The Knight

by Kayla Eshbaugh

  “What—?”

  “It was him. You were right. He did help me, but he was irritated by the mess of the crash, and he didn’t even care that my parents were dead!”

  “I will find him; I won't let him ever hurt you again.” I meant those words, just as much then as I did the first time I had said them, and then the second time I had repeated them to Mary. I felt the vow that I had made become stronger, my promise more solid than before, and I knew that I would discover who was responsible for inflicting the pain which Emma endured, and he would pay.

  Chapter 14

  HER SOUL WAS SO DARK that I could feel the darkness, the corruption, swirling around her, twisting itself inside of her, making a home there. It made me sick. I wanted to cast it away. She needed to be trained soon in the ways of her soul, needed to know her soul’s melody—but in order to do that, she needed to know that she even had a soul’s melody.

  “Em—” I called out to her as I unshielded my melody just a bit and let my hand find hers. I knew what she needed. She nearly collapsed into me as she looked into my eyes. I knew that she was on the verge of tears. I wrapped her into my arms, and she let a few tears fall.

  “Ry,” she replied in a soft whisper.

  “I should have come by this weekend, Em. I knew you probably weren’t doing well, but I didn’t know if you wanted to see me so soon after what I showed you the other day.”

  “Ry, I’ll always need my best friend.”

  I pulled her face up to look at me; I smiled. I knew that I needed to hold onto her for just a little bit longer. Her pain was melting away slowly, and she still needed my nearness—needed my melody.

  “Em, I swear, I will find him, and I will give your parents the justice that they deserve.”

  She nodded, unable to say anything at that moment. The warning bell rang, and students started hurrying to class. I let her go, and it ached.

  “I will see you at lunch?” I asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Emma, I wish I could fix everything right now.”

  She held up a hand, “It isn’t your fault, Ry. I’ll see you at lunch.”

  I nodded and knew that regardless of my plans, I needed to wait until at least after lunch. Information about the man I was searching for had just come in, and I needed to talk to Mary and Glasson about my plans as soon as possible. As I watched Emma’s retreating frame painstakingly walking to class, I was more determined than ever to rid her completely of the monster who had ruined her life.

  “I FOUND HIM.” I PACED the floor in the backroom of the flower shop. I left during lunch, right after I made sure Emma was okay. I checked my phone as I walked out of the cafeteria. Another report came in from one of the Terran colonies which Keil had helped me locate. I had the sketch of the man copied during the summer, and I sent it out to all of the Terran colonies that Keil and Glasson had located, to discover if anyone else had seen the man. To be honest, he looked a lot like Shad, and that made me happy, in a way, because, let’s be honest, I hated that prince.

  I held out my phone to Mary. There was a map, and I knew she didn’t know exactly what she was looking for, but it was the first piece of good news I had received in a long time.

  “I heard that you told Emma about your search. She has been just as miserable as she was right after her parents died, you know.”

  “It didn’t go over as well as I hoped it would,” I said awkwardly.

  She glared at me, and added, ”Her soul—it’s corrupting again.”

  I raised my hands in a frustrated gesture.

  “Be careful with her,” Mary demanded.

  “I am always careful with Emma.”

  “No, you weren’t, not in telling her and showing her that picture again. She hadn't remembered describing him to the sketch artist, probably for a good reason.”

  “I needed to. She is stronger than you know, Mary.”

  She paused; then asked, “When will you go?”

  “During homecoming week.” I paced back and forth. I wished that I could have gone sooner, but I knew that it would be easier for me, to leave before the football game so that I could avoid the questioning looks from Emma. She was going to the dance with Shad anyways, and I was not interested in seeing that play out.

  “I should go with you, Ryker,” Mary said, placing some florist tape down on the back table. She looked so tired.

  “Who would stay with Emma?”

  “Maybe Glasson could—“

  “Mary, are you insane? We can not leave Emma without one of us with her. If we both leave—“

  “I understand; I do, but I want to help you. It was my sister, her life—her death we are talking about.”

