by Scott Toney
Two into One
Lilya sat in Westwood Castle’s main hall, leaning against a chilled stone wall close to the room’s main doors. A day had passed since the battle. In that time, they had buried her father and his knights in catacombs beneath the castle and gathered whatever weapons their enemy had not taken.
She prayed they would have no more need of these weapons. Alexander spoke to her through her thoughts and told her he sensed nothing of their enemy’s army since they barricaded themselves within the castle walls.
Where are they? she thought. Did she expect a response? Surely Alexander didn’t listen to her thoughts at all times.
I do not know, princess, his thought came to her.
There was something else. The people they had rescued from the market began to ask her if she would be queen, now that her father was dead. She wanted nothing of it. Would she never find peace?
The sound of rain beating against the castle whispered through the hall. It had been raining for hours and the noise it made had an eerie feel. “At least the rain will help to quell the fires,” she whispered to herself.
“What was that, princess?” Vansir asked. He and Alinar had instructed their hawks to keep their distance as they joined the others in the castle.
She breathed a sigh as she looked to his worried face. “It’s nothing. I was just speaking to myself about the rain.”
A crack of thunder echoed above them. She startled at the sound.
“We should return to the canyon,” Vansir said. “If our enemy has truly left the forest near the castle then our people could be in danger.”
“You can go,” she said. “But I will wait until Alexander thinks it is safe to leave, not just for us but also for the people we’ve rescued.”
“Then we will wait with you,” Vansir replied as another crack of thunder shook the castle.
Lilya closed her eyes and imagined she was outside in the rain, its cool shower falling upon her form and droplets of water running down her. How peaceful it would be to be consumed by the rain and to stop worrying about anything at all.
Lilya, Alexander’s voice entered her thoughts, someone is approaching us from the woods.
She opened her eyes and stood, her hand reaching for her bow. “Who?” she asked out loud, not thinking that Alexander was speaking through her thoughts.
“Who?” Vansir looked to her. “What are you asking?”
I hear them talking. It sounds like they are knights from Havilah.
Lilya relaxed her muscles. “Alexander has spoken to me through my thoughts. He says that knights from Havilah approach the castle from the woods. I wonder if it’s possible that Thomas heard of the attack and sent his men to save us.”
Vansir drew his bow and others around them drew their weapons as well. “I find it hard to believe that Thomas could have heard and sent men in time. Whoever is coming, I doubt it was Thomas that sent them.”
“I hope for the best but fear the worst.” Lilya pointed to a group of dwarves before her. “Open the doors. We will meet these men before they reach the castle.”
The stalky dwarves pressed their shoulders into the castle doors, opening them wide so that Lilya could see sheets of rain falling outside, forming puddles in the market’s muddy ground.
Alexander faced the woods before them, his scales a deep red as water rushed in streams down his back. Steam rolled off of his scales. “They see me,” he said, then lifted into the sky.
As he flew above them Lilya stepped into the rain and looked to the tree-line in the distance. What was left of the woods looked like black bones protruding from the ground. “What has become of our world?” she asked.
“We are alive,” Vansir said behind her. “That is the best that we could ask for.”
Lilya squinted and held her hand above her eyes so she could better make out the tree-line. There, in the distance, she could see the men Alexander had spoken of. They wore the crimson color of Havilah. “Knights!” she shouted over the roar of the rain, certain that she could not be heard. “Who sends you?”
There was no response, none except for a burst of lighting through the sky and the boom of thunder following it. She led her company quickly through the rain. “Keep your weapons drawn in case of attack,” she told them. Muddy water sloshed inside of her boots as the downpour beat down on her.
The knights in red were nearing them now and Lilya cocked an arrow back in her bow, unsure of how good her aim would be in a rainstorm. “Halt there!” she called out. “Who are you?”
The company in red stopped a distance away from them. “We are the knights of Havilah, but we do not come in the name of Thomas. Who are you?”
“We are Cush’s people. How can we be sure that you are friend and not foe?” she asked and looked to the sky, seeing Alexander hovering above.
You can trust them… at least most of them, Alexander’s thoughts entered her mind.
“Lilya!” a young voice called through the rain.
She lowered her bow. Who is that? Why do they sound familiar? Suddenly a thin figure came running from the group of knights toward them. As he did, her company braced their weapons high. “Let him pass,” she said.
She could barely make out the figure’s face as he rushed for her, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. “Jonah,” she gasped. “How in the world did you get here?”
He held her tight. “Thomas has killed my family. I am the only one still alive.”
A pain shot through her chest.
Jonah took a step back and looked at her as tears and rain streamed down his face. “These men are the knights of Havilah. They have left Thomas and his mad ways. The mercenaries who have attacked you were hired by Thomas to pillage your people and their lands.”
“My worst fears are realized,” Lilya said, and then looked out at the silhouettes of Havilah’s knights in the rain. “Come with us!” she called. “Come to our home! We will talk there! Something needs to be done about Thomas and his mad reign!”
They walked through the storm, headed back toward The Canyon of Eyes as Lilya led them. With each one of her footsteps her strength grew and so did her worry for what was to come.
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