by B. C. Morin
“You found your way!” Tristan exclaimed breaking the awkward silence, and admiring the new clothes she wore.
Alannah laughed slightly. “Not really. Lilian showed me the way.” She turned to look at the King and Queen, “you have a beautiful home.”
“Thank you my dear.” The King responded, sitting back down in his chair which resembled more a throne than a dining chair.
“You look “stunning” “amazing” Both Kaleb and Brennus spoke at the same time surprising everyone. They gave each other an annoyed look before looking back at Alannah and taking their seats.
Alannah felt her cheeks get warm and wondered if anyone else saw her blush. She touched her bodice self consciously. The bodice and skirt she wore with its dark and light blues made for a beautiful contrast to her green eyes. Her hair was picked up around the back of her head with wavy tendrils falling around her face and some down her back.
“Thank you. Both of you.”
As soon as she took her seat she saw that all the attention had turned to the doorway once again. In the doorway stood a beautiful young faerie, more beautiful than most that Alannah had ever seen. She had long very dark hair like her mother, the dress she wore seemed to hang perfectly on her thin but athletic build. She curved in all the right places Alannah jealously thought to herself. Alannah who was not overly voluptuous had never until this moment felt that she might not have enough curves. Her skin was tanned and she had marks covering most of both of her arms. Her eyes were slightly slanted making them look cat-like, and were a light lavender-blue much like the dress she wore.
The Queen walked over to her daughter. “Alessa, good of you to join us, I’m sure you remember Brennus.”
Alessa looked at Brennus giving him a smirk.
“Brennus.”
“Alessa.”
“Still think that you are the God’s gift to all faeries?”
“Still trying to convince yourself that I am not?” Brennus responded smirking arrogantly and leaning back in his chair.
Alannah stifled a laugh.
Calla rolled her eyes “Some things never change.”
Just as she was going to mention Kaleb and Tristan, Alessa took off in their direction.
“Kaleb! Tristan!” She hugged Tristan briefly and lingered a bit on Kaleb.
“It has been so long. Look at you two. All grown up and handsome I might add.” She stood next to Kaleb as she spoke to them.
Brennus glanced over at Alannah who had begun to fidget with her glass and utensils. He could tell she was trying to hide all her negative emotions.
Calla walked over to Alannah and put her arm around her.
“Alessa this is Princess Alannah of Meira.”
Alannah curtseyed slightly as did Alessa. “It is a pleasure to meet you Princess. Any friend of Kaleb and Tristan,” she paused, rolling her eyes at Brennus, “and I guess Brennus is a friend of mine.”
“Thank you. Please, call me Alannah.”
Alessa smiled and took the empty seat between Kaleb and Tristan.
Which surprised Alannah as there was an empty seat beside her.
The servants brought in dinner just as the Magisters walked in. They sat across from Alannah, eager to find out information of the past few days. Alannah felt embarrassed that for the time they had been waiting she had only been thinking of her feelings for Kaleb and Brennus, her jealousy toward Alessa, and her new powers coming in. She had forgotten that she had to re-count the events in the castle and all she had learned there and from Brennus about Maligo’s plan, and most horribly enough, she had forgotten about her own sister that laying in a room fighting for her own soul.
The evening went on with Alannah and Brennus telling all of what they learned and experienced thereafter. Brennus thought for a moment of mentioning Alannah’s mark but decided to keep it to himself for now so as not to alarm anyone. For a brief period Kaleb and Tristan also mentioned their journey through the forest, particularly what happened to Evyette.
The Magisters said very little as the stories went on and the remaining dinner was removed to make room for desert. The King and Queen also listened intently occasionally making comments to each other.
Finally Magister Torin spoke. “Alannah. I can see just by your Mark that you have a gift for spell casting and I wish that you had come to us sooner as we could have helped you train.”
“Can you not help me now?”
“Yes, we can, but with your powers coming in so fast and so strong, you will need to learn to contain them first before taking on further spell casting study.” He took a bite of the custard and fruits on the plate in front of him and waited to swallow before continuing. “The best teachers for that are among the warrior faeries. They are known as the Elder Faeries. We will speak to your parents as well when they arrive but our recommendation is for you to go with Brennus to the Kingdom of Anrad and speak to Master Jadoc. He has been around for a very long time and has trained many faeries. Once you are done, you can come here for training in spell casting. The Warrior faeries are highly gifted in that as well but their training is done in a language that we do not use.”
She looked over and saw that Kaleb was looking at her awaiting her response. Alessa though was more interested in Kaleb.
“Thank you Magister Torin. I will take that under serious consideration.”
“Well then,” the King and Queen stood, “enough of this talk for tonight. Tomorrow we will resume talks with Cavalon and Nalani when they arrive as their other daughter is involved in further discussions and there is no point in repeating. I am sure you are all tired of such serious dealings. Brennus.” The King raised his hand gesturing to Brennus who had just emptied his desert plate. “Perhaps since you are so well acquainted with our kingdom and the surrounding villages you would like to take Alannah out onto the grounds.” Brennus nodded at the king and looked over at Alannah who clearly did not mind the King’s suggestion.
