He kissed my forehead and reassured me, “I’ll be just outside the room if you need me.”
“Thanks, I’ll be fine.”
Once he left the room I tried to pull myself up from the bed, only to find that my legs were extremely wobbly. Emeline, true to her word, ended up helping me to the corner and then undressed me while I sat on a stool. She held my arm and averted her gaze as she helped me sink into the hot water.
The water soothed my aching muscles and I groaned with pleasure. I sank as deep as I could and let the warmth penetrate through all of my fears and hurts.
I could hear Emeline shuffling around the bedroom as I soaked. She commented that she had changed the bedding and was getting me fresh clothing. At some point she must have walked into the other room, because I heard Xander speaking quietly with her.
I rested in the water and allowed the jasmine-scented oil that Emeline had added to calm my nerves. Something continued to elude me as I lay there, and I tried to remember what I had dreamt about while I was passed out.
When the water finally turned cool, Emeline pulled me out and helped me dress in a simple blue dress. She offered to help me into the other room, but I only wanted to sleep. Sitting beside me on the bed, she brushed and played with my hair. The soothing feeling of being pampered allowed me to close my eyes.
I awoke in a darkened room some time later, and felt the bed shift next to me; pulling me from sleep. Evidently I had fallen asleep while Emeline was doing my hair. There was a soft glow from a single candle on the bedside table opposite mine, and I could see and feel Xander getting comfortable on the bed next to me.
He’d kicked off his shoes but was still otherwise fully dressed and on top of the covers. I watched as he blew out the candle. Without speaking, he situated himself on the bed; causing it to shake. I wanted to shift closer to him but couldn’t find the energy to move. Just as my eyes were drifting closed again, I felt his hand slide over my body. He found my hand and covered it with his own.
The strength of his silent touch ushered me into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Xander
Day one in the village had not gone as expected, with Skye being attacked.
Day two had been uneventful, as I watched her sleep on and off throughout the day and cooled my heels waiting for Rioden to show up.
Day three dawned sunny and warm and brought a restless Skye enough energy to go outside. My self-imposed confinement of keeping Skye company in the cottage had made me feel as if I had been drugged. I was ready to get some fresh air.
We decided to head out for a small picnic and were going to set up at the boundary of the village, close to a small stream and the forest’s edge. On our way past the other huts in our block, Selene stepped out of her cottage and threw a wary glance our way. At first Skye ignored her, but after we passed the doorway she stopped and stood still as if in turmoil over something. I started to urge her on when her face became focused and she spun on her heal.
Skye marched right up to Selene and startled her when she all but shouted, “What did you and Rioden do to me the night Xander’s parents died? What happened to my memory?”
I paled. I had not yet had the time to explain the conversation Selene and I had the other night while Skye lay unconscious.
Selene’s eyes held Skye’s as she spoke clearly, and without shame, “I did what we thought was best, Princess.”
The surprise on Skye’s face was evident. She had not expected Selene to so willingly admit to tampering with her memory.
“What did you do?” She hissed, eyes narrowed and fists clenched at her sides.
“As I explained to you when we first met, the night Xander’s parents died I showed up after you were already gone. When I got to the house Rioden was struggling to explain things to the local authorities, so I used compulsion to convince them that we were nobody and the house had simply exploded.”
“Yes, I remember you telling us that. But what did you do to me?”
Selene held her hand up and continued, “Please just let me explain this. Once we were free to go, we placed Xander in my car and we drove to the park where we found you…”
“You found me? That night?” Skye’s head whipped towards me, and the look of horror on her face made me want to punch something.
“Yes,” Selene said. “We decided then and there that the only way to truly keep you safe was to put you into hiding. Rioden called 911 to report a lost child and I…I cleared your memories. The cops that showed up were very nice and again, using compulsion, I convinced them that your parents had died tragically and you were lost. I got them to reiterate to you that you would someday soon have a better life but that for now you needed to go into state custody.”
Selene sighed.
“There is much more to it than that, but that is the short story. I checked in with the state every so often to be sure you were still in custody. Everyone once in a while I had to pull some strings to make sure you were kept in custody and not placed for adoption. I’m sorry - but we had to keep track of you and just weren’t able to keep you with us.”
I stood about ten steps away from Skye while she listened to Selene’s explanation. The other night when I’d heard the story, I had been mad enough to punch Rioden. I stood there waiting to see what Skye would do with this new truth.
“You’re sorry?” she growled; her body language saying all I needed to hear. “YOU! You thought it was best to take my only family away from me? To leave me alone with nothing?!”
Skye kicked a rock and then whirled around and paced a few steps.
