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The image in the multimedia section is the original cover for this book made by crazy_waffle. It was the one that was used from late 2013 to early 2016.
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Chapter Three
When I came to again, I was completely disorientated. Where was I again? It was painful for me to move my heat at all. I managed to open my eyes and sat upright in the bed, groaning a little at the headache I had.
"Be quiet. They're still looking for you, yer know, ma'am."
I turned my head slowly – it hurt too much to go any faster – to see the short man standing beside the bed. He was about half of my height and dressed in semi-rich looking clothing. He didn't seem like a servant, but I knew for a fact that he couldn't be a noble. Who else would be able to get into the castle?
"Who are you, may I ask?"
The little man seems surprised that he had forgotten to introduce himself and bowed respectfully, "Renaldo's ma name, ma'am. I been working at the castle since I was a boy. Me father sold me as a servant, since I'm a dwarf man. I dunno me last name either. I could be from a rich family, or a peasant family."
Being born a dwarf, he would have been shunned out of any family he was born into. My heart went out to him a little, wondering what his life may have been like if he had been born with the body of a normal man. From what I had seen of him in the last few seconds, he had a heart better than many people I knew, and get his body caused him so much suffering. People are so prejudiced, I thought angrily to myself. There was nothing wrong with this man at all, and yet his father had sold him into slavery when he was only a boy.
"I am La-"
"Lady Arabelle Jasmine Tiona, daughter of Lady Silvia and Lord Tyson Tiona. Your fourteen and betrothed to Prince Christian Dakota. I know yer, ma'am."
I nodded, somewhat surprised he knew so much about me already, and rubbed the ache on my head. I could feel a lump forming under my skin where my fingers gently pressed on my skull. I flinched away a little at a very sensitive spot, "Why did you have to hit me? There are other ways of keeping someone quiet, you know. You could have asked nicely or—"
"It was the easiest way to keep you quiet and hide yer if I needed to. I'm most sorry, ma'am," he looked up at me earnestly and I couldn't help but forgive him. He had saved me, that much was for sure.
I put my legs on the floor and went to stand up, but Renaldo pushed me back down, shaking his head scolding my, "Not yet, ma'am. There's no 'urry. I have a secret way out of the castle that only the real old servants know of. I need to make sure you ok, though."
I moved his hands away and stood up, showing him that I was completely okay, "I am fine. Where is this secret way out?" I had been in the castle many times before and was curious to see these secret ways around.
Renaldo tossed me a pair of old and torn pants, plus a stained white blouse. They must have belonged to another servant once upon a time, "Put these on. It'll make you blend in. Put yer hair into a bun or somethin' too," he then went off into a connected room to let me get dressed in private. The clothes fitted a little loosely, but that just made them more comfortable to get around in. I looked around for somewhere to get rid of my dress and saw a sewn canvas bag in the corner of the room and grabbed it, shoving the dress inside. I would get rid of it at some point along the way. I slung it over my shoulder securely and went into the adjoining room to find Renaldo. He was dangling his feet out of the window, waiting for me. No secret tunnels or passages then, I thought to myself with a bit of disappointment.
"I know yer can climb, I've heard from the other servants. They say yer real good, too. Used to climb all the way up the east tower each mornin' you did."
I nodded as he crawled out and I followed him, a little upset at the memory, "I used to climb the castle with..." I hold off my sentence, wondering whether I should share information like that with a servant I just met. For all I knew, he might still be under orders to drag me back to the King and he was just pretending to help me get out. I suddenly wondered why he was helping me get out.
"We all see you and the young prince of the roof. You don't hide," Renaldo said cheekily as we climbed carefully down the side of the castle. I ignored his statement and swung down the wall with ease, knowing all the best places to put my hands and feet, landing safely at the bottom of the wall within no time. Slowly, Renaldo made it to the bottom as well, but not before I had time to chuckle at how awkward and scared he seemed to be. We walked silently through the village. A fair bit of time had passed while I was out and it was now dark, which meant that most people were asleep. It would make for an easy getaway. We were approaching my house when I suddenly thought of something and reached out to Renaldo,
"Renaldo, can I sneak back into my room quickly? There are some thing I need to grab before I can leave." I didn't want to tell him what it was though.
"No, yer mother will be watchin' the house like a hawk, ma'am," his voice was surprisingly stern. I had to remind myself that although he was shorter than me, he was older.