“Alessa.” He said, looking at his daughter, “you clearly want to catch up with old friends so why don’t you go ahead and take Kaleb and Tristan with you to the gathering room or the square.”
“Great!” Alessa didn’t hesitate. She grabbed Kaleb by the hand and began pulling him along as he looked at Alannah kind of shrugging his shoulders.
Tristan stood but didn’t follow. “Magister Torin.” He had caught him just as he was about to walk out of the room. “Would it be alright if I went to see Evyette?”
The Magister looked at the King and Queen and after receiving a nodding approval, agreed. Tristan hurried, following them out of the room. The King and Queen had already exited through the other doorway.
Brennus walked around the table and put his hand out to help Alannah from her chair. Once she stood he released her hand and ran his hand up her arm to her shoulder.
“We don’t have to go if you do not want to.”
Alannah leaned her head back in order to look at his face “No, I do want to.”
He brushed a tendril of hair away from her face leaving his finger to linger along her cheek.
As they walked out the large castle doors, Alannah realized just how differently this Kingdom was set up from hers. Because her Kingdom was split by the river there were two forests involved. In this Kingdom she saw, there were small villages within the Kingdom that were set up to the back of the forest and the shops to the front. The only way in and out it seemed was through the doors they had first come through.
The village seemed alive even at night. She looked around as now there were more young faeries out and about. Some walking around, some sitting on nearby stone benches talking. Many of them were listening to music and dancing at what she found out later is the ‘square’ that the King had mentioned. It was a large area off of where the shops were that had a large fire pit created with smooth white stones in the center, surrounded by seats and pillars of the same smooth stones. There were lights floating above them all casting dancing shadows around them. She looked intently at t
he floating lights and finally realized that they were held up by spells.
“So. Seems that you and Alessa do not get along too well.”
Brennus laughed out loud. “I would not say we do not get along, we have more of a brother and sister type relationship. We can get along but we would rather pick at each other.” He bent down picking a lone tulip that was growing amidst some weeds and handed it to Alannah.
She smiled, closing her eyes as she took in the scent of the tulip and the breeze that had begun to blow by.
“Come with me, I want to show you something.”
Alannah looked back to the square where she saw Alessa and Kaleb sitting closely in a corner talking. For a moment she thought she saw Kaleb look at her but she wasn’t sure as Alessa seemed to be sure to obtain every moment of his attention.
“Where are we going?” They began walking away from the gathering and all the shops. The moonlight trickled through the trees that were now more grouped together.
“You’ll see.” They walked for a long time it seemed, Alannah wondering if they were even in the same forest. She followed him up a hill dodging low tree branches and climbing on some rocks. When they reached the top she saw that they were at the top of a waterfall that fell down into a river that broke off and flowed in between the different villages. From up here she could see the entire Kingdom including the large oak tree off the center that housed the Castle. She saw the blurred lines of the magic that surrounded the entire Kingdom keeping it invisible to passer-bys. She looked down to the nearby villages and saw the thatched roofs, some with chimneys smoking. Some had no light inside which didn’t surprise her as it was late, but in others you could see flickering candlelight.
“This is beautiful.” She didn’t take her eyes off of the amazing view.
“I would come here by myself when I wanted to be alone,”He didn’t look at her when he spoke, but rather took a step forward looking at the view, “we have a place like this in Anrad as well. When I was a child I would hide up there when I was supposed to be in class or in training. It was the only time I was doing what I wanted to do.”
Alannah looked at Brennus. But this time she looked at him in a different way. He wasn’t the cocky warrior that she met at the castle. He was softer, more vulnerable.
She tried walking around him so that she could stand next to him but she slipped on a stone that was wet with some water splashing off of the top of the falls. Brennus reached his arm out to catch her bringing her into him. He looked in her eyes for only a moment, and without hesitating he leaned down and kissed her. Her startled grip around his neck from the near-fall softened as she kissed him back.
Her hand ran through his black hair, while keeping the other on his neck. His lips tasted of the berries they had for desert. She breathed him in, he smelled clean, not the outdoor sweat induced scent that she had gotten used to the past few days. She felt his muscles loosen slightly, his hands caressing her back. Her chest against his, feeling his heart beat as fast as hers.
She wanted to continue kissing him but she thought of Kaleb and abruptly stopped herself.
Brennus looked at her stunned at first, then disappointed. “Oh, I see.” He said releasing her and turning to go back toward the path they had taken.
“See what?” she said, following him.
He turned to face her. “I can protect you, heal you, and make him jealous-“ he said motioning toward the square where Kaleb sat with Alessa, “but I can not be the one you want.”
“Brennus, it is not like that.” Brennus stopped and looked at her without saying a word. It wasn’t the same cocky look he usually had, it wasn’t the vulnerable look he’d had at the top of the waterfall. He was disappointed. Disappointed in her for not deciding. He turned again still without a word, continuing his descent to the castle.
