A/N – thanks so much to Gigi the Dancer for pointing out a few of my larger mistakes!
Thanks so much to all of my reviewers! Several of you have asked about the character Merric….i can only tell you that in the next few chapters after this one, you will be seeing a lot more of Merric…his importance in this story will become apparent….soon…lol…I just as that you be patient!
Chapter Seven
Moments after her terrified, irrational reaction, Merric uncovered the numerous silver platters that Gwen, in her fear, had neglected to notice. Scents of roasted ham, jam, eggs, and various vegetables met her nose and she greedily sucked in air, as if that were sustenance enough. When she simply stood, staring, Merric walked to her and offered his arm, and led her to the chair opposite the beast.
Silverware clinked together down at the beast's end and red wine sloshed in his glass, spilling all over himself and the table. Gwen wrinkled her nose in disgust. The beast shoved the food into his mouth, not caring how much actually made it the huge cavity. Soon his fur sported a variety of color, each oozing together into one brown mess. Gwen began to feel queasy.
The beast noticed she wasn't touching the food put on her plate. "What's the matter?" he growled. "Don't you like eggs?"
Gwen flinched and gingerly took up her silver-plaited fork and knife. She loaded a small bite of salted eggs and a bit of ham onto her fork and slowly put it to her mouth. The beast nodded, satisfied that she had begun to eat. Gwen suddenly found that she had no appetite as she once again watched him eat like a monster.
Because that is what he is.
Gwen swallowed back her thoughts. The beast was watching her again. "I'm afraid I don't have much of an appetite."
The beast snarled. "Why not?"
Gwen scowled back, but answered with a question of her own. If the beast could talk, maybe it knew the answers to some of her own questions. "What is your name?" she asked, her voice suddenly sounding very small in this cavern of a dining room.
The beast eyed her suspiciously. "I don't have a name."
Gwen frowned, not liking his answer, but didn't push him. She decided to change the subject. "How long has this castle been here?" she ventured, tentatively. "I don't remember ever seeing it."
The beast grunted. "This castle has been around for centuries," he snapped. "Don't be stupid." His eyes blazed with fight and if he hadn't known himself better, he might have been frightened by the regret that seared his chest at his harshness. Might have. He returned to his meal.
Gwen sat rigidly, refusing to eat more than a few bites. She fought back tears and anger, unable to stomach the loss of her dignity along with everything else she'd lost.
"There are rules you will follow." The beast's glare gave no room for argument. "First, you are free to roam the northern and eastern wings. But the southern wing is off limits to all."
"Why…" Gwen cut her question short at the heated glare the beast sent her way.
"Second," he didn't take his eyes off of her, "If you have need of anything, ask Merric. Don't bother me. Ever. At all." Each syllable enunciated his anger more and with each word Gwen shrank back. "Are we clear?"
Gwen nodded, not bothering to hide her own anger. Throwing her delicate gold cloth napkin on the table, she pushed back her chair, the legs scraping the tiled floor and stalked toward the door.
"GWEN!" the beast bellowed after her. "I did NOT dismiss you." Slashes of red crossed his vision at being dismissed so easily. Gwen had frozen halfway out the door, and once again his chest nearly melted with the pain of guilt. He watched, clinging to his anger, as she clenched her teeth and walked slowly back to her seat. It was easy enough to see that she was upset, furious even.
He smirked and finished his meal quietly, taking his time, letting her sit there. He pushed his guilt away, reveling in her fury. And her spunk. The girl had survived two days with no food or water, had lost everything she'd ever loved and now sat here with him, enduring his anger and resentment.
He growled with contentment, and glanced over at her. Strands of her auburn, no, more reddish blonde hair had slipped from the braids that held it in place and now, as she hung her head, somewhat shielded her face from his scrutiny. He had no idea if she'd done so on purpose. He shrugged. It didn't really matter.
Then again , maybe it did. A long forgotten memory surfaced and he was hit with sudden recognition. He knew her, from before his exile, maybe. Or this was a dream. Or…endless possibilities echoed in his mind. He only knew one thing. Gwen wasn't here by accident.
But how did he know that? He knew her blue eyes and how she looked in a dress the color of buttercups. He knew she had a family, brothers and sisters, a father who had been an inventor. Had Merric mentioned all of this to him? No, he never spoke to Merric any more than necessary. That how was it that these…memories that shouldn't exist suddenly crowd his mind over dinner with a stranger?
He didn't want to think about it any longer. Glaring at the girl across from him, he fairly shouted at her to leave his sight, which she did with all haste. Emotions he thought he had killed surfaced and he flinched. Where had that come from?
What is your name? The question haunted him. What was his name? He felt ashamed his didn't know.
Dom.
The beast stood abruptly, not catching the single word. "Who's there?" It was a woman's voice, all ice and fire. "Show yourself."
Dom.
The voice sounded again, but again, he didn't catch what was said. The beast glanced around. It hadn't been Gwen's voice. It most certainly hadn't been Merric's. Then who? There was no one else in the castle.
