Anne Of … The Beast?

Chapter 2 – And This is Where the Nightmare Begins

Aarbron held Anne as he made his escape. She held onto him tightly. It only took about an hour, but to Anne, it felt like eternity.

She was overwhelmed, by a very powerful mix of emotions. And she ensured that Aarbron would know about that, and about the circumstances that led to her even being in this world in the first place.

"The powers of Maletoth and Zelek have sometimes caused accidental bridges to other worlds, when used," said Aarbron. There was something very unusual about his voice, decided Anne, but then again, he didn't exactly have a normal mouth.

"Do you know how to get me home?"

"I'm not a mage," sighed Aarbron, "I wouldn't know where to look. You may be stuck here FOREVER!"

She went momentarily silent. Tears poured down her face. "So, I'll never see Marilla or Matthew or Diana again! And I'll never finish school. NO! WHY?"

"Anne," began Aarbron.

"I was an orphan, an ORPHAN, and I had one tragedy after another. I was going to finally have a true family. But then this happens. Marilla didn't want me, at first, because I wasn't a boy. And now the world itself doesn't want me. The Lake itself swallowed me and dropped me here! Where am I to go? I'd sleep in an apple tree, but I can't find any here. None of them look good for sleeping in! Where will I live, where will I go to school? I'm not a wild animal, this is hopeless, HOPELESS!" She cried profusely.

"Anne. I will watch you."

"But why? You worked for that head, but then you saved me. I don't understand it. But I don't understand most things about where I am."

"I will protect you. We are now both marked by Maletoth."

"Why did you save me?"

"Killing that last man broke a curse. I was unthinking, I lived only to serve Maletoth. But when I killed him, I…found out who I am. I found out that I was once human, like him. But sadly, I found out he was my father. I must live with this, and with all the innocent people I killed in the name of the Beast Lord, for the rest of my life. I do not wish this on anybody."

"Your name is Aarbron?" asked Anne. "It's such a pretty name, if it is."

"Yes, that is who I am. Had I not saved you, you would have been carried off by the Beast Mage Zelek, to be turned into a Beast Messenger yourself. And it would have been worse."

"Worse?"

"I became who I was through the old method. Since then, Zelek has acquired a strange artifact from a distant world, the Looking Glass. I witnessed it used."

"Looking glass? What a sweet name for something that shouldn't exist."

"It shouldn't, but it does. You seem to be very good at knowing what should be, but you must know what is. And what is, is I must help you. If it's the only good that I can do after countless evil, I will be happy." He looked at her freckled skin, and her red hair. "If it is the only beautiful thing this ugly monster can do, I will be happy."

"I'm also ugly. I have red hair and freckles on my skin. I don't have beautiful black hair or smooth skin like Diana."

"NO, you are beautiful. I AM THE UGLIEST ONE HERE!"

"But how can someone so ugly…save me?"

"I did." She stood up, and looked around. "Yes, I know where to find food, and a safe place for tonight. Take my hand."

She reached her hand out, and it was grasped by Aarbron's. "We will have to go to where Maletoth's influence is not as great, to at least have a fighting chance in this world. I don't know what to do. I never had a daughter before."

"Neither did Matthew nor Marilla, but they knew what to do."

"They were your people. Nobody even dresses like you over here, Anne."

"Do they have dresses with puffy sleeves though?"

"I know so little about you, or where you come from, even though you've already told me so much! Sadly, I don't think I have seen a puffy sleeve, if it is what I think it is. But we have to find our food and our room for tonight."

"Where?"

"I know of a place, a short distance from here." They were now walking. She momentarily contemplated running away, but she, even with her great imagination, could not imagine where to go. This definitely wasn't Prince Edward Island. It wasn't anywhere close. They came closer to a forest. These trees had flowers on them, almost like they were wearing crowns, but they also had thorns on their branches, making them look a bit intimidating.

"These trees look…angry," said Anne. "Like they do not want us coming in."

"They're lucky they can't do anything about it. Otherwise, I would attack them."

"Are we almost where we are going?"

"Yes, Anne. There it is." He pointed. Anne could make out a stone wall, and a thatched roof, with a cracked chimney. "I don't know who lived here, but it's been abandoned as long as I've known. At least two years."

"So, nobody will come?"

"No, but when we go in, you'll have to help me move the shelves and wood, the lock on this door doesn't work."

"It must be dreadfully embarrassing to not have a proper lock."

"Once we are ready to eat, we will secure the door." Aarbron let Anne enter the place first. It was rather dark, other than light coming in through windows. "There's fruit on the nearby trees, and I can find us some small meat to eat."

"But I probably eat different food than you do."

"I was once a human like you. I know what you eat. And I know your meat must be cooked. I will protect you, even from uncooked meat."

"I still cannot believe this, when we barely know each other."

"Had you not been here, I would have only thought of killing Maletoth. Never before had I known anything other than killing and total obedience. It is nice to have someone to protect."

"It's nice to be…protected." Then she started crying. "I don't mean any disrespect, Mr. Mon…I mean, Aarbron, but now I am reminded of my family. They must be worried beyond anything anyone can imagine. And I have no way of getting home."