"It's ok, I will sneak into my room through the window and be back within a minute."
He looked at me hesitantly before shaking his head and sighing with defeat, "Fine, but be quick and quiet, ma'am. I'll wait down the bottom over 'ere."
I thanked him quickly as I scurried over to my wall and lifted myself up, grasping the familiar hand holds as I neared my window. I'd done this climb more times than I could count, so the darkness didn't bother me at all. I slid the window open quietly – thankful it didn't squeak – and jumped in softly, looking around the pitch black room to see if anyone was in there. No one. Good. The first thing I did was pull the dress from my bag and toss it into the corner of my room. It had no use to me anymore. I crept over to my bed as gently as I could, making sure that the wooden floor boards didn't creak, and reached under my pillow. I felt the hard leather book underneath and pulled it out, tucking it into the bag. Then I crept to my wardrobe and grabbed some of my weapons I kept hidden away in there: a bow, which I slung over my shoulder; a dagger, tucked away in my bag; a quiver of arrows, which went over my other shoulder; and a thin sword, light and movable, in a waist sheath so I quickly put it on. Knowing I didn't have much more time left, I grabbed my brush and some riding clothes for later and shoved it all into the bag. As silently as I entered, I crept out my window and back down below to where Renaldo was waiting impatiently,
"Quickly, do you have a mount?"
I nodded, gesturing to a paddock on the other side of our house, "Thunder, he is in the paddock. Do you?" I paused, realising the stupidity of my question, "Why do I ask? Of course you don't. You can take my brother's horse, Nike. He is well trained and will be fine with me."
We walked over to the stables quickly, making sure to keep to the shadows as much as possible. I kept one of my hands poised on the hilt of my sword at all times, just in case I needed to draw it. I gave my dagger to Renaldo, for him to defend himself with if the worst happened. I jumped the fence into the paddock and went over to the tack shed, grabbing their saddles and getting Renaldo to take the bridles. I've never had to carry two saddles before. It's so heavy! I thought but grit my teeth and ignored how much my arms ached. I walked out and whistles softly for the horses and they both come over instantly, recognising my unique whistle I used to call them. My brothers had always envied the way I got along with animals. I saddled them both quickly, then slipped on the bridles. I was thankful that both horses cooperated because the task was already more challenging in the dark. As I helped Renaldo get onto Nike's back, I was startled to hear a quiet chuckle,
"Sis, you should ask to use my horse."
I pulled my sword from its sheath and face Daniel, who had his sword in hand as well. Somehow I had known just by hearing the tone of his voice that this wasn't a friendly visit. Some faithful brother he was.
He almost looked a little upset, "I don't want to hurt you, but I have orders to take you to the King."
"I thought family came first, Daniel," I snarled at him, retreating back to Thunder. If I could just turn around for one moment to get my foot into the stirrup them I could—
"And it does, but the royals are family too. He has named you a traitor to the throne, you know? For trying to steal his crown."
I spat on the ground, disgusted by the King, and even more at my brother who believes the lies he told, "I want nothing to do with that stupid crown. Let me go, Daniel."
He narrowed his eyes at me, and I finally noticed his sword was shaking. Even when he was nervous, his sword hand never shook. It dawned on me that he really didn't want to have to hand me in, but he didn't have another choice. Finally, he sighed and dropped his arm, unable to do the task, "I will say I never saw you. I will go on guard and open the gates...be quick," he walked over to me and gave me a quick kiss on the forehead "stay safe, Arabelle." He pulled away and gave me one final look before he ran off into the darkness, leaving me alone with the horses and Renaldo.
"Thank you, Daniel," I said sadly, putting my sword away and turning around to get on Thunder. Once I was seated comfortably, I looked over to Renaldo,
"Can you ride?" Another stupid question, I thought to myself. I seemed to be full of them today.
He nodded uneasily, grasping the bridle, "I been told 'bout it...sounds easy 'nough. I also watched the princes when they was learnin'."
I looked at how he was seated and nodded, confident enough that if he at least held on he wouldn't fall off. Nike should follow me. I gave Thunder a gentle squeeze, but that was all he needed to take off, with Nike in tow, and flew over the fence. I held back a chuckle when I heard how surprised Renaldo was at the horse's sudden jump. Daniel lifted the gate and I waved goodbye to him, but when I looked at his face, I could see a smear of blood. Something told me that whatever he had done to get me out of the castle had put a price on his own head. I made Thunder gallop faster to get a fair distance from the castle, not satisfied until we had cleared the open land and made it into the woods beyond. I checked back regularly to make sure that Nike was following along, and that Renaldo hadn't fallen off somewhere behind.
