Chapter Eight
"Good morning, my lady!" a
voice called to Beauty cheerfully as she wandered about the great hall,
nibbling on a piece of toast from breakfast.
"Good morning, Sir
Christian!" she replied in kind, curtseying at the wolf briefly with a
smile. "To what do I owe this
pleasure?"
"I have been ordered to show
you about the gardens, milady. Or
anywhere else you wish to investigate, for that matter." He explained,
bowing on his front legs gracefully.
"Ordered? You mean you're supposed to keep me from escaping,
don't you?" she asked, shoulders sagging in disappointment. With all they had shared last night, why
wouldn't Rayven trust her?
"No, no, milady. The master
harbors little doubt as to your honesty.
He merely doesn't want to you to get hopelessly lost. The castle and its grounds are extensive…
and there is no boundary between our lands and the wild forest further
north. If you were to accidentally
wander there, you might get hurt and we would have a time trying to find
you. This is all for your safety,
milady." Christian was quick to correct her. "The master is already fond of you, I can tell. He would be quite upset if anything happened
to you."
"Ah… that's better. Well then… I suppose the gardens will be
first on my list. I do so love flowers."
Beauty decided, finishing the last bite of her toast.
"The garden it is, milady. Follow me, if you please." Christian
turned to lead her out of the main doors.
"Wonderful…" Beauty
commented as Christian led her down the corridor furthest to the left, an arbor
of magnificent trees, both fruit and flower bearing. A white flower of some kind fell onto her hair, tucking itself
behind her ear gently. "Are the
trees enchanted too?"
"To some degree. These trees were always here, but they seem
a little more conscious. They seem to
now exactly how you feel or what you want.
It's difficult to explain." Christian shrugged as best any wolf
can.
"Fascinating." Beauty
commented, tucking the snow-white bloom more securely in her hair, noting with
wonder that the flower was the exact same shade as the delicate lace trimming
the neckline of her gown. This was yet
another thing that Beauty had never expected; her clothes from home had
mysteriously disappeared, replaced by scores of gowns and dresses in every color
she could think of. Feeling a little
self-conscious, Beauty had decided on a day dress of muted blue-gray, edged
with white lace at the décolletage, the sleeves, and the hem. Her hair had been expertly braided at the
nape of her neck by Shannon and secured with a matching ribbon of white lace as
well. Not surprisingly, Beauty felt a
tad overdressed for something as simple as a walk in the gardens.
As they approached what Beauty
recognized as a rose garden, Beauty nervously twisted her hands together. This was where her father had first
encountered Rayven… where the infamous rose had grown… where Rayven's fate
lay. True to his word, the roses were
few and all yellows except for a single white rose, which was past full bloom
and slowly starting to brown at the edges.
With a gasp, Beauty knelt on the packed ground and cupped the rose's
drooping blossom carefully in her hands.
"Milady…" Christian began
anxiously.
"It's all right, Sir Christian…
I know what the roses mean. This one is
a year and it's starting to wilt. That
means one less year for your master." She assured him, running her fingers
gently over a few of the rose's petals.
"For all of us, milady. If the spell is not broken when the roses
all die, we will all remain in these animal forms… and the master will
die." Christian cleared his throat painfully.
"Oh dear… what will break the
spell?" she asked, knowing that he probably could not tell her anymore
than Rayven could.
"I can't say, milady."
"I figured, but it doesn't hurt
to ask."
She sighed and
rose from her kneeling position, brushing the slight dirt from her skirt
distractedly. As she did, one perfect
petal dropped elegantly from the white rose, floating in its personal ballet to
rest gracefully on the toe of her shoe.
With surprise, Beauty picked up the baby-soft petal between two fingers
and brought it to rest against her cheek.
It felt cool to her touch and it's mild scent drifted over her.
"Poor Rayven…" she
breathed, more to herself than to anyone else.
Without bothering to contemplate the implications, she slipped the petal
into her pocket. She had found a hinged
locket and chain of pure gold resting patiently on her dresser that morning…
the petal would go in there, she decided.
The fluttering sound of a huge bird's
wings interrupted Beauty's musings. She
turned in wonder to see the same owl that she and Apple had encountered the day
before in the forest landed on the stone wall nearby. It squeaked, its white face showing no emotion but its shrill
voice gaining Christian's attention. He
trotted up to the bird immediately, his ears jutting forward to hear. Although her ears tried to make out words,
Beauty couldn't hear any more than a whisper of the wind and her own heartbeat.
After a silent conversation with Christian,
the bird took off again, disappearing into the forests. Christian loped back to where Beauty stood,
concern plain in his voice.
"My lady, I'm afraid I must
take my leave of you. A large bear has
just been spotted near the Eastern gates and my fellow knights and I must
divert its attention elsewhere." He explained hurriedly.
"Go ahead, Sir Christian. I'll stay out of trouble, I promise."
Beauty nodded, wondering why on earth it sounded as though he were asking her
permission for something so obviously important.
"Many thanks, milady. I shall return to you as soon as the foe is
disposed of." He bowed on his front legs once again and took off, running
in the opposite direction from where they had been going.
