Royal Wolf

Crackling fills the air, mighty trees tremble as fire runs rampant through the forest. She is running, dodging between licking flames, and falling trees as smoke fills her lungs and tears burn the corners of her eyes. Frightened and tired she tries her hardest to move faster her heart exploding from her chest screaming for oxygen. Just as she is about to give up hope she sees a clearing where the flames have not reached yet, the night sky clearly visible through the trees.

Willing her feet to move towards the clearing, a safe place for now, she narrowly misses a branch that hurtles to the ground. Just as she nears the edge of the burning forest her foot catches in a vine and she falls with a hard thud. Stunned and vision blurred she fumbles with the vine trying to untangle herself. A loud crack above her causes her eyes to shoot up as a fiery branch falls, aiming straight for her and she screams.

Arianna awakes abruptly from her night terror screaming and sweating; eyes wide she gasps for air as she wills her heart to calm down. The nightgown she has on clings to her like a second skin and she tries to peel it away, her black hair matted from the tossing and turning in her own sweat. She tries to swallow but her dry throat declines the action causing her to retch at the taste of ash in her mouth.

The terrors started the night of her seventeenth birthday and are becoming worse, with each episode longer than the last however she never seems to make it to the clearing, something always stops her.

She gets up from her straw mattress, careful not to wake her grandmother and makes her way to the shutters, opening them slightly to let the cool air in. She inhales deeply and closes her eyes, feeling comforted by the breeze, the smell of fresh rain and pine trees lingering in the air.

Arianna lives with her grandmother in a modest cottage on the edge of a thicket and they were just two of the servants to work for the King and Queen of Hemlock. They would rise before dawn each day and carry out their duties of cleaning and cooking for the royal household and tend to the gardens outside the palace.

The sound of bell chimes in the distance brings her out of her reverie, Arianna scowled at herself for wasting the first rays of sun and closed the shutters returning to her mattress to fold the blanket and dress for the busy day ahead.

The palace was holding a royal banquet, she heard the palace maids purring about it before sunset the day before and that there were going to be several handsome nobleman attending. Arianna would pay no heed to the gossip of the palace; she knew it would get her into trouble and that was the last thing her or her grandmother needed.

Readying the hearth to warm some water, she gathered some more wood from beside the door and started a small fire. The strewing herbs at her feet were ready to be replaced so she gathered what she could into a pile and swept the remnants to the door. As Arianna did this, she heard her grandmother stir, she smiled and returned to the hearth, the fire now at full blast. The water boiled over making hissing sounds on the stones, Arianna gathered her smock in her hands and lifted the kettle off the fire.

“I was starting to wonder when you would rise grandmother" Arianna said with a smile. Her grandmother was slow to get up in the mornings now that she was older. When she was younger Arianna would recall her grandmother up before even the rooster. This made her giggle. Her grandmother smiled as she too folded her blanket and dressed.

She poured the hot water into a bucket, leaving some aside for her grandmothers’ herb tea they shared every morning. They both retrieved their cloth from above the fireplace to have their morning wash.

“Did you sleep well Aria?” her grandmother asked using her nickname and dipping the cloth into the bucket of water to wash her face.

“As well as any” Arianna said with a smile, she too dipped her cloth and rung it out before washing her face. Her grandmother looked at her with a furrowed brow.

“By the sound of your screaming it sounded like you didn’t sleep at all” she looked over at her with a raised brow and returned her cloth to the wire that hung above the hearth to dry.

Arianna froze and turned to her grandmother looking guilty “My night terrors are getting worse grandmother” she said her lip trembling “it’s the same one over and over every night, and I never seem to make it out of the forest” she returned her cloth to the same wire and sat down next to the hearth.

Her grandmother had brewed the tea and handed her a small steaming bowl, Arianna smiled and inhaled the sweet aromas. “Anise and” she broke off reveling in the smell again “chamomile, my favorite!” Arianna sipped the tea slowly, letting the hot liquid warm her body.

“Well done” her grandmother said smiling. “I’ll see how well you do tomorrow” she looked over her bowl while taking a sip.

“We need new strewing and I’ll pick some berries and nuts in the forest before we go to the palace” Arianna said looking for her basket to take with her.

Her grandmother smiled sweetly “thank you dear” she got up from her stool and washed her bowl in the bucket of water and returned it to its shelf along the back wall of the cottage.

“When you are done meet me in the palace garden, you have more training and we need to pick some vegetables for the banquet”

Arianna nods and washes her bowl, returning it to its shelf.

Her grandmother gathers up her basket and puts on her hat “I’ll see you soon” she said hugging Arianna before leaving to make her way to the palace gardens.

