An Unordinary Adventure of An Ordinary Girl

Your POV:

You looked up ahead trying to guess how far you still had to go. The journey to the mountains was far longer than you expected. Your body was already sore and you were tired, yet, the mountains were still far away from you. Your guess was that you were only half-way there, but that did not raise your spirits much. You’ve been quite on the pessimistic side lately. Not that it was very surprising, though.

You glanced down at the ground beneath your feet. It was covered in something soft and black, which seemed to be similar to ashes and you didn’t have even a slightest wish to touch it. Your stomach grumbled and you sighed. You were so hungry. What’s more, the effect of Leiru’s magic was wearing off and the pain from your cuts returned. Leiru mentioned he healed only your biggest wounds and you were thankful for that. At least you did not have any broken bones now, so you could walk freely.

Your trip towards the mountains continued and it was already late evening when you finally reached the trail that Leiru had mentioned. Well, you thought it must be evening as it got even darker and now you had troubles seeing where you were going. Your pace slowed down considerably, especially because the pathway was incredibly narrow and seemed to be walled in between high cliffs. Yet, your problem of darkness soon was gone as after entering the mountain trail, the bluish stone walls started to emit some sort of light. It was barely enough to see the road ahead, but it was better than nothing.

You sighed and cursed silently in your mind, climbing up, and the higher you went, the colder the air got. After walking for a few more hours you felt wet and cold snowflakes land on your face and body. The wind picked up and pierced you, freezing you to the very bone. Your legs seemed heavy as lead, but you still moved on for you knew you would never survive a night in the mountains. So far, you had yet to come across a wild animal or any other sign of life, but you were not up for a risk. Furthermore, you were already almost frozen from the cold and the snow and you were rather sure the nights in the mountains were not too cozy.

It was already mostly pitch black and the only source of light for you were the faintly glowing walls of the mountain cliffs. You decided it was the weird stone that glowed with the slightly bluish luminescent light and you were thankful for it. You weren’t sure for how long you’ve been walking but you could already see the path widen up ahead and you mustered your remaining strength, quickening your pace to reach it.

Soon you walked out into a sort of a clearing, which was still framed by rising walls of stone, but it was more spacious and it branched off into quite a few wide pathways. Your glance though trailed off to your right and you jaw dropped a little at the sight. The path ahead continued as a stone bridge which seemed to hang above a dark abyss. The bridge ended up right in front of a castle, which gracefully rose high into the darkened sky. Both the bridge and the castle seemed to be almost scooped out of the very same bluish stone and it shone lightly with a pale blue light. Behind the castle you could see the white caps of mountains and the blizzard that started not so long ago now attacked you with its full might, blowing snow into your face and sticking it to your body.

You rubbed your shoulders in vain attempt to warm yourself and trotted down the path across the bridge. Your heart was thumping loud as you wondered what you were gonna say to anyone who might answer the door. What if they don’t let you in? What if they shun you away? These whats and ifs were countless and even though you tried your best to calm down, it seemed to be impossible.

As you neared the castle you could already distinguish huge heavy gates, made of the very same blue stone. You noticed two figures standing on both sides of the gates and as you came closer, one of them stopped your way, glaring down at you. He was wearing black armour with blue tones and you couldn’t see his face due to the helmet he had on, but you could feel his intense glare on you.

“State your purpose!” The guard barked out and you flinched at his loud voice which seemed to overpower even the raging blizzard.

You gulped and realized your head was completely empty. Oh, why didn’t you think of this before? You shivered slightly, trying to muster your strength not to sound too weak.

“I… um, I got lost,” you finally whimpered. Your voice sounded meeker than how you wanted it to.

“We do not accept beggars,” the scorn in his voice was so clear it made you shudder. “For all I know you can be a spy.”

“I-I’m not a spy!” You quickly denied. “Please, can you just let me spend the night here? At least one night?”

“No,” the guard replied sternly.

“I beg you, please…” You shivered from the cold and the stress you were feeling lately. “Please, I’ll do anything!”

“Anything?” You heard a soft voice from behind you and shocked you turned around quickly.

There, a tall man stood, towering high above you. He was wearing a long dark cape which, quite oddly, had no snow on it, though it was snowing hard for the past few hours. You involuntarily gulped and you muttered something incomprehensible.

