What Ifs and Whatnots

And what if I'm a snowstorm burning
What if I'm a world unturning
What if I'm an ocean, far too shallow, much too deep
What if I'm the kindest demon
Something you may not believe in
What if I'm a siren singing gentlemen to sleep

“Goodness gracious look at the time. We’d better start getting Arianna ready or she’s going to be late.” Riann heard Mrs Hett flustering as light spilled out into the passage. Riann froze her hand still on the handle as Mrs Hett came out into the hall holding a candelabrum aloft. Several other shadows followed her and they bustled back up the passage. Riann watched them with fearful eyes, if any one of the turned around now she’d be seen…

The light of the candles faded away and the door was closed once again Riann blinked a few times in the darkness and sighed softly. Squaring her shoulders she turned back to the door and pulled it open.

“Arianna, how are you feeling? It’s time to get ready.” Mrs Hett called out softly as she opened the door. Two maids started lighting the candles around the room as Mrs Hett went to the bed and gently shook the lump in the middle of it. “Come on dear, it’s time to get ready.” She said pulling back the covers. The maids heard her gasp and frowned as they were bustled from the room, given orders only to find Oswald and Vermentino.

“What do we do? The master will kill us for sure.” Oswald hissed, wringing his hands as Luca searched the room, just in case.

“Vot can ve do? She ‘as disappeared.” Vermentino sighed as he paced.

“Vermentino! I see her!” Luca’s voice was panicked and they ran into the dressing room and joined him at the window where they saw a cloaked figure running down the long stone bridge over the vast canyon.

“The gates…she’ll never get through the gates…” Mrs Hett gasped her hands covering her mouth with her hands in fear. What would the master say when he found out?

“She should not be doing this, we have given her nothing but the greatest of hospitality and this is how she thanks us-“ Oswald’s low hisses were cut short by the sound of the bedroom door crashing open.

“Where is she?” The growl reverberated around the room; darkness enfolded the room as the three servants turned as one to face their master, Luca remained watching through the window as Riann started to climb the gates. The master pushed past them, knocking Luca aside and let out an inhuman roar as he saw her that shattered the window. Dark clouds gathered overhead and sheets of rain fell hard to the ground, instantly soaking it. Thunder and lightning crashed overhead silhouetting the girl as the wind whipped around her, threatening to tear her away from the gate. The master climbed out of the window dropping onto the roof below, he had to get the girl back.

I continued to climb through the horrendous weather that had come in a split second after an ear-shattering roar. The rain had soaked through to my bones and the flashes of lightning worked hard to obliterate my already impaired sight. With gritted teeth I forced myself higher, Red must have seen me, I could tell that this storm wasn’t natural, they couldn’t come in so fast and it made my heart quiver with fear at the thought of him being able to call upon the weather to do his bidding. Something caught at my cloak dragging me down and my mind panicked, I hadn’t realised he was so fast. I glanced down expecting to see his snarling face, instead there was nothing but the wrought iron bars reaching out, trying to catch my ankle. My eyes widened in horror and I quickly pulled at the clasp of my cloak letting it fall away. I heard another roar over the thunder and knew Red was close. Turning back I looked up into the rain and continued my climb dodging the gate’s iron claws that tried to stop me.

Finally I was at the top of the gate; I swung my leg over and made the mistake of looking back at the castle. The rain made it impossible to see but the lightning had no problem of showing me my worst nightmare. Red was charging down the bridge, his red cloak billowing out behind him and every second was bringing him metres closer. Riann screamed at me to get moving and I could do no other but listen to her. I swung off the gate’s iron bars and rolled when I came into contact with the ground. Using the momentum of the roll I ran as fast as I could away from the castle. Red’s roar followed me through the marsh as I leapt onto the cliff face that had landed me in this mess in the first place. My hands and feet scrabbled for footholds that slid away from me from the rain until I felt a rope hit my back. I grabbed it and was hauled up. Unknown hands grabbed my shoulders and pulled me over the ledge as a man’s face came into view.

“Are you alright?” He had to yell to be heard over the thunder even though he was standing right in front of me. I batted away his hands as he tried to wrap me in a cloak. Men started screaming and I glanced back down at the cliff where Red was steadily climbing up. The lightning flashed and my heart skipped a beat. His red eyes were boring into mine, two deep, fiery pits of hell. I felt myself falling into them until an arm wrapped around my waist and I was thrown into a saddle. I blinked, glancing around trying to get my bearings. I was joined in the saddle by the man who had pulled me over the cliff, I didn’t know who he was but he was saving my life, explanations could come later. We galloped off, ignoring the screams of man and horse alike as we felt an unimaginable terror chasing us.

