The Knight

by Kayla Eshbaugh

  “Let’s see if this will break that little vow of yours.”

  “I don’t care if you kill me slowly, I will never tell you anything.”

  “And I don’t care if I have to keep you alive for all of eternity.” He finished wiping his blade, and then he looked at me. “I am prince Cadian of the Second kingdom, and I will be the next king.” With that, he left the room, and I had to try and repeat over and over again in my head what he had just said. He was a prince of the second kingdom? He was prince Cadian? Prince Cadian died. But he looked so much like Shad. Could this man really be Shad’s brother? I wondered. That was the last thought I had before blackness took me, and I hoped it didn't take me back to the beach on Terra with grey eyes and brown hair, blowing in the sea breeze.

  “ANYMORE TALKING?” CADIAN asked for what felt like the ten thousandth time as he stabbed me again. He wasn’t using the corruptor's blade, so I felt the pain right away. I bit my cheek to keep myself upright and alert. How long had I been down there? Days? Weeks? Months?

  “I do not have the information you seek,” I gasped as he slid his silver knife into a patch of flesh yet untouched by him, near my neck. The cave was cold and dark. Half of the time, I just laid there, wondering if I had gone blind—until he came back with a lamp in order to torture me again, and I knew that I could see all too well. What I wouldn't do to feel warmth again.

  “Sir,”

  I watched as Cadian turned to look at a soulless guard, entering the cavern.

  “Yes,” he asked, setting down the knife and shoving me to the floor.

  “There is someone in the cave.”

  Cadian nodded. “Finally, took them long enough.” He wiped his hands on a towel, for they were covered in my red blood.

  A sickening feeling crawled up inside of me. No—they didn’t come. Mary, she wouldn’t really let that happen, I thought.

  “Should we catch him, my lord?”

  “No, let him think he has a fighting chance. I would like to see how this plays out.”

  The soulless man nodded, and I thought it strange how human-like the soulless seemed to be.

  “Don’t hurt her,” I begged, hardly able to speak anymore.

  “Emma?” he asked, looking at me with fake sadness. “Oh dear, of course not. I need her soul.” With that, he was swept from the room, and I laid my cheek on the frozen and rocky cave floor.

  “RYKER?” I WAS BEING shaken awake, and I flinched back awake by instinct.

  “Ryker, I am here to save you. It's Keil.” I opened my eyes. It wasn’t a dream if Keil was right in front of me. Who else was there? I prayed to the ancients that he was alone.

  “Trap—” I barely spoke before the doors were shut, and a soulless took Keil and shackled him beside me in chains.

  “Who is it?” Keil asked after the soulless left. His eyes were wide. I looked at his entire person and saw the comforting sight of the ancient warrior armor. How had he been captured if he was a warrior? I wondered.

  “Cadian.”

  “How is that even—” He paused before speaking again. “What have you done, Ryker.”

  “Nothing,” I said, coughing onto the stone floor.

  “You are not a noble cause. The ancients didn’t see fit to save you. If they had, I wouldn’t be chained here beside you.”

  “I have no idea why your abilities are blocked,” I whispered, yet still wondering if the ancients wanted me dead because of Lamont and Ara and because I had failed them. Maybe this was what happened to failing guardian knights, or perhaps, it was the corruptor's blade that had marked my soul.

  “You better hope that she doesn’t come,” Keil said in irritation. “Knowing her, and only from the little information I have picked up on, she doesn’t give up very easily, and she cares for you.” The words were torture. Emma—was she here? I wondered. Cadian would get everything then.

  “Tell me, she isn’t—” I gasped, pulling my body up to look more fully at him.

  “Emma, Mary, Prince Shadrict, and I all came under Mary’s direction to rescue you. Mary said you hadn’t responded in the allotted time.”

  I nodded. I was completely aware that Mary would try to find me. That’s when Glasson’s voice echoed in my head, telling me in my mind that I had become too close to my ancient heirs; I had gotten too close to Mary and too close to Emma. It was true, and because they had learned to care for me as I did for them, they were going to be destroyed for it.

