***Duncan***
I don't know how I got tied up but I am. My hands are bound painfully behind my back, and my legs are tied tightly together. I can feel the gag in my mouth making it a little hard to breath. From underneath the door I can see light creeping in and out of view as if someone is pacing in front of it. I can't hear, but I don't feel anything on my ears. I'm just happy Red isn't with me, and I hope she's safe.
I deserve to be here tied up and gagged just as Uncle Able was. I knew what I was doing was wrong yet I did it anyway, and continued the charade for years. If father kills me at least Red would be safe and she'll be able to find Uncle Abe and Aunt Lotty. They'll protect her.
What am I thinking? I can't leave Red alone. I can't leave her at all. I have to make sure she's safe before I do anything, but how could I? I'm tied to a chair, locked in a room with a guard, or, worst, father at the door. I can't hear or really see. I am useless.
I promised Uncle Able and Aunt Lotty I would keep Red safe and by God it's going to happen. I just have to get lose somehow. I fiddle with the restraints to no avail they just tighten. Maybe if I rub against the chair hard enough I can rip through the rope. That could take hours and who knows how long Red has.
Father has finally found the perfect way to torture me. Not knowing if Red is safe is agony. All I want is to hold her and make all of this disappear. God, Red why did we split up? I cry thinking the worst. Today we should have gone straight to Gran's with Lotty. Going on that picnic was a stupid idea that could get both of us killed. If only it's not too late.
***Uncle Kane***
For years Kane has waited for this moment. He'd soon have more power than he ever imagined, and to think it was all bottled up in that self-righteous little girl. He was sure Lotty would mourn the death of her only child for a while, but in time she'll forget, just as she's forgotten Able.
"Able stole the life I was meant to have, it's time I took what is rightfully mine," Kane says to his reflection in the mirror. Able had always been the most-loved son always adored by the villagers, their parents, and girls. Able had everything and never appreciated the hard work that went into it.
Kane laughs. Abe wouldn't know hard work if it hit him in the head and locked him in the dungeon, Kane's laughter fades. In three days Roselyn will be dead, Able will be dead, and all of Kensington and Nutwood will be mine. It came time for Kane to tend to his prisoner.
Kane stands in front of the closet door. It almost saddened me that I have to kill my only niece for power. That was a lie. Kane felt no remorse no feeling. Roselyn deserved this in his mind. The ones that didn't deserve to die were his wife and son. Able watched as Lotty's incompetent mother killed them both. Gran was going to get what was coming to her too. Everyone is going to pay, everyone.
***Red***
I just get to main road when I see the guards take Duncan away. He laid lamp in the lieutenant's arms. He still looks like me dressed in my cape. His head thrown back and blood oozing from his face. My heart can't stand to see him like this. Poor Thunder is going crazy he really thinks their hurting me.
Shockingly I don't recognize any of the guards with the lieutenant. It's like Kane planned this out thoroughly. Some of them are wearing the crest of Norcross. That would mean Prince's father is here. Wouldn't it?
Nothing makes sense anymore. Uncle Kane trying to kill me and Father, marrying mother, hitting Duncan, all of this doesn't make sense. How am I going to help everyone when I'm not sure how to help myself? I can't go into the village because Kane thinks he's kidnapped me. I also refuse to leave Duncan here alone. Before I can do anything Uncle Kane cuts through the crowd and sends Thunder into the forest.
I Mount Anna and ride after him. This will give me some time to figure out how to save Duncan I can't believe this is happening. Tears trickle down my check and are cooled by the fierce wind hitting my face as I gulp through the forest. I have to warn mother and fine Josie. They are the only people that will believe me. I stop in the middle of the road when I see a light in the clearing.
I can feel it calling me. I want to take Anna over there, but I have to find Thunder. I keep going off into the forest back to the clearing hoping I can find him there. I have to find a way into the castle. Yet, once I'm in there where do I go. I don't even know if Kane has taken Duncan to the castle or if he's going to Norcross. I have to do something but what. Think girl think. Then it hits me. The servant tunnels they were built as escape routes for fire and war purposes. My father's great-grandparents had them filled when he was a little boy. No one but I and Josie knew father was reopening them. I can get into Josie's room by the tunnels like I used to when we were younger. Potential
I've been in the clearing for a while looking for Thunder and I can't find him. It's going to be too dark to see the road and find the entrance to the tunnels. I reach into my pocket and pull out my father's watch. On the back it has the coordinates to the tunnels. If Duncan or father fines this they'll know where to find me. I leave it by a tree with a squirrel hole at the bottom. Hopefully, an animal won't run off with it and no one else will notice it.
