I was a little surprised he was fighting for it, the last few hours I’d started to get the idea he didn’t want me around at all anymore, even though I couldn’t reason out why. The man gave me emotional whiplash.
The king said carefully, “I will think on this. Perhaps James will find more pertinent information,” he looked at me, “I assume a small delay is acceptable, and you won’t charge off immediately?”
“Yes your majesty,” I said in a strong voice, a little annoyed at his condescension. It wasn’t lost on me that even if I didn’t work for him, he could still command me within this kingdom.
The king ordered, “Very well, Gerard, take her to a guest room, and we will decide when we have all the information. I can’t ignore so grave a threat, but I would not lightly send anyone north to Jendas if it can be avoided. You may go.”
I followed Gerard out of the door, and into a guest wing. I’d hoped for quick agreement, the dream vision had been very disturbing, but it would have to wait. I just hoped it wasn’t put off for too long…
Chapter 11
I imagined I looked awful, and that my eyes were red.
Gerard had brought me to a large bedroom in the guest wing, and had left me there with a stiff nod. Somehow I’d expected him to be more… forward with me now that I was staying, and perhaps pleased. Empathy only told me that he was still attracted to me, and did care for me, which is why I hadn’t lost it yet, but he was also conflicted about it and I had no idea why.
Somehow I’d offended him again, but I couldn’t imagine why, or how. Regardless, Gerard wasn’t the reason I’d been lying in this room for hours going between deep sadness, crying, and occasionally sobbing, all that was because of what I’d lost, my home was gone.
I only thought of Gerard, because I’d wanted to lean on his shoulder for comfort, but he wasn’t here, and it pissed me off.
I got up and washed my face, after slightly heating the water in the bowl.
I was also in a dress again after taking a bath, this time a dark green. I still wasn’t crazy about dresses, but outside of riding clothes women didn’t wear pants here, and I did look good in them. It was also far more comfortable than the riding clothes which were a bit stiff. There was also something to be said to leaving most to the imagination, although it wouldn’t have worked quite the same on my old world and in that society.
I sighed when there was a knock on the door, and I tried to pull myself together as I moved to answer it. At least I didn’t look like I’d been crying for hours and had fixed myself up a bit, super physiology is good that way.
“Yes,” I asked the nervous looking maid as I opened the door.
She said in a clear voice, “Dinner is ready. I can lead you to the dining room.”
I felt a moment of guilt as I dipped into her mind. The people of Southwater hardly knew the etiquette of dining with the king, or about life in the capitol city, and I didn’t want to make any mistakes. I ignored the young woman’s experiences and personal life as much as possible, and just pulled the relevant facts of life in the castle from her mind. Not just about food, but court and modes of address.
It wasn’t exactly an emergency, but I didn’t want to offend the king because of ignorance either, and apparently Gerard had left me to fend for myself, at least until it came time to go north. Assuming he was allowed to go that is. It also made me feel needy, and I hated that. I wished he would just tell me what I’d done, are all men so impossible?
Regardless, it didn’t take me long to pull the information from her mind. It wasn’t all that different from other formal type dinners on my world. The only big difference was we all had to stand when the king came out, and then sit after he did. Then we had to wait for him to take the first bite before we could eat, or even drink.
We also couldn’t leave the table until the royal family had excused themselves first.
I said, “Thank you,” and I gestured her to lead me to dinner. Even though I pretty much knew the layout of the castle now, thanks to her memories of it.
She led me back into the main part of the castle, and then through several halls that seemed both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. She stopped outside the dining room and curtseyed. I nodded my thanks before going into the room. The dining hall had large table on a raised dais of sorts, near the front of the room, where the king, his family which included a young five-year-old boy, and several nobles of the kingdom sat. Some of the nobles were present, but the King and his family were not yet.
There were other tables as well, sitting below them in height and under their gaze. The soldiers sat in one area, while many others stood around the hall as guards. There was another long table for the paladins that worked for the king and were present in the capitol at the time, as well as the guard officers, and other minor functionaries. I assumed that one was where I should sit, and made my way over there.
As for the servants, they ate in the kitchens.
I nodded in greeting as I sat with some other paladins. I couldn’t help but notice there weren’t many female paladins at all. In fact, I seemed to be the only one present right now. I wondered if that meant the gods chose much more men than women for the position of a warrior priest, or if women just rarely chose service to the king. Still, there were only about fifteen in all at the table.
They all gave me a second look, and a very warm greeting that put a soft smile on my face. I knew it was shallow, but I ate up the attention. I wasn’t a woman that slept around, but I did enjoy flirting and attention quite a bit. After dealing with a grumpy or absent Gerard all day, it was a nice change.
Speak of the devil, or think of him anyway.
Gerard sat down rather close to me with a scowl on his face, and he wasn’t scowling at me. He seemed to be staking a claim on me rather blatantly in front of the other paladins, which both annoyed me because of how’d he’d been, and put a slight smile on my face.
“Hi Gerard,” I said softly, “Where have you been hiding?”
He grunted, “I had to report on the rest of my tour at Southwater, I just finished a few minutes ago.”
