My Vow

My mother use to say that my hands are like silk, they're smooth and soft. She would take them and place them on her cheeks. She'd cress them very tenderly and i always feel reassure for some reason.

"I'll protect these hands from the dirts of this world" she would say. I remember how she would look serene as she closes her eyes.

Now, as i look at them, rough and dirty i can't help but cry. These were the hands that my mother said she'd protect but how will she do that now?

I snap out of my daydreaming as i heard a man shouting from the distance "She ran this way!". I pick myself up and started running again. My feet is now sore and my back felt very heavy. The sun has set and the woods is now sorrounded by the dark. I couldn't see a thing but i kept on running. 'if they catch me, they'll hang me' is the thought that keeps running on my head. I look behind me and there seems to be no one following. Did i lost them? I felt raindrops on my cheeks and i look up "why does this have to happen to me?". I'm starting to lose my consciousness and as i fell to the ground, i can't help but wish for home.

Sweet pumpkin soup and the smell of bread woke me up. When i open my eyes i found myself inside a small room. The room was too small that there's only a closet and this bed I'm lying on as a furniture. I tried to get up but my head ached too much that i shouldn't have dared. So i didn't pushed myself and lied down. I raise my hand instead and found it covered with bandage. It seems as though someone had treated my wounds.

Someone knocked on the door and when it opened, a fat woman with an apron smudge with dirts entered the room. She almost jumped when she saw me looking at her. "Goodness gracious! You're awake! I thought you were dead." She spoke to high that i thought the window glass will broke.

"Madame, may i ask where am i currently?" I asks as she stood right next to my bed. She smiled and said "why, you're in the free city of kars".

"The city of kars? You mean we're at the border of the kingdom of Lusindia?" I was shocked when i heard the word kars.

"Yes my dear, you are in the city of kars". She confirmed. She gleamed at me and asked "how 'bout you? Where are you from? Surely you're not from here?". The face of my pursuers suddenly flashed in my head that i Couldn't speak a word. The lady seems to have taken a hint that what I've been through was not that easy to tell that she spoke again "Well, wherever you had been doesn't concern me" she looked at me from head to toe and added "but your health does. So whenever you're ready, come downstairs. I think you really need to eat". She closed the door and i was left alone.

I tried to get up again even though my head felt like exploding. I found a change of clothes on my bed side and i put them on. It seems to belong to someone bigger than me as it hung loose on me. I stepped out of the room and descended from the stairs. The smell of the food was so good that my stomach growled. The lady earlier was placing a bowl on the table when she heard me. She laughed and said "i should have fed you earlier". I felt embarrassed as she laugh her heart out. "Um... This might sound rude but may i ask for your name?". I sat next to the table and readied myself to eat.

"You can call me Kera, my husband is not here yet but you can call him Liam".

"Lady Kera" i repeated.

After dinner, I went upstairs and return to my bed. As i lay that night the memories of my family came rushing at me. It flooded my mind and i couldn't help but cry.

"Mother, father, i promise i will avenge you. You will not die in vain".

That night i dreamed of home. I was wearing my favorite pink dress and was dancing with my fiance. We were smiling and as we danced around, i could see my parents standing somewhere with the crowd. They were smiling as they look at me. But everything suddenly turned gloomy when the door of the great hall, violently opened. A thunder flashed and the light was out. I couldn't see anyone or anything. I called out my parents but no one would answer. Then I hear footsteps. It was slow but I'm very sure it's coming for me. Thud, thud, thud, with every step my heart beats with it. Then my knees gave out and I fell on the floor. The steps are very near now and as i look up, hoping to see who's steps it was. A thunder struck again and i saw the face of my parents' murderer. He was looking down at me. His intense gaze are piercing at me and when he raised his hands to bring down the sword he was holding, another thunder struck and i wake up.

I sat as i tried to recall everything in my dream. I cried as i remember that night. I raise my hand to my face to stifle my cries. I remember the face of my parents, the face of my brother and the face of my love. They all died in the hands of that murderer.

Then my grief was replaced by rage and in this dark room, all i could see was how I'll stab a dagger inside the heart of that murderer. With the storm raging outside, i whispered in the dark "Prince Selim, with the blood of goddess Lusindia running in my veins, I will return to the capital and vow to take your head".

I closed my eyes and return to sleep.