“Do you have family in Asta?” I ask her.
“No, my daddy and I were going to start a shop there, but we cannot do that now.” She looks down.
“Well, it’s not the same thing, but maybe we can still help you out with that. Some of that gold behind you is yours. We will get you situated, I promise.”
“Okay.” Lana smiles weakly.
Turning my gaze to the other woman on the cart I engage her, “Could you please look after little Lana here for me until we reach Asta?”
“Yes sire,” she says with a comforting smile and scoots over to her, putting her arm around Lana.
Lester looks at me, no doubt wondering if I will go back on my word about letting him go. With no intention of hauling him around or making an example of him right now, I pick up twenty gold coins and put them in a pouch.
“Take this to Duchess Tamiell,” I say to him sternly.
He nods, a true fear in his eyes and before he turns around, I point to my eyes and then to him with a hard glare. Getting my hint, he nods at me and hastily jogs off into the crowd toward Tamiell’s place. The other two slavers look at me and I stare back for a moment.
Not realizing it until I see her walking up, Evalyn had slipped off and acquired more provisions for us. Three leather water skins and a sack that probably contains enough food for all of us to get back to Asta. She tosses them up near the leftover gold and mounts her horse, looking back at me impatiently.
Smiling at her, I look at our four passengers and then move to my own horse and hop up. With a flick of the reigns and putting my heels gently into the horse’s sides, it starts off and I steer it back out of the city. When we reach the main road that travels between the two cities I turn the horses to the left and we begin the journey home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After three days journey, I sigh when Asta comes into view in the light of the dawning sun.
The castle towers over the city below, standing tall and proud as its protector despite the kidnappings. While I was able to save a few people, there’s no telling how many have been taken from here, or anywhere else for that matter, and no way to get them all back in the time I have left. I am hard on myself for not being able to do more.
The horses trot along at a steady pace and we make our way through the fields just outside the city walls where a few people have started working. When we get to the gate, it is conveniently just opening for the day, allowing us passage. The guards look at us strangely while we enter. I smile knowing that we’re oddities and will likely attract more attention while we make our way toward the castle, squeezing the cart through some fairly narrow streets.
Closer to the castle, I feel anxiety kick in. Not knowing whether the woman is friend or foe, I wonder if returning might mean more trouble. I hear a rustling and the woman and child on the cart screams. Wheeling around I expect to see the slavers trying to escape, but instead they are still there and it’s just a common thief trying to make off with the bag of gold. Jumping up on the horse’s back, I leap back to the cart and off of it. Aiming my hand, I unleash a shockwave at the thief and as it impacts him in the back, he trips and smacks his face on the cobblestone as well as dropping the bag.
Gold and silver coins scatter around him and when the townsfolk begin to scramble for it, I yell out in a very harsh tone. “Anyone who touches that is a dead man or woman. I won’t discriminate!”
They stop in their tracks and any coins picked up hit the ground once again. Glaring at the people around until they back off. The thief who is collapsed on the ground turns over and attempts to scoot backwards away from me.
“Imp! Fiend!” a woman cries out of fear.
A hand comes to rest on my shoulder and I lower my hand allowing the thief to scramble to his feet and run away.
When I turn around I find that it’s not Evalyn as I expected, but the woman who sent me off in the first place. With no hood up this time, her blonde curly locks hang freely down the length of her body and her amber eyes glimmer in the sunlight. The white robe she wears nearly blinds me as the sun hits it just right. As I squint at her she smiles at me warmly. Out of my peripheral vision I see people kneeling down and it’s then I understand that she must be some kind of royalty of Asta.
“Do I address you as ‘Queen’ or ‘Mystery Woman’?” I ask with a grin.
“I am not the Queen. I am the daughter of the King of Asta.” She motions for people to get back up and go about their business.
“Well then Princess, I have some things you will find of interest,” I tell her, while from my belt I pull out the map.
I hand it over to her and she immediately unfolds the map to examine it. She finds the log of money taken in on the back as I had, but she has a look of disappointment on her face while she bites her thumbnail. Closing it back up, she looks at me.
“This is a start. Am I to assume that these areas marked are the ones frequently hit?” she asks.
“That’s my assumption. One of the slavers indicated the leader of this ring was a king but did not specify from where. Why don’t you ask the two men over there, though? I kept two from death so that I might turn them into the authorities.”
“Indeed!” Her eyes brighten and she looks at me with delight.
“But, before all of that I need your help now. This young lady’s father was killed by them and she has nowhere to go.” I point at Lana on the cart and she looks over at me with a scared look on her face.
“Do not worry.” She smiles. “We will assist her as a citizen of Asta.”
She straightens herself, places the map in a satchel on her side and fiddles with the leather sword belt and sword at her waist. Unlatching the straps she takes it off and holds it out to me.
