Winter had come. Tiny white flakes of snow descended on the kingdom of Ziadne leaving it trails on the ground and leaves.
The season Izrina loved the most, when she danced in the snow freely. She could almost touch the sky and kiss the clouds.
Same winter had come, but with blood.
Her parent's head hung at the kingdom's gate, while she ran away, surviving alone. It wasn't the birthday Izrina dreamt of neither was it how she thought of having snow block the tears in her eyes.
"Don't stop running." Spinola screamed from behind. The woman could no longer cry, all she wanted was to keep the princess alive.
Izrina ran with all her might. She wanted to stop and cry, but her legs kept moving. Her lungs were being filled with cold.
It was bitter cold, and the ground had all the hard black look of frost. Not white frost, to shine in the morning sun, but the black frost that the east wind brings.
After they had run far away from people's eyes, Spinola stopped. Breathing heavily, she pointed at the guard.
"Rip her dress, we can't have someone recognize her again."
Cora nodded. He turned to the princess. "Please excuse me, my princess." He said it politely.
Izrina's eyes had lost purpose. The reddish-brown eyes that once held the fire of an autumn sunset. Those orbs that burned brighter with warmth of a hearth, seemed lifeless.
The young girl stood there, but she was detached from reality. Even when her dress was ripped up to her knees, she barely felt the cold that bit into her skin.
"There they are!"
An arrow whooshed past them, hitting Izrina's left ear, the young girl staggered, her hair falling over her face. She didn't make a sound.
Cora grabbed her by the waist with one hand, breaking her fall but his eyes widened with shock. The princess was supposed to scream, or cry. She had never known pain a day in her life. Instead she dangled like a loose thread.
Spinola pulled out the arrow, blood splashed across her face. "Cora, run!" the woman howled.
With the soldiers hot on their tails, they kept running, this time deep inside the forest.
Izrina wished for death, but it didn't come. Life would have been fair if the universe always read the room and did the necessary. She stayed on Cora's shoulder, everything had turned blur and her left ear ached badly but she couldn't remember how to cry. Blood from her ear stained her face and Cora's shoulder.
If this was all a dream, Izrina wished for it to end already. She wanted to be back in the palace, reading the books she loved the most. Dancing in her room while her mother watched her secretly.
The young princess wanted to be another world. A place better than this moment, where she ran away from her kingdom with a bleeding ear.
In a world where winter had come, Izrina celebrates her birthday and gets married to the duke. Everyone is happy and they sit near the fireplace, warm and far away from the cold, cruel woods.
"Make sure they don't escape. Dead or alive, find the Princess." The general ordered, his voice heard across the thick woods.
Out of breath, exhausted and in despair. Night finally came.
After running through the sharp, tall grasses, Spinola and Cora found themselves trapped. In front of them was a cliff and below it,- a great fall. Behind them was the thick woods with soldiers who would kill them.
"What do we do?" Cora asked, "The princess is wounded..." his voice trailed. His shoulder ached too.
Spinola swallowed hard, clasping her hands together, "Karissa, please tell me what to do from here?" the woman offered what seemed to be a prayer to her deceased friend.
There is no escape...
It was clear as the sea, they were surrounded, and it would end with their death. As the soldiers got nearer, Spinola made a decision. Her friend would prefer her daughter to die a free person than to be humiliated and reduced to nothing.
"We jump." she rasped. "Put the princess down,"
Cora did as instructed, the soldiers torches were now visible, their boots louder.
Izrina's foot touched the ground and she staggered, she swayed almost losing balance. Blood had dried on her face and hair. The royal blood looked like a mess.
"Princess, we are going to jump." Spinola remarked.
Izrina raised her face, "WHAT? SPIONOLA!! I CAN'T HEAR A THING!!" she shouted. Her face distraught. It was no longer sadness of losing family but fear.
"The arrow...it pierced her ear." Spinola gasped. Could it get any worst. The girl might have lost her ability to hear and her parents. All in same night.
"CORA!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? WHY CAN'T I HEAR ANYTHING?" She staggered but was held firm by the guard.
Spinola turned so the princess won't see her crying, then she said. "Just listen to what I have to say...we are going to jump. Make sure to keep her close to your side."
"I see them!" One of the soldier alerted others when he got to the cliff first. "Hand over the princess and you both will be rewarded by the general."
Without a word Cora fastened a rope around his wrist and then tied it to Izrina's hand. With his arm firm around her waist he waited for Spinola's order.
Izrina kept turning her head to her right, bitter taste of salt hitting her lips. She felt lost and trapped in an endless darkness.
"SPINOLA! CORA!"
Spinola pulled the princess into a hug, "Stay alive, My princess." she turned to the guard. "Let's meet on the other side.."
"You too, Lady Spinola." He jumped first with Izrina, then Spinola followed.
"They jumped." The soldier informed the general who had arrived just when the heard a great splash from the ocean.
"Archers! Aim! Fire." The general ordered.
The arrows rained into the sea with great force, aiming to kill the princess even if she died first by drowning.
"Light the arrows, and fire." The archers did as instructed.
The general raised his hand, and the archers stopped. He took a closer look at the sea that now glowed with fire. Nobody would survive that, not even a skilled swimmer. With a satisfied nod, he turned to his soldiers.
"Let us go....nobody will survive a fall like that...especially not a pampered princess." Quietly, the men began leaving the place. Not a sign of pity for the lives they had taken that night.
The family they had ruined, the young girl they had shattered her dreams.
Night came upon Ziadne. And at the gate, the heads of Karissa and Guildford hung kissing each other, their blood stained the crystal white first snow. The sight was hauntingly beautiful. At the very least, they had each other even in after life.
The day which had begun with joy and festivities ended in gloom. Like it had rained all day until now.
People retired to their homes, just another night. Woods taken into the barn to store it for the days to come. Soup and broth heated to chase away the cold. The kingdom prepared for the winter that had arrived early. It was the only change they had witnessed aside from the death of a corrupt royal family.
In the deep black sea, Izrina got pulled deeper to the ocean floor. The sea was calm, as if it didn't have a royal seed in its stomach. Deaf and orphaned, Izrina allowed herself to be carried.
If anyone was out there, maybe she would hear a sound again.
It was the end of a reign, end of a family, end of a life. The demise of the Kensleigh family all in one night for attempting treason. Attempted without proof or who it was that first reported it.
Written in history on the fourth day of November 1773.