She didn't know how it was she'd come to be trapped in this place. It was a palace of winding halls, stairs that led to four different routes. Going up you could either go straight to the top, go left a few steps and then head towards the outer courtyard, go to the right and up a small set towards the living quarters, or even take a small door and head down into the lower levels.
It was a maze that you could easily become engulfed and lost inside. There were so many different possibilities to go to – so many towers to explore.
"How did I come to be here, alone?"
She'd been running up and down, back and forth yet hadn't come across another living soul. There was no sense to this. Someone had to have brought her here. Some had to have been there when she was left...?
A door slammed somewhere up above her. Her heard skipped a beat, momentarily doing a skip as a mazurka. A slamming door meant there was another person here. Someone she could ask for the way to an exit. Possibly someone who could help her understand why she was in this place.
Grabbing fistfuls of her skirts, she sped up the main staircase, ignoring the other routes possible. Heading directly up to the top she checked each room that she passed. None of the dust had been disturbed; the dust on the floor was old. There was still no one around.
The banging from above continued. She continued her upward spiral. Reaching a door at the top she clung to the edge of the frame; just outside was a narrow walkway across a long drop. On the other side was a room suspended above the courtyard far below her, supported by flying buttresses coming from the surrounding towers. It was shaped like the other, easily blending in so that you wouldn't know it was suspended unless you had this aerial view.
Timid at the narrow, rail-less walkway she paused. This couldn't have been where the noise had come from – could it?
The door across form her banged wide, startling her. Looking across the expanse she watched someone emerge from within.
"Hello?"
Her voice echoed through the enclosed court. The figure on the other side paused, almost seemed frozen in place. As she watched they turned around, coming out into the early morning's light.
Her heart skipped again, from uncertainty, fear, and horror. The face leering back at her seemed to be full of nothing but remorse, hate, anger, and ... loneliness.
It seemed masked by the effects of an ancient cursed buried long ago in the fairy tales she recalled from her childhood. It had to be a mask; there was no other way to describe the face, the tall imposing posture from across the way. Horns rose from the side of the head, curving back around the skull. Dark brown hair seemed to wave in between, setting off a pair of gleaming eyes in a noble face. The clothes were tattered remnants of a long ago forgotten and bygone age. And yet the emotion in those eyes was enough to freeze her in the open doorway, wondering whether or not this was some dream.
They locked eyes, staring at the other. Each was curious, confused by the presence of the other across the narrow walkway. For a moment there was a spell of immovability between them. Nothing to stop this moment from lingering on and on.
A crow cawed from one of the turrets where it perched, breaking into the silent moment.
She blinked, watched him step away from that curious door into the suspended room. Her heart began beating faster, something deep inside of her knowing that it would not be wise to be caught by those hands with the slender fingers. She knew that running would be the best option. She willed herself to move. He took a step towards her.
In an instant she had spun around and begun her descent down the winding stairs back through to the lower levels. Her heart hammering in her chest blocked out all other noises. A sense of safety beyond this old, ancient place was the only thing on her mind. This place had to have an exit. Even if the doors were all blocked, she could move the barriers. She would break the glass on the windows. She would find a way out of this haunted place, away from that cursed man in his suspended room far above her.
"Wait!"
The shout echoed throughout the whole castle, repeating off the stone walls, bouncing back until it surrounded her. Her hands shook as she reached for the banister to try and catch her breath.
"No," she whispered it to the silence and emptiness around her. "No!"
She screamed back. Her voice took off back up the stairs towards the man with the horns. Dashing towards the main staircase she ran as fast as she could, nearly running into the front door. There was a huge bar over the knobs, preventing anyone from entering – or exiting. Searching around, she found a small patch of window that was not blocked. Picking up stool she slammed it into the glass. Watching it explode outward she used a cushion and broke off the remnants that had clung to the frame once she'd broken the rest of it off.
"Wait!"
Turning for an instant she saw him at the top of the stairs. His voice was close to her, a mixture of rage and imploring. Shaking it off, she dove through the hole she'd made and escaped.
