EDITED!RE-READ IF ALREADY READ!

Author's Note: I know...this must be one of the most annoying things when an author goes and totally changes a chapter and leaves you all very confused and I must ask for forgiveness! I'm doing this for a reason and I hope that a) it will be easier to understand at the end of the chapter and b) I will have a better inspiration for the next...SORRY!

Disclaimer: I didn't come up with sleeping beauty, but any plot twists, original characters and grammar mistakes are mine!

Roses Red

Chapter III

Weakness

Aurelia walked softly through trees, her soft voice raised in song. She sang for protection from the Maiden and wisdom from the Crone. As her bare foot stumbled on a root that lay above the forst ground just a bit, Aurelia glanced up to see her face looking back at her.

It was a small, drawn portrait of her face, obviously made by a master Scribe and it stated the following words: Aurelia Tsarina Denise Du Voir, wanted dead or alive. To be prosecuted for treachury against her country and communications with enemies. Has red and white streaked hair, green eyes and is pale skinned and there is a five-pointed star on her neck.If seen, capture her and take her to Dyrria; highly dangerous! Bounty of 150000 Dresas to be given to her capture or demise.

'What?' Aurelia thought confused, looking at her eyes which gazed back at her with a mixture of defiance and evilness that had never been recognised in her eyes before. 'What do they mean, communications with enemies? I commited no treachury and gave away no secrets...for the sake of all that is holy, I was never even allowed to know secrets!'

What did it mean if they were looking for her to be dead? It sounded as if they actually would rather have her dead! Well, if she had been confused on whether she should return or not, she certainly wasn't now! The only problem was, there weren't many women with her description and men would be bringing in redheads anyway, just for a chance at the bounty...'If their offering that much for me to be dead or alive, no man would hesitate killing a potential Aurelia and just saying they found her that way...I've got to do something!'

Aurelia walked slowly into some town or other that was just a few miles of where the forest had ended. Aurelia's bright hair lay in a coil around her head and her torn shoes were gripped in her sweaty palms.

Already, even though she was barely half a week away from the cool forest, the air had become hot and dry, the ground harder and less forgiving. There were less and less bushes growing in between towns and trees had become non-existant.

In the town, Aurelia hoped to find clothes besides the very uncomfortable ones she woreand shoes. Her shoes were pointless to wear because the same amount of foot was revealed either way. There had to be a healer somewhere here that could provide her with some salve to put on her torn feet as well...

Aurelia reached what must be the biggest part of the town, seperated by a large dirt road that one could only assume was the main trail and began to walk towards one of the larger houses. Knocking on the door loudly, she waited until the door was opened to reaveal a small woman with light grey hair that lay in a braid over her shoulder, "What d'ya want?" she slurred, looking at her suspiciously.

"I need to see a seamstress and a shoemaker and would like to know where I could find them."

"Well, ya've come aboot the good lady of luck then, cuz I'ma seamstress and me husband's a cobbler. Come inside, ma'am and I'lla see wut I cin do," she motioned for Aurelia to follow her and Aurelia did, blessing the Goddess for this lucky find.

"Tran get yur arse out here right now! I've some buisness and I'ma not gunna stand to you being the cause of us losing it!" she yelled up a slender staircase that led into a darkened hall.

"Whadya say, luv?" A man about the same height as the woman walked slowly down the stairs, his snowy hair in complete contrast to his tanned and wrinkled skin.

"We got us a customer, Tran." The woman said again, rolling her eyes at Tran and pointing back at where Aurelia stood nervously, fiddling with her hands.

"Aye, and whadya need, lass?" Tran walked to her and Aurelia stared back at him,her hands moving to playwith the handkerchief that kept her fiery hair hidden.

"Well, I need a new pair of shoes," she began, holding up her ripped ones, "And I was hoping for some travel clothes that might withstand a lot of wear...and I was hoping if you might be able to tell me the location of a healer." she said, realising with sudden horror that she had spoken in clear tones, tones that a noble would speak in and from the odd looks from the couple, they had noticed, too.

