Chapter 1
Run. It was the only thing that Katerina could think of as she made her way through the dense woods, leaving her past behind her. Even this far away, she could still hear the sounds of her people screaming and feel the heat of the flames burning the castle down, the same one she had been living in since she was a small child. She took a deep breath in and felt two small tears fall down her pale cheeks. It was so hard to run for safety when she knew that people were dying in a battle. But she wasn't alone. . .
In the lead was Gabin, gracefully dodging several long branches as he past by them. Even on the brink of disaster, Katerina still felt that he was beautiful with all of his aristocratic features: hair the color of midnight, eyes like hemitite, full pale lips, high cheekbones, and an aquillian nose. He ran like the wind and yet he was still graceful, like he truly did belong to the woods. Katerina was having a hard time keeping up, but she wasn't as bad off as her cousin who was about two steps behind her. The same branches that didn't effect Gabin were scraping against her face and getting caught within the girl's long brown hair. Katerina could see Ann's cat-like green eyes widen in fear and hear her breath coming in large gasps as she continued to run through the dark woods.
Katerina herself felt the wind blowing against her face as she ran even faster to catch up with Gabin. She wanted desperately to call back to Anna so that they could change into something more suitable for running through these woods, but she also knew that it wasn't possible. She felt bad for Anna because she knew that the taller girl had always been just as graceful as Gabin. It seemed like only a couple of months ago that Gabin, Anna, Danil, and herself had been running through the woods as a game and Anna jokingly mocked Katerina because she was never as fast as the other three. Now, because Danil was gone, Anna didn't feel like running as fast. It seemed as though she didn't care if she was caught because she felt that she didn't have anything left to fight for.
Katerina's thoughts were cut off by a loud scream, it wasn't like the ones she heard when she was closer to the castle. This one was right behind her-Anna. Both Katerina and Gabin immediately stopped running and turned around to see Anna lying on the ground with her leg twisted into a strange position.
"Anna!" Katerina cried out as she ran back to her cousin.
"We can't stop!" Gabin yelled out but he stopped anyway and ended up walking over to where the two girls were sitting. His face was unusually glistened with a thick layer of sweat from their run as he glanced over at Anna from his position.
"Well, we can't leave her here!" Katerina said, astonished that Gabin would act like this. He kneeled down beside Anna, looking down at her dark green courting dress soaked with blood in the lower portion. She was curled up in the position of a sleeping child with her knees held to her chest and her long chestnut colored hair covering her jewel-like green eyes, only she was awake and was quietly whimpering to herself so that others wouldn't hear her. Katerina surveyed the scene and then grabbed Anna's hand while she watched Gabin think about the situation at hand. She realized just as he did that the blood on the dress was because Anna's ankle just broke and the bone was protruding out of the socket. She pleadingly stared into his dark eyes and tried to make him understand what Anna meant to her.
She held her breath and counted the seconds as Gabin quietly thought over the situation to himself. One second. . .two seconds. . .three. .
"I'll carry her," he whispered as he bent over the tall girl. After a moment of hesitation, he ripped the sash at her waist, tied it tightly to the ankle with a thick stick, and picked the elongated Anna up as though she was the infant that she appeared to be. She let out a gasp of pain and Katerina knew how it must hurt, but she also knew that it was much better than leaving Anna here to die. Or be captured.
Just when the three of them were about to move on again, Gabin stopped dead in his tracks and looked around - startled.
Katerina could hear it too and felt her muscles involuntarily tighten. Horses. Galloping this way.
"Hurry . . . hide!" Gabin whispered sharply as he veered off the small path and set Anna down behind a pile of bushes. She was still crying softly and Katerina wanted desperately to comfort her, but there were more important things to worry about - like Adrian. She knew it was him because nobody else would dare go after them like this. Gabin knew this too and grabbed her around the waist as she was about to head for the same bushes that he had placed her cousin under. Once the horses were almost there, Gabin carried Katerina behind another set of trees so that they could also hide from the oncoming riders.
Gabin pulled her tightly to him behind the trees as the horses passed by. Katerina thought that she was going to faint, but luckily she had enough will to keep going. The rough wool of Gabin's tunic was rubbing against her soft porcelain skin but she didn't dare push him away because she knew that the darkness of it would provide good camouflage against the intruders coming their way.
