The Swan Princess & The Swan Princess 2

Chapter Four

True to Emma's words, she handed me the tea and it's more specific instructions. With that in mind, she swore that my secrets, my emotions and thoughts on everything I discussed with her, was between us. 

However even with confiding in someone, that night I found myself trapped in another dream. The same nightmare I had for night's and night's on end. 

I was a swan. Once again feeling the features that the animal held on my own body. My neck absurdly long and flexible, my feet small and webbed. A constant itch between my wings. However even while in my swan body, I knew when danger appeared. I could feel it, my feathers on the my back and tail stiffening. My eyes looking rapidly around, seeking the dark presence I knew was near.

"Where are you..Alivia?" It was him, Rupert. Seeking me. Wanting more than I could offer. 

"You can't escape me, or my spells." Taking flight from Swan Lake, I headed towards the dense woods that surrounded Rupert's run down palace. My wingspand seemed long enough to escape the darkness Rupert surrounded me with, however it wasn't so. 

In the sky, there he was as the Great Animal. Wings of a bat, claws of an eagle, face of a wolf. Snarling and taunting me, beckoning me to try and play cat and mouse with him.

"I've almost got you, Alivia!" He chanted, his coarse voice demanding my attention. I could feel my breath quickening, sweat glistening. Then, just as I dived away from his claws, something new happened in the dream that never had before. 

A large green ball of light came plummeting towards me, knocking myself off balance sending me down into the forest. Reaching out to catch myself...wait? Catch myself, I'd be given hands? I was human? 

No longer focusing on which form I was in, I found myself landing on the ground, the ball of light still chasing me, forcing it's way closer towards me. Trying to run through the thick brush and thorns I found my skirts getting trapped, stuck in thistles. 

My heart rate quickened as I tried desperately to escape my impending doom I was sure to find from the green lights. 

"Alivia!" I heard someone, Grant, call my name. Seeking out the woods as to where his voice came, I hurriedly cried for him "GRANT! Help!" No longer finding him I pushed myself further from the bush, cutting myself along my legs and thighs.

"Alivia!" Grant, appearing like the brave King he was, emerged from the forest. He was so close! 

Reaching my arm out, I gently tossed a cloth (that I didn't know I was holding) to him. "Take the babe, and run!" Turning to face the green light, I realized it had now turned a deep blood red, it's distance not more than a few feet away. Without looking back and Grant, I heard him call out my name, the cry of a baby and the screams of my death all coming to me at once...

"ALIVIA!" I was jostled awake to seeing the panicked eyed Grant above me, shaking me vigorously. Gasping for air, as if I couldn't find any, I clawed him and his shirt closer to me. Hearing the subtle beat of his heart against my left ear, his hands stroking me hair was all that kept me sane in this moment.

"G-gra-nt-t. It was-s-horr-i-i-d." Tears, sweating down my cheeks like a river, my heart still beating a mile a minute. "Shhh, Shhh." I heard him whisper into my ears. 

"He was there, then he wasn't..then there was this thing-no-this LIGHT! It was seeking me, trying to kill me. The baby! Oh, the baby..." More sobs wracked my throat, all the while I pushed Grant away. 

I stood by the window, overlooking the Great Lake that divided the kingdom. Secretly checking to make sure that it was indeed a dream and not reality.