by R Cavanaugh
The other differences were not as noticeable, and this was because they were internal differences, differences that were conflicting with everything she had previously known. Things she was still trying to tackle with all that was taking place. Depending on the day, she would catch herself feeling confident about how things could work out in the end. Then there were moments when she felt that these people were piling all of their greatest hopes onto a dead horse.
Remembering that she was supposed to be watching James and Liam, who were trying to teach her the great art of sword fighting, she came back to the match before her.
“Now, Rose, watch me and Liam.”
She had to admire James, who was so confident that she would get things right in the end.
“James, I think we should start her off easier than this.” Liam was having a hard time voicing his opinion, as he was doing so as their swords and shields clashed, and he seemed to find himself almost not ducking in time.
Valor, who was standing next to Rose on her right, had his water-like eyes on the two men.
“James,” his crisp voice rang, “you’re straying from the original formation and are about to lose.”
Rose watched as James quickly refocused on the task at hand and was finally concentrating fully on what he was supposed to be doing. This was bad for Liam who, while James was seeing if Rose was paying attention, had started to gain the advantage in the match. Then with spectacular speed, James disarmed Liam and forced him to the ground by grabbing hold of his forearm and flipping him.
“I yield!” Liam cried quickly and slightly nervously, as James now had his sword pointing directly at Liam’s throat.
“That was very well done,” said the calm voice of Enigma, who was the animal that belonged to Liam.
Enigma was a great gray wolf; his fur was almost silver, however, and from his lower jaw all the way to the tip of his tail and extending all the way to his paws, he was a pure white. Yet his eyes were so gray that they were almost black.
“Liam,” he continued in his deep, calm voice, “you need to focus more. I can tell that your mind is elsewhere.”
“What?” Liam said in a slightly agitated and distant voice, “I don’t know what you mean, Enigma.”
“Never mind,” Enigma said, shaking his head as Liam sat down beside him and then focused his gaze on Rose.
“I thought you did rather well,” Rose said jealously.
“It was not his best, though,” James said concernedly. “Liam is the head of the weapons division, and usually his skills are almost equal to mine.”
“So I’m having a rough day!” Liam shouted at him.
“You don’t need to get all hot and bothered!” James replied just as loudly.
“Well here you are criticizing me when you have no idea what I’m going through!”
“Oh, I think I have a pretty good idea, you overconfident—”
“That is enough, both of you,” came the deep, slow voice of Valor. “By fighting with each other, you are inspiring little to no confidence in your leadership capabilities or your friendship with each other.”
“I agree,” came the deep, growling voice of Enigma.
Both animals were now watching their respective humans as they breathed heavily and stared at one another.
“Sorry, James,” Liam said in a slow, tired voice, one hand rubbing the back of his neck. “I think I just need some time to myself.”
“Sure,” James said apologetically, “I understand.”
With that Liam and Enigma left the part of the clearing they were in and started toward the village of tents. This just left James and Rose together, as it seemed Valor wished to go graze someplace a little quieter a few yards away.
“So,” James said, and he turned and looked at her, “ready to give it a try?”
“I don’t know, James,” she said unsurely.
“Come on,” he smiled, “what is the worst that could happen?”
“You might cut my head off.” Rose smiled before continuing to say, “I’m sorry, did I say ‘worst’? I meant best.”
With that she picked up the heavy shield and sword and tried very hard for the next few hours to gain some form of advantage over James. She didn’t even come close.
“You’re getting better,” he said with the smallest of smiles, and when she looked at him in complete disbelief, he followed with several more votes of confidence.
“James,” she said with a great sigh and groaned as she sat down on the ground, “what you are asking of me is almost as difficult as controlling the night sky and all the stars in it.”
“Rose, come on, you’re—”
“James,” she said, cutting him off and standing back up just as he sat down, “I’m tired. I think I will go to my tent and go to bed.”
“OK,” James quietly said in a sad voice.
As she was walking away, she heard Valor start to whisper to James. She was sure that it was probably about her. Why not, she thought, I mean, I am making a complete fool of myself in everything people are showing me.
There were several “hellos” muttered as she walked by, but they were halfhearted. When she had arrived, people were excited, thrilled even, but she expected that she had turned out to be a great disappointment to most of these people.
“I can’t even stab someone when I am right next to them,” she hissed angrily to herself.
She was mad because to kill was just not in her for some reason or another; she just could not do it. She was now passing through what would be a village square if there had been buildings here and not a massive amount of tents. She went left toward a larger tent she shared with Aphra, Topaz, and Vengeance. She had been given a quarter of it in the back. She happened to like her corner because it had a flap that came down and gave her some much-needed privacy.
