James and the Changing Red

by J W Cotter

  The Third Forest:

  Journey of the Sisters Red

  The sun was slowly creeping up over the charred trees that surrounded most of the castle of Kingsbirth. They hadn’t grown in centuries yet they hadn’t withered either, it was if they remained exactly the same way when the last of the fires burned out all those years ago. Unfortunately the city was the same, hundreds of homes, businesses, schools and sadly people put to the torch in the war and most of them were still in the exact same place, blackened, wilted and cautioning. Although the sun was indeed rising, darkness never truly fell over the forest as the second sun, part of a curse, never left the sky and kept the moon diminished.

  Scorched leaves rustled as feet rushed over them along the broken remains of the castle’s outer wall. Dressed in a flowing red robe with a hood hiding their face they headed east toward the small gate that once served as the common people’s entry to the castle. The gate had long been torn down and its metal was melted for better uses, weapons, and inside by the long abandoned stables were a group of people, a few horses and two carriages. As the red figure passed under the falling arch a dog barked and all eyes turned.

  “My Lady” a voice said as he bowed his head, others following suit with one younger individual going so far as to kneel in what was sadly the droppings of one of the horses. The only one not to bow was the man by one of the carriages. He was staring intently at it, his eyes fixed on whatever was inside. The woman made her way to the man and going on the tips of her toes covered his eyes with her hands.

  “Guess who?” she whispered in his ear. He inhaled her hands and reaching his around grabbed her backside.

  “Precious Cerise, you’ve come to bid me farewell” Freeing himself from her hands and taking them in his he moved her away from the carriage, not before she caught a glimpse of what was inside. At least six people were chained inside the carriage like animals.

  “Do you think you have enough?”

  “Of course I do, there are two carriages, and if they do not suffice, I do have a couple of companions I’m not overly fond of” he whispered in her ear.

  “The Lady Cerise has kindly come to bid us farewell on our adventure, so let’s not disappoint her, mount up gentleman we leave now” His voice was hard and dripping with authority, while his body could almost be described the same. Tall, over six feet and with broad shoulders it was no wonder he had little difficultly in stretching his arms backwards to embrace Cerise. She on the other hand was taller than most women but not as tall as him, her curves were envious and her red hair was more like blood than fire. Her remarkably pale face housed not one freckle nor blemish and radiant blue eyes that watched everything. They saw some men quickly mount their horses while less fortunate ones prepared for a seemingly long journey on foot. Minutes after her arrival the men were ready to leave and the first carriage had already shuddered through the gate, the horses pulling it slowly. Suddenly Cerise was lifted from the muck and sat upon a gorgeous black stallion that he was riding.

  “My journey is only half of the adventure; you and your sisters must go as well”

  “We will as soon as Coque says so, only she knows when to leave”

  “I pray that the gods are with us” Both of them laughed heartedly at that little statement, their giggles reaching the beyond the charred trees into the quiet forest.

  “As soon as she sees it, we will be on our way and the next time I see you we will be marching on Pastorious with an undefeatable army” He looked at her and smiled, two of his teeth were missing but his smile was still handsome.

  “Till then my love” and he kissed her lips. His kiss was cold, not winter cold but death cold. She slid off the horse and as she turned she watched him gallop out the gate after his companions.

  “Goodbye my Prince” she called as she pulled up her large hood once more and entered the castle. Most of the roofs over the great castle had long fallen in, rotted and black. The walls stayed standing, some crumbling slightly and all of them black but still able to withstand the strong winds and provide some shelter. Luckily the people torching the castle never knew that there were numerous secret chambers throughout the premises, some accessible through underground tunnels, others found by narrow passages behind fireplaces. One such passageway led to a flight of stairs where at the top rested an apartment unfazed by the fire and complete with its own almost floating garden. The narrow staircase was completely free of light and so she climbed in the darkness counting as she went like always. She had climbed these steps thousands of times since she learned to walk and now finally she was soon going to learn what lay beyond the forest for soon she was going to leave Kingsbirth on an adventure he said destiny placed on her shoulders.

