Rose, Wilted: Book 1

Chapter 12 - Blizzard of Blood

I ran out into the open courtyard outside the castle and looked around frantically for Bess, my Clydesdale mare that I had ridden here only three days ago, but what felt like a lifetime. I bolted to the stables and found her in an instant. I scrambled up and rode her bareback out through the doors. As we galloped towards the gates I realized they would be locked, but I couldn't bring myself to turn around. Before I could comprehend it they had swung open and we burst out through the gates of the castle courtyard and into a mountainous snow storm. I yanked my shawl around my shoulders as the wind began to swirl around my ankles in hungry gusts.

Promises didn’t matter anymore. I couldn’t stay in that castle another minute with that terrible monster. All I could think of were images of that icy hand lying lifeless beneath a pile of stone. The crimson puddle spreading, staining his white fingertips. And that traitorous engagement ring. That traitorous engagement ring glimmering in the light of Jean's betrayal. The memory of the Beast’s menacing growl ripped through my mind like a tear in the earth. I closed my eyes and a scream ripped out of my throat. I couldn’t take this anymore!

Bess galloped on and on through the snow like a pack of wolves were hot on our heels as they had been the first night. Branches slapped my arms and tore at my shawl, shredding it in passing as Bess and I galloped on through the swirling snow at a dead sprint, trying to get away from everything. We were running away from the horrible scene, trying to drown the memories in shifting, swirling, hungry white. Bess’s chest heaved and her nostrils flared. Foam flew from the corners of her mouth with every hoof-beat. There was a wild look in both of our eyes as we neared the village. I could see it now. Home, warmth, comfort, Father, it was all there in the distance, waiting.

My shredded, red shawl flapped behind me. My brown dress snapped against my legs as the wind picked up, blowing snow into my eyes so I could barely see the blinding sunset.

There was a shout. Someone had seen us. We’d be home soon! Even as I thought it, Bess reared with a whinny of fright as a grouse flew up from under her hooves, startling her half mad mind. My hair swirled up around my head and my shredded cloak billowed around my brown dress. I rose into the air until I was as tall as the Beast, striking an enormous silhouette against the sunlight. I struggled to regain control of the reins as the wind picked up and snow lashed at me from all sides.

Then suddenly I heard a high whistle and a blurred streak raced past the corner of my eye. Searing pain ignited across my shoulder, white hot and stabbing. I shrieked and tumbled off Bess as the crazed horse galloped back towards the village in a thundering of hooves. My legs slipped from beneath me and my right foot lit up in agony as white needles of pain skewed it at an unnatural angle. I rolled over and over in the snow down a hill, trying desperately to stop the world from spinning. Nothing was right! It was all upside down. There was no color left, only the bleak white of swirling snow. I finally stopped, bruised and burning with pain. I craned my neck and saw patches of hot, crimson snow like holly berries trailing to where I lay. My cloak and dress were ripped and tangled in a thorn bush behind me.

I arched my back and tried to get up with my hair hanging in my face. Pain shot through my shoulder and ankle again and I collapsed back onto the snow.

Someone shot me.

The realization pierced my consciousness like the arrow that had grazed my shoulder. I must have looked like a deer, no, deer didn’t grow that big, a bear, no, something bigger than that. It struck hard and fast, and when I realized at last what the hunter had thought he’d seen I was absolutely terrified. The hunter thought I was the Beast. With my shredded shawl, my brown dress, the height as Bess had reared, and my brown hair swirling around my head, then the blinding glare of the sunset, I would have looked exactly like the monster I was running from. I looked up at the state my dress and cloak were in. They were tangled in the thorn bushes and worse, they made my prostrate form appear huge. I tugged frantically at my dress and the branches of the bush, desperate to free myself.