Chapter 15
I slept as long as I could. Subconsciously I knew that when I woke up it would be the worst day of my life, and that helped me stay asleep until thunder woke me.
I opened my eyes. It hurt. I breathed. It hurt. I sat up and looked out my window. Everything pained me. It wasn’t muscle pain, or my joints, or anything normal. It was my heart. Everything about it hurt.
Lightning flashed outside my window. What fitting weather. I didn’t feel like getting out of bed. I laid back down and rolled over. The book I had left on my side table caught my eye. Maybe there would be words in it today, at the very last second! I didn’t get my hopes up. I grabbed it and opened it. I was right not to. It was the most curious think I’d seen. Blank pages were good for nothing! I wanted to hurl it out the window, but I didn’t. Instead I flipped to the last page. There was a small indention on the inside of the back cover. Also curious. It was in the shape of a key. A key.I sniffled and laid the book back down.
What song was there to describe my misery? What words could capture my pain? I laughed in spite of myself. I could run and jump out of the window at any second, if I liked, and fall to what would be a merciful death. But this… these thoughts were so morbid? What business did I, a brave warrior princess, have thinking these things? I tried to convince myself that everything still had a chance of turning out alright. But… I already felt dead.
The only thing to save me now was love. Brye was my love; love as the key.
Key?
“A key!” I shrieked. I flew out of bed and grabbed the key off the desk. I snatched the book crazily and pressed it into the indention. There was no noise, no sound of confidence, but it fit; my heart leapt sickly. I turned the book slowly to the front. Colorless, but there, words formed. As if they had been written hundreds of years before and were resurfacing gracefully for the first time. I was so ecstatic I could barely breathe, my empty stomach a working butter churn. I nearly drop the book, and had a mess of a time keeping it still enough for my eyes to focus.
After shoving, falling, dust and feces
You know he’s of another species
Put this book in thy friend’s hand
For he can see more than thee can
And that was all it said. Just an incredibly small paragraph in incredibly small print. What friend could the riddle mean? Who was humble and weak, and of another species?
Soea was of a different species. Sorcerer. But was he humble and weak? I laughed haughtily; certainly not. Mem was also of a different species, well… the same as Soea, but different than me. She had been humbled by recent events. Was I her? But she most definitely wasn’t weak. I knew that. But, who else was there? Maybe is was her, even though it didn’t seem quite right. For who else was there that was both humble, and weak?
“Kirken!” I screamed as he entered with my breakfast. He scared me so badly I almost faintly, and I scared him to, for he almost dropped the tray. I ran to him, took the tray and set it on the floor. “Oh, you humble and weak person, whom I so dearly love now, oh Kirken!” I thrusted the book into his hands. “Read this! Tell me if it sounds familiar, somewhere deep inside.” I held my breath, hearing my heart beating loudly in my ears.
He looked at me strangely for a moment, after he had looked at the book for a moment, and then began reading it aloud. “Dear son, you’re meant for great things. After reading this you’ll spread your wings. First thank your friend, then she’ll thank you, for what you are about to do.”
I paused. “What?” I said inquisitively while seizing the book from him in the nicest possible manner. My eyes scanned the book quickly but carefully. What he had read was not visible to me. To my eyes. I looked at Kirken incredulously, a smile forming on my lips, and let out a dry laugh of disbelief. I handed the book back to him.
I realized Soea had entered the room. He shut the door behind him. He looked almost as ecstatic as I! “This is where the plot thickens!” he said.
How did he always know what was going on? At least I could always count on him.
Kirken and I stood dumfounded for a moment. What was there to say? What was happening? A few minutes ago I had been asleep in bed and the next thing I knew… Kirken was a different species? “Oh, Kirken!” I shrieked finally. “It’s you! You are a sorcerer! I know it, I know it! Keep reading, please, keep reading!”
Kirken looked shaky and nervous with a hint of excitement as he brought the book back up to his face. “Close your eyes and count to ten; you feel something in you, deep within.”
“Do it!” I ushered.
He handed the book to me. I looked at it, and there was nothing there. Not to my eyes. I watched Kirken breathlessly. He went to his toes, standing tall, his eyes shut tight. And right before me he started to rise, started to float.