  “Ninety-five” she whispered and she pulled up her skirt and continued upwards. Her mother had always told her to count the steps, to know exactly how many were there so she knew exactly where she was at all times. “One hundred and seventy-four” she sighed as she leaned against the wall for a few seconds. When she was a child she could take the steps two at a time and not stop till she reached the top but she was no longer a child and her legs no longer bounded. Taking off her large coat she continued on for one final press to the top. “Two-hundred and fifty-four, two hundred and fifty-five, two hundred and fifty-six, two hundred and fifty-seven” she smiled as she reached the landing. A large black door greeted her at the top and she slowly pushed it open, it was heavy, very heavy and it normally took her a few moments to gather the momentum to push it open, especially after counting all those steps.

  Inside the darkness was almost as bad as the narrow staircase what with only a few slits in the walls to act as windows. She threw her coat on top of a small table that rested by the door and made her way to the centre of the apartment taking care to avoid the heat of the fire as her cheeks were still flushed from the climb. Soft giggling caught her attention and she made her way to a small corner by a hallway where a backless couch and three chairs formed a circle.

  “Carmine” she said looking down on the floor to a young girl no more than fifteen. Dressed in a faded white dress with her blonde hair in a tight plait she shook with fright when she eyed her sister.

  “What are you hiding?” Cerise asked as she moved one of the chairs and stepped closer to her younger sister who promptly put her hands behind her back. Not being the patient kind, especially when it came to her siblings, Cerise grabbed hold of the plait with one hand and yanked it forwards while she grabbed the little ball of fur with the other.

  “Stop Cerise, that’s mine” Carmine cried as Cerise took the small grey cat and hurried away.

  “I told you, no cats! And no badgers, no squirrels, no hedgehogs no matter how cute they look, no!” Cerise snapped. Carmine sobbed as her older sister patted the kitten’s head and nuzzled it against her own face.

  “Did you name this one?” she asked as looked in the small innocent eyes. Carmine shook her head.

  “You lie little sister, but no matter” Cerise smiled and walked down the hallway to where light was streaming in from an opening in a wall. Carmine followed wearingly. “How long has she been out there?” Three steps led down from the gap in the wall to a little pathway across a broken roof to the walled garden. It was a simple garden, not much grew there apart from a few herbs and spices and on the rare occasion a few vegetables might sprout from the raised soil. Large stones, ones that had fallen from crumbing towers provided both shelter and seats and a little pond had formed in a crater that one of the stones had created. How the water hadn’t seeped down through the concrete to the floor below was anyone’s guess. On the edge of the wall with their back to the apartment was another girl, her hair black as the door and dancing in the wind.

  “Did you hear me little sister? I asked you a question” But it was no good, the younger one clearly wasn’t going to respond to her sister. The patience that Cerise was lacking often prevailed over her emotions and as she
smiled at her sister she held the kitten out the gap. It was long way down to the ground and Cerise was pretty certain that this little feline would not land so nicely on his feet. The cries from the kitten were carried on the wind and Carmine started to cry.

  “Only you can stop this, how long has she been out there?” The question was posed again, but if Cerise’s downfall was her severe lack of patience, then Carmine’s was her stubbornness, although a lot of that could be contributed to her young years. Crying and shaking in tears she partly turned away from her older sister and folded her arms.

