It was the happiest moment of her life, for he had come back to her. He had whispered her name into the night as she lay drowsing in pure exhaustion. For a moment, she startled, fearing a cruel dream. It did not repeat, yet uneasy breathing deepened into monotonous rhythm. It brought her a weary sort of joy. It was also the moment of her deepest despair, for not soon afterwards she heard them. The gruff, menacing tramp of townsfolk that cared not for the ways of the forest. Snow crackled sharply at their approach, the whisper of unnatural metal things and a harsh babble of activity murmuring a deep threat into her heart.

She knelt there quiet, praying reverently to whatever gods would listen to her. "Please god, Please make them go away.." Her prayers went unanswered, the gods turning a blind eye and a cold heart to her heartfelt prayers. The noises cresendoed, beating on the walls of the little wooden cottage just as fists banged into it with growing force. Knock. She couldn't leave Kale's side, not when he was beginning to recover. KNOCK. She couldn't face the angry faces and hot blooded tempers of the men outside. /KNOCK/ They hadn't done anything wrong. Why did they come here?! They hadn't done anything wrong! /CRACK!/ went the door as it shuddered and buckled inwards.

The lock snapped letting the intruders in like a draft of cold air. Juliana's world slowed down, like a river clogged up with so much debris that it barely flowed. They were brutish men of a brutish cause, disillusioned peasants of plague ravaged towns that needed something to lash out against. Juliana was that something. Gypsy was trivial, a rough up or rape, then other victims would feel senseless wrath. The herbs around the cottage were found to be 'Heathen artifacts of Satan' and the punishment of such bewitchery, especially the bespelling of the young man with her was trial by fire. Burning at the stake.

She thrashed, screaming for an unconscious Kale as they tied her to a tree that would become her pyre. If the entire forest burned? Then a part of the world would be made all the cleaner for it. At the very fringes of the mob, a man with an unruly tangle of black hair sweeping over a side of his face watched. His eyes would remain emblazoned in her mind for the rest of her existance. Black pits of pitiless, heartless bemusement. He was enjoying watching her die. She screamed, her ears deaf to the last rites the brimstone preacher spat at her. The man smiled, ever so slightly as the pyre was lit.

The flames licked higher, greedily consuming the wood, hissing malevolently at every drop of moisture that fell into it's gaping maw as tears ran down her face. "Kale....." she whispered before the thick plumes of smoke stole her breath away. The world shattered with the odd noises of rending wood and the cries of terrified and dying men. Through the smoke she could see a form, looming tall and mysterious in her mind. Her mind failed to accept, she saw only the thick veil of twisting smoke yet of it's own accord her body started screaming anew in absolute terror. Things came to her in flashes, the fraying of rope over the terrified screams. A great bass rumble that seemed created from the mouth of Fenris himself. She was free, lying wide-eyed in the snow still screaming when she saw him. Madness incarnate,  come to whisk her away.

Looming terrible above her, a lupine form standing tall as only a man should. White fur glistened, and blood wept from massive claws. Like some great horned goat, twin horns immerged from the sides of it's head, curling inwards on themselves almost hiding one small ear to either side. She took in every detail for her mind could not accept. Black lips curled back into a snarl showed fangs that glistened dully. The snow crackled under the perfectly balanced weight of the creature. She could not accept. She would not.... but they were his eyes. They were his beautiful grey eyes that were now focused on her. She... She ran. Picked herself up, and sprinted through the forest like a spooked hind. She ran, for all the stories were true and she was running away from the only man she ever loved, a lonely heartbroken howl echoing in her mind forever afterwards.

And for awhile.. that was true as well.

((yet more brilliance comes from u !! :)

((::claps again...and cheers this time!::

((Damn...now THATS a story...great work again :) ))

((Damn Girl, you are definatly talented. Bravo ::claps in appreciation:: can't wait for some more from you :)

((wow!!! well done hun :cool:

~batty~