Zara

"Raul!"

Raul's name sprung from my lips before I even touched the door to enter the castle. I stole a frantic look behind me to see what was happening. All I saw was the snow which had started to fall.

I pushed the door with all my might, finally making it budge. "Raul!"

Footsteps beat against the floor upstairs, running toward me.

"Yes, Miss?" A small, faint voice squeaked next to my ear.

I turned.

Not Raul.

"Lia," I couldn't keep the panic from my voice. "Where is Raul."

Not a question.

Lia smiled calmly. "He asked me to take over for him."

My chest heaved. A chill wind blew In from outside. "I need him."

Lia didn't move.

"Now."

Her face fell. "I'm sorry, Miss. I can't. He told me nobody but--"

Heat rose to my cheeks. "Listen, Lia. Your master told me to get Raul. If you need further description, currently, Brennen is outside, in the snow, throwing up blood and halfway turning into a...c reature."

Her eyes widened.

I nodded. "If you don't get me Raul, then I will do it myself, which won't be very pretty, considering that you two are somehow linked. Kapeche?"

Emilia lowered her head in obedience. "Yes, Miss. Call Raul again."

Thank you.

"Raul!"

Slowly, Lia's body started to grow. Her short blonde hair grew even shorter and lighter, turning a very dull shade of gray. Her eyes suddenly lost all color, like a torch that had been blown out, then lit back to a dark brown. Her whole body grew and changed shape, along with the clothes she was wearing.

Soon, I was no longer looking at Lia. I was staring at Raul.

"Yes, Miss?" he asked.

Suddenly, I could no longer breathe. The air came out of me in frantic gasps.

"It's Brennen," I cried, finally able to speak. My hands shook with fear. "He's--he's--there's something wrong."

Raul's face paled even more than usual. "Where?" he demanded, already walking quickly toward the still-standing door.

I followed right behind him. "Near... near the maze, I think."

Raul didn't stop half running through the snow. "Can you make light?"

The sun had set from the time it took me to go into the castle, get Raul, and come out again.

I nodded. "Yes. Fos."

I held up my hand, and a tiny ball of light hovered above my palm.

Raul glanced over and nodded his approval. "Good job."

I didn't feel the need to say 'thanks.'

Raul started speed walking faster. I had to jog to catch up. He was fast. Snowflakes blew in a whirlwind around us, trying to block our vision. The wind began to howl, sounding like a wolf.

Raul heard it too. "Zara, stay near me," he croaked.

"Wasn't that the wind?"

Raul turned his head around to look at me doubtfully. "Miss Zara, that was no more the wind than I am a teenager."

Vespers then.

Raul thrust his hand out to the side, stopping me. We were next to the three frozen ponds.

He pointed in the distance to a large lump on the snow.

"Is that the prin--is that the master?" he called over the wind.

I squinted my eyes, trying to see past the flurry of snowflakes that danced in my vision. Through the moonlight, I could just catch the gleam of silver reflecting from the snow.

The mask.

My heart felt like it doubled its speed. "That's him," I mumbled.

I had to repeat that sentence three times before it came out audible.

Raul lowered his arm once he heard me and ran up to Brennen. I was on his heels.

Before we even reached Brennen, I could tell that something was incredibly wrong. His mask was still laying on the snow, catching the snowflakes that fell. He was curled up in a ball so that his legs were folded up and his head was resting on his knees. Long claws extended from the tips of his fingers, some piercing his flesh and other bent backward from scraping at the ground. The fabric on his back was ripped to shreds by the misshaped form of his spine that bubbled up and veered out of line, with bits of bone peeping out from his back.

And there was blood.

The ground in front of his head was stained red, like paint spilled on a canvas. Clumps of yellow hair were littered on the ground, leaving bloody gashes in his skull. His arms were scratches and stabbed by the claws on his fingers.

He was completely still.

"Oh..."

I raised my hand that held the light in the air and gave a little push. "Terogizo."  The ball moved away from my hand and hovered in the air, above Brennen's body.

I fell to my knees in front of his head and gently touched the side of his face. Wetness tickled the tips of my fingers, but from blood or snow, I didn't know.  Deep rivets traced down his cheek in scraggly lines, never straight.

