Grimgar of Love and betrayal

Chapter Two

Run! Don’t look, don’t listen. Just run!

I could feel it, my heart pounding furiously in my chest. Dancing to the tune of a sudden surge of adrenaline. I was free!

“Search the woods, she couldn’t have gotten far”!

Sibeth’s guards! I had no time to be thrilled. It’d only be a matter of time before Sibeth’s men caught up with me and the so-called freedom I have longed for would be nothing but delusional fantasies of a broken princess. I got up, struggling to stay on my feet. It was the start of the winter and the air was thinner than usual. I had no doubt chosen the worst times to become a runaway. If Sibeth didn’t get her hands on me, nature was sure too to freeze me to death.

Panting heavily, I dashed through the snowy forest. Amber lights glowed just up ahead. The villages were probably close by, getting there was the only glimpse of hope that I had. It was the only way I was ever going to lose the guards.

“She’s over her”!

I looked back and caught a glimpse of the guards chasing me. Just one? But she was unnaturally fast! Too fast! But she was too late. Hahahahahaha! I’m free!

Ecstasy filled me for a brief moment until my legs couldn’t feel the cold snowy ground anymore. I’m flying? Hovering!? No! I w--as….was falling—off a cliff!

A sharp pain struck my thighs and I squelched in pain. It felt like I had grown wings and chased after something so unreachable and at that moment, when hope swelled within me, those majestic wings were yanked off and some imaginary force knocked me back to earth.

“Where’s the girl”?

“She ran off the cliff, but Miranne, here, left a dagger in her gut”. Zale, her partner said, patting her shoulder. Her eyes moved from the abyss to his hands in disgust.

“Thighs”. She corrected

“Then we’re heading down”? A bald guard added as he arrived by the cliff. She tried to recall his name, but it escaped her twice. Jean, the bald guard, was arguably one of the strongest and closest to the commander.

“Do we really need to? She’s human, fragile and squishy. She either bleeds out and die or smashes her head on the way down.” Zale replied, showing off his usual lazy attitude to work.

“I know humans are stupid, but didn’t know they were stupid enough to jump off a cliff”.

Zale chuckled “What choice did she have, when a beast was chasing her”. Miranne’s dark eyes met his drunk smile, and she shriveled in disgust. Was he seriously expecting a thank you for such a hideous compliment?

“You flatter me, but I would have preferred her alive though. I always wanted to screw a princess”. Jean sighed sadly and suddenly burst into bubbles of drunken laughter with Zale. A loud grunt forced them to suddenly maintain their composure. Their commander step through the woods with a glum look on his face.

“Enough horsing around! We’ll follow another path down the cliff”.

“But …she’s probably dead”! Zale argued. He met the stern gaze of the commander.

“My apology—"

“Lieutenant Zale”!

His nerves tensed and sweat broke through his skin as his name echoed through the windy forest, sending a nervous chill up his spine. “We’re going down, any objections”?

He turned away and mumbled a reluctant reply. “No sir”!

“Then proceed and serve the Quintess!

****

Their loud voices slowly faded away with the stormy winds. I crashed into the snow with a large thud, tumbling down a couple miles till I felt my ribs shatter as my body slammed against a boulder. I managed a yelp with my face buried in the snow. I was hurt, weak and hungry. It might not have been such a good idea to have gone without eating for so long, but it couldn’t be helped.

I had only one chance of escaping and I took it. Sibeth’s bad mood had sent everyone on high alert. Her guards were running to and from the castle, preparing for what seemed like a war; blades, guns and heavy artillery.

The vaults within the castle had been sealed tight until that night, when she blew the steel doors to bits and helped herself to every royal artifact and treasure hidden inside. With every guard busy, my room was left unguarded as usual. The winter had brought about many things; my indescribable luck and the disguise of the stormy snowy night. I lowered myself down my balcony with my tied up sheets and dresses that I’d knotted into a rope. One end was tied to the bed and the other I held in my frozen fingers, shivering like a sick puppy. Father’s study was a couple rooms away and for a moment my eyes fell down with a fixed gaze at the abyss of snowy white nothingness below me.

My throat clenched. There was no stopping now. I grasped my poorly made rope and lowered myself till my feet felt the icy ledge below me. I peered through the windows. It was blurred by the snow and ice, but I could still see his long desk and the picture with the miniature keyhole. Father’s office!

Cold, dark and locked. The windows were frozen shut. I pounded furiously against the windows, but my hands were frozen. My fingers jiggled with an intense rattle. The fall below me made my nerves shiver. Every time I tried to look away, it drew me back, and I’d shut my eyes trying my hardest to ward away the vivid image of my body splattered across the snow.

