"RELEASE!!!!!!!!" I shouted.
The dark rain of arrows filled the dull sky and fell full of anger on the small, flaming village below my feet. Random screams, bodies collapsing like puppets whose strings were cut without consent, more screaming..
"Release!!!!" I shouted but knew they weren't waiting for my order this time.
Kicking the steed under me, I galloped downhill. I had to make sure that she was dead, that there was noone alive to help her escape, she had to burn and this time I would make sure that she died a very permanent death.
The witch. She, who had a whole village under her spell, a village in my realm, under my control, living in my land.
"FIND HER!" I shouted and tried to ignore the frenzy around me. People were running trying to put out the flames with buckets of water.
"WHERE IS THE WITCH? Bring her to me or you won't see the break of dawn, I swear!"
And then it started to rain..out of nowhere the skies opened and drowned my flames into nothing but mud.
"CLAINIA! I KNOW THIS IS YOUR DOING!!! YOU CAN SAVE THEIR HOUSES BUT YOU CAN'T SAVE THEM.."
Three steps later I was soaked to the bone. My dress stuck on me like a tourniquet, the air wrapped my long hair around my neck like a manacle but I felt no fear.
"IS THIS THE BEST YOU CAN DO?...KILL THEM ALL!!!!"
"I am here.." her small voice hit my ears like an arrow. "I am here Lady Eleanor, let them be..."she whispered to me.
Lifting my hem from the mud I moved forwards trying to make out her shape but I could see nothing through the rain.
"Make it stop.." I ordered her and though no sound came out of my mouth the rain was gone as suddenly as it had come.
She was standing in front of me, so young and beautiful, covered in nothing but rags, yet could feel the power emanating from her slender body.
"Why did you kill him?" I whispered "You didn't have to kill him...Why did you do it?"
"I didn't." Her voice rang in my ear but her lips did not move.
"He had chosen me. That's why you did it. You couldn't bare the thought that he had chosen me over you, despite your evil tricks...I loved him."
"He is not dead...yet." she sang
"Perhaps not...but you are. BURN HER!" I ordered.
My men lifted her up like a hollow log and tied her up at the ancient Poplar tree. She said no word but she didn't have to; her green eyes could eat me whole.
Soon the flames matched her hair and still she said nothing.
"I shall see you soon." she whispered in my ear and fear washed over me.
I grabbed a sword from the ground and ran inside the flames aiming at her heart. The steel rang as it hit the burning bark of the tree and my skirts caught fire. Men with wet blankets threw me in the mud and though the flames were gone my heart was turning to ashes as I knew that she was gone once more.
(Painting by Edmund Blair Leighton)
Everyone has gone leaving me all alone.
My clothes fell on the ground and I felt the hot water on my skin, the cloth rubbing my arms but grief had me by the throat and I couldn't breathe. My head sank in the warm pillow, my bones relaxed under the warm covers and I drifted off to sleep only to be hunted down by dreams of her.
She was kneeling down before me over a small bush with tiny white blossoms.
"Take it, it will help you sleep" she said.
"How do you know I need to sleep?" I asked her narrowing my eyes with suspicion.
"Because I am the one who haunts you when you sleep my sweet Lady Eleanor." she said and touched my cheek with her fingertips.
"Why don't you release me?" I said begging her with my eyes, "You got what you wanted, now let me be.."
"Release...yes, well... I cannot do that yet you see, not yet."
"Why?" I demanded.
Then the air changed. The forest around us was losing its colour, the trees started to melt and black rocks rose in their place, the white blossoms turned into thorns, wrapping their needles around my wrists and ankles. Blood trickled in the dirt as the thorns reached the bone.
"NO!" I shouted in agony "NO, NO, RELEASE ME!"
"RELEASE...." my eyes opened wide only to behold the darkness of my chamber. I felt the hot tears trickling down my cheeks, and turned to the bedside table for the candle.
"Don't cry Eleanor, it was only a dream..."
She was standing right over me.
"Clainia" I exhaled in terror.
( Two women, two parallel stories, read Clainia's side of the story at matiasmeni.blogspot.com in her own tongue (or in google translation) or just click on the title of this post to go directly there. Lady Eleanor's side of the story will continue here.)