  I cursed.

  “Mary should be coming after me. I told her to keep Emma safe,” Keil said. “Nothing about this is wise. Have you at least discovered what he is doing here?”

  “Mining for black crystals and making soulless. He wants to go back home—” I stopped speaking as the doors were opened. No one came in, but it was silent for a time, and before I knew it, blackness, blood loss, and exposure, no doubt, overtook me.

  Chapter 18

  DARKNESS WAS ALL I saw for some time—until a melody floated over to me, one more beautiful than I had ever heard. I knew it had to be a dream. I was probably on my way to the ancients. Cade had defeated me. I felt the pain shooting through me and wondered if my failures as a knight had brought so much dishonor that I was to remain with the corrupt—but no, if I was in the corruption’s grasp, I wouldn’t be hearing her melody. I was being shaken, shaken awake, and I saw her green eyes, gazing into mine as she sat me up and started tending to my cuts. I wasn’t dead. I was still alive, but why was she there? I wanted, then more than ever, to kiss every inch of her skin, to hold her close and never let her out of my sight.

  “You shouldn’t be here, Em,” I mumbled, in a voice that I did not recognize. I turned to the side, spitting blood onto the damp ground, my entire body trembling. I could tell that she was sad, seeing me like that. Her face held so many emotions. Even if I couldn’t unshield my melody enough to know her feelings, I knew her well enough to know her face, to know the thoughts she expressed with her facial expressions.

  Emma wrapped the towel around my shoulders and rubbed at my arms, attempting to create warmth for me, but each movement of her hands caused the cuts to hurt even more; still, I didn’t have the strength to tell her. Her caring, her gazing on me with that love and concern in her eyes was all I needed.

  “Of course, I should be here—as if I can’t help to rescue people, too. Honestly, you boys are all so ridiculous,” Emma finally answered.

  “Emma, please. He will, he will—” I wasn’t able to use my voice fully. It was hard to get the words out at all. My efforts were useless.

  “Please, Ry, don’t talk. We will take you back and get you all cleaned up and feeling better soon. I was so worried about you. I love you, Ry. I am so glad you are alive.” Her eyes locked onto mine as her hand touched my cheek, flooding me with a warmth that was purely hers. That's when I noticed that her melody was toned down, and I saw a small crystal around her neck. Relief overcame me, for even if I died, at least, she had a melody inhibiting crystal, a seekers crystal, and it would help protect who she was. I covered her hand with my own.

  “It is so good to see you, Em. I didn’t think I would—” I tried to speak clearly.

  “Shhh—I am here, and we will get you out of here; no one will hurt you anymore.” She caressed my arm. “Can someone tell me why, or better yet, how our secret weapon, that is our undefeatable-warrior-Keil, was bested? I’m not sure I buy into this ancient warrior thing.” Emma spoke scornfully.

  “I was not bested, and besides, Ryker isn’t an honorable cause anymore,” Keil answered.

  “What does that mean? I thought you were fighting for me?” Emma questioned.

  “Ryker can fill you in when he is feeling better, but I was chained up rather quickly, and we have been left here for hours. Ryker says that their leader is Cade,” I heard Keil speak, but I didn't take my eyes away from peering into Emma’s eyes, which were also locked onto mine. When she looked away, it was the first time I noticed that Shadrict was there, too. I wanted to cu
rse him, but I noticed that he was working to loosen the bonds on my legs, and I decided that it wouldn’t help the situation to have him upset with me right then. He had a sword, and I was chained, broken, bruised, and cut. I was no match for him. Although a fight with Shad did sound fun, I would also enjoy a fight with Cadian, but after I was healed.

  “Cade? Are you sure? How is that even possible?” Shad’s voice seemed dark and worried. I enjoyed seeing him worried, and I nodded.

  “Who is Cade? Did he—was he the one who caused my parents—did he cause the crash?” Emma asked and turned her head.

  “We should not have come,” Shad said, as he finished with the chains around my ankles and moved on to Keil, intentionally ignoring her question.