I wanted to scream, but we had to keep this secret! Could I be saved, at the very last minute? “You’re flying, Kirken! You are meant for greater places than the kitchen! I knew it!”
He smiled so big, and began to laugh. I had never seen him laugh before. It made me feel good, within myself, and I almost wanted to cry. “Here,” I handed the book back to him. “What else?”
Kirken wouldn’t put his feet all the way down. I didn’t blame him. To fly must be miraculous! I was nearly jealous; for if it were me who could fly, I could leave all of this mess behind me. Far behind.
“To start your journey will be to end it. I know your afraid son, don’t pretend it. Ask the girl in front of you; she knows exactly what to do.” Kirken looked up at me.
Everyone waited. And amazingly, I did know what to say. “Fly, go find Mem. She’ll help you find Brye. And make sure you bring pink frosting! Mem will know why!” There were footsteps outside the door. “That’s my gown. Go now!”
It was so odd to see Kirken fly out the window. He didn’t look a bit like a brave sorcerer. But it did me good! I was so happy, I felt as if I could fly. But that was a bittersweet thought. “Do you really think this will work?” I asked Soea.
“It’s odd, but books never lie. Especially magic ones.”
Three fat ladies entered the room. One was holding a wooden box, the second was holding an ivory comb and ribbons, and the third was holding my ugly pink dress. It just had to be pink! Although, as much as I hated the color, it was usually a good sign. I watched as they set everything up.
“Shoo, now! No men allowed now!”
“We’ll make sure she is alive for her wedding.” They shooed Soea from the room. I gave him a despairing look, and he puckered his lip at me. Then they shut the door.
“How lovely the color goes with your skin!” They jerked my nightgown off of me. They were not very gentle.
“Ah, yes, and how should her hair go? Off her shoulders?”
They yanked and pulled at me, lacing my bodice and pulling the pink thing over my head, which was quite snug. It fit my body up too my arm pits, and from there it was dozens of pink ribbons swirling about, tied behind my neck and every other place. The bottom was silky and flowing, and in my opinion it was terribly ugly. I look in the mirror, though, and saw I made it look a mite better.
“Ouch!” I shrieked, as they all three started tugging at my hair.
“Beauty is pain, dear.”
They had no right to tell me what pain was. No one did. No one knew the meaning of pain until they had lived my life.
“Now hold still while I–”
I jerked away. “There is no way you are painting my face.”
The fat lady wrinkled her nose at me smugly. “Okay then,” she got a giant white puff from her box. “But you can’t detest a little shimmer.”
Oh, can’t I? Defiantly I fell prey and let her do her dirty work.
When they were done yanking the hair from my head, I looked in the mirror once more.
“How do you like it?” They asked in unison.
“Uh…” I sighed. What was I to do? My hair was in a braided spiral. It looked like a big seashell on my head. I pulled
the ribbon off the top and it fell out. They all gasped, and that made me smile. My hair fell down, and it looked alright, though it was a little wavy now. “What does it matter what I think? I think I shouldn’t be marrying Aduhlajh today, but what does that matter?”
They just ignored me. “Now, come, it’s time. Gather your skirts and your wits, for this is the happiest day of your life!”
“It very well might be,” I muttered. If Kirken succeeded. I didn’t even know what Brye would do when he got here; I just knew that I needed him if I was going to survive this day. The idea that I had a chance of a rescue made me sick, because that also meant that it could go haywire.
The three ladies took me down my stairs, where Soea was waiting.
“I’ll take her from here, thank you.”
We walked side by side, slowly as possible.
“I–” we both said at the same time, interrupting each other.
“You go first,” I told him.
He shrugged. “I thought about what you said yesterday. About Mem. She was my life. I want her back, even if she doesn’t look like Viloria.”
That made my day a little better. They were right for each other. “But will she have you back?” Because, I thought, if I were her and he had done something so horrid and so stupid and didn’t feel bad about it for the longest time and he all of the sudden he wanted me back, I’m not sure I’d oblige.
Soea laughed. “Of course she will. I’ll make–”
I shot him a look.
