Night came. I had just finished a delicious dinner, and I was ready for bed.
Mirabel and I had made plans to go to the orchard tomorrow. Gilbert agreed to this easily and told us he would assign a guard to accompany us. By tomorrow, I would get a good view of the orchard area and perfect my escape plans. I was too excited but I tried to keep calm.
I bid Mirabel goodnight and she left me to get some sleep. But sleep was the last thing on my mind. I had to leave this place and fast. I thought about what I planned to accomplish tomorrow night and debated with myself whether it was feasible or not.
Was I really going to leave the palace? If I did, how was I going to get out getting spotted. I don't exactly know how the Dark Lord would react knowing that his guest had fled under the cover of the night. But I know he wouldn't be pleased, not at all.
Even if I managed to escape, I couldn't go back to Mirideth because that would be the first place he would come to seeking for me. My whole life revolved around that village that I couldn't imagine being somewhere else. I had never been to another part of Kerva lest I would say it would be a great place to hide.
I continued to think about the pros and cons of my plan and eventually fell asleep.
I ran as fast as my legs could go, not looking back in fear that what I left behind could catch up with me. I was sure no one would notice that I was gone until morning came. It everything went as I planned it, I would be far gone by morning time.
The dark lord could not keep me in that place forever. First guest in ten years my foot!
I had managed to get past the little gate and into the orchard, but now...the orchard didn't seem much like an orchard again. It was more like a forest, a thick grove.
I ran past trees and plants, the moonlight giving me directions. With the wind in my hair and my freedom in my hands, I ran with all my might.
All I had to do was to get out of these woods and reach the capital city. When I got there, it would be easy to blend into the crowd and make my way back to Mirideth. Back home, back to the infirmary, back to Papa.
Until...I heard the sound of a horse coming behind me. I didn't want to believe it, perhaps it was my paranoia playing tricks on my brain. But very soon, the sound of hooves caught up to me. Who could it be? Had I been discovered? I ran faster, harder, and my heart pounded in my chest.
I ran until I got to a dead end and I turned around seeing the familiar luster of a dark horse I knew so well. Twilight. And on twilight sat his master, the man in a dark hood without a face coming toward me.
When he had come closer, I felt his cold aura sending chills down my spine. Why did I escape? Now he had caught me, how was I supposed to get out of this now?
He arrived with a cloud of fog, climbing down from his horse and walking towards me with menacing steps.
There was a wall at my back and I had no where to go either on my left side or at my right.
I watched him come towards me and even if I couldn't see his face because he really didn't have one, I knew he had malevolent intentions right now. There was no way he was letting me go.
I moved backwards as he advanced until my back hit the wall of stone behind me. He closed the space between us and I felt something cold press against my throat. His sword, one with a luminiscent cold flame.
"So you think you can leave my castle?" He spoke to me in a voice so familiar it was frightening.
I shook my head and closed my eyes as I felt the cold metal press harder to my neck.
"No one leaves unless I say so. Especially not you...you can never leave." He said to me. I felt the blade pierce my stomach and I was out of breath. He had pierced me exactly where his me pierced papa.
He had killed me. There was no chance that I would survive from his sword because it was no ordinary sword. He killed my Papa and took my life as well. Just you wait...Dark Lord. I will be reborn and I will get back at you.
He retracted his sword and I fell to the cold hard floor.
I woke up with a start and realized my pillow was all drenched. I had been sweating profusely.
What kind of dream was this? It felt so real. I touched the area in my dream where I had been stabbed and I could feel a little ache there.
This dream was probably as a result of my anxiety about escaping tonight. It was not real. It was not real. I willed my beating heart to calm down.
Just that moment, I heard a knock on the door.
"Miss Frieda, are you awake?" Mirabel's high pitched voice called.
"Yes."
She pushed the door and came in, looking very excited that she couldn't stand still. What could it be so very early in the morning. She couldn't be so excited over a day at the orchard. Something else must be up.
"You're up so early." I told her.
"And you look like you've seen a ghost. You might just be as pale as the king himself." Mirabel joked. Oh she had no idea I had seen someone scarier than a ghost. The king himself.
"I just had a bad dream." Bad dream was an understatement. I had the nightmare of a century.
"I'm sorry, Miss Frieda. Are you okay?" She asked me filled with concern.
I nodded. "So why are you here so early?" I asked her.
"Gilbert asked that you get ready. You'll be having breakfast with the Dark Lord today."