"Neither do I," said Aarbron, "where I'm from no longer exists. I have no family. Right now, Anne, we are all that we have. You may be able to imagine me as something other than a monster, but few others could. Now we have to ensure that we can eat and rest. We're going far tomorrow."

"Where?"

"Out of the realm of Maletoth. We want to be safer. When we get up tomorrow, we leave."

The two explored the house. Thankfully, there was already wood available, kept on a couple of shelves in a corner. Anne Aarbron carried them, and Anne looked for a match. "Is there a match here? A torch? Anything to start a fire?"

"A striker," said Aarbron.

"A what?"

He pointed to a strange device. It looked like a metal handle, with a crank near one end, and what looked like a couple of wheels at the other. She took it and looked at it. "Crank the burner wheels." He pointed to the handle. She turned it; it went around. "Faster."

She did, although it resisted. She heard popping noises, and dropped it as she saw bright sparks. "Oh, I'm frightfully sorry. I feel like I am some kind of princess who wandered upon the secrets of faeries." She picked it up again. "As though this were my wand, blessed with the power of fire."

"You put the wheels near the wood in the fireplace to light them."

"Oh, I was just imagining what wonders this striker can do, it would be ever so fun, and much better than using matches, or a torch."

"Please imagine us being warmer, and having more light."

Anne complied, and lit the fire in the fireplace. "I can light more fire, and make this place cheerier…"

"Do not," said Aarbron.

"But why?"

"If there's too much light, it will give us away. We can't be seen while we're asleep."

"But shouldn't we leave this house cheerier than when we came here?"

"We want to be able to leave. I used to follow Maletoth. I know what his minions can do, Anne." He wandered around, found some cupboards, and opened them. He put a couple of plates on a table. "Now, please wait while I get our dinner." He went out.

Anne went to the windows. Through one, she saw a bat fly by. She went to the other side. The other side of the house was very dark. She bumped on something. A wind blew outside. She heard an unearthly shriek. She resisted her urge to run away, or scream herself.

Maybe some animals talk by screaming here. That would make sense, she told herself. If anything can make sense here. She went from being a typical rural schoolgirl to being on this adventure, involuntarily. And then she thought she did tend to use big words, like rural and involuntarily. She debated whether or not she should try to properly set the table and somehow help out. Then she realized she had no idea what was edible here, or where the kitchen was, if they had a proper "kitchen," or if they just prepared food in one corner of, say, the parlor. While the house did seem a bit familiar, it was still not quite right. She noticed it had a staircase. But unlike the ones at Green Gables, this one was more crudely made, with the steps more resembling simple planks of wood, and there wasn't even a banister. Much of the wall seemed to be rough stone or wood, and no apparent paint or wallpaper. Once again, her mind wandered, to how she'd redecorate the place if she owned this house. She thought about going upstairs, and seeing if this house also had an East Gable, to claim as her bedroom. But it was very dark upstairs. She started wondering about sleeping arrangements. Due to the manner in which she came here, she didn't have what she'd normally bring for spending the night elsewhere. She had neither a nightgown nor a change of clothing.

She found that worrying about such otherwise inane details helped her cope. She didn't like to entertain the possibility, which was becoming more and more probability, that she might never see Marilla and Matthew, nor Diana, nor anyone else she knew ever again. She even missed Gilbert Blythe, as annoying as he was.

She would have given anything to even send letters home, but she was wondering how she'd explain everything she saw. Including Aarbron, who was a man, yet…not a man. And he dressed very unusually, it looked like he just had a rag wrapped around him, a cloth around his loins. Not even a shirt!

And then there was witnessing a killing, and all the monsters who wanted her.

She had to control herself, she was starting to sweat. She shook uncomfortably, and collapsed onto the floor. She cried profusely. There was no hope, no hope at all. There were ways around to reach Diana back when she was told by her mother to stay away, due to the Currant Wine incident. But now there were no ways around.

"Anne?" she heard a voice ask. Or thought she did. She staired up the staircase, hoping that somehow, the darkness might suddenly end in light, and if she went up it, she'd emerge through a cellar door back in Avonlea, and immediately run home. "Anne!" said the voice again, as she just sat there. "ANNE!" She turned around. Aarbron was there, with several small creatures, impaled on skewers. "We have to eat. Are you alright?"

"No, I am not, I am in the deepest depths of despair. I am in a nightmare, and I cannot wake up, none of us can. NONE OF US CAN!" She cried.

"I don't even know how you ended up here. It was from my former lord's magic, it's done it before, but I'm not one who knows of magic. I'm just a beast messenger. Like you, my home is lost. But I don't even remember any of it. The Beast Lord made me forget who I was. So that I would be more loyal to him."

"Does that mean we are both lost?"

"Yes, we are lost together. So, we best stay together, Anne."

He put the meat, and a few vegetables, onto a plate that was placed over the fire. When he was satisfied it was cooked, he put it on the table.

Anne was surprised that there were knives, but not proper forks. "How are we supposed to eat without cutlery?" asked Anne. "I see knives but know forks or spoons."