"Well now, lassie, that shouldn't be too hard now. I'd hafta say it'd cost'cha 'bout 30 Dresas, but me and Drinca'll give ya some good stuff," and with that he turned and went back upstairs and Drinca motioned for Aurelia to follow her down the hall towards a large room (at least in comparison to the rest of the house) andwaved Aurelia tothe middle of the floor, across from a long mirror that had dust and dirt and scratchings etched into its glassy surface.

"All right, ma'am, I'll just be taken yur measurings now and then I'll leave ya while Tran gets yur shoes."

Aurelia smileda small smilein response and delved into her thoughts about what to do next.

Tran and Drinca had told of a healer that lived in a small hut that had flowers and herbs hanging from it's overhang a little ways away from the main part of town. They told herthat the healerwas foreign woman, fair of face with pale featuresand that shewent by the name Isi.

Walking in that direction, a small hut with herbs hanging down from beams in the roof was soon seen and Aurelia headed towards it, feeling jolts from her protesting feet. Knocking on the door, it opened to reveal a woman of a taller height than Aurelia with a pale face and pale hair kept in a long braid. She had a pretty face, but what was most shocking was her large grey-green eyes; eyes that mirrored Aurelia's own.

"Can I help you?" she asked, speaking with a slight accent.

"Er, yes, I was hoping for some salve for my feet and maybe some darkhair dye. Unless of course you are not the kind of healer that deals with such things," she said, hoping that maybe the last comment would appeal to her sense of pride and she would recieve what she hoped for.

The hair dye was purely a new thought, but Aurelia hadrealized she might need it when leaving Tran and Drinca's, her handkerchief fell back a bit, exposing her bright hair. She then heard Drinca murmur to Tran, "What an odd head of hair...kind of looks like that hair of Princess Aurelia." Aurelia was at first offended because they didn't recognise her, but she shook out of that one quick and realised what a blessing it was.

"Well, I tink I cin manage zat," she said haughtily and Aurelia thought there was something odd about the way she spoke...besides the accent.

"I cin get you both for...25 Dresas. I make special price for you," she said, moving to a line of cabinets and pulling out two colored jars.

"25 Dresas! You must be out of your mind!" Aurelia exclaimed, outraged. Isi looked at her, raising an eyebrow.

"Vell, ze foot rub is10 Dresas and ze hair dye is 10. I took ze liberty of adding your tip with ze bill."

"Tip? You must be out of your damn mind!" she was appalled that somebody would dare to try to con her, a princess for The Goddess' sake! She calmed her voice, rememberingIsi didn't know she was a princess, "I don't have enough money to bye it for that much."

"Vell, like zey say in ze city, life's rough. No money, no bye," she shrugged carelessly and Aurelia looked to where her feet still ached and thought of her bright hair, "I'll take the foot salve for 10 Dresas," she said, looking as though this might kill her.

"Good!" Isi exclaimed, showing a smarmy grin. Aurelia sighed, got out her small pouch and took out the remainder of her money, "Here," she said shortly, scratching at a spot on her neck. Isi pocketed the money, getting the jar out of the cabinet. She turned back to Aurelia and gasped, looking at Aurelia's neck.

"What?"Aurelia asked annoyedly, feeling around her neck. She felt a cold fear start as she felt that what she had been scratching was her scar. The one that made her most recognisable as the princess Aurelia. 'Oh, shiiiit...'

Aurelia looked up to where Isi stood, an unexplainable look cloudingthe healer'seyes, "Great Raven...I have been blessed with this sign from You," she murmured, the look growing until her face was filled with an odd sort of hunger, "Aurelia..." she murmured to her, moving closer before grasping her by the arm and drawing her closer.

Aurelia felt a scream trying to escape from her mouth, but her mouth didn't seem to want to move so she opted for using her foot instead. Kicking her in the shin, she hit her in the face clumsily and began to run towards the door, pack still in hand. She heard footsteps as she jumped off the porch and sounds of pursuit. Running like she never had before, she called on the wind that had seemed so helpful before and felt it push her along and still she kept running.

