Locker for my Rose of Versailles fan fictions

The Princess and the Pea — Ch.1 Stormy Night 19 August , 2008

One stormy night, a carriage was speeding through curtains of heavy rain.  While the two coachmen whipped the horses to keep up the speed, Lady Marie, who was 17, kept complaining to her maid she could not fall asleep because of the bumpy ride.

“Alain, are you sure we’re on the right track?” asked Oscar, the slim coachman with such refined features people would mistake him as a Greek god.
“Of course!  I’ve travelled this road for a thousand times!” snorted Alain, the other coachman with short dark hair and fierce black eyes.

Oscar remained silent, and kept paying close attention to the geographical features that crossed his sight. 
The further the carriage went, the more ill at ease was he.  Given the speed at which they were travelling, they should have arrived at their destination two hours ago.

The horses were already showing signs of fatique, and there was no town nor village in sight.  Should he stop the carriage to let the horses rest before continuing?  Besides, they might be heading in the wrong direction…..

“Alain, let’s stop the carriage in the next clearing.  The horses need a rest.” Oscar suggested.
“What?  In the thunderstorm?  I don’t want to be struck by lightning!” Alained answered while keeping his sight on the road.
“Listen! I think we’ve lost our way.  Otherwise, we should have reached our destination  two hours ago.”

Suddenly lightning stuck.  Since it was so close, the horses were frightened and they suddenly jolted, throwing Oscar and Alain off board, before coming to a halt after galloping forward for another minute.   Marie and her maid Jeanne, were bumped off their seats in the carriage.  They screamed, then huddled together in the dark when things became quiet again.

“Oh my goodness, what happened?” Marie was shaken.
“Madamoiselle, the horses were scared by the thunder. It’s alright now.” Jeanne tried to sooth her.
Jeanne freed herself from Marie, opened the door and called out, “Alain! Alain! You hear me?”
“I am here!  Jeeze I almost got killed by the horses!  You gotta let them rest.  Otherwise I am afraid they will die.”

Jeanne nodded in agreement, “But where is your new partner?” referring to Oscar, who was brought in by Marie’s father, Count de Wards, in the last minute as backup to Alain for the trip.

“Just now when thunder struck, we were tossed off our seats.  I held onto the tether, thus dragged along in this mud till the carriage stops.
I don’t even know if he’s dead or not!  He’s so thin and frail.” mused Alain.

Jeanne never liked Oscar, though he was always courteous towards her. Everytime he looked at her, she would feel the hair
on the nape of her neck rising literally.  It was as if his saphire blue eyes could see through her thoughts and motives.

“You and madamoiselle stay here.  I’ll go look for Oscar.” Alain then turn around to trace back the route taken by the horse prior to the struck of thunder.

As he walked, Alain kept yelling “Oscar!” from time to time, but there was no response.  Suddenly, lightning stuck from afar, which lit up the sky briefly.  Alain saw a body lying face up on the lawn about 100 yards away.

He walked as fast as he could towards it.  It was really Oscar, soaking wet and covered in mud.   Alain placed two fingers on his neck to check his pulse.  As Oscar’s pulse turned out to be alright, Alain let out a sigh of relief.

“Hey!  Wake up man!  You’ll get pneumonia!” Alain shook Oscar’s shoulder, as opposed to kicking him on his hip as he usually did towards other folks.  He did not noticed why he behaved as such until much later.

Since Oscar did not regain consciousness, Alain simply hauled him on his back and carried him towards the carriage.
(Fortunately Oscar was not a baby, otherwise he will probably end up with Shaken Baby Syndrome.)

Meanwhile, Jeanne was weighting her options.  She was supposed to meet Nicolas and Rohan upon entering Town of Lille.
Now that they are stranded out here in the storm, she could not even send a message to them using her little turtle dove.

“What should we do?  When can we continue our journey?” Marie was tugging Jeanne’s sleeve.
“Alain is away looking for Oscar. You must stay by my side no matter what, understand?” Jeanne squeezed her mistress’s shoulder to reassure herself.
“I hope they’ll come back safely.  Otherwise how can we reach the Duke’s castle in time?  I cannot miss the ball! I have practiced the art of formal conversation for so long.  Father said I must look my best and dance the most lithe minuet to woo one of the princes.” 

Jeanne rolled her eyes.  What was the point of worrying about the ball if they got lost in the wilderness at night, not even sure if they could arrive at the Duke’s castle safely?  They could be torn to pieces by wolves anytime before seeing the sunrise.

Soon, they heard a Alain’s shouting, “Open the door! Be quick!”
Jeanne was shocked at what she saw, “You’re not coming in!  With all that mud!”
“God damn it! My arms are falling off my shoulders!” Alain yelled angrily.

At this moment, Alain saw a faint light approaching from afar.  He placed Oscar on the front sit immediately, took the carriage’s lantern and began to move it up and down, in the hope of catching the other carriage’s attention.