Dark Blossom

They haunted her. The whole of her life these dreams, these banshee’s of her past wailed through her slumber breaking the blackness behind her closed lids with the sudden awareness of waking in a small, cold and windowless room. This had been her only place of peace, her sanctuary from the emotionless stares and hardened hands of a brutal keeper. These dreams, though haunting her with ferocity, tried hard to show her things she could not make sense of. Nightly, without fail, a series of stilled images would constantly flip through her mind’s eye accompanied by the relentless echo of voices chiming out within the haze of a half woken mind. There had been nights when her body would shake itself from the stillness within a pitched cry which was not her own even though it slipped from her lips. The day that followed nights such as those were harsh and unforgiving.

“ Tell me. By god child, you will tell me or I will let the Master beat it from your carcass until it bleeds out your worthless pours. “

Same words repeated to her while massive hands gripped the arms and shook the child into her place. Pale lips would open to say something only to slip closed again in a pregnant pause for the mind to collate the thoughts into some form of coherent structure. This action only sealed her fate as one hand released the upper arm to rise and strike across the stilled mouth. Contact seared with a hiss from the girl as the sting of his hand emanated through the whole of her face.
Years washed past in this manner. She grew from a child to a young woman without knowing why she was treated the way she was.  Always kept within the room she slept until she was wanted for something and removed, only to be thrown down onto the stone floor at the Master’s feet. There was no pleading, no asking to stop or even the asking of Why, for every question or word slipped from her mouth only served to leave her battered and broken within that room again.
Forever in the carnal acts of her Master’s hands she learned to separate from her body, slipping into a place that let her live without feeling or hearing anything until she was once more tossed like garbage back into her small room. Such was her life, but was it really? The dreams told her something more and every time her body was beaten for having these dreams, the man repeatedly told her to forget it and that he owned her now. That word stood out within the mind at every moment of thought. She was property, nothing more than something to be pushed around and broken, abused as the Master wished and beaten like a disobedient dog.
There were nights that would pass when all that danced in her mind as she lay awake, were the questions of who these faces in her dreams belonged to. Where they even dreams at all? Honestly, how could they be when they were so personal and vivid? Days, months, years, all would pass her without truly knowing herself. Her age was lost to her, not knowing when it was she had been born or for that matter to whom.  This night stood still young before all people, only beginning its journey before once more shying itself for day’s passage. Alone within her room she sat in the darkness. The cold wall to her back and a few thread worn blankets to sit upon that she had known forever and a night.
From the passage outside her locked door she could hear the steady thump of heavy steps. Steel toed boots that crashed upon the stone walkway in route to her. There was more than one coming, she could tell by the echo alone, hence she braced herself for whatever was about to come. No fear in her eyes, no pain or sorrow to be shown. Emotion after having long been lost to this once angelic face. The heavy wooden door swung open with a loud wham that echoed from its collision with the wall behind it. Light assaulted her eyes making her squint until they adjusted. Events happened swiftly and before she could react to the question she never heard, a hand with stoned rings crashed upon her cheek and across her face.

“ I’ll repeat myself, child. Where is it? What have you done with it? “

This was the master’s lackey speaking, the one who always did stupid things and blamed the outcome on her as though she could actually do anything. Another hand in the form of a balled up fist made contact with her body. She was thrown against the wall and held there up off the floor by two others as the man once more hit her in the stomach almost causing the small body to curl up into itself as it hung there.

“ Come now my Blossom, my little wretch, be a good girl and tell us where it is because if you do not, well let us just say you will not like the consequences. “

Master stepped in through the door and up behind the smaller, rounder man. His eyes burned with anger, his lip sneered with determination to see this through till he got what he wanted.

