by Iaz Grant
Abel quickly shrugged the smile away from his lips and was surprised that another one replaced it.
Since the time that Tanya had sent their blood of oath back to the Crystal Palace to indicate their receipt and acceptance of the information sent to them about the tourney, Tanya had been incredulously mischievous. She often batted her eyelashes at him in an angry and admirable way. Then, she kept to herself mostly and wouldn’t even look at him in the eyes. The most incredulous thing she had done was to disappear immediately after they had boarded the Flying ship.
“Well, all thanks to Karingou!” Abel groaned.
Whatever Karingou had called her, it had only sent Tanya into another withdrawal from him. Now, he doesn’t even know where she was, and would have thought she wasn’t on the ship if he hadn’t seen Fira almost an hour ago who had confirmed that she was somewhere in the female chambers.
Abel knew he shouldn’t be worried about her but the truth was that he unconsciously was. He couldn’t help thinking about her constantly. Often times, since he got on the ship, he tried to convince himself that he only cared about her because she was his cheer. Well, he couldn’t win the tourney without her. But it was impossible to think of Tanya just as a cheer. She was now the woman he couldn’t stop thinking about. She was the woman he cared about.
Encantado or whatever she was, Tanya was the woman Abel thinks he is in love with.
THE TIEN, THE ENCANTADO
Abel found himself gazing at the stars again. It was as if the clouds around and the eerie darkness of the sky was calling out to him. He closed his eyes and took in the moisture from the cold night that enveloped him. Somehow, this distracted him from his thought of Tanya and gave him an emptiness in his head and heart. He felt better, but again, it was as if his heart was missing something.
He could hear his heartbeat, and it seems it was beating fast. Surprised, Abel opened his eyes and was about to raise a palm to his chest to confirm this when he realized that the fast thud he could hear wasn’t from his heart. It was as if someone was running fast.
Wait, someone is being dragged on the floor.
Abel had to ask himself how he knew it was someone that was being dragged across the floor and not something. But it was as if he could hear the person’s short breaths and it seemed as if she was afraid.
She?
Again, Abel wanted to know how he knew things without seeing them. He had no time to think about the sudden knowledge that someone was in trouble, and that someone was a woman. He glanced about trying to know where the thud was coming from and wasn’t surprised to notice that the sound was coming from the ship tower behind him.
Seeing that the tower was only three feet behind him, Abel laughed at his own previous thoughts. He quickly told himself that he had only heard the feet of a man dragging a woman up the stairs to the top tower. It had nothing to do with some inexplicable feeling or being able to read the woman’s mind. He was sure he had heard her giggle or pants and was able to differentiate that she was female.
But then, Abel wasn’t able to shake off the feeling that something wasn’t right – or at least, something wrong was happening in the tower. He was forced to turn around and find out the entrance that has the stairs that went up to the tower room above. Telling himself again that he just imagined things, he stopped himself at the entrance and began to move towards his room below deck instead.
It was then that Abel heard the loud scream that automatically echoed through the horizons of the endless sky.
Immediately, Abel began to take the stairs two at a time.
He was sure now. He didn't imagine things, and something wrong was indeed going on in the tower room.
Tanya held on to Fira’s palms and concentrated on her breaths. She knew she had to try at least out the trick that Fira was teaching her, but she was also too quick to guess that she wasn’t good at it. She was just Encantado, and there were some human tricks that she so wasn’t good at. More so, she was tired of crossing her legs and closing her eyes to concentrate on developing her mind. Her mind, so far, was fine as it is.
“This isn’t working,” She whispered, opening an eye.
Fira was also seated with her legs crossed. Her lips were closed to form a perfect stern and thin line and Tanya almost thought that she was dead on the spot.
“Well, you are not putting your all into it now, are you?” Fira asked, smiling.
Tanya opened both eyes now and smiled at Fira, whose eyes were still closed. Only her lips moved.
“Well, not many of us can focus on our energy easily and whenever we feel like.” Tanya argued, refusing to agree that Fira could teach her the ancient wisdom of tapping into your mind and reaching out to some energy force inside you.
“And not many of us can sometimes focus our sexual energy towards a definite cause as well.” Tanya quickly added.
Her tease worked though as Fira eyes shot open in surprise. Then her cheeks went red almost immediately as if some ridiculous but sex-related thought just came to her head.
