Looking For The Key

Preface


“You would think after twenty six years of living you would know what it feels like to be in love. To be loved, to have that feeling run through you like lava through a volcano. But when your life is sheltered and all forms of love are withheld from you, then how do you distinguish love from lust, or revenge or any other emotion that consumes you from within. How can you ever be sure that what you feel is real? How can you trust?”


Chapter One

Trinity Star stepped out on the moonlit balcony and stared. Every night she did the same. Looked out across the fields and the small towns nestled along the valley which her home dominated. Lock Gate shone in the night. Every night she came out thinking something may change; something may seem different and catch her attention. But as always all was the same. The lights in the town bun the same brightness the clouds filled the sky were never quite the same but still lingered too long for the stars to put in any real appearance. The moonlight still reflected off the river in the valley that changed with the phases of the moon but still each cycle was the same. Everything was the same. For twenty six years Trinity had been alive she had never once seen the town close up, always from the balcony or from the pictures her father had shown her. But she knew every window, every roof tile and had stories for every family living there. The baker who, on a good day, you could almost hear whistling as he worked the dough, or the mother with the five children in constant task of feeding changing and caring for her little terrors. This made Trinity smile t herself the though of hearing a child’s laughter was something she had always wanted in her life. But now was not the time for that she had he duties to for fill and as her father had put it ‘it wasn’t right for her to want such things’ she had the purpose in life and she must never forget that.
Walking back into her room Trinity stared at the floor and tried to remember the last time she had been allowed even into the gardens of her home. It must have been a few years ago now. She knew her father thought he was doing the right thing for her but had never once asked her what she wanted or how she felt. To be honest if he had she didn’t know what she would say. Sitting in the only chair in the room trinity stared at the reflection in the mirror before her. Her hair brushed into a silken sweep of raven black. Her skin pale and luminous. This was her life. The only company were a few servants and her father and not forgetting the occasional visits from his friends. No one her age that she could talk to, really talk to. Till she was thirteen her mother had been her best friend but when she had died it all fell away. Now here she was in her room, or as it had become, her cell. Each day the same, every moment measured and clinical. Just ticking by second by second to each nothing. That’s what the future held as far as Trinity could see. Nothing.
‘Are you ready to turn in your Highness?’
‘Yes Sally, I think I am.’ Maybe tomorrow would be different!

‘Have you checked the fields to the east, Luca?’
‘Yes, Sir they have disappeared all of them. I don’t understand sir where could they have all gone and how did they know of our movements?’
‘They have been having us watched for miles now Luca. They knew we would not allow their actions to go unpunished and they knew we would come for them. Yet they run away like cowards. But in time we will find them and avenge the losses we have taken. Believe me when I say that Roth will beg for mercy when I find him I will hold is heart in my hand and stare into his eyes and he will beg. And once we have all seen him beg I will end this once and for all.’
‘Yes sir!’ Azreal patted his captain on the back and moved off into the darker part for the wood. He knew they would find nothing to the east but had hoped maybe just maybe they may have left a clue. Roth would indeed pay for what he had done. But Azreal’s knew that the longer it took to find his enemy the more chance of his homeland being under more threat. And now reaching the borders with Lock Gate he was more then sure this was going to end very badly. The people of this area were unaware of his people and the lives they led. And coming into this close a contact with them was something he had tried to avoid. But nothing was going to stop him in is act of revenge. He just prayed that his men could control themselves some were not as strong as him and his captain. But a few small incidents would not hurt as long as a mass killing spree did not occur then maybe they could get by undetected.
‘Sir the men wish to know if we will be entering Lock Gate.’
‘I don’t think that wise do you Luca? I was hoping we could get this over with without incident to them. Keep an eye on the troops I need a moment to decide on our next move.’ With that Azreal moved further into the wood adjusting his eyes to the blanketed darkness. Here the moon could not shine. The trees saw to that. Yet darkness was his friend and held no fear over him. This was what he had been borne into. The darkness and the loneliness it brought.
The lights from Lock Gate could still be seen in the distance. It had been thirteen years since his last venture to this realm and a time he wished he could forget in a hurry but it still held a place in him and created a sense of fear in him. It would be better not to be here but then Roth had known that he had know this was the one place that above all others Azreal had a weakness and a past that may be more of a danger to him then his current fight.