“ I.. I do not know what you are seeking My Lord, I am sorry “

Her voice, a trembled mass, only served to have her lashed with leather across the front of her body and her face meet with another assault. Warmth trickled down the near snow white flesh, her crimson blood seeping from a gash caused by one of the rings the lackey wore. Thrown to the bare floor upon her knees she was whipped with the leather across her back in punishment for a crime she never committed. She never once made a sound other than her breathing which became laboured, but twilight was soon to be shattered by a pitched scream. Her voice rang out for the first time in years, the pain had been more than she had learned to ignore, the lash of that steel cane as it connected with her wrist and hand. Blossom had heard the bones crack, one almost splitting through the flesh that bound them. This one noise put a smile on the face of her Master, for it was the first time in years he knew his punishment would not go unfelt.
It would not be until later that night when her face was swollen and her eyes burned the tears of pain that any would come to her. The wounds would be tended, the now broken hand would be set. Anything needing stitches would receive them. This woman that tended her had been the only kind hand she had known, the only other than the face of the lackey and the Master that she had seen, unless the Master let his friends abuse her as he did. The woman was nameless to her but still she was her saint. Water brought to the lips, laced with something to ease the pain, to help her sleep. The maiden spoke softly to her, only a few words on why this was done. One of Master’s horses had been taken, also there was food and ale missing. I stared blankly for a moment.

“ Right, like this makes sense. I am locked in this room and cannot get out, what am I going to do with a horse? Pray tell, where would I hide it? Why do I always get the toads lashings...”

Her voice trailed off as she finally found a restless slumber there upon the floor. The woman would leave after she was done, the door would again be locked. Blossom slept without moving for hours. Noises from the main manor stirred her drugged mind slightly. The sound of running, of screaming, metal upon metal, it was all she heard before her mind was swept under with the weight of the medicine. Day would come and go, still none had come to her room and she remained lost in her haze, half conscience and half asleep. The sounds had faded, now it was almost eerily quiet.
Before the sun’s rise her slumber would be startled by the touch of wetness to her lips. Something slipping past to drip upon her tongue and down her throat as she tried to open her eyes enough to see more than the shadow that loomed over her.  There was no defeating the feeling that took hold of her. Sleep came, undisturbed, unhindered and dreamless. The Blossom kept in the dark would not awaken for another three days.
The body was stiff, the hand ached beyond reason, one eye was still swollen shut and her mouth felt like she had swallowed cotton.   Things felt odd to her, the floor not so hard, there was a smell all around her and light to greet her sight when she opened the one eye she could. The reaction was appropriate all though painful when she jumped upward and moved steadily backward until her body met the stone wall. Where was she? This was no longer the little dark room and there was no sign of anyone that she had ever heard of within the Master’s Manor.
A man by a fire turned around, laying his book to a table near him. Words beckoned someone from another room as he smiled to the terrified woman in the corner.

“ Do not be afraid young one, you are among friends now. “

Friends? The word was foreign to the mind, not understanding it at all. An older woman wandered in through the door only to clasp her hands together and smile at her.

“ Oh goodness, she finally came around. I thought we had lost her to the darkness somewhere along the way here “

Confusion set into the eye of the small young woman whose body slid down the wall to sit on the floor. The older woman gasped seeing the weakness in the child’s body and rushed to her, hands coming gently around  her to help her up, only at first the quick motion was met with a stiff body that cringed a moment or two.

“ Where am I and who are you? Master will be so mad that I am not there.  Or did he sell me to you so he could replace the stolen items I was blamed for, the ones I never took “

The man and woman looked at one another, you could see it written upon their faces that this was not the case.  The woman taking Blossom’s good hand and supporting her body with the other, helped her back over to the bed she had been resting upon the past few days. Settled within, both people pulled chairs closer to her without making her uncomfortable. It would be the man who spoke as the woman unwrapped the broken hand to ensure it was healing right.

“ No child, we did not buy you. We set you free. You see, the Master of that house was not a very nice man, never had been but he was the ruler of this land and many were scared to go against his armies. We knew you were there, but only because the young lady that tended to you when you were hurt, was our daughter, Sonya. Sadly, she is no longer with us because of him. It was the last that any in the city could handle and so we stormed the Manor and killed the master and his closest men. The people here have been planning this revolt for a long time, but the last time Sonya came home she told us of the conditions you were left in. We held a meeting with the heads of the great families in this city shortly after. Liberating you and any other that was held against their will was now the high priority considering the pain he had inflicted. Sonya was killed for telling you why you were beaten and for giving you medicine to dull the pain you felt. “

Her heart ached in that moment, her eyes closed and she lowered her head. Strands of pure white slipped forth over her eyes and face as she mourned the loss of so generous a woman.

