Red Queen Fan Fiction - Red Huntress

Chapter 3

Left alone with the equine beast, Diana expected it to bolt, if not to attack her. For now, it seemed peaceful enough as she stroked its head, didn't it? Yet she readied herself – whether to grab the horse's halter or to dodge, she wasn't sure.

Instead, it were steps behind her that made Diana flinch. They came from the manor. Diana froze, unable to decide whether to duck in a poor attempt of hiding, or to stay unperturbed like she belonged in this place.

Her hesitation took the decision from her, yet she was relieved when no one called out to her. So she turned – carefully, in chime with the horse's movements – to see who was passing.

To her surprise, she found a girl barely older than her, striding along the manor's parkway. Her proud gait alone, with assistance from her rich attire, revealed the girl to be Silver. She would've looked strange without either, with her hair so light it was more white than yellow like Diana's own; and skin so pale it had almost a translucent violet sheen.

Diana hadn't met many Silvers in her life, but she knew how they were, what they expected Reds to think of them. And yet, in that moment Diana didn't see how different from her this Silver girl was. She was like her, Diana, a sulking teenager, and so pretty Diana felt the same kind of shudder as when the sight of Giselle took her breath away.

The girl stopped in the middle of the yard, raised her arms and waved them. Out of nothing, a gust breezed over the yard and onto the paddock and after a minute, clouds arrived from nowhere to cover the burning sun.

"It's so hot!" the Silver girl cried out, turning on her heel to another person leaving the manor. Another Silver, an older boy with short dark hair and ochre skin.

"Hey!" Diana stood straighter in shock, because this was called into her direction. The Silver girl was staring at her.

Her heartbeat accelerated, sweat beaded on her skin. She couldn't say anything. Maybe it was better not to say anything.

"Stable girl, don't stand around like that," the Silver told her. The boy reached her companion and grinned over her shoulder. "Don't you have something to do?" the girl went on. "Feed the horses."

Diana was still unable to act, too stunned the Silvers didn't even consider she wasn't supposed to be here. And why should they? They believed Reds were neither clever nor bold enough to sneak in somewhere, or to truly oppose Silvers. Diana's people were roustabouts invisible to Silvers unless their skills came in handy.

So the boy and the girl didn't spare Diana another glance, not caring if she did feed the horses or not. Thus, she concluded, they had to be guests needing to boss around although they had no idea how this manor or its workers operated. That should've incensed her, but in her panic, she realized that also made them unlikely to report her to anyone. To be sure, she ducked to get out of sight.

The Silvers crossed the rest of the parkway, reaching some transports waiting at a gate that seemed more like decoration than protection, if it came to it. The Silver girl sighed. "Lord Isère was a nice host."

" 'Nice' as in the little sister of shitty?" The boy chuckled.

The girl shrugged. "He looked away as we take some days off before ... what was its name? Aerzen?"

The boy thought for a moment before he shrugged. "Probably, but let the others go there. Isère told me about a cliff at the lake here I'd like to see ..."

Diana stopped listening. Aerzen was another village in the area, though in another county. Diana believed it was the next stop of the corvee. Thus, the two Silvers had to be here for the greeny corvee? The girl had looked like she was controlling the weather, like Silver storms could.