Layfia was a kingdom that was built high up in the northern mountains, it’s lowest regions lying just under the snow line, and it’s highest peaks above the clouds. It was a peaceful, prosperous kingdom that had avoided the many territory battles that had occurred throughout the land over the years, largely due to the fact that they were positioned too high up for a large-scale attack to be strategically possible.

For five hundred years, members of the Zhey family had ruled Layfia, yet six years ago that had all changed when the royal family had been assassinated in a cunning sneak attack. The culprit had never been caught, and even though a new king had come to the throne, the Layfian people still mourned the loss of the Zhey family.

“You’re not planning anything stupid, are you?” Reuben asked as the pair stood in a market square in the lowest layer of the kingdom. Layfia was made up of five key layers, with the top layer being the home of the royal family, and the lowest being the poorer part of the kingdom.

Kaieena shook her head. “I’m not planning anything stupid. I’ve just come here to get something that I left behind,” she answered before leading the way up the steep road that led the way around the mountain side and to the next layer. Her destination was layer four; the home of the noblemen. As they walked, a sudden gust of wind whipped past them, and although Kaieena didn’t flinch, Reuben stopped in his tracks, spinning around to find the source of the wind.

“What is that?” he asked, pointing at a strange wooden and cloth structure that looked like the wings and tail of a bird. Suspended underneath this construction was a kid of around twelve, who was steering the contraption down into the market square using his hands that were holding onto the frame.

“It’s a glider,” Kaieena answered, starting up the road once more. “When you’re up really high, it’s the easiest way to get down to a lower level. Not only that, but it’s really fun,” she added with a smile, and after watching the boy land the glider, Reuben jogged up the road and caught up with his friend.

“Did you have one of those?” he asked, and Kaieena nodded.

“Although my dad hated me using it. You know, princess and all. It’s a thing that the lower level people use, not the nobles,” she replied flippantly, dismissing the topic as the next layer came into view around the peak of a mountain. As they made their way steadily higher, the environment around them seemed to change. The lower two levels seemed cluttered and busy, the third layer less cluttered with buildings, but still full of people. In comparison, the fourth layer was like a ghost town, with only a few people out wandering the streets. The buildings were clean and large, and through the windows Reuben could see the many residence going about their business.

“So, where abouts are we heading?” Reuben asked as the young Shadeling princess retrieved the pendant from her pants pocket.

“Do you think that you can keep yourself occupied for about an hour?” she asked as she secured the Shadeling amulet around her neck.

“I guess so, but what are you going to do?” he asked with a worried frown.

“I’m going to meet up with an old friend,” she replied, walking off towards a building that was little more than a classy drinking hall.

“He still won’t remember you, Kai, even with the pendant,” Reuben said quietly to himself, before sighing and heading towards an open park area where he took a seat to await his friend’s return.

Meanwhile, Kaieena had pushed open the door and entered the drinking establishment, letting her emerald eyes scan over the crowd. A few patrons had looked up at her entrance, yet no one was really interested in her. Kaieena didn’t care; the person she was looking for was seated at a table near the back window, sipping on a mug of coffee and reading the local newspaper.

“Denahi Ramirez,” she said as she pulled out the chair opposite the man and sat herself down. Several other people looked over at them with fugitive looks, yet they were ignored.

“Can I help you?” the man asked. He had deep blue hair that was almost black, and he had cut it short since the last time that Kaieena had seen him. His eyes were a golden brown colour that sparkled when he smiled, and he was the first man that Kaieena had ever loved.

“I’m Kaieena,” she said. “I knew you about six years ago,” she added, yet even with the hints, Denahi had no recollection of who she was. The pendant allowed him to notice and remember her, yet the memories of her from before she became a Shadeling were still lost to him.

“I’m sorry, but I think that you’re mistaken,” Denahi said, only increasing Kaieena’s frustration. She had been hoping that, with the pendant’s help, she’d be able to start over with Denahi. Yet the man, who was now approaching thirty, seemed to hold little interest in the twenty-one year old.

“I’m not mistaken,” Kaieena hissed, slamming her hands down onto the table. “We were going to rule Layfia together. You told me that you would always be my king, and that I would always be your queen. How can you have no recollection of that?” she spat with tears in her eyes, leaving Denahi more confused than ever.

“Look, I don’t know who you are, but I already have a queen that I’m very much in love with. Queen Sophia,” Denahi spat back with just as much venom, and Kaieena was stunned.

“Sophia? She’s no queen, she’s a conniving noble brat!”

“How dare you speak about my wife like that!” Denahi all but yelled, drawing the nervous eyes of several other patrons.

“Wife?” Kaieena repeated with disgust, before she suddenly stood up and staggered away from the table several steps. “You’re the king of Layfia now?”

