Serene Thorns

I woke up with my head throbbing and my muscles burning. Below the canopy of trees where I spent the night, I stretched away all of my body’s soreness that I got the night before, and for the same reason still – running away. My name is Selene, a warrior from the eastern land.
My city – Zenith – has long been under the rule of this Dark Lord named Thorne. He turned Zenith upside down the moment his knights ransacked my hometown. He pierced his sword to the king’s head and took his throne. The king was my Father, and for that I seek revenge.

Zenith is a lot different now. There’s nothing to eat, nothing to drink, and nothing to keep us warm. Every wealth the city has is all in the hands of the superiority. Along with seeking revenge for my Father, I help my people survive. I hunt the forests for meat and make sure every single native from Zenith will not starve to death. It’s all in me now. After all, I was the daughter of a king.

I stood up from the bed of leaves I used as a makeshift bed and gathered my bow, my arrows, and the hunting bag my Father gave me when I was 12. Just when I started walking to find another place to stay, a gigantic net fell from the sky and covered me from my head to my feet. Crap, this is it.

Men riding horses gathered around me. The knight nearest me took out a scroll and read my sentence.

“Selene Fairchild of East Zenith, you are hereby arrested for treason to the king and to your city,” he announced. “You will be taken to the king immediately.”

And with that, I was taken by the knights, waiting to meet my fate.

_____

When I was a kid and my Father was still the king, I lived in the palace. I have memorized every trail and turn of every tower surrounding it. My Father never held me back from playing around the palace, except this one place where he said every dangerous person is – the prison cells; and it’s not until today do I find myself getting dumped inside one of the dank cells my Father talked about. I’m one of the dangerous people now.

The knights threw me into one of the wet and damp chambers. I’m severely tired and hungry and exhausted that I didn’t even bother trying to find an escape. I failed to avenge my Father. My people cannot survive now. Not without the king’s daughter being the leader for them. I am now a prisoner of the people who did nothing but extort wealth and treasure from my people. They should be the ones inside these prison cells, not me.

“Make way for the Dark Lord!” shouted one of the filthy knights.

A few more knights marched inside the dungeon together with someone evidently superior and dominant. I tried to take a look on his face. The troops halted and I see him. The Dark Lord everyone feared, standing before me, wearing the robes of my Father. The Dark Lord Thorne. I can’t bear to look at the filth of him. He was the one who savored the death of my people, all in the name of power.

“Reveal your face, rebel”, the Dark Lord spat. “You are a criminal guilty of treason to the government.”

I hesitated but turned to look at him. He’s not any older than I am. He’s a young conqueror. It would’ve impressed me to see a power-hungry person as young as this man to dominate a big city, if not for his hands that ended my Father’s life.

“Selena Fairchild of the Eastern Isles of Zenith, you will be interrogated, rather harshly, regarding your involvement in the rebellion”, he said. “And you will be executed on the fifth night.”

He leaned closer towards the bars and stared at me.

“You will die exactly the way your pathetic Father did, Selene Fairchild.”

For whatever reason, every ounce of fear that I had earlier had drained and left my system the moment I talked back to him.

“How dare you speak of my Father?” I said fiercely. “I will avenge my Father’s death. And I will kill you,” I looked at him coldly, “Dark Lord Thorne.”

At the mention of his real name, he froze. He was looking at me now in a way I cannot understand. His stare shifted from cold to something else I cannot recognize. With a last gaze at me, he disappeared and left.

_____

The next morning came without warning. I was woken by freezing cold water directly splashed on my face. I opened my eyes and realized that it was one Thorne’s knights. So this is what they do here in the palace, torture people.

“Get up,” the knight kicked the cell door open. “Your interrogation starts today.”

The knight dragged me from the cell and out into the light of the palace courtyard where I once played with the palace maids. Apparently, this new government made it into a torture ground.

Thorne was already in the courtyard, waiting to see the show. The knights pushed me over a wooden block of chair and tied me with a rope. Thorne left his spot and went over to me. What’s he going to do now? Give me a crisp slap to the face? He continued walking towards me and I waited the slap to hit me in the face. But instead, he handed me a handful of bread.

“You didn’t eat since yesterday,” he said, his eyes directed straight at me. “We don’t like our prisoners starving to death.”

This Dark Lord really thinks he’s not dark, doesn’t he? I gave him a conflicted look and mocked him straight, kicked the bread with my untied legs, and snarled at him.

“I’d rather face death than mercy from you, Thorne.”

He just stared. I'm shocked he’s not infuriated. He was rather passive yesterday. One of the knights weren’t forgiving of what I said, though. He unsheathed his sword and raised the tip of it to my neck,

“No one talks to the Dark Lord like that,” he screamed at me. “Not even a lowly person from the East.”

The knight forced the sword into my throat and I can already feel the warmth of blood trickling down my neck.

“Enough,” Thorne commanded. He looked around the knights that surround him and said, “The interrogation shall begin now.”            

One of the knights handed him a scroll and opened it in front of him. After the set-up, the Dark Lord started to read.

“Selene Fairchild of the Eastern Isles,” he read. “You have been declared a rebel of the government, stolen treasures from the convent, killed and used to your advantage half of the resources owned by the palace. Explain these actions.”

Thank you for wanting to make me explain, Thorne, I thought.

“See, Thorne,” I said calmly. “You killed the king, snatched willingly the power out of Zenith, and killed every innocent person that comes in your way!”

I feel the tears coming out of my eyes now.

“You are a coward! You kill for pleasure! You are nothing different from your Father, the one who massacred an entire nation! You will always be the son of Dark Lord Khan! And that will forever be proven in your blood!”

