The Knight

by Kayla Eshbaugh

  “Ryker, this is too much for me right now,” I heard her breaths come in , and I knew that the tears were about to come. I wanted to say something. I knew she needed to put the past behind her, but she had also asked me to find out who killed her parents. She asked me to make it right, and I promised her that I would. I swore it; I made a vow.

  “Ryker—Ryker, I can’t—”

  “Emma, I am sorry.” I was sorry, sorrier than I had ever been before. I leaned my head against my hands as I listened to her pleading words, her confusion spilling through her voice and through the phone speakers like some slowly trickling stream, flowing slowly over a rock.

  “Why on earth would someone kill them? Tell me, Ryker. Why? Why would someone want my parents, and possibly me, dead?”

  “Everyone has enemies, Emma.” What was I supposed to say? Tell her that there were armies fighting against her family and her family line? Should I tell her that she was an ancient heir, a princess of Terra? I wanted to—how desperately I wanted to tell her. I just needed a little more time.

  “My parents don’t have enemies. I don’t have any enemies. I don’t understand.” She cried into the phone, and the sobs wracked my body as if I were the one crying. I wanted to reach out to her, take away her pain.

  “Neither do I, Emma. Don’t worry. I am going to keep you safe.” It wasn’t enough. I knew it would never be enough for her, but I would always keep her safe. I would always fight for her.

  “I am scared, Ryker. I don’t want to know the truth—but then I do. Mary says I need to move on, move past all of this, but it is so hard.” Her voice was sharp and quick, and I felt anger bubbling within me each time her voice rose more in frustration than in sorrow, because I knew that in just a short amount of time, no doubt, Shad would comfort her. Shad would have his arms around her, and she would be more than happy there. The thought made me want to slam my head against the wall. Instead, I laid back on the bed and tried to swallow the vile thoughts I was having about Shad and Emma. Move on? She wanted to move on. What did that mean? Did she want to move on from me? Was she going to replace me with Shad? All of the years and all of the time spent together, would they melt away? I knew that she didn’t remember everything. It wasn’t right to hold that against her, but the anger was growing within me. I pictured her with Shad, him kissing her, holding her, and I wanted to punch him in the face.

  “How are we supposed to just move on!? Oh, I get it—how you are moving on to Shad, huh!?”

  “Excuse me?” she asked, completely taken aback, and I wanted to slap myself. I sat up and then stood, moving over to the wall and hitting my head against it, chastising myself for letting the anger, the frustration, flow out of me and hit her. She didn’t need that.

  “Never mind. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. I’m just—frustrated is all. I should’ve been there that night with you guys.” I lamely tried to explain my anger.

  “Part of me wishes you had been there so that I wasn’t alone, but that’s selfish. If you’d have been there, you probably would be dead right now.” She breathed into the phone.

  It felt good to be wanted, to be needed—I was grateful that she didn’t want me dead. That was something. But she didn’t know the truth, the truth that Lamont had asked me to go with them—granted he had been okay with me not going. He liked that I was fitting in on earth and being a normal teenage boy. He had wanted me with them, but he understood that I had a commitment to football. I groaned silently. Football was the biggest mistake of my life. If she knew the truth, how I could have saved them all, I doubted she would want anything to do with me.

  “Your dad asked me to go, and I didn’t.”

  “So?” She replied, as if it didn’t matter, as if the rightful heir of the first kingdom’s throne asking for something wasn’t important, wasn’t what I was sworn to do since birth. But, of course, that was her response. She didn’t know who I was, who her father was, or who she really and truly was.

  “So—I feel like I could have prevented it.”

  I heard Emma’s humorless laugh on the phone. “Seriously, Ryker? Do you have super strength?”

  “Okay, maybe I could not have prevented it. I’m sorry, Emma. I miss them. I am so sorry. I should have been the one who died; it should have only been me,” I choked on the words, regret and guilt eating at me.

  “Ryker, no. No, I couldn’t live without you. No one wants you dead.”

