Cinder & Ella

Chapter 1- Taking off

John

      "Cinder!" Julianne called from the driveway, "Are you finish preparing my horse?" Would she ever be less demanding? That thought got a small chuckle to leave my lips. She would only do that in my dreams but trust me that I do not wish to ever  have Julianne in my dreams. It would not be a dream but a nightmare.

      "Yes Miss Truscott, she is ready." I called back with a respectable tone. I had spent part of the morning saddling Julianne's new horse for her to ride. She had just gotten it from the recent market as her 17th birthday present. I am very excited to see her ride the great mare since she hasn't ever rode a horse before. She was the type of person who cared about what she looked like and who she was to marry.

       "She better be or mother will be furious." threaten Julianne. Her threats were always the same. The same threat to tell my step mother. To be honest there is reason to be scared of her. She was wicked.

       I grabbed the reins of her mare and lead the horse out to the driveway under Julianne's suspicious watch. She did a check over her new horse to see if everything was correct. This made me bite my lip to hold back a laugh. She has never even been in the stables and the only horses she ever spent time with were the ones leading her carriage.

      "It looks like you finally did something right Cinder." she spit out. I have gotten use to my nickname after all these years. It was given to me by my step sisters because I am living in the stables and I used to read near the fire and by the end of the night I was often covered with cinders from the fire that I had been stoking all night. However the other servants call me John or Jonathan, Both of which I answer to.

      Julianne got on the mare with the help of me propping her feet in the right place and letting her use me to lean against. She steadied herself upon the horse but she didn't look as if she belonged. My father has taught me that you can always tell what kind of person someone is by how the ride a horse. Julianne look uncomfortable and unaware that she had no idea what she was doing. Julianne seemed to sit proper but not noticing what her horses thoughts were. She was most definitely not a horse person. Julianne wanted her house to move so she gave a swift jab into the horses side. The horse let out a loud whinny and then horse took off.

       Julianne started to scream for help but that just scared her horse more. Blasted girl! I ran into the stables and grabbed my horse Patch. Without saddling him I hopped on Patch bare back and grabbed Patch's golden mane to take off.

      Julianne and her horse were heading toward the orchard full speed. I was getting closer, running at full speed. Patch had been my mothers horse and was train well. Patch was meant to race and was given to me later as a present from my parents.

      Julianne was still frantically yelling when Patch and I were running up to her. I was carefully dodging the trees as we approached Julianne. Of all places why did her horse have to have headed in this direction. We finally caught up and I leaned ahead being careful to keep my balance and with one arm wrapped around Patch's neck, I reached with my other hand to grab the reins of the other horse.

      Just when my fingers barely touched the reins, Julianne let out a frightened scream. What in the world was she screaming about now? I quickly looked forward and saw we was headed straight for a tree that would split us down the center. Instead of grabbing the reins, I made the rash thought to grab Julianne around the waist and with a pull I took her from the horse and on to my side. Julianne's horse was still running full speed when I pulled the reins on Patch to a stop and set Julianne down before I got off my horse.

      The first thing Julianne uttered was "Cinder you stupid fool! Now go fetch that horse that my mother paid for!" she said with a jab of her finger.

      "I will Miss Truscott but I was just trying to help you. I meant no harm." I said in a calm voice even though I was screaming in my mind about how she was an ungrateful twit.

      "No harm?! You pulled me off my horse!" her face flushed with pure anger.

      "My apologies Miss, I was just trying to help. Would you like to ride this horse back?"

      "No I think not! Riding bare back is most improper so I will walk back and tell mother what you have done. You will go fetch my horse now." she stated under a glare that stung like ice.

       "Yes Miss Truscott." I replied as much calmness as I could muster up as she marched away toward the house. When she turned her back I let out a sigh and rolled my eyes.

       I flew himself on top of Patch and began a slow stride in the direction I last saw the mare run to. I was in no rush to go back to that house. It once had been my mother and father's house but now it was my step mothers. My mother had passed from a disease spreading through the kingdom when I was only 4. I don't remember much of her but I can never forget her eyes. They were light brown with gold flakes in them and they were absolutely gorgeous. I had never met anyone with the same eyes as her. After her death father was sad and I did anything to please him and take his mind off mother.

      My dad loved me more than anything else. He always said he saw so much of my mother in me. My dad traveled around a lot, mostly to the castle but other places to. He was the wealthiest land owner, next to the king of course. He had promised me he would take him to the castle again. I had only been there a few times and he gaped at everything. I didn't meet the royal family which was really disappointing but father said he would introduce me to them soon but that never happened.

       Lord Truscott however worried his only son needed a mother and siblings so he married Jillian Reyes.

      She was a very nice lady and I could see why father liked her. She was courteous and kind hearted. She had 2 daughters. One my age named Julianne and one a year younger named Natalie. Jillian never understood why he loved me so much. She was undeniably jealous of the love between a father and son.

      One day when I was nine, my father fell ill with a fever and he died a week later. I sat there at my fathers side when he passed. There was nothing his doctors and healers could do. I cried for what seemed like forever. There was a mourning period and after that ended, everything changed. I was no longer a future Lord.

      My step mother told me that my father left nothing in the will he wrote before he died. At first there was no way I could believe her but I was told that everyday since and soon I learned believed it. She took away my room that I had grew up in and moved me to the attic with only 1 box of my things. I was made to become a servant of my mother and sisters. That changed when I got older though. Stepmother felt it unfit for a young boy to be around young ladies and so she sent me to work outside instead. My room was also moved to the loft in the stables. I was happy at least that step mother never knew about Patch. I lost everything else when father died. Patch was all I had left.

      I snapped out of the many memories when I saw the light, brown mare grazing at the end of the orchard. She noticed when I rode up to her but didn't move when I reached to grab her reins. She knew that I was the one that took care of her and meant no harm toward her. It wasn't the horses fault she was spooked. Having a rider that know nothing about horse is very dangerous. 

      I began heading back to the dreaded house where I knew he would be in trouble.