Beauty and the Beast
To DilaZirK: Yes, I'll try to be more stringent in checking for errors. Thanks for the review, too. And singing or dancing, eh?
(Imagines Talim singing 'Be Our Guest')
Um… maybe not…
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 2
The main doors to the ancient castle swung open at her push, and Sophitia paused to take a wary glance inside. A grand hallway stretched out beyond her, flanked on either side by stone gargoyles grinning down from the gloomy darkness.
Now that she was free from any immediate threat, the castle didn't resemble so much of a safe haven anymore. Still, if it was choice of spending the night here or braving the Lizardmen… She took her first step pass the great doors.
"H-hello?" She called into the darkness, hearing the faint echo of her voice. Not that she was really expecting an answer. This place looked deserted. She shuddered involuntarily.
Then she paused. She'd heard something… Edging forward, she concentrated, trying to make out what the voices were saying.
"… visitor! And… girl!"
"Quiet! You want… hear? … Her… way!"
"Oh, have… eart, Yunsung! Look at her! She's cold and tired, and probably hungry as well! Turn her away? Surely you jest!" The voices rapidly grew louder, and from the gloom appeared a girl, still in the middle of her teens by appearance, with raven hair. Behind her, still grumbling, came a slightly older youth with a shock of flaming red hair.
"Welcome, madam!" The girl said brightly. "I'm Talim, head steward of the household, and this-" Here she elbowed the red-haired youth. "Contrary fellow here is Yunsung. Are you lost or seeking shelter, by any chance?"
"As a matter of fact, yes." Sophitia smiled. "Would it be alright if I spent the night here? I can pay you, if you wish. Not a lot, but-"
"The night?" Yunsung exclaimed. "No! I forbid it! He'll have a fit if-"
"Yunsung…" Talim said sweetly. "Be nice. Or would you prefer to return to dishwashing duty for a month?" Turning back to Sophitia, she continued. "Well, of course you can spend the night here! I wouldn't dream of asking you to pay, after all, you're a guest. Isn't that right, Yunsung?" She queried, her tone of voice showing plainly that the answer had better be the one she was expecting. Or else.
Yunsung rolled his eyes, and gestured for Sophitia to follow. "This way to the study, miss." He said in a resigned tone.
Sophitia settled herself down onto one of the velvety chairs in the study, glancing around at the décor of the room. While most of it was created to appear grand and important (and in that aspect it succeeded admirably), the entire place seemed… cold, somehow. Even the cheery fire to which Yunsung was now feeding several logs of wood failed to dispel the overall feeling of bleakness.
"Don't mind the ambience." Talim said as she bustled in with a tray, carrying a pot of steaming tea and several cups. "The master's personal choice, a few years back."
"Ah, thanks." Sophitia smiled as she poured herself a cup of strong tea, letting it warm her chilled hands.
Talim crossed over to the other side of the room, and dragged up a wooden chair. Settling herself onto it, she grinned at the older woman opposite her. "So… if you're feeling up for a chat," Talim began. "Why don't you tell me about yourself?"
"Let me see, where to start?" Sophitia replied playfully. "My name is Sophitia. I'm a baker by profession, back in the village on the edge of the woods. I have a younger sister. Name's Cassandra, and she can be a real handful at times. Wouldn't trade her for the world, though." She leaned back, a slightly wistful smile on her face. "I have a fiancée too. He's called Rothion, and he's such a wonderful man. He's the village's blacksmith."
"Oh, a fiancée?" Talim kept the smile on her face, but for some reason, Sophitia could now feel a sense of disappointment emanating from the dark-haired girl. "So, uh, why are you the Head Steward of this place? No offense intended, but you're a little… young." She asked, anxious to change the subject.
Talim chuckled at that. "I certainly look it, don't I? My physical body looks to be barely fifteen, but… " She smiled. "I'm really twenty-two, or thereabouts."
Sophitia's eyes widened. "But why?"
Talim squirmed slightly, and Sophitia could easily sense that the young girl was uncomfortable at that question. "Well, you see…"
"Talim!" Yunsung called. "I need to talk to you!"
