Tatyanna

by Lindsay Johnston

  “Believe in everything you have seen, and you will be fine,” Emmett told her, giving her a brief kiss on her head, before calling Althea to him and walking through the falls.

  Lastly, it was just Tatyanna and Cale standing alone. “I don't know if I can do this,” she said, voicing her fear out loud.

  “I don't know if I can do it either,” Cale responded back, reaching out to grasp her hand in his.

  Tatyanna immediately felt the warmth enter her body, and a slight tingle she didn't quite understand. They continued to stand there in silence holding hands, and Tatyanna thought back to what Emmett and Dimitri told her. She needed to believe. As crazy as her life has been these last few days, she did believe, but she still doubted she could do what people wanted her to do. She knew she could heal people. She saw the proof of the act. But, could she be a ruler? She didn't know the first thing about being a princess, or fighting, or really anything.

  Tatyanna opened her eyes, and took a few steps toward the pool of water at the bottom of the waterfall. Tugging Cale with her, she touched the water and instantly felt calm. Gone were her fears, her doubts, and in their place was a confidence in herself. Tatyanna looked over at Cale and was surprised to see the sun bearing down on them. She was at a loss for words seeing him much differently now. Gone was the arrogance he once had. Gone was the attitude, and now, he looked handsome to her. Tatyanna could see he was a good man inside, despite the way he pushed her. She felt butterflies in her stomach, wondering what was happening to her.

  “Come on. We will go together,” she shouted to be heard over the water.

  “Are you sure?” he asked, still uncertain, looking warily at the falls.

  “You've known this world longer than I have. I would think you would be more accustomed to all of this than I am.”

  He hesitated before nodding. “You're right. We can do this.”

  “On the count of three,” Tatyanna said, stepping further into the pool.

  “One.” They took another step.

  “Two.” They moved right up to the rushing water.

  “Three.” With a deep breath, Tatyanna closed her eyes and walked straight into the water, believing in herself and holding onto Cale's hand.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Through the Falls

  “Woohoo!” Dimitri shouted so he could be heard over the falls. “It took you long enough. I was about to go out and come get you, but Emmett wouldn't let me.”

  Tatyanna could hardly believe she was standing inside a waterfall. It was dark and cool, but she was floored she was actually there. She turned around to smile at Cale, and was surprised to see him dripping wet and coughing up water. “What happened?” she exclaimed.

  “He lost faith,” Dimitri answered, losing all warmth in his voice when he spoke of the other man. “Was almost through, and then he started to doubt himself.” Dimitri mumbled something under his breath, but it was tuned out by the sound of the falls. Tatyanna threw Dimitri an irritated look, and bent down to help Cale up.

  Cale smiled shyly at her, and ran his hands though his hair, wiping the water from his face. He looked only at Tatyanna. “I'm sorry. I knew I was almost through, but then I thought about the rushing falls. I guess I got scared,” he said sheepishly. “This world is too unbelievable at times.”

  “Yet, you've been here in our world for years, and you still have doubts,” Emmett said in an accusatory tone.

  Tatyanna heard the tone for what it was, and glanced at Emmett and Dimitri, wondering what it was they knew that she didn't. She looked to the dwarven couple, and saw they were standing against the cave wall watching the proceedings, their faces blank. She doubted she would get anything out of them anyway.

  Tatyanna turned back to Cale, looking him over. He appeared to be hurting, and she reached out and touched his heart. “He is too weak to be here. He should stay behind,” she said, worried that Cale would be unable to make the rest of the trip.

  “You healed him, he's fine,” Emmett said, with irritation in his voice.

  “Maybe I didn't heal him enough,” she said, glancing back at her friends and noting their stony expressions. They were keeping something from her, and she wanted to know what it was. “I'm still new at this, maybe I didn't heal him all the way,” she said, worried at the possibility.

  Tatyanna noticed the glances back and forth from Dimitri and Emmett, and knew they were sending silent signals. She felt a rush of urgency within her, and knew she didn't have the time to stand there and try to get her friends to talk about what was going on. Instead, she pushed it to the back of her mind, like everything else she ever questioned, and tried to take the attention off Cale.

  “Are we going to stand here forever, or what?”

  With one last look at Cale, both Dimitri and Emmett nodded and pointed to the right side of the cavern. “We go this way toward the castle.” Althea immediately jumped up and ran toward the right side. Tatyanna could hear the animal splashing and smiled when Dimitri grumbled about how much she liked to play in the water. As the group made their way through the cavern, the rushing water at their feet grew in height and was almost to her knees when Cale shouted to the group to stop.

  “Hey, guys, I've been thinking. We don't know if there is anyone following us or not, I think I will stay behind just in case, and keep watch. You go on ahead, and if there are any problems, I will fend them off.”

  Tatyanna thought it was a great idea, and very thoughtful of the young man. She also wondered if maybe she was right, and he was too weak to make this sort of travel. She was about to thank him again when she saw a silent message pass between Dimitri and Emmett. She waited to see if either one would say something, but they didn't.

  Not wanting Cale to feel unsupported, she turned to him, grasped his hand, and squeezed it appreciatively. “Thank you for your idea. I am sure you are still weak from when Larik attacked you. We will return for you when we are done.”

