[Nell]: 226.Stories.The Fairytale.Part 3

“What?!?”
“Don’t go home,” the boy hopped off her lap and picked his pipe up again. “Seems like a clear enough sentence to me. It's only three words long. Up here I usually end up giving stuff like; ‘Watch the ice.’ and ‘Don’t put your foot down in your own traps.’ So this certainly makes for a more dramatic counsel.”
“But why?” she asked him.
He sighed and threw her cloak back over Annabella’s shoulders, tucking the mink under her chin in a comforting fashion. “Kid, you’re in a lot of trouble. The Eveal Oun is not one to be messed with. You ever hear of those quests where they never reach their happy ending? Well he’s the cause of all of them.”
“But he seemed ok,” she argued.
“That’s the ploy,” the child said sadly. “Who could imagine that a midget in a pink bathrobe could do anyone any harm? Even with a dragon pulling his carriage!”
“So you mean he always wears that thing?” asked Annabella incredulously, remembering the hideous bathrobe.
“It’s his trademark,” shrugged the boy. “But as to the reason you shouldn’t go home; it could mean your family’s death.”
“But how!?!”
'For being so talkative before, he’s sure being annoyingly unenlightening right now,' she thought to herself.
“Well,” the boy/thing shuffled around, obviously uncomfortable with the subject. “Before a kid your age goes on a quest, they usually have to loose something of value to them, something that will drive them or force them to continue on the quest. Usually that thing is a loved one. In your case, that could be a parent or a sibling. Or all of them.”
Annabella gasped in horror.
“That’s right. So don’t go home, don’t single out anybody or anything that might have some importance to you. How long have you got till he comes?”
“Three days,” Annabella said weakly. An amount of time where the end had once been something to look forward, to now loomed menacingly like an execution date.
He nodded. “Here’s another piece of advice; run away! Run really, really, really far, far away! As fast as you can and don’t look back! It’s the best thing, and the only thing, that you can do in a situation like this.”
“I guess so,” Annabella sighed shakily.
The Road Watcher patted her on the shoulder. “Good luck, Kid.” Then he was gone.
Annabella got up and stretched her legs. She looked up at the sky. It had been just after lunch when she’d gone into Zichak, but now it was getting late and the sky was darkening. That left her with a big problem.
She couldn’t go home, and she choked just at the thought of that, but now was the time for survival not tears. And she couldn’t go to Zichak; they’d know of the curse, and she didn’t want to put them in danger anymore than her family. But she’d never been trained to survive in the snowy wilderness, it had never been necessary until now.
‘Well, the first thing I’ve got to do is get out of here,’ she decided. ‘The farther from home I am, the safer they’ll be.’
So she stepped off the path and trudged through the cold drifts towards some pine trees in the distance. With any luck, not that she’d had much today, she would get to the pines before true darkness fell, and then she could shelter under one of them for the night.

Annabella woke the next day when a shower of snow fell from the branches above, and landed on her head. It was a very rude awakening from an already horrible, cold sleep, wrapped only in her cloak. Once she was awake, she was surprised to discover two things; that she hadn’t lost any of herself to frost bite, and that she had slowly been sinking into the snow at the base of the tree until she was in her own little pit.
Annabella scrambled out from under the pine, after digging her way out of the pit, and was just shaking off her sodden clothes when she heard someone calling her name.
‘Oh no, that can’t be good,’ Annabella thought. ‘Whoever it is might end up being the person I loose!’ She hurriedly moved away from the sound of the voice.
A short while later she stopped to rest. It was tough moving through the snow, as some of it came up past her knees, and more than once she'd gotten stuck. There even wasn’t even anyplace safe to sit! It just crumpled beneath her into another pit-in-the-making. She was tired, cold, and hadn’t eaten anything since lunch yesterday, and she wasn’t used to missing meals.
Suddenly she heard the voice again. “Annabeeeelllla! Annabeeeelllla!” It was getting closer! That person just wasn't giving up!
“Go away!” she shouted desperately. “Keep away from me!”
“Annabella! It’s me! Rimonda!”
‘Oh no!’ Rimonda was Annabella’s favourite, closest sister! She was the thirteenth child, and the luckiest one of them all; she’d been on no less than twenty-one adventures already! Despite her jealousy, Annabella loved Rimonda very dearly, and they were the best of friends. ‘She’s going to get killed! Why her? Why her?’
“Keep away, Rimonda! Don’t get near me!”
“Why ever not?” came a voice from beside her. Annabella turned around and there was Rimonda, dressed warmly and wearing a pair of snowshoes and a backpack. “And why didn’t you come home last night? We were all so worried!”
“No, Rimonda, you don’t understand! You’ve got to get out of here now!” Annabella cried, shoving the girl away.
Just then, a great, green dragon swooped down and plucked Rimonda from off the ground. Before Annabella even had time to scream, it was gone, leaving her alone with her sister’s dropped pack.