The worst part was that he was cold.

He was warm earlier.

My thoughts went back to an hour or so before when his chest was like a fire. He was warm, not sure if he could even get cold.

My throat constricted in fear. "Raul," I whimpered. "He's cold."

If it was possible, Raul's face went even whiter. He swooped down and touched Brennen's shoulder gently.

"Master?"

Brennen's eyes fluttered open slightly. The crimson color of his irises stood out brightly against his white skin. They slowly made their way up to mine, locking on with intensity.

There was only one problem.

I didn't recognize them.

A low growl emitted from the back of his throat. Slowly, his lips spread apart, curling away from the pointed teeth that were hidden behind them.

"Zara." Raul looked at me in alarm, barely whispering my name

It was a warning.

Slowly, I slid my hand behind me, trying to back away from Brennen. His eyes landed on my hand and he growled louder.

"Zara, get up," Raul commanded calmly.

How can he be so calm?

Heart racing, I stood up slowly, keeping my eyes glued to Brennen.

"NOT SO FAST, LITTLE GIRL."

He spoke in a low, animalistic voice. One of his feet was planted on the ground, his knee coming up to meet his nose. He stood up, slowly, either ignoring the pain from his wounds or not being affected by it.

Then pounced.

His body flew on top of mine, making me fall to the ground hard. I gasped, the air having had been forced from my lungs.

"Get off!" I screamed. Brennen's claws dug into my arms and tore my skin. The weight of his body on mine pinned me down.

Págoma!

Brennen froze on top of me, unable to move.

Did I just think the spell?

I didn't dwell on the subject for long. Somehow, I managed to find a way to wriggle out from underneath Brennen.

Raul walked over, his eyes trained on the still form of a man.

"Are you alright, Miss?"

I looked down at my stinging arm. A gash went through it.

It's not too deep.

"Yes, Raul. I'm fine."

My eyes drifted back to the frozen form of Brennen.

Better than he is.

Cautiously, I shuffled through the snow and bent down next to Brennen. His eye flicked up to meet mine again, but this time, they were normal.

Laced with torture, but yes. Normal.

He opened his mouth slightly. His lips were red.

"Zara."

His eye closed slowly, fluttering shut.

I took a shaky breath and wiped away the tear tracing down my cheek. I looked up at Raul, silently begging for an answer of what to do. 

He looked back at me sadly. "Take him back to the castle."

Raul moved over to the other side of Brennen and squatted, the gently grabbed his arm and draped it around his shoulders. He looked at me expectantly.

I copied Raul's actions, then stood as he did. I wrapped my right arm around Brennen's waist, trying to keep him held up.

This is not working.

Stupid! Use magic!

Still holding onto Brennen's arm, I thought of the spell I needed. "Terogizo."

Some of the weight that was weighing Raul and me down lifted from our shoulders. Raul grinned at me thankfully.

Brennen's head rolled over to the side limply as we dragged ourselves back to the castle.

I couldn't stand the tense silence of "we-can't-move-any-faster-but-we-need-to" for very long.

"So, what happened to him?" I asked, trying to not dwell on what happen a little over an hour before.

"Pardon, Miss?"

"Why did he... why did he change? What happened?"

Raul didn't answer immediately. In fact, we reached the castle door first.

"Zara, please open that," he demanded.

I reached my left arm out and grabbed the door handle, then pulled it toward me. As soon as it was open, Raul dove inside. He led me straight into the living room. Gently, we lowered Brennen to the floor in front of the fireplace.

Raul stooped down and started to examine Brennen's body.

"I need a pail of water."

Pail of water, pail of water.

"Ela," I whispered. A bucket of water appeared next to Raul. He didn't look up and immediately started to dip a cloth into the pail.

I stood to the side, feeling useless. I hate this.

Raul tended to Brennen with the hand of an expert. I hovered back, leaning against the wall.

"Miss Zara, to answer your question that you asked earlier, Master only changes when he feels something strong. Especially, an emotion."

I scrunched my eyebrows together. "But he'd been laughing with me. Surely that's an emotion."

