Chance

This is an extract from Mercys Unicorn which I used for my English coursework.

Rowan sat dejectedly against a tree, between two large roots sticking out of the ground. He looked around him at the beauty of the forest, but it had no affect on him. The tall Oaks with sunlight flashing through the golden leaves, and the fairies that flew in and out of them, meant nothing to Rowan without Chance.

He looked away. Her beautiful face flashed before his eyes. He blinked away tears, trying not to remember her, and how she was cruelly taken from him. No. He would find her. He would see her again before he died or his life would be wasted.

Bitterly, he thought of the phrase ‘it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all'. It never mentioned in the phrase about the pain of losing your love. How every moment of every day, your empty heart would have an unceasing aching. How it wondered before every beat if it should bother, or whether it would be better just to stop, to end the pain of loss.

But Rowan had a mission. He would find Chance, if it was the last thing he did. When there was even the slightest possibility that she was still alive, then he would live.

He remembered the day he had been taken from him. It was the worst, and the most vivid memory of all his time with her. The day it happened, was perfect. But then, when Rowan was in love, every day was perfect. The sun always seemed to be shining, and every day seemed to pass in a blissful blur.

They could do anything at all. It didn’t matter, as long as they were together. Rowan was truly happy for the first time in his life. He was free. He had grown up in a palace, the son of King Fergal. But he was so unhappy there. When his mother died, it was the final straw, and he ran away. He was sad to leave his father, and his little sister Mercy, but he felt it was something that he had to do.

He and Chance were walking along in the woods, hand in hand, talking, They would have such conversations. Chance was the one person Rowan could really talk to.

Chance casually mentioned that she was hungry, and then as if by fate she spotted an apple in one of the trees. It was the most delicious piece of fruit she had ever seen. It was plump and ripe, rosy red and shiny, and Chance wanted it. But, scaling the height of the tree with her eyes, she realised that she could not have it, for it was so high up. Shrugging to herself, she thought that there would probably be some berries she could eat.

"What are you looking at?" Rowan asked her.

"Oh, that apple up there. Doesn’t it look tasty? But it’s far to high to get."

"Oh yeah?!" Rowan grinned. He was eager to impress Chance, and now was his opportunity. He grabbed the base of the tree, getting ready to climb.

"Oh, Rowan, I didn’t mean for you to get it! You might hurt yourself!"

"I’ll be fine!" he said confidently, and trying not to pay any attention to the height of the tree, started climbing. Rowan was quick and agile, and it didn’t take him long to reach the top.

As he looked over the leaves, his eyes beheld a magnificent sight. He could see for miles around. Past the bed of green, made of the leaves at the tops of the trees, were magnificent landscapes. Rolling hills, beautiful fields of flowers, and even off in one direction, the sea.

But looking up at the sky, dark storm clouds were rolling in, like wildebeest, stampeding across a plain. Rowan decided to look for the apple. He spotted it a little way below him, and climbed over to it. Taking it in his hand, he ripped it from the branch that held it.

Rowan held it out triumphantly for Chance to see. He was rewarded by her happy laughter, and clapping. But then she gave a little shriek as a clap of thunder made them both jump, and it started to rain. Rowan winced as cold droplets of water bounced off his head, but as a bolt of lightening filled the sky with light, he realised what danger he was in, being in the tree, and started climbing down hurriedly.

"Rowan, come on!" Rowan could barely hear Chance’s voice through the wind and rain. Dropping the apple he was carrying to the ground, so it would not burden him, Rowan descended faster. Suddenly he heard a scream. He looked down, but it was so dark that Rowan could not see.

"Chance! Chance!" he called, but he got no answer. Lightening lit the sky for a moment, and Rowan saw an abnormally large black horse, being ridden by a man, galloping out of the area. Firmly held in one of the rider’s arms, was Chance.

Seeing he was not far from the ground, Rowan leapt down. He started running after the horse, but he slipped on the mud. Rowan pulled himself across the ground, but he was too late, the rider was gone.

The storm clouds left with him, rolling away as quickly as they had come. Lying in the mud, Rowan reached out, and took the apple in his hand, and threw it as hard as he could. Getting to his feet, Rowan ran off in the direction the man on horseback had gone.

Since that day, Rowan had tried to track them down. He had spoken to many people in many villages, but they had all told him the same thing. That the person who had taken his Chance away from him, had to be Nagabolt, King of Darkness. He had heard so many tales of the lives Nagabolt had devastated. Nagabolt rode through villages, kidnapping people to use as slaves, kill for sport, or worse of all, experiment on.

All this made Rowan more determined to track him down. People had told him that Nagabolt’s domain was a large mountain to the South, so that was where Rowan was going. Many had warned him not to go there, and that Nagabolt could not be defeated, but Rowan ignored them.

It was several days later that Rowan reached the mountain. He had been travelling for so long, that when he saw it, he could barely believe it. He stood there for several moments, gasping. The sheer size of the mountain barely touched him. He could think of nothing but getting inside it, and finding Chance. Her face floated before his eyes once more, and his hand reached out unconsciously to touch her, but the imaged disappeared.

