WA- Picture Prompt Story #1

Couples spun on the glistening marble floor like water lilies cast about in a rippling pond. Around and around eloquent dresses blossomed on beautiful masked maidens while terrifyingly handsome men kept somber skeletal faces as the music roared through the castle. It bounced off walls and swung from the chandeliers, and like a imp from hell it kept its victims entranced. Forever turning to the beat.

I glanced at the band before rushing out onto the stone terrace. The sounds and heat made my head pin around like the dancers inside till I could no longer stand it. I drew in each breath of icy air slowly in order to clear the nausea that sat in my chest. Stars above twinkled in delight as the small whips of clouds floated by the bloated moon. It was indeed a wonderful night to flee from the endless parties that seemed to plague my existence.

Flattening the front of my dress I stretched out my arms in a very unladylike display before gazing off into the endless night. The village off in the distant hills was alight with celebration; I wondered how their dance differed from our own. How they danced through the streets with such wild displays and such flighty music. I almost envied their wild lifestyle, their freedom.

Suddenly a noise shook me from my thoughts. It came upon the wind from not too far off and was barely audible above the roar of the orchestra inside. It was the clatter of hoof beats and no sooner had the noise reached my ears did the horse man arrive. He raced up the cobblestone path on a lanky black steed his fiery mask with eyes like the Devil’s. The dingy cloths that hung from his lean muscular frame revealed the identity of this strange figure. He was a peasant; a filthy street urchin come to steal from the palace’s kitchens.

I could feel my cheeks redden when I realized how intolerable this act was. He was a fox about to slink into the hen house… he was more than unwanted.