Deliverance

by Brittany Comeaux

  The ride in the carriage seemed to take forever. Every inch of the street was covered in people who saw Valamar with a lovely new girl. They all whispered to each other wondering who the girl was, and several envious women gave Crystal dirty looks as the carriage passed. As she had planned to do, she used the fan that Valamar gave her to hide her face when too many people stared at her, but all that did was make people want to look more, it seemed.

  Crystal caught sight of Gavril hiding in an alleyway. When he saw how well she was dressed, he stared at her and raised an eyebrow, but stopped and smiled amusingly when she stared daggers back at him. She then hid her face from Valamar with her fan and pointed to her neck to show Gavril that her pendant was gone. Gavril’s face suddenly hardened and he mouthed to her, “Be careful!”

  Crystal nodded and moved her fan before Valamar noticed. She then saw Gavril turn around and the carriage moved far enough in time for her to catch a glimpse of Kerali, who had to take a second look at her to be sure he was looking at the right girl.

  During the ride, she also saw Maryn and Taryn sneaking around on a rooftop; Taryn of course stopped to stare at her as well, so Maryn had to grab the collar of his shirt to shock him back to reality and continued moving. Even Sigurd, who blended into a crowd by a merchant cart, stopped to take a second look. Crystal decided then and there that she had never felt more like eye candy than she cared for in a lifetime that evening.

  Valamar must have noticed she was looking around a lot, because he suddenly said, “Looking for a familiar face?”

  Crystal quickly tried to think of something to say, and all she could come up with was, “I just . . . I noticed a bunch of people looking at us.”

  Valamar straightened up proudly and replied, “Yes. I am very well known in this city, specifically to the female population. Every time I take a lovely lady out to dinner, everyone starts talking about it. Since no one has ever seen you, they are probably wondering where I found such a goddess.”

  Crystal tried to keep from rolling her eyes and it seemed to work because Valamar either didn’t notice her annoyance or he didn’t care. He kept waving and blowing kisses to everyone as he passed. Girls were swooning and giggling, and Crystal was glad she hadn’t eaten yet, because she began to feel like she would vomit. She had never been this humiliated in her life.

  The carriage finally arrived at the restaurant that Crystal had walked by with Blaze earlier. It was late at night, so the dinner crowd was beginning to die down. Once she smelled the aroma of baked chicken and pork roast, Crystal began to realize how hungry she was. The carriage stopped right in front of the glass double doors and the driver stepped down, walked around to Crystal’s side of the carriage, and held out his hand to help her down. Even though she could have gotten down herself, she didn’t feel like arguing, so she accepted his hand and he helped her down.

  Valamar had stepped down already and walked over to Crystal as soon as she stepped down. He held out his arm for her again, and she groaned silently and took it.

  “This is the finest restaurant in Cierith, darling.” Valamar said, “Once you taste the food, you will never taste anything better.”

  Crystal doubted that, but she couldn’t argue how great the food smelled. It may have just been because she was so hungry, but the smell definitely intoxicated her.

  Valamar led her to the double doors where two valets opened the doors for them. They were then led to a separate area from the restaurant where a lone table sat in the middle. Crystal was thankful that there were walls around the area for privacy. The room was much more decorated than the rest of the place, but once Crystal sat down, she found solace in the fact that not many people could see her where she sat.

  “I am a regular customer, so I have my own separate room on reserve for when I dine here,” explained Valamar.

  “That’s nice,” Crystal muttered. She was mostly being sarcastic, but Valamar took it as a compliment.

  “Thank you my dear.” he replied with a coy smile, “Order anything you like.”

  Crystal did just that. She ordered a full plate of pork roast with bread and corn and ate almost every bit of it. She could see that Valamar was surprised at her appetite, but she had hoped he would be. Anything to make him less attracted to her would make this night go much faster.

  ****

  After dinner, Valamar brought Crystal back to his estate. As she walked through the front door, she turned to him and said, “All right, now where is the shard?”

  Valamar chuckled and replied, “No need to rush off so quickly! How would you like to join me in my study for a little while?”

