He lowered his eyes to the ground and said, "Yes, I know. I wish I could pretend otherwise, but you are not my Ariana. I wish you were her, but you will do."
My blood was still cold in my veins. I said very softly, "Should I not call you Gideon?"
He looked away from me, out into the nothingness that was before us. He sighed long and deep then finally said, "No. You may call me Gideon. We should not have to be formal with one another. Especially with how close you and I are to become. We should discuss the marriage."
I took a deep breath and said, "Gideon, I can't marry you."
"Of course you can."
I tried to appeal to the good in him. "I want to marry for love, and I think you do too. I know you don't love me."
"Love is a waste," he said. His voice went instantly hard. "Look at all the years I have wasted, just waiting for love. No. You will marry me. You know the consequences if you do not."
"Why are you doing this?"
"Because I am king. Because I can," he said simply.
"But I am here now," I said.
"So," he said. He didn't look angry at what I was implying. In fact, he looked amused.
"So, I am the heir to the throne of my father, King Malcolm," I said. I raised my head, straightened my back and stood regal before him.
King Gideon tossed his head back and laughed heartily. "And what? You expect me to just step down and hand the reins of the kingdom to you? A child?"
"Well, I thought…" I said.
He cut me off. "You thought wrong. I will never step down," he said. "Ever."
I suppose that would have been too easy. "I'm still not marrying you," I said defiantly.
"Yes," he replied, "you are. You just don't realize it yet."
"No."
"Look around you, Ariana," he said.
There it was again. I didn't think it was an act either. I think he thought I was my mother. He was slipping back and forth in time in his own mind.
"That small piddly army of yours is no match for mine. I don't care if I have to kill every single one of them right this moment. You will be mine this time."
His eyes told me he meant every word he said. He intended to take me with him, one way or another. I looked over my shoulder at my little group of soldiers. They had come to fight. They would lose. We were too outnumbered, and somehow Gideon knew that I wouldn't sacrifice them for myself. My soldiers, both men and women that I didn't really know, stood like pawns in a chess game, on the verge of being sacrificed for nothing.
"I can't just come with you," I said. "They will still fight."
"Yes, they will," he said.
That was when I felt it. There was a tug and pull from inside me, and with it came a fog of weariness. I was suddenly so tired and drained. I snapped my eyes wide with fright, against his calm, steady stare. "Why did you do that?" I asked.
He only shrugged an eloquent shoulder. "To see if I could," he said.
He had pulled the energy, not from around us, but from inside of me. He had taken my own energy into himself. My knees buckled under me with a suddenness that would have caused me to collapse upon the ground, had he not still held my arm. I floundered for a moment. Then I realized how to fix it. Had I the energy to smack myself in the head at my own stupidity, I would have. I used my own gift to pull energy from the air back inside myself.
I immediately put my feet firmly on the ground and yanked my arm from his hold. "Don't you ever do that to me again," I growled at him.
He smiled at me. Then said, "Or?"
"Or nothing. Don't do it," I replied.
I felt a soft warm breeze drift across my face. My hair swung up and danced around my head. It was with a sneaky fear that I realized he was showing off his own power. His energy was warm, it caressed over me gently. He did it on purpose. Had he intended to hurt me, he could have. It was nothing more than a warning.
He had so much power. With that realization came another. I was in real trouble. "You don't intend on letting my people go, do you? Even if I come with you, you won't let them free."
"You said so yourself, they won't let you go without a fight. Besides, they have made their own choice. They marched against their King. I can't just let them go."
"Yes, you can. If I come with you, you have to let them go," I said.
"There is no 'if'. You will come with me," he said.
I looked back toward the center of the field. Leif and Austin and the King's men hadn't moved. They stood where we had left them. Each side focused entirely on the other.
I shook my head. "No. I won't. You will have to kill me too," I said. I had to bargain with him. I was not about to let my people die for me. I would go with him, but only under that one condition.
"As you wish," he replied.
My mouth fell open. What? He walked firmly with long hard strides back to our horses. I raced to catch up with him.
"Wait!" I said. "What do you mean?" There was a definite shriek to my voice.
"We will have our little battle then you will come with me," he replied.
"No! You can't do this," I said.
He whipped around and stabbed a pointed finger in my chest and said, "I am the King! I can do what I want!"
I jumped backward a step and slammed a hand against my chest in protection as well as to rub the pain away. "Ow! Stop it!" I said.
With an angry step, Gideon closed the distance between us, grabbed both my arms in a firm grip, and slammed his mouth down upon mine.
I screamed. It didn't matter. He sealed his mouth more firmly over mine. I tried to push him away, but with one hand he captured both of mine and held them between us, effectively stopping any counter attack as he kept me pressed up close to his body. To make matters all the worse, with only a thumb on my chin, he forced my mouth open further and thrust his tongue deep into my mouth.
I began to struggle in earnest, but it didn't matter. He was strong. I heard the pounding of my heart and felt the cold tracks of tears as they coursed down my face.
I was suddenly ripped harshly from Gideon's firm hold and tossed to the ground. All I could see were several pairs of feet all around me. When I felt a wave of warmth blast over my head, the chaos made sense.