  “Fine, have it your way! Goodbye little kitten” she said. The cat didn’t make a sound, not when Cerise let go or when it finally hit the ground far below. Carmine on the other hand screamed loudly like as if she had been thrown from the castle to her death. Her face went red with anger and her hands began to tremble and with her eyes closed tears still managed to fall. “That’s it Carmine, get angry embrace the rage” Cerise commanded as she took her sister by the shoulders and squeezed. Carmine broke her hold and in a split second raised her hand and slapped Cerise’s cheek, the sound echoed along the apartment. Cerise smiled, a trickle of blood dripped from where a fingernail had caught her cheek. Carmine was still crying, her face was still red and her hands were still shaking, however it was more the result now of fear than anger. Cerise’s smiles were dangerous; they hid the mostly deathly of intentions. Suddenly the roars of thunder filled the castle and rung out all across Kingsbirth. Bolts of lighting darted through the sky and some even hit the ground, one igniting a tree that had already felt the lick of a fire. “Is this you? Are you doing this?” Cerise demanded of her sister. She shook her head and quickly ran away as the clouds darkened above plunging the entire castle in to an almost night like state. Winds soon kicked up outside and their force were felt within the living quarters as anything that wasn’t nailed to the floor or the wall started to move. Sheets of rain lashed against Cerise’s face and her attention was drawn once more to a sister, the middle one. She was now standing in the centre of the garden, nodding with her arms outstretched. Then almost as soon as the erratic weather appeared it was gone and Coque rushed from the garden almost slipping on the narrow path and plunging to her death. Cerise grabbed hold of her by her shoulders and embraced her.

  “You could have slipped and died, you have to take caution dear sister” Cerise smiled as she parted the wet hair from Coque’s face.

  “I do not die today” she replied beginning to shiver. Breaking free from the elder sibling Coque made her way to the living area and glanced in the corner where Carmine had been happily playing with her kitten.

  “Where is she?” she asked and not in a gentle way.

  “I don’t know, you’re the psychic!” her sister sniggered. Coque shook her head, took a large blanket from a chair and went to the window. Glancing out at the clearing clouds she took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

  “Get ready, we leave immediately” she said turning back to her sister.

  “Truly? Rufous has only left!” Cerise replied, almost in a timid girlish fashion.

  “The weather hasn’t lied to me yet. Prepare the horses and I’ll find Carmine” she said as she walked towards her sister.

  “And by the way, killing her kitten, that’s despicable even for you” she added before disappearing behind a door and banging it shut. Cerise did as she was told. Even though she was the oldest of the three sisters, she was far from the one in charge, that job seemed to have fallen to the middle sister, the favourite. Their mother always favoured Coque and Carmine over her, she always knew and deep down she didn’t care. While she plotted and schemed her sisters helped their mother cook and sew and sing stupid songs. The stables like almost everything else were burnt and charred yet they still housed horses, barely. There were holes in the roof, the walls and even the floor had a few death traps that were covered with red cloth to warn. Four horses were tied in the stable, one for each of them and one to carry the absolute bare necessities. Two worn saddles were thrown in the corner and there were all that were left. The others had cleaned the place out and Cerise had hoped that she would have a couple of weeks to sneak into Brothersblade to purchase some new ones. They would have to do and she secured them to the horses while she loaded blankets on the third and blinkers on the fourth. Stepping back from the head of the fourth horse he got a little spooked and reared its head causing Cerise to stumble backwards and land in the most unfortunate of stable hazards, excrement.

  “Stupid horses, stupid Coque, just because she can see the future means she can boss me around!” she cursed aloud as she got to her feet.

  “Well if it wasn’t for stupid little me you wouldn’t know when to journey to aid your beloved” Coque snarled. She had found Carmine who was still a little red around the eyes from crying and both of them were dressed in dowdy brown robes with large hoods.

  “Little you, they’re cows smaller than you!” Cerise was tempted to say it aloud but there was a long journey ahead and there was already tension in the air. The three quickly mounted and Cerise was left with the saddle less horse and had the fourth one attached to her so her journey was going to be the longest. Coque and Carmine were in front, abreast, conversing softly as Cerise followed; her blue eyes narrow and focused. As she slowly followed her sisters out through the narrow gap in the wall she turned her head upward and there upon the wall staring down was the kitten. It hissed and scratched at the air.

 

  Chapter 8ight:

  Champagne and a Leach