Every passing moment, made Gabrielle's heart sink lower and lower into her stomach. She was caught between her stepmother and a giant man, whose name she had just learned was Jetson. She tried to listen for the sound of horses following, but she could hear nothing, but the thunder of the horses of the carriage she was trapped in. The carriage slowed down once it excited the royal forest and was now on the streets of the capitol. Gabrielle began to loose even more hope now, the carriage would just blend in and the sky was getting darker making her captor's getaway seemed more and more likely to come true.
She repeated prayers and hymns to Hestia in her mind as a way of calming herself down. Her prayers mostly centered on her and Kianda's safety. She knew the path they had walked on was barely traveled and likely no one would fine Kianda laying there until she woke up herself and it was likely that Kianda would not wake for hours...if she even managed to awake. The sun was starting to set as they exited the capitol and started to travel down a dark road, that clearly was not a popular passage for travelers.
Her mind also wondered back to what Isodara had told her...about her heart being cursed. Gabrielle unconsciously pressed her hand against her chest to feel her heartbeat. She knew it wasn't her literal heart they were talking about, but still... It was pitch black when the carriage finally stopped. Jetson graved her thin forearm that his huge hand could easily wrap itself around and dragged her, roughly, out of the carriage. She could make out a small stone tower with it's white stones reflecting in the moonlight. She could also make out small ridges and windows along the tower. It also looked very old and about to fall apart at any moment. Before she could notice anything else about the tower, Jeston started to drag her forward.
Isodara was right behind them, as she entered the dark tower. She could feel and hear Jeston searching for something along the walls and finally she her a match lite and the room grew a bright with a torch. She could see it now, it was old and dusty with cobwebs everywhere, and overturn furniture and a fireplace that looked like it hadn't received a good cleaning in months. What was Isodara thinking by bringing here here? She Then felt another pull and Jetson with her thin forearm in one hand and a lighted torch in the other started to lead her upstairs, with her stepmother following behind. Finally, they entered a small room and on the other side of the wall was a small cage with a barred window on it. Gabrielle didn't have to take a guess at what they would do to her next, she had a good idea.
Isodara went over to the cell and removed a key from her pocket and unlocked it and held the gate open, and Jetson shoved her in so hard that she landed on her face first and gave a cry of pain. She heard the door slam behind her and lock as she scrambled to her knees. She touched her mouth to see if she was bleeding, but felt no blood. She slowly got up and turned to see Jetson placing the torch in a holder on the wall, lighting the entire prison room up. Isodara had a smile on her face that sent chills down Gabrielle's spine.
"Jetson" Came her stepmother's voice, "Lit the downstairs and our rooms. I want to have a little chat with my dearest stepdaughter." Isodara hadn't refereed to her as family in years and Gabrielle definitely wasn't liking it now. Jetson obeyed her stepmother and left without a word, slamming the hard wooden door behind him, and leaving them alone. Despite being separated from her stepmother by bars she couldn't help, but take a few steps back away from her. Isodara just continued to give her an icy stare as silence continued to fill the room, until Isodara finally spoke.
"Well, before I tell you your fate it is only fair that I tell you your past and how you and the prince both got cursed." Gabrielle felt she wanted to say something, but the words died in her throat. Her stepmother continued, "King Oswald, or Prince Oswald, as he was known back then was not in love with Lady Alisha, but instead he was in love with Lady Rachel, your mother." The shock of what her stepmother revealed to her helped her to regain her voice at this revelation.
"My...mother...the king was in love with my mother?" She said, and Isodara gave a nod along with a dark smiled, that sent chills up her spine.
"However, Lady Alisha wasn't having that. I don't know what she wanted more Prince Oswald or the throne. I suppose it really doesn't matter now, but all that matters is what she did. She made a deal with the fae." Gabrielle's eyes widened at that. A deal with the fae, how mad did a person have to be to do that. Everyone from Emperor to grave digger knew that the cost of a deal with the fae was always too high.
"Lady Alisha found the fae, and they agreed to make a deal with her. They would make the prince fall in love and marry her, but in exchange they would take the heart of her first born child. When Alisha first heard this they thought they were talking ripping his physical heart from his chest, so she agreed to it without a second thought." Gabrielle gave a gasp and covered her mouth.
"No...no..." She whispered in protest to the horrible bargain she was hearing how heartless, or power hungry could a woman be to allow the newborn, she had carried for nine months and given birth too, heart's to be ripped out. Isodara just grinned and nodded. Gabrielle felt sick to her stomach at hearing this.
