Beast

Chapter 2

Papa cannot get out of bed. He won’t stop coughing and we cannot afford a doctor. I use the last of our tomatoes for a soup and pour him a large glass of water. He is not very responsive to my talking and he has a fever. 

“Eat papa!” I force the spoon in his mouth and he swallows with great effort. “You need your strength to get better.” I get half the bowl in him before he falls back to sleep. I wet a piece of cloth and put it on his forehead, hoping it will cool him. 

I had just got back in from checking on the cows when there’s a bang on the door. I open it and Maggie greets me, she is married to papa’s best friend George. “Esme, is your papa ok?” she walks in with a basket. “I went to the doctor, there is a disease spreading through the village and there is no medicine. I was worried about you all on your own so I brought some bread for you.” She puts the basket on our table. A disease? My papa cannot die! 

“Thank you Maggie. Papa is very sick, and I’m scared. I don’t want him to die!” She pulls me into her arms and hugs me. Without papa I have no one.

“Calm, child. Panicking and crying will not help your papa. I will go tend to him and stay the night whilst you rest.” She strokes my hair and takes the basket into papa’s room. I go out to Polo, seeking the calming smell of hay and the feel of his soft fur. He greets me with a whinny and steps back to let me in.

“Oh, Polo. It’s awful. Papa may die!” I cry into his neck. He may not answer, but having someone to talk to is therapeutic. If the Prince cared, we might be able to live and get the medicines we need. Yes, the Prince. I run to the shed and get Polo’s saddle and bridle. I spot papa’s shotgun and take that with the extra bullets. When Polo is ready I run back and grab my wrap with a hood. I put gloves on for extra warmth. “Maggie, I’m running some errands.” I yell. 

Polo is waiting patiently for me and I mount him swiftly. Kicking him into a fast canter, we disappear into the forbidden woods.

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I think I am lost. I was following the path, yet I have reached a dead end, trees block the way. Polo is being really difficult, not obeying or going the right way. I trust my horse though, if he says we shouldn’t go down a path, I won’t. The only option right now though, is the path Polo refuses to even acknowledge, but it’s the only path here. 

“Come on Polo.” I kick his sides extra hard. “We need to do this for Papa!” With one final kick, he finally relents. We gallop so fast the trees blur. Polo is snorting with his every inhale and his eyes are so wide you can see white around his brown irises. Polo increases speed without any prompting from me. Without warning he stops, causing me to fly over his head onto the muddy ground. My head and shoulder hit the ground first making me dizzy. “Polo!” I gasp. I can hear his hooves hitting the ground going back the way we just came, but they are fading. All too soon, it is silent.

My head throbs and my shoulder shoots pain every time I move it. I manage to sit against a tree, but it’s uncomfortable. The sun has begun to set and the darkness is approaching rapidly. Papa is going to be so worried, and he is already sick. I let my eyes close and the tears to flow. I just wanted to help the last of my family.

A twig snaps to my right, it was really loud in the silence, not even birds seemed to inhabit these woods. Another twig snaps and I look into the bushes. Yellow eyes watch me. The darkness covers the body, so I can only eyes glaring at me. They never lose their focus on their target. Which Is me. I stay completely still, hoping it will leave me alone, the shotgun was on the saddle, leaving me defenceless. My adrenaline kicks in and it only amplifies my fear. The yellow eyes never waver, and to my horror a second pair joins them, then a third. Bushes rustle to my left and I see more eyes accompanied by growls. A wolf pack! I cannot stop the whimper that pathetically escapes my lips.

One wolf steps from the bushes. It’s grey with black on its paws and back. It sniffs the air, keeping its creepy eyes on me the whole time. It’s an abnormally big wolf, its head would reach somewhere between my hips and waist. It steps closer, baring its teeth threateningly and another whimper escapes me. I see the satisfaction my fear causes the wolf through its eyes, they sparkle with malice.

The other wolves begin to leave the cover of darkness and venture into the moonlight. They all vary in colour, and none of them are just purely the one, they are all mixes, creating a variety of browns, blacks and greys on their coats. They all bare their canines, and I see my fate. Papa will be devastated, if he survives this disease that is. The grey and black wolf steps closer, demanding my attention. It’s a couple centimetres from my feet and it lowers itself, a clear pouncing position. This is it. I am going to die, whilst trying to do something right. 

Just as the wolf’s body tenses, a deep, gravely howl fills the air. It sends shivers down my spine, and it has the same effect on the wolves. Their tails go between their legs and most of them run away. But the one that was about to pounce stays behind. I hear the howl again, closer and louder, making my whole body shiver this time. This wolf sounds angry. With a final growl, the wolf finally leaves. 

My head falls back, resting on the bumpy tree trunk. I was almost killed by a pack of wolves. A hysterical laugh bursts out of me. I could be dead if it was not for the creepy howl. The creepy howl! I stand up, using the tree for support. Paw prints surround me and again it hits me how close to death I was, making me a little dizzy. There is also a pain in my knee which I hadn’t noticed before. I don’t remember which direction I came from, but something tells me to go left, so I limp along the path. It is fully dark now and if it wasn’t for the semi-full moon, I would not be able to see anything. 

It feels as if I have been limping for hours, there is no sign of life and there are no hoof prints on the ground from Polo so I know I am going the wrong way, but a little slither of hope had crept in, telling me I could still meet with the Prince.

Just when I had given up that little hope, I see yellow lanterns and an iron gate in the distance. I increase my speed, Blackmoor! I made it! I reach the gates but they do not open, they appear to be locked by some kind of mechanism. I cannot see any buttons or leavers and the gates do not budge. “HELLO!” I yell.

There is a minute of silence before a deep voice answers. “What are you doing here?” A man in armour walks towards the gate holding another lantern. He is well built with greying hair and a clenched jaw. He does not look happy to see me if the way is bushy eyebrows form a deep scowl doesn’t make it obvious.

“I need to see the Prince.” I beg.

“The Prince is not here. Go back to where you came.” He turns, completely dismissing me.

“Please! I only just survived my trip here!” I grasp the gate, holding myself up. My knee and shoulder really hurt and my head is not any better. 

He mumbles something to himself. “I’ll let you in so you can tend to your wounds which seem to be bothering you, but the Prince will not be seeing you.” The gate opens and I stumble in. I follow him to the front door of the infamous Blackmoor. I made it. I will get him to hear me out; my papa’s life depends on it. Inside is magnificent and over the top, a huge chandelier hangs from the high ceiling. There are two big staircases, one curving on the left and the other is to the right. The floor looks marble and everything is spotless. “Mia will show you to a room. I’ll give you two days, and then you need to leave.” He walks off and a small woman approaches me.

“Follow me.” She snaps and leads me up the staircase and down a hallway. We stop at a door and she opens it. “This is your room.” Then she walks away. Is everyone here so rude? I step into the room and gasp. A huge king size bed, a real bed, takes up most of the room, furnished in black and gold covers. The bathroom door is open and I can see the deep bath tub. I jog over to it, bursting with excitement. I’ve never seen a bath so big! I twist the metal things at the end, seeing what they do, and to my delight, water pours out. At home we had to fill a bucket and heat it over the fire before we poured it in, but here the water heats up on its own!

When the bath was full, I stripped and looked in the mirror. A black and purple bruise covered my shoulder and there was a small bump on my head. You could see my ribs and my hips protruded, I was unhealthily skinny. The bones stuck out on my shoulder and my cheek bones were a little too visible. 

I sink into the hot bath, wincing when my muscles clenched, but they eventually relaxed and I closed my eyes in bliss.