She loved him.
But not the way a wife shall love her husband, but a fondness that is shared amongst friends. A bond, so strong that if one of them had too, they would sacrifice their life for the other. In the end, she knew that he did not feel the same. He loved her, no he loves her even when death had come knocking at their door. At the fresh age of nineteen, she'd been betrothed to her friend against her will, he knew where she stood in that decision. She remembered his words as if they were spoken the day before.
Ah, cheer up Eleanor. At least you had not been promised to a stinky old stranger, but instead to a young handsome man.
He had not rushed her when it came to making the marriage official, he was gentle and kind. In a short time, they'd been married, they acted as they always did. He yearned for more in the marriage, but respected the boundaries that had been made. She soon found out in a month that she was with child. Before she knew it she'd given birth to a healthy baby girl. The two named her Lisa, a name that Eleanor seen fit for the baby.
That did not matter anymore. In the future if her husband and daughter's name would ever fall from her lips. It would remind her the names that she spoke were dead. Slaughtered only because they were not human, it revolted Eleanor to know that mankind killed her family, the only reason being they felt threatened by a gentleman who had been looking after his newborn daughter. While his wife had gone off to look for herbs and firewood. It was only when she heard Nick's angered shouts from where she stood in the trees not too far from their cabin.
That she knew something was wrong. Even Raphael, her most trusted companion, a raven, sat perched on her shoulder was alarmed. He knew exactly what she would ask him to do before being told, and flew off ahead of her as she ran.
Eleanor had heard rumors and stories that the Red Paladins were burning down Fey villages and burning the people on wooden crosses. She had mentioned this to her now-husband but Nick knew about her thirst for travel and had decided to help her drink up all the sights she saw. He swore that he would protect her. But once they found out she was pregnant they had already traveled far from home and decided to settle down in a man-made village. In hopes of maybe keeping their fey abilities hidden for a few years and someday show their child the wonders of the world. But, that shall never happen now.
When she finally made it outside of the wood, her husband's screaming had come to a stop, filling the air with an agonizing silence that sent chills down her back. The woman's heart began to beat rapidly when she saw a man in red robes exit her home and another who she assumed to be his partner. They were laughing as if they were reminiscing about a recent friendly gathering.
Red Paladins.
They were hard to miss, she stopped a sob from escaping her throat when she caught the sight of blood on their hands. It was like they'd purposefully dipped them into dark crimson paint, but she knew it was not. It felt like hours before they disappeared on their horses.
She was getting ready to launch herself from behind the tree she hid behind, but was stopped.
El, I do not think you wish to see what lays in there. The deep voice of her raven's seeps into her head. The girl bats her hand at the flying bird and runs past him ignoring warning. Eleanor please!
The air stung her lungs as she ran towards the open door, and she did not stop the painstaking wail that fell from her mouth when confronted by a horrifying sight.
Nick sat against a wall in his own pool of blood, right next to their daughter's cradle. Her hate for the Paladins grew when she noticed that they had left him barely alive, he was choking on blood. A dark stained sword lay discarded beside him. One of his hands struggled to stop a fresh wound inflicted on his stomach, but the bodily substance seeped through his fingers. With whatever strength Nick had left he was trying to use it to reach out to his daughter's cradle but his arm fell to his side. She ran toward them, salty tears streaming down her pale cheeks.
"Nick!" She collapsed at his side and gripped his bloodied shirt in her clasped hands. "It's going to be all right."
His eyes widened as if he did not expect her to be returning, Raphael flew through one of the open windows and perched on its sill. He caught the eye of Nick who gave him a disapproving look. "I t-told you to not l-let her c-come back."
Despite not having the connection to communicate with Nick like he with Eleanor she could see her friend take on a shamed posture. A flurry of thoughts ran through her head as to why he was so set on her not coming to his rescue.
"What?" She said in disbelief. "You told him to do that? You must know I would never leave you. Or our child!"
"N-no." He coughs up more blood. "You d-do not understand. I have been sworn as your protector since we were children."
"You are right Nick, I do not understand." She told him.
"I w-was in charge of bringing y-you to a man who goes by the n-name Merlin," His breath was becoming shallow. Eleanor could not believe what she was hearing from her dying best friend. He was rambling on about non sense things, out of all things to ramble about it was about a man from an ancient bed time story.
"Do not speak. Now is not the time to talk of bedtime stories," She chides. The Fey girl suspects that he was falling into a delirious state of mind due to the lack of blood. He makes an aggravated sound, clearly upset that she is not listening.
"You must find Merlin, E-Eleanor," He lifts a bloodied hand to cup her tear stained cheek. "He is the key to your salvation, and the Fey's. T-there is no time to explain, you must go. I told them that you, my wife, had run away, they may return to see if what I said is true. I am sorry I could not keep our daughter safe."
Her lip started to tremble and eyes watering once again she lifts her own hand and overlaps the one on her face. "I wish not to leave your side. I will not."
He chuckles, "Always so stubborn, one of the reasons I had fallen in love with you. But you must go."
Eleanor's heart practically leaps into her throat, "I am sorry that I could not return your feelings."
"No," He shook his head. "There is no nee-" Nick winces and throws up a mouthful of blood. His face has gone pale and she knows that his end is near. "Go, my love."
Eleanor watches as his eyes drain of life and his body goes entirely limp. She does not stop the tears from coming. Eleanor bows her head, pressing her forehead against his chest, her cries become heartbreaking. While he knew that she did not love him in the way he wanted, he still made sure to take care of her.
She lifted her head and stared at where her Lisa laid, with shaking legs she came to stand in front of the cradle. The sight she saw was horrifying and upsetting, they had defiled her child, her innocent little angel. A small cross had been carved into the middle of her forehead, and blood-soaked the front of her cotton shirt. Where she presumed they had delivered a single blow to kill her-no their child. The woman did not stop the bile that was rising from deep within her gut. It left a bitter taste in her mouth and the pungent smell of iron wafted into her nose.
Eleanor grabbed her now limp child into her arms and cradled her close to her chest. She felt Raphael land on her shoulder and caress her cheek with his beak he made sounds of sadness and she felt him tremble. He was crying and she could of sworn she felt tear droplets fall on her shoulder. Lisa had only been at least a few months old. The girl had just started to grow tufts of ginger-colored hair, where it curled at the sides. The same color as herself but the curls were passed down to her from Lisa's father.
In Eleanor's younger days she had always made fun of Nick's curly hair, but secretly she loved his locks. She envied them, claimed her hair was rather dull looking despite the striking color.
She could not stay much longer, the murders had come at night to do the job of killing her family. Morning would be coming in the next few hours, so she packed what she could carry. Ran to the stables and saddled her trusted steed Maxine. Then set the place she had started to call home on fire and watched her life turn to ash as well as the bodies of her family right before her eyes.
This is where the Red Paladin killer had been born.
__________
Published: 7/30/2020
Authors note: looks like I'm starting a new book. This book is based on the new Netflix series Cursed! I think I'll be working hard on this one. I start my online college classes sometime in August. What I'm doing is writing out chapters editing and changing, and trying to make plots. So if you notice me making a few updates in the same day it's because I had them already written.
Oh and I do not own any of the characters in the series or plots they belong to there own creators. But the characters I create and plots I make belong to me!