Daughter of the Night

Chapter IV

In all of my years I have never had to make such strong force to perform a simple task like opening my eyes, but as much as I wanted them to remain closed, perhaps because of a naïve idea that if I could not see it was not happening, I needed to try to at least catch a glimpse of whatever future awaits me. Forcing my eyelids open, I slowly started taking in the conditions of my body. It was clear that I was still on the carriage’s floor, with every move I could feel myself moving along with it, the floor was hard and cold, obviously highly uncomfortable, but still was difficult for to determine if the awkward position or the condition of the transport was the main cause of my pain. 

Because my whole body aches, it is unlikely that the reason is the carriage floor, maybe all the rough handling from earlier or the whole fighting, if I could call the cowardly ineffectiveness of my actions fighting, but regardless of what the reason was, it hurt badly and everywhere. The cackling sounds of the carriage mixed with the bumps it made whenever the horses passed through a particular rough patch made me realize I needed to get up. 

Opening my eyes made my head explode, but I had to push through, one of my hands is trapped behind me as I lay on top of it, I thought my arm was numb but as soon as I tried to move a searing pain reverberated throughout my body, making my breath get caught on my throat, still I knew I should not make a lot of noise for whatever the witch and the guards were capable of doing to me could be much worse. Slowly, and as carefully as possible I brought my arm forward, laying straight, on my back and painting on the floor my eyes looked above to the top of the carriage, if the circumstances weren’t so dire it would be almost like when laying down on the soft meadow with my cousins, watching the day turn into night and the moon start to make its resplendent appearance at the sky. Except that this time I had to focus on the lines of seams, trying as hard as I could not to think of my parents and the life I left behind, as my body tried to send away the hurt. 

In pain or not I still needed to get up. After the pain in my body subsided enough to make me feel like I was not suddenly going to throw up, the witch came back to my mind, her perfect-condition green shoes are still so close to my head it is almost possible to smell it, her calmness terrified me to no end for it must take a deeply terrible creature to witness and perform terrible horrors and remain calm. I could only see half of her face from where I was laying, she was turned to the side, her face pointed to the small tainted window of the carriage with eyes closed. Averting my eyes from her, I started to sit. 

Trying to hold my weak body I managed to move myself to the carriage seat, next to the witch, but still separated enough that I did no need to touch her. Looking outside the window and I made a silent prayer to the Goddess for being seated as I probably would have lost my balance for what I saw. 

Positioned at the top of a hill was a castle, The Orphanage, as some people would call it, the place where the girls who could still bear children were sent to so they could be prepared, whatever prepared means. It is an opulent and terrifying creation, all made of grey stones long enough to be bigger than any human or wolf, the closer we got the more it shifted its castle resemblance to what it truly was, a fortress. 

There were four towers, each more intimidating than the last, arranged in a square style, every tower at one extreme end of the place, there were also torches and statues of wolves, the green land in front was dark green, almost turning to brown, it appeared dead, the whole place seemed so cold it sent shivers down my spine, for there was an inkling screaming inside of me that inside was much worse. 

Even the small rays of the dying sunlight was not enough to make the construction look more warm, with being located on top of a hill it was possible the see the Royal Flag flying high, a coat of arms made of a wolf stepping on the head of another wolf, a clear sign for all enemies to stay away, and the Country’s flag, showing wolves, together and united, a pitiful and almost scorning contradiction to have them both close to each other. The flags were moving very fast, as the strong wind passed by them, hurdling and making wild noises to my sensitive ears. 

“Fascinating, is it not? “ The unpredictable sound of her voice startled me so strongly that my whole body jumped from the seat. I took a look at her, the same calmness and petrifying look still plastered on her face, making my voice tremble when it finally came out.

“Not certain if fascinating is the word I would use to describe it.” She chuckles dryly at my words, the veins on her neck becoming more prominent. 

“And what world would that be?” She questioned so amused by the whole interaction. I took a long breath, not sure if I should say what I was thinking. 

“Perhaps terrifying.” Her smile died, her whole face transmuted into something darker and more somber. She stared deeply into my eyes, looking at me as if she could see it all, body, mind and soul. 

“You merely classify it as terrifying for you fear it’s powerful strength, but fearing strength is not going to help you in this life child, it never helps anybody” 

“What life is that going to be?” I asked trembling as now she was still staring me, but her eyes were unfocused, like she was somewhere else, seeing something else. Tilting her head back into my direction with her eyes focused on me again, I prayed she would give me a solid answer. 

“Now, curious little thing, I believe you are about to find out.” She said with the creepy smile coming to her face as I heard the carriage come to a halt. 

We had finally reached The Orphanage, and whatever was waiting for me in there.