The words I said sent a ripple of rage to the knights.  Because of the severity of my words, a knight whipped me on my back with a wire of thorns. The shock sent a burning pain to my back and he isn’t stopping. Series of whips are unstoppably coming. I feel like dying now.

At this point, I can easily back down. Forget my Father, forget Zenith, and just die already. There’s nothing to live for anymore. After all, Zenith has long been infiltrated from its deepest roots by the rule of Thorne.

Just then, I would’ve just closed my eyes and let the knight beat my torso like cow meat. Go on, Thorne. Watch what’s left of the Zenith royal bleed in front of you. Just when my body and my head was already dropping to the ground, firm strong hands gripped my arms tight, and kept me from falling. His grip was strong and it kept me steady. At this second between life and death, I knew that he saved me from choosing death and that whoever this person is, I will forever owe him my life. He saved me.

 I gazed at the knight who saved me from death. But he wasn’t a knight. He was the Dark Lord Thorne. I tried to thrash from his grip but the world went dark, my head was falling, and I fainted. There. In the arms of the Dark Lord who killed my Father. In the arms of the Dark Lord I am indebted to.\

 It’s the third day now and my body hurts more than ever. The slices of the whip still throb. I’m surprised to see my back fully bandaged and my body clothed with white linen. They care about me now when in two days a sword will be pierced between my head. Exactly the way my Father died.

 I looked around me and realized I wasn’t in my prison cell anymore but in a rather cozy place. I was lying on a sturdy wooden bed filled with soft pillows and blankets. I continued searching the room and saw him. Sitting on the edge of the bed is the Dark Lord Thorne.

 “You passed out,” he said.

 “Obviously,” I talked back. “Unfortunate I only just passed out.”

 “The knights almost shredded your back,” he stated. “I couldn’t keep watching. I brought you here when you fainted and kept the knights back. Your wounds, I hope they’re healing now.”

 Why does he care for me now? I am a criminal of his government. If this is any kind of a trick, then I’m not falling for it.

 “Huh. Right,” I growled. “That makes you the greatest leader of all, then.”

 “Selene, I apologize for what I did to your Father and to your people,” he uttered. “I am merely a man following my Father’s orders.”

 “Of course you are,” I spat. “Like I said, you are nothing different from him.”

I hoped I hit a nerve when I said that but, unluckily, I didn’t. He is still sitting upright on the edge of the bed. If not for my current weak state, I would have strangled this man right here, right now.

He inched closer to me. And the closer he gets, the more I see deeper into him. He looks just like a normal man – hungry for power and parental affection. He may be just like a normal man but to take innocent lives to achieve power is unforgivable.

Thorne is now just an inch close to me. I stared deep into his eyes and realized they were the color of the sea. The color was calm and serene, and maybe, just maybe, his heart also is.

 “The leaders of the knight council decided to hasten your execution,” he said. “No trace of innocence was found in your records. Selene, you will be executed tomorrow at twilight.”

I stayed silent. There’s nothing to say now. He grabbed me by my shoulders and looked close to me.

“Selene, please,” he begged. “Tonight when the clock strikes twelve, I’ll unlock the gates. Save yourself.”

I gazed at him.

“Thorne, why are you doing this?”

“I made the mistake of stealing the power of Zenith years ago. I want to turn things around this time.”

 “I don’t understand. Two days ago you wanted to stab me the way you killed my father!”

Everything he says does not make any sense. But then I remembered how he saved me from the death of the whipping yesterday. I can feel it – his genuine guilt and regret of committing murder and extortion in Zenith.

“Selene, listen. The moment the knights brought you here and the moment I listened to you, I understood every single thing. Your presence was enough to make me see everything.”

I looked at him. He really is just a man under the rule of his evil Father. The Dark Lord Thorne handed me bread when I did not want to eat anymore, he tended to my wounds and slices when I was whipped to death, and now, he is telling me to save myself.

Despite myself and my goal to avenge my Father, I felt my heart loosen up to him.

“Thorne, you’ll be punished for freeing a prisoner,” I told him. “You can’t do this.”

“I don’t care anymore,” he answered. “I have done enough evil to realize that I need to take responsibilities of my mistake. And this is just the start of it.”

“Okay, I will,” I said. “But will I see you again?”

For the first time, Thorne has given me no answer.

“Thorne,” I called to him. “Will I see you again?”

He stayed silent. Now I am the one gripping his arms.

“Thorne, you killed my Father, made my people suffer, and brought hell to Zenith but if I were my Father, I will forgive you. Please. Tell me there’s a chance for us to start something we want.”

He gazed at me and looked at his wristwatch.

“It’s almost midnight now. Selene, get ready.”

“Thorne, please. Come with me! Let’s build Zenith back to its former glory. Together. We can still change everything even if it means forgiving you for killing my Father. Thorne, I owe you my life. You saved me!”

“We will see each other, Selene. I promise. But these circumstances can’t bring us together,” he cried. “It’s unfortunate I fell in love with a rebel of my government.”

I’m crying now. And the tears just won’t stop coming.

“Thorne—“

“Selene, maybe in another life. But for now, let’s accept our fates. I am forever sorry.”

From a distance, I heard the bell chime midnight.

“So this is it then,” Thorne said. “Farewell.”

I took his hands and held them close. He went close to me and cupped my face.

“Farewell, Ms. Fairchild,” he said. “This is where it all ends.”

I looked at him for the last time and kissed him. He killed my father but he saved me from death, and that has set things straight. I held his hands one last time and let go, with the chime of the clock telling us to hurry. This is where it ends.

If it’s love but it’s not at the right time and circumstance, it’s forbidden; and, unfortunately, all forbidden relationships turn to tragedy. In our next lives, maybe, our paths will meet again. Not as the Dark Lord Thorne and Selene Fairchild, but as ordinary people who are free to choose who to love.