Tangled: The Varian-Verse

Chapter 1

Cassandra felt her chest heaving with reach ragged breath she took. The acrid taste of blood filled her mouth as she stared at the blackened ground under her hands. She curled her fists, gripping the scorched earth tightly. Ashes landed on her eyelashes. Smoke filled her nostrils and stung her eyes.

She was battered, and she was bruised. Worse, far worse, she was alone.

She groaned, trying to pull herself to her feet and failing. She hit the ground again with her hip, feeling what little strength she had left fading. So, this was how she would die. Alone and helpless.

She grit her teeth. She may be about to die alone, but by the stars she would not die weak.

With one last, agonizing effort, she forced herself to her feet. Sword in her bloodied hand, she shifted her feet into a fighting stance. She raised her sword and took a shuddering breath.

"Clisto!" she screamed. "This isn't over yet!"

Silence.

Cassandra waited, her eyes darting from here to there, futilely searching the ruins through the smoke and raining ash.

"I think it is, Lady Cassandra," a voice said from behind her.

Tired reflexes kicking in, Cassandra whirled around, slashing her sword downwards. It hit nothing however, and she stumbled.

"Fight me, coward!" she screeched, once again searching for her opponent. 

Again, silence reigned.

Warily, she began turning around in a circle. Years of training helped her master the panic rising in her chest, turning it into a fighting rage bubbling up inside. However, she had nothing to unleash it on. Not yet, anyways.

"Put down the sword."

She spun around, finally finding her opponent. His white garb contrasted sharply with the gray smoke suffocating them, and his face was half-covered by a white mask.

"Put it down, and I'll let you live," Clisto said calmly. For someone without a weapon, it was a bold claim.

Cassandra, however, shivered at his words. "I don't believe you," she snarled, leaping forward and slicing at him.

In the nick of time, he side-stepped her blow, grabbed her hand and jerked her off-balance. With a yelp, Cassandra hit the ground again, her sword clattering out of her hand.

She looked up in time to see Clisto kick the sword away. Grimacing, she picked her head up to look him defiantly in the eyes.

"Lady Cassandra," he rebuked her mildly.  "So brave. So reckless."

"Kill me and get it over with," Cassandra hissed.

Clisto chuckled. "So very brave. But no. You'll be my guest for a while." He let out a sharp whistle.

Cassandra froze as she heard a low growl. Terrified, she looked to her left.

A flash of brown fur was all she saw before teeth sunk into her legs and arms. She screamed in pain as the thing lifted her off the ground, and the last thing she remembered was bouncing along in its mouth as it ran.