Part Two of Two~

Summary : Crown Prince Christian receives the biggest surprise when he receives a woman as his personal knight. But even more shocking when he finds himself falling for the strange Amynel. But will their love survive social boundaries?

Final Chapter - Part Two

I knocked gently on the door and was surprised when it flung open to reveal Phillip. His eyes were bloodshot and as he looked at me he almost sneered.

"What's wrong?" I demanded.

"You can't be present for the spell. It is something sacred. Do you know if they buried his body yet? Never mind that I can call it forward. You must stay in your room. Do you hear me? Bringing a life back is a serious enchantment. Dealing with the doors of death... it could suck someone who isn't part of the ceremony in easily."

I gasped. "Phillip... is... is this safe?" I ask, my lips quivering.

He took my hand in his and smiled down at me. "Don't fret precious." Something in the way he was acting scared me. I gripped his hands tighter and swallowed the painful knot that had formed in my throat.

"Promise me he'll come back," I whisper so softly I'm not sure if he heard.

"I could never let you down Amynel," he replies gently bending to my level and grasping my face. "Remember what I told you. I love you." He cleared his throat and took something out of his breast pocket. It was a wooden lark, his wings spread, his beak open. " I want you to keep this," he mutters as he hands it to me.

I stare at it quizzically. "A... lark?" I glance up at him.

He folded his arms neatly and leant against the stone pillar that stood tall behind him. With scrunched brows he looked out into the evening sky and sighed. "Larks... they represent a new dawn. Hope. That was the first wooden carving I ever made. A couple hundred years ago," he laughed, the sound of tinkling chimes.

"But... why'd you give it to me?" I couldn't help but wonder why something so valuable to him would find their way into my hands.

"I want you to keep it warm for me. For when I see you again," he said wistfully.

"You are acting very strange..." What was with all his riddles? All of his confessions? He smiled softly and pushed away from the wall.

"Go to your room and stay there," he ruffled my hair and placed a kiss on my head. "Bye now, Amynel."

Phillip watched as she walked away, glancing back at him very now and then, each time he lifted his fingers in a feeble wave. He had to make sure she was nowhere around. Dealing with the Death Doors was indeed serious. Only one other elf had ever tried to bring back someone from the dead before. He huffed a huge breath of air and lifted his fingers to his nose. He inhaled softly, Amynel's lingering scent assuaging his fuddled mind. He was doing this for her. For her...only for her.

He walked down the long corridors briskly. His long legs traversing a great distance as he reached the chambers. How long had it been since he was last inside of here? He refused to think of what had happened the last time he was of course.

Phillip hated inside of this chamber so much he felt as if his skin burnt by merely standing in here. He stood at the centre in the middle of the circle that had been drawn however many centuries ago. He stood by a pillar that resembled an altar and flipped through a thick musty book. Dust sprang forth when he hefted a large page over. The book before him held the various enchantments that had been passed through his family for generations. Each generation had the responsibility to add to it. He had already included some of his own enchantments. None like the one he was about to use though.

The page he got to bore the mark of a skull and he laughed at the corniness of it. "Really?" he murmured touching his lip in amusement. He flipped it and perused all the spells that lined the pages. There was one to be born again, one to kill yourself, one to cure someone of a fatal illness and ahh... one to bring back a loved one. Phillip traced the gold letters softly with the tips of his fingers. Three lines there lay...three lines that was about to take his life and bring back another. Phillip knew as soon as he had met Christian that he would have to save the man's life. It was elf intuition or whatever you wanted to call it. He remembered seeing Christian at first and a huge sense of foreboding had knocked into him.

Bringing someone back to life was a dangerous incantation. One had to replace the life energy of that person...and in so doing like any spell, the energy of the one saying the spell had their energy sapped. Phillip was anything but stupid, he knew death was imminent. He knew this was something that had to be done...something for the only woman he had ever loved in his life. Yet at that moment he felt hesitation and like an unwanted disease he tried desperately to shake it off. He didn't want to die. Yet the man who had gone had only lived Twenty three years...much less than he should have and much less that Phillip's age.

Christian had a kingdom to lead... one that needed someone like him. Christian had an unborn child... Christian had Amynel. Phillip grit his teeth and breathed hard gripping the pillar with his strength and feeling the dull concrete crack slightly. He sighed and let go and before he had another chance, he began to chant softly. His hands moved to the ancient spell casting techniques the elves kept amongst themselves.

Slowly he felt weaker and weaker. His life drained as he went from chanting to murmuring, from moving his hands wildly to just his fingers. He began to fade. His eyes felt heavy, his limbs dragging him down almost. Before him he could barely make out Christian's body appearing. He smiled slightly. Amynel...His Amynel...she would be happy now, right?

Christian awoke with a start. He gulped down heaps of air as if he had been drowning.

