Snowfall

He’s got me. 

Half of my body feels heavy and frozen and I am sure my feet were bruised and hurt to the point that if I could feel them, I would not be able to walk around too much. I was somehow glad someone had the decency to think of this and was actually carrying me instead of asking me to sit up and follow.

"I can't let him have her!" Ferdinand screams.

"You should have thought about this before you allowed her to rebel like this!" Father Cassimir yells back and a loud slap echoes through the meadow. "It's your fault my fiancee is now in his

arms, not mine!" the older man adds, full of spite. "Let's get you to your wife before you bleed to death-" his voice dims and I feel his eyes not follow me anymore.

Behind the stranger, I could hear muffled yells and threats being tossed our way. I could feel the stranger tense as they carried me and held me tight against him, as if they were afraid to drop me. Or maybe they were afraid that if I slip from his arms, he was going to turn around and kill my pursuers without any remorse or will to stop. Maybe I should have allowed them to do just that. 

Maybe the world would have been better without them. Maybe less women would suffer and this would make my stranger a hero in my eyes. Or maybe this was all a scheme and a plan for them to get a hold of me before someone else did, and did nothing else but what my betrothed had planned for me. 

I look up at my captor, hoping to catch a glimpse of the one who is carrying me. From under the hood of the cloak I can see a pair of ruby red eyes staring straight ahead. There is too little light for me to be able to distinguish much more than a faded face shape, but despite the mystery wrapped around them, I feel safe. For now at least. The warmth is safe. The strength of their arms is safe…

My eyes drift from the hood to what surrounds us. The forest. I can see small snowflakes dance in the air and start to lay on the still cold ground, steadily building a cold blanket that would cover the land for the next few months. Now, in silence and a false sense of safety, I could understand my decision to run away at such a time was foolish. If the men would not have gotten me, I would have died in the forest a few days later. 

Starvation, coldness, beasts and monsters that hide in the darkness, creeped and lurked and stalked helpless creatures, one of them would have laid their claws on me eventually. Sooner rather than later, for sure.

Beast,  is what they called them. It's what they called the stranger who was kind enough to not force me to walk. Kind enough to listen to my pleas to not kill my father and even kinder to not toss me in their arms and punish me for tresspassing on his land. But was this beast a real beast? Or was it just something or someone with enough power to make wicked men cower in fear?

Who had this much power and decided to not deliver judgement day to those who deserve it? I turn my head and look upon my savior once again. Should I fear too? Should I fear him as I fear ordinary men? Should I fear for my freedom? One of my hands reaches up but before I can push it under the hood that casts that dark shadow over their face, they speak.

"Don't." it was a demand. One that made the blood in my veins freeze and my mind still in the way a dear freezes when it's blinded by a powerful light. 

Don't. Don't touch them? Don't look upon them? What was there to hide? Where was I being taken? I was not safe, was I? My heart picks up on the panic that swells in my chest again and I feel powerless one again. I cup my bruised cheek and hold it over the bruise, feeling the warmth radiating from it, as the earlier encounter with Father Cassimir replays in my head.

Despite the grim thoughts that cloud my mind, the thrill of the run dims out and tiredness takes over, forcing my eyes to shut and my mind to still as I drift off to sleep, away from the harsh reality I lived in. Away from the reality of the dreaded beast laying their hands on the beauty. Away from sinful men with black hearts and powerless women who could not fight for themselves.