“So, just because I did not pick you immediately like all the women you are used to having, you have to treat me like this?”
Brennus looked at her again, shook his head and kept walking.
Alannah was disappointed in herself. She should have never said that. She knew that she was in the wrong for wavering back and forth between them but she never thought though that Brennus cared that much for her.
~ Chapter 23~
The silent walk back to the castle seemed agonizingly slow. But she knew that after the last thing she said, there was nothing she could say to redeem herself.
Once they arrived at the castle, Brennus continued directly in the direction of his room without saying another word.
Well, I’m not sleepy now. Maybe I’ll walk around a bit. She wandered the hallways peering occasionally into open doors, admiring tapestries and decorative crystals and gems. She walked into the throne room of the King and Queen. It was empty at the moment but she stood and marveled at the columns of smooth stone that lined the walkway to the two thrones that sat atop of two large steps. Silks running across the tops of the walls and columns. Continuing her exploration, she was about to turn a corner until she heard some voices and decided to wait.
“I’ve missed you Kaleb. Do not tell me you have not missed me too.”
“Alessa-“ He didn’t finish.
Alannah wondering why he didn’t finish, peered around the corner to find that Alessa had Kaleb against a wall with her lips pressed against his.
Alannah turned walking back in the direction she came.
He pushed her off slowly. “Alessa. I did miss you. But what we had is gone now, I have feelings for someone else.”
Alessa backed up a step and put her hands on her hips.
“Alannah.”
Kaleb nodded.
“Kaleb, I have seen the way that she looks at you and Brennus. She is indecisive.”
“Perhaps. But I will not make her decision for her, by involving myself with you when my heart is not in it. I am sorry.”
Alessa smiled at him, shaking her head, “always the gentleman. Come then, let’s go find Tristan.”
Alannah reached her room and threw herself on her bed staring at the ceiling. What have I done? she thought to herself annoyed by the feeling of stones in her stomach. I ignored Kaleb so much that I might as well have pushed him into Alessa’s arms and now I have rejected and insulted Brennus as well she turned her attention to the flickering candle trying to keep the tears from pouring out.
She sat up swiftly when she heard a quick knock on the door, and saw that it was being opened.
Lilian walked in and bowed her head at Alannah. “Evening ma’am. Sorry, I was just told that you came in. Can I help you with your bodice?”
“Oh, yes Lilian, thank you.” She stood and turned to face her bed. She grabbed the tendrils of hair that had fallen down her back pulling them to the front.
“I have just seen Master Brennus arrive as well.” Lilian said, pulling loose the ribbons that held the bodice closed.
“Yes he and I were out together. He was showing me around the Kingdom.”
“Oh, you are fortunate, eh?” She hadn’t noticed how thick Lilian’s accent actually was until that sentence, though she loved the sound of it.
“Fortunate?”
“Master Brennus is not one to spend his time lightly. Much less, spending it with a lady.”
“What do you mean Lilian?” Alannah pulled off her skirt and slipped on her nightgown.
“Ma’am, I have known Master Brennus for a long time. When he trained here, I served him. All the women in the Kingdom would come calling for him. But he paid no mind to any of them. He was always training, meeting with the Magisters, meeting with other teachers, or by himself.”
Alannah’s heart sank. She had assumed that because of his looks and arrogance he took advantage of all the women throwing themselves at him.
“I hope you don’t find me forward ma’am.” Alannah turned to face Lilian who was hanging up her dress.
“Of course not Lilian, speak freely, please.”
“I saw how he looked at you when you walked into th
e dining area. He and Master Kaleb looked at you as if you were the last faerie on earth.”
Not sure they would look at me that way now.
The morning sun crept in through a crack between the heavy green satin curtains. She hadn’t escaped the events from the night before even in her dreams. Even visiting Evyette in the middle of the night when she couldn’t sleep, provided little comfort. The pain of seeing her best friend and sister lying motionless in a bed remained in her heart as well. For a moment she tried to believe that all that had happened was nothing more than a nightmare but it was a failed attempt. Her heart hurt too much for it not to be real.
The door swung open swiftly as Lilian rushed in holding a mass of burgundy fabrics. “Ma’am , your mother and father arrived early this morning.” She dropped the mass of fabric she was holding onto the bed and sorted it out. “Sorry for the condition which I brought this in. I remembered you telling me yesterday that your favorite dress color was burgundy so I rushed to get this for you this morning.”
Alannah held up the bodice and then skirt. “Lilian this is beautiful, thank you so much. Perhaps this day will not be so bad after all.” Lilian looked at her and dropped her eyebrows to give a confused look.
“I just have a lot on my mind and a lot going on.”
“Well ma’am considering recent events, I can understand why.”
Alannah was beginning to truly like hearing Lilian speak for the sake of listening to her accent which was foreign to her. Not to mention the caring tone with which she always spoke, like that of a mother.