A/N: read, enjoy, review- GO!
Chapter III
As Vladislaus led me out of the "dinning hall" and throughout the castle, to the wall-surrounded garden, I still felt my question unanswered, but thinking about it, it didn't matter to me the least bit. Maybe it was just because Amadae wanted a girl, and could perhaps not take the pain of giving birth again, or maybe she just couldn't have another child again.
"You know, it makes me wonder, too," Vladislaus said, as if he had just read my thoughts. "Maybe Koloretta knows something," he said, to no one in particular. He continued, "anyway, if you like, we could take a walk in the garden, maybe?" I nodded in reply. As walked, we were met by the happy faces of the servants, every time we went by them in the garden.
"Vladislaus, why did you sleep next to me? Or was it I who slept next to you?" I asked, a bit confused, as the question fluttered on the top of my mind.
"Well, we almost lost you. You bled a lot. In fact, the place were you have that bruise, you had tripped on a rather sharp stone and after that I, ehm, kicked it further open, when I fell over your body in the garden. I am sorry," he said. I didn't think the worst of him, even though he had hurt me. He was sorry.
"It's okay, but still, why did you sleep next to me?" I continued to ask. He looked at me like he wasn't used to get asked the same question twice. "Well, you didn't answer my question, Vlad," I insisted.
"I just sat by you all the time to make sure you were... alright," he said, his sight going past to a girl running towards us. He let go off my arm and walked towards her and she ran into his arms.
"Oh Vladislaus! I thought you'd left me! I haven't seen you for 2 weeks. Where have you been?" she said ecstatic. My brows raised when she didn't wait for an answer and threw herself on him, kissing him eagerly. I felt the fear i usually had for my father as they kissed before me, and fled, because et reminded me of the way he came onto me. Vlad almost looked like a victim.
I ran through the garden and sat myself by the wall behind some flower bushes, from which I ten minutes later, heard Vladislaus call my name. He slowly got nearer and nearer and I answered back. He came and sat beside me.
"Why did you leave?" he asked.
"I don't know. It didn't feel right being next to you two... k-kissing. Why did you ignore me being there?" I said, a little too hard, and wondered why said it; he looked like an assaulted victim.
He looked gingerly at me. "Cas, take it easy. I am not allowed to "date" outside wedding proclaimations. And it was just a flick. She sure did look good..." he said, but i sighed and got up, looking out from behind the bushes and trees, hiding us. He looked at me; I could feel it. i turned around with a slight annoyed expression, but was surprised by this grin that stuck so much to his face, that not even death could put a stopper in it. "But! Promise me you wont tell my parents? They wouldn't want to know, "he said, getting up as well.
"Why?" I asked, letting my hands fall to my sides.
"There is only weddings and wedding-rules in my family. The parents choose the bride or groom for their daughter or son, and with time, they must learn to love each other," he said matter-of-factly, while shrugging. he looked at me again, his face intwined in a smile.
"If you want, we could go visit the locals?" he said, changing the subject that was the sole of his own destiny.
"Are you allowed outside the walls?" I asked, jerking my head at the wall behind him.
He smiled secretively at me, but said nothing.
"So, how about it?" he asked, almost pleaded.
"Okay. But I'll have to change first. Meet me here again in ten minutes," I said, smiling and getting up.
15 minutes later I found myself helping Vladislaus escape paradise, and I was slightly wondering why I was eager to go outside to the place I hated. It was at the same brick I had trip over that night and it was still out of place. He pushed and then crawled into the hole, after having dug away some dirt and then got out, and I followed.
We went around the village, quickly finding kids to play with, which was a lot more fun than I would have expected. We were playing ball. We screamed at each other to get a hold on ourselves when we made a wrong pass or a very bad goal. Time seemed to pass by all too quickly and the moon and its night began laying pressure on the sun and its warm light, sending it down in the horizon. Vladislaus thought little about getting home: he would rather run around the village to see if he could get a glimpse of something his mother called "drunks", and on the note of that, I kept on insisting I wanted to go home.
"I promise to go home, when, and only when, I've seen one. Come on! They can't be that bad?" he said grinning at me."No, please, Vlad. I really don't want to. Please!" I said, whimpering, and pulling him in the direction of the castle walls. He stopped to look at me.
"You ever met one?" he asked. I shrugged and looked away. He shouldn't hear any of it. No body should. "Come on, then," he continued, leading the way.
I swallowed and thought of my father. I wanted to swear never to lay eyes on him again. Even as young as I was, I wanted to make him suffer, though I would not want to look at him suffer or die: he could do that just as well on his own.
