Run From the King

::FLASHBACK::

Night of the Engagement ceremony.
Celebrations have finally died down.

Tess lay soundly in her bed chambers, tossing and turning, giddy from the day’s festivities. Her thoughts filled with the day's celebrations. Visions of happy faces, cheers of the crowd, and Princess Eliza standing next to Klaus both with smiles on their faces filled her mind. Rarely had she seen an arranged couple so happy, most unions joined by duty were just that, duty, nothing else uniting the pair. Yet, the Princess had a smile so large her cheeks must be aching now, thought Tessa. She was happy for her friend and Klaus, for as much as the Princess had been smiling, Klaus could not stop staring like he was in disbelief. A thought crossed her mind...Tess wondered now that the Princess would be married soon, where did that leave her duties? She supposed she would be needed quite a bit longer, as Adrian was still unspoken for. She slept alone in a room that was snug between Princess Eliza and Prince Adrian. Keeping the prince and princess safe, that was her job. Forever and always, to protect the royal heirs.

As Tess’s eyelids grew heavy, she heard a knock followed by a pause then two quick-paced knocks. Immediately, she rose from her bed. That was a code between her and the Princess. Something was wrong. A young princess slowly opens the doors to the witches' bed chambers. The moonlight from the windowpane cast upon the floor, reflecting on the terrified Princesses face.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

Tess lights a candle at her bedside with a wave of her hand. The candlelight illuminated Eliza's face. Her eyes are puffy, her hair disheveled, her skin the shade of a ghost. If Tess had waved a hand, she was sure the Princess would’ve toppled over.

"Eliza, what's wrong? What's happened?"

Tess quickly steps out of her bed and puts her arms around Eliza holding her out. Looking her over. She puts one palm out to Eliza's forehead.

"You're not sick, I don't understand-"

"I need to leave!"

"What? Leave? And go where?"

Tess is fully wide awake. She ties her hair back as she leads Eliza to sit at the bedside. Eliza shakes her head.

"Tess."

Eliza closes her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose in an attempt to keep her sanity and her thoughts coherent.

"I need to leave. I need to get out of here. You can't tell anyone."

Tess looked at her bewildered.

"What are you saying to me right now? Are you getting cold feet? Your weddings tomorrow."

Eliza stands now, frustrated. She paces quietly as Tess looks on to her worried.

"Listen, Eliza. I know it's scary, but you're marrying your best friend. You've known Klaus your entire life. You've been in love with him since the day you met him. What's changed?"

Eliza turns to Tess one more time. She looks at her and speaks gravely, it gives Tess chills seeing her look so desperate in the dark by the light of the flame.

"You're supposed to protect me."

She takes a careful step towards Tess.

"You're supposed to make sure I'm safe."

"I..I know that Eliza.."

"I'm telling you right now. I am not safe. I can not tell you why, because it might harm all of us, including Adrian. Do you understand?"

Tess looks at Eliza for a moment. Her eyes were wide, her demeanor, stark. Tess bites her lip, before closing her eyes briefly and opening them to the same desperate girl in front of her.

"If I help you escape, will I ever see you again?"

Eliza stays silent as tears well in her eyes.

"I don't know Tess... I can't come back here and I don't have much time."

"Promise me that you leaving is the only way to keep you and Adrian safe."

"I promise Tess."

Tess sighs before walking to her bedside table. She held her hand over the handle to pull the drawer but stops to turn to Eliza.

"Be honest with me, does this have anything to do with your marriage to Klaus?"

Eliza lips part but closes quickly, her eyes cast down.

"You can stay quiet all you want Eliza, but your eyes tell me your secrets."

Tess swiftly opens the drawer and extracts a small object.
Eliza ignores Tess's comments and nods lowering her gaze to Tess's closed fist.

"What did you grab?"

Tess raises her fist and reveals a beautiful gemstone. Or at least..it may have been. The perfectly ovular stone had no color but reflected the beholder much like a mirror. It fascinated Eliza, a young princess, unfamiliar with the tools of witchcraft.