  “Who is Cade?” Emma asked again in a whisper, this time, clearly irritated as she tried to sit me up straight. I wasn’t aware that I had started to slip back down. I was so drained, so tired. It took most of my energy just to keep my soul shielded. My head rested on her shoulder, leaving bloody smears on her shirt. It was taking everything in me to pay attention to the conversation. “He is the prince who has been searching for your melody,” Keil answered, sadly as if the information was painful to extract from his vocal cords.

  “He's the one who killed my parents, too?” Emma asked, but I was starting to lose consciousness again. It was hard to keep the blackness at bay.

  “And, unfortunately, this is all a trap. We are not going to make it out of here alive,” I heard Keil say.

  “Welcome, welcome,” I heard Cadian’s voice from the far edge of the room. My body shook from instinct, readying for the corruptor's blade to inflict even more damage to it. “It has been a long time, has it not, brother?” Emma was torn from my arms, and I fell into Keil’s embrace with a grunt. Unaware of what was going on, I tried to focus on the words, but soon, and far more quickly than I wanted, blackness overtook me, and the cold stone floor was beneath me once again—so much for Keil’s help. I found myself transported back in time in my mind once again.

  “YOU DIDN'T EVEN KNOW him!”

  “Know him? I do not have to know him, Em. He isn't good for you. Just stop being so difficult.”

  “I’m not difficult. Stop trying to keep me away from everything! I’m allowed to have other relationships.”

  “I am not going to talk about this anymore. I did what I had to do, Em, to keep you safe.”

  “Safe from Brian?”

  “Yes, from Brian. It was clear that all he wanted was to make out with you.”

  “So! What if I wanted that!” she was shouting, and her anger made her eyes very bright. I tried to hide a smile. Her father and her mother had let her melody out a bit again, and of course, as soon as they did that, she was out flirting with boys and going on dates. Her emotions were back, and she could feel things again.

  “Emma, calm down. It's not a big deal,” I said, pushing hair out of my face. She sat beside me in the back seat of my dad’s car, and I could see in her melody that her anger was fuming. I could see that she wanted to be kissed; she wanted to know what a kiss felt like. She turned to me, and I tried to hold back a smile as she glanced at my lips, wondering not for the first time what a kiss would feel like—from me.

  “If you would have just kissed me that summer like I asked you to—” she trailed off, and I felt her melody swirl around me, and I knew that she really wanted to try it, to try kissing. She was a curious little thing, I would give her that.

  “What about sweet sixteen? Isn't that important to girls?” I asked, gripping the door handle to steady myself from kissing her senseless that moment.

  “Ah, you’re impossible. That’s three years away.” She leaned against the seat.

  “Some things are worth waiting for, Em.” I said, trying not to imagine what her lips would feel like pressed to mine.

  “If you say so,” she grunted, folding her arms.

  “How about I promise that when you are sixteen and I’m seventeen, if you still want to kiss me, I’ll kiss you?”

  “You mean it?” her voice was excited as she turned to me.

  “Sure, but you know that usually people kiss because they like each other.”

  “I like you, Ry; you are my best friend,” Her smile made it hard to breathe, but somehow, I managed.

  “So, you'll wait to be kissed until you are sixteen then?” I asked, as my dad pulled into her driveway.

  “Yes,” she said with a nod and turned to look at me. She took my hand in hers and squeezed it before she slipped out of the door and ran up the porch to her house. At least, she would be safe for the next year. After that? Who could know what I would have to do then.

  Chapter 19

  I TRIED TO STAY AWAKE as best I could. It took all of the energy I had not to collapse. A soulless stood me onto my feet and pulled me towards the cavern’s door. The memory of Emma’s hand in mine the night I drove her home from the school dance still felt real. I tried to remain conscious as I noticed my surroundings, focusing on the present. What was happening? Where was I?

  I didn’t understand what was happening to us as we reached the other side of the cave. The guard disappeared, and the door closed behind us.

