In the Beginning
Part 4
When
I finally came to, I was more than horrified to find myself lying on a bed in
the typical maid outfit, replete with feather duster and little white cap.
"Why, that dirty little...!" I began, sitting up and slinging the
duster down onto the floor. I was halfway out of the uniform when I realized I
didn't see my own clothes around anywhere.
"Looking
for these?" came Dove's voice from the doorway. I looked in her direction
and she stood holding my favorite floppy sweatshirt with my white turtle neck
and faded jeans with my mid-tops.
I
sighed exasperatedly. This was my favorite outfit to date and nothing to be
trifled with. "Gimme my clothes, Dove." I said, as I tugged the
uniform back on.
"Make
me," she smirked.
"I
don't make monkeys, I just train 'em," I responded with a smirk. Dove
raised an eyebrow in mild surprise, then casually tossed my clothes in the
fireplace.
"No!!!"
I hollered, leaping to the floor and sprinting over to the fireplace. But it
was too late. The worn material from the hooded sweatshirt I had bought with my
own money and lived in nearly every winter day since that went up in smoke,
along with the turtleneck, jeans and the new shoes. With an angry snarl, I
turned on Dove.
"Na-oooo-miii!"
she yelled. Just as I was about to wring the little brat's neck, a firm grasp
on the back of my neck stopped me.
"Bad
move," came Naomi's voice. She squeezed her fingers into my shoulder until
I was forced to kneel down in my anguish.
"Beg
my forgiveness," said Dove sweetly.
"Please
forgive me for not realizing you were a little piece of rat dung sooner."
I replied in the same tone she'd used. Naomi pinched the nerves in my shoulder
even harder and I grimaced in pain.
"No,
that's not good enough, Naomi," said Dove, shaking her head. "Perhaps
it's time you tortured her little friend some more..."
"What?!"
I demanded angrily.
"Well,
what did you expect me to do while you were asleep?" she replied, turning
for the door.
"Alright,
alright, I beg your forgiveness!" I said desperately. She paused at the
door.
"Miss
Dove," she added, whirling around dramatically to look at me.
I
nearly bit my tongue off in sheer hatred. "Miss Dove," I
muttered.
"Good.
Now get over to my bed and make it up," said Dove.
I
looked from her to Naomi, then I slowly got up, went over to the bed and began
to fold the sheets down.
"Clean
this entire room and polish all my shoes by the time I get back." she
directed. "Then you can do Mummy's room."
"Yeah,
sure I'll get right on that," I murmured sarcastically.
Then
you can do Mummy's room, I mocked to myself as they left. She must be
kidding! I dropped onto the bed to collect myself for a moment. This was
terribly upsetting. I realized I'd never actually ben this adventurous, but I
had hoped writing adventurous things would've made up for that by now. So why
in the world wasn't I winning? Wasn't I saying the things I always thought I'd
say, doing all the daring moves I thought a character in my story would have
done?
Wait
a minute, I thought to myself, that's it! If all these characters are
here, then somewhere around here must be another me! Maybe if I could get her
help or even find some of my nicer characters like Target and Robin...but
first, I gotta find Chris and get the heck outta Dodge! How, I don't know, but
I'm out like trout, man.
I
walked over to the door and cracked it a little. I could see Naomi standing
guard with a crossbow near a window less than 3 feet from the door. The moment
she heard the door creak, she looked up and raised her crossbow in my direction.
I quickly shut it, but not before the tip of a quarrel edged through.
"I
don't think you wanna come out just yet," I heard Naomi say.
Not
through that way, anyway, I thought, gasping a little. I ran over to the
terrace in Dove's room and leaned over the parapet. I could see the window and
another one below it. I could also see the ground and the moat of the castle I
was in and I was sure I didn't want to fall and hit either of them.
Well,
I thought, I could climb out to Naomi's window, jump her by surprise and
pray I don't fall, or I could climb out and down to the next window and pray I
don't fall. Not much of a choice either way, but I wasn't sure I wanted to
risk climbing downward. I mean, I had to be a good 5 stories up!
Completely
disregarding my skimpy maid's uniform, I grabbed for the ivy growing on the
castle walls next to me. I gave it a good tug to check its sturdiness and it
seemed to be fairly strong, so I swung out onto it. I waited for a few seconds
to see if I was about to fall, but common sense told me I'd be better off in
motion. I inched my way over to the window Naomi was by, holding my breath each
time I grabbed another vine. As I finally reached the window, I realized I had
nothing to hit her with.
Greeeeat,
I thought sarcastically, this is going rather well! Guess I better go back
and get a vase or something easy to carry.
I
reached for the vine I had just been on...and it snapped in my grasp, sending
me yelling and tumbling down the side of the castle. The vine slowed my fall
some, so that by the time I hit the moat, I felt like I'd just jumped off the
high dive. I scrambled back to the surface and gasped for air, then made my way
to the side of the castle and pulled myself onto the 2 foot wide strip of land
surrounding it. I looked across to the other shore and sighed. Although it was
only about 20 feet across, it looked like 100 to me. I sighed, realizing I'd
have to swim it after I'd rested a moment.
My
legs were still dangling comfortably in the murky water when something brushed
past my leg. I looked down, then yanked myself to a standing position against
the wall. A group of alligators had followed me to the edge and had been
swimming closer to me as I'd sat there.
