Through the Eyes of Red

Chapter 1

    That was horrible, I thought as I was running. I’d just crashed a ball showing up as Countess Steel, whom at the moment was very ill with her husband at her side. They lived so very far away and had never come to the palace, so no one knew what they looked like at all. I’d worn a glittering emerald dress with my red hair twirled and curled, fingers and lips red as fresh blood, with my silver snake whip curled around my right arm like a bracelet. When the Steward announced my cover name, seeming how I had arrived late, every head in the ballroom was turned, looking up at me. Slowly I started my descent trying desperately to hide my black riding boots from sight and just as the ball had stopped, the ball was in a moving motion again.

    I had received information on an ambush on the King Henry’s castle the night of the Grand Feast. So dressed up as Countess Steel, I blended in perfectly with the crowd. The moment my feet touched the last step a handsome young man with close cut brunette hair, light blue eyes, and high royal cheekbones steps out of the wave of ladies crowding in around him. Typical Prince Eric and what do you know a second later his twin brother Prince Derek steps out of the same crowd of ladies. Both had their eyes set on one person, me. Before Derek even had a chance to speak Eric swooped in for the catch.

    “Would you grant me the honor of dancing with you, my lady?” Eric stated rather than asked in a boyish playful tone.

    With a plastered smile carved onto my face I said, “Why not.”

    With a spark of defiance flickering in his eyes he tugged me out onto the dance floor, right into the middle of everyone. Perfect, I thought as a smile escaped from my lips, now I can see everything perfectly, just perfect. All throughout the time I spent dancing I was watching the crowd around me and the groups of people upon the balcony above for any sign of someone standing out, not part of the group.

    “You seem to be looking for someone, the Princess perhaps?” he teased in a deep voice.

    “Oh, yes I had heard that each prince was just as handsome as the other and I had some badly wanted to see them for myself, but to no end I have not seen them.” I said with fake disappointment tracing my voice.

    A devilish smile slide across his face like he thought he might have at me later this evening.  What a fool he is, what girl in the whole kingdom wouldn’t know what his brother or him looked like. He is twice a fool, if some little commoner like me knew that on this very night an attack was planned then surely his soldiers would know too, right?

    “You don’t seem to be enjoying your visit here Countess, why is that so? Just say the word and you can have anything your heart desires.” He insisted, pestering me even further.

    “Oh, I’m not bored dear Prince Eric, just waiting for something exciting to happen.”

    That’s when a white hand placed itself onto Eric’s shoulder.

    “May I, my lady?” Prince Derek asked as he held his other hand out to me, watching me intently with his vivid emerald eyes.

    I could feel anger radiating off of Eric, so quickly I said “You may.”

Derek then drew me away from Eric and his menacing gaze before he erupted. Out and around the crowd we danced until we were only a yard or two from their Majesties their selves.

    “Are you enjoying your visit in my father’s castle?” Derek asked, tilting his head slightly to the side.  

    Before I could answer I saw a moment out of the corner of my eye that did not seem to be moving to the music. Then I saw a tall man dressed as a waiter draw a short knife out of his sleeve and was advancing toward us.

Closer and closer the assassin came until finally I commanded “Spin me and take three steps back.” Derek stared at me confused, “Just do it, do it now, hurry.”

Quickly Prince Derek spun me and took one, two, and three steps back and as the assassin tried to step by me I threw out my hand and slammed it sideways into his throat. Down the assassin fell gasping for breath as he held his throat.

“Bitch!” he snarled as he leaped towards me, knife in hand.

The knife sliced right through the inch and a half fabric of my dress like it was cutting through cheese. He swung at my head with his sharp gleaming; silver knife and I dropped down to my knees, flung the dress over my head to reveal my black riding outfit and twirled the dress up into my right hand then into the assassins face.

“That was my favorite dress and you ripped it plum up.” I growled in fake anger.

Twirling the dress around and around until the man was wrapped like a present from head to toe and added a touch of magic to make it extra tight. I grabbed the silver, emerald encrusted knife lying at my feet and tucked it into my belt pouch.

“I think I’ll keep this as payment for my best dress.”

Then four other men came running at me and with a flip of my wrist my silver snake, Zula, whipped her way out of her coil on my arm. With one vivid motion all four men came crashing to the ground clutching their faces, screaming in pain. One remaining assassin stood before me with two throwing knives in hand.  A deadly smile spread across his scared face as he threw one black knife at me and the other at the King and Queen, who now were standing, shock displayed plainly upon their faces.

