Perched high on a black shire horse just inside the Sevaille Castle wall, Jayne Dothan was being handed a crystal sword, which she inserted into the sword holster that was strapped diagonally across her back, and a crystal pistol she placed firmly into a holster strapped around her waist from King Sevaille. Atop her head was a crystal tiara.
Jayne was donned in a white mini dress and white sandals with her long black hair pulled back in a long braid.
“Are you sure you want to go through with this?” King Sevaille asked.
“You said yourself, Your Majesty,” Jayne answered. “Only way I can stay here is to hunt down the Darkness Realm Beast and kill it.”
“That I did say.” King Sevaille confirmed. “Any questions?”
“Just one.” Jayne answered.
“What is it?” King Sevaille asked.
“How far is the Darkness Realm from here?” Jayne asked.
“At least one sunrise from here.” King Sevaille replied.
“I don’t suppose I could have anyone come with me.” Jayne spoke up.
“Sorry, Jayne, this is one mission you have to complete entirely on your own.” King Sevaille said. “No more talk, young lady, it’s time for you to get going.” He looked at the gate keepers and added, “Open the gate.”
The gate keepers opened the castle gate. Jayne made a slight clicking sound with her mouth and Sire took off in a gallop. The gate closed behind her.
Sire with Jayne on his back galloped off towards the Darkness Realm.
Although the Darkness Realm was a day’s journey, Jayne could clearly see it from as far off as the castle.
After all, all she had to do was look straight ahead in the distance and she could clearly see the Darkness Realm waiting for her.
Jayne travelled the rest of the day both on horseback and on foot.
Shortly thereafter, Jayne and Sire reached the lake. While Sire got him a drink from the lake, Jayne sat on the grassy shore and rested.
As she sat there resting, a giant T-Rex approached the lake. At first, Jayne was nervous but the T-Rex simply looked at her and then leaned down, got a drink, raised up and took off.
Jayne looked over at Sire and was surprised to see that the horse hadn’t run off.
“That’s strange.” Jayne said out loud. “Very strange.”
Jayne looked into the sky and saw the sun was starting to set. She got up from the ground, walked over to Sire & mounted him. They continued on their journey to the Darkness Realm.
Just as they reached the farthest hill top, Jayne heard a man holler, “Hey, human, wait up!”
Sire stopped and turned around so his rider could see who was hollering at her.
Jayne looked at the bottom of the hill and saw Prince Vaille riding towards her on another shire stallion – the one they call Hercules.
Jayne stayed put and watched as the handsome, dark haired man donned in royalty garb rode up the hill to her.
The minute he reached the hill top, Prince Vaille stopped Hercules beside Sire.
“What do I owe this honorable visit, Your Majesty?” Jayne inquired halfway bowing.
“I’m here to help you get through the night.” Prince Vaille confessed.
“Thought that wasn’t allowed.”
“It isn’t.”
“Why do it?”
“I wanted to get to know you a little better.”
“Won’t your father be upset if he found you here with me?”
“He already knows.” King Sevaille said, landing next to Hercules.
“And?” Jayne questioned.
“Although I do not approve of this, I do understand my son’s need to keep you company through your first night here.” King Sevaille said. “But he is to come home at sunrise.”
“That’s fine.” Jayne said.
“You two had better find a safe place to spend the night, the sun is setting.” King Sevaille gestured, spreading his wings.
“I know a good place near here where we can stay tonight.” Prince Vaille admitted.
“Great.” Jayne said. “Lead the way.”
“See you in the morning, Father.” Prince Vaille said.
“You too, son. ” King Sevaille replied.
As King Sevaille flew off, Prince Vaille and Jayne took off on Hercules and Sire down the other side of the hill, through a small valley to an odd shaped mound in between two enormous trees.
There, Prince Vaille stopped Hercules and demounted the shire stallion.
“Why are you stopping here, Your Majesty?” Jayne asked.
“This is our resting place for the night.” Prince Vaille said.
“Okay.” Jayne sighed.
Jayne demounted Sire and followed the handsome prince into a well made cabin styled shelter. She was stunned by the fact that the shelter had a few of the necessities one would find in her own world. They cross to the sofa and sat down on it a short distance from each other.
“Interesting place you have here.” Jayne observed, walking about the shelter. “Why are we staying here tonight?”
“It’s too dangerous to stay out there at night.” Prince Vaille said.
“Why?” Jayne curiously asked.
“Don’t know if you have noticed but we co exist with dinosaurs here.” Prince Vaille explained.
“Now that you mentioned it, I do remember seeing a T-Rex getting a drink from the lake.” Jayne recalled. “Strangest thing though it didn’t attack me and I didn’t see the need to run.”
“Are you sure you’re not a light being?” Prince Vaille joked.
“I’m sure,” Jayne laughed. “But why stay inside if the dinosaurs are harmless?”
“They’re only harmless during the day.”
“Not at night?”
“Exactly.”
“I don’t follow.”
“Dinosaurs don’t see so well at night. Well, not these dinosaurs anyways.”
“If we sleep outside, they just might accidentally step on us.”
“Precisely.”
“What about the Darkness Realm?”
“What about it?”
“Don’t they go into the Darkness Realm?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Why not?”
“They fear the Darkness Realm.”
“I see.” Jayne sighed. “So where exactly am I supposed to sleep tonight?”
“You can sleep in the bedroom while I sleep out here.” Prince Vaille said.
“Okay.” Jayne answered.
Jayne started to get up but Prince Vaille pulled her back down. Jayne looked at him a bit puzzled.