I inhaled deeply, my knees bent backwards and, off with a sharp exhale, pushed myself of the ledge. I swung backwards and forwards again but with barely enough. I'd only manage to smash off the large chunks of ice around the windows. I had lost momentum and was dangling in the wind with my arms and feet around my oddly-looking rope that was starting to feel loose.

I couldn’t scream for help. I had no one to scream at either. The horrifying image of my near death flashed again like a series of flashbacks, only this time I was the main course of a luncheon hosted by crows. I shivered, at least they weren’t gulls.

I dangled for a while, the rope felt a lot lighter, I could no longer feel the weight of my bed keeping me dangling. My fate was on the verge of being determined by my horrible knot tying. Judgment was passed. I was to be fed to the crows. The knot was almost loose when a large gust of wind slammed my body through the windows, sending me under the table as the glass scattered across the floors. I whimpered and held my arm against my mouth almost immediately as the office doors creaked open.

“Time for some good old whiskey”.

The faint smell of alcohol and a husky voice. Damian! He pulled out his canteen and walked towards the table. A frightened chill crept up my spine as he got steps closer to me. For some reason the broken windows were not a bit suspicious to him at all. Just like that night, he always had something else in mind and, right now, it was just a comfy spot to get drunk. He had almost taken a seat on the black leather chair in front of me when a guard approached the door and called out to him.

“Sire, her highness request your audience“.

He sighed sadly and stormed out the room. For the first time in years, Sibeth had saved me!

The moment the doors shut, I was left frightened, panicking and gasping for air. Once I calmed. I yanked out the shards stuck on my skin. Every time I tugged against the shards, I bit my fingers in an attempt to hide my screams. My silent screams lasted a minute, my lungs nearly burning as much as they did in my first few months locked up. I dug my hands into my ragged dress and pulled out the silver key, kissed it and scurried over to the painting on the wall. Once the key was in the hole, the hidden door appeared as Tamacti described. A brief moment of relief washed over me as I lowered myself on what seemed like a ladder. Once my feet reached the end of the ladder, the doors shut behind me, trapping in what was left of the light gust from the broken window. I walked down a couple steps following the surrounding lights into a tunnel below, to a point where the caught wind slowly faded away with a gentle whisper. “Run”!

Sibeth must have changed her mind cause at the far end of the tunnel behind me, I could hear someone banging against the door. “Run”! Endless whisperings flooded my wind until I made it out and into the woods. There was nowhere I was getting caught here after making it so far!

I was thrilled, the sensational rush of adrenaline as the cold winds blew my hair against my face in blowy faucet waves. It was serene. It was freedom! I thought it would have taken them a couple of hours to catch up, but I was certainly wrong. It had only been thirty minutes and their voices echoed through the snowy forest. The tunnel was meant to lead outside the kingdom, but most of it was destroyed as a result of Sibeth’s assault when she returned. So the tiny bit of it left led towards the eastern forest surrounding the castle. It was nowhere close, but it was better than nothing and now here I was.

I clenched my teeth and yanked the blade out. Afterwards, I ripped a long piece of my ragged dress and fastened it around my thighs to stop the blood.

“Run”, voices inside my head whispered again. It was the same damn thing over and over until I began muttering the words, denouncing them: “Run! Run! Run”! I crawled to my feet through the snow. I was either hallucinating or I had reached the village. I was almost there! “Almost there”! I assured myself, my injuries had begun taking their toll on me, my eyes felt heavy as my vision blurred and the sharp pain my ribs gave as I moved felt a lot worse. “Almost —". I plunged into the snow, left with nothing but staring into the dark. As time passed, it got harder to breathe. From heavy gasp to light puffs I was fading away. For just a minute, I blinked and Gia and Matteo flashed before me, they seemed happy running around, they slowly faded away. If this was what dying felt like,

It felt shitty.

“Robert! Hold on, someone’s lying here”.

“It’s a girl”.

“Is she alive”? Betty asked as her husband, Robert, approached the lifeless body lying in the snow. He turned her over and ran his fingers along her neck. He felt a pulse.

“Let’s take her in, she’s still alive, isn’t she”?

Robert nodded and took her in his arms. “Poor fella, she’s all banged up”. He said and placed a blanket of fur over her.