We were alone, Red had destroyed the others, the forest shook with fear and neither the man behind me or I noticed that we rode straight into a trap.

The rope slipped over the horse’s bent head, pulling taut and knocking me back into the man behind me. We both rolled back as the horse sped on, I landed heavily on the man and winced at his painful cry. I hadn’t any weapons and my clothes would hinder all movement, my current partner was most likely dazed and had me on top of him. Quickly I rolled off him and glared at the bandit group that were slowly circling around us. He managed to stand and we stood back to back facing off our opponents.

“How hurt were you by the fall?” I asked him.

“Not enough that I can’t fight.” HE replied I nodded.

“What weapons do you have?” He passed me a knife. It was light and fit into the palm of my hand like my own knives had. Red still had them somewhere; it would be a shame to give them up. The bandit opposite me smirked when he saw the knife in my hand and raised his mace which was about the size of my head. I swallowed the trepidation that had settled in my stomach. I was good with knives, I could do this. I felt the man behind me tense, the bandits were coming closer and it wasn’t long before an arrow was loosed at us. We ducked at the same time and dove into the battle.

My dress was cumbersome and I suffered a wide range of injuries, mainly shallow cuts on my arms and bruised bones from where I was unable to move away quick enough. There was another roar and the fighting ceased. All heads turned as one to see Red twenty feet away. His lips were curled back in a ferocious snarl, the curled horns silhouetted against the black forest as lightning ripped through the sky. His cloak billowed out around him, showing the hard planes of his torso, tattered material hung to his hips and down his legs, his grotesque feet bare. The fear of the bandits thickened the air; nobody dared move as Red stepped forward.

“Mine.” He growled, those eyes never leaving mine but taking in everything around me. I gulped, I could feel Arianna trembling deep inside me, Riann was putting on a brave face but even she couldn’t completely hide the terror at the sight of our captor. I glanced around quickly; the man that had helped me was on the floor, trying to push off a bandit who had frozen with fear. There was the soft twang of a bow string and an arrow whistled through the air, aiming straight for Red’s heart. A soft cry ripped itself from my throat and my eyes closed of their own accord. I opened them again when more screams started to fill the air only to see Red in a killing frenzy. My helper was finally free and ran to me, pulling me away from the bandits.

“We have to get out of here!” He hissed. But for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to go with him…If I did then he would die, Red wouldn’t stop until he had me back and he would kill everyone who got in his way. I shook my head and priced my wrist from his grasp.

“Go. Just go.” I whispered, stepping back into the clearing and sealing my fate. A bandit grabbed me as the man watched, horrified. He was weaponless and hurt, blood running into his eyes from a wicked gash on his forehead. My arm was pulled sharply behind my back, a knife inching up my throat. Red stood tall, his claws crushing a man’s neck, killing him instantly as he watched the bandit behind me.

“Don’t move…or she dies.” The bandit said crudely. I rolled my eyes as Red smirked and dropped the body.

“You are alone. This is futile.” He snarled, he was right, but I could feel the tinge of magic in his voice, it made me believe him even if I had thought there was any chance of escape. The knife was pulled closer to my skin and Red sighed. “You are a fool.” His voice rumbled through the trees, I wasn’t certain who he was addressing, the bandit or I, and then Riann decided to show her true colours.

My head flew back as I ground my heel over the bandit’s toe. He cried out and the knife nicked my chin but he let go of me. Is ducked out of the way of his arms and swung my leg around before slamming my fist into the side of his face. He crumpled to the floor and I stamped on his hand until he released the knife. I felt Red move up behind me and span, scooping up the knife and swinging it around, bringing it across his arm.

Or at least I would have done if he hadn’t caught hold of my wrist in those wickedly sharp talons, I pulled my other hand back to give him a solid punch but he seemed to anticipate this and caught my hand and then my right foot, with the hand that had stopped my punch, when I tried to kick him in the stomach. Riann was furious. He smirked and then unceremoniously flung me over his shoulder whilst stepping on the bandit’s chest, killing him slowly, the agonising screams tearing through the forest and chilling me to the bone.

When the screams ceased Red walked away, back to his castle. Neither of us noticed the determined pair of eyes that followed us, already plotting another mission to the forbidden castle.