  Cale bowed down to her, still holding her hand and gently raised it to his lips for a lingering kiss. Tatyanna felt the familiar stirrings in her stomach, like the ones when they were standing outside the waterfall, and chalked it up to Cale just being kind and considerate, and nothing else. She didn't know what else it could be. No other guy ever paid her any real attention before that wasn't friendship. As she let go of his hand, she didn't see the glare Emmett threw over his shoulder at him, or how Dimitri lingered behind, as if he was waiting for something to happen.

  The group descended farther into the tunnel, and Cale impatiently waited until he couldn't see them. He headed back toward the opening. When he returned to the entrance of the cavern, he stood outside the waterfall and closed his eyes. With all his might, Cale focused on the one thing he truly wanted. Power.

  He took a deep breath and walked out of the falls to find himself on the other side, but any bare skin showing was now covered in boils. The water he stood in started to heat up. Cale ran out of it, screaming Larik's name at the top of his lungs. As soon as he neared the edge, he leapt out of the water, pulled his legs into his body, and hoped for the best. He continued to scream as he hit dry land, because the water dripping down his body continued to burn into his skin, leaving dark red marks. He was in agony, and wondered why it was taking Larik so long to come to him. What felt like an eternity, Larik appeared before him, and he was not pleased the human had failed him once again.

  “You fool! What have you done?”

  “I did what you asked of me, my lord. I played nice with the princess, and I think she is starting to like me, but when I went through those damn falls, I thought I was going to drown. Then I felt a slow burn come over my body, and I knew I had to get out of there.” Cale looked down at the red welts on his body. “Please, my lord, heal me!”

  “Even if I could, I wouldn’t. If you have indeed won the princess's trust, she will heal you. She kept you alive three times now, I'm sure she will do it again.”

  “Three?” Cale asked confused. “She only
saved me once. When you tried to kill me by squeezing my heart.”

  “You are a pathetic excuse for a human,” Larik spat out as he looked down on Cale. “She held your hand going into the waterfall. It was because of that connection, and your obvious lack of faith, that kept you from drowning. If you hadn't been touching her, you would have died by the weight of the water, like so many other fools.”

  “And the second time?”

  Larik rolled his eyes at the ignorant man. “Do I have to spell it out to you? Lady Tatyanna is a healer. You touch her, and she can heal you, whether she realizes it, or not. She hasn't had years of training to block her mind out, so when someone, or something, is broken, she will naturally heal it, because it is who she is.” He paused a moment before continuing, “Your kiss at the end is what saved your life a second time. You had her healing touch on you, or else the boils would have been much worse.”

  “Why did you try to kill me the other day?” Cale asked, trying to wipe the water from his skin.

  “Because you almost gave yourself away. Your apparent loyalty to me forces you to bow to your leader. You were too weak to fight it, and so I had to do something to save your sorry ass. I'm wondering if I shouldn't have killed you. You are failing at every turn.”

  Larik remembered the day he first met Cale. The man had accidentally found a portal into his world trying to escape an enemy in his world, and was considered a POW-MIA. Some might consider him a hero, but Larik didn't. Humans were beneath him, and their only purpose was to serve him, and his plans. When he was done with the man, he would kill him. He was getting tired of the man's incessant whining.

  Larik raised his hand to create a fire for the poor bastard, and swore when nothing happened. He hated sacred land. As hard as he had tried in the past, he could not destroy this area. His eyes moved through the area, and saw some branches on the ground. He pointed his finger at them, and instantly a fire came to life. “Go and warm yourself at the fire. Once you are dry, walk around the mountain, and you should see the entrance to the castle. Wait there for the others.”

  “Won't they come back the way they came?”

  “No. Dimitri and Emmett already suspect something about you. You can't let them figure out you are working for me. Next time you go through a test, don't fail it.”

  “How am I supposed to pass it?”

  “By being true to yourself, you idiot. That is the secret to entering the domain. If you are there to kill someone, you will get through. You may not get very far, but you will get through. If you go in saying you are there for peace, but you really want war, you will be harmed.”

  “That doesn't make sense...” Cale started to say, when Larik whirled on him.

  “It doesn't matter if it makes sense or not, that is the way our world works. Now let me be. You’ve used up enough of the Historian’s time on your worthless attempts to woo the girl. Do it already!” With that, Larik was gone, leaving a burnt circle in the ground from where he was standing.

  Tatyanna followed her friends through one tunnel after the next. Each time the tunnels got smaller and smaller, to the point she was about to get down on her hands and knees to crawl her way through the rest. She glanced over at the dwarves. They didn't have any problems walking the tunnels, because they were the perfect height. Emmett and Dimitri were walking with one hand on the ceiling, to keep from straightening up and banging their heads, and one hand on the site of the tunnel walls to help guide them. Both men were hunched over. She wondered how much longer they would have to walk, before they got to where they were going.

  Just when she felt like dropping to her knees, not caring about her dignity, Tatyanna was hit with blinding sunlight. She was unable to see anything at first, except the caress of the warm sun on her cheek. Althea licked her hand, and Tatyanna reached down to gently hold on to her, as the wolf led her the rest of the way out of the caves.