  I placed my hands on her shoulders, and I looked into her blue eyes. “Mary, I will find this man, and I will get rid of him, or I will die trying.”

  She gasped and stepped away from me.

  “Ryker, no! Take it back!” she yelled, shoving me away.

  “I can’t. It’s already been spoken.”

  “You are an idiot,” she whispered, looking at her hands on the table as she played with a rose petal. We both understood that I had just made another vow.

  “I’m sure that I will find him.”

  She didn’t look at me as she nodded.

  “We have to tell Emma, Ryker. I keep thinking that she’ll discover something in her parent’s old things, but she doesn’t ask me anything about them, not really.”

  “It’s still safer not to tell her yet. She asked me about an old letter that Lamont wrote to Ara. She is getting curious. We will tell her soon, but we need some more time.”

  She nodded again and looked behind me. “I miss them so much, Ryker.” Her eyes filled with tears.

  “I do, too, but this is good news, Mary. We are one step closer to getting rid of him,” I assured her.

  “Yes, but there is still so much to figure out. We need to tell Emma and discover how to get home. Then once we are there, who knows? We don’t even know what Terra is like after all this time, especially after the wars.”

  “I know, and sometimes, I wish we didn’t have to go back, but if Soulless are being created here, it’s only a matter of time before all the Terrans on Earth become soulless. I have to go, find the cave, find who did this, deal with it, and then we can be free of it,” I added.

  “And this map? This is where he is?” Mary asked.

  “The people in these Terran colonies indicated that there are a large number of soulless around this general area. They also told me that there are a bunch of caves around there, and it all seemed somewhat familiar to me. It is in the Northern California area, near Oregon. The cave could be there, Mary. This could be our way home. Possibly, this man has already found the cave and is using it. He might be traveling back and forth to Terra and creating soulless.

  “I hope you find the answers we need, Ryker.”

  Chapter 15

  “I DON’T UNDERSTAND why you are going to such lengths for revenge,” Glasson wondered out loud.

  “I told you already that it isn’t revenge.” I shoved some clothing into the backpack which I was taking with me and looked at Glasson, standing there in the doorway of my room. “You give Ash a lot of leeway. Shouldn’t you be watching her, prince?”

  “You should watch yourself. You work for a princess. Why do you hate the heirs so much?”

  “I don’t hate them,” I responded slowly as I stuffed a few pairs of socks into the back pocket, and then looked at a picture of Emma and me. It was a photograph from one of our camping trips. For most of that entire trip, I had let my melody out, unshielded. It had been one of the happiest times of my life. Emma’s melody had been unshielded for a part of the time, too. Her parents had released it just enough so that I was able to get glimpses of what we would be, what we could be—together.

  “Shadrict is trying to take Emma,” I said looking up at him. “How would you feel if someone came and took Ash away from you?”

  “Oh, Ashl
yn is always trying to get away from me. Right now, she isn’t even at home like she told me she would be. I am always aware of where she is, and honestly, if someone wanted to release me of the duty and vow I have for her, I would gladly let them.” I couldn't fault him for how he felt, even if I felt completely different.

  I laughed. How could I not? It was hilarious. I knew Ashlyn could be a lot to handle. After all, Emma had been near soulless for nearly the entire time I had been her guardian knight.

  “You laugh, but I am serious. She hates me, and to be honest, I do not blame her. However, I, as you do for Emma, have oaths and vows and promises that bind me to her.”

  “I promised her, Glasson, I promised that I would find who did this and make them pay,” I explained.

  “But, as a guardian knight, you can not use your gifts to hurt another for your own gain,” he said.