A rage was building up inside him, and he let it all out with a cry of anger, and he started running. The blood pumping through his body, as he pushed his limbs to the limit, sprinting with all his might. He slammed into the side of the mountain, pounding it with his fists, until the rock turned crimson with his blood.

Panting, he stopped, and started groping around. Looking for an entrance. It seemed to take him forever, but eventually he found a door. Twisting the handle, he fell inside. Picking himself up, he started his search.

He found that the mountain was a maze of hallways and corridors as he stumbled along. It was a depressing place. Everything was black and hard, and above all cold. Torches lit each passageway and room, though they shed little light. Everywhere was filled with shadows and darkness, and all things associated with evil. There were noises, seeming to come from some far off place. The sounds of chains rattling, people moaning.

Each new turning seemed to lead him to a network of slave pens and cells, though all were empty. The slaves were obviously working somewhere. Then Rowan stumbled across a room that was quite different to the rest. It was dark and ominous like the rest of them, but it was lavishly furnished too.

Lying on the four-poster bed, which looked to be made of black wood, was a woman. She was strikingly beautiful, but there was something evil about her features. Rowan was sure he had seen her somewhere before, but he wasn’t quite sure where. She was looking at a book, but when she realised she was no longer alone, she looked up.

"Who are you?" she snapped. "Did Nagabolt send you? You don’t look like a slave."

"I’m looking for the one you call Nagabolt." Rowan told her. The woman got to her feet, and laughed.

"Oh yes? And what do you want with him?" She peered at Rowan. "You’re lucky I don’t kill you here and now." She held up a large jewelled dagger. " I could kill you four times before you hit the ground. But that wouldn’t be any fun. Well, maybe a little..." She grinned. "Mind you, it would probably be more fun to hear what you want with Nagabolt. Come to avenge someone’s death?" She laughed loudly. "That would be interesting."

Rowan was getting angry. The woman was playing with him, and he didn’t have much patience. All he wanted to do was find Chance.

"I have come to find someone," he said, gritting his teeth. "Please take me to Nagabolt."

"Nagabolt’s not here at the moment." She said, icily. "I am getting fed up with you’re insolence. Do you know who I am? I am Grace, Nagabolt’s only partner, and only love. If you do not kneel before me, you will never see daylight again!"

"I will not kneel," Rowan growled. "I am here to rescue my true love Chance. And I will slay anyone who stands between me and her."

"Slay me!" Grace chuckled. "I don’t think that you are in a position to slay anyone! Do you know what kind of position you have put yourself in by coming here? Even if you do find this Chance, you’ll never get out of here with your life. And besides," she leant closer to Rowan. "You won’t be finding that girl anyway. I killed her myself!" Leaning back, Grace burst into hysterical, insane laughter.

A completely uninhabited anger filled Rowan. Shaking with rage, he lunged at Grace, knocking her to the floor. She grabbed her dagger, and pulled it back to stab him, but he grabbed her hand, twisted it round, and shoved it into her chest. The dagger dug deeply and accurately, piercing her heart.

A look of shock went over Grace’s face, before her eye’s glazed, over, and she slumped down. Rolling to one side, Rowan started beating at the stone floor with his fists, tears coursing down his cheeks. Chance was dead. After all he had been through, she was dead.

He leapt to his feet as he heard someone enter the room. It was a tall, dark figure. Unmistakably Nagabolt.

"You...you...you took my Chance!" Rowan shouted.

"Oh, don’t be angry at me," Nagabolt said in a silky voice. "I wasn’t the one who killed her. That was you."

"What are you talking about, I didn’t kill her," Rowan murmured, wiping tears from his cheeks, but new ones just took there place.

"Well, look down there." Nagabolt indicated to the floor where Grace was lying. Confused, Rowan spun around and looked down. But it wasn’t the evil hearted Grace who lay in her blood on the cold, hard floor. It was Chance.

"No." Rowan shook his head, trembling. "No!" He fell to the floor beside her, and held her limp body in her arms. "Oh God, no!" Rowan sobbed out. Jumping up, he pointed an accusing finger at Nagabolt. "You! You did this! You tricked me! made me think she was..." Rowan put his hand on his forehead, and ran it through his hair.

"I did nothing to trick you. I did put a spell on her to make her fall in love with me, she was such a beautiful girl. Of course, having her in love with me, wasn’t enough, she was constantly whining at me to change...to stop killing people...it was getting annoying. So I turned her evil too. Quite a nice little package, don’t you think?" He smiled.

Clenching his fists, Rowan saw red. Completely crushed and furious, Rowan ran at Nagabolt. But anger wasn’t enough. Nagabolt simply took out his sword, and Rowan ran right into it. He fell beside Chance. At last, they could once more be together. Smiling, Nagabolt slipped out of the room. He started walking down a flight of stairs to the dungeon, deciding to check on his experiments, a little smile on his face.