“The card,” Aisling reminded Marie before they tried to approach the locked door just as they had before.
This time, the door opened by itself as they get close enough to it. Once through the door and several feet away from it, the door closed automatically; the two ladies followed a single and increasingly bright light corridor to freedom while Kian dealt with the newly empowered goblin.
They escaped into a rain-filled forest and took a deep breath of fresh air then let out a grateful sigh of relief. But the darkness didn’t seem to lift their spirits. They relished the soft breeze on their faces and the feeling of the cold rain on their skin; it was almost sensual to feel the freedom of nature around them, when below them was the cruelness of technology. The rain refreshed their cause just enough to give them hope; hope that they might indeed make it out of the nightmare they struggled to live through.
They began to walk in a randomly chosen direction through the forest when Aisling asked bluntly, “Do you think it’s safe to say, that this is by far the worst mission either of us have been sent on?” Marie laughed but she agreed.
“I can say this for sure; I am never coming back to Eiru after this. I’m going home, getting my well-earned pay cheque, quitting this job and living on a beach with a fine-looking man who caters to my every need!” Marie announced, looking to the skies that she couldn’t see; the treetops were so thick and closely interwoven, the sun couldn’t penetrate the tops of the trees.
“Ah there you are!” a voice slithered from deep in the forest. Aisling looked around, almost defeatedly met with the gaze of a man she knew too well, skulking in the distant shadows of the trees. “Aisling, my dear, you’ve escaped my grasp once too often. You won’t be as lucky this time.”
Marie slowly peered around, following the glowing line of eyes in the shadows leering at them. Marie’s startled gaze was met with the same glowing yellow eyes everywhere she looked while she spun around trying desperately to find an opening so they may escape.
Stricken with worry, Marie asked Aisling, “Friend of yours?”
Aisling answered with worry-fuelled strength, “They tried to abduct me a number of times. They succeeded once and they’re vampires.” Aisling rested her finger on the trigger of her weapon, ready to die if necessary.
“You’ve got a weapon, good. I rather enjoy playing with my food; it builds up an appetite!”
The first pair of eyes stood from the darkness, revealing their owner to be the legendary vampire itself ‘Vladimir the Impaler’. It was the man Marie had seen on the bridge while she looked from the tavern window.
“Your friend, she looks good enough to eat, very tender indeed,” Vladimir drawled, licking his lips.
“You’ll be eating the end of this rifle soon enough,” Marie barked in reply, pointing her weapon at him. Aisling aimed her two pistols also.
Before they could engage in a thrilling death match, a woman’s voice brought Vladimir’s intentions to a stifled halt, “Vladimir the Impaler, the mighty vampire lord, creator of his race, reduced to a run of the mill bloodsucker.”
They all looked up at a woman who was sat in the bow of a tree above Aisling and Marie.
Her beauty was nearly unparalleled to any other either Aisling or Marie had ever seen, her fiery fierce red hair curled like melted steal and looked as smooth as silk, her blue eyes sparkled so bright in the darkness; they could have lit her way home.
“Princess Noelle, you grace us with your presence,” Vladimir drawled, biting back both his hunger and anger.
She grinned at Vladimir then threw herself out of the tree, landing to the ground with little sound of impact and barely even rustling the leaves on the forest ground. She sauntered to the ladies, her leather and silver studded battle regalia was adorned with emerald armour plates; it was clear she was not to be trifled with.
“Allow me to introduce myself. I am Noelle, princess of Eiru,” she declared, followed by a curtsy to Marie then Aisling. “I shall guide you safely from the marsh wherein you will join me for dinner at Castle Grey after you freshen up of course. We’ll need to get you some more suitable attire; walking a warrior’s land in a fluorescent bra and torn leggings just won’t do,” Noelle chuckled in jest.
She then waved Vladimir out of her path while she escorted both Aisling and Marie back to her family’s castle, not too far away from the marsh.
After a short walk with little to no conversation, they arrived in a grand town with a great castle on a rise at the far end of the town. It was dim and grey from a distance like it was designed to look like a skull but neither Aisling nor Marie could correctly name with kind of skull it was meant to be. Aisling oddly felt more at home; more like she belonged in Eiru as she got nearer to Castle Grey while Marie was increasingly worried about this strange woman who was leading them to a unknown town and very concerned with the castle this woman was leading them into as the castle’s design would send shivers through even the most war hardened soldier.
Once they crossed the drawbridge, they could see the castle was bright and inviting, the inside of the castle was the total opposite of its outer walls. Aisling and Marie felt secured once the drawbridge chains rattled behind them and the bridge was raised and locked into position; the castle was locked uptight.
Princess Noelle stopped in the centre of what could have been considered the courtyard and with a flick of her hair, she turned to face Aisling and Marie, smiling widely, saying, “Right, first of, Aisling, I noticed your favouring your ribs, we need to get