I nodded, maybe he wasn’t avoiding me then, but he was annoyed with me. I hadn’t been imagining that part. He was going to drive me crazy. So of course, I decided to poke at him.
“Is there something wrong, you look out of sorts?” I asked teasingly.
He sighed but before he could answer the king came out and we all stood. Then we sat back down after he did. He didn’t give a speech or anything like that, he just nodded to a few people at the head table, and then started eating.
After the din of eating started, Gerard said to me, “We’ll talk about it later.”
I nodded in agreement, and thought that it was about time.
I drew a few looks from the other paladins when I created quite a pile of food on my plate. And drew quite a few comments as well, when I finished it all off and went for seconds. It was even better than what I’d been eating at the inns. Plus, I had to satisfy the metabolism, my super abilities burned a lot of calories.
When the king got up and took his leave, with the queen and their son following behind, I was excited. I figured Gerard and I could talk it out, and then maybe get to some of that kissing finally. I knew I should play harder to get, but I couldn’t help myself, I felt the same way he did, and I’d been dying to kiss him, really kiss him, for days now. My stomach was doing those flips again, and my heart sped up at the way he’d been so possessive of me throughout dinner.
When we got up to leave, James walked over. He’d been sitting at our table a few seats down.
“Gerard, Katrina. I do have some information for you, is now a good time?”
I clenched my teeth in frustration as Gerard nodded, “Sure, let’s find an empty room to discuss it,” and the three of us walked off together.
Frustrated, just didn’t quite cover how I felt...
After we all found a meeting room, and took a seat around a table James cleared his
throat.
“There wasn’t much to be honest. There’s one old legend, very sparse on detail, that was about an evil mage of great power that no one could destroy thousands of years ago. The undead were involved as well somehow, but no real specifics. It reads like a story, not a battle report, and it was only in one of the oldest manuscripts. Thousands of years old.
“Anyway, it said that the war went on for several years, until the evil was beat back into its lair, a black castle named Shadowhall far to the north in the mountains, which is the only clue that matches this story with your vision. Even then, when the mage had been beaten back, the greatest mages, clerics and witches of the age couldn’t completely destroy the evil abomination that the mage had become, so they worked together to seal it forever within stone, and trapped it in the depths of the evil mage’s own castle.
“Though, how and what they did exactly isn’t written down. It’s also written that those who entrapped the great evil all died in the making of its prison. Again, it doesn’t say how, or why. Honestly, it reads like a bad tale, although even a bad tale would have more detail. It’s not like a history text at all. I got the idea the author wasn’t actually there, and was using broad strokes to record the events after the fact. When there was no one left around that had been there. If it wasn’t for Katrina’s dream, I’d have said it was made up crap.”
Gerard shook his head with a thoughtfully disappointed look on his face, “Thanks for looking old man, I’m not sure how much help that will be in persuading the king. I suppose we’ll find out in the morning.”
I added my own thanks, not really having anything else to say. It sounded singularly unhelpful. Big bad evil thing up north, check. Vision to go kill it, check. That was all I had. This was a crazy world. No wonder they were still in the dark ages. Speaking of which, as soon as this was done I was going to find a blacksmith and start a plumbing revolution.
Not really for me either, I could gather water and make my own baths, I’d been managing to keep really clean actually. It was everyone else I was worried about. Well, and my nose, which sadly was getting used to it, and had started to filter out the smell.
The meeting broke up, it hadn’t taken all that much time, and I took Gerard’s arm when he offered to walk me back to my room. We stopped in front of my door.
“Will you come in? We still need to talk,” I said softly.
He shook his head, “It isn’t that complicated, I just need time to get over it. I care about you very much Katrina.”
I tilted my head confused, “Get over what?”
He smiled a little bitterly and said, “That I’m the consolation prize.”
I froze for a second, as I finally understood. He’d wanted me to choose him, not be a second choice. Whatever we were or would be in the future, was simply because I couldn’t go home. I kind of got that, no one likes to be second place, or the second choice, but it also wasn’t at all fair.
I sighed in exasperation, “Gerard. If the choice had just been you and another guy, I’d have stayed in a heartbeat. I care about you a great deal, and you have no idea how hard it was to say goodbye, thinking I would never see you again.
“But it wasn’t between you and another man, it was between you, and my whole world. My mother, father, friends, the life I knew, everything. So yes, I would have gone home had it been possible, I’ve only known you for what, a week now?”
I shook my head in annoyance, why was he always making things difficult? It seemed like it should be simpler than this.
I added, “Possibly it would have even gone in your favor if there’d been time to grow closer and maybe fall in love, but we’ll never know that. So… get over it, and then decide. I won’t wait forever for you to make up your mind.
“I’m here, yours if you want me, just in case you missed that fact somehow, I don’t know how to make that any clearer to you. Good night,” I added coldly as I slipped into my room and shut the door in his shocked face.