Focusing solely on the knives, I felt my muscles relaxed and my eyesight narrowed in concentration. As fast as lighting I snatch one knife out of the air and whirled it back to its owner. Then I flicked Zula in two measuring circles and pressed a small scale at her tail and she grew to ten feet of pure silver snake fury. Zula reached into the air and knocked the flying projectile away from the King and Queen, onto the floor; but close enough to the King for him to flinch away from her deadly bite. Finally a few of the numb skull guards came and shackled the five men. Before they could take them away I grabbed the warped assassin and shook him hard as Zula curled herself back around my arm.

“Who sent you? Who are you working for?” I demanded.

The older, wrapped man flinched away from me, but did not answer my question. I went to each of the other men and demanded the same, but still came up with nothing. Frustration began to grow within me and that’s when I felt a shackle slapped onto my left wrist. Seconds later that poor soul who was attached to the other end went sailing over my shoulder to say hello to the ground with his face. And as I looked up from tossing the poor guy, I come face to face with Prince Derek looking at me in slight amazement, but mostly surprise; at the moment he was not as important as not being caught so I backed away from him as the palace guards began to surround me, blocking his view, so I turned my attention back to the palace guards.

Shackle dangling from my wrist and castle guards surrounding me, I thought “Ahh Shit.” They all pounced at the same time, but none of them laid one hand on me as I leaped up and jumped from one man’s back to another. I bet they felt like fools; all the kings men couldn’t caught a young girl smaller than them. Zigzagging and dodging through the crowd I heard whoops and hollers, “run, Red run!” Red a nickname that the people of this kingdom gave me when I continuously did little favors or acts of justice; considering I’ve stolen plenty of tax money to give back to poor families. No one knows my name and for that reason I obtained the nickname from my flaming hair. Over the crowd whoops and hollers I could hear Derek calling for his men to stop chasing me, but it seems to me that they either couldn’t hear him or weren’t paying any attention since he was the younger of the two princes and Eric was yelling at them to get me.

I could hear heavy footsteps falling behind me. Over cobblestones of the flower garden, through the soldier barracks, and out into the greening horse pastor I ran, still being pursued. With one sharp piercing whistle my sleek black mustang raced towards me through the crowd of stallions and ponies. As soon as she shot by me I jumped onto her back and grabbed a handful of her pure white mane and we tore off into the forests listening to castle guards yelling and shouting orders. Through the Taliane Forest, Midnight and I raced away from the castle, the city, and the princes; back into the world we called home.

Chapter 2

Racing through the forest a low hanging tree branch slapped into my face making it hard to see, but I trusted that Midnight knew where she was going. All of a sudden arrows flew overhead and slammed into trees all around us. We burst from the forest onto the river bank. Midnight’s breath turned into laboring heaves and her hooves slid into a muddy river bank. Into the river we went, Midnight barely holding her head above the water and me barely able to keep a hold on Midnight as the rushing river current pulled us farther downstream. I could feel Midnights hooves hit the muddy bed of the river as she was rising onto the other side, but she was holding too much weight to be able to get out and she continued to slide right back down into the muddy river. Too tired to hold on I let her go and knew she would be alright without me. Midnight gave one last try at the muddy bank and I pushed her from behind and up she went. Once she was on the soft earth of the bank; Midnight turned her big black head, noticing I was not on her back and neighed loudly.

That was the last thing I saw before the current overwhelmed me and pulled me under. The heavy weight of icy cold water pushed down on my chest, and my mouth; muffling my cries. I had no energy to swim to the top, and even if I could have the rapids would have just pulled me under again. So I just closed my eyes and listened to the roar of the raging river around me. Blackness enveloped my mind, my eyes, and my very being. I could not feel anything; it was like floating in nothingness forever, never ending.

Chapter 3

Pain, pain, and more pain was all I felt. I could feel something heavy smashing into my chest pushing the icy cold water from my lungs. Then soft lips press to mine to fill me with air. Sputtering and coughing I opened my dark green eyes to see a man’s face close to mine and his piercing brown eyes staring at me like daggers. I sat up quickly and darted away from the muscular, blonde staring down at me. Only to be surrounded by more people.  I sat there watching and waiting for one of them to make a move. Then I heard the sound of hooves hammering the ground and knew they were coming.

“Run. Hurry up girl, run.” Said an elderly lady who was looking at me with her small gray beady eyes, “Stephan, help her to get further into the forest.”