I look at her, puzzled, and she insists I take it by waving the pommel at my chest. Hesitantly reaching out for it she places it in my hand and I close my grip and let my arm drop to my side.
“What is this?”
“An heirloom of the kingdom. It was forged by a master blacksmith several centuries ago and given to the king at that time. It has been passed down over time.”
The pommel is round one way and flat on two sides, featuring two different colored gems opposite each other; red and green. The leather-bound hilt of the sword is long enough for me to make two fists overlapping on it and could be wielded one or two-handed. When I remove it from its scabbard, I notice the different style the blade features. Instead of a straight sword that eventually tapers at the point, this one starts out wide beyond the simple guard and makes a continuous taper down, rounding together to make the point. While it seems like an unintuitive and bulky sword as I hold it straight out in front of me with a single hand with ease I can feel that the weight of the sword is actually manageable.
“So why give it to me? If it is the kingdom’s, then it should stay with the kingdom.” I sheathe it.
“It will, but I will have to tell you about that later,” she says looking behind her, toward the cart and at Lana. She waves to the little girl and Lana slowly raises her arm and waves back.
“I’m leaving the city as soon as my companion and I pick up some provisions.”
“Tragic. I was hoping that you would be able to stay for dinner.” Her gaze returns to me and her smile persists.
“No, we have someone at home worried about us. It would be better to not keep her worrying any longer than she needs to.”
“Understood. Nothing is worse than a woman waiting and worrying, but I will still come to you later as I have some things to share.”
“We are outside Asta in the…” I start, but she cuts me off.
“I know.”
“You do?”
“Yes. I will explain when we meet again.” She turns and heads to the cart.
Extending her hand out to the little girl, she seems genuine enough to keep her word. Lana hesitates and looks at me to make sure it’s okay. I nod and the lone woman releases her to the Princess.
“Guards!” the Princess barks out and from the alleyways several guards appear, apparently having been waiting quietly for the Princess. “Take these men into custody under charges of kidnapping and forced slavery.”
They do as they’re told without hesitation and both the Princess and Lana begin to follow the guards through an alleyway.
“Princess,” I stop her. “Lana has a share of gold from the slavers on the cart.”
“Take it as a gift from Asta. Lana will be more than well taken care of and will not need it.” She flashes her white smile at me.
I bow, as I feel a gentleman should, to both a kind woman and royalty and when I return to the upright position she is gone. Evalyn looks at me with weary eyes and I know that it’s time to move onward to home. We gather up the spilt currency and place it back on the cart.
Moving around the front of the horses, I attach the sword belt to my right side, grab the reins and lead them and the cart through the narrow streets. Stopping at several shops, we find that we cannot spend all of the gold and silver left, even with buying provisions for four people, two bales of hay for the horses and two saddles. When our shopping is done we make our way out of the city of Asta and toward home.
It takes a bit of maneuvering and coercing of the horses to find a way through the woods as there is no set path, but even with having to sidetrack several times due to obstructions. We manage and the house in the field comes into view within a few hours.
Evalyn slips off of the horse and walks alongside hers as we bring the cart into the yard.
The door swings open and Eve steps out, in clothes that make me blush, as she is wearing a top that looks to be two sizes small for her and shorts that could easily double as underwear. She appears extremely lethargic until she notices we have supplies and her eyes light up. Bolting for the cart she squeals with delight.
“You guys have food! I’m so hungry!” She begins to sift through our provisions and Evalyn slaps her hand. Eve scowls.
“How can you be hungry?” I ask her.
“She almost ate everything,” a calm, joking voice says from the doorway.
“Ami wouldn’t let me eat everything! She rationed us!”
“I used it to bribe her in cleaning up some of the sand against the house.” Ami laughs.
“Smart.” I laugh and retort. “How does that feel Eve?”
When I look up, Ami is there smiling, wiping her hands off with a towel. She is disheveled and looks as though she hasn’t been taking care of herself very well. Throwing the towel down on the inside of the door, she steps down off the porch and heads over to us, taking a direct path to Evalyn.
“Mother, I was so worried about you!” She hugs Evalyn.
“It’s okay dear. Rain came to save me,” Agatha’s voice comes out. “We had a bit of adventure and we’ll tell you about it while we eat.”
I’m taken aback, as I’ve been with Evalyn the whole time and wasn’t expecting her to leave Agatha’s body so willingly, but I imagine that it was exhausting for her to be in Agatha’s body that whole time. Ami lets her mother go and throws her arms around my neck. Her grip nearly chokes me, but I manage to put my arms around her back and return the gesture of affection.
“She wouldn’t shut up about you,” Eve sneers and looks away.
“Don’t be jealous Eve,” Ami snaps back at her.
Eve and Ami’s eyes meet for a moment of hostility and Ami returns her attention to me, letting her death grip go from my neck. Eve rummages through the cart again and is struck across the back of her hand this time by Ami. Ami grabs one of the baskets we acquired full of fruit and begins to take it inside. Agatha follows her and to make things easier, I try to head them off by moving the cart around the other side but, Eve steps in my path and stops me.