“Of course. Who did you think that you were talking to?” Denahi replied with a note a pure arrogance in his voice. “Now I suggest that you leave before I have you arrested.

“You used me,” Kaieena breathed in shock. “How could you? I loved you, would have don’t anything for you. I did the worst thing imaginable for you, and-“ Kaieena turned and fled as the tears that she had been holding back started to cascade down her face. Ripping the pendant off as she ran, she didn’t stop running until she had reached the park, where she collapsed onto the green-blue grass and let her tears fall unchecked.

Meanwhile, Reuben had seen Kaieena approach in distress, and had jogged over to meet her. She was curled up in a ball on the grass, with her face buried underneath her red hair, and crouching down, he gently rubbed her back in comfort.

“Kai, what happened?” he asked in a quiet voice, and Kaieena’s sobs stopped for a moment.

“He married Sophia Allyne,” she mumbled, before sitting up and looking at Reuben with her tear-stained face. “Denahi Ramirez, the man who was going to rule Layfia with me, became the king anyway and married that opportunistic witch, Sophia. He used me, Reuben. He set it all up so that I’d murder my family and be made a Shadeling for it, leaving him to claim the throne and marry the girl that he really loved. How could I have been so blind?!”

Reuben didn’t know what to say. Everything that Kaieena had done in the past had been a cunning ploy, thought up by the one person that she had trusted above anyone else; the one person who had stolen her heart so completely.

“You must have known that large-scale murder was cause enough to make you a Shadeling though,” he pointed out, and Kaieena snorted.

“But who would actually believe that? There’s no proof that Shadelings even exist, so I just didn’t think that it could happen. Denahi assured me that everything would be fine,” she said, before her bottom lip quivered and fresh tears started to fall. With a sigh, Reuben pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her, feeling her bury her hands into the back of his tunic as tears wet his shoulder.

“Denahi is a jerk, okay? Don’t let him get to you like this,” Reuben said as he rubbed her back, and he felt Kaieena give a choked laugh.

“He already has gotten to me. He got me out of the way, leaving he and his family as the next ones eligible to inherit the throne. He played me, and I was the fool who let him do it,” she explained bitterly, pulling away from Reuben who let her go without a fight.

“You’re not a fool,” he insisted, but Kaieena shook her head.

“You don’t know the full story. There was a foreign lord that had struck up an agreement with my father, and I was to be married to his son, Rowan,” she said with a slight smile. “Rowan became a dear friend to me in the time that we spent together, yet it was around that time that Denahi came onto the scene as well. I pushed Rowan away, and eventually, when I killed my family, I killed him too,” she finished with regret clearly written on her face.

Reuben looked like he was about to say something, yet he closed his mouth as he ran a hand through his glossy black hair, before his blue eyes spotted the pendant that Kaieena still held.

“What are you going to do with that?” he asked, nodding at the amulet.

“I was considering going up to the fifth level and throwing it off of the mountain, seeing as it apparently can’t restore people’s memories as well,” she answered, before holding it out to Reuben. “But if you had a use for it, then it’s all yours. I don’t want it anymore.”

“Neither do I,” Reuben replied, and Kaieena nodded before climbing to her feet.

“I know the perfect place to throw it,” she said before leading the way to the fifth and royal level of the Layfian kingdom. It was a cloudless day; otherwise the view off of the side of the mountain would have been blocked by the cloud layer, and the spot that Kaieena chose was a secluded peak that faced away from the rest of the kingdom, and towards the vast expanse of mountains beyond. It was believed that the treacherous mountains were the home of dragons, so no one dared to venture any further north than Layfia. It was unlikely that anyone would find the pendant after it was discarded by the Shadeling princess.

Watching the pendant disappear far below, Kaieena let out a long gust of air in relief. Turning to face Reuben, she gave a tiny smile. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Where did you have in mind?” he asked, and Kaieena shrugged.

“I decided that we should come here, so it’s only fair that you pick out our next destination,” she answered, and Reuben thought for a moment.

“There was a town that we passed on the way up here that looked nice. We could head there, and then decide our next move,” he suggested, and Kaieena nodded.

“It was the town of Akiros, right?”

“I think so. Why?”

“Best tequila in the land,” Kaieena answered with a sly grin, and Reuben shook his head at her.

“You’re starting to develop a drinking problem, you know that?” he said, but Kaieena didn’t seem to be listening; she was already heading back towards the road. With a sigh, Reuben followed after her, all the while pondering just how he should go about telling Kaieena the truth about his own past, and more importantly, what he knew about her old fiancé, Rowan.

