...Underlined words are stressed. Italicized sentences are thoughts...
I wheeled around to glimpse a soft spark of curious eyes overshadowed by crimson hair in which gray streaks sparkled like lightning across it. From the shadowed hall came forth a woman of great beauty, so full of wisdom that her face was radiant with it.
"Are you lost dear boy?" she inquired with a soft and curious tone.
"Not exactly miss..." I replied turning my attention back to the paintings on the wall.
"If you are not lost then what are you doing in this place?" she asked, her voice ever softer as she laid a graceful hand on the wall near the door.
"Who painted this?" I inquired, ignoring her question not by choice but by impulse.
"My son did... He has been painting pictures of her ever since she left. God help him... He loves her so... Her departure has left him with nothing. She took his sanity..." she replied her soft eyes averting to the floor.
"Who is she?" I asked, not wanting to know for the answer was ever so clear.
"Phantess..." she whispered.
"You mean... Nicole?" I inquired staring into the woman's ever weakening eyes.
"Yes... That is she... How do you...?"
"It does not matter... Where is she now?" I asked becoming ever more anxious to depart from this gloomy tower.
"Wait... Oh my God... Sam?! It can not be you! Can it?" she cried grabbing my arm and pulling me into the light of the candles.
"How do you know me?" I demanded trying to escape her ever tightening grip on my arm.
"No! This can not be! Not now! You must leave here at once! If he finds you!! Oh God!! Hurry!!" she cried dragging me towards the door.
I put my hand against the wall and push away from her which jerked her to a halt. She turns to me with desperate eyes and mouthed,
"Please."
I sighed and let her take me from the room of paintings. She became frantic as she tossed me into the lucid night air.
"Come now to your feet at once! You must not stay out in the open! Come bring your mare... Oh my God! She brought you here?!" she whispered in a fraught manner as she saw the white mare standing near the rivulet.
She seized me by my now sore arm and led me to a group of bushes and shrubs which could hide me for a while.
"Silence now... Not one sound. If you wish to find Nicole you will do exactly as I say... Do you understand?" she hissed.
I nodded my head and she disappeared into the night leaving me bewildered in the darkness.
"What kind of hell have I somehow managed to slip into?" I asked myself repeatedly while, as silently as possible, I tried to find a comfortable position.
I soon found myself becoming very drowsy, and it became extremely hard to keep my eyes open as the cool ebony wind lulled me into a tranquil state. After a few moments of fighting my weariness... everything went black.
I awoke to the rustling of leaves which frightened me out of my wits.
"What if she lied to me and left me for her son to kill? She spoke of his madness, what if he saw me and heard of my plans to find Nicole?!" my mind cried as my heart leapt into my dry throat.
I felt instinct set in as the rustling became louder; I began to back away from the sounds, Only God knows where I was trying to go to hide.
Suddenly a hand seized my shirt collar and lifted me from the bushes... I shut my eyes tightly out of instinct, even if I had left them open, they would have been no use to me in the uneasy darkness.
"Oh thank the lord you are still here." a voice sighed as the hand released its grip on my shirt.
"Madame?" I inquired as I shakily stood from the bushes.
"Yes Sam. Now come. My son is gone once again and we may speak inside." The woman spoke as she led me back inside the even gloomier tower.
"Just who are you exactly Miss? You act as though you know Nicole and Myself as well." I asked, becoming suspicious.
"Oh do forgive me. I shall explain everything once we are safely upstairs." She replied as she and I walked up the staircase; my self right behind her.
I feared that I would trip while dashing up the stairs in the dim light, but we soon came upon the door and after a moment, we were safely inside.
"Now explain yourself Madame. You have given your word and I expect answers." I demanded, feeling a bit on edge.
"I know and I shall explain everything." She replied, sitting down very prim and proper on a stool across from a small chair.
She motioned for me and I sat in front of her.
"I do know who you are and who Nicole is. I have known Nicole since her birth and she is the one who told me of you." She began.
"I see... Who are you Madame?" I inquired relaxing a bit.
"Oh do forgive, I forgotten my manners... I am Adrianna. But please if I may continue?" she asked ever so politely that her voice startled me.
"Please do Madame." I replied feeling my hands begin to shake.
"Nicole was brought here a few years ago by a group of assassins that worked for my... late husband... Hilsham. A few days I believe after Nicole came here she and my son went out to the shoreline... They seemed so happy and... In love..." she paused, watching my expression turn pale.
"Well, she and my son were returning when the assassins, who worked for my husband, attacked in drunken rage. They burned our palace begins to cry to the ground and now... sobs all that is left is this lone tower." She continued, grabbing a cloth from the desk near her and dabbing her cheeks and eyes.
Her tears glistened in the candlelight as they streamed down her cheeks. My mind began to wander over what she had just told me when she began to speak once more.
"Nicole left after the fire on my son's stallion... She was headed to a nearby town, north from here I believe... Please... Sam Clark... Find her... and save her from my son..." She whispered between sobs.
As these words fluttered aimlessly from her lips, the slam of a door echoed throughout the tower... It sounded as if a rockslide was climbing up the stairs heading straight for us.
"He's back..." she whispered in horror.
