Chapter 1: The Girl With Kaleidoscope Eyes... --------------------------------------------- Lenore clung to the wall outside the Empress' window, her thin, bony fingers digging into the crevices around the stones. The wind whipped through her short black hair, and she wondered idly how far it was down, to the ground. A long ways... Fall a long time. Feel like forever, maybe. Could be fun. But not now. She crept along the wall, spider-like, until she reached the window of the room next door. She jumped inside. For a moment, she was confused...It looked a lot like the Empress' room... Could it be... yes! A distortion in the space-time continuum? Maybe... The girl sat down on the carpet, and looked up at the ceiling. It would look better with something on it. Maybe the Empress would like it if Lenore drew her something, yes? She nodded vigorously. 'But I can't reach the ceiling...' The walls would do. Removing a small piece of charcoal from a pocket, the girl headed for the side of the room, and began to scribble on the wall. But the pictures she produced would not have come from the mind of a normal eight year old. They depicted fires, death, decay, tortured souls, screaming for help... The wretched faces on the walls demanded to be released from their torment, crying out with silent gaping maws... But received no mercy. And the girl kept drawing. More faces, more souls, captured on the stone walls... Soon, the wall was covered with the macabre figures. Lenore stood back to survey her work, haunted violet eyes taking in every detail. Her heart was pounding in her chest... The voices in her head had started chanting again. 'Burn, burn, everybody burn...' "Burn," she whispered. "Just like paper... Ashes to ashes..." She giggled, suddenly feeling frivolous. She grabbed the topmost quilt from the bed, and draped it about herself like a cape. "I'm the Empress!" she exclaimed, to no-one in particular. For a moment, she had a vague recollection of playing a similar game with someone she had called 'Mother'... But that was a long time ago. Mother was gone. She had burned too... "But no-one's going to burn me! I'm the Empress!" Lenore pranced over to the entrance, and swung open the large door, trailing the quilt behind her. "Right! Lieutenant Bunhopper! Get me some milk! Commander Pieface! Bring me someone to kill! Ahahahahaaaaaaaaaa!" She chortled happily as imaginary officers scurried off to do her bidding. Then, she froze, hearing footsteps behind her. In a flash, she retreated to the shadows to see who was coming, watching all with her huge cat-eyes. "And then, you just *ask* her!" A tall, dark-haired woman in a black dress was striding down the hallway, with a shorter, lighter-haired girl at her side. They stopped in front of the room Lenore had just left, and the black-haired woman put her hand on the door, about to open it. Apparently, there had been no distortion of the time-space continuum after all... Well, Lenore hoped that the lady would like her pictures, anyway. She had pretty hair too. But then, the woman smacked herself on the forehead. "Rats! I forgot the hors d'oeuvres list in the main hall." She sighed heavily, and then the two scurried back down the corridor, leaving Lenore to stare at their backs. "What's a horse dove?" she said out loud. The walls didn't answer. The little girl pouted, wondering what she had done to make them angry. Usually they were much more talkative... Suddenly, she heard a knocking. "Ah," she whispered, her eyes narrowing, "someone's at the door..." With that statement, she walked straight into the wall. She hit with a loud thud, then fell to the ground, rubbing her throbbing nose. "Now that's odd...Where'd the door go?" Her delicate eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement. She dusted herself off, realizing it was time to go home, anyhow. She wouldn't want her brother to get upset... Skirting the shadows, she made her way to the room where she had recently taken up residence, and slipped inside. She dropped the pilfered quilt on the bed, and sat down on it. The room she sat in was sparsely furnished. Most of the light was blocked by heavy black drapes. Lenore reached for the candle that stood on the bedside table. Taking a match, she lit it, and watch the fire dance before her. Hot wax ran over her white hand, but she didn't notice. She stared, transfixed, at the flame. Its reflection flickered in her deep black pupils. "Burn," she whispered. She lifted her other hand, and held it over the candle. "Beauty...Pain..." She ran her fingers through the yellow flame, unflinching. She thought of her brother, somewhere in the castle, doing Imperial-type stuff. She had no idea what exactly he did, but she was certain he was the best. She hoped the fire wouldn't eat him, too... She thought of how worried he would be if he knew of her expeditions outside. He was always worried 'they' would come and take her away... But it was so boring, sitting here all day... And she'd already drawn all over the walls. The candle burned out. Lenore laid down on the bed, crossing her thin arms over her chest. She slept, but knew no peace.