"Ah, of course!" Hopping off her stool, she turned to Sophitia, an apologetic look on her face. "If you'd excuse me for a while, Sophitia?"
"O-of course." She replied. Talim bowed slightly and ran to her companion.
"Okay, she can stay, provided we keep it low-key. She can eat the food, provided it's not so much that he notices. But we do not tell her about what happened seven years ago! Besides, she's already engaged. Kiss any chance of her being the one goodbye." Yunsung hissed in a fierce whisper.
Talim sighed. "Alright, I'll keep quiet about it, okay? In any case, why don't you show her to her room for the night?"
Yunsung scratched the back of his head and paced around worriedly, all too aware that Sophitia was staring at his odd behaviour, a curious expression etched on her face. "I still don't think this is a good idea. If the master finds out about this, our goose is cooked. What am I saying? Our goose is going to be hung, drawn, and quartered, then boiled and roasted simultaneously, and then he'll really get to work on us."
"Calm yourself, Yunsung!" Talim snapped. "The master will never have to know!"
Just then, the doors to the study swung open with a thunderous crash. Standing in the doorway, a shadow, covered in a worn cloak, could be seen.
"There's a stranger here!" A booming voice resounded
"Oh, the master will never have to know." Yunsung mimicked in a snide voice. Still, he knew where his loyalties lay, and he'd defend Talim's position if need be.
Talim had already broken into a dash, interspersing herself between the shocked Sophitia, and her master. "Please, master, let me explain! She's just a tired traveler that-"
"I do not allow trespassers in this castle." He growled in a tone of voice that brooked no argument whatsoever. Yunsung sighed, and stepped forward. "Your lordship, surely there can be no harm in allowing a peasant girl to spend the night here?"
Sophitia chose that moment to chime in. "Please, milord. I only need a place to stay…"
The master of the house stepped forward, his cloak swirling around him. Reaching out with his left hand, he grabbed Sophitia by the neck and lifted her effortlessly.
"Oh, don't worry." He snarled. "I'll give you a place to stay." A gust of wind blew through the ancient fortress, and the cloak billowed up around him for a moment- and Sophitia's eyes widened in shock and horror at what she saw.
The next day…
Raphael stopped for a moment from his jaunt to observe himself in the village pond. Yes, as usual, he looked absolutely gorgeous.
His sentiments were further confirmed by the bevy of women that paused in mid-stride to regard him, whispering among themselves. Some had even been so forward as to attempt to woo him.
Yes, Raphael could have any woman he so desired, and he knew it. However, as of now, he'd set his sights on one lady in particular.
Striding up to the cottage door, he rapped sharply on the knocker. Soon, Cassandra would be his, and all would be right with the world, as far as he was concerned.
Not that it wasn't right now, he was quick to remind himself, as he smoothed back his blonde hair. Now, all he had to do was wait- but what in blazes was taking so long? Slightly impatient, he rapped louder.
Golden sunlight filtered in through the windows of the cottage, as it's sole occupant lay in bed, wrapped in blissful slumber.
" zzz… No, Sophie, I really couldn't eat another bun… zzz… well, if you insist… "
A loud knocking that resounded throughout the house jerked Cassandra awake. "Ah! No! I didn't steal the bread!" She exclaimed as she sat upright. Then she blinked and looked around. "Wha-?" Then she glanced out the window, and the morning sun, already high in the sky. "Oh no!" She cried. "The bakery!" Leaping out of bed, she had just slipped into a pair of boots, when the knocking sounded again.
"Uh, c-coming!" She called to the door, and dashed into the bathroom. "God, I'm a total mess right now." She muttered frantically as she combed back her frazzled hair. "Is that a customer at the door? Man, am I going to catch it when sis gets back…"
Scrambling out of her nightgown, and into her white-and-blue dress, she stumbled helter-skelter down the stairs, towards the door, as whoever it was outside began knocking for the third time.
"Coming, coming! Hold your horses!" Pausing to do an absolute last minute check on her appearance with the mirror by the door, she finally swung it open, to come face to face with… Raphael. She resisted an urge to impale him with his own rapier.