“ She was the only kind hand I have known, I am sorry she was killed because of me. I submit myself to you now, that you may balance her death with my own. “

The woman dropped the bowl of water she held in her hand. Both now sat before her stunned to think that this young girl would think herself so expendable. The man rose with a sigh and shook his head before retrieving something  from the table and coming back to sit.

“ No Angel, that is not what we wish to do. “

Staring blankly a moment her face rose up to look upon the man with confusion. Angel? Had he called her that or did she merely think he did? The thoughts must have been apparent on her face as she sat there because he merely smiled a little and opened the book that he held, speaking again with that same gentle voice.

“From your look I will guess you never knew your name. Then I will venture that you also did not know you have a family. “

The shake of a head stopped him.

“ No My Lord, you are mistaken. My family was killed by the man because I tried to escape once. He thought I went back to them, found my way home somehow. He told me if I ever tried it again he would kill me by sticking me in the hot sun tied to a wooden stake with slits cut into my flesh deep enough that they would not heal without stitching, and spread honey over me so that the insects would come to eat me alive. I never tried again. “

Both now merely stared at her in shock before he again cleared his throat and shook his head.

“ No, he did not kill your family my dear. Sadly your Mother and Father are no longer living, killed in a vicious attack, but there is one member that is still living. “

Dead, they were already dead, why did it hurt when she thought them to be dead to begin with. There had always been some hope though, hope that the man was bluffing to make her think he had done it and that they were still alive somewhere hoping she would come back to them. Vibrant eyes widened as she looked to him.

“ Living?”

The man nodded and smiled at the sudden renewed brightness to her eyes. He now holding up the leather bound book to show her before laying it to the bed at her side.

“ Read  it for yourself my dear, it has everything in it that you could possibly need to know. “

“ I cannot read My Lord. I do not know anything, was never taught. “

Only a child who had been broken beyond reality could feel shame for something she had no control upon, yet there she sat, head lowered in shame of herself for not knowing the most simple of things. The man nodded and understood. An almost fatherly hand was laid to her shoulder with a gentle squeeze of reassurance. He told her that before she left them she would know everything a proper Lady should know, and some other things that many would never think a Lady to know.  
They made good on their word, more than any could ever think. She was schooled in reading, writing, math, art, music, science and languages. Everything she would need to know was told to her and taught to her by fine tutors and scholars that the family has used for their own daughter. The once frail body now looked more like a woman. Everything had changed for her. She ate as she wished, dressed in fine gowns and other good clothing without holes or patched areas. Angel now knew her name and everything she was capable of knowing. Though the finest feat of this now refined woman was her mastery of sword, bow and staff. Hours upon hours spent learning and finely tuning the arts of war until there was no man, woman or child she could not best in a fight within the city.
It was then and only then that the people who had become like parents to her allowed her to venture to the world to find her only living relative... a twin sister named Shellisa. The dreams made so much sense to her now, the faces she saw, the one in particular that seemed to familiar to her. In a handful of years, life had gone from being property under the foot of another, to being a well disciplined and refined Lady the likes that any court would know.
Given two horses, a guide to accompany her and a few possessions that had become hers alone, Angel set out upon the roads to seek out the sister she could never really remember. Ripped from her twins arms at the age of 5 by a man whom had no claim upon her, now eternally 33, she  set out to find Shelissa  and reclaim the life she was to have known had it happened. It would take months to track her down after coming to the home their family once shared. Hearing things here and there that never turned out to be true until finally she found someone within a small tavern outside of a larger city, that mistook her for the Lady she looked for.