The voice didn't sound again, but for some reason, he felt as though he had missed something important. As if some living memory had disappeared. He held his head in his hands, trying to remember, wracking his brain. But nothing came to him. He didn't remember life before the castle. He didn't even know if there had been a life outside of this fortress.
Everything was blank. What little memory he had began the day Gwen had arrived, yet he knew he had been here for ages, for a lifetime or more. Except…
He had once lived outside this castle. Suddenly snippets of memory that shouldn't belong to him raced as pictures through his tired mind.
A daisy crown.
Saddlebags.
A kiss.
Yellow dress.
A pond.
A girl.
Bits and pieces, fragments of someone else's memories flooded him. He was drowning.
A rose.
A stallion.
A woman in the forest.
Nails.
A rose. Why was the rose important?
The beast's eyes flew open. The rose!
The beast flung back his chair, not bothering to notice the crash and shattering of wood that followed. Breathing heavily, his heart pounding, he raced to the southern most wing, flinging unnecessary furniture and ceramic statues out of his way. The maze of hallways and corridors blurred past.
I give this to you, this same perfect rose that has held me captive. It will bloom eternally…until your true love sets foot in your castle. After she does, who knows what might happen. The woman's warning seemed to echo off the walls, pounding in his brain, in his very bones.
He burst through the rotting oak doors that led to his private study, and stopped. Sitting on his lonely balcony, where it had always stood, was a perfect blood red rose. Entombed in a crystal case, it shimmered in the morning light that spread from his distant mountains. Abstract rainbows slithered over the dark room.
The beast heaved a sigh. The rose appeared unchanged. For now. Besides, the beast scoffed, there was no way this young, untried young woman was his true love. She couldn't be. Pleased with his logic, the beast almost didn't notice the scratch of noise behind him. A noise that shouldn't be there.
He whirled, glaring around the room, perfectly silent. Only broken furniture and ripped paintings, evidence of his awesome rage, met his gaze. He turned his head. Something wasn't right. He turned his back on the room and entered a side hall, searching, waiting.
Gwen breathed easier as she watched him enter another room. She hadn't meant to break his serenity by nearly knocking over an end table. After being so abruptly dismissed from the beast's table, Gwen had gone to her room, only to find that the walls were too confining. Her feet had itched for exploration, so she had given in. Quietly, she had wandered about, starting at the large dining hall she'd recently exited. The beast still sat there, where she had left him, so she had let him be.
Suddenly, he had raced past her, in such a frenzy Gwen couldn't help but laugh at the sight of the large monster. Through her giggles, her eyes had followed him. To her surprise, her feet followed as well. It had taken her a while to realize that she was entering the southern wing. The beast had strictly forbidden it, and for a moment she had seriously considered backing away and leaving things be.
Gwen sighed, remembering how her mischievous side had one out. Her mother had always said it would be the death of her. She shrugged. Maybe it would be. Death, she surmised, would be a better fate that life inside a hidden castle with a monster for your only companion.
Brining her thoughts back to the present, Gwen glanced around. The room was filthy. Shredded sofas lay everywhere and pits and pieces of cloth from the surrounding curtains hung everywhere from the chandeliers to the dirt covered floor. Two of the large windows were cracked beyond repair, while the remaining three were dirty enough to conceal the bright light of the moon.
An unnatural pink glow across the room caught her eye.
With a soft intake of breath, Gwen stepped toward the glow. A perfect rose, long stemmed and beautiful, stood beneath a heaven-made crystal case. Intrigued, her curiosity got the better of her and she silently lifted the cover off and placed it by her feet. Leaning forward, she raised a hand to stroke the glimmering petals.
Her arm wrenched behind her and she screamed her pain. The beast tossed her across the room where she landed in a heap of blue silk skirts. Forgetting her pain, Gwen scrambled back as the beast surged forward.
"I told you to stay out!" He swung a huge paw and shattered table at his side.
The beast's growl shook her worse than anything she'd ever experienced. She scrambled to her feet, extending her hands in fear. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to…please!"
He rounded on her, shattering furniture as he went. "You don't realize what you could have done!" His eyes glowed like silver daggers, and pierced Gwen as if they had been. He carefully, with more care than Gwen thought him capable, placed the crystal case back over the glowing rose.
"Get out." The whispered showed the beast's fury more than his defensive posture and gleaming black eyes.
Gwen back away slowly. She stopped, her back against a wall. Her eyes widened in fear and she turned her head to ward off a blow. None came. The beast's hot breath moved across her face.
"Get out."
She ran.
"Get out!"
She ran as fast and as hard as she could, slipping down the grimy stairs.
The beast, his eyes white with anger and fear, clenched his paw, and shattered stone with one blow. "GET OUT!"
She didn't come back.
Gwen ran. She ran harder and faster than she'd ever run before. Her lungs burned and a harsh wind and snow whipped at her dress. But she ran on. Her face and skin left exposed to the elements became numb quickly. But she ran on. Her gown was little comfort against the snow.