Long after she left the last hut and all there was before her was wasteland she continued to run, thinking over the encounter. 'What the hell was with that woman...it looked like she wanted to freaking eat me!' Slowing down to a walk, Aurelia turned around and saw no one. 'At least she wasn't able to take me to Matthew...at least I got away.' But deep in her heart, Aurelia felt a slight forebodence that would stay with her long afterwards.

Aurelia crawled slowly, her feet and legsaching with intense pain as she dragged her wearybody over the harsh soil of The Gyan Desert. Strands of hair clung to the back of her moist neck as the sun beat down upon her tired and worn body. She nearly shrieked when her knee stumbled across a rock.

'Ow, ow, ow...oh Goddess, help me out of this hell...give me the nomads, bring me to the nomads...I don't want to die...I don't want to die...'

She collapsed down, her tumbled hair laying about her pink face in a way that could almost have been coordinated. She hated the weak feeling that now had overpowered her. Soft tears streaked down her burned face andshe closed her eyes willing there to be rain...rain. She felt something small and wet hit her upper arm. Then another. And another.

Aurelia looked up to see dark clouds had covered the sun and rain was falling in sheets. Laughing hysterically, Aurelia lifted her creased face up to the sky, praising the Goddess.

Her voice was whispering in harsh breaths the Thanksgiving song and Aurelia once again began to crawl forward slowly, her spirit soaring with the wind and rain.

Aurelia awoke, frantically struggling against arms that held her down. 'Isi got me! She's going to bring me to Matthew!'

"Ah, hell she woke up! Get me that drink, man! Hurry! Stop dawdling you imbecile, cause if she claws me one more time it'll be your hide I'm gunna blame!"

Aurelia stuggled harder at these words, pulling an arm free and screaming. As she opened her mouth, they shoved a goblet into her mouth, holding her nose and tilting her head back, forcing ehr to drink. Aurelia could feel tears pouring down her face as the fiery drink ran down her dry throat.

Suddenly, black crawled into her vision, enveloping her and leading her to peaceful unconciousness.

Aurelia awoke to moon light shining dully through a window. She slowly opened her eyes, remembering what had happened in her past bout of conciousness, sat bolt right in bed, her eyes wide, searching for the mysterious stranger. She looked down, seeing herself being covered by a sheet, and was thankful to notice that she was also dressed in a simple white shift.

She quickly got up, pulling the sheets up to cover her bed and tip toed quietly around the room, looking for her satchel of money and food. She only found a small table that had a small bowl of grapes and a goblet of a clear liquid. Aurelia felt herself beginning to panic and her eyes began to dart to the door and window. She rushed over to the door, trying it and finding it locked, 'Ohmygoddess...I'm being imprisoned...I'm going to be raped, I'm going to be put in slavery, I'm going to have my limbs chopped off and their going to torture me! Worse, then they'll return me to Dyrria for them to punish me!' she felt tears well up at the last thought.

'Calm down, you ninny! Panicking will do nothing for you! I just need to stay and...and find out what they want with me, for I have not been harmed...yet...'

Author's Note: Well, this is an update! Let me tell you, I worked my butt off to get this out here (yes, I'm sure there are grammar mistakes) so I want to see some REVIEW ACTION! YES! ahem...sorry Green Pig, ya know? Please send me a review and tell me how you like it...catch ya'll later!

Glaze:yaaaaaaaaayyyy! I got a looooooooong review! Hopefully, It'll be more understandable at least by the end...I've made it more complicated, now(I know, it's virtual suicide...) hahaha...I'm a telepathic thief...I see you are planning on telling me to return the Green Pig...HA!he's mine! Nope, Aurelia is not pregnant and I really like the Prince story...and the I will Run one, too...still haven't read Questions, though...I'm gunna!

Lulai: Thank you for the compliment! Sorry abou the song but at least it's happy! Hope you have fun at your thing and can't wait till you update!

Ahem...

Oh Review, oh Review...where for art thou Review?

±GT±

Author's Note: One again SORRY! I know most of you authors out there are much more organized and I thank you all who are reading this for taking that time!