“Elder, the royals are hunting for her and there is no reason to put the whole village in danger for one stupid girl who likes to break the laws.” Stated the blond, young man.

“I don’t need your help. Just let me be.” I stated bluntly to Stephan, who looked about, my age if not a little older.

“There, you see she doesn’t need our help at all.” Stephan said sarcastically.

The Elder and Stephan continued to argue back and forth, and the villagers gathered around me in a circle just staring at me, and I could hear the yells of soldiers drawing closer, getting louder. Slowly I sat up and watched everyone around me carefully, making sure none would try to stop me. I rose to me feet and found that I didn’t feel too great; taking an experimental step forward it felt like a hundred pound block was strapped to my foot. Closer, closer, they were getting closer. I had to run, I had to get away. I stumbled towards the river, now as calm as the sea, and drew in a breath as the villagers moved away from me and towards the elder.

“Where do you think you are going?” Stephan said in a harsh tone.

“Why do you care? Why did you even save me? You would rather turn me in then help me so leave me be.” I spat.

My strength was returning to me and I could feel my limbs but they were stiff. I knelt beside the river and watched as the current pulled at the green weeds growing at the river bottom. There, a small face hidden within the rocks, the weeds peered up at me. I smiled down at her and her expression was one of surprise. I motioned with my hand to her to come up to me, but I knew she would only come up if I spoke.

“Please, I need your help. I have seen you and the rules state that if a mortal spots you, you are to help them with one favor.” I whispered under my breath, so that no one could hear me.

Water swirled up through the water, and a small watery head rose a halfway above the surface. Water nymphs are one of the more curious nymphs, since all nymphs are curious at one time or another. Their hair, their skin, and eyes are all different shades of water, of all different dimensions. The darker water gathered, like loosely flowing hair being pulled with the current; only her hair was the current. The clearer water was pressed to her like skin, showing off her petit nose, and her two funneling pools of water that were her eyes, radiating with a soft, blue glow. I could see a smile flowing on her face. Slowly I slide my left hand, still shackled, over the smooth pebbles on the river bank and reached towards her, listening as the shackle drags along the ground making a loud grating noise.

“What are you doing?” Stephan asked suspension lining his voice.

“Getting out of here.” I stated to Stephan, but more to the water nymph.

 Realization and shock sprang into his face, just as the palace guards burst from the tree line.

“Halt, in the name of the King. Villagers, stop her!” yelled the captain of the guard.

At that very moment three things happened. An arrow was let loose, flying towards me. Stephan ran and threw himself at me. And I felt a small cool hand wrap around mine, and jerk me into the river before either Stephan or the arrow could hit me. Pulling me through the shallows into deeper water away from the bank. I glanced over my shoulder to see Stephan running after me. I couldn’t tell if he was trying to run away from the guards chasing him or if he was going to jump in and try to catch me and give me to them. All I know is that his eyes were locked with mine.

Chapter 4

I felt the water swirling around me as the nymph pulled me further down the river. Then I heard the sound of thundering splashes as the royal guards forced their horses into the river. Fools, they should have known that they definitely wouldn’t catch us in the water. I turned my head and saw that they weren’t staying in the river, but crossing over to the other side, since the side they were on suddenly ended a few meters later. I heard the crashing roar of the waterfall before I saw it. That is when I realized what was about to happen. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, and heard someone yell. Then we fell, all I could think of was drowning in the hollow depths again, but then I felt a warm hand clamp onto my ankle, springing me from my horrid daze. As we smashed into the base of the waterfall, the nymph continued to pull us down beneath the surface. We never did hit the river bed, but instead continued to go further down beneath the water. I lost all sense of which way was up and of which way was down. Suddenly we sprang up above the surface into a dimly light cave. I gulped down a lungful of air as I spat out the sticky water clouding my lungs totally oblivious to who was with me.
Once I had my breathing under control I looked around at my surroundings and my eyes fell upon a body sprawled face down in the soft, gritty sand. I stood up on my water logged legs and stumbled over to the limp body. With a rough shove I rolled the body over onto its back. It was Stephan; I placed my ear to his chest and could hear the soft, but steady beating of his heart. Then I placed my hand to his mouth and nose, and could feel the gentle flow of air whisking in and out between my fingers. He was only unconscious, not dead. I breathed a sigh of relief, but that is when my hand brushed into the arrow protruding from his right shoulder. I pulled my fingers away, which were now slick with warm blood, and torn the his shirt shoulder off and pressed the balled up fabric around the gushing  wound.