The sword of S'jorell

Chapter One
Laycia woke with a start. Her dreams were a confusing kaleidoscope of images all swirling together. She remembered two dragons. A black and grey one she had been riding on and a solid black one that scared her with its long menacing claws. She also remembered elves. Two of them to be exact. Both beautiful with their pale blue hair and gleaming silver eyes. They were beautiful but it was hard to tell which had been man and which had been a woman.
She sat up and rubbed her temples. Her head was pounding like never before. She stretched her long arms and wiggled her toes. After a few minutes the pounding in her head started to subside. She climbed off her magnificently huge four poster bed and stretched again. She started to tuck her hair behind her ears as she always did but something felt strange. Her ears! Her ears felt strange under her fingers. She walked across her bedroom to her vanity and sat down. She looked at her reflection and gasped. Her jaw hung open and her eyes widened so much they looked ready to pop out of her head. Her long blonde hair had turned a pale blue. As pale as the elves hair had been in her dream. Her hazel eyes had changed too. They were now a silver color that didn’t look natural. Her ears, the start of it all, were as pointy as knives. She stared at the strange girl staring back at her and almost screamed. Just then, however, there was a loud knock on her bedroom door.
“Miss Laycia, are you ready for your bath? Called Beth, her handmaiden.
“No. No. Not yet. I’m not feeling too well at the moment.”
“Shall I fetch for the doctor?” Asked Beth.
“NO!” Laycia practically screamed at the door and her poor handmaiden. She took a few deep breaths to try to calm herself down a little.
“I will be alright Beth. Will you please tell my mother and father I need a few more hours of rest. It is just a simple headache is all.”
“Certainly miss.” Replied Beth. Sounding not certain at all of what she should really be doing.
Laycia looked in the mirror and was still perplexed by the way she looked and what it could mean. She looked like an Elf. But her parents were Faerie. King and Queen Faerie to be exact. She had heard of changelings but the Faeries were known for doing that with human babies. Even then it had been centuries since the Faerie had practiced that barbaric act. It was now outlawed. Even then the Faerie hadn’t switched with Elf babies. Even more centuries back a Faerie had attempted to change babies with an Elf. They had been brutally killed by the Elf mother. Elves could tell the difference between their own and that of a Faerie. Or so she had been taught in her history lessons. Were the lessons wrong? Or had the Elves hidden her away? She scoffed at that novel idea. The Elves hated the Faeries almost more than they hated the Elves. No, surely that couldn’t be it. Could it? Maybe there was something wrong with her. Today was her birthday she remembered. She was eighteen today. The day her powers were supposed to ignite within her. Maybe there was something wrong with her powers. She had never heard of anything close to this happening to any Faerie before.
‘Stop it!’ She said to herself. This way of thinking was madness. No, someone had to have done this to her. She had no idea why anyone would do something like this to her. Some Faeries could change their own looks but she didn’t know any of them. She hadn’t heard of any who could change the looks of others either. Maybe a witch had given someone a joke spell. A not so funny joke at her expense perhaps.
Well, she wasn’t going to figure it out by sitting there thinking useless thoughts. A new thought popped into her head. How was she going to figure this out? She looked so different now that if she were to walk out her door no one would be able to recognize her. She also feared what someone would do to her if they saw her like this. Elves were hated in her land. It was a feud that had started with that Faerie mother who switched out her offspring with an Elf baby. When she had been killed by the outraged Elf mother a war had ensued. No one really won the war. Both sides decided on a peace treaty of sorts so the bloodshed would end. Leave each other alone and be at peace. No Faerie could enter the Elf realm and no Elf could enter the Faerie realm. It was a treaty that was still firmly in place. The punishment for breaking the law was death. Agreed upon by both sides. If someone were to see her they would throw her in the dungeon and kill her for sure. Then they would have a big celebration for finally being able to kill an Elf.
Maybe she could talk to someone through her door and convince them of who she was before they saw her. But who? Then she knew, her mother could help her. She was wise and kind and knew her own daughter. Even if she did look different.
She took one last look at herself in the mirror. She still couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Her hair was still that beautiful pale blue. Her ears were still pointy and her eyes were still like molten silver. She took a deep breath to try and steady her nerves before standing and rushing to her bedroom door. She had to call for Beth. Beth would be quicker than the guards at finding her mother. She still had to yell for a guard to find Beth.
“Guard!” she called through the door.
“Yes miss Laycia?” asked a deep and very masculine voice.
“Would you be so kind as to find my handmaiden for me? I need her quickly.”
“Of course miss Laycia. Right away.”
She heard the guard hurry down the long corridor to find the handmaiden.
Finally after what felt like an eternity Beth called through the door.
“My apologies miss. Geoffrey said you needed me right away?”
“It’s quite alright Beth. I –“
“Are you okay miss? Your voice sounds a bit funny. Are you sure don’t me to fetch the doctor?” Interrupted Beth.
“Beth, I don’t mean to be rude, but I really need my mother. I cannot leave my room for fear of getting anyone else sick. My headache has led to a very nasty stomach ache. I know it isn’t a part of your normal duties but I really need you to fetch my mother quickly. I need her badly. So, Beth, please no more questions. Just go quickly.”
“Yes miss.” Beth said before quickly scampering away down the hall.
‘Gods!’ Laycia thought. ‘ She always asks so many questions! Did she say my voice sounded funny?’
She cleared her throat and said aloud, “Hello. My name is Laycia.”
Her voice did sound different! Before it had been almost a high pitched squeak. Something her friend Lance endlessly teased her about. Now it was a beautiful sound. Like the sound of silk rubbing against silk, if you could hear such a thing. It was the only description she could come up with for what her voice sounded like now.
