Eve looked outside, a smile lighting up her beautiful features. "What a beautiful day this is," she sighed happily. She had just finished cleaning her little cottage, and was now enjoying the fragrance of the roses that grew beneath the window.
"I wonder if Grace and Samuel are home," she mused as she tied her reticule to her waist. Looking in the mirror, Eve didn't see herself as beautiful, though she was breathtakingly so. Lustrous brown hair curled around her shoulders, framing a face that was the color of coffee with fresh milk blended in. Eve had hazel eyes that were framed by long lashes, and a shapely figure that had many a local farmer blink twice.
Eve was flattered by their attentions, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to choose any of the men in the village of Harmony, though several and asked for her hand in marriage. She was simply not interested in marrying anyone, and she had no need for someone to support her. She was happy when she was healing the sick, for she had been trained by her late mother and father in the art of medicinal herbs. Her healing gift more than supplied her material needs, and though she would normally be considered an "old maid" at the age of thirty, her beauty and prosperity defied any such description of her current status.
Taking with her a bag of rose hips--Grace had had a cold when she saw her last--Eve left her cottage and began walking down the dirt path toward her friend's home.
"Seth is a wonderful man, Eve. Why won't you at least consider his proposal?" Grace's blue eyes were filled with confusion. "He has one of the largest farms in the village, and would make you a good husband." Her eyes widened at Eve's sudden burst of laughter. "Why do you find that humorous?"
Looking at her friend, Eve tried to compose herself. Grace was satisfied with her quiet marriage to Samuel, the captain of the local militia, and their three children. She simply wanted Eve to know the same happiness and fulfilment that she and her husband had, and Eve didn't love her friend any the less for it.
"Grace, I appreciate you looking out for me, I really do. I just do not see the need to marry anybody right now." Eve sipped some of the rose hip tea that Grace had brewed. "I'm fine, believe me."
Unconvinced, Grace leaned forward earnestly. "I am worried for you, Eve--these parts aren't safe for a lady to be by herself," she insisted. "You've heard the tales of the mountain creature."
"Not that again! This is the sixteenth century, Grace--things like that simply do not happen any more," Eve laughed dismissively. "You don't seem like the type of person who would believe such fairy tales."
"Large depressions have been appearing at night in all of our fields, and sometimes some of our animals and even our vegetables go missing. And sometimes there have been huge fires blazing on top of the mountain at the edge of Harmony Lake. "
"Volcanoes can cause fires, Grace. Animals can cause ground depressions. And once and for all, there is no mountain monster," Eve said, tiring of the subject. She almost preferred Grace's attempts at matchmaking.
Grace could see Eve was still unbelieving, and it concerned her. "I am just trying to warn you to take care--I worry about you living alone so." She hugged her tightly, and Eve hugged her back. "It's getting close to dusk, would you like Samuel to walk you back home?"
"Harmony is a very safe place. I am in no danger here," Eve assured her as she tied her reticule around her waist. Grace shook her head, then went into her kitchen and grabbed a lantern. Walking over to the fireplace, she then lit it and handed it to Eve.
"At least take this with you. I would feel much better about your insisting on taking a evening constitional," she smiled. "And I am not going to let you refuse me this--you were nice enough to bring the tea for my cold."
"Since I apparrently don't have a choice , I will bring this back tomorrow," Eve promised, kissing Grace on the cheek. "Please tell Samuel and the children I love them." Grace watched as Eve made her way down the path towards her home. A sense of foreboding washed over her, and she shivered.
"I'll have Samuel make certain Eve is all right first thing in the morning," she whispered, as she slowly shut the door.
The air was getting noticeably colder, Eve could feel it. Shivering, she wished in vain that she had thought to bring a shawl. "Little good wishes do me," she sighed, trying to keep a grip on the lantern. Even though she had been out at other times at this hour, for some reason, Grace's stories of some mystical creature plundering Harmony had managed to unnerve her.
Feeling like a ninny, Eve mentally shook herself. "Eve, stop being such a coward--you know these parts blindfolded--" Suddenly her cold hand dropped the lantern, and it rolled away down a hill away from her. "Blast!" she swore in an unladylike manner, even more annoyed with herself. Stepping carefully, she began to make her way down the hill, which was steeper than she anticipated. "At this rate I won't be home until midnight."
Eve had almost reached the lantern, when her foot gave way, and she tumbled down the hill, hitting her head on a large rock at the edge of it. Knocked unconscious, she lay there with a bleeding gash upon her forehead...unaware that a mountainous form was watching her. The ground shook as the creature grew nearer, and it soon towered over her prone body. Grunting, it gently lifted the fallen woman up, and began to move away, causing the ground to quake as it headed toward Mount Harmony.
Eve opened her eyes, every single part of her body aching. Trying to focus, she immediately closed her eyes against the pain that her head was causing her.
"What happened...where am I?" She tried to sit up, but her badly bruised body immediately protested. "Oh no," Eve thought "I've lost the lantern, and I have no idea where it is. Or where I am." Opening her eyes again, Eve glanced around at her surroundings.
"No..it can't be," she gasped. She was lying in a golden cage, and outside of the cage, a bed that was the size of the mayor's house. A lamp that was the size of a small horse lit the room. Eve shuddered in cold terror, wondering what nightmare she had managed to stumble into.
Suddenly the cage began to sway, and Eve found herself looking into the eyes of a man...a towering giant of a man. One that stood taller than the tallest tree in Harmony, taller than a catherdral. Deep laughter emerged from his throat, causing Eve to place her hands over her ears at the deafening sound, her eyes wide with overwhelming fear.
"My captive little bird has finally awakened," the giant smiled, his eyes lit up with pleasure.
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