"Raphael!" She forced out through gritted teeth. "What a… surprise to see you this morning!"
"Isn't it now?" He smirked. "I'm just full of surprises, aren't I?"
"What… are you doing here?" She continued.
Raphael's arrogant smirk widened, and Cassandra got the distinct feeling she had chosen the wrong question to ask.
"I'm glad you asked, Cassandra, my dear." He said, further confirming this hypothesis, and without so much as a 'May I?', he had entered the cottage and plopped himself onto one of the chairs, legs up and resting on the tabletop.
Cassandra let out something akin to a small growl and turned to face him. The faster he was finished, the faster she could shoo him out of the house.
The object of her frequent homicidal fantasies seemed willing, in this case, at least, to oblige. "Picture this, Cassandra." He said, hands stretched out in front of his face, as if to properly frame his vision. "A rustic hunting lodge, somewhere in the woods. Six or seven blond-haired, blue eyed little ones, playing on the floor, my latest kill roasting over a fire… And my little wife, massaging my feet." He turned to regard Cassandra. "And do you know who that wife will be?"
I knew I shouldn't have broken that mirror two years back… She thought despairingly. However, before she had chance to respond, he continued. "You, Cassandra!"
"I… I don't know what to say." She replied. And that was the truth, too. She was torn between hurling a long stream of invective at him, or yelling at him never to darken her doorway again.
Raphael, however, wasn't quite as astute of a woman's desires, needs, and wants as he'd like to believe. Not in Cassandra's case, at any rate. "Oh, that's very simple, Cass." He said airily. "Say you'll marry me!"
Cassandra was by now backed up against the door, Raphael leaning down on her, as one of his hands pressed against the door she was leaning on. "I…" She began, feeling frantically for the doorknob. He was leaning closer, and closer… "I'm very sorry…" Ah, there it was! With a quick twist, she swung open the door, moving in tandem with it. Overbalanced, Raphael stumbled forward, and with a cry of surprise and anger fell through the doorway, and down the front steps, into the muddy ground.
"But thanks for asking!" Cassandra called gaily, before slamming shut the door. A second later, there was a very definite clicking sound as the door was securely locked.
Raphael stood, swearing, as he wiped mud off his coat. The nerve of that girl! How dare she treat him, Raphael, like this! "I'll have her for my wife." He snarled to himself, ignoring the mocking laughter of the villagers that had happened to be watching when he had taken his little fall. "One way, or another." Saying so, he stalked off back to his manor, to nurse a wounded ego.
Cassandra closed her eyes and sighed with tired relief as she leaned against the door. Jeez, every single moment spent with that self-absorbed little fool felt like an eternity to her.
Well, at least he was gone. Swinging open the doors, she stepped out into the afternoon sun and stretched slightly, before bounding down the lane. Well, the day's work was shot, anyway – no one in their right mind would come for fresh bread at noon- so she might as well enjoy herself.
Strolling through a wide meadow on the borders of the large forest at the edge of town, she stooped slightly to pick several buttercups, shining golden in the sun.
A sudden neigh distracted her. Glancing up, her eyes widened as Archimedes charged from the brushes of the forest, eyes wild with terror. A slick sheen of sweat covered the horse's forehead, and it was obviously on the verge of collapsing.
"Archi-!" Cassandra cried in surprise. Then, instantly, the realization of just what this meant struck her. "Where- where's Sophitia?" She gasped. Archimedes merely shook his head and cried out plaintively again.
In the space of a second, a hundred thousand different potential fates for her elder sister flashed through Cassandra's mind, none of them good. "Archimedes!" She said as she mounted him with an ease born of years of experience. "You have to take me to her! Take me to Sophitia now!"
As if he understood, the horse tossed his head once more, reared up, and headed back into the darkness of the woods.
Several hours later…
Cassandra was practically screaming with impatience and fear as she circled through what appeared to be the exact same thicket for the fifth time in the past hour. She was completely, hopelessly, lost. And to make matters worse, she could see, through the few patches in the dark canopy of the forest, that light was fading. And with night would come the Lizardmen.