“We’ll end up like her if we spend so much time in this damn storm”! Betty replied and they marched towards the cabin. Betty pushed the doors open and shut out the storm behind her. She flung her coat across the room and rushed inside. She returned dragging a mattress behind her. She was placed a couple meters away from the hearth and Robert laid her down. He ran his fingers along her neck, she was sweating profusely and had gotten a lot warmer. But the hearth bore no part in it. It was a fever and it was worsening. “Betty, she's got a fever. Get me some blue medicine from the cabinet”! She rushed upstairs and came back with a vial of blue liquid.

He parted her lips and slowly poured the liquid down her throat, her body calmed almost immediately once the vial was empty. Robert heaved a sigh of relief.

“Well, we had better make something for the young lass, she’ll be hungry”. He said

“Do you think she’ll fancy some rabbit soup”? Betty asked curiously.

“Can’t think of anything tastier on a winter night “. Robert replied with a smile, and they laughed in a cheerful but silly way. Roberts' eyes turned towards the dancing flames of the hearth as Betty disappeared into the kitchen. His gaze shifted to the hurt girl with a thin smile, those blue eyes and silver hair, the classic traits of the Silva.

She had a couple of broken ribs, a mild frost bite on her thighs where she had been stabbed, she had scars along her neck and shoulders like she had been whipped and stabbed a thousand times. It looked like she hadn’t eaten in a while. It was no surprise.

Betty was quick to notice the Lotus tattooed on the left side of her waist, the mark of the House of Silva. She cleaned her up and treated her cuts and bruises as she slept, trying her hardest not to wake her. Her skin glowed dimly as the aftermath of the frozen weather slowly disappeared, her silver hair glistened as if cheerful to be rid of the muckiness.

By the time the soup was ready, she had begun to wake up. “Gia”. She muttered.

My eyes slowly fluttered open. The afterlife felt warm with bright yellow lights and wooden walls. No!-- I was alive! My eyes widened, and I met a pair of eyes staring at me. They looked somewhat like Gia’s and belonged to a face that smiled an awful lot. Beside her was a man. He seemed to be in his early thirties with a chiseled chin, greyish eyes and a little prickly beard. They saved me? My eyes surveyed the room. It was a cabin, it had a room upstairs, one room downstairs and a kitchen which you could peer into from all corners of the living room except the sides closest to the door. I gathered from the different rifles and skins that hung on the walls that they were hunters. Everything about them seemed normal, but there was that presence. The same terrifying presence that surrounded me in the castle. Vivid images of sharp fangs and fiendish glowing eyes made my head spin. Vampire! My face widened with horror. I caught a glimpse of an empty vial. I snatched it nervously and smashed it against the floor to reveal its sharp ends whilst moving towards the safety of the hearth.

“STAY AWAY FROM ME”! I yelled as the man with greyish eyes tried to move.

Robert was taken back. He was pretty sure he had gotten rid of every trace of him being a vampire, but somehow she could tell. Magic? No. From her reaction, she had been around vampires long enough to tell. It wasn’t the obvious signs, it was fear, the terror engraved into her skull, less like a feeling and more like an instinct. A sixth sense. It was something she was never getting over.

“It's okay, I’m not going to hurt you”. He said and slowly approached her.

“Oh stop it, you’re scaring her”! Betty said, and he stepped back. She approached slowly and lowered a plate of soup.

“It’s okay sweetie, eat up. Don’t mind Robert over here, he’s not going to hurt you, you’re safe now”.

I stared into her hazel brown eyes terrified. They were vampires but the way she smiled was warm and tender. Was she really a vampire?? The fangs were there and that scent that always lingered around them, but she seemed different and had those eyes that reminded her of Gia, they were comforting. My belly grumbled and she laughed.

“Not trying to poison you darling”. There was one thing that differed in their presence, something that made them seem different from the other vampires at the castle, but I couldn’t put my tongue on it. Her warm smile was unfazed, her face glistened as the light of the hearth stroked against it. I stretched out my foot and pulled the bowl of soup towards me, the metal spoon in my hands and I took a sip, my eyes fixed on both of them. The tender warmth of the soup splashed against my taste buds, my cheeks turned rosy red in delight. I slowly lowered the shattered vial and took another spoonful of the warm soup. One spoon had quickly turned to a second and a third and in less than a minute the bowl was empty. My eyes met Roberts' greyish eyes and I turned away quickly, and she asked if I wanted more.

I nodded unashamed, and she went into the kitchen and brought in with her the warm pot and served me another helping. Robert told me not to rush the food and slow down. He was worried my insides were still pretty cold, any faster and I'd puke my belly empty. I was barely full on my fourth helping, but I resisted the urge to ask for more. I slapped my cheeks. I’m sorry Mrs.….

