still untitled chapter two

(yes, still no title. The girl will be named soon... probably in the next chapter or so. Well, I hope you like this!)

Chapter Two

A giant monster roared, tearing apart a house, searching for her. The long, snake like creature tasted the air, trying to find her scent. As it did so, a small scream escaped her lips as a smaller snake slithered around her wrist. The monster's head swung around, looking in her direction. As its large, red eyes locked on her body, she slipped into a small room nearby. The monster followed, and struck.

She awoke with a start, soaked in sweat. Her heart was beating faster and faster, and her hand was held to her mouth, to keep another scream from coming. The dream came often, less often than it had... before. Before it had come all the time, before... just after it had actually happened. She had tried unsuccessfully many times to block out the memory, but it always came back in dreams, nightmares.
The monster had come, years ago, and had attacked her home. She had narrowly escaped, but hadn’t seen her parents since. She knew somewhere deep inside that they had to be dead, much as she wanted not to believe it. That had been years ago, twelve to be exact. The first five years, she had stayed with an uncle, but the man had eventually moved away, and she had refused to go with him. Simple as that. Then and there she had no home and no family. Not even a name. She couldn’t remember it. She had only been two when the monster had attacked. Her uncle hadn’t bothered to name her.
In all truth, the uncle hadn’t known she had existed until the village leader had brought the small girl to his house one day, telling him that he was her only living relation. He hadn’t meant to be cruel to her, but he hadn’t wanted a daughter, and knew not what to do with her.
The girl pulled the covers around her tightly, and breathed in a deep breath. She hadn’t had the dream in some time. Why had it chosen then to come back? The one time that she actually had a warm place to stay?
She climbed out of the warm bed and peered out the window. It was dawn. The sky was beginning to be splashed with color, and the shadows were slowly giving way to light. As quietly as she could, she walked out of her room and into the main area of the inn. The innkeeper was asleep at the front counter, snoring softly.
A smile touched the girl’s lips. Such a nice man. If only everyone could be that way. She was walking towards the room that smelled of warm, fresh food, when she heard, low, urgent voices.
The sound of footsteps were coming in her direction, and not wanting to get in the way, she slipped into a shadow.
The footsteps came closer and closer, and stopped just ahead of her. There were two men, speaking urgently.
“We have to do something with him! We can’t just hide him in a closet forever,” one voice snapped in fury.
“What? Our first plan fell threw, we can’t ransom him. He won’t be worth a whole lot… seeing you grabbed the wrong one…”
“I was under a lot of pressure,” the first voice snapped again. “I grabbed the first little boy that matched your description.”
“I suppose he does look similar… but he’s only a servant, not exactly worth the amount of a Crown Prince.”
“Well, maybe we can find someone who wants him…”
“Who?”
The girl listened to the conversation in horror. These two men had kidnapped a child! And as if that wasn’t bad enough, they had meant to nab the Crown Prince! How could they? It was horrible.”
She crouched in her spot, and waited for the men to leave. When they finally moved away, and snuck back into her room, trying to process all that she had learned.