Leif had come to my rescue after all. He and Austin had bolted to us as soon as the King had attacked. The King's men had also appeared, to protect him.
Gideon didn't need any help though. With his arms up and palms out, he slammed his hands straight up into the air and a pulse of energy blasted out in a circle around him. Leif and Austin flew out and over me. They landed with a hard thud on the ground behind me.
I saw him lift his arms again in their direction and without thinking about the consequences, I dove over their bodies and covered them as best as I could with my own. "Don't!" I screamed.
"You will move!" Gideon screamed right back.
"No." I pulled in energy, intentionally that time. I pulled in as much as I could hold. I saw my white color glow out around me. I had a feeling I was going to need it. I wasn't afraid for once. I knew what I had to do. These were my people, and I was going to protect them, even if it killed me.
Gideon laughed at me. Threw his head back and laughed. "You think to stop me?"
"Yes," I said. It was with the voice of power. It was gravelly, hollow, and scary. It always sounded that way when I was that full of energy. Once I turned completely white, the voice came with it. "I do."
I stood up in front of where Leif and Austin lay sprawled on the ground. The small army behind me was silent. I didn't want to take my eyes off the King so I didn't look to see their reactions to the mess we were in.
"I don't want to hurt you, Ariana," he said.
"I am not Ariana," I replied. "I am Sunny."
He frowned at me. I wasn't going to let him pretend any longer. "Ariana is dead. You killed her. Maybe not with your own hands, but you killed her all the same."
His face turned a molten red. I felt him pull in energy from the world
around us. I felt it. He couldn't pull from me this time, though. I don't know why, but when I felt him try to take it from me, he couldn't. I could see by his wild eyes that he was furious over it.
I heard noise behind me, and then Leif stood next to me. "Take him down, Sunny," he said. "This is what we have been waiting for. This is it."
I took a chance and glanced his way. Leif's eyes were as wild as the King's. "I'm not going to attack him. I'm trying to protect us," I said.
"No!" he yelled at me. "You need to take him down. Take him out!"
I shook my head. I knew I couldn't do that. I was there to protect our people. Not to kill the King.
Leif grabbed my upper arm in a hard painful grip and shook me. "Do it now!"
I stared at him and realized I didn't know who he was anymore. Right then I was as much afraid of him as I was the king.
"This is what you are protecting?" Gideon asked. Scorn laced his voice.
I jerked my arm free from Leif. "Who are you?"
"Sunny, this is our chance. Can't you see that? You have to take him out while you can," Leif pleaded.
Gideon blasted Leif right off his feet again.
"Stop!" I shrieked at Gideon.
"Sunny, do it now!" Leif said feebly.
"I can't!" I said.
The King laughed. "You leave me no choice."
I felt as Gideon pulled in even more energy. I watched as a red glow began to take shape. It was his color of power. He was red to my white.
"Please don't do this," I whispered.
"Do it!" Leif yelled.
"Sunny," Austin screamed.
Yells and hollers from all the men around us, rebel and Shadow Guard alike, mixed in with the pleas, until it was all just a mass of noise.
"Don't!" I screamed, one last time.
A buzzing noise drowned out the commotion. I watched in slow motion as Gideon raised his hands again. I mirrored his moves, and when I knew he was about to let his energy loose, I sent mine out at him as well. My nose began to bleed almost immediately. I ignored it.
My white energy smashed into his red. I watched in surprise as they bounced off of each other. The energy backfired at us. I was thrown into the air as a wave of white hit me, as was Gideon, with his own burst of red.
I hit the ground hard and it knocked the wind from my chest. I didn't have time to relax. I forced air into my lungs, barely noticing the pain that went with it, as I forced myself to my feet.
I pushed my energy back out at Gideon as soon as I stood up. Only that time, I didn't just send a quick burst of it. That time I sent a continuous stream of white across the expanse of green land.
Gideon had the same idea, apparently. Red and white met and held against the other like a wall. I shoved on and continued to push my energy out at him. Pain sliced through me. It started at my feet and cut all the way up through my body and out. I felt tears slide down my face, only I knew them for what they were this time, tears of red.
My head began to pound. I was running out of energy and Gideon didn't seem to be weakening at all.
"Sunny!" I heard the cry from behind me, but I couldn't stop to look.
I reached down deep inside of me and pulled another burst of energy out and hurled it toward Gideon. I began to scream. The pain was beginning to overwhelm me.
"Stop! Stop!" I heard again from behind me. Recognition hit. It was Taylor. Soon, other voices began to be heard over the crashing waves of Energy.
"Sunny! Stop."
"My Lady!"
"She's dying!"
I had to tune them out. I had to keep going. I didn't have a choice.
Gideon's face was white. It looked like fear, but it couldn't be. He was winning.
I was about to run out of energy and he would win. I shook my head and tried to quiet my screaming, but I couldn't.
Blackness was crowding around the edges of my vision. I dropped down to my knees, still forcing energy from within me. My aura of white was long gone, but still I pushed forward.
"Enough!" Gideon yelled. A thick hard blast cut through the last weak thread of white and knocked me the rest of the way down. The void was taking me. I could feel it as it tried to force me into unconsciousness.