“It’s Gryther, Betty Gryther, but forget Mrs., just call me Betty, and well, that hottie over there is my husband”! She rushed over and hugged his arm tightly, like a 5-year--old possessive of her favorite toy. It was hers and hers only, not that I had any intentions of taking him from her to begin with.

I’m sorry Mrs.… Betty, I don’t have money to pay for the meal.

She turned to her husband and giggled sheepishly. “She’s so cute “.

“Mehh…think nothing of it, we found you buried in the snow, we’re just glad to see you’re okay.

For a moment my fears returned, they were vampires. Why didn't they have as much soup as I did? Was I the main course, were they just fattening me up!? I slowly reached for the vial, but Robert dashed over in a blink and grabbed it, along with the shattered pieces, on the floor.

“You’d get hurt, playing with sharp objects, princess ”. His voice was gruff, deep and cold, but there was a slight tenderness in it. Betty, his wife, was rosy red with a smug spread all over her face.

“Don’t mind Robert, he can be scary at times, but he’s a sweetheart”. She said with a chuckle.

Robert smiled, quite flattered, and they laughed in sheepish mirthful giggles. I stared at both of them, bewildered. I had enough of this madness. “You’re both vampires, just eat me already, suck my blood”! My words must have spilled from my lips because they both turned to me and sighed.

“You’re majesty. We are vampires, but we don’t fancy human blood”. Betty said with her best imitation of a royal. “Phish posh”. She said

I laughed. It was almost accurate. Allucard and his family were all like that. Except Percy, he was…my eyes met hers and drifted over to Robert. They both knew who I was. Not that it was that much of a secret. My hair said it all.

“It’s true vampires need blood as a compulsory nourishment, but the cows, rabbits, deer can cover for that much”. Robert added and I stared speechless. I only realized now that’s what Sibeth fed her lower-rank vampires-she had once complained to me about how the food wasn’t going round, and I suggested on a whim to give everyone else garbage but her.

I guess she took my words rather seriously beca on that night, I heard a couple of guards whining about how hard a good meal was to find. These vampires weren’t under Sibeth, but they had voluntarily chosen not to kill humans. “Why”? I asked, still finding that part of them rather unbelievable. “We’re all living beings” aren’t we now? Betty replied with a smile. They asked about me and how I ended up in the snow and I told them all that there was to know. I at least owe them that much.

I avoided everything that had to do with that night though. I didn’t want to relive it all over again. We talked for hours and I learned they had been here long before Sibeth had shown up. They paused and never dug any deeper into their past than they felt necessary.

Robert had explained I was still healing, and he had given me some medicine to heal my broken ribs. I could feel its effect had begun, most of my cuts had already vanished, except the deep cut on my thighs which hadn’t completely healed yet.

“In a couple of minutes it’ll be bedtime for us princess. You can use the mattress over there, there’s a dress for you on the couch love and hot water in the kettle. If you want to take your bath and, of course, you know where the rabbit soup is, take as much as you want ”. She said and fell into Roberts' arms sleepily.

“Remember to rest up and stay away from the cold, I’ll check on you when we wake up”. He said and carried Betty off into the room like she was a baby. It reminded me of Matteo, that endless burst of energy he had and the sudden crash right afterwards.

It was about 7:00 in the morning, but you couldn’t really tell it was another greyish morning. The sweet scent of Betty’s rabbit smacked my cheeks. It wasn’t unlike me to eat this much, it’s not womanly! Father would scold . A wave of emotions was slowly washing in the events of those nights and, I quickly devoured it with another bowl of rabbit soup. It had an odd, slightly creamy texture and looked less like soup and more like sauce. Its slightly reddish appearance and the blend of spices were unique. My taste buds tingled as I explored the unfamiliar flavors. Little chunks of rabbit bombarded my cheeks with mouthwatering tenderness. My belly was anything but satisfied till the pot was empty.

I smiled stupidly and laid back on the mattress. The thought of being saved by vampires bothered me. I had left the castle with an eternal hate for vampires and my sister. Now I didn’t know if I could hate them anymore. Betty and Robert were different, at least they seemed that way to me.

They fed me and gave me clothes to wear, they had found out I was a princess and weren’t the least bothered, even though it meant exposing them risking their lives. To them, I was nothing but a hurt little girl.

I spent the next couple of days living with Betty and Robert. Robert was quite the doctor, my injuries had healed really quickly. He explained it was the medicine he gave me which was somewhat of a potion.