"This is what you need."

Tess walks to the mirror at her vanity and carves an almost perfect circle. Sparkling dust falls from the trail of the gemstone. When the ends meet, a dark black hole forms in the carving. Tess looks back nervously at Eliza. Eliza's eyes are fixated on the hole. She steps towards the mirror but Tess stops her.

"Wait! You need this."

Tess goes to her drawer and grabs a brown rusty key. She walks over to Eliza and drops it in her hand as well as the gemstone.

"The key is a Tolkin. It will take you to my mother's safe house. A friend of my mothers gave it to me a long time ago."

Tess looks over the key and her voice is slightly distant now.

"In case I ever needed to escape.."

Eliza looks over the stone and the key in her hands. Appreciating the sacrifice her friend was giving up for her safety.

She embraces Tess one last time. They hold each other tight before letting go. Tess raises her hands to Eliza's shoulders.

"If anything is to happen. If danger is to come your way I will send you Silas as a warning."

"Silas?"

Eliza was confused. Silas was the stuffed lion that clung to Eliza's hand as a child. The little lion was her protector and she remembered how safe she'd feel with him in her small hands. Oh, how she wished for that safe comfort once more.

"Yes, I will send him if danger comes your way. When you need to come back..if you need to.. Make the circle with the stone in the mirror, and make sure you have something with you from here to use as a Tolkin to return."

"Like what?"

Tess looks around frantically as she sees the sun begin to prick through the curtains. She notices a glimmer in Eliza's hair.

"Are you wearing your mother's pin?"

Eliza feels at her head and feels the diamond-encrusted golden daisy holding her long red hair aside.

"Yes!"

"Perfect. It's a family heirloom. Keep it with you, it will be the only way you can get back."

"Okay. So Tolkin, stone, circle. Got it."

"Wait!"

"We don't have much time!"

"You need to break the mirror. When you get to the other side, you need to break the mirror with that stone."

She points to the gemstone in Eliza's fist.

"Ok."

Eliza nods as she turns to step on the chair in front of the vanity mirror.

"Throw the key in first."

Eliza tosses the key into the black abyss. Soon, the black hole shows an entirely new vision. It's a quaint cabin living room.

"I love you, Eliza. Please, be safe."

Tess stifles back tears as Eliza steps up to the vanity counter and looks back at her.

"I will see you again Tess. One day. I love you. Please don't tell a soul. For all of our sake."

Eliza slowly climbs through the mirror in Tess' room and crawls out from the mirror in the living room of the cabin. When she's completely inside, she picks up the key and the rock. She waves one last time to Tess before hurling the stone at the edge of the mirror, shattering it to hundreds of pieces.

Tess flinches as her mirror breaks into pieces. The guardsman on duty immediately runs into the bedroom and finds Tess wiping away tears looking over at a broken mirror.

"Everything alright Tess?" Asks the guardsman.

"I'm fine, I just. Uhm. I just need some privacy please."

The guardsman immediately removes himself from the bedroom and Tess rubs her temples as she sits at the end of her bed. What just happened she thought to herself, had she done the right thing, she let the Princess run. But what was she running from? Whatever it was, it was obvious Eliza believed that even Tess wouldn't be able to stop it.

Eliza's legs get caught in her nightgown as she clumsily drops onto the wooden cabin floor. She glanced around, the cabin was dark, dusty, and quiet. Her legs drew up to her chest, and her arms around them for comfort. She was all alone. She left everything and everyone she loved. Her eyes filled with tears, and the only sound made that night was her silent sobs.

She laid on the hardwood floor for what felt like hours. She cried until she could no longer. She didn't know if she was going to get through this, no, she reminded herself she had to get through this. She had never done anything alone before, even in her own mother's womb she had her twin brother at her side. As time went on she had Tess, and then finally she had Klaus. Now in this strange world, Princess Elizabeth needed to be buried deep within her, forgotten. Being a Princess was of no use now, it was a death wish.