“Well?” Gareion asked impatiently.
“We found them, all of them around three four thousand people,”
“Hell, I do not believe you.” The young King nodded.
“It is true. Arweyn and I, using our magic, have brought the old castle and city back to how it was five hundred years ago, it is absolutely stunning.” Kainan proceeded to tell his brother all about the last few weeks, including that he wanted him and Alys to live with them in the other castle and that he had left the passageway from the Chamber of Knowledge to the library in the other castle open. His twin was both stunned, and then a little disappointed that he could not remember his previous life.
“That is probably why I do not want to rule this Kingdom,” he announced after Kainan informed him that he had been the one to lead the one thousand through to Zyon along with their mother of that time whose name happened to be Starre, and that he then ruled as King all those years ago, he was flabbergasted. “I have already done it once, I probably hated it.” Kainan laughed and shoved his brother playfully. “I will have to speak to Alys about moving over, I do not think she will mind, especially if we have more space. It is getting a little tight in here with all this baby stuff.” He scratched his head and muttered. “Fancy naming our daughter after my other mother, how weird,” he said. They both turned as the baby began to cry and watched as Alys picked her up, immediately she stopped crying as she rocked and shushed her in her arms.
“Here, hold her,” she offered. Arweyn smiled a little nervously but accepted the bundle.
“Gosh she has grown,” she announced, rocking her gently. “Oh she has beautiful green eyes, just like Gareion,” she whispered as the baby stared up at her.
“I forgot you never saw them open did you?” Arweyn shook her head. They had left when Starre was only a few days old and she had always been asleep when they had seen her. As she rocked her, she began to feel a little strange.
“It suits you,” Alys said, with a glint in her eye. Arweyn glanced to her.
“Sorry what did you say?”
“I said it suits you,” she repeated. The young Queen looked down at the baby and smiled. Starre began to cry.
“She needs a feed,” Alys said, holding her arms out to her. Arweyn passed her back and watched as she sat herself down on a nursing chair and began to feed her daughter. Arweyn placed a hand across her stomach and frowned feeling a strange sensation or was it a memory? Alys glanced up to her and then to her hand, she smiled.
“Arweyn are you?” she whispered, lifting both her eyebrows inquisitively. The young Queen looked down at her and shook her head.
“No, no.” That she knew for certain, she had not removed the charm that stopped her conceiving a child. They were not ready for that yet.
“We should head back, see how things are going,” Kainan announced, placing a hand on his wife’s arm. She looked at him and smiled with a gentle nod. Kissing them both goodbye, they left making their way back through the tunnels to the other castle.
They walked back along the ground floor corridor in the old/new castle of Malgar just having a general look around and seeing what they did and did not remember.
“I’m going to ask Wiloma if she will move over and work in our kitchens,” he announced. She laughed.
“Do you think your father will like that?” He shrugged, as he hooked his arm around hers.
“No, probably not, but hey I am the King?” She shoved him playfully. As he glanced left out of a window, his heart shook, it was she, that blonde he thought he recognised the night before their bonding ceremony, and she was watching the castle. Something about her seriously vexed him, how did she get over this side? He needed to confront her he needed to know who she was.
“Arweyn I just need to do something real quick, can I meet you upstairs?” She looked at him a little surprised, but then nodded.
“Okay, see you in a bit.” He gave her a kiss and watched as she continued along the corridor without him. Turning about quickly he marched to the nearest door and ventured outside to look for her.
“Shadow is that you,” Arweyn called, as she turned to look behind at her disappearing husband, the cat stopped for a second on hearing her voice and then collapsed to the floor. She laughed turning back around the way she had just come and walking towards him. She chuckled as she looked down at the cat wriggling on its back exposing its tummy and waiting to be tickled.
“What are you doing all the way down here, I thought you were put upstairs?” she questioned. Just as she was about to bend down to tickle him, she caught a glimpse of her husband out of the window. Ignoring the purring cat, she looked out of the window to get better look, taking a deep breath she leaned even further into the deep stone windowsill as she saw a woman. The blonde-haired woman stood by the gate to the kitchen gardens.
Kainan stared at her. He knew her from somewhere, deep in his memory, he felt sure there was something bad about this woman. He walked towards her, he needed to find out, but she slipped into the kitchen gardens. He followed her. As Arweyn watched, she had a bad vibe shoot through her entire body. Taking a sharp breath, she pulled her hands to her stomach in a brief moment of excruciating pain. Quickly she darted out of the castle after him.
“Kainan,” she yelled urgently, but he did not hear her so she hurried after him. The woman wandered past the fountain with the mermaid and then ducked into the arbour.
“Hey you,” Kainan called to the blonde-haired woman. She peaked back out and smiled.
“What me?” she asked innocently and he nodded.
“Do I know you?” he questioned, approaching her. Her emerald green eyes shone at him and she laughed, pushing her long blonde hair behind her shoulders. She glanced past him but he did not notice. She smiled and then ducked back into the arbour.
Arweyn walked through into the garden, she stopped for a moment searching for him, and then she saw him talking the woman. He went into the arbour with her and her heart thumped worriedly as she continued over to them.