“Well, you could definitely describe it as a definite cause.” Fira giggled, shifting her body until she was no longer sitting with her legs crossed. Tanya did the same and faced the woman who had become her bosom friend in an amount of few days.
“Now, tell me Tanya the Encantado, why haven’t you focused your energy on Abel yet. You are definitely supernatural and not many mortal men would love you and not do for eternity.”
Tanya sighed and tried not to appear worried that people on the ship were gradually becoming aware of her identity. She always wanted to keep it secret and tell Abel whenever she was ready, but now the stupid dwarf ship captain had announced it to everyone present. How he knew was still an enigma to Tanya.
“I am sure he isn’t angry at you for not telling him, Tanya,” Fira whispered as if she could read Tanya’s thought. “You do know they knew what species we were through the blood oath we sent back to the castle, right?”
Tanya had to look at Fira twice to be sure that the woman wasn’t psychic. More so, she couldn’t believe that it hadn’t crossed her mind that their blood had something to do with her secret being a public one.
“Well, I am not so sure Abel would like his cheer hiding something from him. At least, he wasn’t ashamed to tell all of us why he was participating in this tournament in the first place. That was personal to him and he told me anyway.”
Fira nodded at her explanation but the smile on her face was also saying something else.
“I wouldn’t want to think that his cheer hiding something from him would hurt him. It is his woman keeping secrets that would bite painfully into his feelings.” Fira said.
Tanya almost hated Fira for blurting out the truth. In every way, since she and Abel started the journey towards Sheelah, she was truthfully Abel’s woman. None of them would admit this, but Abel had always treated her with respect and love. He made love to her as if she was special to him and she had whispered Encantado tunes into his ears to tell him that she worshiped him.
“I don’t know.” Tanya finally said, unable to argue with Fira.
Fira didn’t say anything again. She moved towards Tanya and held her hand, peering into her friend’s eyes.
“I know what Encantados are, Tanya, and they are loveable magical creatures. Abel loves you and only you can make him admit it.”
“How?” Tanya asked, unable to hold back her willingness to make Abel see that she truly loved him.
“Reach out to your heart, Tanya, your mind, and your energy force.”
Tanya wasn’t sure she could do that.
“But I have been avoiding him for days. How does reaching out to my heart make that disappear or explain why I have been running?”
“It will explain why you didn’t go back to Encante and decided to stay with Abel instead,” Fira whispered, surprising Tanya once again.
Fira smiled cheerfully as Tanya finally realized that she was right from the very beginning.
�
��Yes, I am psychic but it could somehow be stressful when I do it often.” Fira quickly admitted.
“I won’t have been a member of the Sheelah Forever Friend’s Club if I didn’t have a special skill of my own now, would I?” Fira winked.
“What else do you know about me?” Tanya couldn’t think of anything else to ask Fira.
Fira shook her head and smiled at her friend.
“I wouldn’t even read your mind if I didn’t think about helping you.”
“What does that mean?” Tanya asked. She knew she wasn’t angry at Fira.
“It means that it was obvious that you and Abel were very much in love with each other since I met you. I just make it my business often to make sure people in love never lose an opportunity to be together forever.”
“Well, if you indeed have read my mind, I do not have a forever if Abel doesn’t win the Louvre.” Tanya quickly replied.
“Well then, we do have to hope that Laura’s vision come true then, don’t we?”
“What vision?” Tanya asked, confused.
Another mischievous smile had found its way to Fira’s lips before she spoke again.
“The Encantado and the Tien.” Fira paused as if she was trying to gather the right words, “That’s what Laura named the particular vision.”
What the hell was Fira talking about!
Tanya was about to ask this when Brokk rushed into the room, highly spirited and laughing hysterically. He took Fira into his arms very fast and began to swirl around with her.
“It is the most beautiful sight I have ever seen!” He yelled.
“What is?” Fira asked, allowing him to dance around with her ceremoniously.
“The Crystal Palace!” Brokk announced. “We can see it from the deck already!”
The Crystal Palace?
Tanya almost forgot that they were heading towards the renowned Crystal Palace of the House of Priya for the tourney. She watched as Brokk quickly led Fira from the room and started with her towards the deck.
She sighed and forced back the anxiety she once held since she decided that she was participating in the tourney. The Crystal Palace was going to be their home for the next three days. She might as well enjoy its beauty and sight while she tried to find out how to handle her emotions towards Abel.
