Chapter 3 – Moon Pendant
"Stop Anaberu!" he yelled while his horse was following hers, chasing the fugitive girl.
She didn't answer and didn't give up of running away, her horse galloped through the trees, where the tracks were narrow and slippery. Annabelle thought the young master would give up chasing her, she believed he would not be brave enough to cross the depths of the forest. However, there he was right behind her, though his horse was not used to ride in such conditions.
Bloody hell! "Leave me alone!" She raged.
Suddenly, she heard the horse whine after a Kagewaki's ripping cry. The maiden had her stallion come to a halt and looked back. The horse had fallen with the lad, its weight over his leg. Hitomi was trapped. It was her chance, she could go away with no one to follow her… But she didn't.
Instead of leaving, Annabelle got off the horse, ran to the guy and tried to pull him. The pain was excruciating, he screamed, sweaty and taken by spasms. Then she examined the horse's paws and noticed that one of them was broken. The foreigner covered her eyes with her hands and brushed them across her icy forehead, trembling of fear. First she stared at Hitomi, fainting from pain, then she looked around and realized that there were only the two of them, the woods, and – who knows – lurking youkais.
Annabelle took a deep breath, grabbed the pendant hanging from the thin white ribbon around her neck, glimpsed the crystal moon that flashed various colors and mirrored her face several times like a kaleidoscope and she made a decision. Then the lass closed her eyes and knelt in front of the fallen horse to touch its broken paw. She did a massage on it while whispering words of an archaic language. A whitish light circled the point where the bone had broken, and gradually it was regenerating.
When the animal was healed, he got up and ran away, frightened, out of sight. The red-haired Scottish girl rolled to the side avoiding being trampled. At last, she crawled to Hitomi, soiling her dress in the mud.
In front of the unconscious man, she tore a piece of his pants and came upon a crushed leg. The lady had to cover her mouth to drown her nausea and a scream of terror. She needed breathing air as deep as possible to take care of that wound. So, she touched one hand in Hitomi's crushed leg, closed her eyes, and raising her face to the sky she reproduced the same words from an instant ago. His bones began to regenerate gradually, his wounds were healing until there were only small cuts left on his skin surface. Annabelle interrupted the ritual there.
An intense gale surrounded her, the treetops swayed and leaves fell upon the woman and the unconscious man. Suddenly, the wide-eyed orbs returned to normal, the irises resumed blue, the pupils dilated while the mysterious maiden breathed deeply as if she had just emerged to the surface after being about to drown at the bottom of a lake.
A shadowy creature watched her in the depths of the closed woods. Annabelle felt something bewildered stalking her. She could almost smell the evil intentions behind the dense marsh flora. Agile as a fox, the girl sat down and turned her body to the direction where the evil aura emanated. The lunar pendant shimmered as her very self shone albescent, illuminating the dark forest.
"Who's there?" She asked fearless, but that strange presence faded as it was dust in the wind.
The sky, which had darkened briefly, recovered it cerulean clarity. A moaning Hitomi captured her attention.
He opened his eyes slowly, as soon as he was awake his body turned over because of the tremendous pain caused by his broken leg. Annabelle regenerated him till certain point. After all, it would be impossible to have a fallen horse upon himself and stay unharmed, wouldn't so?
The fugitive jumped up, plucked a branch from a tree, scraped it with Kagewaki's blade and made it slick, then she gathered wide leaves, strong enough to wrap his leg with that piece of wood and pin it.
"It was just a simple fracture!" Annabelle said breathless and hyperactive. After immobilizing the young master's leg, she touched his shoulders and insisted: "You'll be fine! I shall leave you at your father's property and then I'll go away. Please, you must understand…" the poor woman spoke quickly, without pauses, without breath, exhausted.
"Why do you insist on getting away?" Hitomi caught her hands and rested them on his throbbing chest. "You won't be safer out there than you are within the castle!" His fingers pressed hers, his brown eyes craved on her figure.
"You don't understand, I can't bear being a freak to everyone only to feed your father's greed! I can no longer stand hiding myself because of my different aspects!" she blew out in anger.
"I do not bother with your different appearance" Kagewaki interrupted her. "As a matter of fact, I like every detail of you. You fascinate me." he kept holding her hands inside one of his; the other smoothed her flaming hair and ended up stroking her warm face. "You don't need to run or hide anymore, I'll find a way to help you, to make you feel safe and happy in the castle, believe me. It's all I ask." The man smiled, even he was in pain.