It was a group of about fifteen horses, all guards of Adrian's Father's castle. Each one of them rode their war horses and wore black hats and leather boots, and bright red tunics with Adrian's family crest. The hoof beats of the horses shook the ground and Katerina could barely hear her beating through the loud noise. As soon as they passed, Katerina couldn't bare it any longer and ran out from the trees to go to Anna. She could hear Gabin hissing at her to wait, but she didn't pay any attention.
Picking up the edges of her own blue courting dresses and pushing her fair blonde hair away from her face, she once again ran for the bush that hid her cousin. All that she wanted was to comfort Anna and to see how she was faring. She knew that should've listened to him but it was too late.
As she was just about to reach Anna, she was so nervous about how her cousin was feeling that she didn't notice when one more horse came by and stopped . . . Katerina looked up from her spot just before reaching the bush and shuddered. A young man with platinum blonde hair and hazel eyes was casually sitting on his black mare as though he just on an evening walk. He wore a pair of black boots, black riding pants, red tunic, and white puffed shirt underneath. He smile when he saw her but Katerina flinched and tried to move away from him-falling on the ground because of her long blue skirts.
"Hello my little kitten,"
"Adrian!" Katerina whispered in fear after a few minutes of strangled silence. She would take anything, any fear. The worst thing was Adrian.
"Where is your knight and shining armor. . . or did he leave you when he had the chance," Adrian didn't smiled, he sneered.
Katerina knew that he was jealous, and she was too scared to answer him back. She didn't have to, for a voice seemed to answer for her.
"I'm right here," Gabin said as he came out from behind the trees. Just a few minutes ago, he was emotional because of Anna being hurt, but now he had his composure back. A strange aura of calmness-and coolness- took him over as he pulled out his family sword from his white scabbard and strode towards the Adrian.
Glancing off to the side, Gabin gave her a meaningful look and talked in a commanding tone. "Katerina. . . run to someplace safe, I'll take care of him while you get some distance."
"But what about Anna, I can't leave her!" Katerina in shock as she walked towards the bush again. "And where will I find you?"
"I'll think of something, now run!" Gabin shouted as Adrian tied off of his horse and walked towards her. Adrian's straight blondish hair was almost exactly opposite to Gabin's jet black luster in the light of the moon. When Katerina looked at the two men to decide what to do next, she realized that they seemed to appear like day and night. The ironicness of this is that the one who resembled day was truly evil. Katerina found herself staring at them in awe while, at the exact same time, she was scared out of her wits. She continued backing up from Adrian as he gave a mocking smile in Gabin's direction.
"That's if he even makes it through five minutes of my beating," Adrian sneered. He was still walking towards Katerina while she backed away to the point where she right against the oak tree that had once been a few yards behind her. She turned her face away and grasped the tree trunk with her tender hands as Adrian reached out to touch her hair but Gabin was suddenly beside her and he smacked it aside.
"Katerina run NOW, I'll find you later!"
Katerina still stared at him in fear, not sure of what she should do. He was only inches away from her and she seemed to find the answer as she looked into Gabin's eyes again. They were a dark black color in which she could see her reflection in and reminded her of a hemitite crystal. She realized that he not only saw her for her usual qualities: shining baby blonde air, startling blue eyes, porcelain skin, and rose colored lips, but also as a woman with a core of steel…and his happiness. Those same dark eyes had a look of desperation to them and a love so deep that she could feel his pain from where she stood. After a brief moment of hesitation and her own look of longing, Katerina nodded and ran off in the direction that they were headed in earlier. She could hear them quarrel as she felt the wind blow through her hair and the trees all around her started to became a blur. Once again she felt two tears began to fall down her cheeks but this time it was because she knew that this may be the last time that she would see any of them. She wanted to shut out the voices but her extroadinary sense of hearing could still pick up parts of their conversation.
"You go through me first before you dare approach her," Gabin snarled back at Adrian. "Fight me now Adrian . . . without swords!"
"With pleasure."
The last thing Katerina could hear as she darted through the woods was Adrian's cold laughter . . . and it filled her entire body with terror.

This story is copyrighted by Melissa Damon. All Rights Reserved.