  “I have to go, Emma,” I whispered.

  “Just say goodbye to your sick relative and come home. You’re missing the homecoming dance, and I am so annoyed that I have to go without you.”

  “Are you going with him still?” I couldn’t help the annoyance in my tone. I was so far away, and I hated knowing he would be with her, and I wouldn’t be.

  “Yes.”

  I was silent, deciding not to speak, not to let my anger spill out on that occasion.

  “Ryker?”

  “Yeah?” I said, my voice low as I leaned my back against the wall and slid down.

  “Are you okay?”

  Was I okay? It was a loaded question, and if I got too into the real feelings there, I knew that I would have exploded.

  “He likes you; I can tell,” I said, knowing that above all else, Emma needed a friend, needed reassurance. I was her guardian knight after all.

  “There is something different about him, Ry; I don’t know what it is.” I knew what it was if what Shad had told me was true. I knew exactly what it was: the song. I had her melody memorized, and even though I couldn’t hear it, I hummed it inside of myself to the tune of my own melody. It wasn’t a perfect fit—my melody with hers—still, they did compliment each other so well. What we had, it was what most people wanted on Terra, even searched for.

  “He has always thought that he could get whatever he wants.”

  “He is not like that at all. You don’t know him the way that I do.”

  “So, does it even matter what I say? Emma, I have known him for a long time.”

  “I mean, I love you, Ry, but I need to grow up sometime, right?”

  “This is hard for me,” I mumbled as I buried my face in my hands. It was the biggest understatement of my life.

  “Ry, I—”

  “I know. I’m sorry. I will fight for you.” The words just spilled out of me. If she didn’t know my pull, my vows, and my devotion before, would she know it then? I thought.

  “Fight for me? Ryker, we'll always be friends.” Friends, she still thought friendship was all there would be between us. What I felt for her was so much more. The pull I had toward her was more than simple friendship. She was family; she was my duty. She was my ancient heir, yes, but there was more.

  “I don’t like change,” I said.

  “Well, things change. That’s part of being human—and living. I am allowed to have more than one friend, Ry.”

  “Look at you—all wise.”

  She laughed, and I was comforted by the sound of it. “I know, I’m so wise, and you should listen to me.”

  “I really need to go, Emma—” I didn’t have any place to be, but I knew that if I talked to her for too long, I would spill all of my secrets.

  “Call me soon.”

  “I will,” I answered, knowing that I would; I just didn’t know when “soon” would be.

  “Thanks.”

  “Love you, Emma. Have fun at the dance, but not too much fun.”

  “Sure, Ryker.

  Chapter 17

  I CLICKED MARY'S NUMBER and held the phone to my ear. I wasn't ready for it.

  "Ryker," Mary said in a quick snap.

  "Upset?" I asked, trying not to laugh.

  "This is just idiotic."

  "This is what needs to be done." Before she could say anything else, I spoke again: "I won't be able to reach you for a while."

  "What does that mean?"

  "I'm hiking for three days there—and then three days back, so for about six days, I'll be away from cell service."


  "You expect me to wait six days when you are walking towards a man who wants to kill you?"

  "Who said he wants to kill me?"

  "Me."

  "I can't talk long, but I wanted you to know," I laughed

  "Okay," I heard her say, and then I clicked off the phone.

  THE HIKE DID TAKE ME three days. It was long, and I was very tired near the end of it. I camped in a small grove of trees about a mile or two from the mouth of the cave’s opening. I set up my small one-man tent in the clearing near the treeline. I wiped my brow with my shirtsleeve and took a long swig of water from my backpack. I had three hours until darkness covered the mountain top. I wanted to hike the rest of the way to the cave that night in order to check it out before going back to actually enter the cave in the morning. The best thing for me to do was to get a good night’s rest before journeying into that cave. I didn't know what was in there or who the man was I was searching for, and I wanted to be as prepared as possible. The hike took about an hour because I slowed my pace to check my surroundings as I walked. I reached the cave, and I noticed guards standing at its mouth. They wore the emblems of the second kingdom, and I was confused. Was this all the second kingdom’s doings? I asked myself. I moved closer, noticing the blackness in their eyes and their lack of melodies.