“Don’t think that I’ve given up on you. Just because we had a little tiff before doesn’t mean anything.” She runs her finger down my chest. “We could run away together, here and now.”
“Except we’re stuck here,” I tell her.
“I’m not convinced of that.” She rests her palm on my face.
“Well, then step outside of the boundary of the property when the time comes and see for yourself.” I brush her hand away and try to move. She blocks my way.
“Even if I am stuck here, at least I’ll have you.”
I sigh. Under normal circumstances any man would relish this kind of attention, but coming from Eve, I feel awkward. As attractive as she is, I know her true side and it is off-putting. Despite the impossibility, if I had met Eve first, things might be different, but I find myself focused on Ami.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After a long day, I rest in my room. Between traveling and unloading everything from the cart my body is exhausted. On top of that I am mentally worn down by the lively conversation over soup and sandwiches about the whole adventure, carefully edited to omit my part in the slavers’ deaths and Evalyn being in Agatha’s body.
Both Ami and Eve had shown a proper amount of disgust for Tamiell’s advances, though for slightly different reasons, and thinking about it, I chuckle at Ami’s overreaction to Agatha having suggested it to Tamiell in the first place.
Peacefully, I drift closer to sleep while lying in my comfortable bed and it feels like the adventure is winding down, finally. Though I enjoyed the feeling of power, I realize that if I don’t get control of myself I could become the type of person who allows himself to be corrupted. My resolve to do some good in the world is strong, but I feel it, deep inside, that seed will grow and decide who I will be. I cannot let it become dark.
Just as I close my eyes a whisper tickles my ear.
“Rain, come forth!”
I ignore it.
“Rain, it is urgent! Come!”
As I open my eyes, I see nothing but black. Lying there and letting my eyes adjust I look around and see no one and yet the voice calls again and I find that it’s coming from outside the house.
“Rain, come out! We must speak.”
Making my way downstairs, I move through the kitchen door and look out the window. I hear a small pebble hit my window above us and I open the door, squinting to see who is outside. A slender figure stands in the shadows and I turn on the porch light.
“Rain, thank goodness you did not leave here yet,” the Princess of Asta addresses me hastily.
“What do you mean?” I play coy.
“I am a seer. I can see certain things of the future. It is how I knew where to meet you for the first time and it is how I know that your house will vanish in thin air.”
“If you could see the future, why not tell me to give me an advantage? I could have changed things!” I ask, slightly upset.
“It does not work like that. What I see comes to pass, that is all.”
“Why are you here?”
“I have seen two visions of you but it makes no sense. The first is of my future and your past and the second is of your future. In one you are the King of Asta in the plentiful kingdom of Astid.”
“The King of Asta? What do you mean?” My interest is piqued.
“In a time in the distant future, generations away, you are the king. You are my descendant, which is why I gave you the sword. It is rightfully yours to inherit, though I do not understand any of this.”
“Well that person you see, your descendant, is a different person than I am. I have no memory of being a king or ruling a kingdom.”
My past? I was a king? This leads to far too many questions now.
“But it is so. My visions are never wrong.”
“After I am gone you will have to forget this whole situation as I can’t explain i
t to you,” I tell her. “What about the other vision you had?”
“Nothing.”
“No, tell me,” I insist.
“I mean a literal nothing. I cannot see anything, just you and nothing.”
“How can there be nothing? There has to be something,” I am thoroughly perplexed.
“I do not know. I have never had any vision like this before. All I know is that it will come to pass.”
“I’m not sure how I ask you to describe nothing, but is there really nothing at all? What does nothing look like?”
“There is no sky, no sun, no ground and no forest. It is simply nothing. Your future is bleak, Rain.”
“Your vision is wrong then.”
“I…wish you the best of luck. I must return to the castle now.” She walks over and hugs me. Awkwardly, I hug her back. “Please take care, Rain.”
She releases her hold on me, and disappears around the side of the house. Watching her go, I cannot begin to process the things that she has told me. Knowing nothing of my past and having someone tell me I was a king is quite strange. On the other hand, her telling me that my future is bleak and she sees me in nothingness is also quite disconcerting. Closing the door and turning the light off, I sit at the table as questions haunt me.
Why, as the King, would Drake want to hurt me? It would explain the setting of the dream I had the other night, but doesn’t explain how I came to be attacked in the forest. I had to have a reason to meet Drake or whoever out in the forest alone and feel comfortable doing it, else I wouldn’t have gone, right?
Questioning myself leads nowhere and I realize as the sun is rising that I have stayed up through the remainder of the night. With little sleep under my belt, my eyes become heavy and I move to the living room to find Eve sleeping on the couch. Though I had wanted to just sleep there, I find that is not an option now.
R.E.birth Page 42