Thunder is a smart horse I'm sure he's made his way to Gran's by now. That will mean mother is going to kill me. At least this time I have a good excuse. I can't control my homicidal uncle. If he wants a fight he's going to get one. Well when I find him he will, and maybe a weapon and back up couldn't hurt. To think Duncan assumes I can't think things through.
I get to the entrance of the tunnels and I try to remember how to dissemble the booby-trap. I know it has something to do with a pit of snakes, or scorpions. It's been years since Josie and I've used these tunnels. The booby-trap is right before I get to Josie's room so I have time to think. I pull on the third branch up on the old Oak Tree. To the right of it the ground grumbles and you can hear the faint sound of rusted melt rubbing together. The old platform flips open creating a dark crater in the ground. I rub Anna's nose to calm her. It's going to be dark a few feet into the narrow tunnel I know this is going to freak her out. I hope I can find my way to the stables which is only ten or so minutes down and then a right... I hope.
Anna and I make it to the fork in the tunnel. I really hope we're going in the right way I can hear wind gushing throw a crack but I can't remember how to open the stable exit. The next corridor is too narrow for Anna to walk through and she's been ride too long and hard. I press my hand against the wall hoping to find a lever and I wind up pushing a panel into the dirt cold dirt wall.
The ground grumbles again and out of nowhere torches light. Anna is backing out of the tunnel and I just try my hardest to hold her still. I don't know what's going on, but I have a feeling it's something that isn't supposed to. I hear the sound of air being released slowly and then they ground disappears under my feet. I glance down and see the pit of snakes. I have one arm looped through Anna's reins and I don't know what to do. The wall is to slippery to claim and I'm afraid to give Anna commands because she's really scared and the last thing I need is for both of us to be stuck in a pit of snakes, and scorpions.
Lotty looks out her bedroom window at the lightning in the sky. It is one of those rear thunder snows she watches the frosty white flakes fall and cover the windowpane. She wishes she knew where Red is. Duncan should be dragging her through the door any minute. She has been telling herself that for the last five hours. It was one in the morning and the sky was dark. The stars are blanketed by thick clouds, and the moon is lost. The only source of light comes from the flashes of lighting ever now and then.
Lotty is sure something unthinkable happened to them. There is no reason for them to be out in this storm. Being a mother has only prepared her to expect the worst especially with Red. If there was one thing that child knows it's how to find trouble. Lotty wasn't going to sit around and wait for Red and Duncan to come home. She had to find them now! "Mother I'm going out to find the kids," she said as she gets her fur cloak and a lantern.
"Lotty dare you can't run off into the snow chasing nothing. We keep telling Red to think before she acts, now it's your turn," Gran said as she gets the kittle out the fire and pours a cup of tea. "You need patience honey before you go out there and never come back."
"Mom my kids are missing I have to find them," Lotty says. She promised Able she wouldn't leave Red's said but she did and God knows what has happened to them. She had to find Red.
"Carlotta you are going to stay in this house you got that," Gran yells. Lotty feels deep in her heart that Red needs her. Her mother is the first person she expects to understand this. Red wasn't just her flush and blood she was an intricate part of her spirit. Nothing in the world is going to keep Lotty in this house while Red was in danger.
"You know something is wrong don't you mother," Lotty says in a broken whisper. She can feel warm tears tail down her checks. "Tell me where she is," Lotty demands.
"Honey your worrying yourself over nothing," Gran says trying to calm her daughter. "Duncan is a very capable young man I'm sure their safe at the palace with Kane," Gran says holding her daughter tight. They both knew Red was in trouble, but only one of them was truly aware of the severity.
Just as Lotty starts to calm down they hear a sound like firecrackers exploding then it's followed by a thud and a yelp. Lotty and Gran rush to the door and see Thunder trapped under the branch of a fallen tree. "I'll go get the ax," Gran says going back into the house. Lotty makes her way over to Thunder who is scared out of his wits. Here's no way Red would let him wonder off in this.
"Stay calm Thunder I'm going to get you out then I'm going to find Red and bring her home," Lotty says cooing to Thunder and stroking his thick black mane. She had to find her daughter before something terrible happened to her.
Gran came back with the ax and Lotty stands and looks her mother in the eye. "Mom don't play with me where's my baby," she cries.
