I squinted as I rose to my elbows, my eyes still in shock from the sudden burst of purple light through the carriage window. I grasped for my blanket and hurried to cover my half-naked body. I was still covered in dirt from the hell I had been through the day before, my fingernails deeply caked with mud, my feet a soft shade of black. I would have been lying if I didn’t say I was wishing I would’ve woken up in my own bed, in my own crappy apartment, where I would dress in my boring cloths, to go to my boring job, and back to my own boring life, but it was not to be. With all of the strength in my body, I lifted myself further and gazed out the window. For a moment I took in the vibrant color around me, the vibrant greens, blues and purples. I looked at the fuchsia mist that had settled along the emerald green grass, pouring down the hillside like the smoke you would have found in a haunted house, the kind I had gone to when I was a child. I held the blanket to my chest and stared off in a haze for a moment and took in the landscape; it was beautiful, if hauntingly so.
“Good Morning My dear,” A voice boomed from across the cabin of the carriage.
I jumped back, I had forgotten that I had been sharing the cabin with the king. He looked at me, his long legs crossed, a large grin on his face, his grey eyes glowing with joy. He looked almost giant in the cabin, his head nearly touched the ceiling.
“Um-hey” I muttered, pulling the blanket even closer to me, like a child.
The king was rolling up maps on the wooden table that sat between us. He took a long wooden pen and placed it gently in his cape. The great feast that had been on display was now gone, leaving the table blank aside from the king’s inkwell which spilled black coloring along the sides.
“Did you sleep well, my child?” He asked, his smile long and non-threatening.
“I-I guess,” I said, my head still spinning.
“Well, I had hope so, you were sleeping for nearly two weeks!” He said as he continued to roll up his maps and sort out his papers.
I sat there in absolute shock for a couple seconds. Two weeks? I thought to myself, how could that be, he must be wrong, although his command on English was nearly perfect, two weeks? I couldn’t be true.
“Excuse me,” I said sitting myself upright and crossing my legs as he packed his things.
“Yes my dear?”
“Did you say I have been asleep for two weeks?”
The king nodded, still rolling up his maps.
“Are you sure you don’t mean two hours or two days, even, are you sure you mean weeks, as in fourteen days? I asked, my voice still cracking with slumber.
The king looked up at me through his thick eyebrows, his dirty blond hair slightly in his face, he looked slightly offended by my question.
“Trust me dear, I know what earth weeks are,” He said in an almost condescending tone.
“I just gave you a little elixir that would help you sleep through this most arduous journey. Some of the mountain here can be very strenuous, and this trek itself can be, if I may say, rather boring,” He reached over and placed his massive paw on my bare leg.
“I would never want to bore such beautiful company,” He whispered with a smile, his thumb caressing my bare knee.
He reached for the brass handle of the carriage door and flung it open. The cold wind whipped around my body and nipped at my bare feet, sending eminence of papers the king had left behind flying through the cabin like paper planes. I pulled the blanket up around my face, just exposing my eyes and tucked my feet underneath me.
In one swift motion he grabbed for his knapsack and jumped out of the cabin, onto the dewy ground. He was immediately met by three guards who hurried to take his papers and belongings from him, after a few words, they shuffled off towards the massive castle that stood behind him, the sun rising behind its grey stone.
For a moment I was scared, I didn’t want to be left alone without him, was he leaving me at the hands of the guards? They had almost killed me, what seemed like, only minutes ago. I pleaded in my heart for him not to leave, for him to get back into the cabin. In that instant I had never wanted anyone more in my whole life.
The king spoke some of his langue to the guards as they ran off with his good, looking like trained circus mice underneath a mighty ringleaders’ hand. I sat there, my bare shoulders shaking as the wind tried to blow that blanker off of me. The king waved to his guards, then turned back to carriage. He looked me up and down and smiled, the long scar of his face wrinkled in the sunrise. I sat in anticipation of his words. “Well, my darling,” he said jovially, straightening his belt.
