Drafty

Snowstorm

        The moonlight glistened through the thick windows of the castle.  One window was open, allowing the wind to dance freely through the crack.  The white curtains billowed like waves on a cold sea, and it was snowing.  Each flake fell and landed, while some blew in and floated across the room, but not before they melted by the heat of the fireplace on the opposite side.  Next to the red-bricked fireplace was a oak wood rocking chair.  Slowly, as if following the rhythm in the crackling of the large fire, the rocking chair eased back and forth ever so slowly.  A long tumbled down as the fire began to wear away, and it sent sparks spewing into the room like the snowflakes on the opposite side.

        An older man sat in the rocking chair.  His hair was a deep black, but with the full moon you could just make out his silver streaks on the side of his head, matching symettrically with each other.  The light engulfed only his face.  He had worry lines across his forehead and wrinkles beneath his eyes from many years of work.  He was the man one could sense had been through much pain and happiness in his lifetime.  He appeared to have a grasp on life, and he acted as though he was one who had lived his life fully and with no regrets.

        Next to the older man was a young girl.  She was of fair height and had deep chesnut hair.  It fell on her head as curls that ended just abover her chest.  She was quite thin, but also muscular and toned.  She appeared to be fairly happy with her life, yet something about her freckled face and hazel eyes gave a sense that she was confused.  Yet she layed on the ground next to the older man, absorbing the heat from the fire and listening to its sharp pops it made whenever the fire snapped.

        The room was peaceful, and the only sound to be heard was the quiet movement of chair on rug and wind through curtain.  If only it could have stayed this way.  Then everyone would have been just fine.

        Suddenly, the door to the quiet room burst open, sending a gust of wind that dimmed the fire and the light it made with it.  "Axle!  Axle! Are you in here?" shouted a man through the almost-darkness, "There's an emergency you must attend to!  The men have returned back from their hunt, but some are hurt1"

        "What!?" shouted the older man, apparently having the name Axle, "I'm right here boy.  I'll be down in a minute."  The man stood up quickly and shoved the rocking chair back.  The light from the fire was beginning to return as the logs caught on fire once again.  "Girl, stay up here for now.  We don't need you messing around with the men."

        "But I enjoy talking to them!" shouted the girl with the chesnut hair, "I think it's fun to make them laugh with my stories."

        "Not this time you won't," said Axle, "I don't need you to distract them.  Do they have frostbight," said Axle to the man who burst into the room.

        "Yes sir.  The wind picked up rather quickly, and the snow didn't do much to help their cause.  Many of the men have purple feet and hands and we can't seem to get them to warm up."

        "Oh no.  We might be too late," said Axle, "Hurry.  You must take me to them.  We must get their quickly in order to prevent possible amputation."

        Axle and the other man hurried out of the room.  The door closed slowly behind them and at last the fire was able to return to its former glory.  The young girl sat up suddenly from the laying position she had been in moments ago.  "Axle never lets me help," she grumbled, "I'm his apprentice after all.  Why can't I be the one to work at his side while he helps others.  He always needs a nurse anyway, so why can't I do it?  Ugh.  He probably thinks I'm not ready!  We I'll show him.  I'm going to help no matter what Axle says."

        With that, the girl stood rather quickly.  She darted out of the room as a single snowflake entered through the window, but before it could touch the ground, it had already melted.

.............

        Dashing down the hard stone stairs of the castle, the girl tried as best she could to keep her bare feet from slapping the stone and giving away her position.  She would sneak into the infirmiry through the back.  That way, she could help the men farthest away from Axle, and thus help without actually getting caught.  If  only the back entrance wasn't accessible only from the outside.  She would have to go through the snow outside in order to make it to the door.  "It'll all be worth it once I help the men.  Axle will be so proud of me! I can't wait to see the look on his face!"

        The girl reached the bottom of the stairs and cautiously slid against the wall.  She had to be smooth and sly, or else the guards would catch her and force her to stay away from the infirmary.  She had tried the plenty of times, and every time she had failed.  Now had to be her chance.

        She stood close to the cold stone wall of the castle and peered around the corner.  There were two guards, each standing still near two different doors and carrying a lamp and a spear each.  They seemed fairly attentive, but upon closer inspection, the girl realized they had fallen asleep.  "How lazy can you get?" she whispered to herself, "You can at least try to do your jobs."  Slowly and careful not to slap her feet, the girl scurried from one end of the hall to the next.  As soon as she was far enough away, she took up a quicker pace and jogged around each corner of the castle until she reached a large mahogany door.  In the darkness, she could just make out the golden door handles and the carving of a stallion standing on its hindlegs.  This door was one of the king's most prized pocessions, for it was entirely handmade and strong enough to prevent most invaders from breaking in.  Usually, it had a kind of bar that came down in order to prevent it from being opened, but tonight, the bar was not left down.  "This is so easy," cooed the girl, "I'll be there in no time."

        Although she was only a child, the girl was very strong from much of her training while being an apprentice for Axle.  She had helped him with many different tasks, for he was the castle's "Master of Jobs".  Therefore, Axle was entiltled to run and look after each job in the castle, from working with the knights to cooking with the king's personal chef.  All the while, the girl had been with him for most of the time.  The only moments she had missed were the ones in which Axle was working either directly with the king or when he was dealing with serious emergencies in the infirmary.  "What can be so bad about healing sick men?  I don't understand why I can't be there to help?" thought the girl, " The surgeries Axle performs don't seem all that bad from what Axle has described of them... and frostbite can't be so terrifying that he has to keep me out.  I just don't get it."

Before she opened the large mahogany door, the girl hesitated.  This lead to the outside.  The cold outside.  "C'mon.  It's probably not that cold out.  I'll be fine."  With that, the girl grabbed a golden handle on the door and pushed with all her might.  At last, she forced the door to move, opening the world up to her and giving her the chance to see what a real snowstorm was like.