"Yes, yes she did." confirmed Isodara, "She was willing to have the heart of her own newborn ripped out to fulfill her ambitions. I can see why we were such good friends back then." Isodara continued her grin, "Well, the fae kept their word and the king lost all interest in your mother and was clay in Lady Alisha's hands and she became consort soon enough and your mother went on to marry your father. However, when the time came that she delivered Prince Adrian the fae arrived, but they didn't rip his heart out of his chest. Instead they removed her of his spiritual heart and informed her of a part of the deal they hadn't mentioned, yet." Isodara then lost her grin.
Gabrielle's chest tightened, she could feel they were getting close to the point in the story where she became involved.
"A spiritual heart can outside a human being for only a few years, and then it will vanish. The fae have a taboo against destroying spiritual hearts. They informed her that in a few years a baby girl would be born then the fae would then place her son's heart inside the newborn girl and combined the hearts to make one pure one. Then here is the sweet part. The fae told the queen that the girl who held her son's heart was destined to surpass her in beauty, power, greatness, and in love of the people. The fae told her that this girl would be the queen's downfall."
The blonde girl placed her heart over her chest. That girl...the pure heart that was her. She knew it and Isodara didn't need to tell her that and Isodara didn't see the need to either.
"The queen was in such a panic after the birth of her son, wondering what little girl with a cursed heart, would take her place. She tried to bribe her husband into issuing a decree to girl all the little girls that would be born in the next few years, but not even a fae's love spell could force goodhearted king Oswald to make such a decree. So instead she went the old fashion way and through manipulations and a handful of murders of wizards and human practices of magic she found the only pure heart in the land belong to none other than the daughter of her former rival for the king's love."
Gabrielle's eyes widened at this. But another question came to her mind, why hadn't she died. Why hadn't the queen ordered the slaughter of her when she was just a helpless child? Isodara would soon answer that.
"Of course, the queen's first instinct was to kill you, but she also knew you had a powerful fae protector in the village, that she, nor I to this day have been able to identify. However, we went after the next best thing-" Isodara gave a wicked grin, "-your dear mother and father." Gabrielle gave a gasp, and covered her mouth for a moment, as her stomach turned to lead.
"You can't mean...you couldn't have..." She stuttered out, still in shock.
"Why are you so surprised, girl? Are you that shocked that I was the one who poisoned your mother and later your father." At that Gabrielle fell to her knees, tears were now coming down her face. At this, Isodara began to chuckle.
"Tears? Really, now girl? You are really that surprised? Your parents died so shortly after each other as soon as I entered their lives. I thought you would have drawn that conclusion earlier." She tsked at the now sobbing Gabrielle. "Then again, with that pure heart of yours you have to see the best in people." She gave a sigh.
"I hoped to get ride of you while you were at the palace, the queen was at least. However, we had no idea that you, little whore, had caught the eye of the prince and have been under his protection the moment since you entered the palace. The queen was helpless to do anything to you. So now it is up to me to get ride of you once and for all." Gabrielle calmed her tears down and looked up at the murderer of her parents with puffy red eyes.
"What are you going to do to me? Why haven't you killed me, yet?"
"Oh, I wish it was that easy." Her stepmother gave a sigh, "But your fae guardian would sense your death." Then her wicked smirk returned, "However, they can't tell where you are. So instead the queen and I have decided to sell you to a brothel in the far east. A green-eyed blonde would be exotic enough for us to get a good payment on you." Gabrielle was now losing breathe.
"No, you can't do that!" She cried, now sobbing hysterically, being sold to a brothel in a far away land and never seeing Estelle, Kianda, and Adrian ever again. No, it was too much to bear and she was starting to shake.
"Oh, we can't?" Isodara gave a laugh, "Oh, but the buyer will be hear by tomorrow afternoon to take you away and you are too far out in the country for any rescue to arrive in time. It is amazing the girl destined to be greater than the queen; will be nothing more than a whore." She continued her laughter, as Gabrielle sobbed enough harder. Isodara left the room. With the torch still burning bright. The blonde couldn't think straight.
