Huntress in the Castle: Chapter One (rough draft)

One:

Once upon a  time, my Granny told me my fate rested in the forest. It was where I would find an evil meant for me. Now, every family had a different story they told their wee ones on why they should never ever go into the forest. Unlike those tales though, my Granny’s story turned out to be true. My Granny, you see, was an oracle. She could see into the future. She could see the things that other people couldn't.

She told me, many a time, that I should never ever go into the woods, that was, until I turned seventeen. She would tell me, “then, and only then will you be ready for what the forest holds. Because it is there, my precious child, that your destiny lies.” She smiled comfortingly, her gold tooth glinting in the light of the fire.

My mother would of liked to slap my Granny every time she told me this story. But it was too late to go back now. I knew what I had to do, and when to do it to boot. My Granny would tell me, yes, the evil in the woods was great and extremely powerful, but it was meant for me.

Now, as a wee tot this did sound a might scary. An evil meant for me? It was certainly something that gave me the shakes as a wee girl. But Granny had her reasons, and I never dared question her about it.

As I grew up, I knew I’d have to be ready to face this destiny of mine. So, with my brothers, I began learning how to use a knife, a bow, and several other weapons. Pretty soon, I became the best marksman in the village. And on my thirteenth birthday I killed a ten-point buck, got him right in the eye!

It was then my eldest brother fashioned me a sword. A short, stump of a sword, but the blade was thick and it was sharper than anything. I named it Grand Tooth, because that’s what it sort of looked like.

When I showed it to Granny, she smiled and nodded. “Ah! Now I recognize this.” And she said nothing else on the matter, no matter how hard I pressed.

Now, following Granny’s wishes, I never went beyond the giant oak if I ever went hunting in the woods. Any farther, I risked my destiny. But one evening, when I was fifteen, I sat in the high branches of the old oak. From there, I could see most of my brothers out hunting. I could give any one of them a good fright with one of my arrows if I wanted. As I was carving into the tree I heard a strange noise. Not an animal. Not anything I had ever heard before. It was quite possibly the saddest sound I‘d ever heard. A long low, painful cry, neither human or animal. I felt it in my bones, deep down inside of me, all the way to the root of my soul. Whatever it was, it’s heart was breaking.

“Fianna!”

I feel my breath leave me for a moment before I realized my brother is calling me.

“Ay?” I called back, somewhat breathlessly. My knuckles were white on a branch.

Niall waved at me from the bottom of the oak. “We’re heading home now. C’mon down.”

I wait for a moment, wondering if I could hear that sound again, but my brothers moving and coming out from their hiding drowns it all out. I climb down from the oak and trail behind my brothers. They think it is because we didn't kill anything that evening. It is only until we leave the woods, that I hear that mournful sound again.

It was waiting on me. It was calling me to hurry.

“Soon.” I whispered. “Just two years. Wait for me.”

“Fianna!” Niall shouts back to me. “Stop pouting and hurry up.”

I turn. “Coming, Niall.” I run after them, Niall catching me under his arm and roughing up my hair.

As soon as we reached home, I ran to Granny’s room and sat down at her feet, telling her about the mournful sound I heard.

“You might be right, child, it has been waiting on you for a very long time.” She was stitching up one of the twins’ shirts as she talked to me.

“Granny, what is it I am supposed to do when I go into the woods?” I asked, folding my arms under my chin on her lap. “Am I supposed to hunt? Or am I supposed to be merciful?”

She put her hand among my curls. “I cannot tell you, child.” She lifted my head up so that I sat straight. “That is up to this.” She then touched her finger to my chest, over my heart. “Only you know where your destiny lies. But like the rest of us, you don’t know what it is and what shape it will take. It is the discovery.”

She parted my hair with her fingers and brushed them through it. “It shouldn’t be much longer now. You still have some growing in you.”

I then stood, kissing her on the forehead. “Alright, Granny.”

She patted my hand. “Go fetch me some whiskey like a good girl.”

I sigh, shaking my head. “Just one glass now, Granny. You know what Niall told you.” I scolded her slightly as I went back out into the kitchen where all my brothers were sitting around the table, laughing and drinking before they went to bed.

“Be careful with that, Fianna.” Peader said to me as I poured Granny’s cup.

I splash some water in with the whiskey. “Just enough to make her sleep.” I said winking up to the third eldest.

Craig smiled at me then went back to the other four. Niall, D’Arcy, Peadar, Craig, and Finn, my five brothers. I wonder if Granny had told them about their destinies too, where they lay and what they might be after. I never told them about mine, so I suppose they could be keeping theirs secret as well.

After delivering Granny her whiskey, I went back to my room. Mostly, all I could hear were my brothers guffawing and braying. As I opened my window I could hear that sound again. Low and mournful, like something from a dream. I blew a kiss out into the night air, hoping to subdue it. Just two years, I reminded it. Just two years.

