Emily smiled and hummed as walked through the hallway. It was a rainy day outside but she didn't mind because she rather liked the rain. Dorutovo didn't, he wasn't fond of the rain at all, mostly because he was a snow leopard. Dorutovo wasn't settled yet, which was odd since usually Daemons settled at the age of 16.
Dorutovo was Emily's Daemon. He liked being a snow leopard more than any other animal. That was probably what he was going to settle into, when he settled. Emily was happy he hadn't settled yet though. She really loved Dorutovo's ability to change.
Emily walked towards her room. The door was beautifully decorated with jewels and carvings. With a smile she pushed the door open and walked inside. The room was quite elaborate. The bed had a canopy and shell pink curtains draping down over the sides. Most of the things in her room were pink and black actually. The dresser was pink and had a large mirror on top of it. The carpet was pink and black with swirling designs. There was a closet in the corner that contained her many dresses and skirts.
Walking over to the mirror she smiled at her reflection. She wore a beautiful dress of pink and black. It had beautiful designs and was quite elegant showing off her nice figure. Her dirty blonde hair was done up in a ponytail with white lace and ribbon streaming down. Her bright blue eyes with a hazel ring around the pupil were staring back at her and seeing the smile on her face.
"Must you admire yourself?" Dorutovo stated with a frown on his whiskered face.
"I'm not admiring myself I'm just making sure I look nice," she stated and sighed at her reflection. "I don't know what this guy is like and I'm betrothed to him. I might as well look nice for our first meeting"
"You look fine," Dorutovo stated and wandered over to the carpet then flopped down on it and began grooming himself.
"You really think so?" Emily looked down at her daemon and smiled.
"Yeah," he stated and her smile widened.
"Emily are you in there?" Madison's voice came through the door as she knocked.
"Yes," Emily stated and ran over to the door and opened it.
Madison was Emily's good friend. Her father was as rich as Emily's father. Madison wore a beautiful dress of light blue with a ribbon tied about the waist at the back. She had golden blonde hair a little passed shoulder length, bright green eyes with a darker green around the pupil. She was much taller than Emily for she was 5'5'' and Emily was only 5'2''.
"Are you ready?" Madison inquired and Emily took a deep breath then nodded. "Good come on he's waiting at the door."
Madison's Daemon, a tiger named Liyreck, was trailing behind her as she hurried towards the doorway to the castle. They went down several hallways and through a door before she slowed to a walk. Emily took one last look at herself then walked gracefully into view of the doorway.
There were several guards about the room and servants watching to see what was happening. There in the entrance was a man with black hair, hazel eyes and a strong figure. He had two guards at his sides and was currently talking to one of them, his smile was radiant and friendly. Emily suddenly got so nervous she almost felt like hiding behind Madison who pushed her forwards so she would continue to walk.
He looked up from his conversation and his smiled faded for a moment as he stared at her. She blushed nervously and walked slowly forwards while his smile quickly returned to his face.
"Hello Emily, my name is Nicholas," he bowed to her and she smiled then curtsied back. "Would you care to walk with me?"
He motioned towards the door and she smiled.
"Certainly," he took hold of her arm and led her outside where it was still raining.
The guards didn't follow, obviously they didn't want to get their armor rusted anymore than it already was. Emily smiled enjoying the rain. She noticed Nicholas's daemon for the first time. It was a black wolf trailing behind him. Dorutovo had shifted into a black wolf as well.
"I see you like the rain as much as I do," he grinned at her and she blushed.
"I do love it so," she smiled back at him.
"Well I happen to know a very nice spot around here for sitting, would you like to join me?" He inquired and she bit her lip for a second then smiled.
"I would love to," with that he grabbed her hand began to lead her towards a small hill overlooking the castle.
He led her up the hill slowly and tried to keep his footing on the slippery grass of the hill. Emily followed behind but found it hard to keep from tripping over her dress. With a small gasp her foot caught on her dress and she began falling backwards. Nicholas, because he was holding her hand, began to fall backwards with her and they both began sliding down the slippery slope.
Emily slipped on the grass and fell onto her back with Nicholas toppling over on top of her. Nicholas burst out laughing and Emily couldn't help but laugh with him. They two of them laughed for a while then just smiled at each other.
Nicholas stood up quickly and extended his hand to her to help her up. She took it and in one swift motion she was back on her feet.
"Want to try again?" He grinned and she nodded.
This time they actually made it up the hill. He took her to a small wooden fort then sat inside with her. The rain fell against the roof of the small fort like beads scattered on a floor.
They both sat down and Nicholas reached into his pocket. He pulled out a beautiful silver necklace with a silver heart that had a diamond in the middle. It was the most beautiful necklace Emily had ever seen.
"Here, I want you to have this," he reached over and gently put the necklace around her neck, latching it at the back. "So you can always have something of me with you."
"It's beautiful," Emily whispered in awe.
He smiled in delight and sat back down. Emily looked down at the necklace and a smile spread across her face. She wished she had something to give him and got an idea. She leaned over and grabbed his dagger then cut a small piece of her hair off. Taking off one of the ribbons she tied it around the piece of hair and then smiled handing it to him.