She didn't know how long had past, but finally she got from her knees to her feet and wondered to the barred window of her cell. She looked out at the bright full moon and wondered if this would be the last full moon she would ever see. The prince wouldn't be able to save her time, nor any of her friends. She lightly pressed her hand against the stone of the window and to her surprise it easily feel down and almost hit her foot. The building was old, Gabrielle numbly realized. Then a stir came over her. The tower was old and the stones were loose. Her heart began to race, as an idea formed in her head. It would be risky, but she rather face the risks than the future that Isodara had planned for her. She began to try to pull away at the stone, letting pits and dust coming out, but she needed more strength it she was going to make a hole before either Isodara or Jetson caught her. She was thankful for the torchlight and she could make out several items covered with dust on the floor. Then she spotted it, a long metal pole that was crocked at the edge. She got to her knees at the bars of the cell and made a movement to reach for it, but it was not enough, it was barely out of her grasp. She looked back around her cell and the floor that was covered with many items and she saw an old cracked cup with a handle on it. She took this this and used it to reach for the pole. She had to use all her will and probably more to get her cup to enclose around the crocked edge of the pole. Gabrielle gave an alighted sound when it grasped it and quickly pulled it in.
With both the torch and moon to lite her rock, she began to use the pole and it's crocked edge to pull away the crumbling rocks that had long weakened from the wall. A part of her worried that Jetson, or her stepmother might hear the noise, but that didn't slow her done as she made her hole. Finally, it happened, with a large pulled a large and stubborn work fell out of the tower leaving a hole big enough for her to put her head through. She dropped the pole where it clattered to the ground and began to use her hands to pull the works out with little resistance and soon there was a hole that was big enough for her to climb out of. She looked down, the darkness obscured how long a distance it was to the ground, but her memory told her that it wasn't that far. Gabrielle took a deep breathe and prayed to every God she could think of.
She backed away from the hole, and then climbed out feet first. Her feet landed on one of the many ridges she saw earlier covering the tower. She held onto the stones, but now the fact the stones were so loose were working against her. If the stones couldn't hold her weight, or the pressure from her hands she could go tumbling down and...she better not think of that. Gabrielle slowly made her way down the tower, with only her feet and moonlight to guide her. Sometimes a stone would fall out of place, and a few times she did loose her balance, but she somehow managed to regain her footing and find another stone. Every time she regained her footing she thanked the Gods, as she continued her journey down.
Finally, she felt it the firm feel of ground under her feet. She gave a sigh of pure relief as she let go of the stones and thanked every god she knew existed, again. Gabrielle took a look at the moonlight and knew she had to make progress quick. She turned around and darted off into the dark woods. Gabrielle fumbled her way through the woods, but didn't slow down her speed she knew that she had to make a good distance between her and the stone tower before sunrise. With only the moonlight to guide her way, the girl with the cursed hearts made her way through the thicket of the woods. She didn't know how long she had been traveling when she finally gave out, from shortness of breathe. Gabrielle knew she needed rest, but where to find it out here?
She started going, at a slower pace as she slowly looked around, and that's when she stumbled upon a small cave. It was so low to the ground that Gabrielle had to get on her stomach and crawl backwards to enter it. It was a tight squeeze even with her small petite frame. However, she also realized that she was very safe there. Jetson was too big of a man to get down to where she was and she doubted he would even notice the small cave. She felt the dew wet grass clinging to her skin, clothing, and hair. Gabrielle had only been use to sleeping in luxury for a few months, before that a bed of straw in the kitchens. However, this cold and wet ground was making her miss her warm bed of straw. The tired girl closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.
When the blonde finally awoke back up, her first instinct was to rise and stretch, but instead her back was instantly met with the hard and stony cave ceiling. Gabrielle panicked a moment at the small space she was in and then memories of last night's escape came back to her, filling her with a new desire to get out. Gabrielle slowly crawled out from the cave and finally got off the ground and back onto her feet. Her body was stiff and wet. She could see dirt, grass and tears over her dress, along with scratches along her hands and arms, that had mostly come from scaling down the stone tower. She couldn't see her face, but she knew it was a mess too. But, there was no use to thinking about how she looked now, right now she needed to get as far away from Jetson and Isodara as she could. She looked to the sky and took a guess that it was mid-morning by the sun's position.
The blonde gave a frown at that, by now they probably realized she was gone. Jetson was probably in the forest looking for her, now. She had to get moving, Gabrielle forced her sore legs to continue at a fast pace. Gabrielle, had no idea where she was going. She didn't even know where she was. All she knew was that she had too get away from the tower. Her hope was to find a small village, or a cabin, someone to shelter her. She would knock on the door and say she had been kidnap and beg in the name of Zeus to let her stay.