"Amynel," he whispered, his throat dry and sore. What on Earth had happened to him? Where was he? He lifted his hands and felt his inky black hair and rubbed his head slightly. He moaned and lifted himself. His back was incredibly sore. His muscles ached and he felt as if a ton of bricks had fallen onto him. He looked about the room and saw immediately long legs lying some way from him. "Phillip? Phillip!" he called and moved as quickly as he could toward the elf. "Phillip what happened?" he asked, cradling the king's head in his own lap.

"Christian," Phillip croaked. "Take...take care of her, okay?"

Christian felt his body shudder as a sob threatened to break from him. What had caused the powerful elf he knew to become such a state. He knew Phillip was dying...but he couldn't bring himself to believe it. "Who did this to you?" he asked angrily, tears slipping from his eyes.

Phillip smiled slightly. "You will be a great king. Raise your children well your highness. No more... questions now," Phillip murmured softly.

Christian sat with Phillip in his lap until the elf felt limp in his arms. "You will never be forgotten King Phillip."

That was when Christian saw the book above him. He gently rested Phillip onto the floor and looked at the spells. The one that was on the page was to bring someone back from the dead...and it entailed the spell caster's life to be taken. Christian felt his fingers...they were numb and cold. He stood frozen for a period of time, telling himself it was not what he thought. He couldn't have been dead...and King Phillip...King Phillip wouldn't have, shouldn't have given his life up for Christian's.

The last thing he remembered was his men bringing him back to his castle. He had been so thirsty and so, so tired. He held back a sob as he remembered when he had drifted off to sleep...off to a sleep so strong he felt as if he had now awakened.

"I...I died," he said with finality. "You silly King, your life was so much more important than mine."

Christian heaved air into him and tried to calm himself. He had to find Amynel. Where was she? He glanced at the lifeless form of King Phillip and then made his way out of the room. As he passed through the door's he knew where he was, back in Phillip's castle. He walked down the corridor slowly, his legs feeling wobbly and tired. It felt like days since he last moved them and with a shudder he realised that was possibly the truth. He walked down without purpose he felt. He had never been to this part of the castle, how was he to find her?

"I think I can help your highness," spoke a voice so similar to Phillip's that Christian had to spin around immediately. Which his body did not like apparently, he instantly felt dizzy.

"Phillip?" Christian asked. The elf before him was Phillip...how...

"No your highness, My name is Faen, I am Phillip's younger brother, here to take control of his affairs.. his castle," he said sadly.

Upon further inspection the elf before him did seem slightly different from Phillip. His nose was higher, his hair not as long and if possible he was even taller. He also had a scar upon his left cheek that ran from the edge of his lips to the beginning of his nose.

"I got that when Phillip and I used to wrestle each other as young boys," He whispered. Christian felt the worse kind of human at that point. Faen looked sadder than any man he had ever seen and it was all his fault.

"Not all your fault...Phillip, he told me of this before. He did it for Amynel, who I think you should be going to now. Come on, I'll take you to her."

With that the elf strode past him and walked forward, Christian following slowly.

"It seems like you are to be a new king and so am I, we have things in common young King," Faen spoke as they walked.

They reached her room and Christian walked toward it when Faen opened the door.

"Faen, you're ba..." Amynel trailed off when she turned around. Tears fell down her face and she rushed toward Christian who immediately wrapped his arms around her. She sobbed into his shirt and clung to him gripping him tightly.

"Amynel," he murmured, tears running down his face as well. He breathed in the scent of her hair; he touched her soft skin and pulled away so that he could look into her beautiful eyes. "I love you," he pulled her into a searing kiss that had his heart jumping out of chest.

She sobbed as he pulled away and looked him dead in the eye. "Promise me you won't ever try that kind of shit again," she smiled softly. "I love you too...I couldn't bear a life without you Christian, I'd quicker kill myself," she said softly into his chest.

"Don't say those kinds of things El," he hushed her.

"Where's Phillip?" she asked him quietly after a while. She pulled back and looked up into his face when he didn't answer. "He...he's not here is he?" she asked in a broken whisper. Christian bent his head to hers and shook his head sadly. She closed her eyes tightly and fresh tears burst from her eyes.

He held her through her tears and whispered soothing words into her hair. Truth be told he wanted to curl up and cry too. The King that gave his life for Christian... He had felt something stir within him, just like that time when he had given up all hope and the rain had begun to fall. He felt King Phillip, just not around him, but in him. He smiled softly at the thought, gripping Amynel still. "It's okay my love."

Amynel turned her head slightly and stared out the window when all her tears had finished, she really believed that between Christian and Phillip she had no more tears left. She looked into the night sky...it had just begun to turn to morning when a bird chirped... it flew and came onto the windowsill and Amynel felt a smile tug onto her lips. A lark rested there, gazing at her with knowledge and recognition. It bowed its head and in one movement flew away. She snuggled further into Christian and smiled. It was now a new dawn.

Well...that's a wrap? Epilogue might be up soon :) It took a while but Amynel's story is mostly done, hope you guys enjoyed it :)