  “What is happening?” I asked as I slumped against the wall. Slowly, the memories of the past faded away, giving way to the dread of the present, and I heard Emma’s soul in pain. I wanted to know where she was, where Cadian was. Flashes of memories of being kicked over and over until I blacked out came to me. I shook my head, trying to regain myself. I was so disoriented.

  “Emma and Shad are inside with Cadian. They made a plan to appease him in order to get him to set us free.”

  I looked at Keil with anger in my eyes. “What did you let them do? They are of the ancient line. Are you insane? I am nothing in comparison to both of them." I spit out blood and coughed, surprising myself that I could even yell anymore. I spit out blood for a while as the cough became even worse. Keil moved over to my side and felt my skin—I assumed to assess my physical state. I was cold and numb. At least, I felt very little. He moved over to my chest and side, and I winced from pain that I hadn't realized was there.

  “We have to go; I think you punctured a lung with your broken ribs or something,” Keil said as he stood over me.

  “I cannot leave without her.” I wondered why I wasn’t stronger. Where was the ancient magic? I wondered why I wasn’t able to charge in there and take Emma away. I knew the answer, and it pained me too much to dwell on it: I had offended my vows, and the ancients didn't think I was fit any longer to be a knight.

  “Look, Ryker—I am not your biggest fan. I have half a mind to kill you for getting Shad and Emma into the situation that they are in, but regardless of what I want, you are important—Emma says you are, so I will carry you if I have to, but I will take care of you.”

  “Emma is the one who needs taking care of. Just let me die. Go save her!”

  “Shad will help her. I assure you, my prince knows what he is doing, and Emma will be well.”

  I tried to speak again but found that the words would not leave my lips. I was surprised as Keil lifted me from under my arms to stand me up.

  “Can you walk?” he asked me, as I leaned there against the damp cave wall. I nodded, noticing the soulless guard had been ever so kind to leave a light for us. Keil picked it up, and I slowly but surely trailed after him, wanting with everything in me to run to Emma, but no matter how much I wanted it, I knew she didn’t need me. Right then, she only needed—and wanted—one person by her side. As her guardian knight, I knew that. I knew that she wanted Shad above all else, and it pained me more than the wounds that had been inflicted; it pained me more than any torture that I could have endured.

  Chapter 20

  THE BOX THAT I LOCKED away inside of me begged to be opened again. I wanted to stay away from it, wanted to run from it, but the key clicked, freeing the lock, and the box lid opened once more. Memories tumbled out like an avalanche down the face of a mounta
in. With my eyes closed, I felt the cold, damp floor, and my memories found me once again as I cursed my weak body.

  "TRULY," SHE HAD ASKED me as I held her hand. The electric pulse increased within my heart, and I nodded.

  "When should we tell them?" she asked. The excitement, dancing in her eyes, made my heart swell.

  "Tonight." I smiled, pulling her into my arms. I kissed her cheek, and she buried her face into my chest. The scent of her filled me and reminded me of that beach with unreal, blue waters, where I had first met her.

  "I never thought that I could be this happy." She tilted her face up to mine. I cupped her face in my hands. I had held nothing more precious in my entire life between those hands of mine, not until that moment. "Especially not here," she whispered the rest.

  "The vows I make to you, to be yours forever, are the most important and most sacred that I will ever hold," I said, and my voice was low and gravelly as if I hadn't used it in a while. I was sure that she could read the feelings in my voice. She smiled a crooked smile, eyes glowing like lightning.

  "You know why?" I brushed a strand of hair off of her cheek and softly touched her velvet skin, which I had exposed. She trembled in my arms, and I knew from her movements, even without a melody, that she wanted more, needed more. I wondered if she thought about our lips touching. My thoughts made it hard for me to not do that very thing. Instead, I pulled away.

  "Our love, nothing can break it," I whispered into her ear, finally finishing what I wanted to say.

  "I will love you even after my last breath," she whispered.

  Blackness surrounded me, and an echo of another memory came into focus. I couldn't stop them from attacking me.

  “I love you, Rykerian.” I smiled at Analeia. Lamont stood beside me, and I held both of Analeia’s hands in mine. Her beautiful storm-grey eyes reached into my soul.