  “I would rather not.” Crystal replied sharply, “I need to get to bed so I can leave tomorrow morning. Can you please give me the shard?”

  “I will give you the shard if you come to my study,” Valamar responded.

  Crystal sighed and muttered, “Very well, then.”

  She then followed Valamar to his study and as he stopped to open the door, Crystal caught a glimpse of Blaze peeking around the corner of the corridor. Before Valamar saw, she gestured for him to get back behind the corner, and luckily, he moved back in time to avoid being seen.

  “This way, my dear,” Valamar said after getting the door open. He held a hand gesturing for her to enter first, and even though his oddly calm demeanor made her nervous, she stepped inside.

  Valamar then closed the door behind them. “Please, love, make yourself at home,” he said with a smile.

  Crystal saw a lit fireplace and sat in a small chair near it and sat down. She was getting more and more annoyed with the fact that every time she sat down, the bottom of her dress would puff up and she would have to keep flattening the fabric to get comfortable.

  Valamar strolled over to a counter in front of a glass canister and pulled a bottle of wine out of an ice bucket. As he set two glasses on the table, Crystal said, “I don’t drink. I’ll just take a glass of water.”

  Valamar stopped what he was doing and asked, “Are you sure? It is the best wine you will taste by far!”

  “I’m positive. Just water, please,” she quickly responded.

  Valamar mumbled under his breath and poured her a glass of water. Crystal didn’t really care if he got mad; she wanted the night to be over with anyway.

  Valamar returned with his own glass of wine and Crystal’s glass of water. After handing her the drink, he took a seat in the chair next to hers. For what seemed like ages, they sat in uncomfortable silence and tended to their drinks. Crystal drank her entire glass in one gulp, which amused Valamar.

  “I must say, Crystal,” he said smoothly, “you are unlike any other woman I have encountered.”

  Crystal didn’t know whether he meant that as a compliment or if he had lost interest in her. She prayed to Caris that it was the latter before muttering, “I don’t believe in conforming to the ‘ideal woman’ that most men want.”

  Valamar smiled, which made Crystal feel on edge. He then said to her, “I have taken many women to dinner and have taken quite a few to my bedroom as well,” At this point, Crystal felt sick to her stomach again.

  Then Valamar continued, “However, you are without a doubt the most beautiful and unique woman I have had the pleasure of meeting, and I cannot help but want to pursue you more. Every other woman I have courted considered themselves the luckiest girl alive to be seen on my arm, but you have refused all of my advances tonight. I showered you with riches and no matter what I did, you remained completely uninterested. It drives me mad that you are playing so hard-to-get!”

  Crystal’s heart was pounding in her ears. She didn’t know what to say. She was even more uneasy when Valamar got up from his chair and leaned over hers with each of her hands resting on the armrests of her chair.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, sinking into the chair cushions.

  Valamar then moved closer to where he was inches from her face and whispered seductively, “Marry me, Crystal.”

  “NO!” C
rystal yelled. She then pushed him away from her chair and marched toward the door. Without looking back at him, she angrily asked, “Where is the shard? I will be leaving after you give it to me!”

  Suddenly, Crystal was pushed to the floor and Valamar landed on top of her, pinning her to the ground. He turned her around so that she faced him and he tried to push his lips onto hers, but she moved her face away in time. She then tried to bring her arms up to slap him, but he grabbed both of her wrists and held them in place. He would not let her move an inch as he then tried to force her legs open with his.

  “GET OFF OF ME!! HELP!!!” She screamed as loud as she could.

  Valamar laughed aloud and then mockingly asked, “Who do you think can hear y—”

  Just then, before Valamar could finish the question, it was answered for him. Upon hearing her screams, Blaze rushed into the room, pulled Valamar off of her, and threw his hardest punch into the wealthy man’s face, knocking him out cold. She sat up and tried to get up, but Blaze had to help her. He then turned to Valamar, who now lay unconscious and sprawled out on the floor, and spit on his coat.

  “Son of a bitch!” he then yelled.