Well,
I thought, that kills that idea. Now how do I get across? As I leaned my
head against the wall to take in the drop I'd just taken, I saw Naomi looking
down at me with a grin. My eyes opened wide in shock as my mind began whirling
in an attempt to figure a way out of what she was planning.
"Don't
move," she said. "I'll be right down and lower the drawbridge for
you."
About
that same time, I realized that I was leaning against the drawbridge.
Ohhh,
crap!!!, I thought, trying to quickly and carefully move myself across the
strip of land without slipping into the water. As the bridge began to crank
down, I found myself still a good 10 feet away from its path. I'd either be
crushed or eaten alive. Finding neither choice acceptable, I dropped to my
stomach and began army crawling across the muddy strip. Please, God, I
prayed silently, let me make it to the side, please let me make it...
By
the time my head reached the edge of the huge door, it was only an inch or two
away from crushing me. I quickly turned over on my back and grabbed the side of
the bridge, then swung my legs off the edge of the strip I was on into the
water. The bridge was a good foot-and-a-half thick, though, and I was extremely
slippery from crawling in the mud, so when Naomi strolled out onto the bridge,
I was still trying desperately to pull myself up without letting the alligators
get at my legs. She crouched down next to me with a laugh.
"Ahhh...need
any help?" she asked.
"This
isn't as easy as it looks, so if you don't mind...?" I replied.
"Oh,
sorry," she returned. She sat down on the bridge near me facing the castle
and began whistling casually as she whipped out a dagger from her boot. I eyed
her warily in my struggle as she sat testing its sharpness, cleaning her nails
with the tip and letting the sunlight glint off of it. Suddenly, she threw the
dagger into the wood of the bridge less than an inch from my face. I jumped
back slightly, almost losing my grip as it vibrated in place like a metronome
gone haywire.
"I'm
not disturbing you, am I?" she asked, as if truly concerned.
"No,"
I squeaked, then cleared my throat. "I'm fine." I sat staring at the
dagger and, still whistling, she pulled it from the wood and looked at it
again, as if ignoring me.
"I've
got really good aim," she said, talking to me as if we were sitting at a
coffee house. "Even at a distance, I could make the same shot. In fact, I
could come a lot closer to hitting you than I did by, say...half an inch?"
She threw the dagger again without even looking, and this time, I did my best
to hold my position, which was a little above the water, but barely on the
bridge. True to her word, the dagger came half an inch closer to me. "See
what I mean?" she grinned, pulling it out again. "And this puppy's
sharp, too." She grabbed a few strands of my hair and yanked them
painfully out, then, dissected them into even thinner pieces.
"Well,"
she sighed, "I did say you were gonna pay eventually, didn't
I?"
"Uh...yeeee-ah,
but I don't think now's the time to put that into effect," I said,
nervously. "I mean, things were kinda heated then, you're a little upset
right now and maybe if you just relax a little and think about what you're
saying here..."
"Oh,
but that's the choice part," said Naomi, raising the dagger and squinting
one eye to aim. "I have thought about this moment." She paused
and tilted her head around the dagger. "A lot," she added,
with a grin.
Just
as I was sure I was about to get shishkabobed between the eyes, a bright beam
of light flashed overhead and disintegrated the dagger in Naomi's hand. We both
jumped, but one of us ran into the castle and the other, namely me, fell back
into the moat I had been trying to avoid.
"Hellllp!
Somebody helllp!" I hollered, floundering wildly as the alligators
swarmed about me. One came directly at me and I screamed at the top of my lungs
and closed my eyes in terror. I felt a sudden yank on the back of my dress,
then nothing.
"Ain't
yeh even gonna look at the man 'o saved yeh skin?" came a friendly
voice. I opened one eye, then the other and found myself dangling in the
powerful grip of Target the bounty hunter. He was just as I had imagined him,
too; 6-foot-4 with black leather clothes and his energy gun and, of course, his
hair, which was ringed black and white like a bullseye, except for his closely
cut beard. "Are yeh alright?" he asked, his voice sounding like a
combination of an Australian and an Englishman.
"I
am now," I gasped, as he set me down. "Thanks."
"Yeh've
always worn some strange things, luv, but this outfit tops 'em all," he
replied, looking at my dripping maid's uniform.
"That
little wench Dove decided I was gonna be her new maid instead of Chris, so she
took my clothes and burned 'em," I griped. Target looked over my head, then grabbed me by the arm and began
running. "Wench she may be," he began, "but she doesn't seem to
like having 'er hired help escapin'."
"Wha...?"
I began, looking over my shoulder as we ran. Behind us were several guards, led
by Naomi, all wielding crossbows. "Eeek!" I said, hurrying to
match Target's stride. Then I suddenly remembered Christine.
"Hey,
what about Chris?" I gasped as we ducked into the forest to avoid the
quarrels flying around us.
"We'll
'ave to come back fer 'er." came the reply. "Can't very well go in
roight now, kin we?"
"Good
point," I returned, looking back at our pursuers.
"She's
been in spots like this before and she's a bright girl, she'll can handle
'erself 'til we get back," Target reassured me.
"I
hope so," I said, as we headed for the black and white striped castle in
the distance.