Minstrel

Chapter #28 ~ Riptide

The knife felt oddly cold as it sliced through Riptide's chest. He never thought he would die in the arms of a girl, but there she was standing above him. She didn't stab him for a quick death. She hated him too much to let him leave the world peacefully. She dragged her knife across him slowly. She made sure the cuts were deep enough to hurt, but not deep enough to kill him.

Rip struggled to get up and run, but he was chained to the floor; the cold stones beneath him sucked the life out of him as his blood slowly drained.

The girl looked at him and smiled. Her teeth were perfect and strangely beautiful. But they grinned in a way that made Rip feel real fear.

"It'll be another day before you finally get to leave." The girl smiled.
"That is assuming I let you. My master said he could have the physician heal you. Then I could start all over."

Rip struggled against the chains. "Why?" He screamed as the cold cuts that covered his chest began to burn. "Why are you doing this?"

The girl cocked her head curiously. "My master wished it. He didn't like you running away. He said you looked like your daddy." She shook her head. "Master doesn't like your daddy."

Rip hissed as the girl dragged the knife against him to draw a bloody 'X' over his heart. Rip screamed as his skin blacken around the cut.

The girl smiled and gingerly touched the edge of the knife. "Poison. Not deadly, but defiantly painful."

"What did I do wrong?" Rip screamed as his body began to spasm and fire burned through his veins.

The girl laughed. "You had the audacity to be born."

* * *

Rip woke with a gasp. He grabbed his chest, but the cuts weren't there. He wasn't bleeding, but a shadow of the pain haunted him. He hadn't recognized the girl, but the place had felt familiar. It was one of cells in the king's castle; a place reserved for the worst of criminals. People who plotted against the king. 'People like you.' Rip thought with a shake of his head. He didn't care what the king thought of him. It's not like the man was his father.

Sighing, Rip pushed himself to his feet. He had stopped to rest in a small, dry clearing. The trees overhead made a nice roof that kept most of the snow out. It hadn't been a comfortable night, but Rip was used to feeling uncomfortable. His life was mostly just a long uncomfortable situation.

Rip kicked at a broken branch beneath him. A feeling he knew all too well came over him and it made him feel heavy. His feet were stuck to the ground and his heart just felt... there. It was heavier than normal and made him want to just stop. Riptide felt worthless, like he didn't matter. It was sad because it was true.

Rip didn't have any real family. He didn't have any true friends. He was all alone and when he was left to himself for too long it always made him feel tired. Doubt plagued him, clinging to him like a relentless disease. He didn't know what he was doing or whether it was even worth it. Was anything really worth it?

Rip shook himself. He needed to keep going. He couldn't let his own thoughts stop him now, not when he was so close. Closing his eyes, Rip willed a vision to come. He needed something helpful; something to show him where Creak was going. Focus. He needed to focus.

'I can do this,' Rip thought and with a gasp opened his eyes to see the future.

* * *

The man before him was dying. His insides ripped apart and his body bleeding.

He needed help.

No one could help him.

Blood flowed from a great tear in the man's stomach. So much blood. It flowed across the ground; like a river it weaved an intricate pattern.

The man was gone and there was nothing anyone could have done.
Pain seared through Riptide. So much pain it brought him to his knees.
He felt his stomach open to mirror the man's. His scream ripped through the air as his eyes rolled back into his head and the vision changed.

* * *

The girl before him was from an earlier dream. The girl of horrors. The master of monsters.

Her eyes were harder than Rip remembered them being. The girl had seen and felt things that had changed her. She was stronger. Nothing would be able stop her when she was ready to rebel.

Rip shook with fear and awe as the girl stood in front of an open window. It was a giant opening in the castle wall with a wide balcony outside of it.

The moon shone, bright and full, in the starry sky. It almost filled up the balcony view. It was beautifully sliver and felt powerful.

The girl didn't make a sound as she walked towards the open balcony. She didn't go outside, but stopped before the opening and spread her hands.

Four large, grey wolfs appeared before the girl. Their eyes glowed a bright yellow and held an oddly human expression. They lusted to kill, but the urge didn't over-power there sense. They were intelligent and that scared Rip more than anything else.

The girl looked at the wolves and shook her head. She wasn't satisfied; it was like something was missing. With a soft whistle a white wolf appeared beside the grey ones. It was bigger with large, red eyes.The others bowed respectful at its presence.

'A leader,' Rip thought, 'that's what was missing.'

The white wolf looked at its pack and did a very human-like thing. It smiled. It's pointed, yellow teeth grinning with excitement and violence. It was ready to hunt.

With a sharp whistle from the white wolf, the pack was off. They jumped over the balcony and fell to the ground. If they had been normal the fall would have killed them, but they were far from ordinary.

Whistling, the pack ran into the night.

* * *

A scream pierced the silent morning and knocked Rip out of his visions. It was a girl and she sounded slightly familiar. Though he had never heard her scream before Rip was certain it was Creak.

The scream ripped through the air again. Rip panicked. He didn't care if she hated him and would freak if she knew he was following her. He wouldn't let her die. He couldn't.

Sprinting towards the screams, Rip felt his stomach drop. Whistles floated through the air.

The same whistles from his vision.