On my seventeenth birthday we had planned a hunting trip, all my brothers and me. Not only were we making our way into the deepest depths of the woods, but we were traveling all the way beyond it too. All the way to the ocean!

The journey to the seaside would be an easy one, for today at least. The weather would be at our backs, and the trail winding through the woods and over the mountain would be bright under the sun and the moon. My birthday had come at the most perfect time for the trip. Sunshine and full moons. It was meant to be. It was time! I just knew it was.

“You be careful, Fianna.” I turned to Granny, who was propping herself up in the doorway. “You do what Niall and your brothers tell you.” She scoffed, tapping her temple. Save for Finn and Craig, make sure those two listen to you.”

I walked back to the door and dipped her head to kiss Granny on the forehead. “I will, Granny, I promise.”

“Fianna!” Niall called.

I take a deep breath, trying not to cry. “I have to go now, Granny.”

She quickly caught my hand. “Please…Fianna…”

I studied her face, wondering what she meant by this. “Granny?”

“Fianna!” Finn and Craig were shouting to me now. Everyone was so excited to get started on the hunt and get to the sea to fish.

She released me and I turned to leave. What was she trying to tell me?

I mounted my horse, taking my place among my brothers, and after Granny said a prayer over us, we were off. “I’ll be home soon, Granny!” I called behind me.

When we came to the old oak, I hesitated. I stood there, wondering what was waiting for me and how long I’d have to wait on it.

“Come along, Fianna!” My brothers called for me.

I steeled myself, taking a deep, cold breath. I dug my heels into my horse’s side and off I went. Beyond the tree. Beyond returning. I had tears in my eyes. After all these years of waiting, I was on my way, head first into my fate.

We made our first scheduled stop for lunch, and to rest the horses, leading them to a stream to drink and graze.

“Come here, Fianna,” my youngest brother Finn said, taking me by my elbow. He pointed me beyond the trees and the rocky crags. “See there?”

I squinted my eyes then they widened. Nestled amongst the crag were pointed towers and tall parapets. I squeezed Finn’s hand. “A castle!”

“The old royal castle,” Finn said. “Before they built the one by the sea.” He rubbed his chin contemplatively. “They say witches live there now. Filling the halls with their monstrous demons and familiars.”

I smiled at him. “Is that the story Mum told you?”

“Oy?” Finn scoffed. “Ain’t that what Gran been telling you?”

“Nah, the castle is full of ghosts,” Craig chimed in. “All the old kings and queens roam the halls, searching for their missing heads and making the walls spew blood!”

“That’s just stupid!” Finn spat at his twin brother. “Walls can’t spew anything!”

“It’s better than witches and their demons,” Craig scoffed back.

“Whatever is in it, we’ll be passing by it this evening,” Niall added. “So why don’t you boys just go in and see who is home?”

They all suddenly grew quiet, and Niall and I looked at each other and laughed. It was a crazy notion to believe that anyone, even my brothers, would willingly set foot inside that castle considering all the stories they had built up around it, like a wall.

Even so, I couldn’t keep my eyes off the place. The old stone, turned green and brown from age and decay and the nature surrounding it. I could imagine the dark halls full of wild animals, little birds making nests in the mouths of statues. The garden, overgrown and wild, more a part of the forest than its own oasis anymore. It had once been a home someone loved, not it lay in ruin, forgotten. I wonder who loved that place so last?

The encampment we were supposed to stay at that night lay just beyond the castle. I’d be able to walk to it if I wanted, if my brothers would let me. There was no reason for me to be afraid of the place, Granny hadn’t filled my head with darks tales of the forest. I had never heard an ill word about the world, save for what I had been told by everyone else. And all their stories either contradicted one another, or voided each other out. I knew of the real dangers, wild animals, getting lost, starvation, hypothermia. An abandoned castle might have a few treacherous turns and rotting walls, but nothing serious as starvation and the ilk.

I had so built up the castle in my mind by the time we reached it in the early evening. Being near it felt like lightening and thunder boiling through me. I was being called to it, like a mother bear to her yowling cub. My heart was pounding so hard in my breast, I was sure my brothers could hear it. They all kept far from the gate, but I got my horse as close to it as I could, allowing my fingers to trail across the moss and ivy covered wall. And then, I stopped before the great, massive iron gate, all rust and dirt now.

My fingers slipped around the iron and I looked up, wide eyed and awed at the palace. My mouth went dry as it hung open, my heart had either stopped or was pounding like the wing of a hummingbird. I could smell the earth and the rust, the faint scent of roses. I so wanted to slip through the gate and explore inside. Oh how it ached my body to not go inside!

“Fianna,” Niall shouted over his shoulder.

