Emerald Dreams (The Dream Traveler Series)

by Nicole Knight

  I kept pulling us both. Continuously putting one arm in front of the other was starting to rub my skin raw. I was sweating so bad that it was beginning to run into my eyes. I don't know how the knights haven't smelled me yet.

  Eventually, I was beside the two nights, but we had fifty feet between us. The grass was just barely tall enough and just barely quiet enough that we hadn't been discovered yet.

  With more effort and much more time, we made it past the knights standing guard. I kept crawling, and continued to crawl some more. I kept at it until the knights were no longer in my sight.

  The bigger sun, which I learned is the one they use to tell time, was now almost setting. It was high in the sky when we sent the horse back to its village.

  I dragged us over to the shade underneath of a tree. The grass here didn't look as burnt out. Maybe it would be a more comfortable place to hide for a while? I dragged Axel directly under the shade and then turned around to fit beside him.

  "How are you feeling?" I whispered.

  There was no one close enough to hear us.

  "I've felt much better," he whispered back.

  "What exactly is wrong?" I asked him, hoping I could help

  "I can't focus my sight or hearing. I feel nauseous like my body is rejecting what Wisdom gave me. I feel drained," he whispered.

  "Okay, well, we will stay here for a while. To be honest, I need a rest, too," I told him.

  "Violet?" he asked.

  "Yeah, Axel?" I answered.

  "Thank you."

  He was out before I could tell him he was welcome.

  When Axel finally came to, I was barely awake. The breeze was lightly pushing my hair around my face and coaxing me into drowsiness. When I saw him shift and try to sit upright, I helped him sit up slowly.

  "You don't look that good," Axel told me.

  "Yeah? You should see you," I told him

  "I don't wish to," Axel replied.

  "Are you feeling okay?"

  "Yeah, I'm fine," I said.

  "I just feel a little sleepy. It was exhausting pulling us both through there. I think that my body got rid of that stuff much faster than most people. I was sweating it out."

  "Well, you did great," he laid his hand on mine.

  "Take a little nap; you need to be at your best when we go in there. I'll keep watch."

  "Are you sure?" I asked.

  "Yes, rest your eyes," he hummed my lullaby quietly, and I closed my eyes.

  ◆◆◆

  It was sometime later when Axel woke me up and told me it was time we get moving.

  We didn't risk standing here, so we crawled on our hands and knees, waiting to drop flat to the ground if the need arose. We crawled until we could hear the sound of water. I could hear it barely moving.

  We must be approaching the moat.

  When we got close, I could see my assumption was correct. It sat only ten feet away from the outside wall of the castle.

  Once we pass that wall, we would be able to disguise ourselves as knights and enter the castle. I crawled up to the edge of the moat with Axel beside me. I looked down at the water. It was supposed to be still water. Yet there was splashing coming from the other side of the moat.

  It wouldn't splash if the moat were empty. Suddenly what was inside made an appearance. At first, I just saw one snake. It brought itself up to the surface only to turn and go back out of sight. Another one did this a few seconds later, then another showed itself.

  Great, this whole moat was full of snakes. They scared me to death and gave me the chills. I couldn't swim through a moat infested with them. There had to be another way over.

  Sensing my inner turmoil, Axel shook his head.

  "No other discrete way," he mouthed to me.

  This sucks!

  Axel turned around and stuck his feet in the water. He slowly slid down further into the water as not to step on a snake. When his feet were firm on the bottom, he was chest-deep. He reached out for my shaking hands to drag me in with him.

  I let him grasp my hands and drag me. He grasped my feet and slowly brought them into the water. He slowly kept pulling me in further and further. It was a slow process.

  I could feel the snakes circling my legs every so often but kept my eyes closed so I wouldn't see them. It took everything I had not to just freeze up and prevent Axel from moving me across the moat. When my feet were on the bottom, I was up to my shoulders.

  I was shaking underneath Axel's grasp and was afraid to take a step.

  "Drag your feet across the bottom. That way, you won't step on one," he told me.

  At one point, I felt a stabbing pain in my leg. There were actually two separate spots that hurt. I had no doubt been bit. I couldn't scream or couldn't cry. That would give away our position.

  I decided not to tell Axel. He would worry too much, and it would slow us down. We have come too far to give up now. I had to keep pushing through the burning pain.

  He turned his back towards the castle and would slide his feet backward. He never once took his eyes or hands off of me as he slowly guided us through the water. I could feel the rough skin sliding across my legs on occasion and did the best I could not to scream.

  After what felt like forever, Axel was backed up against the other side of the moat. He quickly scaled it and climbed onto the bank. He pulled me up, and I crawled as far as I could away from the moat, which wasn't far. The outside wall of the castle was only ten feet away. That is as far as I would be able to get because the moat maintained that distance all the way around the wall.

  "Okay, there might be people on the other side," he mouthed.

  "We need to be prepared to fight."

  I rubbed at the burning sensation on my leg but stood up and prepared for what was ahead. From here on out, there would be a lot of excitement and moving. This was the turning point, and we both knew it.

