20 Festival III

I push the torchlight away from my face, glaring daggers at the dwarf lady standing in front of me. She steps back holding her torch but she continues studying my face.

"You called me to follow you?" I ask, her stare causing me discomfort and I follow up with another question while putting down my hood revealing myself, "do you know me?"

She gasps after seeing my entire appearance, "Rosetta you came back," she marveled covering her mouth with her free hand, her eyes glistening from the blazing fire.

"I'm sorry but-" I try to explain to her but Frida cute me off with her questions, "did you need to change your appearance to go to the human realm? How long have you been here?"

Frida appears to know about my mother's disappearance that night. Could she be a trusted friend of my mother's? She stares at me in astoundment and waits for my reply to her questions. In her eyes, I detect a spark of hope and at the same time, fear that she may be getting this all wrong.

I take her left hand looking down at her with sadness and sincerity, "Ma'am Frida, I am not Rosetta, but I'm her daughter."

"Daughter?" she repeats softly, confusion written all over her face. I nod my head and watch as her face fell.

She looks like she's deep in thought shaking her head as if she's agreeing and disagreeing with her thoughts. She looks up at me, "then what happened to Rosetta?"

"My mother died in an accident," I tell her making her eyes go round and she looks down.

I glance around trying to find a nearby bench or somewhere we can sit to converse. I'm sure there's a lot she wants to know and have more I can find out about my mother. On the right corner of the garden, I spot an old gazebo with bushes surrounding it.

Without letting go of her hand, I start walking towards the gazebo and Frida follows right behind me. The moon disappears again behind those thick dark clouds. If it weren't for Frida's torchlight then we'd be swallowed up in darkness, tripping over roots of trees and plants. This garden appears to be abandoned with nature taking over.

We head inside the Gazebo, I eye the place to find the street and our surrounding thoroughly empty. I take a sit down uncaring about how dusty this place is. My cloak is covering my dress so this would not be a problem.

Frida sits beside me with a sigh, I put my hand out for her torch so I can hang it on the side and she gives it to me. We sit in silence for a few seconds knowing that we're both waiting for the first person to take the lead of the conversation.

And I started, "My name is Rose Ann, by the way. It's nice to meet you," I put my hands out for her to shake. She stares at it for a second and as I was about to pull away, she shakes it.

"Frida Flinttank, your mother was a great friend of mine."

"How did you get to know my mother?" I ask her.

She looks at me with a slight smile on her face, "I remember it like it was just yesterday, she saved me from a nuckelavee who was about to attack me in the Kingsto Woods. I was so close to losing my life but Rosetta came just in time," she tells me with a proud expression.

"Your mother is a warrior and a humble queen, my husband and I forged her armor and her weapon against the Queen of Beorene," she continues looking up in the sky, sadness clouded her features.

I breathe out, following Frida's gaze towards the moon, and a smile creeps on my face. My mother was such a wonderful woman, loved by many. I don't know why she went back to the human realm, to that horrid household.

"You know that she'd go back to the human realm," I speak, Frida turns her attention to me, "did she tell you why?" I ask.

Her brows knit together and she looks away from me trying to remember a memory. She looks back at me for a while before looking back down, she seems to be having a hard time remembering.

"She told me," she answers staring at me with shining eyes then her face falls, "but I can't seem to remember."

"You can't remember?"

She shakes her head, "my memories are a mess but I remember her voice telling me that she carries a child," she squints her eyes and I get closer to her, "she even told me who your father was."

Taken aback by what she said, I sit up straight. My fingers fiddle the fabric of my cloak. I never got to know who my father is, my mother never brought him up. My relatives believe that my father can be Mr. Jeffery who lives five blocks away in my neighborhood that once fancied my mother. Though, Mr. Jeffery went missing the same day as my mother disappeared.

I place my hands on hers, "it's okay take your time to remember," I said with pleading eyes. Out of all the beings who knew my mother, Frida appears to know more about my mother.

She sighs giving me an apologetic look, "I'm sorry my child but the memory of that day disappeared after I drank the bottle that was given to me by an elf," she stops recalling the elf's name, "right, her name was Feyre or Faye an elf knight."