  It took several minutes for Tatyanna's eyes to adjust to the light after being in the caverns. The warmth of the sun was replaced by a cool, light wind. Her companions waited patiently, and when she finally opened her eyes, Tatyanna was speechless. She looked to her left, and saw they were now on the other side. Before them was a short road leading to her home.

  The castle was huge, with four towers in each corner. It had been made from the mountain, sprawling almost the whole length. She also counted at least seven miniature waterfalls falling over the castle itself, and into a pool of water at the bottom of the mountain. She figured the water here was the same from the other side they initially walked through. There was a long path, at least a mile or two long, and then a stone wall at the bottom of the hill. Tatyanna wondered why they couldn't have walked up that path, instead of going the way they had come. Before she could ask that question, she heard the music in her mind again.

  Tatyanna realized what the music meant. It was for her, welcoming her home and guiding her. She walked toward the castle, ahead of her friends, letting the music lead her to where she needed to be. She came to the wooden door and pushed hard on it with all her might. Tatyanna was met with a huge marble foyer, with a waterfall just inside the entranceway. The castle was built around the waterfall so it would fall straight down. The water from the falls fed into two waterways that broke up into separate directions. The water fueled the lighting, and as the water came to life, so did the lights.

  Tatyanna continued through the hallways and saw frozen statues which melted under her touch. At one point she found a hallway with several lion fountains on the wall, with water coming out of their mouths. She smiled, because to her it looked like the lions were spitting. She had a memory as a little child running through this hall laughing gleefully, and splashing water onto her playmate, a boy with green eyes and black hair. He pretended to catch the water, only to throw what little he got back at her.

  Tatyanna whirled around to look for Emmett, and saw he, too, was looking at the lion fountains, with a faint smile on his face. She knew he was remembering the same memory. He looked up and met her eyes, with a smile on his face, as he reached out toward the water, as if he would flick her with it, but opted not to. Tatyanna laughed, surprised by the sound, and quickly sobered up as the castle around her came to life.

  The chandeliers above her were lit with floating candles. Sun was shining down on them through the clear windows. The entire palace warmed as she made her way through the familiar hallway to the throne room. Before Tatyanna could open the doors, they opened themselves, and she saw two thrones side by side at the front of the room. Sitting on the throne to the right were two crowns, both belonging to her mother. They weren't extravagant, like some might have believed crowns should be. Her mother's crown was simple, with white diamonds and several blue stones around the front of the crown. She saw a circlet next to her mother's crown, similar in style, with a floral design holding an oval blue stone in the middle. This was what her mother wore when she was traveling. Tatyanna picked it up and held it loosely in her hands, remembering when she used to play with it as a child.

  Tatyanna used to play with her mother's jewelry all the time. Her mother would sometimes let her wear the circlet, promising one day it would be hers. She told her she would do great things, powerful things, and to never be scared of her power. She could do what no one else could.

  Tatyanna had never understood what her mother had meant, but she listened anyway. One day, she had been playing quietly when she heard her mother come in with an older boy, begging for her mother's help. Tatyanna was in her mother’s room, where she shouldn't have been, unsupervised, so she hid in the closest. She watched as the boy with red hair begged her mother to help him, knowing their families were at war. Her mother had agreed, but said she would need help. She had reached over and put on the crown she wore when meeting with the people, or for important events.

  Tatyanna had watched as the boy reached for a little girl, who had been severally beaten and was barely breathing. He sat on the floor, cradling the girl in his arms, a singl
e tear falling down his face. Her mother squatted down next to them, reaching for the girl, and placing a hand on her heart, and one on her forehead. The stones in her crown glowed a bright blue, and then slowly died when Tatyanna saw the little girl coughing. Tatyanna could hear the girl's heart speed up to a normal speed. She watched again as the boy kissed the girl and whispered goodbye and thanked her mother, apologizing for what was going to happen.

  Tatyanna had stayed hidden in the closest as she saw her mother take out a book and start writing in it. When her mother was done, she lifted a floor board and placed the book inside, glancing once at the closet and then closing the floor board with a thud.

  Tatyanna opened her eyes to the present, realizing her mother had known she was there the whole time. She felt a hand reach out and caress her cheek lovingly, and her last coherent thought was that her mother was there, before she fainted and fell to the floor.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Meet Grandfather

  “Tatyanna! Tatyanna!” She heard her name being yelled, but her eyelids felt heavy, and a part of her didn't want to open them. She wanted to remember her mother, remember her voice, her scent, and her lingering touch.

  “Tatyanna!” Her name was shouted again, but couldn't make out by whom.

  “Move! Give her some space!” Emmett said.

  Tatyanna smiled, ever her protector. Always looking out for her. She slowly started to open her eyes, and was a little bit shocked to see everyone up close and in her personal space. “I'm fine, guys. Just had a memory.”

  “But, was it your memory?” asked a deep voice from behind the group.

  Everyone around her stilled at the sound of the voice, and immediately dropped down to their knees. Tatyanna blinked several times to clear her vision, and saw the same elderly man who had given her the necklace—her necklace.