  I checked to make sure my magic blocker hadn't floated out of my pocket and that my sword was still at my side. When I was happy, they were both there, I looked up to Axel and gave him a firm nod.

  I squeezed his hand, my silent thank you for helping me through the moat. I wouldn't have been able to do it without him, and we both knew it.

  We were a team helping each other through their weaknesses.

  I saw a tree growing up against the wall.

  What other better way to scale the wall than to climb a tree?

  I pointed to it. Axel gave me a small nod that said that he understood. He silently walked over to it, and Axel gave me a boost. He made a step with his hands. I put one foot in his hands like we practiced, and he almost effortlessly lifted me up to the lowest strong branch.

  When I was perched and balanced, I lowered my hands down and helped pull him up. With his legs against the trunk, and my hands holding onto his, he almost walked up the side of the tree.

  Once we were both on the branch, we kept climbing. We were careful not to shake a branch too much, keeping all the leaves from rustling. Within a few minutes, we were high enough in the tree to see over the wall.

  Like Axel had anticipated, there were two knights between the outer wall and the castle's main wall. I could hear noises coming from inside of the castle even though I couldn't see anyone inside.

  "I've got this," Axel mouthed to me, pointing at the two knights.

  I slowly pulled out my sword and handed it to him. Two swords meant two surprise attacks, not just one. I had once seen Madison's brother play Assassins Creed on his Xbox. It reminded me of the jump that the main character did. They called it an assassination.

  I turned my head because I didn't want to watch what I knew was about to happen. I felt Axel leave the branch and heard two bodies hit the ground. There was no cry, no loud noise, only a soft thud.

  "Pssst," I heard.

  I looked down at Axel, who was motioning for me to jump. He had his sword put away, and mine was lying on the ground a few feet away.

  I took a breath and jumped.

&n
bsp; Of course, Axel caught me, acting like I weighed nothing. He quickly gave me a quick kiss on the lips and then set me down.

  Leave it to him to still give me butterflies, even in the middle of life or death situations.

  I picked up my sword and set it back in its sheath. Axel pulled the armor off of the two bodies. He wiped the blood off one set and helped me put it on.

  When I was dressed in the full set, excluding the helmet, he said, "That's a good look on you. My princess, the brave warrior."

  He gave me another quick kiss and placed the helmet over my head. He tucked my hair into the helmet so that it couldn't be seen. How did he move around so freely in this stuff? It was incredibly heavy.

  He then quickly dressed in his new set. He motioned for me to follow him towards the entrance of the castle.

  Here we go...

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  We passed other men dressed in the same armor we were wearing. Most of them had their faceplates up, but we didn't dare copy them.

  We walked through the big entrance to the castle. We kept pace with all of the others walking into the big spacious entrance.

  Men were carrying big crates and women carrying fabrics. People were continually transporting things in and outside of the castle. This made the area very busy and hard to navigate, with only a limited view. Now I know why the other knights had their faceplates up.

  Axel turned right, and I followed his lead. We walked through several rooms, including a massive kitchen. It was weird to see what one of this size looked like without modern appliances.

  I imagine it would be hard for Victoria to get an oven here.

  We walked down a narrow set of stone stairs. They were slippery with what looked like blood. I had to be careful not to slip. I couldn't bring any attention to us.

  We made it to the bottom of the stairs and walked down another hallway. Axel nodded at the other knight on guard and saluted. I once again followed his lead. I'm assuming that it is like a secret code.

  The knight stood out of our way, and we walked to the end of the hallway. At the end was another staircase. This one spiraled all the way down. Each step was so tiny I could barely put my whole foot on it.

  At the bottom of the stairs, the smell hit me. It smelt very strongly of human waste and decay. I almost threw up inside of my helmet. My stomach was immediately uneasy.

  I looked around. There were bars and cages everywhere. Almost every cage was full. This was the dungeon. This is where Axel's mom and sister were being kept? I felt so sorry for them. This place was enough to give me nightmares. I couldn't imagine how a fifteen-year-old would feel.

  Axel led us through the dungeon and stopped in front of one of the cells. Inside sat two women. One looked very old with stress. She had worry lines grooved into her face. Her hair was starting to gray at the top. The rest of her hair was black, just like her son. She was barely wearing rags. Her arms were wrapped around her as she shivered.

  The other woman was young. She looked fifteen like Axel had said. She had his black hair as well, but her hair was very long. It fell most of the way down her back. Her eyes were entirely gold. She looked scared. She was scared that there were two knights stopped in front of her cell.

  What did she think we were going to do to her?

  I looked around for any other knights on guard. There was one on the other side of the room, but his back was to me. I pulled my facemask up and whispered, "I am Violet, I'm here to help. The other knight with me can't raise his mask because he can't risk being seen, but he knows you both really well."

  "Is it Axel?" his mother whispered back, looking at him standing next to me.

  She looked as if she was trying to see through the armor for confirmation. Axel nodded his head. Before his mother and sister could react, I had to get them in on the plan.