Come to think of it, she hadn’t seen Abel since she ran off from the deck almost twelve hours ago.
Abel got to the door at the top of the tower just in time to hear some men laughing and shouting commands at the same time. He could hear two different male voices and it seems they were enjoying themselves with whatever they had ongoing in the room. Then, he heard the female voice whimper fearfully and had no choice but to barge into the room.
“What the heck!” One of the men groaned as Abel forced the door open with the push of his shoulder.
He looked around the room and noticed that it was almost dark save for the brightness of the moon that shone through the wide and open window. There were actually three men in the room and all three were human. The third one, who hadn’t spoken before Abel barged into the room, was holding down a young female to the wall while the other two were trying to get her to lie still.
The one who had exclaimed earlier was the biggest of the three and he was holding on to the female’s hands.
“You’d better leave her hands now I think,” Abel advised him, irritated at the grown men. It was obvious they were trying to force themselves on the poor girl. If he calculated well, she was either a maid on the ship or one of the female cheers. The men wore crew uniforms though and Abel didn’t have to think twice about who they were.
“Who is gonna make me? You?” The biggest among them spoke again.
All three of them had their attention on Abel now and were now walking purposefully towards him.
“I wouldn’t say I won’t try to,” Abel replied, refusing to move from where he stood.
He began to watch as all three began to move strategically towards him. He could see that the biggest was walking straight towards him while the other two were carefully taking positions on the left and right wing of his position. Quickly, without waiting for them to attack first, Abel pocketed his hands and threw two ribbons at the man at the left, rendering him incapable of moving at once.
“My legs.” The wounded man groaned immediately, falling to the ground.
Before he landed on the floor, Abel turned to his right and ran fast into the other man, pushing into his chest with his strong shoulder and quickly hitting him on the chin with his knee before he fell to the floor. Immediately, he landed on the wall, unable to believe what had just hit him.
Abel turned to the biggest among them, ready to attack and was surprised to see that he had stopped in his tracks. Fear was now very much written on his face as he couldn’t believe that Abel had just taken down his friends in a matter of five seconds.
“How…How…How did you do that?” He stammered.
Abel realised that his left hand was already in his pocket as he was ready for the attack of the third man. If he hadn’t noticed that he was no longer attacking, he was aiming for his hands. He despised having to see those hands holding on to an innocent woman. Calming himself, he stared sternly at the man and glanced sideways at his wounded friends.
“You should get them to the Aid Room quick,” He instructed.
The third man didn’t argue at all. He quickly ran to his friends, helped them up and ran with them down the stairs. It was when Abel was sure that they were far gone before he turned to the woman in the corner of the room.
She was incredibly silent and motionless throughout the time that he was dealing with the men. Now, she had withdrawn herself to the farthest and darkest part of the room and it was almost impossible to see her face.
“You are safe now,” Abel whispered, moving slowly towards her.
Surprisingly, she whispered back from the darkness.
“I know.” Her whisper was like the sound of the breeze.
Abel nodded, hoping to draw her out from the corner of the room and return her safely to her chambers.
“Care to tell me what you are doing alone out of your chambers?” He asked her.
“I was looking around,” She whispered again.
Abel nodded, hoping that he could see her face in the dark. He was getting momentarily appreciative of the brightness that was coming from the window. It was getting the room brighter all of a sudden.
“What is your name?” She suddenly asked. Abel could see her features now and it seems she wasn’t keen on hiding herself anymore.
“Abel,” Abel answered her, staring at her.
She had long golden hair that went down to the length of her back, covering it. Her face seemed untouched and was especially radiant. She looked well-kempt and wouldn’t pass for a maid, answering the question that perhaps she was one of the cheers. But then, Abel told himself that he hadn’t seen her on the deck earlier.
She stepped towards him finally and then silently backed herself towards the wide window.
“Abel.” She murmured, looking down.
When she raised her face to look at him, Abel could read complete admiration in her eyes. Her eyes were completely golden too and her lips were thin and rather red and soft.
“I won’t ever forget the name.” She uttered.
Abel felt the wind about him change as she uttered those words as a promise. But then, he couldn’t relate for long with this as something was changing about the woman. He watched with awe as she turned towards the window allowing him a view of her long hair that now staged themselves to reveal the naked flesh of her back.