“ My sister is a Queen “

That was going to make meeting her all the more interesting. The plans were made though, to ride into the city at first light. Angel would wear her hooded cloak to keep herself hidden from sight of the people so that no one would make the mistake the man in the tavern had. Her guide would make case to see the Queen the next day, and for any amount of days it took until his Lady was received before the sister she had yet to really meet.
Night would pass and morning swept shades of pink and orange across the wakening skyline. She slipped into her best dress and placed a few gifts that had been given to her, upon her person. A ring that she may never forget those that helped her, a necklace that she may never forget the power within herself and a set of hair combs that she may always know her worth and beauty. With the horses ready they made way to the King and Queens castle. Unsure of the reception that she would receive, Angel mulled things through in her mind. Surely the sister would know her upon sight, although a few things had indeed changed within her. Her skin a soft paled hue, lighter than most people around from the lack of sun for all those years. Eyes that held a mysterious glow to them even in the dark. This woman held a presence within her that lead most to believe she was indeed nothing more than a harmless woman, when the truth behind those eyes could send chills through the most seasoned of warriors.
The world spun in more ways than it should that night. Her mind unable to find rest save for the meditation she drifted into. The smooth, deep envelopment held her in a placid state where she was both aware of everything and centered within. The thoughts that came to a standstill all revolved around the last thing she had spoken out loud; ~my sister is a queen~. Night’s uneventful passage would lead into the mornings water colored skyline as she rose from the bed where her body had remained through the silent hours. That morning routine worked though without a sound or disturbance as she turned and moved through the rhythmic stances of the training program she had been taught and practiced since the day after her body was finished healing. Washed and dressed and cloaked a knock came to her door followed by the voice of her escort.

“ I will meet you in the main room in a moment “

A gentle yes milady followed by the sound of footsteps left her once more in quiet. Leaning to the frame of the window, her eyes cast a gentle glance over the world beyond the window’s pane. The melding colors seemed so odd to her, was it the way they streaked, the new land that surrounded her or perhaps that she was looking upon the world as though through new eyes? At any rate, it was breathtaking to look upon, like a soft hued dye job that fades into white on silk. Angel shook her head an stood straight again, pushing from the window and nearly floating in that weightless stride towards the door. She stood a moment before a table in the room and lifted a vial to her lips after removing the stopper. A slight frown to the taste as she drank the hidden contents before once more replacing the stopper and putting the vial into the bag. A hand came heavy to the table as the mass within the cloak shook where it stood. A deep inhale brought her back upright before hands smoothed the dress and ensured the clock was still in place. Weapons and bag in hand she wandered from the room, that eerie glow even more present in her eyes.
The main room was near empty besides herself  and her escort who had been seated at a table with a few items ordered. His warm smile lifted to her as she joined him only to find he had ordered her breakfast just as she would have done. Two dried figs, a cup of hot water, some honey, a peppermint leaf and two hard tack  rounds of dried bread.  Into the water she placed the peppermint and the one fig as well as the honey, letting it settle and steep so she could drink it and then eat that fig which would have soaked in the minty sweetness. There was no conversation at the table while she cracked and ate one of the pieces of hard tack, the other having mysteriously vanished with the other fig. The escort rose up and bowed telling her he would gather the horses and ready them for the trip. Her things were taken, except for one sword that never left her side, she even slept with it laid beside her. The tea was drank and the moist fig eaten with a delicate motion so she could savour the sweetness that had seeped into it. Rising her hand slipped into a hidden spot within the cloak retrieving a few coins which were placed to the table in gratitude, knowing full well the bill had been settled already. Weapon in hand the set of eyes that remained in the room watched her as she wandered towards the door, never once revealing her face from the shadow of the hood.

