His Dark Majesty

Impending Doom

The smell of herbs attacked her nostrils as soon as she opened the door. She sighed and quickly closed the door so that the chill wouldn't sneak in.

She took off her cloak and hung it on the wooden peg at the entrance.

Grace was nowhere to be seen but she could hear the banging of pots from the storage room.

She chuckled. If the banging of the pots was anything to go by, Grace was in her rare germ hunt mood.

She looked around the large shop. It was practically a large wooden box. Three of its walls were covered in floor to ceiling wooden shelves brimming with jars, vials and salves.

The fourth wall contained the door through which she had entered and on the corner of it was a large mahogany table. It was laden with parchments, quills and ink pots.

There were two worktables in the centre of the room. It was where they prepared all the medicines.

She made her way towards the table and started arranging the parchments in neat order, while going through the records of supplies.

The brunt of winters will be upon them in no time and they could never make enough medicines for cold and such ailments.

Summers weren't much hot in Falhaven either, but the winters were deadly cold. The sun barely shines throughout the season.

The swinging door slid aside to admit a tall, wide elderly woman. She had pale hair, milky blue eyes and slightly wrinkled skin. But her face was kind and it morphed into a smile when her gaze landed on Annaleigh.

"Ah! Dear Annaleigh ! You are here", the woman clapped her hands together.

Annaleigh placed the parchment back on the table and turned around. She smiled at the elderly woman.

"Bonjour, Grace", she said sweetly.

" Come come, my dear, I am afraid there's a lot of work to do today", she ushered Annaleigh towards the worktable.

"Please make a soothing potion for Emilie's contraptions and a salve for Peter's bad knee", she informed her and shuffled towards the backroom again.

Annaleigh immediately got to work, going about the room to collect much needed herbs and mixing pots.

It was such a small town, Falhaven was, that everybody knew each other by their names.

Grace appeared from the backroom again carrying a copper dish, laden with pear tarts. She placed it on the table, Annaleigh was working on.

" Eat while you work, dear, I saved them for you ", She patted Annaleigh's hand and she thanked her in return.

"I will be in the backroom. We need to order the needed supplies before the snow is too thick for the wagons",

Grace disappeared in the backroom again.

Sometimes later in the midafternoon,

She was sitting on her chair, working on a healing salve when the bell above the door chimed again.

Annaleigh looked up from her work, expecting yet another customer.

Her lips split into a beautiful grin when she beheld who it was.

It was a young girl of tall build. She wore a pink cloak which she was unclasping now. She hung it on the wooden peg beside Annaleigh and sauntered towards her table.

The girl had pale blonde hair, blue eyes and a tall, round frame so unlike Annaleigh's petite frame.

"Why yes, Roselle, you look radiant today", she said mischievously while measuring some ginger in the pot.

Roselle rolled her eyes but a slight pink color tinged her cheeks.

Annaleigh grinned.

" How's Derrick?", She asked.

"He's good and absolutely excited for the horse race", she said with pretended annoyance but her words brimmed with love.

Even a blind person can see how much she loved him.

“Where’s mom anyway?”, she asked and Annaleigh informed her about Grace's whereabouts.

Roselle has been her best Friend since she was a little girl. She and her mother never cared about the curse which made Annaleigh a plague to the rest of the townsfolk.

They soon get to work again after discussing this and that.

Annaleigh busied herself in completing the medicine she was working on and Roselle started filling the parchment.

The bell chimed again. Annaleigh didn't look up as Roselle was present now to deal with the customer.

But an extremely unpleasant voice reached her ears and her head jerked up.

There stood the she-devil incarnate in all her finest silks.

Clarisse.

A sigh escaped Annaleigh's lips just thinking about the tension that accompanies the girl.

Roselle has also stiffened from her perch on the stool.

Clarisse strode in the middle of the shop. Her wide frame looked comical in her bulbous silk skirt and all the paint in her face.

She was short and wide. Her beady brown eyes were always narrowed to the point that they disappeared altogether. She had a big nose and too thin lips. Her face was caked in white powder, and there were two red circles painted on her cheeks, imitating a blush.

Ridiculous.

"Hello Annaleigh, Roselle", she said in a fake sweet voice. Her big powdered nose twitching unpleasantly as her Kohl lined eyes examined the shop and it's workers.

" Do you have business here, Clarisse? ", Roselle asked in a stiff voice.

Clarisse ignored her and regarded Annaleigh.

"Why Annaleigh, you look absolutely pathetic in your rags", she sneered.

Annaleigh didn't answer; instead she gazed at the surface of the table with utter concentration.

But, Clarisse wasn't finished,

"Have you already ordered your dress for the winter solstice, dear Annaleigh?”, she asked sweetly.

Annaleigh's face paled and her eyes widened. They flickered to Roselle who was stiff as a bow.

The dream from today morning flashed again and her breath quickened.

"You are aware that the solstice is just in two weeks, right?", Clarisse said while examining her painted nails.

" I suggest you wear something unflattering for your wedding Annaleigh, not that you look flattering anyway", she cackled after saying that.

There was a loud bang as Roselle stood from the stool with so much force that it toppled backwards.

Annaleigh's breath was ragged as she struggled to draw enough oxygen in her lungs. Her hands tightly gripped the table.

"That's enough", Roselle snarled in Clarisse's face.

" Annaleigh looks beautiful in her rags while you look like a pig in all your silks",

Clarisse's face reddened in humiliation. She opened her mouth to sprout more poison but Roselle held up her hand,

"If you have no business here, I will have to ask you to leave immediately", she pointed towards the door.

"You have no right to kick me out", Clarisse growled with a red face.

"Oh! I have every right to kick you out and I will do just that if you don't leave in the next three seconds", Roselle folded her hands on her chest and looked down her nose at Clarisse.

Clarisse bristled, threw a condescending glare at Annaleigh, who was breathing fast, and stomped towards the door.

Roselle rushed towards Annaleigh and made soothing circles on her back , saying calming words.

After a while , Annaleigh had gained control of her breathing but her face was still pale.

" That b***h deserves to rot in hell for the poison she sprouts ", Roselle said through gritted teeths.

Annaleigh angrily swiped the tears that had escaped her eyes. Grace wss now between them too, Roselle has informed her of what happened. She now hugged Annaleigh.

" She was right. Winter solstice is just two weeks away. I will be eighteen", Annaleigh said helplessly.

Grace rubbed her arm soothingly, "Don't let her get the best of you , my dear, you are a strong girl and I assure you, everything will be fine", Annaleigh nodded .

It was all she could do.

" Now, how about you take a stroll to the woods in the fresh air and collect some Greenbriar roots", Grace said cheerfully, "God knows you collect the best ones, you do" , she said, trying to lighten the atmosphere.

Annaleigh nodded and stood up. Some fresh air will do her good, she thought.

Grace handed her a basket as she ties the cloak on her shoulders,

"Return before the dark, girlie", Grace sternly said.

Annaleigh gave her a small smile and kissed her cheek, " Thankyou, Grace '', she said and trudged to the door and out in the square.

Grace dabbed at her eyes, " My heart aches for the poor girl, she doesn't deserve to be given to that monster", she wailed. Roselle swiped at her eyes, cleaning the tears that had blurred her vision.

She couldn't help but agree with her mother. Nobody deserves to be married to a monster, let alone sweet Annaleigh.

Fate has a way of torturing good people, she thought and returned towards her work.