  “It isn’t just my gain. If this man dies, we all gain. He is obviously looking for Emma, and if he finds her, he will find Ashlyn, you, and Shadrict. We have been over this. I thought you understood. No one is safe when soulless are being created and heirs are being murdered.” I thought for a moment. “She was kept alive for a reason, though. There is no way that her melody was not captivating to him, but why didn’t he take her—and use her soul?”

  Glasson shrugged. “Are you sure these Terran colonies are on the side of the ancients? I worry a bit that if you bring too much attention to us, we will all be discovered.”

  “I read their souls, Glasson. I know that they didn’t lie, and I could tell the level of their corruption.”

  His brow rose as if questioning me. I had to unshielded my soul to read a soul or sense corruption. But he didn't know that I had been training for years to be able to read souls without unshielding my entire melody to someone else.

  “I’ll tell Mary that if I don’t reach out to her at least every other day, she can send help.”

  “Do you mean me?”

  “I don’t mean you. If I am a lost cause, by all means, do not come after me. I couldn't bear anyone else being killed because I failed in a task, yet again.”

  “Do I need to speak with Mary?”

  “No—” I paused and zipped up the backpack. “For now, leave her, and Emma, in the dark about your involvement.”

  “Okay—”

  “Mary will reach out if she needs you—so that is all I ask.”

  “Do I stop her if she goes after you?”

  “If she goes after me? No one can stop Mary.”

  “Then you better not fail, Ryker, because Emma will probably go with her if she does go after you. You know it as well as I do.”

  I watched as Glasson turned and walked out of my room. I sat on the bed, trying to shove the memory out of my head, of Emma and I curled up together there. I covered my face with my pillow. I knew that if I was lost, Mary would come for me. They never treated me exactly like the guardian knight I was. I was more family to Lamont and Ara than anything else. The thought of Mary, of Emma, being hurt caused so much pain in my chest that I let out a muffled scream.

  I could not fail. I could not. But if I did, if I was lied to by the Terran colony informants, if my information was tainted, I didn’t want Mary coming after me.

  I sat up and looked at the clock beside my bed. I had about an hour before school was out. It hadn’t been difficult for me to keep up normal earthling appearances during the previous weeks. I ran from the house and into the garage and started my car. I sat there for a moment, going over what I would say to Mary. I breathed in and then out, quickly.

  It was always hard to talk to Mary. She treated me like an equal. I didn’t like that there seemed to be no boundaries with her, I didn’t know what to do with it. She was stubborn. I didn’t know why she cared about me after what I had done to her family. But, Mary was a Terran keeper, so it was my belief that she liked to keep the peace, keep the harmony. But I would be lying if I said that I understood what keepers actually did because, in truth, their ways were still mostly foreign to me.

  I pulled up to the flower shop. I walked into the yellow building to the smell of fresh blooms.

  “What’s going on, Ryker—something with Emma?” she asked, without looking over at me. I pulled myself up and sat down on the counter. She gave me a look that said all I needed to know: she didn’t want me sitting up there, but I didn’t move.

  “I have a lead, from the Terran colonies, and I am headed there to flush it out.”

  She paused in her ribbon curling to look up at me. “Ryker, this isn’t safe. I wish you wouldn’t.” Her eyes locked onto mine

  Her melody was partly shielded, but I felt her feelings of worry and fear flood me as I let mine out just a small amount, only what was necessary. I sent back my emotions to her, emotions of peaceful calm like the waves of the sea. She shoved them away and sent me more feelings of sadness. I looked up at her, and my melody faded away—she seemed done with it.

  “Mary—” I responded, reaching out to her.

  “If you get killed, Ryker, I don't think—" I jumped from off the table, sensing her tears were about to fall.

  “Mary, I will come back.”

  She snorted, “Ryker, you and Emma are all I have left,” and she gasped.

  “Mary, I have a vow to fulfill—and an oath. Once they are complete—”

  She held up her hand. “Just stop. Just for one second, don’t talk about being a guardian knight, with duties and honor.”

  “That is who I am, Mary.”