"You would kill her instead of protecting her!" I heard Gideon roar.
I tried to move, to sit up, to raise an arm, but I couldn't. I was empty of everything.
I felt a warm caress of air slip over me, but when I opened my eyes, I saw Leif and Austin and all the people of my little army get swept up off their feet and thrown to the ground.
"You don't deserve her!" Gideon's voice boomed around the field.
Gideon crouched down next to me. He brushed a hand over my face with a gentleness that surprised me. There it was, the good in him, at the forefront again. How long until the evil took control again?
"Make your choice, little one," he whispered for my ears only. "Come to me on your own or I will destroy all of them."
He kissed my forehead. He stood, turned, and then just walked away. I saw him get on his black horse, and then he and all his men just left the field. He had me weak and at his mercy. Why didn't he finish me off or take me, or whatever? That was his chance, and instead, he simply walked away.
I didn't have anything else to give in me. I finally allowed my eyes to close and reached for the oblivion of unconsciousness.
Chapter Seventeen
Breaking Away
I came awake to yelling all around me. When I opened my eyes, I saw Taylor and Austin, both nose-to-nose with Leif.
"This is our chance," Leif said. "The King must be as weak as she is. We need to get her up and go after him. We can take him down this time."
"Are you trying to kill her." Austin said. He was furious. I didn't think I had ever seen him like that. His face was red with fury, and his fists were tightly clenched at his sides.
"She's fine. As soon as she wakes up, we need to advance," Leif said.
"You are as crazy as the King," Taylor said through gritted teeth. "She is too weak. I mean, look at her!"
Everyone turned and looked at me: Leif, Austin, Taylor, and the entire little army. I had a moment where I wanted to close my eyes and pretend to still be unconscious, but I didn't. I tried to sit up, but my head swam dizzily and made my stomach lurch. I flopped back down to the ground. My arms felt numb. My legs were useless. Every inch of me felt empty of strength. My head, God my head hurt. It throbbed and pounded and screamed in pain.
Leif hurried to my side. He help raise me up to a sitting position before he asked, "Can you get up? We have to go after him now while he's weak. We are so close to winning this time."
"Get off her," Taylor said at hearing the small moan escape my lips. He shoved Leif angrily backward.
Leif sprang into a squat and then hurtled himself at Taylor. The two of them rolled over and over each other. Their angry fists flew. Each landed several blows with a rage that even I could feel from several feet away.
I rose up a hand and said weakly, "Stop."
They either didn't hear me or didn't care. They continued their brawl, uncaring of the others around them. I looked to Austin for some type of interference, but he just stood there like a dummy and watched the fight. As did all the others, including Kat.
She stood to the front of the group with an expression of glee on her face. I saw her murmur as she punched a fist into the air, "Come on, come on."
I figured it was loyalty that made her root for Leif, even though he was in the wrong that time. However, Taylor's attack wasn't exactly all "right" either.
Where were Leigha and Gavin? I searched the crowd and finally found their familiar faces. They looked nothing more than bored. Was this a side of Leif I didn't know? I was coming to realize there were many sides of him I had never seen.
I gathered as much strength from my spent body as I could and finally stood up. I had to fight to ignore the increasing throb in my head, but I managed it and tried again. "Please, stop."
/> No reaction to me what-so-ever. I was really angry. I pulled in a small burst of energy then I tossed it at the two combatants and said, "Enough!"
I didn't hurt them. It was more of a shove that sent them rolling over a time or two. Yes, it was fighting dirty, but I was too exhausted to deal with them in a more civilized manner. They rolled up to their feet swiftly enough for me to know I hadn't done any damage to their bodies. Their pride was another story. They both tossed an angry glare my way. I ignored it.
"She's up. Let's go," Leif said to the group.
"You won't be happy until you kill her, will you?" Taylor growled. "Look at her. Look at her. Her nose is bleeding again."
It was? I reached up a hand and swiped it under my nose. Sure enough, it came away wet with red. I was more tired than I realized. I hadn't even felt it.
My legs were quivery under me; my head felt like there were shards of glass bouncing around inside it, but I stood firm before them all and said, "No. We aren't going after him right now."
"Why not!" Leif shouted at me. Shouted at me like I was a two year old. "We can win. He's weak now, you can blast him and it will all be over."
Leif's face was different. There was a strange glow to him, a glow of obsession. It was all about the winning, no matter the consequences of getting there. It didn't matter who he had to hurt or crawl over, or shove down, he was going to win.
"You are a fool then," I said. I said it loud enough that everyone could hear me. I wanted this conversation heard and I wanted them all to understand.
"The King was not weakened by that little skirmish. I was," I said. "He is strong, stronger than you can imagine. I felt the power within him, and it is immense."
"No, you are wrong," Leif said stubbornly.
I shook my head, which was a mistake. It just made the pounding all the worse. "You need to face the facts, Leif. He is more powerful than all of us put together, right now."
"No," he said again.
"Yes," I spat out, getting angry at his petulant refusal to listen. "He also showed us mercy. He could have wiped us all out, but he didn't. Instead he chose to retreat. I don't know why he did it."
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