  When Blaze turned to face Crystal, she embraced him and buried her face into his shirt, and cried, “Thank you!”

  Blaze, a bit surprised by her reaction, didn’t hug her back, but muttered, “You’re welcome.”

  Crystal let go and looked up at him, trying to control her flow of tears and whispered, “Let’s go find the shard before he wakes up.”

  “Good idea. I’ve got your things in a bag outside, but I think you may want to put this on now,” he replied. He dangled her pendant in front of her face, which she grabbed and hurriedly put on.

  Just then, a few guards ran into the room, but before they could blink, Crystal sprayed a mist at them and put them to sleep.

  “Leave one awake next time. We can make him bring us to the shard,” said Blaze.

  “All right,” replied Crystal.

  Eventually, Blaze grabbed a guard and, while holding the knife from his boot to the petrified man’s throat, made the guard bring them to the art collection room where the shard was kept on a shelf. Once Blaze grabbed the shard, Crystal cast the sleeping spell on the guard. Before leaving, however, Crystal snuck into one of the spare bedrooms and changed out of the dress and into her robe.

  “That’s . . . a nice dress, by the way,” Blaze muttered, before Crystal went into the room.

  She stopped, looked at him in disbelief, and asked, “Are you actually giving me a compliment, Blaze?”

  Maybe Blaze could be a nice person after all.

  Blaze then looked at her stone faced and blurted out, “I said the dress was nice. I didn’t say you looked good in it.”

  Apparently not.

  Crystal glared at him and disappeared into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

  ****

  “If anyone utters a WORD about the dress, I will turn them into a toad!” yelled Crystal, walking past her friends with her face pointed towards the ground and her hair dangling in front of it.

  “Dress?” Gavril responded in disbelief, “Valamar tried to force himself onto you and you’re worried about us making fun of the dress?”

  “I’m fine! I don’t want to hear another word about it!” she replied. As she marched forward, she kept her head facing downward and walked toward the front gate of the city.

  “Why is she hiding her face?” asked Maryn.

  “She still has the makeup on,” Blaze said.

  They then saw Crystal stop by a fountain, scoop up some water, and furiously scrub her face. Gavril then took a step closer to Blaze.

  Gavril then took a step closer to Blaze. “Did you get the shard?”

  Blaze reached into his jacket and once Gavril saw part of the red gem, he whispered urgently, “Wait, don’t leave it visible.”

  Gavril held a cloth up to Blaze who grabbed it with his free hand and covered the shard with it. Gavril then held out his hand and Blaze placed the cloth-covered shard into his hand. Gavril then placed the shard in a supply bag that Sigurd carefully guarded.

  “You did well,” was all Gavril said to Blaze.

  Blaze looked back at the general and muttered, “Uh . . . thanks.”

  CHAPTER 11

  Ever since their encounter with Valamar, Blaze felt increasingly angry on a regular basis. Every little thing seemed to set him off and put him in a foul mood, and so he mostly kept to himself. Despite this, however, he still had a few run-ins with Gavril, which fueled his temper even more. Blaze knew that the old man had some kind of grudge against him, and even though everyone assured him that Gavril was almost always calm and kind, the former general seemed to have no patience whatsoever with him.

  Crystal, on the other hand, was another story. It did not matter how angry Blaze was, or even if he had just fought with Gavril, he felt calmer whenever she was around. He didn’t understand it and it seemed like as soon as she wasn’t around him, he went back to being as angry as he was before.

  A month went by with no news on a shard. Crystal, however, pointed out that the rebels were in possession of one, and so as long as they had it, Bogdan could not use the Eye of Gaull. Therefore, the rebels were not as agitated that they could not find any others. Even though he still thought Crystal was too optimistic about the whole situation, he couldn’t help but feel comforted by the things she said. Blaze knew that his father, who he now got used to referring to as “Bogdan” rather than “Father,” would cover every inch of the land looking for that shard, but even he had to admit that Crystal was right. Not to mention, after everything that has happened, Blaze didn’t think Bogdan would have an easy time getting the shard or if he would get his hands on it at all.