Stepping out, oh that glorious scent of the world as it woke, how it tingled the senses with care as the suns ever rising rays dried the vegetation of its morning dew.  The horses were out and saddled, everything looked ready as she walked to the front of her prize steed, rubbing the skin along its cheek tenderly. The fig appeared once more within her hand, only to be lifted up and taken by the horse who ate it without a seconds thought to it. A pat to its side as she moved, the sight would indeed be one most had never seen as the horse came down upon its two front legs so that it was at an incline allowing her to get on without aid. A light clicking could be heard as the horse again rose up without effort as though not having a passenger upon it.  The escort upon his steed took up point as they left, always three steps before her and ready to handle anything that might happen.
The ride was as it always had been, silent, aside from the occasional snort of the horses and they rhythmic clop of their hooves to the dirt roads. The sky bled away the coils of color to leave a canvas of topaz blue dotted with puffs of white billowing clouds. It would be a beautiful day today, warm with a light breeze to keep the excess heat from building up. Angel watched as a flock of birds drifted through the heavens over head only to turn direction with ease, almost like a boomerang effect, before they all settled together at the top of one large oak tree.
Her ears picked up the sound of motion long before her escort or the horses would. It was a group, their horses road heavy which meant they were not small people and probably carried a good weight in weapons. Her ears trained even more towards the approaching people, her other senses starting to pick up on things as well. The wind was blowing at her back which carried the scent of the group, musky and heavy to the smell. They were all men. Men that did not care about appearance or state because they are bottom feeders. With a soft sigh she felt the horse rear a bit, the smell finally reaching his senses as well, in turn he becoming uneasy.  Her escort noticed it finally as he turned to look at her, he never spoke but she could see it in his eyes as he began to look past her to the oncoming mob.
The group of oncoming men had split up, she could hear one party of them riding their horses hard up the sidelines in the forest.  The look she conveyed to her escort led them to both slow their horses and come to a standstill. The horses in the woods had turned their direction after having passed them when they stopped.  The thieves were not stupid; they surrounded them in a circle formation to keep both her and her accompaniment in one place. There was only one thing Angel could see wrong with their plan, they didn’t give a thought to the fight they would get.
Never once did she flinch, not as they stopped or dismounted, not as they surrounded them or grabbed her escort so he couldn’t fight them. The cool, calm and collected exterior remained despite the coming promise of a fight. The escort couldn’t move from where he was or a dagger would pierce either side of his neck slicing straight through the arteries causing him to bleed out.  This whole time she had remained perched upon the black stallion that carried her, the cloak still up and hiding her face. Angel would normally not move when another barked orders at her to do so,  but seeing as the one who accompanied her was in danger she merely shoed the man’s hands away and dismounted her horse with all the grace and delicacy her form held within it. Even this, to the disappointment of the thieves, did not crack the calm facade.
One foul smelling man held fast, pulling arms behind her back and locking them there in his. Another, assumedly the head of the group, came up with a knife in hand and a sick grin on his dirty face. Leaning into her he yanked the hood down and trailed the top of his blade along her cheek, down her neck and to the base of her throat holding it there.

“  You don’t look happy sweetheart, don’t look happy at all. You should be thrilled, we saved you from a boring ride with the waif of a man over there “

Her eyes moved to look at the man before her, she never spoke but someone else piped up.

“ Hey man, that’s that guys woman... what’s his name. The King guy up in the next city. Oh man we could get a good reward for her, and probably some real good favour for catching her boy toy here. “

The guy’s words were slurred and he looked like he was sick with something.  Everything was lost to her though as the man with the knife in front of her let his hand roam on her, taking liberties he had no right to. This was the act that changed the look she gave to him as he spoke.

“ Oh in that case maybe we should have some fun before returning her, after all it isn’t every day you get your hands on royalty. “

A sneer came and passed upon her lips and before they could tell what was happening the man who held her arms behind her found himself tossed up and over her body and directly into the man before her. Standing straight again her hand came out with a fluid motion, repeatedly her actions echoed in groans and grunt or echoes of air being knocked out of each body. It did not take more than a handful of minutes to knock them all off their feet as she again straightened and smoothed her attire out. Angel looked to her escort to ensure he was still in one piece, only to find him leaning on the horse and pale as a sheet. What was this man with her for if he couldn’t handle a fight? Wasn’t he supposed to be the escort and not her?  The mind ticked away on the reasoning for having this person with her, all the time she was waiting for another rustle of the leaves from behind her, like the ones she heard before when the group of ill mannered men decided to attack. Another sound filtered into her ears as one of the ones she had dispatched already was rising up while pulling his sword from its scabbard.  Her one hand moved to the inside of her cloak pulling on a sash that was laced through loops on the inside only to stop dead in her tracks as the other rustle moved and something was sent through the air.
There was  a moment of pause in her movements as she released the end of the scarf  so that it was still in the cloak without showing. That smooth look of placid calm took over the face and person again as she looked over her shoulder a moment.