“Hello?!” she called, relieved when no answer came.
“Good,” she muttered, “peace at last.”
She continued to the corner and pulled down the flap. In her space was a nice little cot, a chair, and a small desk with a few candles. Quills and parchment were lain neatly on it, but she had no need for them.
She walked over to her small cloth bag and pulled out the painting. The bag was magical; she could put as much as she wanted in it, and it would never get full or be heavy.
She carried the painting over to the cot and sat down, holding it before her. It looked so real, and the painter had been set on the notion that this headdress had been of a very simple and delicate design. It was beautiful, she thought, but I am not worthy of such a thing.
How could she rule these people, who were more talented and sure of themselves than her? She couldn’t even defend herself. How could she defend a people who were born able to defend themselves?
She got up, put the painting back in her bag, and sat down at the desk. She wanted to write a note simply saying “Sorry” and leave, but she just couldn’t do it. With sadness and helplessness settling in, she changed her clothing and blew out the candle. She then lay on the cot and began to cry herself into a restless sleep filled with war, death, and a faceless king.
Chapter 18
Normal Hopes for Turbulent Times
Edge of the Camp of RTET
Liam Draughtningr was sitting on a stump facing the southwest and thinking about the city of Decorus Regnum Corset and the people living there: namely one woman in particular.
This woman had deep, long auburn hair and big, warm brown eyes. She was not very tall and had a frail-looking form with pale, smooth skin. She wasn’t frail, though; she was as tough as they came and a Cryptic Conspirator for RTET.
Her name was Rachel MacNeil, and she was the woman that lived in his best dreams and haunted his worst nightmares. She was his fiancée, and they had decided to keep their love for each other a very deep secret.
&
nbsp; No one knew of their love for or their engagement to each other except for two other beings: her cat, Damien, and his wolf, Enigma.
“Your mind is not here.” Enigma had been so quiet that he had managed to get right next to Liam without him noticing.
“You’re mistaken,” Liam said quietly and continued to look in the direction of the woman of his dreams.
“No,” Enigma sighed, “no, I don’t think I am. You are thinking about her again.”
“Yes.” His answer was distant.
“You wish you and she were together.”
“Yes.”
“Yet you both agreed that it was best to wait until everything was sorted out before coming together as one.” Enigma’s eyes were on Liam, who seemed to be on the verge of just getting up off of the stump he was on and going to her.
“We agreed to that years ago, and now…” He gazed longingly. “Now I wish we had just continued through with it and accepted the consequences.”
“You did the right thing,” Enigma said quickly and sternly. “Had you been together, the king’s people would have gone after her when he discovered you as part of the plot against him.”
“He may still harm her, should she be discovered spying for us.” Liam’s eyes were filled with a pain known only to those who loved deeply. His fists were clenched, and his face was wrought with worry.
“I know how you feel, Liam.”
The voice had come from behind Enigma, near the path that eventually led to the Pool of Hope. As they both squinted in the moonlight, the figure of James Tungston formed as he approached them.
“James!” said an appalled and infuriated Liam, “How long have you been there?!”
“Long enough to know that if I stayed there longer, I would risk hearing the name of the woman you miss and fear for.”
“Why lurk in the shadows, James?” Enigma said calmly, his eyes never wavering from James’s, “Why were you listening in on a conversation that was not yours to hear?”
“Yes,” Liam said quickly and pointing a finger casually in his direction, “why were you listening to us?”
Liam watched as James looked toward the camp, a sad, longing expression on his own face. He seemed to be lost, either in thought or in feelings. When he finally spoke, his voice was cracking, and his face had become rigid.
“I was sitting and thinking about how I was going to grapple with the situation that I am in.” His face now turned away from the camp and back in the direction of the Pool of Hope.
“What kind of situation?” Liam said, sort of bemused. “It’s not like you, like the rest of us, didn’t know what we were getting into. I mean, we all took the risk.”
“I do not think that is the situation to which he is referring,” Enigma said concernedly. “James, is there something on your mind? Something that is bothering you?”
James looked at the two of them and seemed to be deciding whether or not he dared to tell them whatever it was that was bothering him. Liam was almost completely sure that he was going to keep his secret to himself when James began to speak.
“Have you ever wondered what it would be like to betray the one you loved to the cruel twists and turns of fate? To do so after you removed them from a place where fate’s hand could not deal them blows as horribly as it can where they are now?”
Here he paused and looked them both in the eyes. He seemed to be searching for his answer there. He got none.
“Well I have.” He winced slightly and looked up at the now star-filled sky. “When I first met her, I was determined to get the job done. To do what needed to be done. Then I learned more about her and began to spend more time with her. The more I learned and saw her, the more I began to fall for her.”