“Well?” The man asked slowly, his icy blue eyes staring at you with a slight tint of interest. “Do define your perception of anything.”

“Uh,” you stared at his eyes, locking your gaze with his, unable to avoid those piercing eyes that seemed to penetrate you to your very soul. “I-I meant work…I can do any kind of work and help out…as long as… well, if it’s not killing… or something,” you fell silent, realizing you were blabbing complete nonsense.

“Killing?” The man echoed, his velvety voice sounding almost like music to your ears. “Hahahahaha!”

He suddenly laughed out, turning his head up. You stared at him baffled, not sure what to do or say. His laughter stopped as abruptly as it started and he once again directed his gaze towards you. You felt him stare you up and down as if evaluating, his eyes trailing down and up your tattered summer dress and your bruised body still covered in some minor cuts that Leiru did not heal. You felt blushing and your body shivered as the cold gust of wind pierced you again.

You noticed the man frown and a shadow passed through his eyes as he looked at your face. Your heart squeezed in your chest as you quietly prayed for him to be merciful.

“Please, I-” you started talking but were cut off by his strict voice.

“Silence.”

He then raised his arm up and took off his cloak, his sudden movement making you flinch. What came next was a complete surprise to you - the man wrapped the cloak around you as blanket and you gaped at him both in amazement and confusion. To your utter shock he then suddenly lifted you up into his embrace and held you into his arms bridal style.

You let out a soft yelp of surprise and protest as you uttered out. “L-Let me go!”

“No,” the answer was short and stern and there was something in his voice that hinted to you he did not like resistance.

Still, you tried reasoning with him as he slowly headed towards the gates. “I-I can walk by myself… and I’m heavy and-”

“Your weight is of no importance to this matter,” he cut you off calmly. “As for your walking abilities,” he glanced down at you with a slight mock in his eyes, “I highly doubt them.”

You gulped, knowing he was right. You were walking solely on your spirit. Physically, your body was already numb with cold and tired out completely.

“Sir, but…” The guard intervened. “Sir, she might be a spy.”

“So be it then, but I will not let her die on the threshold of my castle, even if she is a spy,” the man answered and walked forward.

The heavy gates opened and he passed through them, carrying you in his arms seemingly with little effort. You stole a glance at him, your eyes trailing along his handsome features.

You weren’t sure who he was, but you were grateful to him beyond words. Somehow, you had a feeling he meant no harm to you, even though his eyes were completely emotionless and cold as ice. You averted your gaze from his face not to seem rude and instead looked around.

The walls inside seemed to have been made of the very same bluish material as the mountain cliffs. Still, perhaps due to the bluish color or to the overall emptiness of the premises, you found them to be rather cold. Some furniture was standing by the walls on the corridors but the little graceful tables seemed empty and lifeless.

Meanwhile, the man carried you across a few more corridors and ascended some stairs up into what you counted to be the third or the fourth floor. He crossed yet another corridor in utter silence and you were already starting to feel rather uncomfortable. This silence was almost suffocating you and you tried to strike up a conversation.

“Um… do you work here in the castle?”

The man cast a somewhat surprised glance at you and an odd shadow passed through his eyes as a slight smirk carved his lips. “Yes.”

“I-I see,” you muttered, a bit taken aback by his short answer. “I… I am really very grateful for… for your help.”

The man kept silent, his eyes staring at you again. You looked away, feeling more embarrassed than ever.

“We’ve arrived,” he suddenly said and you raised your head to see massive doors of the same bluish stone. The doors opened up silently and your saviour went in, heading straight towards a spacious double bed. He put you down gently and then glanced at you, his eyes boring into yours for a short moment.

“Stay put,” he ordered and turned around. “I’ll call someone to tend to you.”

You nodded.

“Um, mister?” you called out quietly to the man and he halted just a step away from the doors, turning to you.

“Mister?” he echoed, his brow rising up questioningly, as if he was not used to be called that.

“Thank you,” you said, looking at him, trying to convey all your gratitude through your eyes. It might not mean much to him, but tonight he might have saved your life.

The man stared at you for a moment, then nodded his head and left, the doors closing behind him.