Another story!!! I still don't have a title for this one, comment if you have a good one. I finaly set comments so you don't have to be registered, just click on the comments button and type something.
<3 Kelsey

They had nothing to say to each other Kabira thought firmly as she walked slowly up the mountain. They would only try to stop her from doing what she now knew that she must. Zara, the princess and Kabira's best friend lay dying in the barren field below. It was a grim sight, the field littered with the bodies of the dead and dying. And for what? Kabira asked bitterly. They had fought, these last five years for the defeat of evil; to put Zara back on her rightful throne. Evil had at last been defeated, but there was nothing left for the good to own. Without a princess they would be back were they had started, those five years ago.

Yes, Kabira thought firmly I cannot let that happen. So she continued up the endless path to the top of the mountain, trying not to look back at all she was leaving behind. They need me to do this, she told herself again. If I do not, everyone and everything I love will wither away and perish. So she continued up the path. Her resolve almost crumbled as she glanced back once and saw Daran. The war had taken away their shared childhood, but not their love for one another. What will he do without me? She wondered forlornly to herself, but she steeled herself with the legends. It had been the same, all those thousands of years ago. Another princess lay dying in the field below, and another sacrifice had been required to create the kingdom she knew and loved. Legend said that as the princess had breathed her last breaths her friend had run to the top of the mountain; and cried unto the gods for her friend's life. The princess had been saved, she reminded herself bravely; and so she continued walking.

Memories fell onto her mind, like rain on dry ground. She eagerly soaked them up, reminding herself why she must do what she must. A childhood with Zara and Daran by her side, how she and Daran danced the night away at their first ball, the joy of being free and happy. Before she was ready she reached the top, her walking was through. She looked down for the last time, Zara still lay unmoving, close to death. Bodies still littered the bloodstained ground. Still her eyes could not find the other she was searching for. "Let me see his face, one last time" she prayed, and then she did. He lifted his eyes to the mountain, and although it seemed impossible their eyes locked; boring through the time and distance to reach each other. "Goodbye" she breathed to him, the wind whipping through her copper brown hair "I love you, both of you" she sang to the sky; the echos carrying her last words to him on the wind.

Daran never looked away, but suddenly she was gone. He ran to the mountain, praying that it could not be true. He ran to the top, his lungs burning with the sulferous air. But when he reached the top it was too late, all that remained was a bright red cloak; clinging to a broken tree. He looked over the edge into the boiling lava below, it's heat burning his face; even from far away. Daran wiped the unwilling tears from his eyes, no one would ever know where she had gone; all that could be sure is that she was gone... forever. With her passing a spring wind blew gently through the field, breathing hope into the hearts of the wounded. As he watched Zara rubbed her eyes and sat up. When he reached the bottom of the mountain she ran to greet him, a question in her eyes. Silently he shook his head, and in an instant she understood. Kabira was gone forever, he could never love another. But her spirit remained in the earth around them, healing the damage of the war. When the wind blew again it carried not just hope but promise. Promise that the kingdom would heal. Promise that Zara would reign for many years, returning the peace to her kingdom. Most of all the promise of happiness for the children of tomorrow, who would one day take the place of Zara, Daran and Kabira. The promise of a kingdom full of promise, in return for the sacrifice of one noble girl. But her sacrifice was not in vain, the future she gave up would provide a new world.