The Woods

Chapter 6 - Aquaintances

Three angels, nestled in mountains of red silk; creating a triangle, each body joined foot-to-head, all sleeping soundly. White skin, cream linen, blond and brown hair, each intertwined seamlessly. A stream of light, bathed the bed in celestial sunshine, lighting Rapunzel's hair, which dove between the mountains of silk and pallid flesh.

Their light breaths, mixing with the quiet creaks of expanding wood and the songs of birds - created a symphonic cacophony of morning. Beams of misty sunlight shone in through the small stained-glass window; the image of the castle in the woods magnified on the rippling hangings. The trees came alive, as the wind slowly pushed the white cloth this-way-and-that - the green dappled and faded with the magnification.

Cinderella looked at the projected scene with longing. Her eyes wet due to her recent awakening. She yawned, smiling a little, as she looked over the limp bodies entangled with her own. Even though she saw the castle often, when hoeing in the garden or fetching water - she didn't recognise it here. The castle in the glass, reflected the youthful and recently built Grecorgia Palace, yet the one that stood there now had been altered and thus grown, almost dwarfing the mountain.

"Wake up, Vesper awake, we must be gone!" Cinderella shook the angel in the furs and leathers, as the sun disappeared and the castle did too. She opened the hangings and stepped carefully onto the floor, trying to make as little sound as possible. The room was dark now, the cherubs seemed like phantoms hiding in the crevices of the stone.

"What?" said Vesper, her croaky whisper almost inaudible but Cinderella heard.

"I think it's time we took our leave, we've intruded too long" she whispered back, turning on the balls of her feet to see Vesper, whose long hair was falling down the side of the bed as she looked up frowning.

"You don't have to leave" came another murmur, muffled by the silken sheets; she lifted her head, her face sweet and innocent, her eyes showing sadness as the sunlight re-appeared.

"Please, do stay, I am awfully lonesome during my mothers absences" she continued, standing up - awake, as her hair spilled onto the floor boards.

"I'm sorry but we... well at least 'I' must away" Cinderella explained moving toward the door as the dappled castle emerged once more. The sun had broken through the clouds again, its light streaming through the stain glass window, the castle floating on the cotton hanging. Rapunzel arose following Cinderella, the wind whistling through the translucent hangings, rippling wildly as Cinderella opened the door.

"Well if you must go, promise you'll return, I've never known anyone before" she said following her, clearly upset and disheveled by this abrupt start to the morning.

She unraveled her hair, finding the part braided into a ladder, which was often hidden by the upper layer of silky locks. The shutters rattled, as she threw out the golden ladder, the moon a white shadow in the sky.

"Well Goodbye, I hope to see you soon"

Cinderella began climbing down, after muttering a 'goodbye', the ladder fastened to the window so that Rapunzel didn't bear the strain. It swung in the breeze as Cinderella clung on, slowly venturing further down.

"So long, friend" she shouted up, after she landed. She started away, yet after a raging-raw gust wind hit her, she shouted up "Could I trouble you for a cloak or coat, the morning is a cold one"

Her teeth began to chatter together, as she rubbed the top of her arms and waited for the warmth of some material. On the sandstone base of the tower she noticed a scattering of what appeared to be claw marks, most likely the wolves from last night, she thought. Billowing wildly a cloak floated down as she shouted, "I've never used it anyway, it's yours"