Of course, I regretted my harsh outburst as soon as I was alone, again. I hadn’t been wrong this time though, are all men such babies when it comes to ego? Gerard was a strong tough man, a paladin that was deadly with a sword, he was a warrior. Brave, and fearless. I decided not to try anymore, he’d either step up and be a man, or I’d see what else came along. For goodness sake, we hadn’t even kissed yet, just suffered through an endless amount of sexual tension, and for what?
Because he’d wanted more, and now that he could have it his feelings were bruised?
I sighed in frustration, I just didn’t understand men at all. I’d only slept with one guy before, and that had been a major error in judgment. I sat on the bed, pulled my boots off and stared at the ceiling for a while. I wasn’t ready for sleep, so I grabbed the book of spells and flipped through the pages. There were several that looked handy, but I chose two to memorize tonight. The prayers weren’t all that long or even complicated.
I chose healing, just in case we needed it. The second spell I picked was magic weapon. According to the explanation, it was like a temporary enchantment for my dagger to give it holy power. Which would help me break through mage shields faster, and would also harm the undead. James mentioned the undead might have been involved in that report, so it couldn’t hurt to be ready for that kind of monster.
I guessed my telekinesis would probably work on a skeletons or zombies, but what about an apparition like a ghost? For that I’d need some kind of blessed or magic weapon, and all I had was a normal dagger. I wondered how hard it was to find a holy weapon of some kind like Gerard’s sword, so I didn’t need to do that.
There were several other spells I wanted as well, they were all useful in some way or another, but I didn’t want to stay up all night either.
It was a few hours later before I was sure that I could do both of those spells, or prayers since it would be Arella’s magic, and I’d be merely a conduit for her power, however that worked.
As I laid back down to go to bed, I realized I hadn’t exactly been wrong about what I’d said to Gerard, but I could have been a bit less harsh about it. I supposed I had also been mad at him, I’d expected him to comfort me about losing my world, and my family, but he’d isolated me instead, so I was a bit angry about that.
Eventually, I fell asleep. Thankfully, I didn’t dream, or at least, not the vision kind.
Chapter 12
The next morning after breakfast, we were back in the throne room where Gerard shared the thin story that James had found in the library. Gerard was still in a funk, and I ignored it. Now that I knew what it was about I’d let him either work through it, or eventually give up on him. Still, it was driving me crazy, I still wanted him.
The king frowned, “That isn’t much to go on. I’m afraid I won’t be able to order you to act in my name across the border, do you understand? I can’t send my people into Jendas during this time, it may precipitate a war. If word of such an order reached the king of Jendas it could be disastrous. Although you are not one of my paladins Katrina, I urge you to be cautious and think it through carefully before going. Surely there will be others that can take care of this issue already in Jendas. You are dismissed.”
I felt sick, was I going to have to do this on my own?
I bowed to the king automatically when Gerard did, and we turned around to go.
The king spoke again, “Gerard, before I forget.”
Gerard turned toward the king and the king continued.
“Your reported actions in Southwater have been outstanding. I believe before that you rooted out a tribe of goblins, and previous to that you did a training stint up at Ironcastle on the northern border to get the troops in shape.”
Gerard answered uncertainly, “Yes your majesty, that is correct.”
The king smiled, the first one I’d ever seen on his face, “Why don’t you take a few weeks off? In fact, make it two months. Go enjoy yourself, you’ve earned some time to recuperate after a hard year of constant work on my b
ehalf.”
Gerard smiled, “Yes your majesty, thank you.”
The king waved his hand and we left, Gerard chuckled when we got outside.
He smiled at me with humor, “I guess we’re going north, it should be a hell of a vacation.”
The rest of the day was taken up with planning and packing. Gerard told me that Jendas despite being a bit harsher, was in truth a lot like this human kingdom, and worshipped the same gods. As a result of that, two paladins travelling together wouldn’t be cause for alarm. The only dangers were being recognized by the paladins in that kingdom, which should be avoidable with a modicum of caution.
The biggest danger would be in crossing the border, and of course we would have to lay low once we crossed. Yet, disguises weren’t really possible, I couldn’t even imagine hiding my connection to Arella, and imagined Gerard felt the same way about Ictia. Paladins did not hide their holy symbols, I knew that instinctively, it wasn’t something that had to be taught.
We would just have to avoid other paladins, or high ranking people in their government whenever possible.
As for packing, we just refreshed our food stores, and I packed warmer underclothes for below my travel leathers. Apparently once we got far enough north, it would get a little cold. Some supers were immune to that sort of thing, but me primarily having mental powers, wasn’t included in that. Still, worse come to worse I could use telekinesis, specifically a mixture of aero-kinesis and pyro-kinesis, to keep the air nearby me warm.
But it was just easier to pack the warmer thick cotton underclothes. There was plenty of room once I removed most of the dresses. I kept two in my satchel just in case, but I imagined I’d be wearing my riding outfits for most if not all of the trip.
Gerard still held me at arm’s length for the rest of the day, figuratively speaking, but at least he didn’t seem very angry at all. I truly hoped he got over his ego soon, it would be his loss if he didn’t. Perhaps mine as well, but I tried not to dwell, it wasn’t my decision. I’d already made mine, and declared it to him, even if it had been during a tirade of sorts.
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