Downfall

Red sand sifted through my bony white fingers, the touch of the sand was equal to red hot fire. The small grains of sand splayed through her palm. I leaned forward and studied them, looking to see if they matched the terrible bright red of her fathers blood. Freya shook her head, but the fresh memories wouldn’t release her.

I sat down, my silky golden rimmed dress rustled as it fell to accompany me on the seat next to my father. He stared down at me, but his gaze never turned unfriendly or cruel, but rather stayed confident and kind. “Freya, I am planning to go to the full moon festival as you know, perhaps meet some other lords there, make some alliances of course, all for the sake of our small number of people” her father picked up a golden goblet, adorned with sapphires.

“I was hoping you would come with me, I mean, nothing wrong with a little bit of adventure hm?” He said, sipping from the goblet, revealing his famous smile.

I sat down on the red sand, my head dropping with shame. I could of done better to warn him, I shouldn’t of frozen up. Not for the first time, I found myself wishing I was braver, stronger and smarter.

If she had been braver, she wouldn’t be here now, mourning her late father and hopelessly roaming a desert that only promised death and starvation.

I shuffled along the top of a dune, it was freezing now. The cold held me captive, the night pressing down on me, the stars my only hope. I pulled my jacket closer, attempting to thieve whatever warmth I could from the jacket. The nights cold wind wrapped around me and tore at me, applying knots into my black hair.

I lifted my foot to shuffle forward again, only to find myself knocked on my back. I wheezed, the air coming and going in short bursts.

“Stay, little girl” a gruff voice said, a knee was propped on my chest, stopping me from moving around, a sharp silver blade glinted in the darkness, tilting towards her face.

“Stop! Stop please!” I screamed, a large hand clamped down on my mouth, preventing the sound.

I cried out again, then bit at the man’s soft flesh on his hand, making him pull back and cradle his hand. The knife nowhere in sight. I kicked at the man, managing to make him fall off of me. I turned and scrambled around, looking for the silver blade only to find it back in the man’s hand, poised to kill.

I tried to back away from the assassin, the sand grasping at my boots. The man crept towards me, “Lady, you don’t know how long I have been waiting for this bloody downfall, this land, it will be mine, all mine!” He said, his teeth gnashing together, a horrible brown.

I screamed and stumbled back, the sight of the savage man made me lose hope of surviving, but my promise to father stayed fresh like new fire inside of me.

Promise me, Freya, that even it is hard you will keep going, please promise me.

I frowned at the man, I didn’t want to die, not yet. I lunged forward, my dress tearing to allow the movement. Grabbing at the man’s hand, I bent it behind his back, stretching back his thumb making him cry out in pain and dropping the knife. I bent and picked up the knife, the man whipped around towards me, “That’s to sharp for you little girl” the man coaxed, reaching for the knife. I yelled something unintelligible and lashed the knife out in front of me, my eyes closed. I tentatively opened a eye and stared at the man, now bowed forward in front of me his face cupped in his hands. Red blood leaked from in between the man’s fingers, blending with the red sand beneath them.

I gasped, the knife still in my hands. I looked down at the shining silver metal, dipped in bright red and her fingers. Did she really just do that?.

I swallowed loudly, looked at the man again, the blood still leaking from his silent body, and fled.

The horse underneath me huffed as I urged the mare up a dune, the red sand sucking at the horses feet, trying to take them both down. I whistled at the horse again, my arms were wrapped around the horses neck, tugging at its mane. Sand started to whip through the sky, sand snapping at my skin, threatening to harm me. I pulled my thin dress around me more, trying to salvage whatever unharmed skin I could.

Heat burned at me and the horse, the horse tripped as the sand sucked at its foot again, making it scream and jump around.

Well, at least we’re not going down, the horse just let every hunter in every possible direction know where we are, I thought bitterly. The hasty burning mood of the desert had finally reached my nerves, I was now deeply annoyed. The horse surfed and slipped down the side of a dune, the horse tipped its weight off to the left, making it turn and hit the ground on its side. Me stuck underneath.

I screamed and pushed at the horse, trying to get it off of herself. “Help! Help!” I cried, hot tears flooding down her cheeks, the shock grasped hold of me. A assassin could easily come along and kill her like this, I could not fight back. The sun beat down on me, frail death birds hung in the air above her, the horse was still now. Dead from blood loss, and I was wearing it.

The heat from the blood red sand below her clung to her as I tried to wriggle away from the horse, my attempts making me scream in pain. Black began to fill the corners of my eyes, the heat was far to much for me, the last thing I remembered was the insufferable burning and the shadow of a figure standing over me.

I sat up, leaves brushing my backside. Mud oozing warmly beneath me. I rubbed my face with a sweep of my hand, confident that I now had mud smeared all over my face. The memories of before she passed out rushed back to her like a overpowering river, a rush that could not be contained; making her head burst with pain. I pressed a cold hand to my forehead, hoping to sate the pain. Nothing worked. And it most certainly didn’t match the pain coming from her legs, now making me scream into my hand, the pain unbearable.

The pain stayed for at least a hour, the surroundings now dark from apparent night. I sat up from my twisted painful position and looked around, now getting used to the never ending, white hot pain. I found myself in a clearing, mud and leaves littered the ground, much to her distaste. Decaying palm fronds were piled under her head, the smell was terribly rancid.

Tall cypress trees and paperbark trees surrounded the clearing, green bracken shouldering the tall lovely trees. I shuddered, bad place to die she thought, picturing her decaying form melting into the dirt below her, plants sprouting from her limbs.

I bent forward, pain searing a frown to my face. “Hello? Somebody? Anybody?” I called, my voice notably hoarse, probably from the screaming.

I bit my lip, the wind rustled the leaves around me, I had a nagging feeling that I wasn’t alone, I just had to coax my hidden company out into the clearing.

“Help! Please! I am stuck! I can’t move!” I looked at my legs, if her calls attracted a enemy, I could easily fake being a peasant, it seemed she was far from the sea of blood but not somewhere better.

The wind around me rustled the leaves much more, but it wasn’t only just the wind. The fronds and bushes peeled away from each to present a dark face in the bushes, their features seemingly cut from glass, but it did not make them look fragile. The unknown figure stalked towards me, majority of their body hidden under a cloak, a bandanna covered the bottom half of their face. Their eyes made silvery water. Their hair were as pure as midnight. The figure caught me looking—staring— at them and stopped, dark fingers hooked over the edge of the bandanna. Threatening to reveal.

Adding more <3