No Matter What
Raoul sat in the bar, it wasn't that he enjoyed drinking, it was more that it was where everyone was after dark in the small town. It was more of a place for socializing than anything else.
He glanced outside and shivered at the prospect of walking back up to his house. That was when something strange caught his eye. A strange carriage, pulled by a large black stallion jerked to a stop out in the square. The driver jumped out of the seat and opened the door before pulling out a man. He seemed to say something and then climbed back into the driver's seat and flicked the reins sharply. The horse snorted and lunged forward, the man tried to run after it but stumbled and fell.
Raoul immediately got up and went outside to help him, as he seemed to be having difficulty.
"Monsieur, are you alright?" Raoul asked, trying to help the man up, "Monsieur…Monsieur Daae?"
Gustave looked up at him blearily, "Raoul?"
"What happened?" Raoul asked.
"Raoul, oh Raoul, he's taken her! He's holding her prisoner in the castle, you must help me Raoul…he's got her…he…"
"Who has who?" Raoul demanded.
"The monster!" Gustave panted, "the monster…has Christine."
Raoul frowned as he tried to decipher what Gustave was saying. None of it made any sense. His doubts about the story were only increased by the man's obvious fever. Still, he helped Gustave back to the cottage and made sure he was alright. He found it strange that Christine wasn't there, but since they had been going to the fair he figured that perhaps she had stayed to sell her father's music while he was ill.
He took care of Gustave until the fever passed, which took well over a week, and there was still no sign of Christine. By now Gustave was insisting that what he had said was true and that Christine was being held prisoner. The only strange thing about the story was that he continued to insist that the man, or thing, holding her there was a sort of monster.
"Please young man, we have to go and save her. Who knows what that monster will do to her…its already been so long."
"Monsieur Daae, please. You are still ill sir, and perhaps not thinking clearly. There are wolves in the forest and I am sure that Christine is fine, wherever she is," he reasoned. He was still not entirely convinced of the man's story, though Christine being gone was very strange.
"There is no fog in my mind," Gustave insisted, "I know what happened, because I was there!"
"Still, it is cold and you said yourself that you do no know how you found this castle. We would be eaten by wolves before we even found the place."
"We would take pistols," Gustave said, "and horses, the bravest ones we can find. Please, Raoul, my dear boy. I know how much you care for my daughter."
"I love her," Raoul agreed, "but we will have to wait until you have your strength back. Then we will go, I promise."
The days seemed to drag by and still there was no sign of Christine. Gustave's health improved with excruciating slowness and Raoul began to become anxious. What if Christine had been taken by someone? What would that person do to her?
When the health of her father had finally improved, Raoul had worked himself to a frenzy of his own. He spent hours worrying, most of the time with Gustave. His family became worried for his health as he had not been sleeping well and had developed dark circles under his eyes.
"Raoul, you should get to bed," his brother said, looking into the study where Raoul was pacing.
"Not now Philippe," Raoul muttered.
"I am worried for you," Philippe said, "you're sick, you need rest. Enough of this nonsense about your little friend."
"It isn't nonsense!" Raoul exclaimed, "she's missing, Philippe, she is missing. She's been gone forever."
"Raoul, just go to bed," his brother groaned, "get some sleep and forget about this…go!"
"We have to go," he murmured, grabbing his coat and heading for the door, "enough time has passed."
"Raoul!" Philippe exclaimed, trying to block his brother's path.
Raoul pushed past and exited the house. The walk wasn't long, but it was cold out and that made the short stroll seem to take ages. He kept his eyes down the entire time, focussing on the path before him.
As he approached the house he heard the door close and looked up, right into the face of a young woman. It took a moment before he realized that it was Christine. His heart skipped a beat and his mouth went dry.
"Christine?" he asked, more mouthing her name than saying it. Then again, "Christine? Oh, Christine, you're home!"
"Raoul I-" she stopped and turned to look at the large black carriage, as if she had heard something from inside it. Raoul recognized the carriage as the one that had left her father in the town.
"Christine, oh we were so worried…Christine?" Raoul frowned and started jog forward. Something wasn't right and, shaking her head, Christine walked towards the carriage and offered her hand to someone. Within a second she was inside and the carriage was charging into the forest.
"Christine!" Raoul exclaimed, running after the carriage, "Christine!"
He ran for several hundred metres before he lost the carriage in the dark forest. Panting and dismayed he made his way back to the cottage and entered after knocking on the door. Gustave was sitting by the fire, staring straight ahead despondently.
"She was here," he moaned, "and she left…I thought that she had escaped…but I guess I was wrong to have thought that."
"Who was that?" Raoul demanded, "who was the man in the carriage, who took her away?"
"Maybe it was the monster…"
"We'll get her back," Raoul said, "no matter what, we will save Christine from whoever has her."
"How?" Gustave asked, "how will we do that."
"I'm going," Raoul said, turning and heading for the door, "I am getting my fastest horse and I am going to find them. No matter what, I will find that castle!"
Raoul ran back to his family's house and went straight to the stable. He found the fastest horse and saddled the chestnut gelding as fast as he could. He gave the girth a final tug and slipped the bit into the animals mouth before mounting and starting towards the woods.
