When he grabbed me I could feel the hope I had slowly leaving my body. It was as if his cold touch was draining me of everything I had. In my mind I knew if I went with this man, if this man succeeded in making me come with him, everything I did would have been for nothing and there would be no hope left for me. As I looked into the guards fiery eyes I thought of everyone who had made sacrifices for me. Everyone who did all they could to keep me alive. From Vic, to the mysterious man, from my people, to my love. All people who had put themselves in harm's way, many losing their lives to protect me, to save me. I could not let those who died, die in vain. This was my moment for freedom, which I had longed for, which many had fought for and Henrick was not going to take it away from me. With everything in me, with all the strength I had, I planted my feet into the ground, and said, "I will not go with you." His laugh chilled my ears, I knew he was stronger than me and he knew that too, but he was not as determined as I was and that was what was going to save me. He said in the most horrid voice, "Will you try to fight a skilled man? Will you be so foolish?" I felt the bravery build up in me, I was not foolish, I was determined. I was determined to survive after everything that happened, nobody was going to take my freedom away from me, not after everything that happened. I refused to let myself become a victim of Henrick anymore. I felt courage fill my body as my heart began beating a million times a minute, before that time I had never felt so brave, so courageous ever in my life. I knew that at that moment I was not going to let anyone take my freedom. With all my courage I said in a firm tone, "I will not go with you." I saw enjoyment fill the guard's eyes, I knew he took pleasure in thinking he could overcome me but I was not going to go down. I was not going to die living a horrendous life. I felt his grip tighten around my wrist, my fingers felt as if they were going to pop off my hand from all the blood that rushed to them. He pulled me close to him, looking directly into my eyes, and saying in the most chilling tone, "I like doing things the hard way princess." He turned around, still holding on to my wrist, and began dragging me back to the castle. Then I saw it, his sword still in the sword holder around his belt. In that moment I knew that, that was my chance. If I was going to be free I had to push everything aside and do what I had to do. I could not let fear consume me, I had to fight to be free. I bit down on his hand as hard as I could, making him let go of me. I still remember seeing my teeth marks imprinting deep on his now red and bruised skin. He yelped as I grabbed his sword from around his belt. I felt the sword begin to pull me down, until then I never realized how heavy swords actually were. He turned around looking at me, seeing me hunched over, trying to hold up the sword. I looked at him, seeing a smirk on his face I'll never forget. He said, "You can barely lift my sword, what do you think you'll do with that princess? Will you be such a silly woman and try a dangerous task that will only draw pain to you or will you surrender and come with me?" I gritted my teeth thinking of all the people who helped me get this far. I refused to let weakness be the reason I got recaptured. With every bit of strength in my I swung the sword at him, cutting right through his chest armor, making contact with his skin. The weight from the sword took me down as I fell down to the ground dropping the sword. I looked at the guard, seeing blood begin dripping from his chest onto the ground. He fell back as I stood to my feet. I walked over to him, standing above him, feeling no pity, no emotion. He looked at me, in his eyes I saw his life slipping away. I said, "I will not go with you, I am not the property of any man." I turned away from him, hearing him moaning from the pain, then I felt it. Cold rain falling onto my skin. I put my hand out watching the rain fall into my hand. For a year I only felt scalding hot water on my skin letting it cool down by itself and now, now I felt just the cold rain and it felt like freedom, like a new change. I looked back at my castle, taking one final look at the life I once knew, turned away, and ran, heading for a nearby forest, ignoring everything, and everyone else around me. As I ran I could feel burning pain build up in my feet but I did not care, I continued to run, getting further and further away from what was my home turned prison. I ran for an hour, until my body finally gave out, and I collapsed on my stomach, right on the muddy forest floor. I sat up on my knees feeling myself sink into the mud. As I looked around me I realized I could see nothing but dark forest. The life I once knew, the life I had escaped from, was no longer in sight. I was all alone… I listened to the sounds of the rain bouncing off the forest floor and hitting the leaves in the trees. As I listened I felt myself getting emotionally weak. All the strength I had used to hold back my emotions, all the strength I had used to keep everything in, slowly left my body. As I realized that I was all alone and I had finally made it out to my freedom I could do nothing else but wail.
I wailed hearing myself cry in a way I had never done before. All the pain, all the grief that I had to hide, I no longer had strength to hide it, I could no longer push it down and when I cried I felt as if the whole world went silent. It was as if the whole world knew my grief and allowed me to finally express my emotions. I felt so alone and yet with every tear I cried I felt a new feeling of freedom, for it was the first time I was ever allowed to truly mourn what I had lost.
For hours I kneeled on that forest floor, screaming until I could no longer. The pains of crying began to ache my head. I felt my eyes begin to grow heavy and my body begin to shiver from the cold rain. Every bit of my grief wanted to consume me into a hypothermic death but the thoughts of the people who fought to save me would not allow me to give up. As much as my grief wanted me to lay there and allow the rain to freeze me to my death, my determination wouldn't allow me to give up. I rose to my feet and began walking, not allowing myself to let my grief consume me. As I walked I could think of nothing else but my Darius, Vic, and the mysterious man. They put their lives on the line to save me, to help me. To give up and let my grief kill me after everything they had done to see me safe would bring a great dishonor and I refused to dishonor them.
I continued to force myself to walk in the freezing rain. Forgetting all my pain, ignoring all my grief. My mind was focused on one thing and that was survival. I was not going to let myself die in pity.
It felt as if I had walked for years even though it had only been half an hour. I pushed until I finally came up to a light brown shed. It looked new, as if someone was using it but I didn't care. At that moment the only thing I thought about was surviving and I knew that if I stayed outside in that rain, I would die. I pushed myself to walk up to the shed's light brown door that had a black metal handle, realizing that the shed was not locked, I opened it and entered it, closing the door behind me. I looked around the 300 sq ft shed, seeing fresh, unused, shelves hanging on the walls. Next to the door hung a hook that had a knee length peasant style dress hanging up. On the floor were empty, brown, cloth bags and new gardening tools. I thought to myself, 'One night, borrow these things for one night. I have to stay alive, I have to survive.' I stripped myself of my wet clothing, throwing them on the shed floor and changing into the peasant dress that hung on the wall. As I changed into the new clothing I felt like I had a new chance, a new life. I told myself I would only stay in that shed one night, leaving in the morning after my clothing had dried. I felt my body grow weak from exhaustion. I walked over to the pile of cloth bags, and used them as blankets as I slept on that shed floor, knowing that this was the first day of my freedom and the first day of a new life. I slowly shut my eyes, drifting into a deep sleep. For, even though the floor was hard and cold, it was still the best sleep I ever had.