She looked for familiar territory, but found only barren, snow-covered trees, withered and black. She turned to look behind her for the hundredth time. The beast wasn't following her.
She fell, face first into a snow bank, tripping over a tree root. Suddenly, she was too tired and cold to move, to even consider moving. Forever, an eternity, she lay there, gasping for breath in the unnatural winter air.
No one leaves this castle. His words followed her, freezing her heart. Maybe death was better than life inside that prison. Maybe…
Gwen froze at the sound of a twig snapping.
There it was again. A growl. Footsteps. The crack of a branch. Something was trailing her. Slowly, slowly, she moved to look around her, wiping the snow from her eyes. There was nothing…
Yes, there was. A wolf, crouched low in the barren bushes, snarled quietly behind her. It's fur gleamed as white as the snow. She wouldn't have seen it but for the shadows that played across it's fur. It's yellow-gold eyes glittered.
She thought only one question before it charged: how many more were there?
The forest erupted with the sounds of a charging predetor, and Gwen let out a terrified scream. But she had been raised on a farm; she was no weak girl-child. She searched frantically through the snow-covered ground, searching for the only weapon the forest could offer.
"Come on, come on," she hissed through clenched teeth, chattering with cold. Where was it? Exhaustion and cold made her clumsy and she slipped. Her fingers slid across her weapon. She could hear the wolf moving closer, deadly and fast. She pulled her weapon free.
The wolf lunged, clamping down hard on the tree branch that she swung. It snarled and lurched back, searching for her weak spot. Gwen knew she had far too many. She pointed the sharpest edge at the wolf's muzzle, her fatiguing muscles straining as she waited for the attack. The wolf bared its teeth. Then, almost as if it had no interest, it slinked away, it's snow white fur disappearing rapidly.
Gwen whirled, ready for anything. Her blue eyes moved across the scenery, searching, waiting. She didn't hear the twig snap behind her.
The wolf lunged once more, landing squarely on Gwen's shoulders, forcing her to the ground and knocking the stick from her hand. Gwen screamed as the wolf gnawed at her dress. His teeth ripped the delicate clothing, her fangs leaving gashes across her skin. She screamed. The weight of the wolf was crushing her. Her left shoulder bellowed its own pain at the way her fall had twisted it. The wolf's claws punched through her skin as he continued his ravage.
Suddenly, a hysterical howl echoed through the hills. The ground shook like the thundering of a thousand horses. Hazily, she recognized the beast's cry of rage, and burst into tears. The beast jumped into the clearing, tearing the wolf away from Gwen in one motion. The huge wolf hit a gigantic oak with bone shattering force. It merely whimpered before charging the beast.
The lone inhabitants of the forest wrestled and bit, each fighting for the advantage. Gwen couldn't help but stare, even as her injuries screamed for attention. The wolf was huge, gigantic, even compared to the tremendous size of her captor. While the beast was bigger, the wolf's cunning and speed earned him the lead. Gwen winced as the beast let out a terrible yell as the wolf closed his teeth around the beast's shoulder.
Gathering his strength, the beast grabbed the white wolf by its bushy tail and swung him against a tree, crushing his skull with amazing force. The impact killed the wolf instantly, but the beast did it again, and then again. Blood spilled across the snow. The wolf's teeth had ripped his shoulder to pieces.
Long seconds passed before the beast quieted. The only sounds were of the beast's a Gwen's heavy breathing. It felt like a millennium before Gwen dared to move. The beast stood frozen not fifteen feet away. Blood spattered her coarse fur, and thick streams of the stick substance flowed from his shoulder.
So, this monster does bleed, she thought dimly as she stepped toward him. Her movement must have broke his reverie, for he turned to her. His gaze made her stop, for his eyes gleamed with sorrow, taking on a fantastic human quality. Shadows of green flickered, and then disappeared, leaving the glazed and veiled black eyes she had come to hate. His eyelids fluttered helplessly as he let out a groan and dropped weakly to the ground.
Gwen's heart pounded as she stood there, trying to decide his fate. Her skin stung, and she could long feel her arms or legs. Should she leave him where he lay? To die? Or stay with him until he regained consciousness? She sighed, tears spilling down her cheeks. He was the only one who knew the way back to the castle. It seemed her fate was decided as well, without her consent. Either remain with the beast, or freeze to death wandering in this snow-covered wasteland.
She went to the beast and sat down beside him, burying her hands in his fur for warmth, almost praying he didn't wake up. A twig snapped behind her and Gwen nearly fainted in fear. Another wolf!
Steeling herself for death, or worse, she turned. And nearly sobbed with relief. Piper, Dom's mare, walked cautiously into the clearing. Tears continued to leak from Gwen's eyes and she covered her face as she finally let them come. Gathering her wits about her after a moment, she beckoned Piper close and grabbed the broken reins.
It took all of her strength and most of the afternoon, judging by the glare of the sun, to load the beast onto the horse's back, one body part at a time. The exertion warmed her, however, and wearily, she found the strength to lead Piper and the beast back to the castle.