As he paused once more, Liam knew who he was speaking of.
“Rose was not like any woman I had met. She was honest, couldn’t lie to save her life, and noble; she told me she would never kill, even if she had to.” James took a deep breath and continued. “I knew in the end, she would be no match for the king, but it was my task to make her believe that she could be. To believe she could take down a bloodthirsty, vengeful tyrant.”
Here Enigma’s ears drooped ever so slightly, and Liam’s face had become very pale. What James was saying was that the person they had been waiting for may be little to no help to them at all.
“I left her to be free, and when she was brought here, I was faced with the same horrible predicament.” He looked at them again and then redirected his gaze to the stars. “That I would have to help train her and most likely help her into her deathbed.”
“James,” Liam swallowed and continued, “you must realize that she is the one who is meant to free us, our people, our world.”
“But at what cost!” James half shouted, half groaned. “What is to become of her in the end!?”
Liam was about to answer when Enigma spoke first.
“You love her, don’t you, James?” Enigma whispered.
Liam waited for James to answer. At first it looked as though he wouldn’t or he expected the stars to give him the answers. Then after a few moments, he spoke.
“More than the life that courses through my own body,” he said, practically collapsing to the ground and covering his face with his hands.
“Then if this is the case, you will be sure to let nothing happen to her,” Enigma said calmly and with visible confidence, “nor will you allow anyone you do not trust to come near her. You will guard her with your life, as you do with Valor and he does to you.”
“James,” Liam said carefully, “don’t you see that you are what fate has handed her?”
“How do you mean?” James asked, confused.
“I mean you are everything she is not,” he continued, his own problems as distant for now as the stars themselves. “You will help her become what she needs to and make up for what she cannot become.”
“James,” Enigma said, sitting in front of him and placing his right forepaw on his knee, “we will help you stay strong.”
James first looked into Enigma’s eyes and then looked up at Liam. Nodding, and without saying a word, he got up. He then turned to them and said, “And I will help you stay strong.”
Liam looked into the brown eyes that were suddenly filled with fire. Then, when it was clear there was nothing more to say, James began to walk slowly back toward the camp and appeared to be thinking to himself.
“Liam,” Enigma whispered, “she will be there when we are victorious.”
Liam knew that it was not Rose they were talking about anymore; it was Rachel.
“Liam,” his voice was even quieter than before, “I bet she is the one that saves us all.”
Liam smiled. He then thought, And we will hoist up the new flag together.
Chapter 19
The Decision
Center of RTET Camp
Rose was trying her best to get herself together before she exited her part of the tent. She had skipped breakfast and avoided Aphra and Topaz this morning when she went to get washed. Upon her return, she noticed that both women and their animals had left.
She was supposed to work on her archery skills today, but she was not feeling up to it. She wanted nothing more than to be back in her and her father’s shop, getting those bouquets ready for that couple that was getting married soon.
She stopped by the mirror and took a look at her reflection. She looked, at least on the outside, like she was ready for anything; calm and collected was how she presented herself. She was wearing her armor once more. However, she had decided to wear her hair up in a tight and intricate braid. Inside, she thought to herself as she stared into the mirror sadly, I’m ready to run away screaming and to throw caution to the wind.
“Rose?”
It was Valor. He always seemed to be coming to get her, practically pushing her out o
f the tent.
“Rose?!” Valor called out, exasperated, “I know you’re in here somewhere.”
“I’m coming.” She sighed and took one last look in the mirror to make sure she looked presentable. “Just keep your shirt on.”
As she came out, he looked at her strangely, and if he had been human, she firmly believed that he would be scowling at her.
“I do not wear nor have I ever worn a shirt,” he said deeply and followed her out of the tent, shaking his mane as a woman would toss her hair to right it after it had been messed up.
“It’s an expression,” Rose said, rolling her eyes. “It means the same thing as ‘give me a moment’ or ‘hold your horses.’”
Valor gave her a penetrating stare, and after passing in front of her as if to make a point, he then began to walk in front of her. He was leading the way to their destination and taking them away from the center of the tents: first by taking a right and then by taking a left once they had passed all of the remaining tents.
There wasn’t really a path that led to the archery training ground, but they were easy to find, as they were located on the very edge of the clearing. It was actually more on the edge than she realized, as she observed that it was almost in the forest. Different trees were marked with targets, which she knew were used to test skill and accuracy.
“Good morning, Rose,” came the slightly growling voice of Enigma. “I hope you are well rested and ready for today.”
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Rose muttered with a halfhearted smile on her face. Inside she was terrified. She had done so poorly in everything else that now she felt this sense of desperation to do well with this particular skill.