by A. J. Bell
“How do you know this?” said the woman in a very high pitch. “You couldn’t know it unless you saw me do it, and you weren’t there.” She wasn’t denying it, which was worse.
“I was not there, but John was, and he told me. Now I suggest Master…” I paused.
“Chad,” he said.
“Master Chad, I suggest you forget about this woman. She’s trouble, and a woman that looks for this kind of trouble is not worth the fight.” He looked like he was about to cry. “Master Chad, I can assure you that a bath and a clean-shaven face will get you another woman who actually appreciates you…” I walked past him, approached the woman, and said, “If I find out that you are trying to take advantage of travelers like Sir Richard, who drink a little too much, I personally will teach you a lesson, and trust me, I don’t need a sword to do it.”
Chad apologized for the manner of his behavior; he even offered to help me put Sir Richard back on the bed, but I refused. He then took both women by their arms and escorted them out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Sir Richard was still with his face on the floor. He could’ve been killed had I not intervened and he well deserved that fate. I wrapped his arms around my neck, then I locked mine below his arms, and I pulled him up on the bed. However, the weight of his body pulled me on top of him. His eyes shot wide open, and I gasped when our eyes met. Luckily for me, he was still under the effects of the beer and fell back asleep. I decided not to touch him again, just in case I ran out of luck. He looked as peaceful as a baby when he slept. His blonde hair was tied in a messed-up ponytail, his eyes were as blue as the sky in spring when fully opened, and his lips were always inviting to be tasted. I knew better than that.
I moved a chair in front of the door, just in case someone else tried to come in. At least, it would give me time to grab Heaven and be prepared for whatever may come.
The next morning, I woke up before Sir Richard did, so I got dressed and opened the curtains to let the light come in. He protested when the rays of the sun shone on his face.
“We need to get going,” I said to him.
He sat on the bed. He looked terrible. “I feel like I have been crushed by a horse,” he said. I got the water for him to wash off and also prepared his clothes for him to wear, as I usually did. “What is wrong with my other shirt?” he asked. I picked up the pieces of his shirt and threw them at him.
“The woman you were flirting with last night had a man who wanted to kill you.”
Sir Richard laughed. “It wouldn’t be the first time,” he said. “Besides, if he was that good of a man, she wouldn’t be looking for other choices.”
I couldn’t believe his words. “Good enough of a man? How can you be so hollow? Women weren’t created for the purpose of your own enjoyment, and if they are taken, you should respect their spouses, whether they are present or not. Next time you are this drunk and act this stupid, I will step aside and just let them teach you a lesson! Now, if you excuse me, I will go down and get the horses ready, My Lord.” I shut the door behind me.
Sir Richard was having breakfast. I could see him through the window where I stood loading the horses to hit the road again. I saw a man approach his table. It took me a few seconds to recognize the butcher without the blood on his clothes, with well-groomed hair, and no beard. He seemed to be menacing Sir Richard.
“Please! Please! No more troubles!” I pleaded out loud to nobody. My hand grasped Heaven, and my feet were prepared to run and help him if he needed me. I watched Chad take something out of his pocket and lay it on the table. Then he signaled with his fingers for the server to bring “two.” I didn’t need to be with them to know he meant two pints of beer. The woman put one in front of Chad and the other in front of Sir Richard.
My hand released the hilt of my sword. If he got drunk again, I wouldn’t intervene – he had been warned. I was perplexed when he pushed the mug away from him. Then with his head, he motioned towards the window. Chad’s gaze met mine. His eyes grew large when he saw me. I looked away and pretended to continue to work on Rogue’s saddle. Minutes later, Sir Richard came out.
“Don’t think too much of it. I declined the drink because I wasn’t thirsty. It has nothing to do with what you said earlier.”
I kept quiet, though deep inside, I felt good that, at least, for once, Sir Richard had heard my council.
Chapter 13
Richard, I, and our company of men continued on. We stopped by the edge of the Loveless River, which ran all the way from the Gardenhills Kingdom and passed the Lerona Kingdom, to give some rest to both our horses and ourselves. Sir Richard went off by himself a few hundred feet. He spoke to no one, but I followed him quietly. He sat down to rest in the shade of a “crying willow” – as Mother called them because of the way the branches hung.
“I know you are following me. Please come out,” he said, so I did and sat on a rock across from him, skipping small stones across the water and watching them slide all the way across to the other side of the river. “I’m not hollow,” he said.
I closed my eyes in shame. I had disrespected my mentor. There was no way I could take back what I had said to him earlier, nor the way he felt afterwards. I didn’t look back. “You are right, though. I’ve been careless in my relationships with women, but some of them are so irresistible… How can you do it? How can you just send them away when they are just there in front of you, ready for you to take them?”
I understood his dilemma. I had seen women fall literally at his feet for his attention. What could I tell him? That it was easy for me to reject women because I was a woman.
“I guess, at least in this aspect of our lives, John, you are a better man than I probably will ever be.” Meaning he wasn’t changing his ways.
