Love me to death.

~ the reason: love is a four-letter word… Need I say more?

Red and Cinders - both seeing red.

~ In the heat of the battle when the blood is boiling, words are weapons.

As Cinders was busy luring the guard into a well, she hears the sound of wings. Overwhelmed by the roaring sound, she slams her hands over her ears. The sound grows louder, the dirt begins to collapse. The hole in the ground starts to shift.

As the world tilts itself, Cinders and the guard are now battling to maintain their footing.

"What is happening? You witch?" the guard screeches in a tiny voice.

Cinders looks at him with sorrow in her eyes, pitying this bully for the first time.

"I think my friends are here, I sincerely hope they do NOT hurt you."

As the words left her mouth she realises, she means it. Just then a spider, as tall as an oak tree, plucks the man's feet from under him. As his chin hits the dirt, he loses consciousness.

"Just as well for you then." Cinders mutters, gazing at the spider. "Hello, sweet friend, what have you been doing? I missed our conversations."

The spider clicks its jaws together, and she can hear the words meant only for her: "You did not think I would leave you, or did you? Foolish child." His stern admonition, said with rare kindness.

"Go, join her, but be warned. She is not of our world. She will never betray you but watch what happens wherever the cursed lady steps. I knew her once. She was my only failure. I loved her and still she burned me."

Worst words

I

Red sauntered into the underground labyrinth. Stalking, her footsteps as silent as the night. A predator, a breathtaking sight. "Are we talking about me again?"

She sneers at the spider. "You never could keep a secret. Yarn after yarn, the Yin to my Yang. I spared your life! For that one mistake, I've been punished for a five decades!"

"Honestly, I am tired of you pulling on my strings! And you never stop, do you?"

She releases a moan, and from her mouth escapes a ribbon of blood and sticky ichor, which covers the spider in shadows.

"No, Red! Don't!" Cinders screams.

"Please be quiet, while I'm thinking Princess."

Red's gaze inspects every part of Cinders body. Her gaze so intense that Cinders' shudders involuntarily.

Looking at her strange friend, thinking to herself: we could have been lovers. Realizing her mistake, unwilling to own up to her part of the story.

"Bloody hell, Red. Where have you been? I've died a few times since you left on your 'little errand', so you will tell me now, what did you do?"

"Oh, Cinders, I warned you to never ask me that! Besides, you did NOT die. At least not violently. Also, you owe me a new dress. What were you thinking when you wrote in blood? I still have your words scarred into my skin."

With that she pulls up her sleeve. The words "I end here" carved into her arm.

"Poetic license, Cinders? You know if I wanted a seeping wound, I would have been a tad more original."

II.

Intervention!

~ Image credit: Imagined from J.R.R. Tolkien

"Are we going to wait up here for another year?" Two hairy faces look down at them.

"My sweet ladies, stop playing the blame game. We want to go home. Cinders, you're cooking!"

"WHAT?"

If only looks could kill…

Red elbows Cinders gently in the side.

"They have a point, I'll cook - don't worry."

The two women embrace each other.

"No, you will not!" Cinders states. That lot's been living here for longer I've been alive. They can use those weapons!"

"Since when do you eat meat?"

"I don't." Cinders winks up at Red. "I have changed, Red. We don't want them listening, do we?"

Shaking with laughter, which sparkles in night light, they start to climb over the rubble.

Friends reunited.

Wiling to go to war. Knowing it will find them.

⨔Fin.

Keep on reading, the action-fun is about to begin.

P.s. The spider lies in forced hibernation. Listening. Thinking, re-considering.

Resigner 💜

A steampunk heart, for a girl with an old soul. 😘

Go, move, make fresh memories. Remember to be safe.

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#justmoveforward

Thank you, Billie & Khalid