A deep growl came from the inner parts of the castle. An ominous groan of a growing pain that continued to increase in volume before the doors of the castle began to move. Inch by ever-so-slow inch the doors swung open. Aldreera was expecting the doors to be thinner in width while the hinges struggled due to their age but, how wrong she was. The doors were as thick as a centuries old oak tree. Looking in awe as these doors opened on their own revealing an inner corridor, and even further, a large ballroom with chandeliers the size of elephants hung daintily from the rafters. This was no ordinary ballroom to say the least. It was bigger and more grand than Aldreera could ever have imagined. The linens that draped off of the windows were filled with rich colors and the hemming was sewn in gold and in the clouded sunlight. Pillars stood tall throughout the center of the room and of a radius that Aldreera couldn't imagine fitting her arms around.
As the man carried her closer to the large hall his pace shortened and his body twisted to the left catching Aldreera off guard. She grabbed ahold of the collar of his vest and a small smile creeped onto his lips again as he continued on his way.
"Don't suffocate me now, deary. I might like it too much." His smile fell as if never. Aldreera was unaware of her instinctive movements and immediately let go of his collar. 'What is wrong with this man?' she thought. 'He has no shame!'
Walking down another corridor that turned into another and another. Aldreera did her best to memorize how many 'lefts' and 'rights' they took, but she was unable to recall any of the information due to the man holding her strongly in his arms, keeping her focus away from the true task.. His presence made her uneasy, buzzing with excitement. Not the kind of arousal, but of fear. This man carried her many lengths and was not batting an eye when it came to her weight. In fact, he seemed to act as if she was too light for him to warrant carrying. That it was almost boorish and uncouth. Aldreera could feel his impatience growing.
"You…", She corrected herself and then spoke again, "Sir. I am very grateful for your kindness, however, I do not find joy in burdening people without reason. You can put me down. I will walk so you no longer have to carry me." Aldreera clasped her hands together tightly and stared toward the floor in embarrassment. She knew not of whether he would scoff at her, or release her so that she may walk freely. Aldreera's eyes made haste as she tried so desperately to focus on anything but his face. Aldreera inhaled before looking into her captor's eyes. They stole a glance at one another before the man scoffed.
"As you wish." He lowered his left arm, allowing her toes to touch the floor first before standing her upright with his right arm.
Aldreera choked back the pain as the blood shot into her ankle. This wasn't the first time she felt such terrible pain. In fact, she didn't think it to be as bad as when she first twisted it. Her arm instinctively reached out toward the wall to brace her body, for the weight was too painful to bear. The wall was cold and damp and her memory and felt like old memories. 'Let's hope this is not the same scenery I've seen before', Aldreera prayed.
Another step was taken before she could feel the eyes of the man on her, she warily hobbled forward. Aldreera froze for just a moment waiting instinctively for the man to point her in the right direction, bowing her head as he passed by her.
"Stand straight and walk decently." The man said in a stern voice before he rounded the corner to the right. Aldreera felt it obvious to bow to someone of higher stature, but this man had no concept of hierarchy while she was around and that made her question why she was even here.
With the man's long legs he bested Aldreera with just a few strides and was soon closer to the end of the hall before she was even halfway. Seeing that she was falling behind she began to do her best in walking faster however, her ankle could not keep the pace. Soon she was forced to hop on one foot to keep a manageable distance between them both. The tall strap then continued to walk even faster, increasing his stride and furthering the distance between. Using the wall as a crutch, Aldreera hopped with one foot and braced on the wall with her hand allowing herself the ability to take some pressure off of her dominant leg.
Once she rounded the corner to the left, this time the man vanished. She searched to either side of the hallway and took the path of where she thought she saw him turn. This was not the correct way either. Now she was lost and began to panic. The breath that came from her lungs was forced and uncontrolled. What will her guide do once he realizes that she is no longer following him? She called out in hopes that he may be nearby and could hear her.
"Sir?" Aldreera's voice squeaked. "I'm having a bit of trouble keeping with your stride." But to no avail did she see his shadow again.
For the next couple of moments Aldreera stood like a statue, heart beating out of her chest, waiting for someone to round the corner and realize she was out of place.; maybe even grasp the feeling of a beating if one was tempted. Her eyes fell to the floor. Her heart sank with it. In that moment no amount of pain could rip her out of her sorrow and depression for she was emotionless. As she stood there, shoulders slumped, head sunken towards the ground, and cold creeping through the souls of her shoes, a warmth seemed to nip at her left hand. It slowly moved up her arm and onto her shoulder, making its way to the nape of her neck and disappearing like a flickering candle in the wisp of an evening breeze. Aldreera glanced behind her to find the handsome sir, her guide, standing with his left hand outstretched. He looked at her with a questioning brow. Aldreera could not get enough of this man. His face was that of an angel and slender but, strong stature was just to the liking of her dreams. If it were of a different circumstance, Aldreera might have ogled and maybe even drooled over this man.
As she took another look she saw that there were shiny, golden pieces clasped onto his sleeves. 'Cufflinks?' She thought as she began to hobble over to him. 'Why am I thinking about cufflinks in a time like this!' Aldreera's thoughts shown on her face, plain as day.
"Something wrong, my dear?" He picked up on her facial expressions quite easily and decided he might do a bit of teasing to make up for the fact of waiting on this lowly girl he was sworn to attend to.
Aldreera looked around again as though he may be talking to someone else.
"Do I need to call your name before every sentence? If that be the case I'll consider you to be a puppy in training, deary. Now, is everything alright?"
Aldreera blushed again as she took a hold of the man's large hand and began to walk down the corridors once more to a destination unknown.
Aldreera did have a question… or rather, a question that led to a question which led to another one. And maybe one would go as far as saying a 'snowball' question. To pitch and to have grow, until there is no snow left to feed it. But the biggest question for her was…
"What is your name, sir?" Aldreera tried to pull away from the grasp but to no avail did he budge an inch.
"Why, I did forget to introduce myself, didn't I." He exclaimed, putting a hand to his brow and rubbing in frustration. "My name, Lady Aldreera, is Trenston Ambrose The Third. But you may call me Sir Ambrose for novelty's sake."
"Yes, Sir Trenston Ambrose The Third. That is a pleasant name to the ears." Aldreera blurted out without thinking. Her naivety was unbecoming of such a moment but, Sir Ambrose seemed to have something else on his mind.
"Say that again."
"Say what again?" She tilted her head in question.
"My name… say it again."
"Sir Trenston Ambrose The Third?" Aldreera squinted in hesitancy, frightened that she may not have pronounced his name correctly.
"Good. Ah… we're here." And before Aldreera could ask another question the door to her dungeon finally struck the last nail firmly into its cedar coffin. It was a pale and lifeless gray door seemingly dull to the rest of the castle.
Aldreera could feel her heart sinking lower than the floor she stood. Sir Ambrose grasped the latch on the door and twisted. Aldreera's breath hitched as the door swung wide…