Betty was a maid in her past life and was perfect at it (perfectly horrible). She was a superb cook and had picked up hunting from Robert, which he regretted every day. Betty had done most of the hunting in the past few days and every time she returned with half the forest rabbits in her sack. Betty had little to no restraint with a gun and the urge to pull its trigger was something that flowered like adrenaline the moment she found an animal in the forest.

A sack of rabbits was better than the other days when she hunted a whole herd of deer. Robert would sigh every evening. He had trained the forest's worst nightmare, a little monster. Luckily I was there, when the food was way too much.

Days went by, and I had gained quite a lot of weight. Robert said it was a good thing. He said I looked like a stick wearing a silver wig when he found me, even a mannequin had more life than I did. He wasn’t wrong, all the time I was locked up, I avoided the meals as much as possible except when my belly began to curse in the most profound Malkavanian words I’d ever heard. During the day I fell asleep. I was rarely awake. I was almost a vampire. Sibeth was to blame for that. I spent the nights helping Betty cook. With the storm clearing up, Robert didn’t want me outside at night. He had spotted a couple of Sibeth’s guards in the forest. They were no doubt searching for me. I knew I couldn’t stay here any longer. I didn’t want to put Betty or Robert in danger. Sibeth wasn’t someone I wanted them to get involved with. They were vampires but they were good.

I had woken up a little past midnight, when I heard Betty and Robert whispering in passionate voices. I shamelessly listened whilst pretending to be asleep. I’d almost giggle every time Robert tried to nibble her ears. There was silence for a bit and Betty asked curiously.” How many were there today”? Her voice was suddenly heavy with sadness. “It’ll be 50 this week”. Robert replied with a sigh. “They’re gettingg closer, it’s only a matter of time before they find this place. I’m ready to die protecting her”

“I know you are”. Betty replied and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead. I clutched the sheets of my mattress feeling rather guilty. They’d been protecting me for so long, and I hadn’t even realize how much danger I had already put them in.

I hadn’t woken up that night as usual to help Betty with the cooking.I laid helplessly on my mattress. I wasn’t asleep, I couldn’t sleep. I laid there lifeless. Robert knew I wasn’t asleep. He could tell from a glance I wasn’t sick either, but he knew something was on my mind. Betty instinctively knew I didn’t want to talk about it and assured a worried Robert that I was going to be okay. He sighed and went out to hunt in place of Betty. My guilt worsened as I realized, he had been hunting more than deer and rabbit, Sibeth’s men were on the menu, a meal that no one would ever order.

I waited impatiently for morning, but the night felt longer than usual and dawn felt like a million miles away. I tried falling asleep as much as I could, hoping time could pass away, but sleep was just as far from me.

It took a long while but the moment had arrived. It was first light and Betty and Robert tiredly went to bed, locked away in the dark room. I waited for a couple of minutes till I was certain they had both fallen asleep. She had left out some grilled deer strips that had a strong resemblance to bacon labelled “Deer Jerky’. With a strip of paper she had made lots of it with all the extra meat she had brought home all week. A thin smile waded across my face and disappeared. I stuffed up the little drawstring bag Betty had given me with the bowl of deer jerky packed up and ready to go. I slowly tiptoed out and shut the creaky doors behind me. I looked back once more and descended the forest as fast as I could. I stopped to catch my breath, staring at the snowy white blanket below my feet. I hadn’t even gotten the chance to say goodbye. I sobbed and took out the deer jerky and munched away. I was halfway through the bowl when I noticed a note hidden inside. It was Betty.

Elizabeth, if you’re reading this, you’re descending the forest. Run and don’t look back. By night fall the army would be making their way towards the cabin. Run eastward, you’ll get to the main village. It’s on the outskirts of the town. Look for the building with the red flag. There’s a grumpy man there named Uthred Gryther, he’s the barkeep, he’s a vampire. Bribe him with the deer jerky, and he’ll help you out of the village. Try not to finish it, you big dummy. You were eavesdropping yesterday, weren’t you now? Sorry we weren’t able to stay together forever, but we’ll protect you. Phish posh! Hehehe…. Dummy, I’ll suck your blood the next time we meet. Kwahahaha!

I stared into the bowl of deer jerky, there were less than ten strips left. I tucked it away and sighed. I wiped my tears with my white sleeves and hurried down. The village was still a couple of miles away, it was going to take a day to make it down. The long walk made me wonder why they chose to live in the forest up in the mountains. Robert was the only one who ever made trips to the village. Being a vampire sure made it a whole lot faster.