“I’m afraid this is where we must part ways,” I felt my heart sink into the pit of my stomach, was he going to leave me with one of them, or make me walk the grounds of this strange castle by myself, with god-knows-what lurking around every corner.
“Leave, why, why do you need to leave me?” I desperately asked, the words barley making it to the top of my throat. The king walked over to the carriage and placed one boot on the wooden step, he leaned his massive body inside of the cabin and took my hand, his leather glove slipping around my fingers.
“Do not fret my darling,” he cooed, looking up at me through his brows, his grey eyes sparkling in the sunrise.
“We shall meet again soon,” he leaned his head down and kissed my filthy hand, “and when we do, you will be washed and properly dressed the way a lady as yourself should be.” He backed down from the carriage and it bopped up and down underneath his mass.
“But for now, I must leave you in the loyal hands of my carriage man,” He said, gesturing towards the man sitting on top of the carriage. I leaned my head out and looked up at his leather clad face, I nodded at him, he nodded back.
“He will be your guardian to the bathing quarters, there you will be given further instruction as to what your duties will be in my kingdom, but for now, I must bid you goodbye,” He took the carriage door in his hand, “I will see you tonight, my lady.”
He closed the carriage door with a loud slam. I stared out the window as I watched him giving what sounded like further instructions to the carriage man. He then turned toward the window and blew me a kiss.
A shiver ran down my spine. I lifted my hand and blew one back to him and smiled, a great fake smile, one that made me die a little on the inside as it pulled at my cheeks.
The carriage man yelled as he whipped his reigns. The great white horses whinnied as the carriage lurched forward with a clash and bang. I watched the king walking towards the castle, his cape waving in the wind behind him, as we rode off into the distance, rounding the large stone building and going underneath a large covered bridge. I sat back and watched as the sun danced in the mist and fog, the great green mountains towering above us like giants. The carriage rocked and swayed as we crossed over the bridge and into what looked like a large courtyard. The cobblestone of the ground matching the same grey as the castle itself. There was a large fountain sat in the middle of the courtyard that sprayed water, grandly in every direction.
For a moment I found that I was not frightened. Had I been afraid of the guards? Yes. Had I been terrified when I was whisked away from the prince? Yes. Did everything that I thought I knew about life stand on the presuppose of absolute destruction? Absolutely.
I shook my head furiously and tried to get those vile thoughts out of my head. I hated this place. This was not my home! I thought to myself as I settled deeper into my velvet blanket, pulling the soft edges around my face. I felt the guard jump down from the top of the carriage and land on the stone with a large thud, shaking the carriage. I looked through the window and watched as he was quickly approached by two other guards. They seemed to exchange words for a second, then the carriage guard pointed inside of the cabin at me. The two other guards gathered around the carriage and peered through the window, examining me. I crouched down and pulled the blanked tightly around my entire body, only revealing my eyes, in case they had any ideas in mind. Their head tilted like confused dogs as they leered at me, their breath fo
gging up the window. I felt like one of those animals at the zoo, or one of those poor creatures that humans had experimented on in labs. I now knew how they felt, how it felt to be examined, and gawked at like a freak.
After what had felt like an eternity, the guards jumped down from the carriage and began talking again. I breathed a sigh of relief as I kept a close eye on them. What did they see me as? I wondered. Was I just some freak to them? Some kind of mad experiment? They looked at me as if I were a bug that needed to be squashed immediately. It was in that moment that I swore, that even if it cost me my life, that I would find my way home, my way back to my earth, my way out of the Azure.
Chapter 2
Eva
“OUCH, MOTHERFUCKER!!,” I screamed, my voice echoed off of the chamber walls and into the courtyard.
My guard jumped back, throwing his hands up in the air in defense, dropping the bloody washrag he had been using to clean up my head wound.
