Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Chaykeely - Book Two ❯ Chapter one ( Chapter 1 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Lying on the grass in the middle of the forest, Arietta sang softly to herself, calmly wasting away the hours before dark. It did not matter to her that outside the invisible walls that bordered Chaykeely and the mortal realm, wars were being fought, diseases were killing children everywhere, and time was going much faster for everyone. All that mattered was that she was lying in a silent, peaceful forest where the only sounds were the occasional chirping of birds. She was happy.

As the sky grew dark and the moon rose in the sky, Arietta found herself also rising. She knew that she had to get back to the castle, because her parents were expecting company. On the other side of Chaykeely there was another castle, identical to the one in which she lived. In that castle lived another king and queen, as well as their son. From a young age, Arietta had been told that she had to marry the son, Prince Devlan. The idea was appalling to her, but she knew she could not disobey her parents and the laws of Chaykeely. Resigned to her fate, Arietta brushed the dirt off of her dress and walked down the road to her home.

As she stepped inside the large dining room, she saw that both families were already inside, waiting for her so that they could sit down for supper. Arietta smiled

apologetically. “Father? May I go upstairs and change? I am not dressed for this sort of engagement.”

Her father nodded. “Hurry. You have kept us waiting for quite a while.”

Arietta quickly curtsied and ran upstairs to her room, where she was greeted by her servant, Aisling.

“Do you need something, Princess?” Aisling asked, smiling. Arietta frowned a bit, thinking that Aisling’s smile did not seem genuine, but she shrugged the idea off.

“Er…yes. I need to change…” She walked into her room and was about to go to her closet, but Aisling stopped her.

“You aren’t allowed to do that, Princess.” Aisling walked to the closet and selected a gown for her. “I was hired to do this sort of thing for you.”

Arietta sighed. “Yes, I know. Can I at least dress myself?”

Aisling shrugged. “Go ahead, Princess. If you really want to. Just call for me if you need anything.”

“Sure.” Arietta waited until she heard Aisling leave the room before she turned to the closet and selected a different gown. “I’m not helpless,” she murmured, putting the gown on. When she was dressed, she grabbed her hairbrush off of the table next to her bed and brushed her hair for about thirty seconds, then decided it was good enough, and left the room.

Arietta took her seat at the table, folding her napkin in her lap, and said nothing except for a small “thank you” to the servant who set the food down in front of her. Arietta looked across the table and saw Devlan staring at her. She frowned and looked down the table at her father, waiting for him to start eating before she could. When she did, she concentrated on her food, refusing to look at Devlan.

“Arietta,” she heard her mother whisper. Arietta looked up. “Yes?”

“Do you know why we invited King Wynne and Queen Aileen here tonight?” her father asked.

“No. It really hadn’t crossed my mind to wonder, Father.”

“I see.”

“Devlan, do you know–" Queen Aileen was cut off.

“Yes, Mother, I do believe I have an idea of why we are here.” He looked at Arietta. “They’re trying to arrange our wedding.”

Arietta looked at her father. “Is that true?” She whispered.

He nodded. Arietta glared at him. “Did you ever stop to think that maybe I don’t want to marry him? What’s the point in it? You want to unite both sides of Chaykeely, right? And our marriage will be that union? Well, you can just leave Chaykeely divided, for all I care!” She jumped up from the table and ran outside.

“Arietta!” Her mother shouted, but the king placed a hand on her shoulder.

“It’s okay, Keaira. She just needs time to think about this…”

“Are you sure, Braeden?” King Wynne asked. “I don’t think she’ll ever willingly do this, even if it is for the good of Chaykeely.”

“Were we wrong to pressure them into this marriage?” Aileen wondered.

“No.” Devlan stood up and started to walk in the direction Arietta went. “You weren’t wrong. I’ll explain it to her.” He went outside. Four sets of eyes stared after him.

“Arietta,” Devlan said softly when he found her sitting at the base of a tree in the forest. “Why don’t you want to marry me?”

She said nothing. She refused to look at him. Her fists were clenched by her sides as she tried not to cry. Go away, she thought.

No. He sat down next to her and took one of her hands in his, holding on as she tried to pull away. Is it because you don’t love me?