  "Shhh, don't react, don't say anything. That guard at the end of the hall is watching us. By now, he is wondering why we are here and why we stopped to talk to you. You need to act scared right now like I am threatening you both. Whatever we do, we cannot let them figure out he is in the castle. We would immediately be killed," I whispered as quietly as I could.

  His mother nodded, still looking scared; she then suddenly changed her face to one of horror. She was a good actress, but I wasn't entirely sure if she was acting or not. Axel's sister never had anything but fear on her face.

  "He's coming," Axel whispered.

  Great, more complications.

  Axel spoke to the guard on duty, "I came to borrow these prisoners. The King wishes to question them about the traitor's whereabouts."

  "What proof did the King give you to show me?" the other guard asked, obviously annoyed.

  "He told me he didn't need to give you proof. If you knew what was good for you, you would release them to my custody," Axel said, grasping at straws.

  There had been a new code put into place since he left. He was out of their loop now.

  "Very well," he said.

  He opened the cell and let the women walk out. Axel's mother walked out first, and then his sister behind her. The knight grabbed Axel's sister and drew his sword. He raised it and put it next to her throat.

  "I don't believe you," he said.

  Axel's mother started crying.

  "Please, don't hurt my baby," she pleaded.

  It was heartbreaking to hear.

  "There is no need to harm her," Axel said.

  "Are you trying to get me in trouble with the King? If I don't deliver, I will be punished."

  "You need to be punished, Sir Axel," the knight said. Oh no. This isn't good...

  "I was warned you might come back and try to take your mother and sister. You might have been the best knight, the King's pet, but you aren't anymore. This was all a trap set up to bring you here, and you fell for it. You are a fool, Axel, giving this up, for what? I don't know what your plans are, but they are over now," he said angerly.

  He pressed the blade closer to Jessica's throat.

  Think, think.

  If only I could get her to move out of the way without getting hurt. I couldn't use my magic. The only thing that I could use past magic blockers is getting in someone's head. It's the only type of magic that worked on Axel. It worked through his natural blocking ability.

  Maybe I could do it while I was wearing my own blocker? It was worth a try. Perhaps I could do the same thing to Axel's sister that happened to me on the battlefield. I could knock her out to surprise the guard and strike when he was confused.

  I sent all of my awareness into wanting to know what the girl was thinking. I couldn't touch her without the Knight sticking his blade into her neck. I hoped I could do this without physical contact.

  I kept searching and searching for a way into her mind. I didn't have much practice since it was frowned upon.

  After what felt like forever, I found a small crack in her mind's barrier. It looked almost like a castle wall. I took my chance and entered it.

  The first thing I felt was an overwhelming amount of fear. I could see myself through her eyes. She was pleading for us to do something. I was about to, and I hoped she would forgive me for it.

  I knocked her out. Just like that, I turned off her consciousness. It was as simple as flipping a switch in her mind.

  I was immediately kicked out of her mind in time to see her fall to the ground. When she hit the ground and was out of direct range of the knight's sword, I jumped him. I disarmed him while we were still in the air.

  When we made impact with the ground, I was on top of him, wielding his sword. I had the point directed towards the gap in his armor, right at his throat. He swallowed hard.

  I kept shoving it in his direction. I was trying to build up the courage to end another life. It was so hard now that this guy wasn't a direct threat to me.

  "I'll do it," I heard Axel say from behind me.

  I handed him the sword and kept my weight on the Knight until Axel had his own weight securing him. He ra
ised his faceplate to look at me, "Take them, I don't want them to see this."

  I nodded and stood up.

  I picked up Axel's sister and struggled to carry her to the stairs. Axel's mom followed behind me.

  "Don't look," I told her as I watched what was happening behind her.

  "I won't," was all she said.

  Did it scare her that her son was murdering someone? It wasn't something I would want to think about if I were her.

  Another moment later she asked me, "Who are you? Why are you helping my son?"

  Axel interceded like he always does before I could answer, "First, her name is Violet, and I'm courting her, Mother. She is helping me because this is part of her destiny. She is the second reincarnation of the prophecy."

  I slowly watched her eyes grow with her surprise as she heard each new statement. Axel was standing behind her now. She turned around and hugged him, I had never seen a more touching reunion scene.

  "You are courting her?" she asked after a long moment of hugging it out.

  "You found your equal?"

  "Yes Mother, I did and she really is my equal. She isn't bad in a sword fight. Not bad at magic either," he said.

  She hugged him again. "My baby is a man," she said, starting to cry.

  Then she suddenly pulled back.

  She turned to me, "Axel, take your sister for a moment."

  He stepped in front of me and took his sister from my arms. We shared a look. I didn't know what to expect next, but the gold in his eyes told me that it was going to be okay. I could almost hear the joke he was thinking about making.

  When Axel stepped out of the way, and she could see me again, his mother spoke to me, "Forgive me, I am sorry. I have been so rude."

  She wrapped me in a hug.

  "Thank you so much, Violet, for helping secure my family's freedom. I am forever indebted to you. You are part of the prophecy, how is this so? How do you know for sure? I don't mean to doubt you, but I am confused. We don't have knowledge on the prophecy except what it promises," she said.