“If there might be a time, My Lord, that the woman you most desired refused to surrender to your advances the way the other women do, would that change the way you feel about her, or would it change the way you live your life? If you truly found love, you wouldn’t betray her with another irresistible woman? You would respect her, even though she might be far away? If she’s the one, there would be no others. Every woman deserves that much from a man. When you are willing to do that, then you will have become a better man.” I got lost in thought.
“Then I guess I’m not ready,” he said and closed his eyes to take a small nap.
“No,” I said, walking past him. “You just haven’t met that woman yet, but she’s out there. Mark my words, My Lord, she will find a way into that wandering heart of yours and that would be the end of your life as you know it.” I left him alone to think on that.
We galloped until darkness fell upon us and then we camped for the night. Sir Richard was lying on his bed, his arms crossed behind his head, ready to succumb to his dreams.
“What if I have already met her, but she belongs to somebody else?” he asked.
“Then you should leave her alone since she can’t be yours. Go to sleep now,” I said.
“But what if she doesn’t know that she’s the one for me and that’s why she’s with somebody else?”
Is he really asking these questions? He needs to forget about her and let me sleep!
“Should not I fight for her?” He used the word fight and her in the same sentence. The thought scared me.
“You can always tell her how you feel, but then make it her choice who she wants to be with. Can you go to sleep now? I am exhausted, My Lord,” I said, getting annoyed at the man who was keeping me up.
“What if she doesn’t have a choice? What if the man she’s going to marry is the Prince of the Everlands?” he sighed.
I sat up, stunned. Oh no! What did he say? “I don’t understand, My Lord?” Was he saying what I thought he was saying?
“She has been in my mind ever since I saw her running from those Gypsies. No other woman has ever entered my mind and not left the way she has. I dreamed of her last night. She was in my arms. As I kissed her velvety lips, I felt her arms
wrap around me, embracing my advances.” I could barely breathe after hearing his confession. “Her skin was soft, her lips so sweet, it felt so real…” He was lost in his recollection of what he thought were dreams. “Dear Lady Elle, how did you manage to get a grip on me? I’m such a fool to fall for you, the soon-to-be Princess of the Everlands.”
I was staring at him, worried. I had never seen him so vulnerable while awake; it was almost painful. And it was all because of me.
“You are right, John. Just ignore me,” he said. “We both need to sleep.” He fixed his mat and faded into real dreams.
Go to sleep! he said, as if that were possible after hearing him speak about me the way he did. My mind kept tracing back to the inn – to his kiss. He didn’t dream of me, but he was too drunk to see the difference between a dream and reality.
At least, he didn’t know who I really was. Would he forgive me if he found out the truth?
The dawn caught me still lost in his words. I would never see him the same way again. But was he correct in thinking that I had no choice to decline or accept Prince Victor’s proposal? I thought not. Prince Victor had expressed clearly that he would not force me into marrying him. But why did he kiss me in public without my permission? I did have a choice; I just wasn’t sure what choice that was. I was so confused, even more than before I heard Sir Richard. Prince Victor knew the truth about John and found it fascinating that I had been hiding for years without anybody finding out that I was actually a woman, but he tended to be jealous and childish at times. Even though times like that made me feel unsure about being with him, I enjoyed his company. I had nothing to hide from him, and he allowed me to speak freely without wanting to punish me, even though I earned punishment fairly easy. He always found a way to make me feel like everything was possible, that I could belong in his arms if I wanted to start our “happily ever after.” I thought marrying him was a possibility, until I met Sir Dorian – the man who knew me better than I did. I didn’t remember where we met, but I wanted to. The mystery behind his words was intriguing. The possibility of having a past together was as unlikely, yet the mere thought kept me wondering at night. One good thing had come out of meeting him – he filled my head with sweet dreams at night, and these dreams chased away the nightmares. Feeling him so close at the end of our Rainy Day dance, and then on the steps to the main gate again, all I had wanted to do was to kiss him. So in my dreams I did, over and over again. When he left, the emptiness that overcame me assured me that it wasn’t the first time I had let him go.
It wasn’t fair, but sometimes when I was in Prince Victor’s arms, my mind wondered if I had ever been in Sir Dorian’s arms before, and if the feeling now was the same or more intense.
If two men floating in my mind weren’t enough to deal with, Sir Richard’s confession of falling in love with me was also troublesome. He had confessed to having dreams about me, and his kiss was like no other. What bothered me was that he thought that I was so unreachable, when all he had to do was to take a closer look at me. I was by his side now, as I had been for the past seven years. Men definitely complicated women’s lives. I had been fine when I was John, and life was much easier when no man knew of my existence. My current situation added one more problem to my already problematic existence as both Elle and John.
We arrived at Abilene right before sunset. I saw the place where the Loveless River turned into the Abilene Sea, and beheld it, amazed. The view was astonishing, and the breeze was so crisp and refreshing. Its sugary sandy beaches were the jewels of the Everlands.
“Welcome to Abilene,” said Sir Richard, “or in the words of my cousin Dorian, Welcome to Paradise on Earth.”
He was right because the place was beautiful. The houses were humble but well looked after, there were flowers all around, and children were running wild while their mothers prepared supper in their houses. Most of them would stop and stare as our caravan passed by.