Finn and Craig had stopped, watching me from a distance. D’Arcy and Peadar had stopped just short behind me, waiting to force me ahead should Niall command it.

“I just want to look.” I huffed like an irritated brat. “Can’t I just look at a place?” I gesture with my hands.

Niall rolled his eyes. “No harm in that. But don’t be going and getting any ideas, Fianna.”

I smiled towards Finn and Craig. “Aye,” I say with a wink as I turn my attention back on the palace.

“But we do have to keep going.” Niall called again.

I scoff and begrudgingly join back with Finn and Craig.

“Once we reach the encampment we all need to sleep as much as possible. We need to get up as early as the light first shines if we are to cover the ground we need.”

Finn leans towards me. “He makes this same speech every year.”

Craig can barely speak through his giggles. “If we are to make this trip in record time.”

“If we are to make this trip in record time.” Niall echoes.

“We will need everyone to work as a unit.” Finn continued.

Niall looked over his shoulder at us. “I will need the twins to stop mocking me.”

Finn and Craig straightened high up in their saddles, backs stiff, faces like slates, and I just laughed. Only Niall could put the fear of God into the twins.

Niall waved his hand forward. “Fianna, come to the front with me.”

I look to the twins, shrugging to them, and then strode up beside Niall. He looked over at me for a moment before turning to look ahead.

“Now Fianna,” He began.

I sigh. “I know what you are going to say.”

A dark brow arches.

I stiffen my back and arms, gripping the reigns as if pushing a wheelbarrow, mimicking Niall in his saddle perfectly. “You need to stay close to me, Fianna, while at the camp.” I said with his rasp and slightly thicker accent. “There are all sorts of nasty, ugly, drooling men there and who knows what they would do to a pretty lass like you.”

Behind us the others are laughing.

“Well…” Niall clears his throat. “Yes. Exactly that.” He then snaps me a knowing look. “And no wandering off!” He points to me then the twins.

My shoulders arch back when he says this.

“I mean it.” Niall sniffs. “I know the stories Granny has been filling your head with. I know this is your first time away from home. But I beg of you, Fianna, do not wander away from the camp!”

I sigh heavy. “Alright. Fine! For it shall be and forever remain your way."

His stare at me then grows dark. His voice takes on a far different tone. “And no going back to the castle.”

I reveal myself then in my annoyance with my brother. “What is so wrong with wandering around an empty castle?” I blurt.

I hear Finn hiss behind me.

I rub my face then, realizing my mistake.

“I thought so.” Niall chuckled, petting my hair.

I scowled at him. No one knew me better, aside from Granny, than Niall. He knew exactly what I was thinking. I suppose, had it been aligned so, and his hair not so dark, we could have been twins like Craig and Finn. We both had the same wild curls of our mother, and the cool brown earthen eyes of our father. We thought the same, Niall and I. And we stood out amongst our brothers as special.

“You will pass by that castle a million times in your lifetime.” Niall replied coolly to me, realizing he must of bruised my feelings. “And soon, it will be nothing more than a part of the travel, like the lake or the encampment. It will simply just be there to you.”

Oh how I wish that could be true,  I thought.

It was dark by the time we reached the encampment. Before we found it, I could smell the fires and the food cooking, not to mention the strong smell that men seem to give off. As we came into the field that served as the encampment home, I was surprised by how big it was. It was almost like a small village of tents and bonfires. There were men playing instruments, singing, laughing. There was a man juggling fruit, another man walking on hot coals.

“Be careful,” Peader whispered, riding up beside me. “There are more than just other hunters here. There are thieves and the dishonest among them.” His slick black hair stood out amongst all my other brothers who were either curly or red. “There are the Wanderers as well.”

“Wanderers?” I asked. I had seen some when I was little, when they passed through our village selling their wares and putting on shows. Granny would always take me, talking to them in a language she never used with us.

“Aye,” Peader dismounted his stallion then stood beside me, holding his arms up so I could place my waist into his hands and he helped me down. “I know you better than you think.”

Peader was so much like our mother, quiet and all knowing.

I nodded. “Alright.”

He smiles at me, taking the reigns of my horse along with his and he took them to a small clearing for everyone’s mount.

I was then flanked by Craig and Finn, who looped their arms with mine, leading me away from the rest.

“Where are you kooks taking me?” I asked, all but giddy to be taken away by them.

“The Wanderers often sell jewelry.” Finn explained.

“We thought, for your birthday, you ought to have some.”

My eyes got wide. Wanderers! Oh, I have always wanted to meet them again. Such free and beautiful people, like our father.

As we perused the Wanderers’ carts and I fingered fine handmade jewelry and clothing I came upon a small, curtained alcove that smelled richly of incense and smoke.

“That be the fortune teller.” Finn whispered.

“Like Granny?” I asked.