  "Soulless," I whispered under my breath. The cave had a larger opening than I had suspected. I sat there, hidden for a few hours, wondering if or when the guards would change. It was around midnight by my watch when I started back for my small camp for the night—with a plan in place.

  I WOKE THE NEXT MORNING to the light of the sun. I sat up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes, and I began putting my things back inside of my pack. I took out a bag of beef jerky; I ate in silence. I packed my small one man tent into my backpack and swung it onto my back, checking to make sure that I had left no sign of having been there.

  The two-mile hike took me half of the time that it did the evening before. Being well-rested and aware of my surroundings helped greatly. I hid behind a tree as the cave opening came into view. There were no guards. Surprised, I waited for a good ten minutes before I walked closer and closer. No one. What happened? Had they left?

  I inched closer and closer until I found myself at the cave’s entrance. The cave was dark. The sunlight that morning wasn't bright enough to illuminate it much. I touched the walls as I maneuvered through it. Tunnels wove through the mountain, and I had no idea which one to take. I walked straight until I heard noises. I followed them, and they grew louder and louder. The sound of voices echoed off of the cave walls. I heard other noises, too. Is that a hammer? I questioned. I reached a light and followed it slowly to an opening. I crouched down as I peered into the opening of a large interior cavern. There were hundreds of people in it. I looked at their eyes, and they all contained the blackness of a taken soul. They were carving black crystals from the walls and carrying them to large containers. Back and forth, they went. Could those be midnight crystals? Here on Earth? I wondered.

  Before I had a chance to leave or find out any more, I heard a noise from behind me, and then there was blackness—I had been discovered.

  “MADAM, ARE YOU WELL?” I asked, staring into her grey eyes. I watched as she turned her face to the side and coughed up sea water.

  “What happened?” she asked, sitting up. I moved to help her, but she moved away as if afraid that I would hurt her. I tried to soothe her with my melody, but then—I paused. She didn't have one. Was she corrupt? Was she a soulless?

  “I just came upon you lying here on the beach,” I said.

  “I guess I am alive then, right?”

  “Yes, you are in the first kingdom.”

  “The first kingdom?” She laughed, and I couldn't help but notice how beautiful that sound was—as well as her beautiful smile.

  I pulled my melody back so that she couldn't hear my feelings, but then I remembered that she didn't have a melody, so it didn't matter.

  “That is funny, but really, where am I?” She tried to stand, and instead, she fell over. I reached out for her again, but she moved away.

  “May I assist you?” I asked, worried for her wellbeing.

  “No, you may not. Just, please, tell me where I am.” She finally gave up trying to stand and sank deeper into the clear pebbled rocks.

  “The First Kingdom of the ancient heirs.”

  “That isn't possible,” she said in a whisper.

  “Very possible, maiden—may I ask where you have come from?”

  “Across the sea,” she whispered, looking out into the water.

  “There is nothing out there, barren land, the corrupt—” I said, worried that she had knocked her head against a rock, for she wasn't making sense.

  “Oh, I am sure that is what your ancients tell you.” She lifted her gaze up toward me, the lightning in her grey eyes held me there. “But I assure you, ancient heir or whatever you are, across the sea is where my people dwell.” Then she passed out on the sand.

  “AH, SO THIS IS HOW a soulless is made naturally,” a voice echoed around me as the Terran blue ocean and grey eyes of a lost girl lingered in my mind for just a moment longer. Blast that box. What was the point in having it if it never kept the memories away? I looked up, realizing that I needed to focus on the present, not on the past. I saw a man before me. I spit at his feet. I would have spit on his face; however, the ties at my wrist and ankles prevented me from standing up. He held up my head by my hair, and I groaned. His black, soulless eyes stared back at me.

