Lady Of Lake And Arrow |A Swan Lake Retelling|: Book One

Chapter 4

XYLØ - Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea

Meh. I just think it's a nice starting song for this story.

(This is also the cringiest chapter I've ever written)

Terhen debated whether or not he should check if Jessa had ran away after hiding behind the tree.

Then he heard the sound of shifting against the tree trunk and some muttering. Probably dreaming; so Terhen decided against it. Even if she did manage to get away, bandits would surely get a hold of her, or she'd meet starvation. Either way, he couldn't care less if the girl died. Her death, her fault.

He stayed up, taking watch as their two horses nibbled on the grass together. If only his life were as simple as the animals'.

Instead, after Casrian had heard the rumour of the rogue Tartarean with ice abilities sent to prison, Terhen was dragged along as the fire user meant to balance out the extremely thin girl whose dark, dark eyes showed she was more than just a vagrant. Too cunning. That was why Terhen still felt vigilant around Jessa. Something about her was off, but he couldn't pinpoint it.

Later, Terhen promised himself. He'd study her more and try to understand why Casrian would want her for the Keep enough to go to the prison himself.

Looking up at the stars, Terhen hoped he would find out before it was possibly too late.

–––

Claws made of iron grabbed at her. She thrashed, helpless as those monstrous hands raked through her clothes and down her skin, caking itself in her blood.

She tried to tell herself the pain wasn't real. It wasn't. But it felt otherwise.

Please, she cried, not exactly sure what she was begging for.

A cold hand wrapped around her neck, choking the air out of her. She gasped, clawing at the hand weakly. It only tightened.

Just when she thought her final breath of life was going to snuff out of her, the hand let go, leaving her to fall into pure darkness.

Then more iron claws came back to rip her to shreds. More screaming and begging. The hand would choke her again–let go when she was close to the end.

The dream happened over and over again, until dawn broke, and the dream disappeared completely.

It was like this every other night if she dared to fall asleep.

And right before each dawn appeared, she'd somehow find out what she was begging for:

Forgiveness.

–––

Jessa opened her eyes, forgetting where she was for a moment and staring up at the tree branches. Panting, she sat up slowly.

Fortunately, no one had tried to kill her during the night. She peered around the tree, finding Terhen sitting on the ground cross-legged and sharpening a knife.

"You finally woke," he spoke without looking up. Jessa frowned, standing and stumbling over to her horse. Terhen handed her another apple, and this time she bit a chunk off and fed it to her horse.

"For bringing me to the city, even if it's not the one I want to go to," Jessa murmured, patting the horse's neck. The horse only nudged her, wanting more fruit.

The two continued to set off for Carleone, this time not stopping and only eating along the way.

Now close to one of the Eshya bridges that connected the lands to Carleone, Terhen halted, Jessa doing the same soon after.