Chapter one
She looked around herself for the last time, it was too early to see anything properly. 5am?! It was an ungodly hour, especially in the middle of November! The early morning sun still hadn't risen, neither had any of the other inhabitants living in the small, sleepy village she had sought shelter in for so long now. Maria patted down her old blue dress, taking out a small, rusty tinderbox from one of the pockets and carefully lit an old oil lamp near her bed. A flicker of light and the lamp suddenly exploded into deep, rick golds and crimsons. The tiny particles of dust floating around her danced gracefully in and out of the rays of weak lamp light.
Maria sighed, placed the old lamp on the equally decrepit table and drew open the moth eaten curtains to no avail, it was still dark as coal outside except for the vast blue moon and her own flickering candlelight. She bent down and clawed at the empty air under her bed until her slender, dusty fingers latched onto the handle of her own practical, brown leather suitcase. The only thing of any value in it was a shining silver dagger and the clockwork angel which usually hung from her neck on a shining bronze chain. She reached for that now and attatched it to herself.
Before Maria had been staying at this inne, she was living with her grandmother whom had died very recently. When she died, her house was taken and her painfully large bills were thrust upon Maria who, in blind panic, had run away and not looked back. She hadn't the money to feed or clothe herself, let alone pay for someone elses wrong doing. Maria had gotten by, singing and writing songs for minstrels wherever she could. But recently people's money had slipped through their fingers and noone could afford to stand around and watch the merry folk in their free time anymore.
Maria made the bed and swung the suitcase under her arm, closing every door behind her as she crept out of the inne and set off towards a large hill a few miles away. Maria was headed for home. She hoped her mother and father weren't dissapointed in her. It had been so long since she had seen them and danced between friends, her multicouloured skirts billowing around her, a constant smile playing on her lips and songs of home playing over and over wherever she went. She was eighteen now and had been moving from country to country meeting people and trying to find who she was herself for years now. Ironically she had lost her true self when she left home, quietly and by lamp light, as she was now, so that noone noticed her departure. Since then her hair had turned from a strawberry blonde to a haze of reds and oranges but her eyes were still just as green as the thick moss surrounding her as she began to climb the steep hill, Maria stopped suddenly in the middle of the dry road as someone vaguely familier stumbled clumbsily toward her. She called to him and her joyous words echoed loudly through the hilltops,
"Nathaniel?!"
Chapter two
Nate's glasses were steamed from the surrounding early morning mist as he turned the corner. He wuped them feverishly with a thing woolen sleeve and glanced through them again. Nate smiled at the shape walking towards him, politely at first, as you would a stranger. But his smile widened as he realised how the figure was striding purposefully toward him up the rocky slope. Maria grinned warmly at him and leapt into his outstretched arms. The old friends hugged eachover fiercly, as if, if they held eachover tightly enough, the years apart would melt away and the time they spent together now was just another end of week reunion as infants. That they could soon run to the bakers, hand in hand and listen to his stories next to fire, eating fresh cakes and buns and grinning cheekily to eachover every time the bakers wife slipped them an extra cup of something warm and spicey from the flickering hearth. There in the cold now, Nate breathed in the gentle lavender scent of Maria's hair, as scarlet as the fire in his blood.
Maria and Nate tumbled onto the mossy banks beside them, so lost in eachover's arms that they had forgotten where their feet were going and had fallen. The air around the happy pair grew close and the clouds overhead were grey and heavy with rain. The first wet drops splashed onto Maria's pale face and she stared at Nate who grabbed her gently shaking hands and pulled her into a nearby forest.
Hand in hand they ran until they reached a shaded clearing. Maria looked up in shock to see that the day had come and gone and the first golden, twinkling stars were winking at her overhead, Nate gathered a few odd pieces of wood and piled them near where Maria had unceremoniously flung herself. Her suitcase which Nate had gently placed near a grand willow trembled and, as Maria rifled through the outer pockets of it, a small, fluffy head poked out. Attatched to it were pointed ears with tufts of fluff at the end. The small creature had green eyes like Maria and a red tail which became apparent as it pulled its tiny body out of the bag and settled beside the fire Nate had lit with his bare hands. Of course! Maria had almost forgotten the trade he had practised for so long now. Nate was one of the best in the land, he could create roaring bonfires in the wink of an eye and small, delicate flowers made of flames that bit your fingers at a touch.
Nate leaned over the makeshift fireplace and petted the animal's ears with one hand as he poured dry leaves and bark onto the fire with the other. The animal looked at him indignantly, stretched, stood up and bit his head with tiny, razor sharp teeth. Nate jumped back and swore loudly, Maria shooed the animal away as she crawled to Nate and took his hand. She kissed it silently until the pain dulled down to a dull throbbing.
"Maggie isn't good with strangers.. Sorry, she didn't mean any harm." Maria assured him gently, smiling warmly up at him with shining eyes,
"That.. THING is a girl...?" Nate questioned, and looked around to see it staring at him with wild, unblinking eyes at the edge of the clearing. The animal unnerved Nate highly. They all remained in silence for a while, Maria still cradling his hand in her lap.
A pack of wolves howled quietly a few miles away and made them all jump. Maggie stalked over to them and threw itself down beside the fire. She fell asleep instantly.