That night in Akiros, Kaieena and Reuben found shelter in a stable for the night. The only horse that was in the twin stall stable didn’t seem to mind the extra company, and probably didn’t even notice that they were there. Neither Shadeling knew for sure if animals were affected the same way that humans were however, as some animals seemed to perceive them, whilst others ignored them completely.

For once, Kaieena was sleeping soundly, yet Reuben was restless as he fought against the dream that had surfaced in his mind …

His wound had barely healed, yet Reuben was furious. His father had gone against the plans to invade Layfia, and Reuben had paid the price; a sword through the stomach. He was lucky to be alive, yet that didn’t help ease his anger.

Emerging from his cabin, Reuben called out to the first crewmember that he could see. “Where are we?”

“We’re on board The Storm Wind and are anchored in the bay of Vernai,” the pirate answered with a look of apprehension. “Are you alright, young Reuben?”

“No I’m not. What happened in Layfia?” he asked, approaching the pirate with one hand gently held to the left side of his stomach, where he could feel bandages under his shirt.

“The Layfians attacked you. We only just got you out of there alive.”

“Bullshit. I saw the king and queen, as well as the prince dead on the ground. Why would the Layfians kill their own?” Reuben snapped, causing the pirate to step away from the angry young man.

“I don’t know, I just know what I saw.”

“And what was that?”

“You badly injured from a Layfian-style sword,” the pirate explained, yet Reuben still wasn’t convinced.

“I was making progress with the king in setting up trade between our ‘nation’ and theirs. It was only a matter of time before we would have been granted full access to the kingdom, and no one suspected a thing! The only one with any reason to attack would be my father, and it seems like he doesn’t care who gets hurt in the process,” Reuben said, anger flashing in his eyes, and an unknown sorrow constricting his chest.

“That’s not true! We had no orders to attack Layfia!” the pirate insisted; yet Reuben wasn’t listening anymore.

“If he thinks that he can try to kill me and get away with it, then he’s dead wrong,” he said before fixing the other pirate with his piercing eyes. “Now where is he?”

“I- I don’t know.”

“I’ve had enough of your lies,” Reuben growled, reaching for his cutlass.

“I’m not lying!” the pirate cried, yet Reuben attacked in a flash, slicing the pirate open with one strong blow. Heading towards the captain’s quarters, Reuben cut down any pirate that stood in his way, until he was face to face with his father, the Lord of all pirates.

“What is the meaning of this? Explain yourself!” the Lord bellowed at his son, who was bloodstained and gasping in pain as blood seeped through his clothing from the freshly opened wound in his stomach.

“I should be asking you that,” he shot back, leaving his father blinking in confusion. “Why did you have the Layfian royals attacked, knowing full well that I was in their company?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, boy! It wasn’t the pirates who attacked the Layfians, it was one of their own!”

“Liar!” Reuben yelled, before the whole ship seemed to quiver, and Reuben fell to his knees, his hands over his ears as a deafening voice filled his head.

“Reuben Tolisko, son of the pirate Lord, you have committed an Unforgivable Sin in wrongfully murdering the crew of your ship. I hereby pronounce you a Shadeling.”

Reuben awoke with a start, still hearing those words echoing in his mind. Wrongfully murdering. It was only after he had been made a Shadeling that his memory of Kaieena had returned to him, and with it, the truth of that day. In the wake of the princess being made a Shadeling, no one could recall for certain exactly what had happened; yet Reuben knew that it had been Kaieena who had attacked the royal family, and it had been Kaieena who had almost ended his life. Yet the young woman now sleeping next to him had no idea that the scar Reuben still carried was caused by her hand.

“Kaieena?” Reuben whispered, gently shaking his friend awake. “We need to talk.”

“Now?” Kaieena asked, rubbing at her eyes with a yawn. “It’s still dark out. Can’t it wait til morning?”

Reuben shook his head. “No. There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you for a long time now, but I never knew how to say it,” he said, catching Kaieena’s attention.

“Are you okay, Ru?” she asked, sliding herself up into a seated position. Reuben looked at her for a moment, before he lifted his shirt up, exposing his stomach to the moonlight. Kaieena could just see the scar that was on the lower left side of his stomach; a thick scar that glistened in the silvery light.

“I got this scar in Layfia six years ago,” he said, and Kaieena looked up to meet his eyes, unsure of what he was implying. “It was you who gave it to me.”

Kaieena gasped. “What?”

“It was on the night that you attacked your family. You thought that you’d killed me as well, but I survived, and was smuggled out of the kingdom,” he explained, watching as recognition finally dawned on Kaieena’s face.

“Rowan!” she cried, and Reuben nodded. It had been almost four years before the young Shadeling pirate had been reunited with Kaieena, yet the Layfian princess hadn’t recognised him as the sixteen-year-old Rowan that she had supposedly killed.