  “I knew that my informant would do a good job getting you here. I am just sad that you didn’t bring Emma.”

  “What do you want with her?” Fear shot through me.

  “What do I want with her?” He shoved me back down to the cave floor, and my head hit a rock, causing me to see stars, but I kept my eyes open. I had to keep my eyes open.

  “I need her soul,” he said, walking out of my view as I tried to sit up. “I need her soul in order to go back to Terra, and I also need to find the portal that let you through. I have heard whispers that a knight knows where the portal is. That knight is you.”

  “You were misinformed; I do not remember where it is.” He walked over to where I lay on the floor, and he kicked me in the side.

  “Do not lie to me, knight.”

  “I am not.”

  “And I assume that you think I am supposed to believe that? The word of a guardian knight used to mean something. At one time in my life, I would have believed you in a heartbeat, but now?” He bent down and moved the hair from my face. There was a gash on my forehead from when I fell, and I felt the sickening, sharp pain as he dug into the cut with his fingers. I pulled against the urge to cry out.

  “You are no guardian knight of Terra. You are no honorable guardian.”

  “My vows are unbroken,” I retorted as he let go of my hair and face. The stinging pain from the cut on my forehead made me clench my teeth. I tried to focus on it, feel the pain, and let it help me stay awake and keep me from losing consciousness.

  “Really? Lamont is dead, knight. Dead—unless I am mistaken, that was a vow broken.”

  I flinched. That hurt worse than anything else he had done to me.

  “Don’t even get me started on this whole soulless thing you have going on.” He waved a hand at me as he walked around a table and sat down.

  “I am no soulless.”

  “Knight, I am sorry to inform you, but you seem to be mere months away from being completely soulless. Why not let your melody sing? Why do you hide it in shame? Many would kill—and have killed—for a simple melody.”

  “I do not have to tell you anything.”

  “This is true—very, very true.” He set his elbows on the table where he sat, leaning his chin on his hands as he looked at me. His eyes, though dark and soulless, seemed to be searching mine, genuinely curious. He was a disturbing creature to behold. His inky, black, oily hair. His nose, which looked to have been broken at
one point and never fixed properly, made his face look all the more wrong. His skin was pale and sickly.

  “But if you do not tell me where the portal is, I will kill you, and it will not be fast; it will be slow and painful.”

  “Do what you will. I will not break my vows.”

  “So, it is a vow is it that keeps you silent?” he asked as he stood again, taking more interest in me, coming closer. I shouldn’t have indulged him. I shouldn’t have told him I had another vow. His steps echoed in the large cavern.

  “Wouldn’t you like to know,” I spat at him. This time hitting him in the face. He laughed as he took a napkin away from one of his soulless men and wiped his face.

  “Do you know who I am?” he asked with a smile, but I just stared at him. I didn’t know who he was, other than he was the one who murdered Lamont and Ara. I didn’t care to play his games.

  “I asked you a question, knighty-boy.” He took out a knife and cut my arm.

  I made no noise, not a sound. I pictured Emma in my mind. I pictured her safe, and I smiled.

  “I think you need more of these,” he said as he cut me again.

  Still, I was numb. I thought of Emma, and I imagined her being safe. I pictured her brilliant emerald green eyes, her smile, her hand in mine—so warm and so wonderfully right. I would die for her. Even if it took a thousand cuts to slowly drain the life from me, I would gladly die, gladly sacrifice my life for hers. Maybe someday, I would end up with the ancients in the next life. I smiled again as cut after cut tore at my flesh.

  With bloodied hands and an enraged face, he kicked me, and I felt each cut then, and I gasped. He looked at me, and the pain engulfed me. It was agony everywhere. It hurt as if I was being stabbed over and over again, feeling the blackness of corruption coat my soul. I looked at his weapon and saw the markings it held.

  “You cut me with a Corruptor’s blade?” I gasped as I felt the life drain from me and pool around me. Corruptors blades were painless when used, and then the pain was tenfold after the cutting was done.