"Lotty you can't go after her. You have to let her do this on her own," Gran says placing her hand on Lotty's shoulder. She hated doing this but she had to protect her girls. Red was special and it was time they both let her discover how.
"Mom she needs me," Lotty yells.
"I wouldn't keep you from her if she wasn't going to be fine and she will be. Stop doing this to yourself, we have to get Thunder in the stable come on," Gran says giving Lotty the ax and going over to Thunder.
***Duncan***
"Roselyn, I'm so glad you're comfortable," Father says as he comes into the room he's keeping me in. I look at him and the little glimmer of the man I used to know is completely gone. My heart winces at the realization. He is no longer the man that came and gave me a family and a home; he's a monster that is trying to take away the only person I've ever loved. I meet his eyes and see nothingness peering back at me.
"Speechless hunh?" he asks pacing behind me. A part of me hates him, and the other hates me for hating him. I wish things can be as they were, but how do you go back. How do you change the past?
I know in my heart there's nothing left to do but fight. I have to fight for Red. I feel him left my braid up off my neck and caress it. "Do you have any idea of how many times I've dreamt of severing your spine? Not to kill you just so you couldn't move or scream whilst I make you pay for everything. You see," He says walking in front of me and meeting my eyes with that icy look Red always talks about, "My life was quite perfect before you came alone. I ruled my own portion of the land, I had a beautiful wife and a host of mistresses, and all that disappeared with you. Your dad decided he wanted to give you a legacy and a whole kingdom to offer a suitable husband for you," he spat at me literally I have spit on my face.
"You've done something to Duncan. You and your stubbornness have rubbed off on him. Can I not have anything? Do I not deserve happiness? Or should I lay all I have at your feet Princess," he says bowing to me.
I never knew Father felt this way. I wish I could say something to reassure him, but then he'll know I'm me and not Red. I can't show him he's right about how I've betrayed him. I can feel the tears sliding down my face. His eyes cut at me. "No!" he yells and laughs at the same time, "You don't get to cry, not yet. I haven't deserved those tears but I will. You'll want to cry your little heart out Roselyn. Oh, trust me. I have a great birthday gift for you, one that's been years in the making, and by the time the full moon is perfectly positioned in the sky, you'll cry your last tear. Isn't it exciting? I'm getting tingly just thinking about it," he says shivering.
Red's birthday is in two days on the winter solstice the longest night of the year. I can't believe he's been planning this for that long. He's been buying time to get close enough to Red for years. He got Able out of the picture so he wouldn't get suspicious, and then he started getting closer to Aunt Lotty so she'd let her guard down and Gran never really approved of father. She knew there was darkness in him, but we all assumed she was just being her crazy ol' self. Father has lost it and if he kills me I'll turn back to my true form and he'll know I'm not Red, and I won't be able to protect her.
I've exhausted all my options I have to tell him the truth and hope he'll forgive me. I have to get him to set me free so I can find Red. I can't let her tell Lotty or Gran. Father needs real help and I know somewhere deep inside he's still himself. I know that I can make him his old self one day. "Father," I say and he looks up at me. His face a mixture of confusion and defeat "It's me," I say and he scowls at me.
"Duncan if that's you I'm seriously going to kill you right here right now," he says taking the gag out of my mouth. I know an empty threat when I hear one, because he makes very few.
"I was trying to tell you, but you got a little carried away," I smile at him. He just sighs heavily as he unties me.
"Where did she run off to?" he asks not worried about the fact that I had something to do with her escaping.
"I don't know. She ran off after we finished eating and never came back. I was going to the village to find Lucy and bag for her to pretend to be me so Lotty didn't get suspicious," I lie and I know I shouldn't, but I need for him to trust me again.
"You can't keep protecting her from Lotty. She hast to know what a mistake having that girl is," he says opening a door. Shockingly we were in a small room behind a painting in his office.
"You find her and bring her there I have business to attend to in Norcross I have to fix what you and Roselyn destroyed with your little servant girl act," he yells.
"I'm sorry father I'll find Red," I say knowing that much is true.
"You better or you'll take her spot in hell," he says leaving the room. My heart feels as though it's about to explode. I have to keep the two of them far away from each other before all hell breaks loss. I'm the only one that can help them, but I need someone to help me find Red. If I know Red she was trying to save me but I can't wait for her to try and find a way into the castle and possibly stumble upon father. I have to get help. Then it hits me lit a sack of bricks. Josie.