I remember waking one night from a dreamless sleep staring at the ornate wall my canopy bed was against, I laid there for a few moments trying to determine what had awoken me. When I could not find the cause to what had jolted me suddenly awake I decided it didn’t matter and turned over to face the room. My breath caught. It was then that I understood what had sprung me from my sleep, it was the silence. An eerie silence filled the room, normally sounds of the waves breaking against the rocks and the breathing of the sleeping gulls and sea creatures could be heard from the paintings that now hung in lifeless forms on the walls of my bed chamber. Even the forest of souls was filled with the same unsettling silence that filled my room. I moved the bed curtain out of my line of sight so I could get a better look at my chamber to see if anything was amiss. Yet everything was where it should be, the dresser was a few feet to the right of my bed, my vanity was in the far right corner with my mirror and comb, the door to my closet, which was closed, was facing opposite my bed. Though nothing was out of place, the silence stretched on and I couldn’t shake the feeling of terror at the oddity of it all. Why was it so quiet? Even at this time of night there should be some noise, some sign of life within the castle. I felt a nauseating chill run up my spine that made my stomach clench and sweat slide down my cheek. It was a whisper that seemed to come from nowhere and at the same time everywhere at once. It was as if the very heart of Faerie was crying out to me.

“Run,” it said.

“You must run!!! Flee! Dear child !!! Flee to the edges of the Realm!!! Flee!!!! You must get away!!! Run! Run! They have come for you dear child!!! Run!!!

So I ran. Out the door into the chamber halls, down the grand stairs, through corridors of the servants, into the kitchen and out into the courtyard. I stopped to catch my breath and wiped the sweat from my brow and looked around. Where were all the guards? The servants? The people? Where was my family? Mother, Father and my brother and sisters? Sorrow threatened to consume me when all I heard was silence and saw no sign of life. I just stood there paralyzed by the fear of what the silence meant. Surrounded by blooming flowers and the forest trees at the edges of the courtyard. The fountain was to the left of me with a statue of a nymph holding a flute to its mouth, usually water would shoot out the finger holes of the flute but tonight it was as if time itself had stopped. Then the silence broke with a low whistle, that grew louder, and louder. I looked around. It was then that I saw them. They road horses and carried swords at their sides and wore black armor with helmets of an ore of some sort. They held something in their hands that was long and wooden that curved out and in front of them like a sideways “W.” It was only when I felt a sharp pain at my thigh and looked down to see an arrow protruding from my leg that I realized what they were holding and knew what had made the whistling noise. Bows. They were holding bows! And the whistling sound had been made from the arrows that they had shot! I ran. All around me came falling arrows that made a “kathunk” sound when it hit the ground. I ran toward the forest thinking it to be a safe haven from the arrows because the trees would be obstacles for them to hit. I kept running tripping over roots and dead branches on the forest floor. My eyes stung with tears as I ran that threatened to fall at any moment. I knew that if I could just get to the clearing in the forest and cross the river there that I would be free. I would run to the passing place from this realm to the next and call for help. If I could just get there. The branches cut at my night dress and I could feel the warm liquid that gushed from my wounds and stained my gown. The bruises and scrapes from my falls ached with pain and the terror welled up inside me and tears flooded and stung my eyes as I ran. I felt weak and worn out from the pain. Only the of the hooves at my back drove me forward. A small voice at the back of my head told me that it was wrong for me to be the only one to escape. Why should I go when Mother and Father might be in danger back at the castle? It told me to go back. But I ignored it.