Disclaimer: Characters and places that you recognize from Ella Enchanted are Gail Carson Levine's. The rest are mine!
Chapter 2: Catching Vance
Caelys tentatively pushed open the front door of the house, mouth dry and heart at her throat. The squeak of the hinges was uncannily loud in the all too silent Rochelle, and her heart seemed to rise further as she forced herself to step out of the house.
Caelys' eyes widened in shock. It was as though everyone in the village had just…disappeared. Impossible. But as she surveyed the eerily silent village, doors open at random houses, an abandoned wagon in the middle of the road, she realized how possible it seemed all of a sudden.
Where was her family? The rest of the village people? The dying boy…?
Her eyes swept the lonely scene in front of her and stopped on a dark object far away on the dusty road. Caelys' hand flew to her mouth, and the color drained from her face.
And then she ran. The static wind of the coming storm blew through her hair as she rushed towards the speck on the road, her dark curls whipping around her face, eyes watering. But she didn't care; she didn't even notice. Her legs carried her automatically towards the unmoving object on the road, faster than she'd ever run before.
Faster than she'd ran when Vance was trying to catch her.
Faster, because, this time she was trying to catch him.
Rain suddenly began to fall quickly from the dark sky; large drops of clear liquid that mixed with the dust on the road, creating a mixture of slippery mud and brown water.
Caelys slipped and fell onto the ground, the mud splattering across her chest and face. She hurriedly wiped the wet earth from her eyes and got up again, not caring about the mess smeared on the front of her dress. All she cared about was Vance.
Catching him…before he was gone.
"Vance!"
She finally reached the boy and fell to her knees on the ground, her eyes scanning the still figure. Vance lay curled on his side, his back to Caelys. He was already soaked from the rain, and with trembling hands, Caelys rolled him over and gasped, horrified.
The front of his chest was smeared with mud, but the dark red tint of the brown muck was apparent. The ground that had been under Vance was a pool of dark crimson-brown, and Caelys turned her head away for a moment, her stomach churning.
"Caelys." The weak voice was barely audible in the loud pounding of the rain and thunder, but Caelys heard it, and a flutter of hope rose in her chest.
"Vance!" She turned to look at him through eyes blurred with tears, and her shaking hands touched his face gently. "You'll be alright…you're going to be okay."
His eyes were a sickly pale blue but met Caelys' in a firm gaze. He looked so much older, the laughter and happiness gone from him. "Tell my parents I love them." The statement seemed too final for the girl kneeling next to him.
Caelys' breath caught in her throat, and the tears that she'd tried to keep at bay burst through the dam and spilled down her cheeks. "Don't say this now," she begged. "You'll be able to tell them yourself."
Vance gave the slightest shake of his head, and Caelys pushed back wet blonde hair from his cold forehead. He'd begun to shake, his lips turning a pallid blue.
A sudden blaze of anger rose in Caelys' breast. Who'd done this to Vance? Who'd taken away her family and village?
"Who did this to you? What happened to the village?" Caelys gripped Vance's hand, willing warmth from her own hand to flow to his.
"I-I refused t-t-to listen to th-them…the village…" Vance trailed off, his words becoming incoherent.
Caelys' anger rose and her hope depressed as she watched Vance's face turn paler. The sadness she was feeling was overwhelming as she leaned towards his face and proceeded to wipe away the rainwater that had dripped from her wet hair onto his cheek.
"Don't leave me," she pleaded, unconsciously shaking his arm.
Vance's face turned up towards Caelys. "I love you."
Caelys could hear herself choke with tears. "I love you too Vance. Always," she whispered.
Vance's lips turned up into a weak smile, his eyes locking into a gaze with Caelys'. For a minute, Caelys saw a flicker of the familiar, happy Vance again. She watched as his eyes slowly lost focus. The hand she gripped slackened.
The moment seemed to freeze in time, and Caelys' heart skipped a beat and stood still.
No, no… No.
"VANCE!" she screamed, shaking him. "VANCE!" Her cry mixed with a sudden boom of thunder.
The limp body didn't respond, and Caelys felt nothing except the ball of emotions inside her—the grief, the disbelief, the burning fury. She didn't feel the cold rain that had soaked her to her bones, the wet cloth clinging to her body—her body that was shaking severely with tears.
"Vance," she whispered, standing up. She clenched her trembling hands to her sides, and looked out at the dark forest in the distance.
She was going to find whoever had killed Vance. She was going to find her family and the rest of the people of Rochelle.
As Caelys broke into a run, she knew what she had to do. She had to get revenge.
Arion looked up from sharpening his knife next to the fire and stared out into the dense forest around him. The prince frowned. All he could hear was the drip-drop of the rain against the leaves of the trees and the occasional rumble of thunder, but just a moment ago…he swore he had heard something else…
"What?"
Arion pulled his gaze away from the trees and focused on James across from him. "Did you hear something a second ago? Something like a voice? A scream?"
James gave him a look. "I think you've been thirsting too much after an adventure, Rion. The only thing I've heard is rain."
Arion turned to Garec, and the knight shrugged helplessly, obviously unable to disagree with James.
Arion bit his lip and sighed a little dejectedly. As much as he hated to admit it, James was probably right. As he bent down silently towards his knife, his ear pricked up. There it was again. A scream.
He jumped up from his spot on the ground, gripping his knife tightly in one hand.
"What? What?" James grabbed Arion's arm as the prince set his foot outside of the campsite. "Rion, what is wrong with you?"
Arion shook his arm out of the knight's grasp. "I heard it again," he muttered.
Without a backward glance, Arion sped out of the camp.
James turned to Garec still sitting on the ground next to the fire. "You stay here," he told Garec. "I'll go bring the prince back from his imaginings."
A/N: I felt so bad about killing Vance…:( oh well, it had to be done. Review and tell me what you think!