Raul nodded. "Yes, it is. He learned since the time you got here how to keep the emotions in. The only problem is the fact that his... affliction thrives from emotion. To protect you, he was feeding the creature inside him."

Oh no. It's my fault.

"Why did it suddenly take over him, then?" I whispered. I blinked back the tears that swarmed my vision.

"He felt something stronger than what he normally dealt with," Raul replied simply.

Like what? If I was already causing pain, the was it something I said or did? What--why did it suddenly take over?

I had no answer. There was only one thing I could think of, and it was certainly not the answer. There was no plausible reason for it.

My attention was kicked back to reality by a low mumble of my name.

"Lizaveta."

Brennen's voice was strained and cracked, giving a choked sound to my name. His eyes were squeezed shut so tightly that it appeared his head had no eyes, just wrinkled sockets where they'd be. One of his arms shot out and hit the ground hard, the smacking sound echoing through the room.

He moaned again, a whimpering, pained sort of noise. His whole body gave a great shudder.

Then was still.

"Raul?" I screeched, stepping forward.

Raul held up his hand. "You need to leave. Leave this room for now. He senses you, which means it senses you."

"But--"

Raul stared at me and yelled. "Now, Miss Zara!" Then, in a softer tone, "I will handle this."

I drew back, gasping for breath. My shaking hands couldn't find the door handle quickly enough before I threw myself from the room. My feet carried me away before my brain caught up to their actions.

I didn't know where I was going. It was just away.

I wiped the tears that clouded my vision away, thinking a silent prayer. Please don't let him die. Please.

My feet stopped carrying me to wherever the back of my mind wanted to go. I looked around.

It was the piano room.

I laughed weakly. Of course, I go to the music room.

The walls and floors were clean from where I had tidied the room weeks before. The large cloth that had been over the piano was no more, and instead, the instrument was proudly standing in the corner.

I went over at sat down on the bench in front of the keys, then leaned my head against the wall.

Why is this my fault?

No one ever blamed you, Zara.

But it is my fault.

I bit my lip, breathing in and out as calmly as I could.

It's okay. It'll be okay. He's not going to die. He told you himself.

*****

Waiting.

That is the worst thing that can happen.

Waiting, and not knowing what to do.

Please don't let him die.

*****

The old man leaned over the body of the one he had raised for years.

The one on the ground was as still as death, breathing in and out in only minuscule breaths.

The man looked around the room. A bucket of water was next to the other's head. The white cloth draped over the side had light red stains across it.

He sighed. "Well, sir, there seems to be nothing more I can do. If you fight that thing by yourself, you will lose."

He reached out and touched the other's cold hand. "It is not that your body will die, it is that your mind will. If it takes over again, I know we will never get you back."

"She will never get you back."

He laughed bitterly. "I should apologize, my Prince. I have been selfish."

The prince's eyes fluttered, even while closed.

The man nodded his head. "That servant girl, Lia, I told her to not let me out. I told her to take charge."

He moved his hand over the prince's heart. The low thudding was like a drum beat.

Bum-bum. Bum-bum.

The man smiled. "I was selfish because I was dying. I am dying. I'm old."

He laughed. "I'm an old man."

More seriously, he added, "I wanted to see the day your curse was broken. I wanted to see you walk out of here a free man."

Very slowly, the prince's eyes peeled open. His red eyes met the old man's.

The old man smiled at him. "I see the one who is to break your curse. I've met her. I know you know it is her also. No one else could make you turn like that."

"No other emotion but true happiness."

The man smiled widely. "And with that, I am fulfilled. I can go in peace. I can do what I am about to do."

"Raul, what..."

The master's voice cracked weakly. The Raul grabbed his hand, squeezed, then let go. He placed both of his hands over the prince's heart.

"Raul?"

Raul looked into his red eyes one last time. "It has been a pleasure, my Prince."

A bright, golden light poured out from Raul's chest and spread throughout the room.

When it vanished, Raul was no longer in the place he sat.

He was gone.

_____________________________________

I'm sorry. I know, I'm evil. I'm a killer of characters.

Discussion starter: Other than die, what exactly do you think Raul did? Is there any significance to the hold light, or do you think the author just went insane, killed off a character, gave him no respawn, and is about to do the same to one of the main characters?