ANNA
Even from an early age she was different. Her strange taste for horse riding with the legs on each side of the animal, the skill she had with the rapier made her more of a tomboy rather than the sensitive lady she was expected to be.
Each time she did one of these things and she was either mocked by her peers or scolded by her grandmother, her piercing blue eyes stared at the person who was talking and a smirk raised up from the right corner of her mouth, thus making her eyes twinkle with witt and playfulness. What other’s thought or said didn’t affect her at all. An independent spirit at its best.
She liked the sense of freedom riding through the woods gave her. Every morning, she went round the trees, each time a little farther away than the day before. During low tide she went as far as the base of Triad Peak, upon which the secluded castle of the white cloaked priests was built.
She oftentimes liked to just watch it’s walls, as they shone bright during the morning Sun. Right at the bottom, a steap flight of stairs went up the peak, losing itself behind an enormous vaulted entrance. Once high tide came, she went back to the forest and watched at how the sea isolated the eirie construction. Fear never passed her mind as she did this. The Anterium had always given her peace of mind, although people said to have a bad omen.
As the sun was getting ready to set, a cold dash of wind blew from the sea, making her silver dress flutter. It was getting cold, but she did not mind, the view was too beautiful still.
A few moments after the high tide she went back home through the forest, just in time to cleverly skip her sewing hour and instead go to the armory to practice swinging her small sword with her cousin.
THE ANTERIUM AND THE ORDER
A few small lights went slowly up the right tower, just to disappear a few minutes later. After a while, they lit again and descended, only to disappear once more. This happened every day, once at dawn and another time at dawn, with minute precision.
The Anterium was a place that most people seemed to fear. For centuries, it rose out of the sea waters and at the same time appeared to be on land. Every high tide, the sea claimed it for itself, thus the building was secluded from the mainland. The main towers were very high up, almost near the clouds. During cloudy days, only the shadow of the great edifice was seen from the edge of the forest.
No one dared to walk through the trees at dawn or dusk, as white hooded cloaks were said to be seen roaming around. Each time they were seen, the weather changed. Dawn and dusk were also the times when these mysterious beings were seen through the citadel. They were very quiet and nothing about them was visible, except their pale hands.
They seemed to float and be ghostly sightings near the markets or in the darker corners of the oldest part of town. They hardly ever talked to anyone. Their voices were said to be almost like whispers. Given all these things, they fascinated people.
EDGAR
For a young lord of his stature, he fulfilled almost all that was expected of him. A champion of sword fighting, one of the best riders in the realm, he also had a sharp witt for strategy and words. Looking at his broad shoulders and slightly curled dark hair, you could not have guessed that he had a passion for the arts, especially for architecture and masonry.
Every other day he discovered something new and interesting. Every time that happened, his dark brown eyes seem to sparkle with excitement. After his morning battle training, horse riding and some strategy pages, he went back to the library and read for hours. All the work of the greatest artists of the realm were fascinating to him.
Most of the keep’s new installments were designed by him. He dreamed of revolutionizing the style he often analyzed on the walls of the Anterium. Each day during low tide, he went horse riding to the back of the woods and stayed there until high tide claimed the land between the building and the forest.
He once thought to glimpse a white horse, somewhere in the distance, to the right of the castle. But the rider quickly went away, and Edgar only saw a fluttering silver dress getting back on the road to the citadel.
(to be continued...)
(For the first "The Cold Winter Curse" post, click here)
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