The Assassin Princess (The Legacy Novels Book 1) (2 page)

The setting sun
burned its last embers across the meadow, hues of orange, red, and yellow swallowed by the shaded green of a nearby forest that lay in all directions but one. There, the dark and jagged mountains rose, the deep red creating blacker shadows, the footings loose rock and silt.

Ami rose to her knees, a hollow wind rushing through the long grass all around her. The air smelt of earth and green, and the shadows were as ash, fallen from the burning clouds. “What the—?” It was an all too familiar scene, and the impossibility awed her.

This was her painting. From the grazing meadow she knelt in, to the thick forest in front and beyond, and even the burning sunset sky. It was hers, exact and alive as she’d imagined it.
Impossible
, she thought, yet every sense told her it was real. The fear of only moments ago had been replaced with a curious wonder. The flat was gone, the vampire who’d entered it gone, the dark city around it a memory; yet there had been a second intruder. Ami thought back, remembering those last moments—the voice in her ear, the arm around her pulling her back…and then nothing, until her awakening just now. “It’s got to be a dream.” Yes, that was it. She was dreaming of her painting.

There was movement from the trees ahead and Ami stood, peering into the far away gloom of the forest, squinting to see through the red shadows there; and from between parted branches came a white horse, galloping the meadow toward her. Its long translucent crystal horn jutted from its forehead, capturing the sky in its spiral shape. A unicorn. It was not alone though, as riding upon its back was a hooded, cloaked man—the man she hadn’t painted.

The unicorn strutted to a halt and the man slipped to the ground.

He was tall, shadowed in dirty grey robes. “We have little time for words, Princess,” he said, holding out his hand. Ami didn’t move. There was a sword at his side, swinging in the wind and her eyes were drawn to it. “Come with me, we need to go now!”

“Hey, get your hands off me,” she said, but her protests were for naught as the man dragged her toward the unicorn and lifted her onto its back. “Who are you? What’s going on?”

The man pulled himself up behind her and held tight to her waist.

“Be still, Princess, and hold on to the mane. Hold tight.”

The unicorn broke into a gallop, back toward the forest, the ground beneath them shooting by in a blur, propelling them across the meadow faster than she’d ever moved, the wind whipping at her hair. She turned back and felt a cold dread sink into her belly at the sight of the distant black mountains, the sky flashing green, the steep climbs alive with falls of black mist that gathered at the foot. Swallowing trees and gaining fast, it was soon half way across the meadow.

“Xavier!” The man yelled through the wind, “Xavier! Protect us!”

Ami looked back to the forest, her heart thumping in her ears. The sky had already darkened, the sun’s fire waning and the forest a black wall in front of them. Between the trees, more unicorns gathered—tens, hundreds—their white coats ablaze with light, their heads lowered, their horns
en guard
. She stole a quick glance behind, the sky quilted in malevolence.

“I want to wake up now,” she screamed. “Please, I want to wake up!”

A moment later the wind was replaced by the swift movement of hooves on leaves, the scent of wood and moss. They were in the forest, dodging branches and wayward trunks beneath a canopy of leaf and limb. Ami let go of the breath she’d been holding, looking to the man who held her. His dark eyes kept a watch on the path ahead, his arms loosening their grip.

Eventually they entered a clearing where small shafts of dying red light filtered through the branches. It looked like blood. There was no sign that the black cloud had breached the forest, and the only sounds were of the trees—scurrying and chirping, branches squeaking.

Ami looked back up at the man. “I—I think I’d like to wake up now.” Her voice sounded small.

“There is no waking from this, Princess,” he said.

“This is so weird. I don’t want to be dreaming this. Am I in a coma? Was I knocked unconscious or something?” The man didn’t answer. She pinched herself, but it just hurt.

They stopped next to a cluster of trees and the man dismounted, pulling Ami with him. The unicorn bowed, turned, and disappeared through the trees leaving Ami alone in the dark forest with the hooded man.

The last of the blood-red light faded, and the darkness grew cold.

*

Ami sat with her back against a tree, her knees drawn to her chest, watching the man gather stones from the earth. He made them into a circle and then commenced to add broken branches, twigs, and leaves. With the spark of a flint, the fire was lit and the cavernous clearing flooded and flickered with an orange glow.

Though the heat barely reached her, Ami refused to move toward the fire.

The dream hadn’t ended, hadn’t changed, hadn’t done any of those
dream-like
things that dreams did. She hadn’t seen a clown having tea with a bear, or met her favourite band at a fairground; there had been nothing—just a chill that made her shudder, and the temptation of warmth from her strange kidnapper.

She blew on her hands, watching the steam rise and disappear, refusing to accept any of it. She’d sit there until she woke up. Of course, in her chilled protest, she’d figured out exactly what had happened. She’d exhausted herself, as simple as that. She’d been to uni, gotten home, painted until late, cleaned up after Julie, and fell asleep dreaming of that damned bird and vampires—her painting was her focus, and so it was within her dream. The only thing that didn’t make sense was that she still hadn’t woken up.

“Please, Princess, come to the warmth of the fire. You’re freezing.” The man was crouched opposite her, warming his hands against the flames, watching her. The fire played shapes on his face, revealing his eyes in flashes.

As her teeth began to chatter, hurting her jaw, Ami finally gave in and crawled to the edge of the fire. The man had placed his cloak in that very spot, and she took it, pulling it tight around her.

She stared into the flames, watching them dance.

“Who are you?” she asked finally.

“My name is Hero,” he said, and rubbing his hands together he sat back, the light holding in his dark eyes. “I was sent to bring you to Legacy, where I am from, where you belong. It was lucky for all of us that I reached you before
he
did.”

“
He
? You mean the vampire? They do exist then?” she asked.