“Okay, I’ll apologize. It should be her choice, I suppose.”
“I know it’s tempting when you could easily chose her answer for her, but I respect you for letting her decide on her own. And I know she will too.”
He smiled, watching his feet. “What was it that you wanted to say?”
“I,” I started. “I wanted to tell you that if our lives are ruined today, that you won’t be such a bad friend to turn to,” I bit my lip. It was so hard to forgive him when he had been such a monster, but somehow, it felt right.
“Are you agreeing to a truce?” He stuck out his hand.
I shook it. “Truce.” What strange peace there was between us. The oddest.
We trudged along in silence. The door to the gardens was just ahead, where the ceremony was going to take place. “I’m so afraid they won’t make it.” I could feel my lip trembling, tears brimming over.
“Sweet, don’t fear. I was wrong, see? You have nothing to fear. Everything will be… all right.” But even he didn’t sound confident. “At least the lightning has stopped, even if the rain hasn’t.”
“I’d rather there be lightning, so there would be a possibility Aduhlajh being struck dead.” Or me.
“There’s always something blocking your ray of sunshine,” he grumbled. “Are you ready?” We had reached the gardens. The place that had been my refuge now was worse than the deepest darkest pit on the end of the earth. “Silly question, I suppose.” He bent down and kissed my cheek. “Walk as slowly as your legs will let you.”
I swallowed my tears. Here I was, at the edge of the isle. Ready to embark on a suicide mission. Tears threatened to block my sight, but I wiped them away. I put one foot in front of the other, slowly, despising each step. I looked up and saw Aduhlajh in his Emperor attire. So much purple and gold hurt my eyes. Was this the first time he was married? I highly doubted it. I wanted to bite the man’s head off with my own teeth. I was so angry I felt I had to strength to. My tears became hot, each step becoming harder and harder to take. I clutched my stomach, emotions churning around and around.
I stopped.
“No,” I said, disgustedly. “I won’t do this.” I looked at Aduhlajh. “I won’t do this!” I screamed. I wanted to turn and run, but something was holding me there. Soea walked past me, summoned by Aduhlajh.
“Soea,” he yelled. “Do it!”
“But sire–” I heard Soea plea in a whisper.
My face hurt. My body ached. My tears were so hot now they seemed to burn my face. When I looked up and saw Aduhlajh, I saw something that made me so sick I could’ve died on the spot if it weren’t for the sorcerer controlling me.
Aduhlajh wasn’t too much. He was just right. I couldn’t believe what I felt… that Soea had leapt to betray me when he didn’t even want to… but maybe he knew what he was doing?
Aduhlajh, suddenly, was tall, dark and handsome, his grin not too wide, and his teeth not too white. I began walking down the isle, faster this time. I loved him. I loved him. Soea had made me love him! Was it alright? Maybe I had always felt it inside? Everything was a blur before this moment, and all I could think about was this ceremony.
I began running towards him and Aduhlajh, not able to control my feet. I cried out in bitter anguish, and fell. Soea caught me.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered in my, bare audible. He was crying. For me.
I stood up and looked at Aduhlajh. I couldn’t have spit on him. His face… oh the horror. I began laughing. I knew why I loved him, that it wasn’t real, but I couldn’t help it. My head hurt and swam, and I just wanted to die.
“Ah, Soea, you’ve developed feelings for the girl!” Aduhlajh bellowed.
Tears clouded my vision.
“What do you expect?” He hollered back. “You gave me a week where I was never to leave her side!” his voice got quieter. “But it’s not like that.”
Aduhlajh laughed. “You better not be in love with my empress, again!”
“I’m not!” Soea yelled. “Not in love. But I have love for her.” He helped me to stand on my own. I still couldn’t stop crying. “It’s not a love you could understand. It’s not empty or forced, it has nothing to do with beauty or wealth or power. It comes from respect.”
Aduhlajh belted out a deep chortle, unconvinced. “And who are you to know something of this kind of love?”
I had to intervene. “Don’t mock him!” I shouted through my wet eyes. “Please, don’t mock him.” I couldn’t be mean to Aduhlajh, no meaner than I could be with Brye. But I could plea.