"A little something of me to keep close to your heart," she giggled.
"Thank you," he smiled brightly and tucked the lock of hair into his pocket.
"How did you know about this place?" Emily asked as she squeezed some of the water out of her hair.
"I lived near by here when I was small," he smiled at the memory of it. "This is the fort I built and used to play war with my brother. We only ever used sticks as swords though. We were quite naïve back then."
"Sounds like you and your brother were quite happy," Emily smiled.
"Yes we were," he grinned. "How about you, what were you like as a child?"
"Well I loved to climb things," she grinned broadly at the memory of climbing trees to get away from the servants trying to put her hair up. "I was quite happy sitting on a tree branch and watching the sunset."
Suddenly she blushed realizing what she was saying. She had just told the man she was betrothed to that she had been a tree climber when she was little!
"What's your favorite memory?" He asked and shook the water from his head spraying Emily slightly but she only giggled.
"My favorite memory is of me and my mother," her smile widened as she remembered it. "She was holding me and singing a lullaby. It was the most beautiful song I had ever heard."
"How does the song go?" He inquired and she cleared her throat.
"Your smile is brighter
Than the sun will ever be
Your eyes are more beautiful
Than the stars can ever see
My darling I love you
More than anything to me
I will always love you
My darling Emily," She finished and smiled at him.
"That's…"
He didn't finish the sentence for shouts were ringing through the noise of pattering rain. The two of them rushed out of the fort to see that a vast army was sweeping down on the castle. Emily's breath caught in her throat as she stared down at the chaos. Madison was down there!
Dorutovo had shifted his shape into a large bear. Nicholas looked at it suspiciously for a second wondering why it was still able to shift but it didn't seem to really be perturbing him right now.
"Get your daemon to shift into a horse and run!" He shouted and Emily's eyes widened.
"I can't, Madison is down there!" She began walking down the hill but Nicholas grabbed her arm.
"You have to go, you're no use to Madison if you go down there and get caught!" He shouted and she tried to fight him off but couldn't.
"I have to save Madison!" She began to cry and he held her close to him, comforting her in his arms.
"It'll be alright Emily," he petted her head and leaned over then kissed her. "I'll go get Madison but if I don't come back and it's been to long I want you to run far away and don't stop. Stay in the fort, you'll be hidden well."
With that he turned around and began to run down the hill with his black wolf daemon following behind him. Emily crawled into the fort again and sat down. Dorutovo had shifted into a barn owl while sitting near the entrance listening.
The sounds of battle were heard loudly in the distance. The clash of metal on metal and the sound of arrows slicing through the air became a constant drone of noise. Emily was so frightened that she shook violently.
Slowly she undid the necklace Nicholas had given her and tucked it into her pocket where it would be safer. That way it wouldn't be seen by thieves as something to steal.
"I hear someone coming," Dorutovo whispered and Emily tensed.
Suddenly in the doorway there was a wolf but this one wasn't black, it was brownish and skinny. A man suddenly appeared in the doorway as well. He smiled toothily showing several missing teeth.
"Hey guys come see what I found!" He shouted and reached in to grab Emily.
He grabbed her ankle and began tugging at it trying to pull her out. She kicked furiously at his hand and he frowned at her.
"If you don't fight back maybe I'll be easy on you," he pulled at her ankle but she kept kicked and slashing.
Dorutovo had shifted into his snow leopard form and was slashed furiously at the man's arm. He pulled it back angrily as many more men walked up behind him.
"The cat has claws," the man Dorutovo had clawed stated frowning.
"Well we'll just have to get rid of those now won't we?" The man that spoke was large and muscular.
Suddenly the wolf darted in and began to attack Dorutovo. The two of them fought vigorously while the man reached in again grabbing Emily's ankle. She screamed kicked at his hand but he didn't seem to notice. She clawed and hit but he wouldn't let her ankle go. He pulled her through the doorway easily then picked her up and tossed to the large man.
"Let go of me!" Emily screamed but he wouldn't let go, he brought her head close to him and smelt her hair.
"She's high class," he grinned broadly. "Any of you had high class before?"
The other men grinned broadly, a few of them shook their heads. Emily was getting a sickly feeling in her stomach. Her eyes were wide.
"Now who gets her first?" One of them piped up and they all frowned.
"We should take her back to the camp," The man holding her stated and the others frowned.
"The general will take her then!" One stated furiously.
They began bickering amongst themselves. Emily wished she weren't here, she wished she was back at the castle and that none of this was happening. Tears began to stream down her face as they fought. The man holding her suddenly drew his sword, holding her in one arm and stabbed one of the other men.
The others fell silent as the man he had stabbed fell to the ground. Emily felt like she was going to heave. That was the first time she had seen someone die before.
"Now I say we take her back to camp, do any of you have a problem with that?" He demanded but they shook their heads. "Good."
He put her over his shoulder and began walking back towards the camp. To this man Emily was like a rag doll. She cried silent tears as he walked and spotted Dorutovo as a barn owl being carried by one of the other men. The feeling of his hands on her daemon felt so wrong and so violating. She wished desperately that his wasn't happening but it was and there was nothing she could do about it.