Finn shrugged. “Ain’t no one like Gran.”

Craig pushed my shoulder. “Go in!”

I looked at him, wide eyed and mistrusting. They had pushed me into things before to get my goat, both figuratively and literally.

Finn bobbed his head excitedly. “Go on.”

I roll my eyes and push passed the scarves and curtains. I was assaulted my perfumed smoke, and waving it away from my face, I saw sitting in dim light, a beautiful woman. I wondered if Finn and Craig knew how lovely she was. Her dark hair falling around her smooth, heart of a face like cupping hands. And her eyes, a rich reddish brown soft and sharp all at once.

Her dark lips curled into a smile and she reached out to me with a hand covered in glittery jewels and gold. “Come in, Fianna.”

I hesitate. “Oh wow.” I whisper.

Her smile grows, showing a gold tooth that sat in the same spot as Granny's.

I take a seat on a satin pillow and she guides my hands onto the table. She smoothes them out, dabbing a fragrant oil in my palm. Smoke coils up around us like vines, blossoming almost without breath.

“This is your first time away from your village.” She says, her accent is different, it doesn't sound like mine or even the Wanderers’.

I nod, holding in my breath.

“That isn’t a trick.” She laughs. “That is obvious.”

I laugh with her.

Her eyes dart over me and she smiles again. This time it is soft and knowing. I can’t help but feel she knows me already. “Fianna, you are drawn to the old castle.”

I look into her eyes, feeling as if I was a book with fast turning pages.

“Extremely drawn!” She gasps. “It hurts you to be so far away from your home.”

I open my mouth to question.

“Your Granny is a very wise woman.” She curls her left hand up under her chin, balancing herself against the table. “She knew what she was doing with you.” Her finger taps the tip of my nose. She smells of patchouli and earth.

“Thank you,” Is all I can make myself say.

She chuckles, a dark husky laugh. “Make sure you do exactly what she told you. Listen to your brothers, save for the two right outside.”

I turn and look, seeing Finn and Craig’s shadows.

“Make them listen to you.” The fortune teller whispers.

I turn back to her. “My Granny tried to tell me something before I left. Can you tell me what it was?”

The fortune teller looked contemplative for a moment, her eyes drawn back, tapping her fingertips to her lips. “Yes.” She looked back up to me. “I can tell you.”

“How much?” I ask, reaching for my purse.

She shook her head. “Oh no, no. no.” She chuckled. “You have been paid for, for a very long time.”

"I- what...paid for I don't-" She raises her hand and silences me immediately.

“She was going to tell you how much she is going to miss you.”

I open my mouth slightly.

“You are going to be gone for a very long time, Fianna,” the woman whispers. “You won’t make it to the sea with your brothers. Not this time.” She cups my cheek. “She loves you.” The fortune teller then looked behind me. “You should go now.”

I shake my head. “I don’t understand.”

She smiles, and for a moment she looks exactly like my Granny. “Life isn’t supposed to be understood at first.”

I am outside her tent, Finn and Craig look expectantly at me.

“I can’t say.” I said. “I promised.”

They grunted aggravated. “That wasn’t any fun!” Finn huffed.

I looked back to the tent as we walked away. We left the Wanderer camp and back to our own. There were several people joined around our bonfire, all looking to Niall who spoke with his most authoritative voice.

To the aside, a group of younger men were in a circle whispering and laughing. This was the group we joined.

I was barely listening to them. I was still focused on the fortune teller and Granny. It was as if they had both been speaking to one another. Considering Granny that was extremely possible.

“Oh no, I don’t think we should.” Craig’s voice suddenly broke through to me.

When had he ever turned something down?

“Niall would have our asses.” Finn said.

When did he worry about that?

A young man wearing a deerskin cap laughed. “Suits you, we’ll be going.”

“Going?” I look between my brothers. “Going where?”

Finn shook his head, Craig remained quiet.

“To the castle?” Deerskin said. “You gonna stay with your brothers?”

My lips parted and I breathed in patchouli. “No.”

Finn and Craig snapped at me. “No?”

“We should go.” I said to them. “Forget Niall.” A smile spreads across my lips and I laugh. “Forget him! He’ll never know where we went. We go and come back. What does it hurt to keep a secret?”

Finn was still shaking his head. “If he finds out we took ya there with this lot-"

“He will kill us.” Craig snaps sternly. “He may of said a million times he’d kill us for the things we do, but he might actually do it this time.” Craig laughed nervously.

“When have you two ever been chicken of him?” I laugh. “We have to go! It’s my birthday. Please?”

“Listen to the girl.” Deerskin and the other men laughed.

Finn and Craig exchanged nervous looks.

“Listen to me,” I command, and when they looked at me I felt as if there was a hand on my back tugging me to my fate. “Let’s go. I promise, nothing bad will happen.”