“Why not?”
I didn’t know what to say. I just stood there, sobbing. This was truly the meaning of helpless.
“If you don’t know, then let’s get married!” He took my hand in his gigantic one. He squeezed it so tight it hurt.
I could barely hear anything that was going on. I made out the part where Aduhlajh was sworn to eternal bonds on my behalf. The word eternal frightened me. I didn’t want to love this man forever. I didn’t want to love him at all! But… I did. I was glad that I loved him. And I couldn’t help it. I loved who I loved, and I happened to love two men now. One of them was right here, my hand in his, swearing his marriage bonds.
Then I heard my name, and I was asked to swear myself in. I wanted to marry him, but I didn’t want to, and I could hardly remember why. My head was a big fishpond, with so much scum and algae that nothing was clear.
“I…” I wanted to say it. I wanted to, but I was stopping myself. I was glad I was stopping myself, but at the same time I wanted to swear. “I sw–” I choked myself on a sob. I coughed for a few moments, then looked up Aduhlajh. He was smiling a smile that used to haunt me. But now it comforted me strangely enough. I couldn’t think of anyone but the man who was in front of me. The man that I loved. I smiled. “I swea–”
Something hit me in the face. It was cold and wet. I put my hand to it. It was pink, and smelled sweet. The smell and the taste jerked my memory in another
direction. I dropped Aduhlajh’s hand and spun around.
“Brye!”
There he was, crying almost as hard as I was. He stood so erect, so valiantly, with the remains of the pink frosting in his hand. I picked up my skirt to run to him.
Aduhlajh grabbed me roughly. “You love me, Layla. How could you betray me just like that, for a man you don’t even know?”
“I do know him!” I screamed. My stomach twisted. I cried out and fell to the ground.
I couldn�
�t do anything. “Soea, you’re a sorcerer!” I was the one who needed saving. I needed it so badly. My body hurt from trembling, and I was crying so hard I wanted to vomit. But I still couldn’t do anything. I was the dame in distress, and I was being torn two ways.
“You can’t leave me!”
I looked up and saw Aduhlajh’s hand flying toward my face. I brace myself for impact, but I didn’t expect a full body blow. I was knocked a few feet by someone who had been flying. It wasn’t Soea or Mem. It was Kirken.
He helped me up. “Soea may be a sorcerer, but so am I.”
Aduhlajh pulled his sword from his side. I choked a shriek. I couldn’t fight right now, and Kirken wasn’t experienced.
Then, unexpectedly, Aduhlajh froze in his footsteps.
I looked at Brye, his blue eyes so wet with sorrow. I had to keep my eyes on him. It was him I loved, not Aduhlajh. I didn’t love Aduhlajh. I didn’t love Aduhlajh!
Unable to fight the spell, I stepped in front of him, protecting him. “Stop Kirken!” I cried out. I was still weeping without stop. “Please, stop.” I sank to my knees, shaking from each sob.
“Layla, you don’t love him!” It was Mem. She was here?
She came from the sky, landing in front of me. Firmly she took my shoulders. “You love Brye. You know why you feel as if you have love for Aduhlajh, and you know it’s not real!”
“I know,” I sobbed in a whisper, barely able to meet her eyes.
“So get away from him!” She pulled me back, and Kirken stepped in front of me. He had gone from a timid, shy cook, to a valiant and talented sorcerer. That alone was enough to make cry.
“No one gets in my way. Let her love who she loves!” Aduhlajh took his sword and drove it through Kirken, piercing my stomach, too. I cried out.
“You let her love who she loves,” Kirken whispered as he fell to the ground when Aduhlajh mercilessly yanked his sword out.
I gasped for breath, not believing what I just saw. I gripped my stomach, quivering from pain. I somehow found the strength to continue crying.
I was in love with a monster.
“Layla!” Brye ran and threw me his sword. I managed to catch it.
But Aduhlajh just laughed. “Kill me. Kill the man you love.”
“No.” I wasn’t going to kill him. Instead, I cut off his other arm. I couldn’t kill him. The pain from the blow to his arm hurt me so badly, as if I had just taken a blow to my heart. I cried out again and sank to my knees.
