Chapter Three: The Switch
The beast, stalked down the winding staircase, down into the dark, dank dungeon. Rats scattered with terrified shrieks at his feet. "Are you awake, Old One?" He asked in his odd voice.
Mr. Winslow lifted his head and sat up wearily. "I beg you. Let me go, please." He asked once more, gripping the bars of his prison.
The beast grinned wolfishly, his luminescent blue eyes glowing even more brightly with delight at the man's groveling. "I will, as soon as your daughter arrives to take your place. Someone must suffer for your sin." He shoved a piece of parchment, a feather pen and a vial of ink, into Mr. Winslow's hands. "I want you to write a letter to your family, requesting that your daughter come to your aid. I will tell you what to say. I would write it myself, but…" He held up his large, boney, talon tipped hands. "My hands are useless when it comes to writing."
"It's too dark in here. I can barely see my hand in front of my face. How am I to write?" Asked, Mr. Winslow.
"Oh. Right. I forgot how weak human eyesight can be." He snapped his finger and a ball of light appeared above the old man's head. "Will that do?"
"Um…yes, that's much better." Stuttered Mr. Winslow. Dipping the pen into the vial of black ink, he touched the tip to the parchment.
Jane brushed Dust's golden mane. The stallion nayed with delight at her work. "You know you're handsome, don't you, Dust?" She laughed.
"Don't tell him things like that, he's already full of himself. No sense in adding fuel to the fire." Said, John, the Harrison family's stable worker, with good humor and one of his boyish smiles.
"Don't listen to him. He's just jealous." Jane reassured the beautiful horse, kissing his broad nose.
"Why don't you ask Mr. Harrison to give Dust to you? You are Beauty's sister and he's got plenty horses to spare." John motioned at the full stable.
"I wish I could, but we barely have enough money to care for the horse we have." Jane sighed. "Maybe one day. As for now, I'll have to be content with just the visits." Dust nuzzled her arm, and Jane happily fulfilled his request for another pat on the head.
"So when do you plan on telling Emily?" Jane asked, eyeing the boy. "If you don't hurry, you'll miss your chance." He wasn't exactly handsome, but he wasn't bad looking either. His face was a little too broad and his nose was shaped like a button. His eyes were a pretty hazel color and were framed with thick eyebrows. He used to be extremely skinny, but since coming into his manhood, he'd thickened up a good bit. He was built like an ox now. His strait, flaxen hair was always dripping in sweat from working in the hot stable and he always carried a scent of hay wherever he went.
"Tell her what?" He asked, his round cheeks flushing red.
"You know good and well what I mean. You should tell her about your feelings." Jane coaxed.
"So she can reject me? No way. I'd rather not tell her at all, than have her think I'm just another one of her fans." He shook his head as he stared down at his mucking boots. "She has her heart set on the Duke, anyway. What chance do I have?"
"I understand", said Jane, patting him comfortingly on the shoulder. John did have a point. Sometimes it was better to keep one's feelings to themselves. She had learned that from experience.
"You never know, though. Stranger things have happened. My father won my mother's heart somehow." She chuckled, nudging John's arm playfully. His lips curved into a hopeful smile.
A bang at the stable door, made the pair jump. John rushed over and opened it. A cloaked man on a pitch black horse awaited him. "Can I help you, sir?" John asked. Wordlessly, the rider, handed him a folded piece of parchment, sealed with black wax. Then he turned his horse around and sped back down the path, towards the woods. Strangely enough, the horse made no sound, as it charged away.
"Who was that?", asked Jane, leaving her favorite horse's side to investigate.
"I haven't the slightest idea, I couldn't see his face. He handed this to me, but he didn't say who it was for."
"Open it, maybe the name is inside." Suggested Jane.
John opened up the letter and Jane leaned in to see the note. John's eyes widened as they scanned the note. His lips parted to read the scrawling handwriting aloud.
