by Suchan deFamine
Chapter 4.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Poor Roland, Baron Yalfom, Baroness Yalfom, and their son are not mine. However, Gareth, the Princess of Denna, and the current Baroness Yalfom are my own creation, please do not attempt to duplicate them. This will result in your face being melted off and me skinning you alive.
Don't do it.
Big hugs and thankies to: Mynona Suo, SpyofSorrow, and Yaukira and everyone else who reviewed for previous chapters!!!
A note: Yaukira, darling, Kerry just isn't a very good choice. No politician is. But if you want the lesser of the two evils, go with Bush. And I'm not taking time to discuss politics in here anymore. If you want to do that, please go find a political buddy to chat with for three days.
Thank you.
Okay. Enough blabbering. Let's go.
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Happily Never After : Chapter 4A Chase
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The passageway from the garden was locked when I reached it. This meant I would have to go back through the kitchen to get inside.
Mother might notice I was trying to sneak back in and would ask where I'd been. I would have to tell her the truth. I cannot tell a lie worth a pebble.
The kitchen was still buzzing with activity to prepare for the post-ball dessert. I slipped in and took the dungeon hall out to the main corridor. A large entry way opened out into the ballroom, and stairs off to the left led out onto the terrace, now flickering with candles and dew-kissed flowers.
Staring out into the ballroom, I kept to the shadows lest I be seen. My silence was complete, but yet someone still saw me.
He saw me.
I saw him. His face clouded with confusion. The girl he had been dancing with gave an angry huff as she was abandoned.
Dancers were pushed out of the way as he began to give chase after me. I didn't know why I felt the urge to run. Fear, maybe.
But what did I have to lose?
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I hadn't counted on his agility or great navigational system through the labyrinthine corridors. Once outside, I ran with all my strength in another direction, but something tackled me to the ground.
The breath was knocked from my lungs, but soon after, my attacker rolled me onto my back. It was him. Grey eyes narrowed at me.
"Who are you?" he hissed.
I would have answered him, if I had any air. I was still gasping from the blow.
"Roland."
He scrambled away and sat down on the dewy grass. It was almost a funny sight, a tattered peasant gasping for breath on a castle lawn, watched suspiciously by the son of a Baron, his pants probably soaked from the late dew.
Knees curled up to his chest, he stared at me through the curtain of mussed, mist-blonde hair that framed his face.
I closed my eyes and tried to sit up. My back hurt like the devil, but at least nothing was broken. Upon opening my eyes again, I saw him staring back at me, with a suspicious, almost frightened expression.
"Why did you run?"
I had no answer so I merely shrugged.
He looked to the gates. "Do you work here in the castle?"
"Yes, sir."
"None of this sir, stuff," he said, throwing me a fierce look. "I cannot stand it. I cannot see how they can walk around like puffed-up cockerels and not get sick of themselves." He pulled a blade of grass bitterly out of the wet earth by its roots and flung it off towards the castle.
He caught my eye and gazed sincerely at me for a moment before adding, "Sometimes I wish I was just a commoner."
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We sat in silence for a moment after that.
I suddenly smiled. "They'll be looking for you soon."
He gave me an odd look. "Yes," he muttered.
"You really don't want to be married off like this, do you?"
Another Look. "You certainly are inquisitive. But no, I do not. I feel it is unfair to both myself and the girl I would ultimately have to choose."
"Then come with me."
There was a moment of silence.
"What?"
I stretched out a hand and helped him off the grass. "Come with me. We'll run away. You will not have to be married if it is not your wish. We will go see the world..." I stopped for a minute, and our eyes met, and we saw each other for the first time.
And he smiled. "We would be free."
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End Chapter Four.
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YAY! Thanks so much for reviewing this, guys. This really has my interest sparked now and I've already got the next chapter partially written. I'll try and post it by this week.
Love and candy corn to all thee gathered here!
SdF
(PS. The review button is thy friend!)