“I-I sorry,” He stuttered, his grey eyes darting back and forth in confusion behind his leather mask as he shuffled clumsily around the small room looking for the bowl of warm water. I reached my fingers up to the gash in my head and traced my fingers along the open wound. I lowered my hand and looked at my fingers; covered in blood.
“Fucking bitch,” I mumbled to myself, wiping the blood off on my black dress. My head was still throbbing and at that moment I had zero tolerance for anything, including my clumsy guard.
“What?” The guard asked as he dipped the washrag in a bowl of warm water, his massive hands almost trembling from my sudden outburst. “Oh, nothing,” I groaned, almost too dazed to explain what the word ‘bitch’ meant to the stupid brute. He sat back down beside me and lifted my head with his leather hand. He caressed my face softly with his knuckles before lifting the warm wet wash rag to my head again, cleaning out my wound as gently as he could. He dabbed and wiped as softly as he could, his eyes looking puzzled behind his mask. He concentrated deeply as he meticulously dipped the rag in water and wiped away the dried blood from my head. I couldn’t help but feel for him in that moment, watching how careful he was being with me, watching his great paws almost tremble every time he went to wipe my wound, as if he were scared he was going to break me. It was a side I had not yet seen in these creatures yes, a softer side. Yet I knew that a softer side was not what I needed to keep myself safe in the Azure. This guard would only serve as my stepping stone. I would let him care for me, and I would reciprocate his actions, but only for as long as it served my needs. In this land I knew I had to watch out for myself and myself only, regardless of how kind one of these creatures were. I watched his hand move across my face and felt the warmth of the wet towel. My eyes began to grow heavy and my mind weak from my aching head wound and the long night that I had with my guard.
After my brief and violent encounter with the queen, I had been escorted by my guard to my ‘quarters’. We had walked the long way through the castle, taking in the stars and moonlight that poured through the massive windows. We had walked arm in arm for what seemed like hours, or it did with the way my head had been throbbing from the blow I had taken from the so-called ‘queen’. My guard lead me down a long flight of stairs and out two towering wooden doors which lead into a cobblestone courtyard. The massive walls of the castle surrounded us, the sound of the water in the moat slowly splashing back and forth. There was a massive fountain which sat in the middle of the courtyard, spraying streams of water in every which direction. Behind us stood the castle, large and imposing, it almost seemed to have its own character, a life of its own.
He had walked me over to a small, round stone building with a hay roof that lay just beside the courtyard. We had walked in silence the entire way, the only sound we made was the echoing of our feet in the emptiness of the castle. He loosened his grip from my waist and walked ahead of me towards the round building. He opened the small wooden door and motioned for me to step inside.
“The inside looked much like what I had always pictured what some medieval peasants would have lived in; Two small bed sat adjacent to one another on either side of the room, their frames wooden the mattresses covered with heavy blankets, a small fireplace sat at the front of the room with a small, black pot hanging over the fire, a small wooden desk sat near the door, a small pump sat in the corner of the room, which I assumed was for water and two square windows which sat on either side of the door.
I had tried to not show my disappointment when I entered the small house. It was cozy enough, but from the way this guard and the king had been treating me, I was expecting something a little bit more elegant. My disappointment grew even stronger when I stepped inside and noticed that the house had only dirt floors. The musty smell of the place filled up my nostrils, almost seeming like it was going to choke me. I had been hoping that this was some kind of cruel joke, or that the guard was showing me where I could find the slave girls if I needed them. He reached behind me and closed the door behind us, then walked across the dirt floor, dust flying up into the air behind him, and sat himself down on one of the small beds. His body looked almost comically big in comparison to the size of the mattress. He patted his hand against the heavy blankets, motioning me to have a seat at his side. I felt my heart sink into the pit of my stomach, that all too familiar feeling of disappointment filling my body.
This is where he expects me to live, I thought to myself and nearly hung my head. I looked around the room and examined the amount of dust there was on everything, the amount of soot in the fireplace, the dirty sheets. If I wanted to get into a better place than this, I was going to have to work for it, I thought as I ran my fingers along the edge of the windowsill, leaving a line in the dust that had settled.