"Dear Winslow Girls,
I regret to inform you that your father has gotten himself into a heap of trouble. I caught him trespassing in my castle. I was kind enough to offer him my own food and point him on his way, but he repaid my kindness by stealing one of my precious roses. In payment for his crime, I have locked him away in my dungeon, where he will stay for the rest of his life, should you choose to ignore my offer. I will release him on one condition, that the girl who asked for the rose in the first place come and take his place as my prisoner. You have until tomorrow to make up your minds. At dusk tomorrow night, I will send one of my messengers to retrieve the girl. Give your answer to him then. He didn't sign it."
John and Jane rushed to the Winslow cottage at once, and Jane read the foreboding letter aloud once more, as she paced before the roaring fireplace.
Meg began to whimper and buried her face in Emily's shoulder. Emily wrapped her arms, soothingly around her baby sister, while her eyes remained locked on the piece of paper in Jane's hands, her eyes wide and fearful. "No. This cannot be happening." She whimpered. "Isn't there anything else we can give him?"
Jane shook her head, sadly. "He does not give us any other option. In order to get father back, you'll have to switch places with him."
"No!" Emily shrieked, her sparkling blue eyes, becoming dark with seething anger. "I don't want to spend the rest of my life in a dungeon! I'm about to be married, Jane! Send him money instead! No one would turn down money!"
"If he lives in a castle, then he is already rich, I don't think money will appease him. All he wants is you, Emily." Jane replied, trying to her best to keep herself calm. Emily was boiling with rage, Meg was in tears, and John was pacing around consumed with fear, she had to be the strong one.
"There has to be some other way. We know nothing about this man and it worries me that he would prefer to have a woman as his prisoner, than the man who actually did the stealing. He could want to hurt Emily." John said, crossing his arms in thought. His face took on a worried expression.
"So what are we to do? Just leave father there to die alone?" Jane asked the group, her voice shivering with pain at the thought.
The two were silent. Neither one wanted to admit that they saw no other option.
"I love father, you know I do, Jane, but…" Emily's eyes softened. "I'm frightened." A tear trailed down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away. Her eyes shifted to stare away from the fire. She hated letting people see her cry. She was the happy, outgoing one. "I wish I'd never asked for that damned rose." She cursed, with passion.
Jane sucked in a breath at a sudden realization. "What if you didn't ask for it?" She asked Emily. "What if I did?"
"What?" Asked Emily in confusion.
Jane grinned at her own cunning, "Think about it. How is father's captor to know the difference? He has never met us before and he didn't ask for you by name. We'll switch places. I will go to take father's place."
"Oh no, Jane! You can't do that!" John protested.
"Why not? If Emily will not go, then I will!" Jane said, firmly.
"I can't ask you to do that for my sake." Cried Emily. "It was I who asked for the rose, It should be me who suffers. I will go." She added sadly.
"No." Said Jane. She wrapped her arms around both her sisters, hugging them tightly. "I am the elder sister. It's my duty to protect the two of you."
Try as they might, no one could sway Jane, once she'd set her mind on leaving.
"Hard to believe, this is my last night here." Jane whispered, sadly, as she packed her things. She wouldn't be able to take much, just a few dresses and a couple of her favorite books. She was going to have to leave the better part of her modest library behind. She was quite upset about that.
"Aren't you afraid at all?" Asked Emily. Her face was twisted with grief. Although, she was not brave enough to go herself, she didn't want her sister to go either, but she knew that otherwise, she'd never see her father again. Guilt had settled into her heart. She felt miserable.
"I am…but part of me is oddly excited." Said Jane, with wonder in her voice.
"Excited!" Emily cried. "You're about to be thrown into a dungeon for the rest of your life and your excited?"
"I can't help it. I have read so many books, about these courageous men and women going on adventures. Now it seems I will finally have my own adventure, however frightening and horrible it may be." A small smile came to her thin lips. "Suddenly I don't feel quite so ordinary."