Yes, that is what she needed to do, the blonde decided. She hurried along the forest, making faster progress than she had last night since she could see what was in front of her. However, as she traveled through the forest she could start to feel the affects of thirst and hunger pains, but she had no choice, but to ignore them. Still they bothered her, but what could she do? The blonde girl continued to traverse the tavern of the forest. She must have been at least over an hour traveling when she finally made it to a clearing. There in the middle of it, was a cabin. She could have sworn her heart was about to leap from her chest when she first spotted. Finally, someone to help her. She ran quickly, as she could to the cabin and began to pound at the door. Usually, she would have gave a more polite knocking, but this was different.
"Please!" She cried to the occupants she prayed were inside, "I need help, I've been kidnapped. I'm a noblewoman and if you help me, I can make sure you are rewarded." Of course, in truth she hadn't cent to her, but perhaps when...or if this was sorted out, she could would have more control over her fiances, or get the prince to reward them. Her heart began to pound and a sick feeling built up in her stomach, as there was no answer.
Her heart started to sink and she looked into the windows and saw they were so black with dust that she couldn't even see into the cabin. It then occurred to her that this might be a seasonal hunting cabin, possibly abandoned. She took a big gulp of air and forced herself to calm down. She slowly opened the latch of the door, which opened with a loud creak. Dust flown in her face and she covered her mouth and began coughing from it. She slowly stepped inside of the cabin.
Her suspicion about it being a hunting lodge had been confirmed, inside was the basic necessitates were there; a bed, table, chair, and fireplace. Among the other things there were stuffed heads of animals lining the walls along with a few weapons strolled over the place. Everything was covered in a layer of dust. She took this as a sign that the hunters hadn't been here in at least a year, probably more.
She wondered briefly if there was any food for her to find there, but then she realized that any food there would likely be to rotten to eat, so there was no point in searching for it. However, there was something she could use here. She spotted it a bow and a quiver of arrows. She touched the bowstring to see if it was strong enough and to her gratitude it was.
"Thank you, Artemis." She praised the god, as she put the quiver on her back. Now she had a weapon and something to fight with. Gabrielle knew she couldn't stay in the cabin, it was too obvious of a hideout for Jetson to look. She carefully exited the hunting cabin and then the clearing. She wondered the forest for another hour, or so and by now her hunger pangs were starting to get to her. Gabrielle was beginning to get tempted to hunt an animal for food. But it was a foolish thought, she would have to start a fire to cook it's meat which would just be a signal to her stepmother and Jetson where she was.
She continued her journey when she suddenly heard a snap of a twig. She turned around in the sound of the snap, but saw nothing through the thick thicket, but every instinct in her body was telling her something was wrong. She drew an arrow out and was about to place it on the bow, when it jumped on her, knocking the bow out of her hand.
Gabrielle was on her back, her head reeling as she looked into the eyes of a giant wolf on top of her. It growled in her face and Gabrielle felt her body grew cold as the wolf breathed its hot breathe onto her. The wolf was preparing to bite her, but in that split moment Gabrielle remembered that she had somehow kept the arrow in the other hand. Without thinking she did it.
With all her strength and might she stabbed the wolf in the eye with the arrow.
It gave a howl of pain and Gabrielle used this to push it off it of her as it started to thrash for life, as she got up, all her arrows from the quiver fell out, but she had no mind at the time to go back and retrieve the arrows. She wanted to get away from that thrashing wolf with its sharp claws and teeth.
She watched the beast in it's last throws of its life as the arrow was lodged in its eye and blood pouring out. Gabrielle felt herself sick at her stomach at the sight, taking no pride in killing the wolf. It was the first time she had taken a life. However, she wouldn't have time to mourn, or contemplate it further.
"You damn, bitch." Gabrielle gasp and turned to see Jetson thundering out of the thicket.
"Lassie, I've had her since she was a pup and now you went and killed her. How could a wolf like that loose to a weak little whore like you!" He ranted, and moved toward her, Gabrielle scrambled to her feet. Her quiver was empty and she had no bow. She had no defense.
"I'm going to beat you to a bloody pulp. I don't care if Isodara wants you pretty for the brothel. I'll make you so ugly that not even a drunkard would want your cunt." Gabrielle heart was pounding. No, no, no. Jetson opened his mouth again,
but an arrow head came through it. There was a moment of silence before Jetson was on the ground thrashing like his wolf, she had just freshly killed. Behind him stood a group of soldiers in palace uniform, among them Kianda, alive and standing. In the front however was Adrian with a crossbow. He had obviously shot Jetson's killing blow. Tears started to form in her eyes, and when Jetson finished his final death throws, Gabrielle ran up to the prince and threw her arms around him.
She started to cry into his chest, she felt strong arms surround her small frame.
"It's fine, my songstress. I knew I would find you. A man always finds the woman who holds his heart."