Rip stood, his jaw hanging open at the girl in front of him. Her plain, woolen dress was a patchwork of tatters, her hair a frizzy, wavy rat's nest on her head. Her eyes, glowing warm with insanity and her tan, round face, with high cheekbones and chapped lips split in a crazed grin. He had never seen anyone so... mad, but not in the angry sense of the word. The girl in front of him, who couldn't have been more than a year younger than him despite her short height, was looney and frightening.
"Are you alright?" He asked tentatively. He waited for an answer, but soon regretted the question when it was obvious she clearly was not okay. Curiosity gnawed at him. Who was this girl? Was she alone? What was wrong with her?
Suddenly a sharp laugh burst from her lips, making Rip flinch back. 'What!' He thought in horror, glancing back to find nothing. 'What's so funny?' The girl's laughs turned hysterical and soon she was bent over gasping for air.
Then just as quickly as it had come, it was gone and the girl slowly looked up at him. Pity and shame flickered through her eyes as she studied him, her gaze sending shivers through him. There was something eerie about her, something that unsettled Rip. Even covered in dirt she had an unmistakable beauty to her, but the insane grin that once again broke her face was nothing short of a nightmare. And her eyes, they seemed to scream out in horror beneath whatever expression she was wearing. They were a warning of something evil and dangerous, something trapped inside her. When her eyes caught his, he blinked. There was something else mixed in with the nightmare of her gaze. A plea for help, a desperate need for a savior.
Rip gulped, his adam's apple bobbing up. She needed help...
His thoughts were lost as a sudden blush overcame the girl's face and she quickly turned and began to walk away. Rip reached out to grab her and drag her back to him, but his hand only swished through the empty air.
Rip watched after her as she continued down the street, her shoulders slumped in defeat. Then she stopped and took a deep breath, her narrow shoulders rising up to only fall back down.
With no warning a strange, foreign sound came out of her and it was beautiful. Before he knew what he was doing, Rip drew his sword. Though lovely, the sound was evil or so the king had taught all his knights to believe. Rip had never heard singing before, but there was no doubt in his mind that this was what the girl was doing. She was singing. She was committing treason and it was Rip's job to put an end to her.
As he drew closer, the girl turned to look at him, her mouth opened to let the evil escape out of her. He glared at her and she responded with a disarming grin, so carefree one might think she wasn't breaking the king's law. The grin threw him off and he stopped with his raised sword beginning to drop uncertainly. She was just a fifteen year old girl. A beautiful, mysterious girl with a nightmare screaming in her insane eyes. Eyes full of pain and shining with regret. How could she do any harm? How could he hope to hurt her?
He violently shook his head. 'She must be controlling me with her musical mind powers!' The uncertainty gone, he raised his sword again and quickly sliced down... only to hit nothing but empty air.
She was gone! Searing hot anger burned like a fire through his veins and he whipped his gaze in every direction. There! The fleeting glimpse of dirty, bare feet disappearing behind one of the village's many alleyways. 'With any luck the girl will find herself at a dead end,' Rip thought, the anger coating his face red, meaning the statement quite literally. Keeping his sword ready Riptide ran after the girl, following the sound of her enchanting voice.
* * *
Creak ran, her lungs straining to sing while running for her life and becoming quite tired in the process. 'That young man,' she thought. 'He was a knight! He had a sword! He was going to kill me!'
She ran through the narrow gap between pale, stone buildings gasping with relief at seeing the alley wasn't a dead end. She sprinted around another corner and into another alley, already feeling lost in a hopeless maze of streets and passageways.
She had to get out of the village and across the river. She knew no one would be stupid enough to follow her across the fast flowing rapids knowing it would mean certain death. If she could just get across the river, she would be safe.
Creak's voice faded away, replaced by heavy breathing. She wasn't strong enough, her energy already depleting. Her eyes were watering from the cold wind that blew against her like hands pushing her back from her destination. Not daring to slow, she looked ahead to where the narrow passage opened up into a more open street.
'There!' Creak thought. 'An open road should lead me out of the village and if I'm in the area I think I'm in, then it should only be a short, grassy stretch to the river.'
Just as she was turning into the open, stone street a swish sounded behind her, the only warning she got before the sword came for her head. Despite the lack of air in her lungs she still managed to scream out as she dived to the ground, rocks cutting into her hands and knees. Hissing in pain and not wasting any time to look back, Creak scrambled to her feet. Pebbles flying beneath her feet and slicing her flesh, she ran with everything she had, but it wasn't enough.
The knight's foot slipped in front of her, sweeping her legs out from under her and causing her to land on her stomach gasping for air. The cold burned her lungs and tears stung her eyes as she rolled onto her back to look up at the sword that hovered right above her head.
Creak closed her eyes, forcing her tears back unwilling to let him see her cry. She would not cry. As long as she was alive and her brother was safe, she would not cry. She refused to show any kind of weakness again. She was crazy. She had accepted that and would learn to live with it. But being crazy didn't mean she was broken or weak. She could be insane and strong.