  The air outside was becoming much warmer as mid spring approached, and so Blaze decided to go to the training ground. He walked onto the ground and immediately saw Gavril training a group of rebels in swordplay. As soon as Gavril saw Blaze, his face hardened.

  “Don’t stop on my account,” Blaze said to him.

  “Actually I could use a volunteer. Would you mind?” Gavril responded.

  Blaze didn’t think Gavril was going to make this easy, but he still nodded, walked over, and asked, “What do you want me to do?”

  “I have a few new recruits joining me today, and I wanted to give a little demonstration on swordsmanship. I needed a worthy opponent to do so,” replied Gavril, putting sarcastic emphasis on the word “worthy.” Gavril then turned to the rebels and said, “Everyone, you all know Prince Blaze, right? You know, son of the man who stole your lives and freedom away?” Gavril then patted Blaze on the back. Neither Blaze nor Gavril looked at each other and both bore an obviously fake smile.

  “Cute, General,” Blaze remarked.

  Gavril ignored Blaze’s comment and announced, “I am going to demonstrate a disarming technique with Blaze here.”

  Gavril then lifted his sword to Blaze. The prince then unsheathed his sword and held it out the same way.

  “Now, Blaze, now charge at me with all you’ve got,” Gavril instructed.

  Blaze hesitated, but then Gavril nodded reassuringly, so he obeyed and charged at the general. However, Gavril used his sword to block Blaze’s. The prince then swung his sword from the opposite direction, but the general blocked it easily. Gavril then counterattacked by striking at Blaze’s sword just in the right spot to knock it to the ground.

  The rebels clapped as Gavril straightened up and faced them. “That is how you disarm an opponent. You must catch them off guard—”

  “—and then use their own strength against them.”

  Everyone turned to see Crystal leaning against the wall watching them. She smiled and then said, “That’s what you always taught me.”

  “And here you see my very first student, who uses my techniques with a short sword to block attacks,” Gavril said proudly.

  Blaze looked at the general and asked, “Are you done making
me look like a jackass now?”

  “Sure, Blaze.” Gavril responded, “Thank you for your time.”

  After rolling his eyes, Blaze then picked up his sword, placed it back into its sheath, and walked off, mumbling furiously under his breath. Crystal approached him and grabbed his arm.

  “Hey, are you all right?” she asked.

  Blaze moved his arm to release her grip. Even though he wanted to yell, he found himself calmly saying, “I’m just tired of that bastard always treating me like scum.”

  Crystal sighed and replied, “I’m sorry, Blaze. I will talk to Gavril about that later. It’s just that he has this deep grudge against Bogdan that fuels his anger.”

  “When is he going to realize that I am not Bogdan?” Blaze blurted out.

  “Look, Gavril is a great man. It’s just that he has a bad habit of holding grudges. He lost so much to Bogdan’s cruelty, and from what I understand, it went back to before the invasion even began,” Crystal explained. She then started walking and beckoned for him to follow.

  He started walking and replied, “What do you mean?”

  “Well, you see, my father first met Gavril when he found him injured and floating on a raft down the river that runs from Daldussa,” Crystal said.

  Blaze then remembered the night that Gavril told the story at the inn, and muttered, “He’s mentioned that.”

  “Well, he’s never told anyone who did it to him or anything else about the events leading up to it. Whenever anyone talks about Bogdan, he gets upset, defensive, and sometimes leaves the room. Well, a couple of years ago, I finally convinced Gavril to talk to me about his past, even though it wasn’t much. He confided in me a secret of his that he never told anyone else; he told me that Bogdan murdered the woman he loved and made him watch,” Crystal explained.

  “Who was she?” Blaze asked.

  “I never found out her name or what kind of person she was, but I have a strong feeling that her murder and his being found on the raft are connected. I can’t be sure though, because he refuses to talk about his past. I sometimes catch him looking out at the ocean too, and he has the same look on his face when he told me about his lover, so I have a feeling that it must have something to do with her. She must have been the world to him . . .” stated Crystal.