“ Thank you for your help Sir, but if I knew you were hiding in the tree line then I was most certainly aware of that man.  As you no doubt saw, unless you had your eyes closed, I am fully capable of looking after myself. ”

Turning slowly the cloak fanned out around her form. Those exotic blue eyes lifted to meet his gaze while noting what he wore, what he carried, how he held himself and how he spoke. The silence she gave now would linger a few minutes until the stranger managed to find his words and get over the momentary shock.
“ Y...yo...you knew I was their?  Who pray tell,  are you my dear lady? ”

His voice stammered slightly and he looked rather taken back by her knowing he was there. The eyes still glowed in that intriguing yet eerie manner against the paled near white skin of her face.

“ In some circles I am known as Dark Blossom, but to all others I am simply, Angel. “

The look upon his face made the cogs in her mind turn trying to figure out what it was he had become so entranced with. His eyes burrowing into her, not in a menacing or odd way, but as though he were coming to a personal realization with something that she said.

“ The people of this time call me Scabernac, My Lady. “

Standing there, for the first time during the whole of the fray, her expression changed to one of hesitated questioning.  Had she heard him correctly? He did state that this time they called him by that name.
“ In this life time? “

The words slipped from rosin lips before I even realized I had said them. In my mind I wondered what on earth had possessed me to say such a thing seeing as I did not know this man from any other. Yet there in the back of my mind something told me that there was no anger within him, not like that of any other I had met.

“ It is a long story my dear. Might I ask where you are going? “

“ I am on my way to see my sister, the Queen of this realm. We were separated when very young and I wish to reunite with her.  It too is a long story strange Sir ”

“The Queen you say... it never hurts to know who the rulers of a place are. May I offer you my arm and services and accompany you upon your journey?”

Angel had already turned and walked to the head of steed, hand brushing down his face and cheek while whispering things to him softly in a manner most would never understand. The horse seemed to be even calmer than when she was upon it. The tail flicked a little and he let out a somewhat happy snort as she pulled the hard tack bread from where she hid it and broke it in half allowing him to eat part of it. The horse ate and then without warning seemed to actually nudge into her with his head like a child would burrow to its mothers arms.

“ I do not normally trust those I just met, but if you had wished to kill me you have had ample opportunity to do so, Sir. You may come with us, though I know you have no horse so you will have to share....o dear “

A momentary thought came to her as she stood there looking between both horses. This would be awkward and hard to explain if she had to, but it was the only option.

“ You will have to ride Kabress with me, my escorts horse has never held the weight of a man in armoury, but  Kabress is strong, solid and easy going. I trained him since he was born and he has carried a load equal to that of three of you.  Though to save you face as a knight, you should take reins, would not want to put an odd look upon you in a new city being ushered by a Lady. “

There was a soft smile and the touch of her hand to his arm as she walked past him. Her lips parted to release the sound he knew and the horse lowered his front as he always did. After the man had settled, Angel slipped up to his back. Her hand grasping her cloak to pull some of the fabric around it so that she would not leave markings on the metal he wore. Hand about his waist she once more clicked her sound to the steed who instantly rose up as though there were no weight upon him at all. The escort had already mounted his horse and was riding a few yards in front of them. Angel was at a loss on what to say or even do as she rode along as a passenger on this horse. Quite amazing actually, Kabress had never allowed any other to so much as touch him, this man was actually commanding him, and Kabress listened without so much as a buck or hesitation. Again a smile crossed her lips as she remained hidden in the confines of her hood, hidden from prying eyes as she continued on to reunite with her lost twin.