“There’s a specific reason why I’m spending the night with you.” Prince Vaille spoke up.
“Why’s that, Your Majesty?” Jayne curiously asked.
“Why did you feel the need to stay with me tonight?” Jayne asked.
“I know you’ll be entering the Darkness Realm tomorrow.”
“That’s the whole idea of my trip.”
“Let me finish.”
Jayne nodded.
“The king isn’t the only person who had been inside the Darkness Realm, I also had been in there.”
“And?”
“You have a doppelganger.”
“I have a what?”
“A doppelganger.”
“What’s a doppelganger?”
“There is an evil entity existing within the Darkness Realm that can easily be mistaken for you.” Prince Vaille warned.
Jayne looked at him oddly.
“We both need to get up early in the morning,” Prince Vaille said, ignoring Jayne’s odd look. “We’d better call it a night.”
“Okay,” Jayne said. “Goodnight, Your Majesty.”
“Goodnight, Jayne.” Prince Vaille answered.
Jayne got onto her feet and went into the bedroom.
Prince Vaille laid down there on the sofa.
In the bedroom, Jayne laid down on the bed and fell asleep.
”’
The next morning, Jayne woke to the delicious smell of eggs and bacon frying, Jayne got off the bed, straightened the blanket and walked into the living room.
As she entered, Jayne saw Prince Vaille setting a tray of fried eggs and bacon on toast sandwiches and two glasses of orange juice on the coffee table.
Jayne joined him at the sofa, Prince Vaille gestured for her to sit down. She did.
“Hungry, Jayne?” Prince Vaille asked.
“I can eat.” Jayne admitted.
Prince Vaille handed Jayne her plate and then sat down on the sofa a short distance from her as he retrieved his plate.
Jayne ate her breakfast while Prince Vaille ate his.
Although breakfast tasted great to her, Jayne found it a bit odd that a man least of all a royal Prince would eat food from her world.
“How on earth did you get this and how did you know how to cook it?” Jayne curiously asked.
Prince Vaille looked at her and with laughter in his voice, he smiled, “You’re not the only one here with secrets.”
Jayne smiled and laughed.
They ate the rest of their breakfast, drunk their orange juice; and then did the dishes.
After a few minute rest, Prince Vaille announced, “It’s time to go, my lady.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Jayne answered.
Jayne and Prince Vaille left the house and mounted their horses.
“Good luck, Jayne.” Prince Vaille smiled.
“Thanks, Your Majesty.” Jayne replied.
Prince Vaille on Hercules rode off towards the castle. Jayne on Sire headed onto the Darkness Realm.
A short time later, Jayne on Sire stopped and turned back to Prince Vaille only to see him and Hercules vanish into thin air.
Jayne shrugged it off and turned back to the Darkness Realm. She tapped Sire and continued on.
The sun moved across the sky as the day got hotter and hotter. For the first time since she had gotten there, Jayne finally noticed the unusual color of the sky. Rather than it being blue, the sky was the color of purple with gold clouds.
Soon, Jayne felt a refreshingly cool wind.
A few hours later, Jayne reached the Darkness Realm but as she tried to enter it, Sire stopped and refused to enter the Darkness Realm.
Jayne sighed and got down off Sire. She walked in front of the horse and smiled, “Okay, Sire, I can take a hint. You’re free to go.”
Sire neighed and galloped off back towards the castle. As Jayne watched, the horse disappeared just like Prince Vaille and Hercules had done earlier.
“Okay, Jayne, darling, you’re on your own.” Jayne told herself.
Jayne sighed, turned around and entered the Darkness Realm.
Cautiously, Jayne began walking along a well beaten dirt path as she headed deep into the woods.
For the first several miles, everything seemed okay. Nothing out of the ordinary. So far, there had not been any signs of danger or anything evil lurking about.
Jayne continued walking as she went further and further deep inside the Darkness Realm.
Exhausted from the walk, Jayne decided it was time for her to sit and rest. At least for a short time.
Jayne was almost asleep when she heard a rustling sound coming from behind her. She jumped onto her feet, grabbed her crystal pistol and spun around to face whatever it was that made the rustling sound and found a beautiful young woman standing a short distance in front of her.
The woman slowly approached her with her hands up in the air.
“Who are you?” Jayne questioned, aiming the pistol at the young woman.
“Princess Issala.” Princess Issala announced. “You must be Jayne.”
“I am.” Jayne confirmed. “How do you know who I am?”
“My father told me you were on your way here.” Princess Issala confessed.
“Did King Sevaille send you here?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He forgot to give you this map of the Darkness Realm.”
“Didn’t know there was a map.” Jayne said, putting the pistol away.
“It’s not a great map but I think you can tell where it leads you.” Princess Issala said, handing her the map.
Jayne unrolled the map, looked at the rolled up map and examined it. But was a bit disappointed, the map she had hold of was not of the forest but a map of an underground city.
“How am I supposed to use this to find the Darkness Realm Beast?” Jayne questioned.
“You don’t.” Princess Issala said. “You don’t use that map until you’ve reached the underground city.”
“How do I get to the under-ground city?”
“That you will have to find on your own.” Princess Issala announced. “I gotta go.”
“Thanks for the map, Princess Issala.”
“You’re welcome, Jayne.”
Princess Issala stepped in between the trees and vanished from sight.
Jayne sighed and took off walking deeper into the woods.
As she walked along the path, Jayne discovered the woods was getting darker and darker.
Judy Kaye 2 