“My father was looking to set up a land-based kingdom of his own that would be safe from attacks, and he chose Layfia because of the mountains. He came up with new identities for both of us, and after I was married to you, he planned on attacking the rest of your family in order to claim the throne. With you by my side, the claim would have been legitimate-“

“You tricked me!” Kaieena yelled, interrupting Reuben’s story. “Just like Denahi, you played me for a fool!”

“No! Well, maybe at first, but I wasn’t going to let them go through with it. Kai, that day that I told you that I loved you, I meant it,” he insisted, yet Kaieena wouldn’t look at him. “Will you say something, please?”

Kaieena turned her angry emerald eyes onto the pirate, who winced at their intensity. “I should have made sure that you were dead,” she spat before storming out of the stable.

Reuben sat for a moment as the silence pressed in around him, before giving a growl as he followed after her.

“I murdered over half of my father’s crew!” he called out, stopping Kaieena in her tracks. “You’ve wanted to know for a long time now what I did to end up a Shadeling, haven’t you? Well that’s it; I killed them, thinking that they’d set me up in Layfia. I didn’t remember that it was you who had caused all of the commotion, yet I felt it. I can’t explain it, but I wasn’t just angry with the pirates; I was angry and upset over the fact that I had been betrayed by someone that I cared about. You tried to murder me, and although I couldn’t consciously remember that fact, subconsciously I did, and I hated you for it.”

“So then kill me if it makes you feel any better!” Kaieena yelled, spinning around and throwing her arms wide. “It’s what you want, isn’t it? Revenge for attempted murder, and for causing you to turn on your own crewmembers. Well go ahead!”

“Are you crazy? That’s not what I want!” Reuben yelled back. “I don’t want you dead, Kaieena!”

“Why not? All I do is cause problems. Layfia is being ruled by a pair of idiots, and the most powerful pirate to ever sail the seas lost most of his crew as well as his son, and it’s all my fault!” she yelled back, and in her angry state Reuben didn’t dare to approach her. “It’s my fault that we’re both Shadelings, and it’s my fault that you’ll never get the chance to live the life that you should have had,” she added as hot tears started to wash away her anger.

“Kai, I don’t care about that.”

“How could you not?”

Reuben smiled. “Ever since I became a Shadeling, the only thing that I wanted was to find you again, and I’ve done that.”

“But what’s the point? If I hadn’t have listened to Denahi, I could have married you, and we could have had a life together. I did care about you, I really did. But I was a fool, and I ruined everything. Now we have nothing, and no where that we can ever belong,” Kaieena said bitterly, yet Reuben approached her and lifted her hands up, gently kissing the back of her right hand.

“That doesn’t matter. Like I said, all I wanted was to find you again, and to stay by your side. The castles that we may one day build for ourselves will crumble and fall into dust, but I don’t want you to worry about that because there will always be a place for us, do you understand?” Reuben said, and Kaieena nodded with a slight sniffle.

“But where?” she asked quietly, and Reuben smiled, stooping down slightly to meet her down-turned eyes

“Where ever we are at the time. We may not be able to make a mark on this world, but we belong together, and not even those annoying higher powers can take that away from us,” Reuben answered, before tilting Kaieena’s head back slightly and gently kissing her lips.

“I’m sorry, Reuben,” she said as she gently pulled away, yet Reuben didn’t release her hands.

“Just tell me that you love me, because I still love you, and I always will.”

“I do. I love you,” Kaieena replied, nodding her head as Reuben smiled.

“Then I don’t need an apology. Just kiss me,” he said, and Kaieena gave a small grin as she lent into the pirate, meeting his lips with her own with more passion than Reuben had shown.

As the sun started to rise, and the owner of the farm came outside to collect the morning chicken eggs, bringing with him his two sleepy children, no one noticed the young couple that were embracing near the stable. And for once, Kaieena and Reuben didn’t seem to notice the other people around them either.

The End

Author’s note – Well, this has been a long time coming! Reason is that I kinda got over this story a while ago, and had to make a valiant effort just to finish it. That, and certain parts of the plot were giving me headaches. But, I got there in the end, and I’m sorry if it seems a bit rushed, but I really don’t care anymore. It’s done, deal with it :P

Anyway, one thing I want to point out is that two parts of the dialogue were taken from a song. “A Place For Us” by Tyler James, which is featured in the movie “Bridge To Terabithia” inspired a lot of this story (don’t ask how that’s possible) and the lyrics used are – You were always gonna be my king, and I was always gonna be your queen. And Castle we build crumble to dust, don’t worry, there’ll always be a place for us. I elaborated a bit with the second lyric used, but meh. I don’t take any credit for those particular lines in the story.

So, please let me know what you think, and I hope you enjoyed this! Bye!