"Okay, perhaps rushing out here like a fool wasn't the brightest of ideas, after all." She muttered disconsolately to herself. Still, she wasn't going to get anywhere like this.
With a sigh, she grabbed Archimedes by the reins, and turned to head further into the forest.
Thock!
She turned. Lying at her feet, half-buried by a wildberry bush, was a basket, with several loaves of bread tumbling out.
Crouching, she frantically tugged at the basket until it was free of the thorns. Yes. Yes, there could be no doubt about it. It was her sister's.
"Oh, Sophitia…" She bit her lip. Then, she began casting about for more clues of her sister's whereabouts.
This time, even in the fading light, it did not take her long. An imprint of half a foot in the muddy ground showed the direction her sister had taken, and that she had been fleeing.
Hope flamed within her again, mixed with greater swirls of anxiety. "Come!" She called to Archimedes. As faster as she could, she tracked the footprints through the undergrowth, ignoring the thorns that scratched at her face, her feet, her arms. Her only focus, her only thought, was to find the next imprint in the loamy soil, until she reached her sister. Mud splashed up around her ankles, but she pressed on until-
The very suddenness of emerging suddenly into open air caused Cassandra to stop. The forest had grown so thickly it had been impossible to tell if one was smack in the middle of it, or at the very edge. Now, she was in the open air, blinking in surprise.
Her sister's footprint's led a few feet ahead, until they stopped, in a confused jumble, at a pair of great metal gates, ringed and barred with rods of black steel that framed the entrance.
And beyond the gates, a magnificent castle loomed. The setting sun came down behind it, framing the great bastion with its dying rays of shining gold. It seemed beautiful, but at the same time almost terrifying.
Walking up to the gates, Cassandra shoved them open, and stepped inside. Archimedes followed nervously, occasionally letting out a whinny of discontent.
"Oh, couldn't just let her leave, could we?" Yunsung grumbled to Talim. "Just had to invite her to the study and warm her up with a nice hot cup of tea, right?"
"I was only trying to be civil." Talim defended herself. "Besides, it's not as if we could just let her freeze to-"
"Sophitia? Where are you, sis?" The voice rang through the shadowy halls. An instant later, a girl in a blue and white dress, with short blonde hair, rushed past the two of them, not even noticing either of the servants.
"Oy, since when did this turn into a tourist hotspot?" Yunsung quipped.
"She said Sophitia!" Talim exclaimed. "She has to be that girl's sister! She told me about her!"
"Well, and what do we do with her? Take her to the study, and offer her a cup of tea, perhaps?"
"Oh, will you shut up about that?" She snapped at him. "If she's looking for her sister, we'll just have to make sure she finds her, no?" Having thus said so, she rushed off into the castle halls.
Yunsung stared at the departing frame of his friend. "I have a bad feeling about this…" He muttered.
Cassandra didn't know how long she'd spent searching the castle, poring over every nook and cranny. For some reason, several doors had been locked throughout the place, effectively limiting the places she could explore. She only hoped Sophie hadn't been in one of them.
Now, however, she was climbing up the winding steps of the central tower. While the rest of the castle had been richly furnished and decorated, this tower revealed bare, sometimes crumbling, rock. Several torches spaced far apart from each other were the only source of illumination in this forbidding place. More than once, she slipped or stumbled on the uneven steps.
Finally, her patience snapped, and she grabbed one of the torches off the wall, using it to guide her path upwards.
"Sis?" She called once again, the familiar mantra of the past hour. She barely expected any response now.
So it came as a rather large surprise to her to hear a tiny cough, echoing further up.
Finding a reserve of energy she hadn't known she had, she clambered up the last few steps, before finding herself in a rather small chamber. At it's far end, wreathed in shadows, an iron grille door stood.
Rushing over, she lifted her torch and peered into the gloom. There, lying sprawled on the floor, was her sister. "Sophitia!" Cassandra cried in horror. Who had done this?
At the sound of her words, Sophitia stirred. As her tired eyes opened, she blinked, first in confusion, then in alarm.
