Angels

By Klare Miller

Inspiration from song Angel by Within Temptation

 Thunder crashed outside of the castle windows. Rain hit the window panes and stone towers
with an ominous rhythmic beat. Lightning flashed every so often always followed by a thunderous
boom. The wind howled outside Prince Cedric’s window. He sat in front of a roaring fire reading a book
his hands shaking from a cold draft that blew through the room. The crackling and the popping of the
wood and fire was deafened by the crying wind and falling rain. It had been a year and half since Caelia
had left the castle, a year and a half since he’d seen her. He was starting to have gnawing feelings of
regret about trying to kill her. When she’d become a fugitive for having the curse of magic he’d hated
her and felt he was played for a fool. He expected when he was unable to capture her that there would
be reports of death and a reign of terror would befall his people. Nothing of that sort had happened. In
fact only reports of good had reached his ears.

The windows in his room suddenly clattered open startling him. The wind swung them causing
the metal frames to smack the stone wall three times. Cedric collected himself and stood. He went over
to the window and closed them. He put the small metal hook down to latch the windows shut, just in
case another gust hit the castle. Cedric heard something other than the rain. It was faint but there. He
heard another person breathing and felt another person’s presence in the room. “Don’t even think
about calling for your guards they won’t hear you,” said a voice all too familiar to him. Cedric turned and
glared at her. It was Caelia. “What are you doing her witch?!” he spat out.

Caelia smirked and shook her head. “Still the same Cedric I knew a year and a half ago. I’ve come
to warn you yet again,” she said taking a step toward him. Caelia’s red hair was completely dry and hung
in tight spirals about her face; her blue eyes sparkled in the light of the fire full of passion yet so much
new found wisdom. Cedric laughed and put his hand on the hilt of his sword. “You think that I’m going
to listen to that lie you keep trying to force feed me. I won’t be tricked again! Lilith is not evil; the one
that is evil is you. You and all your magic using kind are menaces to our people!” he growled. Caelia
closed her eyes in disappointment and sighed. “You are a fool,” she said in a whisper. Cedric removed
the sword from its sheath and pointed it at her. “Now if that’s all you’ve come to do I suggest you get
out!” he said.

Caelia looked at him her eyes stone cold. There was anger, hurt, and dejection in her eyes, but
also there was hope, regality, and honor there. “The warning is not the only reason I have come. I’ve
come to tell you something. I feel you must consider this before you make such a rash decision to marry
this so called woman, Lilith,” she said spitting out the name of the woman whom she shared blood with.
Cedric sneered at her and turned away and stared at the fire. “Go right ahead. Say what you want,” he
said sarcastically. He didn’t want to look at her as her very presence brought guilt to his mind.

“When I was a servant here and I was taught that I was nothing more than a gopher. I ran about
doing what I was asked and brought you and your family as well as guests what they needed. However,
when I met you, you were different. You were a sparkling angel and I believed you were my savior. I
became blinded by my faith that I didn’t listen to all the whispers of my mind that made the warnings so
clear. I remember the smile you used to give me. In the end it was that very smile that tore me apart.
You took my heart and played with it like a child plays with a wooden top or puppet. Really you were
deceiving me right from the start…” she said through a lump growing in her throat. Cedric turned and
yelled, “I never deceived you!” Caelia shook her head and said, “Whether you knew you did or not you
did deceive me. You showed me dreams of you and me and then broke that promise. It was then I
realized it was all just a lie and that life isn’t a fairytale.” Caelia took a breath holding back the tears that
were now beginning to blur her vision. She sniffled and then laughed slightly and continued, “I was so
stupid that I didn’t see it coming. Then she showed up. The woman that made everything clear to me. I
know you don’t want to hear her name shamed or hear malicious words about her but she is a snake
that is choking you. She has made your intentions dark and in so doing your feelings for me. You’re a
fallen angel Cedric and why? Why are you blinded by this thorn of a woman in your eye? The reason is
clear. It’s the lust that you feel for her. You do not love Lilith you lust for her. Can’t you see it?!”

Cedric felt the power in her words. Caelia had never been one to lie and he knew that. The guilt
grew and grew until it was a great boulder on her shoulders. He felt like the fate of his kingdom hung in
the balance of this conversation. He felt the truth it what Caelia said but was far too prideful to ever
admit that she was right. He had felt the ominous and cold air around Lilith but had would continue to
believe it was simply a draft. “I’ve heard enough of this. Leave now or I will strike you where you stand
and be rid of your lies and accusations!” he commanded. Caelia’s eyes met his and a rush of cold air
howled through the room like the cry of a wounded wolf. She stepped towards him and as she did
Cedric moved to remove his blade, his right hand across his chest down to his left side where the sheath
sat.

“That smile tore me apart. The smile you used to give me. It took my heart away. The deception
started. I wanted the dreams that you showed me to be real. In those dreams we could have been
forever but now we have reached the end. To the south of your castle in the forest that labyrinth of
branches and trees the true angels wait for you,” said Caelia with a voice sad yet indifferent. She moved
past him and went to the window. With her back turned to him she said, “This world may have failed
you and you will seek a reason why but there will be none. You could’ve chosen a different path in your
life.”

Her last words hit home harder than anything else she had said. She was right he could have.
Cedric was stubborn. “No it is you that should listen to your own words. You have chosen the path of
darkness and deception not I,” he said indignantly. He would not hear of it. She was a liar and a witch. ‘I
must strike her down,’ he thought. With that he drew his blade and in a flash of lightening he charged
swiftly and quietly like a cobra strikes its prey. When the light from the lightning faded he saw that
Caelia’s eyes were only a few centimeters from his and she had turned the blade on him at its cold steel
edge was at his neck. She had used her bare hands and with her firm grip around the blade deep
crimson blood stained the immaculate steel.

“Within two days I will lead the angels to your door. There is no escape from them and will be
no mercy on her or anything else that follows her. Evil must be defeated. I will feel no remorse for this.
You may think me cruel but in reality I’m not. What you did to me was cruel? What I am doing is bringing
peace. If you survive and I hope to the gods you will, then perhaps you will see the error of your ways
and we can be friends,” said Caelia in a serious whisper. She let the blade go and took several steps
back. She smiled yet it was one full of sadness and grave disappointment. She turned opened the
window and jumped.

Cedric moved to the window and looked up and down searching the night sky for her. The rain
made it hard to see and his hair was getting soaked. He squinted through the rain and wiped his face to
see better. He then saw her; she was a body floating on the wind in the faint moonlight. She flew over
the forest and then disappeared, her words echoing in his head and her face imprinted on his memory.