We continued on through the woods, a little slower so we could weave through the trees, but I was unsettled by the yells and shouts I could hear behind us, possibly following us. Someone had seen our little getaway and notified the guards. Renaldo went to slow Nike down as the woods got thicker,
"No, keep riding. They saw us and will no doubt come looking. We will find a place to hide."
Renaldo shook his head, "If we keep riding at this pace the horses will tire, or if not, they'll get injured on something we can't see."
I think about his words and agree, so we slow to a trot to continue through the woods, our eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness. Whenever I glanced back to check that Nike and Renaldo were keeping up, I could see an orange light of torches getting closer and closer. Somehow they could tell where we were. It was only when I listened that I realised our horses were making a lot of noise, trampling over the fallen leaves and twigs on the ground. They're following the sound we make, I thought anxiously to myself. In the woods during the dark, there was no way we could move quickly without making sound. I thought about stopping and moving slowly and silently in a different direction, but at the speed they were gaining on us, they would discover us in no time at all.
The sun started to rise and it urged me to move faster, and preferably quieter if we could. As I heard voices, I decided it was one or the other and I went with faster, urging Thunder into a canter. Renaldo struggled to keep up, probably not enjoying being on the back of a horse. If he had never ridden one before, riding for this long wouldn't be pleasant. When I tuned ahead again, I spotted it; an abandoned cottage, mostly a rubble now, but it had a gap big enough to – maybe, hopefully – get Nike and Thunder to fit into it. So long as it didn't crumble around us. I pulled up at it and swung off straight away, not wasting time to wait for Thunder to stand still. I shoved him into the small open doorway, thankful he could squeeze through, then turned to Renaldo who was still on Nike, unsure of how to get off. The voices were getting closer and I didn't have time to help him get off. Well, let's hope that he can flatten, I thought.
"Put your head down and breath out."
Without waiting to listen to his worried questions, I push Nike from behind towards the gap. At first the horse plays up and refuses to go in, but after a firm hit on the rear, he gets the message and goes in, with Renaldo's back only a breath away from the top of the space. That's when I notice the gap is way too big to hide the fact that they are inside. I start to hear the sound of hooves approaching, so I quickly rush back into woods and grab branches and branches, throwing them all over the cottage to disguise it, and finally grab a thicker, heavier one to cover the hole. I drag it back to the entrance and slip in as I haul the branch higher to cover the space, then peak through a gap in the leaves. Out of breath, I watch as the royal guard rides towards us, slowing at the cottage,
"Do you think they would be in there, captain?" One of the men asks and the lead guard, who looks down from his horse at the cottage. Thankfully, being up that high, he couldn't see into the hole.
"I doubt that would be stable enough for anyone to get near it, let alone fit people and horses inside. Keep looking," and they ride ahead, leaving me relieved and exhausted. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, I realised my head still hurt a little thanks to being knocked out earlier. I turned around to see the two horses had laid down for rest and Renaldo was attempting to make a fire. I glared at him and blew it out right away,
"The smoke will give us away, and besides, it's already dawn," I sighed and sat down, rubbing my temples. I just wished that everything that happened yesterday had never taken place, and that I would still be in bed sleeping soundly. "Well, now that we are out here, what's the great plan?"
He shrugged, obviously a little hesitant on confessing the plan he had in mind, "Well... We're close to the Snow Witch's land."
"Snow Witch?"
"Yeah. She might be able to help yer. She's real scary though. I wouldn't wanna approach her without a good reason."
I lean in to listen, now curious about what he had to say. Being in a noble family I rarely got to hear about all the rumours and stories about what happened outside the castle. "Tell me about her. I've never heard of her."
He nodded and leaned back, "Most of yer high class ain't heard of 'er. She lives in those mountain there. Legend say she killed her sisters to be the most pow'ful witch 'round. She knows of everyone and everything. Rumour 'as it that she's blind though. Got no eyes!"
"No eyes? Then how does she see?"
"She's a witch! Probably traded in her eyes for even more power. Who know 'ow she see, but she 'as a lil' wand thing that she uses to cast her spells. Claims she is a 'sorceress' or sometin', but she's gotta be a witch. She does bad, bad things. No one do bad things with magic if they ain't a witch."