“Tell me where I know you from?” he demanded as she sat herself down onto the seat.
“Your memory is not quite as it was my Lord?” she asked, lifting her eyes to him. He shook his head.
“No, I only remember parts, but I remember your face.” She licked her lips gleefully knowing that the Queen was now outside listening. Standing up she moved towards him flirtatiously, pushing her long blonde hair behind her shoulders and running a finger across the top of her low cut dress, toying with ribbons that laced the front of her dress.
“Think my Lord if you remember me, surely you remember what happened.” He shook his head again, he could see what she was doing, but he had no interest in her what so ever.
“I do not remember, that is why I am asking,” he said crossly, giving her a stern stare and ignoring her obvious advances. Without warning, she touched the side of his face; he drew a breath and closed his eyes briefly before flinching away from her as his cheek tingled. His eyes widened as a memory returned. He laughed nervously, his eyes staring at her in disbelief as he shook his head furiously.
“I would not have!” he then yelled with outrage. She sat back down; pulling her long blonde hair to one side, she stroked her hands through it and shrugged, before lifting her eyes back up to him, he was as she had remembered him all those years ago.
“Do you not remember waking up in my bed, in my cottage out in the forest the same morning that your Queen lost her child?” Arweyn’s fear tugged at her heart as she stiffened with shock. No Kainan, she begged please say no she could feel her heart racing anxiously. The young King frowned as he recalled a memory and he swallowed apprehensively.
“Yes I do remember but …” Unable to help herself Arweyn gasped loudly. Hearing her Kainan swung around and ducked outside the arbour only to see his wife running off towards the gate.
“No Arweyn!” he cried in horror. Turning back to the woman, he glared at her. “I did not sleep with you I would never sleep
with you!” he yelled furiously at her before running off after his wife. The woman looked down at her nails and smiled, shaking her long hair as the colour began rippling from blonde into dark brown. She whispered, grinning to herself. “I never said you did.”
Arweyn ran along the ground floor corridor distraught, unable to believe that he would have done that to her. Stopping abruptly, she gasped holding her hand to her stomach as once again pain erupted through her, frowning she began to remember. It was vague, blurred. She gasped tearfully, she had lost a child, she had been four months pregnant and then.
“Arweyn,” he called desperately to her, stopping a few feet away. She glanced to him. Shaking her head, she whispered, glaring at him.
“Please tell me that was a lie.”
His lips were dry and he licked them. She shook her head at him and stormed off.
“Arweyn please wait.” He started after her. “I do not know, I remember something but I am sure I did not sleep with her.” Stopping she marched up to him, crossing her arms she glared at him.
“So what did you do then?” He shrugged, his mouth open but with no words to say, he could not meet her gaze. An army of servants came along the corridor, stopping they bowed. Ignoring them, she looked at him and then flung open the door to the library. He followed her inside.
“I do not know, really I do not. I just knew her face that is all.”
“Well she obviously remembers you!” she yelled.
“That was the old me, not me as I am now,” he pleaded.
“You are who you were, am…” She turned away from him. He grabbed her shoulder.
“Arweyn I am not. We are not. We have some past memories, yes, but we are not as we were. We have been re-born, given a new chance. Look at you … you are different to how you were. You are stronger, powerful… a Faerling.”
“And I was not then…. I was not enough for you?” He wanted to die as he looked into her heartbroken eyes.
“Yes of course you were, that is not what I meant.”
“So why did you do it?” she asked. He stared at her, open mouthed unable to say why. He did not know why.
“I do not know, I honesty do not remember anything,” he mumbled. Tears streamed down her face, as her eyes lifted to his.
“Did you not love me?” she whispered. His heart broke as his tears fell.
“Of course I loved you; I loved you more than life itself. I still love you more than life itself. If I did not the prophecy would not have worked. Arweyn I truly do not remember what happened.” She swallowed and looked away from him.
“I do not know if I can deal with this,” she whispered, turning to leave. The memories that were coming back to her were too distressing.
“Please, please do not leave me,” he begged, reaching for her.
“Kainan, I am sorry, I think I need to be alone for a while.”
“Arweyn please do not leave me, do not go. Let us talk about this.” Her sodden eyes turned to his; his betrayal was too hard for her to bear. She shook her head.
“I do not want to go…” She sniffed wiping her eyes; memories of the past mixed with those of present had made her so confused.
“Then do not. Arweyn please it was five hundred years ago. I am not the same man I was then.” She spun around to him.
“Kainan you are, that is why I love you so much. You are….” She wept. He wanted to hold her, to comfort her. His arms went out to her but she backed away.
“I cannot stay,” she whispered, shaking her head, she was so confused. “I need some time.”
“Arweyn please believe me ….
“No!” she suddenly snapped, small sparks of anger flashed in her eyes as they flew to his. “I was losing our child and you were with her.” Her brow creased in torment. “I remember you told me …,” she sobbed, “that you were away defending our city from Gemini!” He screwed his face up angrily as his hands clenched into a fist.
“I was. She, she…” He threw his hands to his head. “I do not know what she did.” He dropped to the floor in anguish. “Please I do not remember…. I just remember waking up in her bed that is all.”
