I dreamt that I was falling down, through never ending, black fog that obscured the bottom.

And then, my eyes snapped open as I flayed about in the thick mist that hid the world around me.

"You are awake." Came a voice from my right as a figure materialized from the mist. It was Ivan.

"What time is it?" I asked him as I tried to get my bearings.

"Its wee hours in the morning. Three to be precise." He sat next to me with a small smile.

Three? Morning? Did he have no concept of night?

"Oh no. Oh no. Mrs Potts is going to kill us when we reach back home." I stood up and started walking in panic.

"What about the herbs? We didn't find them-"

I was jerked back as a hand pulled me by the shirt.

"Relax. I collected them while you were asleep."

"Oh." Was my only reply.

"Do you still want to sleep? It would be better to go back during day time when the sun is there to guide us than the moon."

I looked at him indecisive. It would indeed be better to go at morning, but Mrs Potts and Adam's worried faces flashed through my mind.

"Let's go now. They must be worried."

He gave me a small smile and we started packing up all our things.

The forest was quiet, our crunching footsteps, the only thing that kept us company untill the silence was shattered by a loud scream. We both looked at each other for a second before we ran toward the direction of the scream.

***

Howls resounded around Martha, their symphony a frightening one. She quickly stood up gasping as the wounds shifted and blood trickle down her neck. Bleeding and wounded, she was in no shape to even run form the wolves, let alone fight. She was the perfect prey.

The trees in front of her rustled before a huge figure stepped out. The darkness cloaked the figure in darkness untill it stepped out and the moon light threw it's shape into sharp focus.

A wolf.

But that was not it. It was unrealistically huge, big as a house. All Martha would be for it would be a snack. It's cold golden eyes focused on Martha as two more closed in a flank behind it, low growls ripping of their throats. Martha cursed her luck. All that was keeping her upright was her will and adrenaline. She uncovered the dagger from her waist and figured out that her best chance at survival would be is she alerted someone for help.

She sucked in a large amount of air and let out a scream but in her nervousness, only a small yelp found its way out. Wetting her throat she tried again and let out the most earsplitting scream she could manage. This time it came out right, her voice bouncing all over the place, annoying the already hungry creatures in front of her. A snarl alerted her as the wolves started circling her, watching her with those odly intelligent eyes.

They were playing with her she realised. Round and round they went sniffing the air to sense any danger, till the largest one got tired and pounced at her. Martha scrambled back, tripping over the ground as she fell, holding the dagger tight in her hand. A large warn weight buried her as her dagger drove deep into the flesh and muscle of the wolf. Yelps of the other wolves could be heard before silence again reigned over the forest.

She squirmed as she tried to get out of the wolf that had collapsed on her till a hand appeared at the edge of her vision. Grasping on to it, she was pulled out under the wolf. She flopped on the snow, breathing hard, exhaustion hitting her hard as two faces hovered above her.

"Beau?"

"Martha! Can you hear me? Don't you dare pass out.-"

"Beau..."

The edges of her vision were slowly getting dimmer as darkness consumed her and warmth slowly creeped up her arms and legs, numbing her, chasing away the bitter cold that she had been suffering from.

Hypothermia, a small part of her mind warned her.

"Martha!..." Beau's voice had got fainter but she was happy that her friend was ok.

But it didn't matter. It was warm, and odly peaceful. Like floating in a lake with no ripples, silence all around, not over bearing but comfortable.

If this was dying, she was fine with it though a part of her insanity felt betrayed at the hard work she had to do just to die.

Time passing was a vauge impression. How long, she had no idea. Suddenly it felt like her skin was burning as blood rushed, lighting up her nerves as someone immersed her in warm water, till her whole body felt warm.

Her eyes flickered open to be met with warm, low light cast by a chandelier above her. She shifted her weight only to whimper in pain.

"You are awake?" She turned to see a worried Beau next to her along with the handsome stranger who she had seen then with Beau.

Ivan saw the beautiful lady in front of him struggling to sit up and immediately helped her up. He still remembered the scene he had witnessed when he had broken into the clearing. It felt a lot like deja-vu, but she had stood there without a hint of fear at her hopelessness, holding a dagger in hopes that it would protect her. In that moment all that had crossed his mind was to save her.

Help her.

And now, her color come back to her, he wanted to know this person who hid a world of pain in her Hazel eyes.

"Thank you." She gave him a grateful look before turning to Beau.

"What happened?" She asked.

Beau looked at her worried and looked at Ivan. When Ivan gave him a nod, he told her the entire story about how they had heard her scream and had come to the clearing only to see her getting pounced on by the wolf. Ivan, quick as always had shot an arrow into the beast's neck, killing it before it could take her life. Then they had brought her to the palace, her life nearly snatched away by the reaper and had been waiting for nearly three hours for her to wake up.

After the story had been told they all fell silent.

"Why did you run away?" Beau suddenly asked her.

"And from where did you get all these wounds? Don't tell me... It's was that man?"

Martha gave a small nod and Beau abruptly stood up, shaking in anger.

"I'm gonna kill him!" He said as he stormed to the door.

"Stop him!" She cried to Ivan.

Ivan reached to Beau who had opened the door and a voice sounded from the door.

"Beau, has she woken up?" Mrs Potts asked as she entered.

Beau and Ivan froze up and turned to Martha with identical shocked faces.

Looking at the tension in the air, Mrs Potts looked at Martha and said,

"Oh dear!"

♥️