She advances on me, face taut in a grimace. Fear is something I can't afford right now. "Guards!" I scream desperately. She laughs coldly,
"Aww, you think they survived me. That's cute. And a bit offensive if I must say so." She mock pouts, putting an extravagantly adorned hand to her chest.
"They'll come looking for me. You can't kill me, my father will have your head."
"I'll just have to put you in a deep..." She whispers in my ear, "...dark...hell. Alone. Anyways, you think I could die at a swords blade? At an arrows tip? I made those weapons. I also made weaknesses in them. You are a weak, spoiled princess who needs to learn a lesson. Lesson one- Love is weakness. Weakness...is...death." I try to run.
A laugh echoes off the walls of the great hall and the door slams shut. I turn and look at her. She stands at the other end of the room with a smirk on and her elbow on the arm wrapped around her waist. Her finger are poised and armed with magic tingling in sparks of electricity off her fingertips.
As she walks, she snaps. The torches on the walls are replaced with green, evil fires that lick up the walls threateningly. She disappears from sight and I looks around nervously. She slips up beside me and whispers,
"Boo!"
I scream.
"What have I done?!"
"Nothing. That's the point. You're gullible and desperate. Now how about we take a little trip?"
Before I can protest, We shoot up and the next thing I know, while Gemma floats to the ground, I fall hard onto the forest floor.
Gemma circles me. "I'll make you a deal. You have exactly one year. One year to find someone who truly loves you. If you can find a match, the second the that love is proven, come find me. And I'll take away the enchantment. When the fire opal burns again, you stay like this forever. Immortal. Alone." I stare at her. "And just to make it more difficult, I've taken what you need most." She lifts her palms to the sky and flies off.
Father always said not to mess with the Sorcerers. Now I know why. My elegant dress is still on my body, but hot pain spikes me. I look at my once spotless skin, and see marred flesh oozing blood. I scream and fall to my knees. My satin blue dress is soaking red. What am I supposed to do?!
I scream over and over as loud as I can in anguish.
"Let me die. Let me die!" Easy out. No one will find me now. For I am hidden deep inside the forest.
"Come back and kill me, I can't do it!" I hear light, cautious footsteps approaching me. Leaves crunches underfoot. I look up and make out a hunter with his bow drawn.
"Hello?"
"Please shoot me." I beg in a quiet, hopeful voice. The hunter drops his weapons quickly and apologizes,
"I am so sorry. Have I injured you?"
"I'm already injured...anything more I would hope it was enough to kill me." I groan.
"Whatever could you mean?"
"Shoot me. Shoot me now. Right through the heart." I say in a shaky whisper.
"I could never!"
"I...I order you to." I sit up on my knees and out turn my palms, lifting my chin and closing my eyes.
"No." He says in a final tone.
"I am begging you. Shoot me. Put me out of my misery." He asks,
"If I may ask of you, why are you out in the cold with nothing on?" His breath comes out in puffs of fog.
"I do not know." I lie.
"Are you able?"
"No."
He walks behind me and I stay still on the ground. I pray that he has changed his mind and decided to kill me. No sounds are heard until I hear a ruffle and a cloak is draped over my shoulders.
"No, no. Please, keep it. You'll get cold."
"I am more concerned for you."
"Leave me."
"You are hurt." He scoops me up into his arms and carries me through the woods with ease. His bow and quiver slung across his back, bouncing with each step. I wince and he looks down at me.
"You're very warm."
I wince and say, "I'm also in pain."
He reassures me, "Don't worry, you are safe now."
"But now you have blood on you." I don't even want to acknowledge the extent of my wounds.
"That's okay. I'm used to it." I tense, why ever would he be used to having blood on him? A cottage comes into view. He walks up the short cobblestone path and kicks the door open. He sets me down and I hear him walk away. Just a moment later, warm lights illuminate the room.
I try to roll over to hide my face, but the pain paralyses me. The hunters cloak conceals his face, but I am exposed. He freezes, a thousand different emotions portrayed on his face. He lands on unreadable stone after a flash of despair, then drops to one knee and bows his head, apologizing,
"Forgive me, I did not know it was you."
"Let me see your face." The hunter brings up his hand and removes his hood slowly, looking up.
His eyes are kind and indecipherable, colored a deep emerald-topaz that mesmerizes me. An honest air is about him. His high cheekbones are tinged pink from the cold. I get the feeling that I know him, and I feel comfortable.
"Please...get up." I whisper in a hoarse lilt. He obeys and starts untying his boots and removing his cloak. He prepares a bowl of water and some cloth before walking over to me and sitting down on a stool beside me.
"Why are you out? Was tonight not the ball the king is holding for all suitors?" The word 'king' drips with venom. It surprises me,
"Yes...it is. Do you have something against my father?" I breath in short gasps.
"Yes."
"Then why help me?"
"Because letting someone die when you could have spared them is wrong." His voice sounds pained.
He pulls a wet cloth across my arm, I scream and writhe in pain. The hunter pins me still and demands with a knowing look in his eyes,
"Who did this to you?"
"Ge-Gemma!" The pain of burning in my arm overcomes me and I start to fade. He runs to grab something and hurries back. The pain spreads up my arm, crawling inside my skin. The hunter throws something on my arm and as it touches me, the pain withers and ends. I gasp and relax.
"I can help you, but you're going to have to show me mercy once you heal."
I scream in fear. My heart races and I feel sick.
"Please.... Just end it."
"I am truly sorry...Drink this, and I promise I'll be here. I don't know what it will do."
He hands me the bowl. I think, Its just water. How much damage could it possibly do me? I drink it all and it scorches me. The liquid I took down courses through me, all I hear is sizzling.
Red flickers in my vision, my heart hurts, and I feel weak. The hunter sits me up and asks,
"How are you?" I start to cry. "What is wrong?"
"My heart..." I breathe deeply and that knocks me out. The wind too much for me, like a fire exposed in a storm. The rain beats it until it has but that one little kindling going for it. I feel as if the hunter holding me is my last life support, the only chance the little flame has.
Awareness passes me as the pain ends.
