Swan Obsession

It was a long journey home, and Odette sat next to her father in the horse drawn carriage, as he tried to discover why it was that the union had failed to come about. She kept her red shawl drawn closely about her, and sunk comfortably into the padded purple velvet seats. The air about her was humid, for it had been raining, as though the heavens reflected the feelings of her father's dismay. She found herself to be more focused on the rhythmic clopping of the horses hooves than her father's befuddled diatribe. She was free. That was all that mattered.

The carriage was abruptly drawn to a stop, distracting Odette from her thoughts, and her father from his long winded speech. Her father opened the glossy carriage door, and stepped out, as a knight pointed to a black cloaked figure blocking the path ahead. He beseeched his daughter to stay in the carriage, and she nodded, uneasy, but trusting her father and his knights.

There was a brilliant red flash of light, and she could hear the knights yelling in panicked voices, while the horses whinnied and reared in fear. The carriage swayed uneasily, and before Odette could ask her father what was happening, the roof of the carriage was ripped off, shreds of wood flying all about and Odette felt herself in the claws of a great beast. She was too shocked to struggle, and it gripped her tightly, so that it seemed that the breath was pushed out of her body. Odette hadn't even the strength to flail about. It spread it's leathery bat-like wings up against the grey sky, and pulled her against it's damp grey fur. With a burst of strength as it flew off, Odette's last thought were of how the knights below her looked like little toy soldiers before she slipped into quiet blackness.