Beauty sighed, reaching into her pocket
to stroke the velvety-softness of the rose petal. Well, there was no way she was going to remain in this rather
depressing part of the garden. The
knowledge that her father had cost Rayven ten years of his life was not eased
by the sight of the dying roses. With a
careless shrug meant to shake off her feelings of worry, Beauty headed in what
she thought was a random direction.
Little did she know that she was heading North… precisely where the
dangerous forest merged with the safe castle grounds.
@>-----,-----'-----------------------
Rayven surveyed the surrounding
woodland from his hiding spot within a huge mass of tangles roughage and
branches. His keen senses were attuned
to the deer grazing nearby, innocently inching its way towards him. It was a young doe, not yet cautious enough
to have noticed the predator lurking nearby, and had no idea as to the danger
it was in.
From his hiding spot, Rayven
narrowed his eyes as the animal came into view, shifting his shoulders slightly
to prepare for the lunge. The deer was
clueless, nibbling leisurely at some low-hanging leaves.
A female scream of terror sent the
deer fleeing for the safety of the deeper forest. Rayven growled in irritation, only to be cut off by another
high-pitched shriek. His sharp ears
picked up the sound and pinpointed where it was coming from… he also managed to
recognize the producer of such sounds.
Beauty!
With no other thoughts other than to get to her as fast as possible, Rayven
sped through the thick brush and uneven ground. Other sounds soon came into focus; growls and yips, the sound of
a pack of wolves chasing prey. With
roar, he pounced on the first wolf he saw, breaking the creature's neck before
it even had time to know what had attacked it.
Instantaneously, six more wolves were all over him, tearing at his loose
shirt and mane, their teeth bruising his skin where they caught, but not
breaking through yet. He struggled
valiantly, but no sooner had he managed to throw one 200-pound body off of him,
then another took its place. He roared
again, in anger and pain this time as a set of sharp fangs ripped through the
flesh over his shoulder blade.
"Rayven!" Beauty screamed
from up in a nearby tree. He turned
from his enemies long enough to see that she was clinging to a branch with only
her arms, her skirt dangling over the open mouths of three more wolves. The wolves jumped and snapped at her feet,
coming dangerously close to catching their prey. She was losing her grip quickly and Rayven reacting
instinctively.
Reverting to pure beast, Rayven
lunged at the remaining wolves about him, his claws and teeth doling out
massive amounts of damage. He slashed
one wolf's neck, flung another against the trunk of a tree to break its back,
another met death at Rayven's deadly claws with deep gashes down its
belly. Covered in blood, he stood
straight and roared angrily at the wolves still attacking Beauty. With whimpers and howls the survivors fled
as Rayven lunged at them. He caught one
by the hind legs as it tried to escape.
The wolf yelped and doubled its efforts, turning in almost a 180 degree
angle to snap and bite at Rayven arms.
"Rayven!" Beauty yelled
again, barely holding on to the branch.
Responding instantly, Rayven
released the frightened wolf and turned just in time to see her fall. The wolf ran as fast as it could while its
attacker stumbled over to the collapsed heap.
"Beauty!" Rayven called,
kneeling next to her form and gathering her into his arms.
She coughed, the wind having been
knocked out of her. At least she was
alive and didn't seem seriously injured.
"Beauty, are you all
right? What happened? How did you get out here?" he fired
questions at her in rapid tempo, worry creasing his brow.
"I-I think I'm okay… I wasn't
that high up." She looked up at
him with gratitude in her eyes, then gasped and recoiled. "Rayven! You're covered in blood!"
He looked down at himself to see
that she was right. Blood from both
himself and the wolves soaked the shredded remains of his shirt and stained his
chest and hands. Bewildered at the
savagery that had overtaken him, Rayven stared at his reddened hands in
disbelief. If he was capable of such
viciousness now… what on earth might his passion do to Beauty? If anger and fear could enable him to kill a
pack of large wolves… might his desire make him accidentally hurt Beauty, if
she were ever to allow such an act between them?
Oh
God… why have I never thought of that?
"Rayven?"
The soft voice of Beauty permeated his thoughts slowly. "Are you hurt?"
When he didn't answer her, she took
it upon herself to check him over for injuries. Only a few minor scratches and bruises marred his chest and arms.
But when she came to the deep bite over his shoulder blade, she gave a cry of
dismay.
"No!" Rayven stumbled away
from her concerned hands. "Don't
touch me."
"Rayven, you're injured… let me
look at it!" Beauty followed his movements, determined to help the man who
had just saved her life.
"It's nothing… we have to get
back to the castle. It'll be dark soon
and wolves aren't the only creatures lurking in the forest after
nightfall." He insisted, shouldering away from her and leading the way
back. And some lurk inside the castle after nightfall as well… those more
dangerous than wolves.
Beauty followed, knowing him to be right about their current position. However, once they were at the castle she knew she would have to look at his wound, no matter what he said. He had just saved her life, for Heaven's sake! She would not see him go untreated or unrewarded.