I smiled, finding it all very interesting. From what I could gather, she appeared to be a person who could use magic, did bad things, lived on a mountain, and had no eyes. I could understand why she had been called a witch, "Can she help me?"
"How do yer want help, ma'am?"
"I don't know. I don't even know what I am meant to do now."
Renaldo smiled as though he had some kind of genius answer, "Well, that 'ow she help yer! She tell yer what yer need to do!"
I thought for a moment. "That reminds me. Why did you rescue me? What do you get out of it all?"
"Being in the royal house for so long, yer here about things," he reached forward and pointed to my shoulder where my marking was, "about people, who are special. Some of us wanna help them people. If it weren't me, it would've been one of them other servants."
It made me wonder just how many of the servants knew about everything that went on in the Royal house. I guess it made sense that they would overhear all sorts of discussions when they were cleaning, serving, and doing all the other odd jobs. Somehow it made me feel happy to know that even people I had never met before were looking out for me. The comment he made about the servants seeing me climb the walls came back. So they even knew about that?
"You're different to the other nobles," Renaldo continued, "they all mean and bossy. You? Even all them people in the town say how nice yer are when yer go there. Everyone loves you."
We sat silently in the cottage for a little while longer before I decided to go and scout the area, to make sure it was all clear. I moved the branch aside and put it back carefully, just in case the guards were still around, then crept around silently. I couldn't hear the sound of horses moving, or the shouts of guards giving out orders. Maybe they went back already? No, they wouldn't go back for at least two days. I knew that much for sure. When I looked at the path they had taken, it looked like they were searching in the opposite direction to the mountains, which was a good sign. At the very least we would be able to start going to the witch's lair sooner rather than later. Somehow the idea of that made me both excited and terrified at the same time. What if she really was as evil as Renaldo had been making her out to be? What if she didn't want to help me but rather she would want to kill me?
Suddenly, I heard the snap of a branch behind me and turned to the sound, my hand ready to draw my sword. Another branch snapped and I turned to face it, seeing a shadow not far away. I heard panting that sounded almost like a dog. Fear rushed through me as I remembered that there was more to be scared of out here than just the guards. Could that be a wolf? There was a sudden flash of movement and the creature lunged at me, knocking me to the ground in surprise. It was far too light and not aggressive enough to be a wolf. I pushed the animal up to see the joyful face of Missi, my dog, staring down at me.
"Missi, what are you doing out here? Did you follow my scent this whole way?" I suddenl realised the guards could very well do the same thing. "Come on, girl," I led the border collie back to the cottage and moved aside the branch.
"Renaldo, meet Missi, my dog. Watch her," and I walked back out. I continued walking around the area, scanning for any signs of trouble. I was just about to return to the cottage when something shone in the corner of my eye. For a panicked moment I thought it was the Queen. I turned to face it and moved forward, the object flickering in the sunlight. I reached it and saw it was a key on a thin leather strap, like someone used to wear it as a necklace. Curious, I picked it up and looked around to see if anyone had dropped it, but no one was in sight. How odd? I decided to head back to the cottage and showed the key to Renaldo,
"I found this on the forest floor."
He examined it and smiled, "It is a key to the gate of the Snow Witch. She is expecting us. We must be on our way."
I paused and scowled, "If she is a witch, how can we trust her? And if you have never met her, how do you know so much about her?"
"We can't," Renaldo says simply, "and I know all of this through other servants. Some of them are very superstitious people." He took Nike's reins and led him out of the cottage, a much easier job than getting him in. I whistled for Missi and lead Thunder out, then had to help Renaldo mount Nike before I could mount Thunder. Missi jumped into my lap and I smiled affectionately, patting her head,
"You're a good girl."
She yapped happily and we started to walk towards the mountains. I finally took notice that I had never been in this part of the woods before, so we must have travelled a lot further during the night than I had realised. Rather than the usual boring trees I was used to, this part of the woods had some wild flowers and bushes of all kinds, some with berries I recognised as edible. Whenever one of the bushes was up high enough I would reach out and grab some berries to snack on while we went, giving some to Missi as well. As we got further up the mountain, the flowers stopping appearing and the temperature began to get cooler and cooler.