Arianna quickly put on her shoes and hat and gathered her gloves and basket before stepping out into the village. People bustled about, farmers steering their cattle and woman chasing their half naked children around to dress them after their morning wash. She giggles quietly to herself and makes her way out to the edge of the thicket, crossing a small field.

She can see her best friend Sol picking vegetables and he looks up and waves “Good morning Arianna, off to the village garden?” he asks wiping his dirty hand across his forehead.

Arianna smiles and nods.

“Give me a moment and I’ll come with you; you shouldn’t travel in there yourself” He says dusting his dirty hands on his overalls.

“Sure, I could use the company” she says turning away and rolling her eyes a little disappointed, she wanted a bit of time to herself this morning before she had to go to the palace. Sols smile brightens and he lifts his basket filled with a mixture of vegetables and throws it over his shoulder. He packs it tightly in to the cart next to his father and waves goodbye to him.

Sol was very handsome and just slightly older than Arianna he had short brown hair and the greenest eyes she had ever seen; they had grown up together in the village. His parents and her grandmother were awfully close, his mother also worked in the palace kitchens with them every day and Sol would help his father in the fields.

Sol comes up beside Arianna and smiles again as they make their way through the dense thicket towards the forest.

“So..” said Sol stammering “the banquet is being held at the palace” he awkwardly runs his hand down the back of his neck, a light flush appearing on his cheeks. He rummages through his basket of vegetables pretending to look for something.

Arianna laughs heartily and nudges him “Yes I know, I’m working with grandmother to get it ready for when the nobleman arrive” she stops to gather some blackberries and Sol looks at her a bit disappointed. As they continue along the small path, her arm brushes against Sol. He stiffens almost instantly, and Arianna stops to observe his odd behavior.

“What is it?” She asks him with a knowing smile. Sol stops to pick up some nuts scattered on the ground, no doubt from greedy squirrels, and drops them into the basket with the blackberries, shrugging his shoulders.

“Being your best friend, I thought it right to ask if you would like to go with me” he says almost confidently. Arianna’s smile falters and she shakes her head dropping her eyes to the ground.

“I have to attend to the nobleman, you know that” she said looking back up at him, she could see the disappointment in his eyes. “But I shall save a dance for you” she finished, and the smile returned to his face.

“Now come along before grandmother finds out I’ve been dallying; she will think I’m a bad influence on you!” they both chuckle and carry on their way to the gardens.

After a little while of comfortable silence Arianna speaks up.

“I will need to get some strewing for the cottage” she said, Sol nods and continues down the path before they see an arch shaped of vines and beautiful yellow flowers. Some villagers helped to plant gardens for strewing and vegetables, everyone in the village helps to maintain it.

As they stepped through the gate many aromas struck their senses. Arianna breathed in deeply, she loved being in the gardens, it made her think of the fond memories with her grandmother as a child.

She bent down to the garden and began picking some basil, next she would take some lavender and by special request from her grandmother some cayenne. After a small while her basket was brimming with fragrances and she smiled, content with her choices.

As she stood up and brushed her hands off on her apron, she realized she was all alone, Sol was nowhere to be seen. Her smile faded and her heart began to race. “Sol?” she mumbled “where are you?” she looked around, panic starting to rise in her throat.

Arianna picked up her basket and began circling the garden looking through the dense bushes, but she could not see anything. As she made her way back to the path, she heard a rustling in the nearby blackberry bush. Her eyes went wide, and her heart started to race. “Sol, is that you in there?” she said taking small steps towards the bush. She put her basket down and willed her heart to calm down so she could hear herself think, her heart beat thumped loud in her ears.

Instinctively she touched the black moonstone that hung around her neck loosely, it was a gift from her grandmother on her thirteenth birthday and she had said if ever she felt frightened or if she was lost to hold it tightly. Her grandmother had said it was given to Ariannas’ mother at the same age, but her mother died while giving birth, her heart clenched at the thought.

The bushes rustle again bringing Arianna out of her thoughts and she stepped forward. With new found courage she picked up a stick and waived it about “I have a stick and I’m not afraid to use it!” she squealed, her cheeks now hot with embarrassment and she stepped forward again now in the firing range of whatever was hiding in the bush.

She huffed and was about to turn away when a hand reached out and grabbed her wrist, roughly pulling her into the bush. She screamed and began to thrash about hoping to hit the culprit with any one of her flailing limbs. A hand came over her mouth to stop her screaming and she took that moment to bite down hard. A gruff voice swore and removed his hand quickly, Arianna turned around ready to fight some more when she realized it was Sol.