“Do you know what I thought Selene? I was seven and thought that nobody loved me…that there was something wrong with me and that was why every other kid that came into the group homes got to leave. I cried myself to sleep every night for years. Years!!” she screamed and stalked back to Selene. She stood right in her face and yelled some more.
“You took my memory! Why??”
Selene stood her ground and attempted to calm Skye down. “I told you that we thought it would be for best. We didn’t want to you remember things and start asking questions. I placed a protection spell on you to help keep you hidden. It should have lasted until you were 18…Skye, maybe we were mistaken, but the fact of the matter is that you were safe for almost ten years, so I can’t say that what we needed to have happen didn’t happen.”
“Really?” Skye purred silkily, anger emitting from every pore of her body. She moved so quickly that Selene was caught off guard when Skye’s hand reared back and slapped her right across the face.
Skye cursed under her breath as she shook the sting from her hand out. Selene’s head had snapped to the left and she stood there with her hands over her cheek. I grabbed Skye and pulled her back from Selene before either one of the them could do any more damage to the other.
“Xander, they did this to me… to us, they made me forget!” Skye fumed; her voice starting to waver between anger and tears.
“I know. I finally got it out of her the other night after you were attacked. I was going to tell you tonight.”
“She told you already? I hate them for this. How could I ever forgive them for what I went through, and for what I felt growing up?”
I hugged Skye as she clung to me and leveled my gaze on Selene. She had tears in her eyes, whether they were from the knowledge of Skye’s pain or from the pain in her cheek, I didn’t know. She turned quietly and went back into Cillian’s cottage without as much as a word.
Our picnic was postponed and I spent the remainder of the day with Skye, allowing her hurt and frustration to pour out. In the end I was able to convince her that Rioden and Selene had acted out of love for us both ten years ago. I told her how Selene had actually erased my memory of those few days after the attack so that I wouldn’t remember her. Those were the days when they had worked with the authorities to get Skye settled.
Rioden had lied to me all those years ago, and for that I wasn’t sure if I could ever forgive him
- but I knew that their motives had been pure. Who knows how different things would be between Skye and I now if we had never lost each other? I was extremely grateful that I still had my memories of my parents and of Skye as a child. I promised Skye that soon we would try and get her own memory restored, but she still didn’t want to speak to Selene.
The next day Skye woke up with renewed vigor and declared that we needed to get outside. After making plans for a picnic, again, we made our way to the meadow. Emeline and Cillian had joined us for the day, and while Emeline kept Skye laughing and carefree, I was able to get some exercise in.
Cillian had reminded me several times that I needed to get more training in before we waged a war against McClintock. I knew that I was a good fighter, but I had no problem taking every opportunity I could get to practice different fighting techniques.
Cillian was absolutely brilliant with a cross bow, and we set up targets to practice with. I had practiced my shooting skills plenty as a child, but they had taken a back seat as I’d grown up. Once my brute strength and agility had made itself known, I had really focused on that.
We switched to hand-to-hand combat after archery, and then practiced with swords. I stalked Cillian around the meadow with a borrowed sword. The sounds from the swords rang out in the meadow as we clashed and attacked each other time after time. I started to feel more capable again as I jumped and rolled out of the way of attacks and blocked strikes. After seeing Skye hurt twice in three days, I had begun to doubt my own abilities. Fighting my own brand of fighting reminded me that I was damn good at what I did.
She’d begged me several times to stop feeling sorry for myself, because both of her injuries had not been anything I could have prevented. It took a good sweaty workout to realize she was right.
Sitting on the blanket with the girls after our last brutal battle, Cillian and I listened absently as they chatted about marriage and courtship. Cillian was obviously discomforted by Emeline’s comments about the lack of eligible women in the village for him to marry.
“Cillian would be a fine catch for any young lady, but Sheridan just doesn’t have any ladies for him to choose from,” she sighed, her angst for her brother obvious.
Skye turned to Cillian and included him in her conversation with Emeline. “Are there really not a lot of ladies in the village, or just none to your liking?”
Her tone sounded playful and mildly flirtatious. I found myself a bit taken aback by her more friendly and open attitude. Glad that she was opening up and feeling more comfortable, I tried to follow their talk.
“Well milady, there used to be plenty of ladies in the village, but as they got older, their families tended to send them to Ridgecrest or Ballinger.”
“Those are the two villages closest to the Castle,” Emeline added, as she handed me a plate with bread, cheese and some meat slices of some sort.
“Why were they sent there?”
“The closer they are to the Castle, the more likely they are to get picked to work there, or to find a husband who works for the King. That would mean more money and a better life for them.”
“A better life? How much better could it be? I think you have a beautiful living situation here.”
