"G" (Writers of Kern A-Z Blog Challenge)

Sketches by Kehlee, this time in ink!

           The little girl’s heart thundered with a wild ferocity as she ran for her life. She had blonde hair, sea green eyes, a pretty pink dress, and a dark, wild-haired man who pursued her with malicious lust in his eyes.

           The city was night-washed and every small sound she heard gave her the frights. The creak of a window shutter sounded like a man moaning in death, the titters of street rats were beastly roars, and the whipping wind screamed and thrashed her clothes against her body as if the man chasing her had already caught up and was ripping her apart.

           The streets were empty of other people and she knew there was no chance of escaping if she continued running down the open sidewalk. She had to elude him with traps and obstacles, or find people and their safety. 

           She came across a wooden fence that separated two brick buildings and she scrambled up onto a large flowerpot just to the side of one of the brick building’s shop windows and jumped up to hang on the fence. Quickly, she swung her leg up and vaulted herself over, just as the wild-haired man crashed into the gate. She felt his fingertips claw at her shoes as she went over. His touch scared her more than anything she had heard that night and she stood back up to her feet and continued running between the buildings.

           The opposite gate was unlocked and hanging open. She slammed it shut as she ran by and found herself running through a small garden courtyard at the middle of the brick buildings. She passed a water fountain and a couple of park benches and trees looking for a way out but she had little time to think when the second gate exploded open behind her. The man sounded as if he had turned into a bear and the dreadful, frightened visions in her mind showed him caroming through the courtyard forest, on all fours, bounding over the fountain and crashing through the benches in a shower of wood slivers.

           With her heart threatening to break itself free of her chest, she found another street at the front of the brick buildings. She turned left onto the sidewalk and in the distance ahead of her she could see a faint light shining out of the door of a tavern. Safety! She thought, but it was miles away and she didn’t think she was going to make it in time.  Just as that thought hit her, the man broke free of the brick buildings and turned down the street. She ducked quickly down an alley on her left hoping he hadn’t seen her. 

           The small passageway was very dark and she had trouble seeing. She was forced to slow down to a quick walk to avoid making any noise. Appearing, seemingly out of nowhere, out of the darkness she ran into a brick wall. Oh god! She thought and she frantically moved her hands across the stone feeling for a door or a hand hold to climb over. All she found were the other walls of the buildings to her left and right. It was a dead end. She was trapped and she needed to go back.

           When she turned around, she saw the outline of the wild-haired man silhouetted against the ambient light out on the street. She stifled a cry and moved very slowly to duck down behind one of the trashcans. There were two doors that would lead into the buildings ahead of her, but she thought she would surely been seen if she tried to run to them. And what if they were locked, he’d catch her then when the doors wouldn’t open. Hiding was her best option.

           Crouching down on the ground behind the cans, she wrapped her arms around her legs and tried to stay quiet. Her breathing was rapid and she kept her mouth closed, breathing only through her nose in quick, short breaths. Her eyes were wide and large but she couldn’t see anything in the darkness but for the bluish glow of the moonlight trying to reach its way down into the alley. Her ears strained for any sound but the silence was absolute. 

           A few moments passed and her fear started to turn into hope. She struggled to convince herself to get up and look down the alleyway but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She would rather sit here and wait until morning to rise than go back out on to that street where she might be chased again, and so she sat, waiting.

           Violently, the trash can was ripped away. The little girl’s hiding spot was exposed and the wild-haired man snarled. “You can’t run from me, pretty!” He reached out and seized the girl by her wrist and pulled her out into the dark alley. He whipped her around and threw her backwards where she tripped over the overturned trash can. When she hit the ground and rolled to her side in pain, screaming in fear, her savior arrived.

            He started as a bright ball of white energy that slammed into the ground like a meteorite between the girl and the man. Its impact knocked the man backwards where he stumbled but managed to keep his balance. The light began to swirl and glow and it coalesced into the form of a shining knight. Everything about the knight was ethereal in nature including his armor which looked to be made out of see-through clouds molded into the shape of platemail. He wielded a great, ghostly broadsword in one hand and a pointed shield in the other.

           “What the hell?” The wild-haired man said but it was more in shock at the sudden pushback than from the appearance of the knight. In fact, the man couldn’t even see the knight. He felt a strange power, almost an urge to turn around and leave the little girl alone, but he couldn’t see the ghost that stood battle ready not five feet away from him. The man steeled himself and stepped forward, intent on getting his prize. 

           From the ground, the little girl whimpered and tried to stand. When she braved a glance up at her attacker, she saw a white knight standing between them. He looked brave. He looked strong. He looked like the man from all of her childhood princess dreams; the man who would one day save her from evil and sweep her away in his arms. He looked like safety, like help, and she so desperately needed help right now.

           Through the knight’s ghostly form, she saw the wild-haired man’s face pass from startled, to confused, to determined, and he stepped towards her. With the quickest of reflexes, the white knight arced his sword through the air and sliced the man’s body from shoulder to hip with a massive swing. The blade swept right through him. It left no mark, no injury, just passed through him like a ghost. But the wild-haired man stopped dead in his tracks and his eyes opened wide, a terrible fear overcoming his features. He cautiously stepped again and was met by another cut from the knight’s sword. This one sliced across his belly and the knight used the momentum of the attack to spin around three-sixty before stabbing the sword through the man’s heart.

           The wild-haired man blinked down at the girl, his mind reeling as it tried to figure out what was happening, and then he turned and ran. He said nothing, just ran. But the little girl thought she saw a tear run down his cheek.

           The white knight lowered his hand to the girl and helped her up. He knelt down beside her and she gave him a hug befit of rescuing.

           “Thank you.” She whispered into his chest and he vanished.

"G is for Guardian"