I choke, and choked, and couldn’t breathe. My crying had become nearly violent. I heard Aduhlajh hollering at me, in pain, in anguish.
What was done was done.
“Soea,” I cried out. “Help m–” The air was pushed from my lungs as Aduhlajh kicked my in the stomach. I fell, unable to breathe, unable to see, unable to speak. I thought I was about to pass out when I felt a certain pressure released. I opened my eyes. “I hate you.” Soea had released me. He had released me, I was free, and I felt more alive than I had in awhile. For once there was hope. And I knew I was a fool to let the spell consume me in the first place. I sat, clutching my stomach tightly. “I hate, and I hate your country, and I hope no one ever marries you.”
Aduhlajh looked lost. His eyes darted from, around the gardens, searching for– “Soea! You dirty, lying demon!”
Aduhlajh was just about a sight worth laughing at. His arms were gone, and he was yelling for the help of his sorcerer whom had betrayed him. We had switched places. Except for I still had all of my limbs.
“Now you know what it’s like to be the helpless one.” I stood up and ran to Brye. I couldn’t take my hands from my stomach, but I didn’t need to. He held me tight enough to make up for every single time I had needed a hug. It was as if we had never been apart, and never would be again. He was the one I wanted to swear eternal bonds with and be with forever. And at the moment I wanted to stay there in his arms forever, except for the fact that my stomach was bleeding and it hurt so badly my body could’ve given out at any second.
“Let’s see who’s helpless!” Aduhlajh was still hollering. “Guards!”
I felt myself turn pale. Brye let go of me and I ran to Kirken’s lifeless body. It reminded me of another faithful body that had died because of me… Mem picked him up. She was a rather tall woman. To her it was like carrying a child.
I heard the many footsteps of many guards dressed in red and black. Mem and I ran to Brye and Soea. There was a spot of blood on the front of Brye’s tunic where I had been held close.
“What do we do,” I said in a hoarse whisper, for I had no breath to speak.
No one said a word, and it frightened me. The guards were in sight now, running down the isle as if they were a hundred anxious brides. We couldn’t all die now, after we had gotten this far! We had lost one dear life! How would fate be so cruel as to take more? I grasped Brye’s hand. If I died, I wanted it to be by his side.
“Well folks,” Soea started solemnly. But we was cut off by yet another familiar voice; only this one came from the sky.
“I told you I would fly!”
We all looked up, guards getting closer each second. Each second lasted an eternity. Above our heads was a dark blue balloon, with a basket down below it.
“How do you like it?” It was Conrad!
“Conrad!” I screamed. It took my last breath. I leaned on Brye’s shoulder. Conrad threw down a rope. Soea took me in his arms and flew me up to the basket, while Mem flew Kirken’s body close behind. Brye was the only one who needed a rope.
Soea threw me over the side of the basket. I leaned over, watching Brye as he climbed up. One of the Guards got the idea to pull on the rope, which made us jostle downwards.
“Their sinking us!” Conrad yelled.
“Brye,” I said. “Hurry.” I let my arm over the side.
“We have to cut the rope!” Conrad took a knife from his pocket.
“No!” I screamed, grabbing the familiar arm. “Conrad!”
He shook me off. “It’s either that or we all die.”
I got dizzy. I would not leave this place without him. “Then we all die!”
“Don’t be crazy!” Conrad started cutting. I started screaming.
“You’re all crazy!” Soea jumped out of the basket.
I collapsed, senseless from loss of blood. “Brye,” I squeaked, trying to keep my eyes opened. But it was a battle I couldn’t fight. I wasn’t the hero today.
When I awoke, it was dawn, and I was still in the balloon. My stomach was bandaged. My vision was blurred, but I could make out a face in front of me.
It was Brye. I reached out for him, and he took my hand. I had no tears to cry right now. I was too happy to cry.
“This is Conrad’s invention, the hot air balloon. He uses fire to keep it up in the air,” he explained, looking as if he didn’t fully understand it either.
“You’re here,” I said, for there was nothing else I could think about.
“You can thank Soea for that, then you can thank me for saving you.”
I smiled, and decided to kiss him first.
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