Chapter 10

Erin and Lark had chosen a room in a secret passage for their date for the evening. Everyone thought they were asleep. Torches burned in sconces in the walls and they sat on blankets Lark had managed to sneak from the laundry room.

They snacked on bread, cheese, and wine as they enjoyed themselves.

“What would your father do if I asked him for your hand in marriage?” Lark asked.

Erin laughed, “You know what he told you before. First, he will inquire how you managed to get into the castle, and then he will have you thrown out or worse, into the dungeons.”

“I am being serious,” Lark said.

“And so am I,” Erin replied. “What makes you think he will change his mind?”

“I don’t know. But if we see him together, perhaps he will understand,” Lark persisted.

Erin shook her head. “You do not know my father. We are commoners just like you. But father has worked hard for many years to be rewarded with these lands by the King. He wishes to ensure it will remain in the family after he passes. The only way to do that is to ensure that I marry into royalty. If I am to marry you, it will disgrace my father and the family. The King will never let these lands pass to a commoner he does not favor.”

“What are we to do then?” Lark asked. The frustration in his voice was clear.

“There is only one option,” Erin said.

“Which is?” Lark asked curiously.

“We have to elope.”

“Elope?” Lark asked incredulously. “Elope? Where to?”

“Who cares? We will find somewhere to settle, Lark. I love you more than anything but my time grows short. Unless we elope I will soon have to bow to my father’s demands and marry who he chooses.”

Lark was quiet as he contemplated Erin’s words. He sighed eventually. “When do you want to elope?”

“My father is away now. I do not know when he shall return but we must leave as soon as possible. Tomorrow night if we can.”

“Tomorrow night?” Lark asked, surprised. “So soon?”

“Yes,” Erin said taking Lark’s hands. “The sooner the better. I hope my father will not be back by tomorrow evening. He is watching me like a hawk now. It might be harder to get away.”

Lark looked unconvinced.

“What is it?” Erin asked.

“Are you sure you’re okay to run away with me?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Erin asked.

“Because if you do, you will leave this life of comfort behind. I cannot offer you this,” Lark said emphatically.

“Oh, Lark. It’s not this that I want. This doesn’t make me happy. You do,” Erin said as she leaned forward on her knees.

“Do you mean that?” Lark asked.

“Yes,” Erin whispered as she leaned in to kiss Lark. He kissed her back and looked deep into her eyes.

“You know I will strive my whole life to give you this,” Lark whispered.

“You can try and you can succeed. As long as I am with you, I will be happy,” Erin whispered in reply again and kissed Lark again.

Lark closed his eyes as he kissed her back.

Then, as they kissed something strange began to happen. A soft breeze seemed to enter the room with them. Sometimes a soft breeze passed through the passages briefly. They did not know where the breezes came from but they would disappear as suddenly as they arrived.

This time though, the breeze did not wane as it usually did. It grew in strength and as they kissed it tugged at Erin’s long golden hair, swirling it around their faces. They thought it odd but did not stop kissing for the kiss was more important. The breeze increased further in strength and finally, Erin and Lark broke their kiss as they could no longer ignore the breeze that was now a wind. It gathered strength further but appeared to be confined to the room in which they were. It clung to the walls but the torches in sconces on the walls did not flutter. It was as if they existed in a world beyond the wind. Soon, the wind blew so hard they had to shout to make themselves heard.

“What’s happening?” Erin asked fearfully.

“I don’t know,” Lark shouted back. “It must be magic!”

“Yes, but who’s magic?” Erin shouted.

“I don’t know!” Lark replied. He reached out to touch the wind and a line appeared in the howling gale that surrounded them. Lark extended his other fingers and they all drew lines in the gale that circled them. Despite the strength of the wind, Lark’s fingers were not tugged along with it when he pushed them into it.

Erin pulled Lark away from the wind and held him close. “Don’t do that!” she exclaimed. As they huddled together in the eye of the hurricane that confined itself to the chamber they began to see images in the wind.

Erin saw her father in what looked like a cabin. He stood with an incredibly beautiful woman. She wondered who the woman was and why her father was with the woman. Her father seemed to be observing the woman. The woman’s head was thrown back but as they watched she lifted her head. Her eyes had rolled back in her head and in that instant, she realized the woman was a witch.

Her eyes were drawn to what the woman held before her in her hands. Lark was looking too and Erin pointed to the object.

“What is it?” he cried above the howl of the wind.

Erin reached out and her fingers entered the wind. They seemed to snag the object and as Erin pulled her hand back the object seemed to come with it. They realized Erin somehow held an image of the object the witch held.

“That’s my shirt!” Lark said as he recognized the material.

“That’s my hair!” Erin exclaimed.

“What’s the red? Is it… blood?” Lark asked.

As they watched the image disintegrated and seemed to be sucked back into the hurricane.

“She is casting a spell,” Erin cried.