We stopped high on a hill where a little house rested on its peak, a house a bit bigger than the others but still simple and gorgeous at the same time. From the doorstep, I could see the entire city. The view of the sea was overwhelming; it looked as if the Abilene Sea was on fire as the sun began setting. A woman in her fifties came to the door only after Sir Richard had knocked strongly a few times.
“Come in, come in. Supper will be ready shortly,” said the woman. “It’s been too long since last you visited us, Master Richard,” she said. “We have been waiting for you.” She gave him a long, suffocating hug.
Everything in the house seemed cozy and inviting, but the beauty of it was not in the gold and silver like Sir Richard’s home or Prince Victor’s castle – it was in its simplicity. Wild flowers in vases adorned almost every table, handmade rugs like the ones some people in Stoneburg made out of cotton and sometimes wool covered its floors, the furniture was mostly dark oak wood, and there were windows on every wall. The woman invited us to sit down and then left the room, almost jumping in excitement.
“He’s here! Master Richard is here!” she yelled in delight. A man came limping, almost running, with loud thudding sounds, he hastened nd hugged Sir Richard with such force they almost fell down. He kissed him on the forehead, and then looked at me.
“And who do we have here?” he said.
“This is John, my squire and my most trusted friend.” I smiled at the sound of those words together. That was what a squire aspired to, and I’ve already surpassed that level of friendship.
“Is that so? Then, welcome to our home.” He hugged me as strongly as he had hugged Sir Richard. I looked at Sir Richard as if asking for help.
“We have so much to talk about,” said Sir Richard.
“Who’s hungry? Food is on the table,” announced the woman who had opened the door when we arrived.
We followed her to the dining room. A huge table almost half-filled with people was in the center of the room. The table was round, and the food was lined down the center of it, just like the woman said. It seemed like a big family gathered for a special occasion. We sat down, and after the head of the family blessed the food, everybody started to eat, from the youngest kid to our host, whose name I had yet to find out.
“Goodnight, Master Darius,” they said as those who finished their meals left, taking with them the used dishes. I’ve never seen such a thing done before.
When we were alone, Lord Darius started to talk about how much Sir Richard had changed since they last saw each other. When the silence became prolonged and the awkwardness began to set in, I was taken aback by Lord Darius’s random comment.
“Any news of my son? Has Dorian sent word to the Everlands about the situation in the Gardenhills?”
“You are Sir Dorian’s father?” I asked in amazement. Sir Dorian’s home was not a palace or even a mansion. It was just a simple house.
“What kind of question is that?” Sir Richard said. “Did I not tell you we would be staying in my cousin’s home?”
I felt embarrassed. “I bet this house isn’t what you expected to see; after all, we are related to the Royal Family,” said Lord Darius, smiling. I nodded, ashamed of myself. “You see, in this household, we have a different perspective of what we need to do with the gold we inherited with our titles. The people that you saw at the dinner table are my servants.” I must have looked surprised when he said it, because he laughed. “But they have served me for so long that I consider them family. I had a big castle not too long ago, but now this is the place where my son and I have chosen to live. We share everything we have with those around us. A strange philosophy, I know, but it has brought us nothing but happiness in our lives.” I smiled, because I liked his ideas and simplicity.
He turned back to Sir Richard and continued to inquire about his son. I was also interested in that conversation. “Until a few weeks ago, I was sure that the one escorting the King and your father would’ve been my son instead of you,” said Lord Darius seriously.
“I was surprised too, Uncl
e, when Victor asked Dorian to go to the Gardenhills city. Traveling all the way here to get his men ready and then to go back there must have been exhausting, not just for him but for everyone in his company, not to mention the threat of the Gypsies who hide in the forest. We don’t know how great the Gypsies’ numbers are, only that they mean no good to any Everlander that falls in their midst. It makes no sense, Uncle, that the Prince decided to leave Abilene unprotected. If King Tobias didn’t seal the treaty with the King of Ganzale, Abilene would be the first city in the Everlands to fall.” Lord Darius kept silent. “We know the threat is too big to ignore the border with the Gardenhills. They have attacked a few of the villages in that area, and the outcome hasn’t been good. With Dorian at the borders and leading his men into battle if necessary, we have, at least, the certainty that we won’t let our villages get plundered without a fight. Dorian agreed with us on this, and since his experience in the battlefield gives us an advantage, we did not argue with Victor’s decision, even though we all knew I should have been the one to be sent there,” said Sir Richard, apologetically.
“Has anybody else been summoned to the border with him?” Lord Darius asked, worried.
“Sir Anthony is probably already with your son, Uncle. Dorian is one of the greatest swordsmen in the realm, so he will come back to you.”
Those words, however, didn’t seem to ease Lord Darius’s worries at all. “Tell me the truth. Did they have an argument about anything else before Victor announced his decision?” Sir Richard lowered his gaze. “I’m sure that wasn’t the reason why Dorian got sent away.” Richard was clenching his fists.
“What was the argument about?” asked Lord Darius calmly.