The guard patted the side of the bed again, his eyes looking at me expectantly. With every muscle in my body I pulled my lips up to my ears, faking a smile and trying to hide my utter disappointment. In a moment of desperation, I tried to hide my disappointment. I jumped turning to him and clapped my hands together, like I had seen the princesses do in all of those movies as a child.
“Oh darling, it’s wonderful!” I exclaimed, trying to make my eyes dance with amazement.
The guards head perked up and I could see him smiling through his mask. He leaned back on the bed, obviously pleased with himself.
“You like it? I cleaned it out for you, this will be where you will live,” He said crossing his legs, full of pride. Cleaned it out? I thought to myself, we really to come from different planets.
He reached his long arms out for me and I walked towards him. He put his hands around my waist and pulled me into him, resting his large head against my breasts. I stroked his head leather clad head with my hands and I felt his breathing soften. He slid his hands from the small of my back, up to my shoulder blades, caressing the soft flesh underneath them. He lifted his head and looked into my eyes as he worked his hands in a circular motion along my spine. He gazed into my eyes for what seemed like an eternity, like he was looking for an answer beyond my eyes. I lifted my hands to his face and reached around the back of his head, I could feel the small zipper that held his mask closed and began to pull it down.
“NO!” He shouted, grabbing at my hands and holding them tightly, hurting my fingers. He stood up suddenly and threw down my arms to my side and trudged to the other side of the room. He reached around the back of his head and zipped his mask back up. He felt around the back of his head, checking every inch, seeing if any part of him had become exposed. He stood by the window, touching the back of his skull over and over again, staring out the window, his chest moving up and down at a rapid pace. It seemed as though I had scared him, as if he had been afraid to reveal himself to me.
Had I offended him? I thought to myself. I could not bear falling out of his good graces, I knew if I were to get on his bad side, that I would also lose the king, then I may as well consider myself one of those slave girls; a fate worse than death. I approached him slowly, not wanting to frighten or offen
d him any further. With caution I reached my hand up and touched his shoulder. He whipped around and grabbed my hand, and stared down at me, his soft eyes now menacing and benevolent. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t know, I was just trying to- ““SILENCE!!” He screamed, his voice nearly breaking my eardrums. I jumped back and tripped over my own feet, falling onto the dirt floor, knocking the wind out of myself. I laid there for a second in a haze, my fresh head wound began pounding again as I began to see stars in front of my eyes. I felt his heavy footsteps rush across the room and felt his hands slide under my back, picking me up and placing me on the bed. I fell backwards against the hard mattress, and held my head as I tried to regain my composure. I felt his hand take mine as he lifted me off of my back and sat me upright. He wrapped his large arms around me, I could feel him slightly shaking as he knelt on the ground at my feet holding me tight enough to make my breathing almost impossible.
“Sorry-I’m sorry,” He grunted as he squeezed me even tighter, making it feel as though he was going to rupture one of my organs. “It’s OK, It’s OK,” I whispered breathlessly, just trying to loosen his grip. He let go of his grasp and sat back and looked at me, for a moment I could have sworn I saw tears in his eyes. “You must never,” He began, putting his hands on my knees, “Never remove my mask.” He moved his hands up to my thighs and squeezed. “To remove the mask is punishable by dying, only royalty can remove the mask, the rest of us are to remain faceless, only the royals have the right to have a face, the rest of us are only warriors.” He dipped his head down. He said in almost a defeated tone.
I took his face in my hands and lifted it to mine, stroking the sides of his cheeks.
“I am just so lucky that the King has allowed me to have one like you, he usually keeps all of the females for himself, but you he has allowed me to keep for myself,” He put his paws on my chest and caressed my clavicle.
Into the Azure: A Fantasy Bad Boy Romance Page 7