Arietta laughed coldly. Yeah. You couldn’t tell before? She tried once again to take her hand away, but was once again thwarted. Why won’t you leave me alone? She demanded.

Because I do love you. I want you to realize that. If we get married, I swear I’ll never do anything to hurt you.

I don’t care. With a sudden burst of strength, Arietta stood up and yanked her hand away from him. I don’t love you and I never will! I will not be forced to marry someone I don’t love!

You’ll love me one day.

Your arrogance is unappealing, she growled. Go away. I never want to see you again.

“But–“ he protested aloud.

“I mean it. Go away. Go home, and leave me alone. I’m going home, myself, to my room, where I know you won’t dare try to follow me.”

“Alright,” he said quietly. “Go then. I’ll tell my parents that the union isn’t going to happen.”

“Thank you,” she said, still walking away from him.

Devlan stood in the forest, watching Arietta for what she claimed to be the last time. He sighed and went after her to the castle, to find his parents and tell them, not that the wedding was cancelled, but that he planned to go to the mortal realm for a few months to think before he tried again to convince Arietta to marry him. He walked into the castle, and was confused at the distressed looks on the faces of his and Arietta’s parents. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Arietta’s servant, the pixie, Aisling, just walked out of Chaykeely without permission,” King Braeden told him.

“So?”

“Well, we have rules, you know. Once someone leaves Chaykeely without permission, they can never come back.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“So we have to change the key to get back in.”

Devlan nodded. “Okay. And while you do that, I have a request to make…”


Tired of years of serving under Arietta and the rest of her family, Aisling finally got the nerve to leave the faerie realm for good. She knew that once she did, she could never return, but she didn’t care so much. She knew that she could survive in the mortal realm much more easily than Arietta, Devlan, or their parents could, because she hadn’t been waited on hand and foot her entire life. As she stepped into the mortal realm for the first time, Aisling breathed a sigh of relief. “Freedom,” she whispered. Then she flew into a tree to make her nest.

For months she stayed in that tree. It was very big, and home to many animals, so she always had company. When it stormed, she didn’t mind, because she could magically conjure a shield to protect her from any lightning. She would have been perfectly content to stay in the tree if it weren’t for a series of events that caused her to have to leave.

First, Aisling was startled to discover the elf prince, Devlan, wandering around outside Chaykeely one day. She left her tree to follow him and find out what he was doing. To her astonishment and horror, she watched Devlan throw a rock at a robin, killing it. Her eyes narrowed as he laughed. He picked up the robin by one of its wings and held it before his face.

“Oh, don’t act like you had something to live for. Children? No. They probably tried to work you to death, screeching incessantly for food. Did you ever have any time to yourself? Of course not. You birds are all alike. Sure, you can fly through the sky. I’d like to be able to do that, myself. But you don’t even have the brains to comprehend how great that ability is. Well, you wouldn’t anyway, would you, being dead and all? But still, I mean…I’m the elf prince of Chaykeely. It’s natural for the elf prince to marry the elf princess. And this union would make everyone happy. But no, she has to be difficult. I mean, what good is having all this power if I’m going to be thwarted by a spoiled little elf princess like her?” He tossed the dead robin aside and walked to the nearest tree, where Aisling was sitting, pounding a fist against the trunk. “Really, though…now I’m only going to be able to rule the western realm. What’s so great about that? Oh, yay, I get the part of the realm with the rebels and the morons. And the dead parts of the forest, I can’t forget that. What is the point in ruling something dead, anyway? My parents should just give up completely. They’ve already proved how incompetent they are in ruling. It’s no wonder they want me to marry Arietta so badly. But her parents…why do they want us to be married? Maybe they really care about the horrible state the western forest is in.” He laughed mockingly. “Yeah, sure, that’s it. Right. As if anyone cares.” He growled and clenched his fists. “Arietta. She will marry me. I’ll just have to convince her…”

Aisling continued to watch as Devlan walked off, his monologue over. She returned to her tree, not wanting to think about all that Devlan had said or of Chaykeely at all. I left, she reminded herself, so I wouldn’t have to deal with all of this. She fell asleep soon and remained asleep for another six hours before a horrible feeling woke her.