Listening Snow

V

“You! Is that how you learnt to drive?” she demanded heatedly, vibrating from the sheer power of her rage. “Who gave you a driver’s license?” And when he continued glaring, she shook a fist at him. “You dare ogle me? After you almost had me killed.” She took menacing steps towards him, still trembling in great righteous indignation. Then she poked his chest with a finger. “ and then, where is this place?” She cast about for any similarities to what she used to know. It was bad enough she had all these strange experiences but to have him simply staring at her just hit rock bottom.

So she exploded into tiny fiery smithereens, annoyed she flung away a wet clog of hair. She who always prided herself in being decent and reasonable suddenly found herself in what seemed like a room designed for just one thing, and it was most illicit!

She stomped her foot and stormed out. Yanked the doors apart and stepped into utter chaos, then thought to hell with it and stormed right through it all.

Until her head was very nearly severed from her neck.

He watched her spitter and throw questions at him. Her voice very soothing, much more than the bathe could ever be, and ran thick and smooth like honey. Her eyes….. very unreadable under the faint light; and when she stood dripping wet on his floor in what would seem a heavier version of her underclothes – only it wasn’t really in the fashion he was aware of -, he could make out the curves and lines of her body as her clothes – whatever they were – clung desperately to her body. She was tall, taller than even he was, and had the body made simply for fantasies and dreams.

It was until she left in a storm that Taizhu realized he had just stood and stared morosely and lost at her that every single responsive word or action had simply been drained off him. Then she had drawn the doors open and the sounds of metal clashing against metal reached him. Even then he had just stood staring at her retreating back until Mo Lian Chen had stormed in, greeted and announced that the Princess Consort had been murdered, that it had dawned on him that he had met the infiltrator and had done nothing until he had lost his pregnant wife.

Rage fired within him and filled his insides. Brewed and boiled until he felt all his reflexes return to life. Swiftly he grabbed the sword by the door and launched into the air, sword unsheathed and pointing to her back.

Her retreating legs had covered quite a distance and her back was fast disappearing.

Not tonight, Taizhu swore to himself and in solo seconds he had reached her, maneuvered a fighting duo and placed his sword at her neck. Her move to almost coating her her head.

She stopped right on time and then away from the blade.

Her startled widened eyes fell on him.

Someone needed to douse her with ice cold water to rouse her from this very bad dream.

How had she gone from reminiscing the past to a near collision with a truck, to getting dumped rather unceremoniously into a lake, to finding herself in a strange harem-like room with a rather questionable man, to be ogled at, to find herself in a battlefield, to almost having her head severed from her neck, to being dragged and thrown into this stinking dark dungeon?

A dark rat scurried into her cell, sniffing its way in and she wondered if she could sneak out and scurry her way out of here as well.

Her hair badly needed grooming. She was famished, weary to the bones and furious. No man was ever going to trample upon her ever again. Alice, she told herself, she was storming the human rights office as soon as as she could find her way out of here and she would ascertain she had this man very contrite for doing all these to her.

First she needed out of this place. There was no power here. Their source of lighting were lamps and candles.

Imagine.

This place even lacked power supply.

Her stomach growled. Drat it! She was famished.

Footsteps echoed all over and Alice found herself waiting. For what? She knew not.

Three men stopped before her cella dm she refused to look up at them. She heard the cell being unlocked and even when she knew someone had walked into her cell, she remained back to them. She felt his gaze bur into her and at once needed him out of there.

“Bring her out.”

What was that language? She pondered, brows furrowed deep even as she was dragged out of her cell to a wider space where still refused to bestow her eyes upon them, her captors. The worms deserved little less, she told herself.

The walls were made of stone and – brows furrowed more deeply – mortar? It seems in no detoxifying shape at all. In fact it seems at its prime, she observed. Then she glanced at her filth coated nails and sighed deeply. She needed to get out of this place fast. The only dirt she welcomed on her nails were from paint, clay and gardening. No dirt associated with this mad man was by any means welcome.

The dark wall suddenly turned white and she scowled. She wasn’t about to faint now, was she? It wouldn’t do to appear a weakling here. They could take much more undue advantage of her.

Stay strong, Alice, she schooled herself.

And jumped when a pair of dark eyes suddenly appeared before her. She even squealed and wrinkled her nose in disgust at his oblivious satisfaction as he stretched to his full length. Having gained her full attention.

She squealed and wrinkled her nose in obvious satisfaction as he stretched to her full length as well, then arched her brow at him tauntingly.

“The dragon seal,” he started. “Where is it?”

Alice rolled not just her eyes but her head in obvious irritation. “Again with the question?” she snarled. “What do I know or wish to do with you precious dragon seal?” She gave a short laugh then poked at his chest and again, finding a way to evade his staying hand. “You ran me into the lake with your blasted truck. Then you drag me to your harem to – to -. Then you almost severe my head from my shoulder. Then you drag me off and kept me locked up in here like a – like a filthy criminal, which you are in all likelihood. Now to give your perverted mind an excuse you start making nonsense up about a stupid dragon seal. Are you serious?”