•••1.Thê wîld wînd•••

A seven year old raven haired girl placed her pumps clad small feet on the window sill. Her target is the tree branch in front of her window which is moving due to the cool breeze in a manner as if mocking her that she won't be able to jump on it. She grinded her teeth. She took a deep breath and focused on her target. On the count of three she'd jump.

1...!

2...!

Before she could count three the door of her room opened and her maid, Mary shrieked at the sight of her mistress trying to jump out of the window.

The little mistress got startled and her foot slipped...making her right feet slip off the sill and her body seemed to fall towards the ground instead of the tree branch. In the heat of the moment, she regained her balance, threw a glare at the interrupter and jumped off the sill. Fortunately, she succeeded and landed on the tree branch.

Her maid, Mary stared at her in an awestruck manner before she rushed to the window to plead her to come down. Without even hearing her master's answer, the maid lifted her black skirt and ran inside, calling for the butler at the top of her voice. The girl who stood on the branch simply sighed at her maid's antics.

By the time Mary had reached underneath the very tree on which her mistress had jumped, the mischievous girl had already disappeared. The servants of the Duke's estate started to call for the young miss who had turned quite a naughty one.

The brown mare nuzzled at a pitch black haired boy's neck only to receive a strained giggle from him. It was ticklish. But he couldn't giggle as his throat has been sore since morning.

He winced as he touched his neck. The wound hasn't healed yet...it was still raw. Unfortunately old Jon isn't there anymore for him. His life had been worse than hell after that. Constant abuse—verbal and physical had tired him out inside out. His once bright black pupils are now dim.

"Should we run away together, Lucy?" He asked quietly to the mare who have been affectionate with him recently. She only snorted as he washed her with water. Her back had the markings of whips...just like him.

As expected of his Stepmother.

He simply sighed at the poor animal's fate and continued with his work. Lucy splashed water on him playfully which earned the former a mild scolding from the drenched boy.

Both of them were startled upon the stable door being opened with a loud bang. Heavy footsteps of boots were heard as they stepped over the hays and straws that were strewn all over the stable.

Blonde hair glistened as a boy shorter than the stable boy approached the latter in prideful steps. His posh clothes and pride in his eyes shows that he is noble's son. Although the stable boy was older and taller than him, the shorter boy wasn't intimidated at all.

"What're you staring at, stupid?" He looked at him with eyes full of scorn. Rhysand quickly averted his eyes and focused on what he was doing previously. However the short boy didn't stop here. His blue eyes twinkled with mischief as he cooked up a plan in his head. He stood there for sometime, watching the taller boy do his work.

Just when the stable boy turned his back to drain away the dirty water, the mischievious one yanked the mare's tail with all his might. Lucy, upon being hurt and startled, neighed, stumped her hooves, causing the posh clothed boy to fall down. On seeing the door of the stable open, the mare wasted no time as she ran out of there before her caretaker could do anything.

"Lucy wait! Lucy!" Rhysand felt his heartbeat increase. Lucy is his stepmother's mare and today she was supposed to show off Lucy to the other ladies at her tea party. He glared at the blonde boy who was sitting on the butt on the dirty floor with tearful eyes.

Then suddenly the boy started crying. Rhysand noticed that the wailing child has scraped his hand a little bit. "Daniel...come here.." the older one extended his hand at the crying younger one. Just as Daniel was about to hold the extended hand, the owner was pushed aside by none other than the head maid of the mansion, who misunderstood the situation to be Rhysand trying to harm Daniel, as she cried out in horror; "Young Master!!"

Isleen was enjoying the cool breeze that was making her hair tickle her neck. She sighed in content as she enjoyed the peace of the place. Currently she's lying on the grass of a cleared space in the middle of a forest situated near her mansion. Thankfully nobody knows about this place and her escapade in here. After all, they cannot imagine that a girl like her... a noble girl to be exact, to lie on the grass like this and enjoy nature. Many birds comes to play and sing in this place. The pond in the middle is the only source of water in this forest perhaps because she has seen animals like rabbits and raccoons to drink water from here. She has heard the tales of beasts living in this forest, although she has never encountered one.

Just as she had closed her eyes to get a nap, her eyes fluttered open due to a pained cry of a horse. She sat up. Did the servants of her house had already come to find her? She stayed quiet and tried to hear once more. Few minutes ticked by when she heard the cry of the horse again, this time a prolonged one. It neighed as if it's in pain. Isleen got up from where she was sitting and walked to the direction from where the neighs of the horse was coming.

After walking for few more minutes she discovered a horse sitting on the ground snorting and neighing painfully. It's rear was bloody. It seems like it was badly hurt by someone.

"Who would hurt it like that?"

An insane person.

Of course. The person who was insane enough to hurt it in such an inhuman manner.

The horse neighed again and tried to back away from the stranger. The little girl's heart wrenched at the poor creature trying pathetically to protect itself from another monster. She bit her lip and stared at the bleeding animal. She then slowly bent down, plucked some baby grasses tickling at her feet. She padded slowly towards the suffering creature trying to make herself show as harmless as possible.

The crows cawed alerting the citizens of the land of oncoming dusk. The horse's rear dripped no more blood thanks to the handkerchief tied clumsily in there. The horse licked the human's cheek who has helped it, earning a giggle from her.

It was also when Rhysand finally came across his beloved mare after following the trail of blood it had left behind only to clash dull black pools with the lively , warm brown ones.