“That is all!” she screamed at him. “Kainan you betrayed me, at the worst time of my life you betrayed me.” He shook his head and sobbed.
“I am not that man,” he cried. She stared down at him, her eyes so sore she could hardly keep them open her heart was broken.
“You know,” she sniffed, as her eyes caught his. “I wish that we had not remembered our past life, it hurts too much.” She turned and ran.
“Arweyn!” he screamed. Jumping to his feet, he ran after her but she was gone. He made for their chambers, but she was not there. He ran along the corridor, jumping three steps at a time down the stairs to the ground floor. Gareion was coming towards him, searching for him to tell him the good news that Alys had agreed to move over to the new castle.
“Kainan,” he said, but he shoved his brother out of the way and shot outside. He heard a horse, his eyes spun around towards the drawbridge. She glanced over her shoulder at him; he shook his head at her, pleading. Her eyes filled with tears blurring her vision, she blinked, and they ran down her cheek. She kicked the horse on hard and disappeared over the bridge. Kainan sank to his knees, and he cried until he could not cry any more.
She rode for hours, not even knowing where she was going. Finally her horse stopped, refusing to go any further. She patted her and jumped off.
“I am sorry,” she said, rubbing the horse’s nose. She walked her over to a stream and let her drink. Sinking down onto the bank, she picked at the wild flowers and gazed at the setting sun. Glancing around she realised that she had no idea where she was, she sighed not caring. She and Kainan did not remember their lives five hundred years ago in such detail as their people did, as they had been frozen with their memories intact. The two of them had sacrificed theirs to the sword. They had been given back some, but not all of it.
She wiped her eyes; it seemed to her that they had remembered only the worst times. She looked into the stream and her eyes filled as she remembered the last six months, the memories that were the strongest in her mind. She chuckled as she thought of all the places they had been together, her throat juddered as she thought back to their special place under the willow, her first ride with him on Meladrom. She gave a little sob, as she remembered how frightened she had been when she thought Tolwein was going to kill him and then gave an even heavier sob as she remembered their first kiss by the waterfall, the first time they made love. Why did she care what happened five hundred years ago? Sure, she remembered in her mind that she had been with child, but she was older then, twenty-six, but she did not remember what it felt like. She did not remember their first kiss, their bonding ceremony. She did not even remember making love to him.
She shook her head wishing that she had not remembered any of it, but most of all she wished she had not run and left him. Pulling her knees to her chest, she cried into them. It hurt more by being away from him now, than what he had done to her all those years ago in a time, she did not really remember. It had just been such a shock that he could have ever done such a thing to her.
“Arweyn,” his voice called unsure. She looked up startled and then spun around. He stood a few feet away, his horse’s reins in his hand. His eyes were as red as hers were. Dropping the reins his horse wandered over to hers and they rubbed noses in greeting. He stood staring at her.
“How did you find me?” she whispered. He lifted the palm of his right hand, to the swirling dragon entwined with a unicorn.
“Wherever you are in this world or another, remember,” he said softly, but she did not reply.
“Arweyn,” he said, tears now rolling down his cheeks. “I would rather die than hurt you, please believe me.” She sniffed and stood up, wiping her eyes as she tried to focus.
“You were right,” she whispered, her heart heavy.
“Right?” he questioned with a little frown, not sure, whether
he should approach her.
“We are not the same people we used to be,” she wiped her eyes again. He swallowed, frightened of what she was going to say.
“I love you Kainan, here and now in this time. I love the carpenter, the man who makes me laugh and tickles my tummy.” He gave a little laugh, wiping his eyes.
“I do not care what happened or did not happen five hundred years ago. I have been gone….” She hesitated shrugging. “What an afternoon and I miss you, I miss you terribly.” He ran to her and threw his arms around her, and wept as he held her close.
“I am so sorry if I did what she said I did. I really, really do not remember. I hate myself, I hate that I would have done something so horrible to you.” He leaned back and gazed into her sodden eyes. “I swear to you, that I will never ever do anything like that to you here and now in this time.” She smiled and raised a hand to his cheek.
“I know you would not and that is why you were right. We are not the same people we were five hundred years ago.” He kissed her, and her heart ignited once again. He ran his hand through her long dark hair.
“I love you so much, I am so ...” She held her fingers to his lips and shushed him.
“Let’s forget about the past and build ourselves a new future, here in our new lands.” He smiled at her. She was incredible she was his life.
“What about her…” He swallowed. She shook her head.
“I am not worried Kainan,”
“We could banish her, if you wanted.” She smiled and then kissed him.
“Do not tempt me,” she said with a little laugh.
They sat down on the bank. He held her hand tight, fearing she might leave him again.
“I know you do not want to talk about it,” he said, gazing into her bloodshot eyes. “But … I honestly do not remember anything happening with her.” She swallowed, and sucked on her bottom lip.
“Kainan, we’ll let it go, it doesn’t matter anymore.” He breathed deep. It did matter it mattered to him. He frowned angrily how could he have done that to her, he knew in his heart he loved her then just as he did now so why would he have strayed.
Deragan Sword Prophecy: Book 02 - Meladrom Page 35
