Destined Hope

Chapter Three

"Mother, what did you think of the ranch girl?" Asks Hayley.

"You cannot keep her." Says her mother the queen.

With a heavy sigh, Hayley puts away her horse brush and walks away pocketing.

"Ah! What did I tell you about your hands?" Says the queen.

"Walk like a princess." She answers rolling her eyes.

"Good. The future of Ireland depends on it. Now, come along. We have a ball to prepare for." Says the queen.

Most of the time, Hayley wished she had a different life. Not that she did not fancy the high life, not at all. She just did not want it.

"Now, Anabelle will be making your gown for the big day...." starts her mother.

Her thoughts start drifting, thinking how it would be like to live a normal life like all the commoners. How lovely it would be to serve.

"Hayley, Hayley.." calls her mother. "Dear lass, don't tell me you don't want this. Gear up. Your father wants to meet yah." She says picking out a dress for her.

Before she starts undressing, her brother walks into her room. "Hayley I need to, whoa...where'd yah fish this one the oak tree rivers?" He says chuckling.

"What do you want Vlad?" She says looking at him sternly.

"I wanted to borrow something. If you are busy I can come back." He says.

"Yeah. Get your tush out of here yah old donkey. Better not come back or I will have Pegasus stomp on yah like there is a stampede." She says sharply.

He lifts his hands in defeat and walks out of the room. It had never been ber dream to be a princess. She half liked it and half hated it.

Shaking away the thought, she dresses for bed and combs out her hair before  falling asleep.

***
Elsa wakes up to a strange noise coming from the shed. Instinctively, she crawls into one of the horse's stables and hides in the hay stack.

She stays silent and even fears to breathe as people walk into the stables and look around.

"This looks like it will fetch quite the amount don't you think?" Says one of the men.

"Mmhm. Quite right sir. This will make sure all your enemies fear yah. Just take him and he will not fail you." Says another man.

Elsa notices this voice at once. It was master's voice. She had never seen him this afraid of anyone. She figures that these people might be worse than him.

Gently stroking diablo's nose, she quietly opens his stable door and hits him at the side quietly yelling, "Go boy!"

The horse lets out a loud neigh as it breaks into a high speed gallop almost knocking down one of the men.

"What do we do with the man in the shed?" Asks one of them.

"Leave him there," says the man appearing to be in charge. "Oh, and scorch this ranch. It has outlived its stay on my land." He adds.

Then, breathing heavily, Elsa hauls herself over the back way of the stables and runs for the shed.

Papa.

He was not there when she had woken up. They might have tied him up in the shed.

Papa. He was all she could think about. She prayed that he was alright. On reaching the shed, she looks inside, nothing. She goes round it, nothing.

Then, strong hands grab her and before she could scream, she is shushed. "Relax lass. It's only your papa." He says softly.

She leaps into his arms causing him to fall backwards into the grass. She then notices blood on his shirt.

With a frown on her face, she asks,"Papa, are you alright?"

He nods and gives out a weak smile to her. It was better than nothing. He just did not want her to see him dying.

Just as Elsa looks up, she sees the ranch catching fire. Panicking, she tries to drag him away from the shed. He grunts in pain as she keeps pulling.

He then stops her in her tracks and tells her,"Come here my little porcupine. I will teach you how you can help me."

Without hesitating, she listens to his instructions keenly while doing as he is told and with all her strength, she ties the piece of cloth around his body to surpress the bleeding.

Then, he musters the little strength he has and stands up painfuly, trying to help his daughter in their escape.