“What? Why?” Lark cried confused.

“I don’t know but I think they’re casting a spell on us,” Erin cried.

Lark felt his blood run cold. “Get out! Get out now!” he cried.

Erin looked at him bewildered.

“Go!” Lark cried again and pushed Erin to the entrance of the chamber. The wind shrieked louder and she seemed to bounce off it as if were a solid wall.

Lark tried and was repulsed as well. He bounced back and fell to the floor on the far side of the chamber. Erin made as if to approach him but then stopped as her face took on a look of terror.

At the same time, Lark felt a dizziness sweep through him. His vision started to change. It seemed to narrow as if it became super focused and then it became normal again. At the same time that his vision narrowed everything became black and white and his hearing ability increased immensely so he had to clamp his hands over his ears. As he did so he felt fur on his hands. In one instant it was there and in the next, it was gone.

He pulled one hand away from his ear and looked at it. He watched as it alternately changed from a hand to a claw.

It was then that he realized the shrieking had changed. He looked beyond his hand and saw Erin on the opposite side of the chamber. Her hands were balled into fists in front of her mouth as she shrieked in horror.

Lark moved toward her but she screamed even louder. “Get away from me! Get away from me! No! Please no!” Lark hesitated. For an instant he could not understand why Erin was so terrified of him and then he realized that he must look like something strange. Even worse, something horrific. If he could see his hand changing to a claw and back, what was the rest of him changing into every time his hand changed?

He paused and tried to calm Erin. “Okay, okay,” he said holding up his hands in surrender. “I won’t come any closer,” As he spoke part of the sentence came out in his normal voice and part of it as a growl. The growl was actually a roar given that he was trying to shout above the howling wind. He began to retreat so that Erin would calm down but she remained terrified and continued to scream until she buried her face in her hands and cried.

Then, gradually the hurricane diminished and soon the wind stopped altogether. Lark’s vision returned to normal and he studied his hands. They were no longer changing to claws and back again. They were… well, just his hands.

Relieved he tried began to crawl closer to Erin.

“Erin,” he whispered. She sat with her face still buried in her hands. She was so terrified that Lark did not think she had realized the hurricane had ended. “Erin,” he whispered again.

She continued sobbing in the corner. He reached her and softly he put out his hand to touch her arm. She flinched and retreated into the corner until she could retreat no more.

“Erin, please. It’s gone now. It’s over,” he said.

Finally, she calmed enough to raise her head. She looked at Lark with undisguised fear. Her eyes searched him and then she rose to her knees and took his face in her hands. She seemed to be studying him, making sure it was him and not some trick of magic or her mind.

“It’s okay,” he said again. He took her face in his hands too and then pulled her close. He hugged her and let her calm down. “What did you see?” he asked as he stroked her hair.

“It was awful. The most frightening thing I have ever seen. You became a… a… monster.”

“I’m no monster. I promise you that,” Lark whispered as he held her tight. She sniveled and trembled as her crying slowly subsided and then she looked into his eyes. “What happened?” she asked.

“I have no idea,” Lark said. “I think your father was with a witch. I think the witch has cast a spell on us.”

“You mean my father asked the witch to cast the spell?” Erin asked.

“I think so,” Lark said as he recalled the image he saw. “I had a square of material cut from one of my shirts. I don’t know who did it but, in the image, there was a square of material just like the one that’s missing from my shirt.”

“But if my father was with a witch, it means he was having a spell cast on us.”

“Why us?” Lark asks.

“Because the hair was mine, the shirt was yours. I don’t know what the red stain was. He warned me to stay away from you,” Erin said as she looked at the floor trying to understand what had happened.

“Wait, your father warned you to stay away from me?” Lark asked.

“Yes,” Erin said. “The same night he caught you at the ball.”

“You never told me,” Lark said.

“Would it have made any difference?” Erin asks.

“I guess not,” Lark replied.

“He knows,” Erin says.

“Knows what?” Lark asks.

“He knows that you and I are still seeing each other. He knows we have ignored him and now he has put a spell on us.”

“A spell?”

“Yes! That’s why we saw the witch. He went to see the witch to have a spell put on us.”

“What kind of spell?” Lark asks.

“How would I know? Stop it with all the questions!” Erin said angrily. “I’m trying to think!”

“Whatever the spell is, it doesn’t matter. Tomorrow night we’ll be gone and no-one will be able to do anything to us,” Lark said.

Erin looked up at Lark and smiled. “Yes. You’re right. Tomorrow night we get out of here. We will never come back and we will never have to. We will be happy wherever we go.”

Lark stroked her hair and smiled. “I love you,” he said.

“And I love you,” Erin replied.

As they moved closer to kiss each other, Lark’s vision flashed black and white again.

Erin frowned for an instant and paused.

Lark continued leaning closer.

Erin held him at bay.

His vision flashed again.