Vladislaus pulled at my cold hand with his warm one, and the touch made me feel strange; maybe it was just the reaction skin has when it's cold and gets heated up afterwards. Anyway, I followed his pull and we went about the village for a couple of minutes, until the sound of rolling bottles and smashing of glass reached our ears: we were here.
"God, this place smells," he said grinning slightly, pinching his nose.
"Yeah... we've got to go now, Vladislaus. Let's-"I stopped, seeing something I did not want to look at: recognizable bloodshot eyes staring into mine, 15 feet away; it was my father. He looked more dirty than ever, and I got the feeling it was his fault the place reeked with rotten meat and alcohol. I got chills and nausea welled up in me, and the well known fear came crawling back like a sick dog, and I embraced it without hesitation, as if I still were powerless against him. and he knew it: I could see it in his face.
"Cassandra? Is something wrong?" he asked. He saw my father, then. He grabbed my hand, staring maliciously at my father.
"Well, well, well," he whispered hoarsely while nodding. "If it isn't my sweet little daughter coming home to her favourite person: her dada! HAHAHAHA..." he said howling with laughter, clouds of fouls smelling smoke billowing out of his mouth. He took a deep suck from his homemade cigar, and made disgusting and repulsive coughing noises, and I was slightly reminded of my mother's death. He started walking towards us, and Vladislaus said,
"Leave her alone. Don't touch her, or-" Vladislaus was cut off, and slung aside by my dad, who said,
"Get lost, boy! She's mine!" while making his way for me, but I was too terrified to hardly breathe. It was going to end because I had to let myself get talked into coming here! It was his fault! Why did Vladislaus lead med here?!
"Well, I sure have been missing you, girly," he said picking me up, and was about to lick my cheek, when a little glint of silver slid around his neck and stopped at the side of his face, making a deep crimson coloured opening in his cheek, making him howl in pain and dropping me. I backed as far away from him as possible looking terror struck at him, as he was trying, without luck, to throw off Vladislaus. My father staggered around with Vladislaus billowing about him like a cloak. The blade slid to my father's throat and stopped to rest there, and my father got perfectly still.
"Run, Cassandra, get out of here!" Vladislaus shouted. I couldn't get up, I just stared breathless at them both. My father started struggling again, but Vladislaus tightened the blade's resting place a bit, making him go still and silent once more.
"Sir, I find it "playing safely" if you let the little lady go, or else I might have to become a murderer," Vladislaus said through clenched teeth, tightening his grip even more, making a little trickle of blood run from my father's neck. He nodded, panting. Vladislaus jumped off his back and flashed the knife in front of him as a warning.
"I told you, RUN!" he whispered as he pulled me from the ground, still eyeing my father. I got out of my horrified trance as I found out that my father had nearly got himself killed. I noticed that Vladislaus was sheathing his knife again, urging me to run along with him. I turned to run, but then it kind of blackened before my eyes and I snatched his knife and threw it at my father who was in mid-roar and running, when the sound died with a bubbling sound in his throat as he fell backwards, coughing up blood, landing less than 7 feet behind us. Vladislaus looked at me with big eyes and an incredulous and unbelievable expression across his face. He grabbed his knife out of my father's throat, before running past me, taking my hand and pulling me with him.
It felt like we had been running for hours, though the still-sunlight was there to tell the tale, and there had probably only gone a few minutes by, but the pumping adrenalin in our veins made us loose breath fast. He shoved me into the first dark and private niche we found. He then went back and forth miming soundless monologs with himself and smacking his forehead on more occasions. He then stopped and walked over to me and pushed me against the wall and said,
"WHAT is it that you thought you were doing? You-... you killed a man! Why did you ha-... why did you kill him?? Who was he to you, anyway?"
I had begun crying. "Nobody! NOBODY! He was nobody... I didn't mean to kill him, I didn't... I didn't mean... I'm sorry! This was not meant to happen... I didn't want... want to hit him.. just scare him off... I heard him coming... I-I-I could feel it... I am so very sorry... please forgive me Vladislaus...?" I sobbed into my hands as I leant against the wall and slid to the ground.
"N-nobody?! You killed a man, Cassandra!! That's murder!" he said, practically shouted in my face.
"Well, it's not like you were-... weren't threatening him to the same... the same destiny, now were y-y-y-,"I replied, but was cut off.
