Once and For All

Once and For All

A bounty hunter found Elle at the tavern a few days later, kidnapping her in the dead of night and forcing her back to her family's crumbling manor. When Elle came face to face with the woman she hoped to never see again, she scowled furiously at her. Regina, for her part, looked like she wanted to murder Elle.  Frankly, Elle didn't care. "How dare you forget your place, you ragged servant girl." she said, her voice dangerously low.

Elle wanted to slap her. "I am a free person, and I can go and do as I please." Elle snapped.

Regina laughed and slapped her. "A free person? Mark my words Girl. You are nothing but a dirty servant girl. That is all you have ever been and that is all you will ever be."



"Don't tell me what I can be." Elle snapped. "I left once, I'll leave again."  

Regina roughly grabbed Elle and wrapped a brass chain with an amber pendant around her neck. The instant the exposed amber touched her skin Elle felt her magic float away into nothingness. "A containment and anti-aggression charm should remind you of your place Cinderella. You will NEVER leave this house again."



Regina fingered Elle's tavern wench dress. She callously ripped it. Elle held back her tears as her stepmother sharply grabbed Elle's arm and dragged her down to the cellar where Elle had been forced to live since the death of her father. Regina flung open the doors of the old wardrobe and pulled one of the three dresses out of it. Marissa, Regina's eldest, held Elle's arms behind her back while Regina ripped Elle's dress to shreds as she tore it off of her and forced her to wear her servant dress once more.
 
As Regina and Marissa left Elle in a heap on the floor, Regina quipped, "You have chores to do, Cinderella" 

She didn't want to of course, but Elle felt it safe to assume that some sort of obedience charm had also been cast on that cursed necklace. It made Elle into the perfect servant, completely obedient and stripped of her freedom. She had never hated her Stepmother more.



As she sat on the floor of the root-cellar lamenting her cruel fate, the only thing she thought of was her freedom and seeing the handsome William again. He was a puzzling man. He was the only one who had ever tried to get through to her. Perhaps by some miracle he cared. Also, he strongly reminded her of a young man she'd met at a festival three years prior when she still possessed some meager freedom. In fact, he was the one who'd convinced her to run away the first time.
 

As autumn shifted to winter, Elle toiled for her step-family, resenting her situation more everyday. Her stepsister Flora, Regina's younger daughter, was kind to her but made sure to never show it in front of her mother.


Elle's only comfort came from sitting at her parent's graves under their favorite tree, a hazel tree that had been planted the day she was born. It was a great and beautiful tree now, shading her mother's grave. Somehow it was keeping its leaves while all of the trees around it were bare.

One day in early winter Elle sat at her parent's grave after all of her chores were finished, waiting for her stepmother to order her to do something else to keep her busy. She heard someone walk up behind her, but she didn't get up, wiping the tears from her cheeks. "What do you want now Stepmother?" Elle sighed.

"Elle."

Elle looked up. The only person who called her Elle was Flora, and that was only occasionally when her mother wasn't around. Normally she was called Cinderella or worse Servant Girl.

Flora stood over her, staring that the graves of Gemma and Jonathan Claremont. "I'm sorry. I don't know why mother acts the way she does.  I don't even want to think about what mother would do if she found out how close we are."

"I don't want to either. I hate being a prisoner." she sobbed.

"Both of us are." Flora commented. 

"But, you can leave."
 
Flora pulled at the necklace around her neck as hard as she could. Like Elle's, it refused to come off. Elle nodded, understanding. "Believe me. I want my freedom too; however, I can give you yours."



Elle decided to leave that night. Snow had fallen over the evening, and was still falling steadily outside. Regina wouldn't believe that her stepdaughter would actually try to trek through snow in the middle of the night, and the falling snow would cover her tracks, so tonight was perfect.

Flora waited at the door. Elle was taking nothing but the clothes on her back and a cutting from the Hazel tree. "Take care of yourself Flora. You know how Stepmother is."

Flora smiled with tears in her eyes. "I'll be alright." She brought Elle into a hug after unclasping the necklace from around Elle's neck.



On a whim, Elle took hold of the chain Flora wore and pulled hard. The chain broke. Flora was stunned. "Mother told me that she was the only one who could remove my necklace."

"It appears she lied to you."

"Thank you." Flora whispered tearfully. She shoved something into Elle's hand. It was enough money to escape the kingdom."Mother took all the money you made to pay the bounty hunter, so here is enough for you to leave and make a life for yourself. I owe more to you than I can probably ever repay. You gave me my freedom."

"Come with me." Elle offered. "We can look out for each other."

"That isn't enough to get us both out of Almiris Elle, and I was barely able to get this."

"That doesn't matter. We can get a job working at the castle. I know it will be different than here and no one will know who we really are, but we will be free from Regina."

Elle expected Flora to be apprehensive. She'd never worked around the house, never performed any sort of domestic service. She'd much rather play music or read a book. Then again, Flora never left the house without her mother, and when she expressed an opinion or did anything her mother disapproved of, she would be locked in her room for days at a time.

Elle was a prisoner by servitude. Flora was just plain a prisoner.

Naturally, Flora instantly accepted and grabbed her coat. They quietly closed the door and began their trek through the snow with the light of the full moon illuminating their path. At this rate they could be two villages over by sunrise and their tracks would be completely gone.

"Anything is better than being a prisoner." Flora stated after they'd walked for a half hour or so. Elle couldn't agree more.

This isn't quite what I wanted, but I couldn't get the words to flow right. I'll eventually rework it. No new chapter for two weeks. We'll see James's side then.

Till next time!

Sophie.