Fur grew and vanished then grew again.

Erin pushed against him.

She stepped back.

“No,” she whispered as her face began to contort with sadness and terror. “No.”

Lark advanced and she backed herself against the wall.

“Stay away Lark. Please,” she said.

“What?” Lark said as his vision continued to change. He glanced down at his hands again and saw the fur on them. It appeared, then vanished but as he drew closer to her it lingered longer. He stopped advancing too late. When he looked at his hands again, the fur did not disappear and his vision stayed black and white.

Erin began to scream again as she squeezed her face in terror with her fists. She was unable to tear her eyes from Lark but finally, she moved and made it through the opening of the chamber.

She had no torch and disappeared into the dark, screaming.

Lark cried, “Wait!” but his voice no longer sounded like him. It came out as a grunt or a growl. It only sounded like ‘wait’ in his head. He stumbled after Erin in the dark. He followed her screams and finally ceased calling to her when he realized his shouts were nothing but growls and roars. He was only terrifying her more by calling to her.

He fell silent and heard Erin ahead as she ran through the dark screaming. He slowed and then ceased his pursuit as he realized he couldn’t go outside looking like this. Erin’s screams would surely have alerted the guards and they would be ready for whatever it was that had terrified her. They would mistake him for the monster he had become and surely attack and most likely kill him.

Erin’s screams suddenly diminished as she exited the passage. He heard her faintly. She was talking to someone but he couldn’t hear what she was saying. He did not doubt that the passage would be swarming with guards soon.

Lark turned and ran as fast as he could. At some point, he realized that his raspy breath had become quiet. He touched his hands as he ran and realized he had changed back to normal. He touched his face and hands to make sure. Even though he had changed back, there was no way he could go back now. He would be arrested for just being in the passageways. He knew the passageways well enough from exploring them with Erin and on his own when he had time. He knew there was an exit not too far ahead and he headed towards it. He reached it quickly but decided against it because, he told himself since it was the first exit, the guards would very likely assume he had used it. He pushed on past another exit and then finally exited the passages at the third exit he knew of. He could not hear any sound behind him and he guessed the guards were proceeding slowly since they were unfamiliar with the passageways and afraid of encountering a monster in the dark.

The third exit was on a ledge above the floor of the passageway and thus not easy to find. Lark climbed up on the ledge and then climbed the stairs leading upward. He reached a trapdoor and pushed against it. It opened easily and he crept out, closing the trapdoor softly. He did not know where he was initially but soon realized that he had exited in a tiny room behind the stables. He found the door that exited the room and crept away to the servants' quarters.

Lark hesitated outside the quarters. If Erin had told the guards about him, they would be waiting for him and he would be seized as soon as he entered the servants' quarters.

He heard and saw nothing out of the ordinary but still, he was hesitant. Everything was too quiet. Even the castle was quiet. He looked up to where the rooms were but all was dark. He wasn’t on the side of the castle where Erin’s room was, so he couldn’t see if there was a light in her room. Her parent’s room was on the same side as hers so he could not see that either.

As he hid in the dark he wondered if Erin was okay. He did not know what had happened or why he had suddenly changed into a monster but he suspected it had to do with the images they had seen in the hurricane.

Erin’s father and the witch. The material that had been cut from his shirt and her hair. The red stain. Had it been blood? If so, who’s blood had it been and why?

Lark made a decision then. He had to leave. He could not stay. He had no idea how much Erin had divulged to anyone but he was most likely in big trouble. Whatever love and loyalty Erin had felt for him was gone after tonight. He was sure of it. He was also sure that Erin’s father was on his way back to the castle. He knew what had happened, had been part of what had happened and, when he arrived back, he would send for Lark regardless of whether Erin had betrayed him or not. He had to leave now.

Spurred on by his realization, Lark crept to the entrance of the servants' quarters. He tried the door softly and opened it. He stepped inside quickly and closed the door behind him. As he did so something barreled into him from behind crushing the air from him and smashing him against the door. Before he could move someone settled on him and he felt a cold, steel blade press against his throat.

“Tell the captain we have him,” the guard called to his colleagues.

Hands grabbed him and pulled him away from the door. One of the guards stepped around him and opened the door. He left and closed the door behind him while the remaining guards bound his hands behind his back and then led him from the servants' quarters to the dungeons.

When they reached the dungeons, they untied Lark and threw him into a cell. They locked the door and waited for the captain who arrived a short while later.

He smiled through the bars at Lark. “You’re in big trouble boy. Master Eugene will be back tomorrow. He’s asked to deal with you personally if we caught you. I recall we caught you once before and you were advised then never to return. You should have listened.”

Then the captain turned and left taking the last torch with him and leaving Lark in the pitch-black darkness. His heart sank as he realized Erin must have betrayed him. There was no other way they could have known he would be going back to the servants' quarters unless she had told them.