"Cass!" She cried, as she rushed to the door. Cassandra almost gasped with relief. She was alive! Instantly, she grabbed at her sister's hands, then her eyes widened with shock and worry.
"Sis! Your hands are like ice! We've got to get you out of here!" Casting about for a way to open the door, Cassandra found an iron bar, and began prying at the hinges.
"Cassandra!" Sophitia's voice held a strange note of urgency in it. "There's no time to explain! You have to get out of here!"
Cassandra paused. "What?" She asked. "Don't be stupid, sis. I'm not leaving you here."
"You don't understand! Leave, before he-"
"Before I what?" A new voice sounded from behind the two of them. Instantly, Cassandra whirled. In the dim light of the sputtering torch, she could make out the vague shape of a man, towering over the both of them.
"What are you doing here?" The man queried of Cassandra. His tone was harsh and imperious.
"I-I…" Forsaking argument, she instead turned to her sister. "Please, sir!" She cried. "You have to release my sister! She's not well, and she needs proper care! You can't lock her up like this!"
"Then she shouldn't have come here." The man replied curtly.
Cassandra searched desperately for another reason, anything at all, why that man should let her sister go. "There must be something I can do to convince you to- Wait!" She turned to her sister, leaning shakily against the doorway. "T-Take me instead!" She offered. "I'll stay here in exchange for her!"
Sophitia's head snapped up. "What? No! Cassandra, what are you thinking?"
The man said nothing for a long moment. Then, "Technically, dear maiden, you deserve the same treatment. You have trespassed on my grounds as well."
Cassandra frowned as she backed up against the door. From the looks of things, her offer wasn't going to-
"I accept."
"Huh?"
He stood staring morosely at his body, still covered in shadows. Seven years ago…
"I have seen your heart, and there is no love in it. None at all."
Love… an entirely foreign sensation to him. But this woman… she had offered to exchange her own freedom for that of her sister's. Was this love?
For the first time in nearly a decade, he felt a faint stirring in his heart that he could not describe.
Cassandra, meanwhile, was still trying to comprehend what he had just said. "You… you accept?" She said warily.
"Yes. But you must stay here forever." His tone of voice brooked no argument.
Cassandra stooped down and picked up the torch, hoping to get a better glimpse of her would-be imprisoner. The torch suddenly sputtered, and flamed brighter-
And then it fell to the ground with a clunk, as Cassandra's hand flew to her mouth to stifle a cry of horror.
His head seemed human enough, other than a faded scar across his right eye. Under better circumstances, she might have described it as attractive. And his left arm as well. Strong and muscular, it was currently dangling at his side. But his right arm…
Vaguely exoskeletonal in form, it was brown and hard, terminating in three large, mutated fingers, instead of the usual five. A growth spurted from his wrist, ending in three serrated spikes – almost like some nightmarish gauntlet that was grafted onto his arm. His elbow and forearm was thick and sinewy, with a rust-red sheen to it. At his shoulder, another pair of spikes jutted out, with more horny growths dotting the joint between shoulder and chest.
The strange corruption had not spared his torso, either. From what she could see, it had spread to cover the right portion of his chest with more of the same brown skin, almost like a humongous, revolting scab. As the torch sputtered some more, she thought she could see part of the growth extending across his back as well.
Involuntarily, she backed up, pressing her back against the cold metal grille. For a fleeting second she wished it was between her and this… this nightmare, one that stood before her silently, with cold mocking eyes.
She couldn't help it. There was something so bestial, so inhumane about his corruption that she wanted to go, to be as far as was humanly possible from him.
His stare bored into her, and she saw a humorless smile form on his lips. "I asked you a question, woman." He said softly. "If you want your sister to go free, you will have to stay here for the rest of your life. Do you except?"
"No! Cassandra, don't do it! Leave now!" Her sister pleaded.
But even now, staring at the monstrosity before her, every time-worn axiom of logic and prudence lodged in her mind, her mouth dry and legs trembling, she knew there was only one answer she could give.
"You have my word." She whispered.
Please review. Thanks in advance.
I'll probably post the reasons why Cassandra is the 'beauty' of the story in the next chapter. That is, if you want it, of course.