I Know You

15

Aurora slept no further that night.

Darius and the other men stayed up deep into the night, talking and drinking, and she remained silent the whole time, hardly daring to breathe.

She tried not to listen as the men congratulated Darius on his convincing performance as the brother of King Stefan, and discussed their impending destruction of Maleficent and the moors.

Eventually, however, the laughter and talking died down and became snores as the men fell into liquor-induced slumber.

When the snores were rhythmic and steady, Aurora finally sat up in her chair, shrugging the sack-cloth blanket to the floor and tiptoeing towards the door.

Her hand closed around the latch.

"Going somewhere?"

Darius' voice behind her.

Aurora stopped with her back to the men.

"I asked you a question," he said, standing up – he had clearly not imbibed as much alcohol as his compatriots and moved across the room towards her with a steady gait.

"I... should get back. It's late, my Godmother will be worried," Aurora told him, hoping her voice didn't crack and give her away.

"Is that so? But you haven't been up to the palace yet," Darius observed.

"I never said I was going to the palace," Aurora told him, turning back round to face him. "I came here simply because I wanted to know more about you. But I think I know enough now."

"Oh?"

"You're not my Uncle, are you?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" he asked, moving closer to stand directly in front of her, forcing Aurora back against the door. "Have you been eavesdropping, Princess?"

Aurora lowered her eyes to the ground and moved her face away from the man in an attempt to escape the smell of stale alcohol that laced his breath.

"Silly girl, should have listened to your Mama," he sniggered. "You're going nowhere."

Aurora's hand felt for the latch behind her, but Darius grabbed hold of her shoulders, pulling her away from the door and back towards the centre of the room.

Aurora let out a scream, struggling against the man's greater strength.

"Ssh," he hissed, putting an arm around her neck and clamping his hand to her mouth. "My friends are sleeping, you inconsiderate-"

Darius' sentence ended in a roar of pain, as Aurora's teeth clamped down on his hand.

He let go as if he had been burnt, and Aurora took her opportunity, running for the door.

The other men had started begun to stir at the commotion, but they were slow to rise, and she was outside before any of them could stop her.

There was no sign of Diaval at the front of the house, so she took off in the direction of the dense forest behind the village. By the time she reached the edge of the forest, she was out of breath, but pausing for a moment she could see Darius and his men were in hot pursuit, the flames of their torches flickering in the darkness as they drew ever nearer.

So Aurora ran - faster than she had ever run in her life and blindly through the trees as the footsteps behind her grew louder and louder.

Eventually she tired and she began to slow down, unable to push herself any harder – that was when a hand grabbed at her hair from behind, pulling her backwards and jarring her neck.

Aurora cried out, struggling to regain her balance.

"A valiant attempt, Princess," Darius spat.

"DIAVAL!" Aurora screamed, in a last ditch attempt to save herself from whatever was now in store. "GODMOTHER!!!!!"

Raising his hand in the air, Darius struck her across the face with the butt of his torch.

Aurora felt the hot blood run down her forehead.

"Darius!" two more men appeared behind him, raising their torches higher to allow Darius to see what was in front of them.

Managing to pull away from him enough to crane her neck forward, Aurora realised they were standing at the edge of a steep drop. Below was darkness, and Aurora had no idea what waited for them at the bottom.

But right then, it seemed like the lesser of two evils.

In that split second as Darius was distracted, Aurora wrenched her hair from his grip.

And jumped.

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