"My lord…" Moved by his gestures and by himself, Annabelle could find no words to express herself. She pulled the lad up by the arms and hugged him tightly. Hitomi, in response, stroked the red curls and breathed in it scent of roses. His warm breath brushed her neck softly and demure as his chin settled on her cozy shoulder.
At last, she helped him to get up giving him the necessary support, offering her shoulder so he could lean. They came together to Annabelle's horse in that way. Once more, the Scottish lass helped Hitomi, giving him some aid to jump up the animal. Then, they've returned together to the magnanimous property. There, some warriors were guarding the castle entrance when they saw their lord's son and his friend arrive. Two loyal men supported the young Kagewaki, soon they noticed that his leg was injured and blamed the foreign girl, however Hitomi defended her by inventing a story that he fell off the horse and she saved him.
When the Shogun went to his son's room to visit him, he heard the tale already spread by all the vassals and servants. Annabelle had become a heroine overnight, and Kagewaki took advantage of the situation to convince his father: "Father, that woman could have fled if she wanted to, but Anaberu saw the fallen horse on my leg and chose to rescue me. She saved me!"
"If the horse was lying on your leg, how did she get it out?" he questioned, visibly confused.
"I don't know what she did and how she did it, I fainted shortly after the accident, but I'm here, alive and grateful. So I'd like to make a request. No, actually... a requirement".
"Oh, and what do you want so much?" His father asked impatiently.
"Anaberu. I want Anaberu exclusively for myself." Hitomi was convinced.
"As your courtesan?" The man smirked.
"No, as my wife" With his eyes closed, Kagewaki decreed his will. He was relaxed on the bed, his fractured leg resting on a soft surface. As soon as his words were over, the almond-shaped orbs opened and faced his father.
"What did you hit, son? I thought it was only your leg, but now I'm certain you hit your head also!" The lord laughed hysterically. "She is a foreigner, a unknown woman, possibly a witch! Have you lost your mind?"
"I am more lucid than ever. I don't want you to expose her in your events as if she were an exotic animal, father!" For the first time in his entire life, the young master raised his voice to his progenitor.
"But that's exactly what she is – an exotic animal!" The man has lost his temper "And you will not marry with that thing, I forbid it!"
"If you force her to expose herself once more, I swear I'll leave the castle and will take her with me" the lad sat down, looking at his father in the depths of his small black eyes. "I never ask anything for myself, I have obeyed you since I was born, even disagreeing with your actions, but this time I will stand my ground and will not give up on what I want!"
At first, the noble shogun was so surprised by the stubbornness of his only son that he couldn't find words to express himself. Something in Hitomi's eyes had changed. What came next was a sad murmur that escaped from the old, paternal lips: "You're in love with her. Hitomi, you fool…"
"Don't even try, father. I won't change my mind."
"Fine! The girl is yours, you can do whatever you want with her, I don't care, as long as you don't marry her. Marriage never! If you two get married, you are no longer my son, do you hear me?"
"But, father!" He tried to get up, but his leg was to injured to do so.
The owner of those lands left the room quickly, with fire overflowing his soul. In heavy steps, he went to his prisoner's bedroom and opened the sliding doors. Not caring that she was wearing only the first layer of clothing, he tightened Annabelle's neck and pressed her against the wall.
"You may have bewitched my son, but you cannot deceive me! You, alone, could get a horse off Hitomi's body?! Now, more than ever, I'm certain that you are a youkai and be sure I'll find a way to prove it!" After threatening her, that hateful beast dropped the lass on the floor as if she were trash, then he left the room in the same way that he entered - violently.
Annabelle stroked her own neck and coughed, her heart tightening inside her chest. The woman didn't think about the consequences of her actions when she was there, in the woods, saving Hitomi's life. Yet, even though she was frightened, she did not regret it at all.
I would do it again if I had to.
She sighed and relaxed her shoulders. Then, the Scottish lass got up slowly and looked through the window. For a few seconds, Annabelle was sure that she saw the red eyes of the forest beyond the thick bars, falling back on her like the sight of death itself. She leaned against the wall and clung to the moon pendant. There was nothing but the glow of the stars in the sky, though.
The day was very stressful, that's all... She closed her eyes and calmed down. It must have been her imagination playing tricks, after all, the red-haired miss had been very impressed by everything she had recently experienced. So, Annabelle decided to lay down and go to sleep, she deserved no less. However, in her sleep her unconscious mind alerted her with nightmares – she, undressed, trapped in an endless web with no possibility of breaking free, while a huge red-eyed spider came, pouring poison from its open chelicerae.
To be Continued…