The man smiled. “If they do exist, he is not one of them. He is much worse.”

Much worse? This dream was quickly turning into a nightmare, and she still hadn’t woken up. The fire spat between them, orange sparks flying into the air and rising toward the canopy of trees above.

“Please tell me, where am I? What am I doing here? Who are you? And who is the vampire, and what the hell was that black cloud thing? Why are we in here? Just…” Ami broke off, confused and overwhelmed. Tears sprang to her eyes, though she fought them back; the fire blurred everything orange.

The man sighed. “To answer those questions, I need to tell you who you are first.”

“Who I am? I know who I am!” She wiped her eyes.

“You are Princess Ami, heir to the throne of Legacy.”

Ami frowned. That wasn’t what she expected, though she didn’t truly know what she did expect. “I’m not a princess.”

“Yes, yes you are,” he said, looking down. “It was always going to be hard to explain, because you’ve never been told, have never known. No one knew. It is only a recent revelation to myself and our people, but I assure you that you are.”

Ami looked around her suddenly, her skin crawling as if someone was behind her, watching her. The man waited for her eyes to come back to his.

“I am Hero, Captain of the Guard of Legacy. The Guard keep the throne of Legacy for the heir, and protect the city. There is…much to discuss, and much you must learn. However, Adam will not make it easy for us.”

“Adam?” Ami shivered.

“Yes, Adam. The
vampire
as you called him. Though not a vampire, he is an evil and twisted man, a user of sacred power, now wretched.” Hero squinted into the fire. “It was he that created the storm cloud, using his power against us. Xavier was able to rally the herd in time, and it is the herd we should be grateful to. Adam is a shadowy part of history.”

Ami shook her head. “I’m an art student. I go to university and study art. I don’t even know whether we’re still in England.” If she were Dorothy, where was Toto? Because this sure wasn’t Kansas. “I just…I don’t care about princesses, legacies, evil vampire men and unicorns. I just want to wake up!”

Hero’s eyes were ablaze.

“You do care, about a lot of those things,” he said in a whisper above the crackle. “You paint them, you dream them, you imagine them. I know you do for I have seen your life, and you dream of Legacy.”

Ami shook her head, laughing in frustration. She’d love to disagree with him, argue her point, tell him that no, this had nothing to do with her, and it was all a damned dream anyway. And yet, what he said was true. In Ami’s earliest memories, her happiest dreams, her inspiration, there had always been unicorns and forests, bright colours and secret places, hidden and magical. But this was all just that, wasn’t it? Her imagination? Her dream? She was asleep. Had to be.

“Xavier showed me, let me glimpse your life, your hopes and dreams, proof beyond reason that you are the princess we never knew existed.”

Hero lifted a burning branch from the fire and blew the flame from the end. Standing, he came to her side and crouched back down. She shuffled away, but Hero lowered the end of the branch to the edge of his cloak and drew a large circle in black upon the fabric.

“This is earth.” He checked to make sure she was following. Ami nodded. “This one represents where we are.” He drew a smaller circle, just within the first. “And this one, is a different place, and this one another one again.” He drew two more circles, each just within the last.

“This outer layer is where you are from, and what you know, and who you know. Your whole existence is here.” He pointed with the branch to the outer layer and looked up at Ami before continuing. “The second layer exists in exactly the same space, but is a layer below yours. And the same for these other two here. There are an infinite number of layers to this world.”

Ami shook her head. “Each layer is a
reality
,” he concluded. “You are still on the same earth, but in a different
reality
. I brought you from yours,” he drew a line from the outer circle to the next one in, “to ours. If you have the power to
rip
into a layer, you can travel to any layer you wish.” He continued the line straight through the circles.

Ami considered the crude drawing. Was it possible? Could she actually be in another
reality
? She looked around her again, the
being watched
feeling acute.

Hero continued.

“Your father’s name is Graeme. He was the last Lord of Legacy.”

Ami looked up at Hero and then burst into laughter. “My father? He’s an illustrator.” She shook her head, but Hero wasn’t getting the joke. “He isn’t a lord and has never been a lord of anything.”

“Ami, all is not as it once seemed. I know this is a shock, but Lord Graeme ruled Legacy, as did his father, and his father before him. Graeme disappeared from Legacy and never returned.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying, what you’re talking about.” Ami stood up and walked far from the fire, back into the shadows at the edge of the clearing. The trunks and branches squeaked, sending a shiver down her back as the feeling of
being watched
grew stronger.

“I know you don’t,” Hero said, following her with his whisper, “and that’s something we’ll rectify on our way to Legacy.”

“Is this not Legacy?”

“No,” he said. “Legacy is a land to the west, a beautiful city upon a mountain peak. It overlooks all other lands: the Planrus Lands and Noxumbra in the east, the sea to the west, the Madorus Lands to the south, and the impenetrable forests of the Mortrus Lands to the north. It’s a beautiful and enchanting place. In the days of your father’s rule, it was prosperous and benevolent. Now though, Legacy is dying, its people restless. It has been my entire lifetime without a lord. We need the heir of Legacy.” He gently took Ami’s arms in his hands and stroked down them, his dark eyes hidden. “We need our princess.”

“I’m not her,” she whispered.

“Are you so sure?”

Ami nodded, whispering again, “It’s not me.”

In one fluid movement Hero stepped back and drew his sword, slashing through the air toward Ami’s neck.

Ami shrieked and closed her eyes.

Then there was silence, except the crackle of the fire and the sounds of the forest. When Ami realised she wasn’t dead, she opened her eyes.

Hero was on his knees, his face pained. A guttural noise came from him as her hand squeezed tight around his throat. She let go with a yelp and pulled away, yelping again when she found her other hand holding his sword.