Renaldo led the way, looking much more comfortable on his horse now than he had looked last night, whistling calmly to himself. He repeated the tune too many times, and I couldn't help but find it sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite recognise it. He eventually changed the tune so I couldn't keep pondering on it. We continued slowly, traveling all day until it reached dusk, and we had reached the base of the mountains. I swung off Thunder exhausted, not having slept since the night before last – not including the time Renaldo knocked me out – and stretch my limbs from the long day of riding.
"Get back on, Arabelle. We can continue and will be there by night fall."
I whined, not believing him in the slightest, "But my bum is sore and the horses are tired. Can't we rest?"
He shook his head, suddenly determined, and kicked Nike to keep going forward, "Follow me or be lost for good."
I swung back onto Thunder, my butt hurting when I sat down. I gave his neck an affectionate rub to show I was grateful, "Sorry boy, I don't want to keep riding either."
We kept riding up the mountain and further into the cold weather. Shivering, we charged on under the lead of Renaldo, and my only true source of warmth was Missi – who was curled up in front of my hips, also shivering but her coat did a better job at keeping her warmer than my flimsy blouse was doing. Slowly, a glowing fire came into view and we moved faster, happy to see the end of the trail. A small house appeared in our view further up the mountain where the fire was, but a massive gate was separating us from it. We are so close to it, I thought with exhaust, wishing that the front door to the house was where the gate was instead.
"Lady Arabelle, do you still have the key?" Renaldo asked, gesturing to the gate.
I nodded and took off the key necklace, then rode over to the gate. I manoeuvred Missi off my lap and jumped down, landing knee deep into the snow, squealing a little at the sudden cold. I put the key into the lock and turned it, expecting to hear a loud click, but was surprised by something else instead. Rather than the gate unlocking, the entire thing just seemed to fizzle out into nothing, as if it was never there in the first place.
"How freaky..." I said quietly as Renaldo rode forward, and I had to mount quickly to keep up.
Once we were through, the gate solidified behind us out of thin air and the key necklace miraculously formed around my neck again, giving me a bit of a fright. When I touched it, it felt as solid and real as anything else. We rode to the house quickly and dismounted, leaving Nike and Thunder beside the large bonfire out the front.
"What now?" I said, staring at the giant house that loomed in front of us.
Renaldo looked terrified, despite his confident aura from before, "I guess all we can do is knock on the door and hope for the best."
Somehow, the idea of knocking on the door was intimidating. If it was anything like the gate, who knows, it might swallow us up whole and we would never be found again. We walked up to the door nervously, and Renaldo tucked himself strategically behind me. I took a deep breath and went to knock, but the door opened before my hand had a chance to touch it and an ancient woman stood in front of us.
"What? What do you want?" Her voice was high pitched and croaky.
"Are you the Snow Witch?"
The woman cackled, giving me goosebumps, "Oh, of course not! That's my granddaughter! Melissa, some people are here to see you!" She yelled through the house, and I felt Renaldo flinch behind me, probably out of fear. Suddenly, a beautiful woman appeared around the corner with a broad smile on her face,
"Arabelle, Renaldo, I was expecting you. Grandmama obviously isn't as in touch with magic anymore."
I stood still, shocked by the presence of the woman. She had flowing gold hair, a dark blonde colour like the sun, and it trailed down to the bottom of her back in neat waves. She had the most stunning piercing blue eyes and fair skin. She was possibly the most beautifully made person I had ever seen. Blue eyes? I thought strangely to myself.
"You have eyes..." I couldn't help but whisper, barely audible but she heard me clearly,
"Yes. Did he tell you I didn't?" She scoffed a little, staring at Renaldo who had hidden even further behind me. "There are many tales about, but I am the real Snow Witch. Melissa Snow is my actual name. Please, come in, and bring in your pets too. It is freezing out there! They can go into the pet room."
I raised a brow as I led went to go and get Thunder to bring him in, with Missi following close behind. Renaldo was holding tightly onto Nike's reins, staring at everything in the house nervously, "Pet room?"
"Oh yes. I have my two cats Yarn and Calline, then I have Bramble – my owl – and Hiss, grandmother's snake she demanded to keep." She sounded as though she really hates having to keep the snake. "I am fairly certain he is dead, but grandmother says he is just asleep. 'He sure likes sleeping', I say." I decided that I quite liked the witch. Something about her made he comfortable and confident that she would want to help me. She walked around a corner and into a rather strange looking room. I looked at Renaldo hesitantly,
"I guess we should follow her in, hm?"
He nodded shakily, "I guess so."