  “Yes, that is a big part of you.” She looked up at me, her face, showing sadness as she touched my cheek with her hand. “But there is so much more to you than that, Ryker. I wish you knew that—I wish you could see it.” Her melody floated to me, and mine was still partly unshielded, so I could sense her feelings again. She considered me family, felt that I was like a brother; I smiled. I had never felt more loved than when I was with Lamont’s family. It was truly remarkable.

  “I appreciate it, Mary. Really, but Emma is everything, and I have to protect her. Please, I am begging you. If I fail—if I don’t call you, please do not come for me—under no circumstances are you allowed to come after me, Mary. Do you hear me?” I didn’t realize the anger in my voice until I was silent and heard my shouts echo off of the brightly colored walls of her flower shop.

  “You’re telling me what to do?” Mary stood tall, her shoulders squared and her eyes trying to be fierce as they looked at me.

  “Yes,” I said, my chest rising and falling at a rapid rate.

  “You—guardian knight, do not tell me what to do.” She was in my face, her finger almost touching my nose. I pushed her hand away.

  “Mariela,” I sighed, using her Terran name, looking at her small body and her trembling hand, trying to be something she was not—trying to be commanding.

  “No—you are my family, Rykerian Dallard, and I will not leave my family behind. Go. Do what you have to do, but if you don’t call me when you are supposed to call me, I will come after you and save you. That is what families do.”

  She had used my full name; she must have been really serious, just as I had been when I used hers, but she wasn't listening. It was important for her to understand. I was nothing in comparison to Emma, nothing.

  “She could die, Mary!!”

  “This conversation is over. I have work to do. Call me every other day so that I know you are well.” She left the room to enter the front of the store, and I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. I knew that Mary considered me to be family, and I knew that we cared for each other. How could we not—when we had been living so close to each other for so long—but that? That was desperation because of all she had lost when Ara died, of all that meant for Emma, for what that meant for her life. That was not Mary—that couldn’t be sweet and kind Mary, I thought. Finally, as the door chimed, and a customer started talking to Mary, I slipped through the back door and made it back to my car. I didn’t know what I would do if she came after me, but
I knew that the vow I had made to Emma was unbreakable. I had to discover who that man was, and it was then my chance. I needed to succeed. I could not fail her, not again, and I certainly could not let anyone rescue me. I didn’t need rescuing. I was the one who did that; that was my job. That was what I was born, bred, and trained to do, and I would do it.

  Chapter 16

  I STOOD IN MY HOTEL room at the Terran colonies. I was near the caves, and soon, I would call Mary and check-in. I looked at my phone as a text came in from Emma.

  Emma: “Hey, are you doing okay? Will you be back for homecoming? Sam finally asked Ash. Miss you.”

  Ryker: “I am out of town, may be longer than I thought.”

  Emma: “Your dad said a relative is sick?”

  She must have gone to my house.

  Ryker: “Yeah, you talked to my dad?”

  Emma: “No, Mary told me, she talked to your dad, I guess.”

  So she didn't go to my house.

  Ryker: “Well, I am doing some research. Promise you won’t be mad?”

  Emma: “Ryker, I think we need to call the police. You’re driving me crazy over this. I do want to find my parents’ murderer but not at the expense of your happiness, Ry.” She sounded like Mary.

  Ryker: “I know, but he killed your family, Em, and I can’t just stand by and let him get away. No one is even looking into it.”

  She didn’t answer my last text for a few minutes, and I wondered how she was feeling. I knew that she still had a hard time sorting through her emotions. I sat down on the bed for a minute, and then I called her.

  “Are you okay?” I asked after she said, “hello.”

  “I am waiting for all this to just be some horrible dream that I can wake up from.” Her voice was shaky as if she were about to cry, and I wished I could have comforted her.

  “I just have to figure out the last piece of this puzzle. I am so close.” I wanted to reassure her, but I wondered if talking to her about any of my plans had been a mistake.