"I would NEVER have done it! Are you crazy? I am going to become a Knight of the Holy Order! My father is one of the best hunters and patriots, ever. I am going to have a reputation to live up to," he said, pointing his index finger at me and then shaking his head.
"Don't make it about you, when it's not!" I screamed.
"No?" he said mockingly.
"It's not! You spoiled brat! It's not about YOU! It's about ME!" I said, regretting it the second it escaped my lips. He turned around quickly, crouched down and looked me in the face, exploring it: all he saw was tears, swelled and glazed eyes.
"About you?" he asked.
"No... nothing about me. Nothing. There's nothing..." I said croakily, shaking my head. A moment he looked at me very intense and leaned in, but he was just getting up.
"You can't tell anyone. Anyone at all! Do you understand, nobody!" he said as I got up, too.
"Thank you," I said, looking on the ground.
"For what?" he asked, a little too hard and I cringed at the tone.
"For helping me instead of just leaving me. Thank you," I said again, still looking down.
"Argh, will you stop that? Come here," he said, stretching out a hand. I looked wearily at it before I took it and he pulled me into an embrace, letting me sob into his shoulder. It didn't feel false: he seemed to genuinely care. Maybe he was the only male I could trust? He pulled a little away and looked me in the face with pity and angst, and then he wiped away the last few tears. And then, very slowly, he leaned over me, as if in a trance and brushed his lips against mine. All the sorrow I had just experienced was all gone in that kiss. It was perfect. His lips parted and licked mine, seeking access, which I gave. The kiss was soft and fulfilling. Before pulling away he sucked on my lower lip, so gently it was like getting tickled by a feather, and I opened my eyes again to look at him. for a few moments we just stood there, looking at each other. He was the first to break the silence, though I was the first to break the stare.
"We should," he coughed when he realised how rusty his voice sounded, and continued, "We should get home, now," he said, smiling at me, and I couldn't help but smile back. We stepped outside of the niche and followed the wall around until we got to the pull-out brick. We went over to it, to push it in, and smiled, despite of the evening events, when our hands touched and when we fell forwards against the all, as the brick got in. He pushed me in first and he followed quickly, and closed the hole with the brick again. We silently tip-toed all the way up to our room.
Once there I got behind a screen and changed my clothes into those I had woken with this morning. As I got out, I saw him staring contempt at the "night suit" he was supposed to sleep in, and I started laughing, almost forgetting I had murdered a man who had made my life a living hell for 7 years. I hardly felt guilt. But I did feel guilty for not feeling guilty. I was broken from my thoughts as the door opened and Koloretta came in.
"Where have you been?" she whispered frantically. "The whole castle's been scared to death about you two being gone!" she continued.
"Prepare for a journey beyond your wildest dreams," he mused.
Koloretta may be very beautiful, but she had the most stern look on her face, which told Vladislaus that to tell Koloretta a direct lie when she was in this mood, was not good for business. He sighed.
"We got, uhm, attacked," he said, mumbling to the floor.
"Tell me. The whole story, kid, no lies," she said.
"I can't, Koloretta. I can't tell you the truth. I'm sorry. Not even if my father broke every single bone in my body, would I tell it. I simply can't," he said, swallowing.
"I am not the enemy," she looked at me with a smile, "Every thing for girl, huh?" she said.
"Please don't tell my father that we were out to play ball with the locals?" he asked.
She blooked sadly at him and left.
"What was that about? Everything for a girl?" I asked.
"Remember me talking about the parents taking responsibility for getting their son or daughter marriage? And that they can't see anyone before they are married, unless it improves the marriage?? She thought that about us," he said matter-of-factly.
"What? But we're not... Are we?" he turned around sharply at my words, looking at me, puzzled.
"Of course not," he said a little hesitant. "Let's get to bed. I might as well get some rest. My whipping begins tomorrow," he said, as he stripped down to his pants, which resembled shorts. His upper body was tanned and very muscular. A few minutes I was in a trance from looking at him.
"What do you mean, "whipping"," I asked, snapping out of it.
"I've been caught outside of the castle walls, and with a girl," he said and climbed into the bed. "That equals punishment," he said, getting ashen-faced.
"But he can't... he can't-," I said.
"You would be amazed of what he can do. Goodnight, Cassandra," he said, turning his back on me.
"But Vlad! That's rediculous! He doesn't have proof of any-" I started.
"He doesn't need to," he said, as if i was a 5-year old.
I climbed up as well and gave a faint 'Goodnight'. The complete silence in the room told me I was not the only one having a hard time falling asleep.