Creak clenched her jaw in determination and made a vow to herself. For as long as she lived and as long as her loved ones were safe, she would be strong and show no sign of being broken.
With a resolved sigh, Creak opened her eyes and looked past the sword and into the face of her assaulter. A glare of pure hatred corrupted her face as she gave the knight a disappointed frown. He was going to kill her because that's exactly what his King wanted him to do.
"Do you even have a mind of your own?" She asked him, pity covering the fear in her voice.
The man looked confused for a second and Creak was sure he was about to put his sword away and leave her alive. But, with a frustrated glare he steadied his sword arm, bunching his muscles to run her through. He looked down at her, arrogance lacing his stance and accompanying his the sound of his voice.
"Do like committing treason?"
Creak wanted to laugh at him. 'Does he really think I care about treason? The King shouldn't be allowed to control my life and I'll get myself out of this just to prove that point.'
For the first time since their argument in the barn, Gorgos spoke up. "That's my girl! When we get out of this the King will pay for the trouble his stupid laws have caused us!"
Creak couldn't help the grin that broke her face. Gorgos never gave her compliments and this small statement of her's felt like a grand achievement.
"What is wrong with you?" The man's face was filled with disgust, yet there was a burning curiosity hidden in his tone.
"Nothing." Creak hissed back at him, anger making her face redden.
"I'm perfectly fine."
The knight shook his head. "Now that is something anyone in their right mind would not believe for a second."
Creak frowned. Stans would have believed her even if it was obvious he shouldn't. The thought sent a pang of guilt through her, but it quickly turned into anger. If she hadn't been forced into this situation, if the King hadn't banned music, then she never would have had a reason to lie to her brother. She would have never had to leave him.
"But it's clear you're not in your right mind." Creak spat at her capture, making his face blush a bright red.
"Like you of all people have the right to tell me I'm crazy! Have you even seen yourself?"
His words poked at Creak's heart. Just because she had accepted her insanity didn't mean she was okay with other people seeing her problems. And to be honest she hadn't seen a mirror in her whole life. She only knew her reflection through puddles and the Rosella, Riverfall's fast flowing river, and neither had made for a good mirror.
Creak shivered at the realization that she might look as crazy as she felt, which would be insanely crazy.
"You are crazy." She whispered, her words softly blown by the wind. "Because if you were sane then you would have killed me already."
The man blinked, his chiseled jaw working around the words. Then with a sigh, he closed his eyes and lowered his sword. Shielding his sword, the knight opened his eyes, which seemed to reflect the grey clouds above them, and looked at her. "Then perhaps you are right and I am crazy. I'll give you five minutes before I pursue you. The next time I catch you, I will kill you."
Creak was speechless as she stared up at him. He was letting her go? Just like that? If it wasn't for Gorgos she would have stayed where she was and continue to stare at him. "He's not letting you go, you idiot! He's giving you a chance. Five minutes is all you have to escape and the clock is ticking! Move it now!"
"Oh! Your right!" Creak whispered and scrambled to her feet. She turned to run down the street and to the river, but stopped to look at the knight who had spared her. She had to know one thing. "What's your name?"
The man looked at her with wide eyes, probably wondering why she would care. When a few seconds passed and she was sure he wouldn't answer her, he replied. "Riptide, but most people call me Tide."
Creak smiled at him, her captor, her knight. "Okay, Tide. I think I'll call you Rip instead... you know, for verity. I'm Creak."
Without looking to see how he would react, Creak ran across the street and didn't stop until she turned behind a building where Rip couldn't see her.
"Wow," she gasped. "What was that?"
"Ɩơ۷ɛ ąɬ ʄıཞʂɬ ʂıɠɧɬ." Angel wistfully sighed.
"You've got to be kidding me. It was more like 'I hate you and want to kill you, but I'll spare you because I like a chase' at first sight! He was going to kill Creak! And through her, us!" Gorgos exclaimed in disgust.
"ცųɬ ɧɛ ɖıɖŋ'ɬ ƙıƖƖ ɧɛཞ." Angel voiced the exact thing that had Creak so confused. Why hadn't he killed her? Why spare her just to have to go through the trouble of having to hunt her down again? Why hate her for committing treason than commit it himself?
Rip was confusing and just thinking about him gave her a headache. Besides she wasn't safe yet. He was only giving her five minutes before he would come after her again, and she had already used up three.
"We have to get out of here." She told herself, forcing her tired feet to move.
Hopping out of the alley, Creak risked a glance back and found that Rip was still standing in the middle of the street, his expressions saying something along the lines of 'Run! Why haven't you run yet!'
Seeing the look on his face reminded her that her time of safety was almost up. With a quick wave farewell, Creak ran and didn't stop running until she made it to the river. From there she gracefully skipped across the low stepping stones, still slick with water. Taking a quick look in each direction of the woods, Creak pushed her way through the dense frosted foliage and never looked back.