fast. Amiel could barley remember the blur of long words and regal people, but the laws clearly said that Christopher was not allowed to choose his queen. Christopher tried to get the rules to be changed, but to no avail.
Amiel was sentenced to lifetime of banishment. Christopher was to marry a “carefully chosen” girl. On her last day in Ilared, Christopher came to see her in her grove. He wore a long cape to disguise himself from the civilians, but he carried a package.
“For you, Amiel,” he said, giving her a package.
Amiel slowly opened it, careful to rip anything. She slowly picked it up, the material flowing like water. It was the dress she had wanted those many years ago. The white one Christopher had promised to give her when they “got married”.
“Guess that’s never gonna’ happen,” said Amiel and tears slid down her cheek.

§ § §

Amiel woke with a start. She stared at the ceiling and decided that she had to move on.

and thus it ends...

the inspirational pictures from the amazing ELFWOOD

§ Amiel's outfit
§ Idara
§ Ekevia
§ Medea
§ The Grove
§ The Window

anyway

I will be sleeping over at the Earles's tonight! Woo! (u know im physco) I'll be home tomorrow at, like, 11am

ttyl

Christine

11:54 a.m. - 2005-10-29

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