Red as Blood

2.

Two days before

Elena checked the basket for the third time that morning, making sure it had all the necessities that her godmother would need. She cold seeped through the wood, sending shivers up from her bare feet and looked out the crooked window. The snow was thicker now, covering the roots of the forest in its icy powder. She followed the softly falling snow with her eyes, trailing it across to the other wooden houses edging along the thick trees. She turned back, tucking a blanket over the goods and searching for her worn pair of brown boots. A cry broke through the wood and Elena ran towards it. She gazed down at the screeching babe, swaddled in furs, trying to keep the winter at bay.

"What's all this noise then?" She smiled, clutching the baby close to her and shared her warmth. The baby instantly calmed, staring up at her with those similar pale green eyes. "See, all just a bit of fuss." Elena leant down, giving her child a soft kiss on her temple and taking a deep breath of her new smell. "If only you could stay like this forever." She whispered into her first fluff of hair.

The baby kicked her arms up and clipped Elena in the jaw. She only smiled down at her. "Now, be good for daddy. Mummy won't be too long."

She gently placed her back down, wrapping the soft furs even tighter around her, those similar eyes looked up at her before slowly drooping shut again. Elena glanced over at the man lying on their straw bed, his black, snow trodden boots, hanging off the edge. She smoothed back his black hair, peppered with grey streaks and gazed down at his sleeping face.

"Be back soon." She whispered into his ear and kissed his cheek.

He groaned in his sleep and she quietly laughed to herself, before shoving her boots onto her feet, grabbing her tattered cloak, the wicker basket and heading out into the snow storm.

The snow crunched beneath her feet as she trudged through the forest, Elena's godmother was a sweet old woman who lived far into the forest. During the summer it was surrounded by a beautiful meadow filled with yellow flowers, but in winter it was near impossible to get to and the snow had meant that her godmother wouldn't be able to make it into market for a while. Elena continued her walk, listening to the sounds of the forest, the leaves rustling with the slight wind and the branches groaning with the strain of movement. She looked out for the x's she'd carved into the trees as a little girl. On her first solo adventure to see her, she remembered her mother cautioning her about staying on the path but she didn't. When she got lost, she had carved the x's knowing it was her way of always finding the way back. The snow fell, escaping through the breaks in the tree to cover her trail. She wrapped the faded red cloak tighter around her, trying to keep the chill out of her bones and continued on, determined to make it back before the sun set.

The smell of roast beef stew hit her before she saw the lights and the winding smoke curling out of the stone chimney. She rushed towards the door, carved out of an old tree that used to stand where the house was. She knocked, the solidness of it rattling against her knuckles and she waited, the damp having crept into her boots and her feet slowly freezing.

"Jillian." She called out, knocking again. "It's me."

The door opened, the smell of old spices and fresh meat hitting Elena in the face before drifting off into the gathered clouds.

"Come in dear." Jillian's weathered face was stretched into a grin. Her wrinkles couldn't contain the light in her steel grey eyes as she fixed her glasses and took in the girl in front of her.

Elena meekly walked into the room, she had always felt insignificant in front of Jillian. Jillian had stories from her travels around the world, her brush with death in the sandy desert or her riding adventure with the prince of some far away country. While Elena had never left the village. She set the basket down on the hand carved table.