My ears perked up after hearing Faye's name, "Faye? I've met her, she risked her life for me."

"That elf made me lose my memory," she accuses pointing her finger up, "it's like she wanted me to forget everything, that bottle- she made me drink that dangerous bottle."

"What, are you sure?"

"You can't trust her or anyone in that castle-" she frantically exclaims grabbing my shoulders, "you can't trust them-" with my dominant ear I heard it coming. The familiar sound of the string of a bow releasing an arrow. The light sound of an arrow flying breaking through the wind, landing on the wooden post of the gazebo right in the center of Frida and me.

Frida hops down pulling out her hammer going on full defense mode when we hear another arrow released and spot one flying towards us. With sharp eyes, Frida lifts her hammer smacking the arrow away before it can hit her right on the forehead.

"Get behind me," she commanded and I quickly do as she says. She pulls out a dagger aims at something behind the tall thick bushes while I can't see anything. In one swift moment, she throws the dagger and it goes spinning through the bushes. The dagger disappears and we hear a rabid-like screechy growl.

Who or what could be attacking us right now? My knees start shaking from the sudden fright and I hold onto Frida's shoulder. Frida starts walking near the sound and I follow her.

She uses her hammer to push the bushes away and reveal the same hideous-looking creature that attacked the castle that night. It's the hooded creature with razor-sharp teeth, the same kind that stabbed Faye.

"Kobolds from Beorene," Frida hisses eyeing the dark garden, "he can't be alone."

"Wh-what why are they here, could they be going after me?" I shudder, completely terrified. There is a high chance that they are after me, why else would they attack both of us. If this creature has friends, they would be somewhere around us in this dark garden. It's just Frida and me with only a hammer as Frida's weapon, I try to calm my shaking figure.

"What do we do?" I squeaked, glancing nervously around when another arrow comes rushing towards Frida and she successfully blocks it.

"We run!" she shouts grabbing my hand as we dash away from the gazebo and towards the gates of the garden. An arrow passes dangerously near my ear making my eyes go round. I don't look back but focus my eyes right ahead as we get nearer towards the gate.

My heart thumps as if it's going to pop out of my chest. The distance between the gate and us gets smaller giving me a glint of hope. But as soon as we're about to step out, the creature coming from the side tackles Frida.

I scream, seeing the hooded creature pinning her down. Frida puts in so much force to push the creature off, "get off you vile beast!" she raged, striking the creature's arm with her hammer.

My eyes flared seeing Frida thrashing around. I ready myself about to charge towards the creature when I feel a rope capture my right hand. I snap my head at another kobold that appears to be trying to capture me.

"Stop!" I shout, feeling my panic rise when the creature pulls on the rope and making me stumble and I fall on the ground.

The creature continues pulling me, my body dragging on the path, dirtying my dress. Then I hear it, Frida screaming from the pain inflicted on her. I look down to see the creature has stabbed Frida's shoulder with its dagger.

Fury rushed through my veins. I won't let another creature meet death because of me. With so much force, I pull on the rope sending the creature down and I take the chance to get up.

In that immediate moment, a brilliant light shined from my neck. My eyes locked on the creature pinning Frida down. By the quick swipe of my right hand and upon my command, thick roots from trees emerged from the soil, breaking some of the cobblestone paths and moving at a rapid speed towards the creature, knocking him off of Frida. The catches hold of the creature and the roots wrap around it from its legs to its neck causing the creature to give its loudest growl as the roots squeeze its neck.

Frida, with every bit of strength left, lifts herself to sit up and sends her hammer flying straight at the creature's head, killing it.

After witnessing the creature's death, I come back to my senses. I felt confused about what had just happened and all my energy leaving my body, Frida stares at me and she screams with wide eyes, "watch out!"

"Rose Ann!" Rhys, that fool's voice is the last thing I heard before feeling a sharp pain on my head, my vision blackening for a moment and I see stars. I drop to the ground with a thud. I see him, the elf knight who was supposed to keep me safe tonight. He pulls out his sword charging towards me and that's the last sight I get to see as my eyes close fully.