Cillian smiled at Skye and tried to explain the way of life for most of the Kingdom. “Those of us here on the edge of the village are pretty much all that remains of the Guardians that were employed by your parents, Princess. As such, we are stronger and have carved out a way of life that most can’t handle. We hunt for our own food, and we learned to raise livestock and take care of fields. We also barter with many in the village, offering protection and food in exchange for services and items that we aren’t able to provide ourselves.”
“The majority of people rely on the King’s men or once-wealthy landowners to help provide for them and to give them guidance and counsel on how to do things. Once McClintock became King, things began to fall apart for everyone.”
Cillian and Emeline then took turns describing the famines and poverty that plagued many of the villages. I watched as Skye’s eyes became hard with hatred every time they mentioned the ‘acting’ King. She was beginning to look like the Princess that she was.
“Once McClintock took possession of the crown, things began to slowly decline. However, in the past two years things have gotten rapidly worse.”
“How so?” I asked, as I finally jumped into the conversation. My interest was piqued.
Cillian stood and stretched, “Besides the trouble with growing crops and the death of livestock? There have been more and more whispers of war rumbling through the Kingdom.”
“And, not just with men. The elves and faeries have been vocal in their disgust for men…” Emeline blurted.
Cillian straightened and barked at her, “Emeline!”
She just shrugged and went on, “It’s true! Many think they will begin to attack us out of distrust.”
I saw Skye’s demeanor change when Emeline had mentioned the elves and faeries. So far we hadn’t really talked much about them being a part of Tyalbrook. I really didn’t know much about them myself.
I recalled my mother telling me that the elves lived in an enchanted forest and kept mainly to themselves. Most people never ventured there, because they were afraid of the magic they possessed.
“It’s getting late,” Skye finally spoke as she stood up. “Should we return?”
The sudden sound of thundering hooves in the distance claimed my attention. Cillian must have heard it as well, because in an instant we were both standing guard in front of Skye and Emeline with our swords drawn at a ready position.
“Step into the shadows of the trees with them, Xander.” I didn’t even try to argue with Cillian as I pulled Skye and Emeline back.
I watched from afar as Cillian grabbed his bow and arrows and went about making it look like he had just been lounging about, target practicing by himself. He’d balled the picnic blanket up so that you couldn’t see all of the provisions we had.
A few moments later, the spectacle of riders that presented themselves almost knocked me over. Coming over a hill in the forest were two lines of riders, all wearing gleaming armor. The one lone rider in the very front carried a flag. It took me a moment make out the design, and if the red color hadn’t already alerted me, the picture of an outstretched lion with a sword in its paw confirmed who it was that we were about to meet.
The King’s army.
Emeline gasped; recognition of the flag must have hit her as well. I turned to look at the fear on her face and tried to reassure her.
“If they start anything I’ll help him, okay? I’m sure that they’re just passing through.”
“They never come to Sheridan. This can’t be a coincidence.”
Seeing Skye’s confusion, Emeline told her who the riders were in a whisper. I turned my attention to Cillian and watched as the party of riders pulled up about twenty feet away from him. Taking inventory of what we might be up against, I counted fourteen men, in two rows of seven. All were wearing armor, but none of them raised a weapon as they came across an armed Cillian.
Cillian lowered the crossbow and bowed slightly to the riders.
“What, may I ask, is the King’s army doing all the way out here?” He called out confidently.
“What is your name, peasant?” barked one of the men.
“Cillian Concade of Sheridan. What is your business with us, soldier? We are but a peaceful village.”
I gripped my sword handle tightly when I saw a soldier jump from his horse with his hand on the hilt of his sword. He took a few steps towards Cillian, who still held his bow. The soldier snapped menacingly, “You dare to question the business of the King’s men, Guardian?”
Guardian! Not good. How would the King know Cillian was a Guardian? From what he’d told me, they did not expose themselves as Guardians to anyone. Even the people in the village who they helped supposedly did not know their true heritage.
I could see Cillian’s lip
s curl up and anticipated a fight was soon to begin; however, a shout from the back of the line of riders stopped him from speaking.
“Enough!” yelled a strong voice, as a large sable colored horse pranced to the front of the line. The rider of this horse looked slightly smaller than many of the other assembled riders. He jumped down and removed his helmet, unlike the other soldier that Cillian had been verbally baiting.
“We’re not here for fighting, Smith,” the smaller soldier chastised as he walked forward. “Cillian Concade, we have heard that the lost Princess has made it back to Tyalbrook and is hiding in the village Sheridan. Are you aware of this?”
“Xander!” Skye cried softly, grabbing my arm from behind.
I kept my gaze on the army, looking for any odd movements. My eyes scanned each soldier, making sure that nobody removed their weapon or made any move to attack.
Never Let You Fall (The Prophecy of Tyalbrook) Page 26