She walked back over to the vanity and sat down. She looked at herself again and marveled at the way she looked. She had been beautiful before as a Faerie. With long blonde hair that looked like spun gold. Her eyes had been hazel with little flecks of blue when you looked at them up close. Her new eyes were like twin mirrors casting an infinity of her reflection back at her. She stood and realized she was taller too. Maybe two or three feet taller. Faeries aren’t usually really tiny and short but they aren’t tall either. The average Faerie is between four to five feet tall. She had to have been close to eight feet tall now. She looked down at her hands and they too were different. They are more slender now and the fingers longer and narrower. She turned her palms up and flexed her new magnificently long fingers just to be sure that they were indeed her hands and fingers. As she flexed her fingers a small blue flame appeared just above the palm of her right hand. She stared at it in disbelief. This couldn’t be her new powers! This was not Faerie magic. No, this was Elf magic. At least from what she understood of Elf magic from her lessons. She knew no Faerie was able to do something like this.
However, the little blue flame was truly beautiful. It was a dark blue color that seemed to almost shimmer as though it had diamonds hiding in its core. It also looked more like a little ball than a typical fire flame. It was constantly moving. Rolling around just above her hand. She was so mesmerized by its rolling and shimmering that she didn’t hear the footsteps approaching her door just outside in the hall.
“Laycia?” Her mother suddenly called through the door. It broke her trance and startled her causing the blue ball of fire to extinguish.
“Mother! I’m so glad you are here! Something has happened to me. I think someone is using magic to play a cruel joke on me.”
“Laycia! Do you this is funny? You send Beth all over this castle trying to find me and to tell me that you are very ill and that you need a doctor. Now you are telling me someone is playing a cruel joke on you by using magic. Laycia, this kind of behavior is not befitting of a Faerie princess. Your father will hear of this young lady!”
“But mother please!” Laycia exclaimed. It was no use. She could hear her mother’s footsteps moving away from her door and down the hall. She needed to act fast because she desperately needed her mother’s help. She took the chance and quickly opened her door. She stepped out into the hallway and yelled after her mother.
“Mother! Please just turn around and look at me!” She shouted in a panic.
Her mother stopped walking and straightened her slender shouders. She slowly turned around and gasped at the sight of her daughter.
“Devil Elf spawn! You are not my daughter! You are an imposter! GUARDS!” She shouted.
“No! Mother please! I know my voice sounds different but please hear me speak. I am your daughter Laycia Anabel Christalle Beveretti. Daughter to King Augusta Langford Beveretti and Queen Angelica Rose Christalle Beveretti of the Land Rosemist. Home to all Faeries. Someone has cast a spell of some sort on me. Making me look like an evil Elf. Please mother, look deep into my eyes and know that is me, your daughter. Though they look different if you look hard hard enough surely you will be able to see that it is me, your beloved daughter.”
Laycia looked pleadingly at her mother. Her mother was truly a magnificent creature. She was a Faerie lucky enough to have wings. They were small but shaped like butterfly wings and were a gossamer black with little whirls of gold on them. Her hair was black with shades of violet throughout. Laycia used to be shorter than her mother by a couple inches but now stood almost three feet taller than her. But it was her mother’s eyes that captured a person’s attention. They were a blue so dark they were almost black with flecks of violet in them. She was breathtakingly beautiful. Her eyes, however, we’re the source of her power. She could make anyone fall in love with her and do her bidding. Laycia had always suspected this was how she had become Queen. Though she was a gentle Faerie and didn’t seem the sort to play tricks like Faeries typically liked to do. It also helped her help the king. When he had to make a ruling that no one liked her mother would use her power to smooth things over and leave everyone feeling happy and satisfied with the King. Therefore, ensuring that no one would try to assassinate the King and usurp the throne.
“Laycia darling? Is it really you?” Her mother finally asked after staring at her for what felt like hours.
“Oh, mother, of course it’s me! I’m so glad you can see it’s really me even though I look so different.”
“Darling, you must go back into your room. If anyone saw you, you would be put to death for sure. So you go on my darling girl and I will figure something out. I need to go see a few people I trust completely so no harm may come to you.” Her mother said before hugging her. Laycia thought she was imagining it but it almost felt as though her mother had stiffened at the mere touch of her. Was it because she looked like an Elf instead of her daughter, the Faerie princess. Laycia felt a sob in the back of her throat and could only nod at her mother before turning around and heading back into her room. She hadn’t realized just how scared she had been until her mother said she would help her. She needed her help desperately and now that she had it she could feel the floodgates about to burst open. She hurried back to her room and tried to think of who could to do this to her. She asked herself the same questions in an attempt to hold back the tears. Who had done this to her? Why would they do this to her? Was it to get revenge for something she had done? For something the King had done? The Queen? The questions were not helping her feel any better. She laid down on her bed and stared up at the canopy that she’d had since she was a little girl. It was fairly simple. It was pink with little white flowers and pink lace trim. When she was little she used to pretend that the little flowers were real ones and she would try her hardest to jump high enough on her bed to see if she could smell them. She never could, of course. She had been much too small to reach that high. She also had outgrown that little fantasy. She sat up suddenly and thought, ‘I’m tall enough now to reach the canopy just by standing.” This thought made her laugh put loud in her big quiet room. The sound of her laugh caused to her stop. The sound of it was like a magical tinkling sound. Like little tiny bells ringing. It brought everything rushing back and she started sobbing in despair and self pity at looking and sounding like an Elf.
“Don’t cry young one.” Said a deep gruff voice suddenly and seemingly out of thin air.
“Who’s there?” She called out with a quiver in her voice.
“It is I, Nightiron, the dragon. I’m right outside your window young one.”
She looked over to the window on her right side and stared in astonishment. It was the black and grey dragon from her dream!