"These are foods that are eaten with hands here."

"Eat meat with hands? Marilla would call me wicked and ill mannered, and she would be right, not to mention that there isn't anything to wipe my hands with and I would get it all over my dress, back in Avonlea even pigs aren't as ill-mannered as that."

Abaron grabbed a couple of pieces of cloth, and passed one to Anne. "Forgive me, it's been so long since I've properly eaten with someone like this. And usually, I just wipe my hands on rocks or trees. I don't even have much clothing to wipe my hands on. What you see on me is all that I wear."

"Doesn't it get cold in that?" she asked.

"Does it ever get too hot in what you wear?"

\ "Occasionally, but I must be properly dressed. But I do wish my dress had puffy sleeves."

"I do not worry how you're dressed, but finding those sleeves will be difficult." He thought for a moment. "But there may be such a dress at another place I know."

"Another place?" Anne asked. "What do you mean?"

"Part of the route we will go will take us to an abandoned palace. There were several princesses there who were around your age now. Like this house, nobody lives there. The family had to flee; their clothing is likely still there."

"Were any of them named Cordelia?"

"No." Aarbron thought for a minute. "Or not as far as I know. I didn't normally get names, my job was the one I wish I could have left earlier, executioner for Maletoth."

The two ate. Anne quite liked the food. She just hoped it was edible, but was pleasantly surprised. But there was no way she could pronounce the name that Aarbron told her for the meat, so she just thought of it as "that meat," and even told him so.

"You will get used to it. You will have to. Be thankful that the worst change you ever had was the green hair dye. I could not wash off this beastly form even if I used the strongest soap. What I have done, I cannot wash out either." Silence descended over Anne. Thinking about it, that it couldn't just be washed off. His beastness was most likely permanent. Still, there was something intriguing about it, romantic even. Sounded like something from the stories that she and Diana used to come up with. Except here it was in the flesh, not some story.

Cleaning up afterward was much more difficult. A pair of pots were filled with water, and heated. This hot water was used for washing their dishes outside. The sky was an eerie faint red, as if the sun was struggling to remain, despite already having lost to the shroud of darkness. It also seemed to get rather hot early in the night.

"Anne, we need to sleep soon. We don't want to be outside this late at night if we don't have to. In Kara-Moon, even if Maletoth wasn't here, the wildlife is dangerous."

"Lions? Tigers? Bears?"

"No, animals that are much more dangerous. There are even dangerous plants that bloom at night. There's this house here, we have to spend the night." They went back in. Then they went about barricading the door, as the lock was still lacking in its ability to actually lock the door. "The best place to sleep is upstairs." She looked up.

"Up…stairs?" She stood there for a moment. The same stairs that made her worry while Aarbron was out finding dinner.

"Anne Shirley, did those stairs frighten you?" he asked. "When you fell onto the floor and cried."

"No," said Anne. "It was not the stairs. It's where I am. Why can't I go home?"

"For the same reason that I cannot become the young man I am supposed to be." She turned silent, and numb. Aarbron had a lit candle. "Come up with me, please." She silently followed him. The house didn't look so bleak with the light, and even the staircase was pleasant. "This house also has an East Gable." He led her through a short passageway, and up a few more steps, into a rather large room, but one with a noticeable slope in the ceiling. She also noticed a distinct lack of beds.

"Aarbron?" asked Anne.

"Yes."

"Where are we supposed to sleep? I don't see any beds here."

"There are rough beds in the closets."

"Rough beds?"

Aarbron opened a closet, and pulled out something that looked like an oversized leather pouch, and lay it at one corner of the room. There was also a couple of sheets and a layer of feathers. These were used for covering it. Anne pulled out a similar pouch, and covered it as best she could the way she saw Aarbron do.

They looked around. The layout of the room itself did remind her of the East Gable she remembered. He was right.

"We must not sleep directly in front of the window," he warned, "because Maletoth's forces could see. Some of them are flying. And there are dangerous animals here as well."

They decided they would lie in corners opposite sides of the window.

"Is there any clothing here?" asked Anne. "I didn't have a chance to pack a change of clothing for tomorrow, or even a nightgown."

"Right now, there is no choice. You may want to shed your clothing under the cover, and put it back on when you arise. I will put out our candle once you are safely in bed. You lie between the two sheets, with the feathers on top of you." Anne did as she was advised. Under the covers, she shed her dress and stockings, but kept on her underdress and bloomers. Once Aarbron was also in his bed, he blew out the candle.

Anne lay awake, weeping, as faint light, now purple, filtered into the room. Worse than the time Diana was withheld from her because she inadvertently given her currant wine. About as bad as the time that she was told she wasn't wanted, when she first arrived at Green Gables. And all the outside sounds were just so weird. She tried to imagine what was making the noises. Were the animals mostly familiar, just bigger, smaller, or a different color? Or was it something beyond all imagination?

So here's my second chapter. Not sure how things will continue, but I think it will probably alternate between more actiony chapters, and more dialogue and emotion heavy chapters. These are dangerous times, in a dangerous place. Still not sure what direction this will go.