He had always kept his oath, but that night he was willing to break it, to tell the truth to one of her daughters, because he knew that Elizabeth knew everything about her sister.
He had planned to leave that night, but feared that it was not going to be that way. If they convinced him to, which would be easy to do, he would stay to help the princess with her powers. He was too good to leave.
Chapter 9
We arrived quickly to Gabriel´s house. I felt tired with my muscles cramping. I went up to my room quickly to have a good shower. Feeling the hot water on my body relaxed the accumulated tensions from the long day and it prepared me for what Eric wanted to tell me. I wasn´t sure that I would be a great warrior, you couldn´t tell that I had it in my blood, up to now I wasn´t any good.
I left the bathroom wrapped in a towel, lifting my gaze and found Eric looking at me. I blushed a little and he turned his head away so as not to look at me. I moved forward slowly, led by the desire and attraction I felt for him. I thought that he was going to tell me once and for all what was happening, but he promptly got up and turned around.
“Get dressed, we have to leave,” he said suddenly.
“Go? Where? I thought we would speak about us, not where we would go.”
“I am going to take you to meet someone. Right now, this is more important than us.” He finished the phrase with a sigh; I didn´t know if he was being impatient or if something was happening to him.
It hurt me greatly that he wouldn´t even look at me. Sometimes I struggled to understand him. I reminded myself to be patient and got dressed with him in the room. I didn´t care, the flame that had quickly arisen, was quickly extinguished. I wanted to understand him, but sometimes I found it difficult. I moved towards him and I hugged him from behind, burying my face in his back.
“I really want to know what is happening. I know that you will tell me in due time, but I cannot bear to be distanced from you, that you don´t look at me or hug me.”
I noted how his back relaxed a little and he turned round to embrace me.
“It isn´t my intention to distance myself from you, I cannot. And the last thing I want is to cause you pain,” he said in a low voice. “But this morning I got a fright when you fainted and this house seems to have ears in the wall. That is why I don´t speak much with you and I am tense,” he looked at me for a moment and kissed me on the forehead. “Don´t worry, soon things will be fixed.”
I grudgingly let him go and we went out the door. He made a gesture for me to be in silence. I didn´t know that we were leaving secretly. We got to the street. The air was fresh and pleasant; it made me feel refreshed.
We walked towards the Council, that great building in which we had been this morning. Eric told me how often the counsellors met; also that it had been a long time since there had been a celebration in the building.
“Since you disappeared, the empress has forbidden it,” he said in a distracted and neutral voice. I could tell that his mind was elsewhere; from time to time he would look back to make sure that no one was following us.
After a long walk, we left the city and headed towards the forest by one of the paths that seemed to end where the big trees appeared. As we left the city behind, everything looked smaller and more familiar. When we had left everything behind, Eric gave me his hand, intertwining our fingers to my surprise, as he looked distractedly at the trees. I looked at him and he smiled in that relaxed and mischievous way that gave me butterflies in the stomach.
We advanced decidedly in the direction of the forest and went further into it, following the path. After a few minutes a modest two floor house made of stone and natural wood blending in with our surroundings appeared before us. The lights were on, lighting up the trees and the plants closest to the house. We arrived to a wooden porch and stopped in front of the door. Eric raised his hand to knock on it. Before he could touch the wood, a voice was heard.
“Come in Eric, I have been waiting for you.”
I didn´t know who we were visiting in the middle of the forest by night; and my curiosity would not be calmed. Eric had told me nothing, after his brief commentary about the Council and me, I had spent the whole trip thinking about what I was going to find at the end of the path.
We entered into the house; it was cold and almost empty. There were shades where furniture had been; to the left there was a welcoming lounge hidden by the wall in the entrance. There was a large sofa and a man sitting in an armchair. He had brown hair and a big smile when he saw us. He got up and walked a few paces and bowed before me.
“Please don´t do that, greet me in the normal way.”
I did not like people bowing down before me. I was just like them, they didn´t have to do that.
“As you prefer princess.”
I smiled slightly and noticed a slight squeeze of my hand by Eric, his way of cheering me.
“Eric,” he greeted, “my condolences, I haven´t spoken to you since.”
Eric made a gesture of understanding and we sat down on the sofa.
“Kenneth,” started Eric “I suppose you know why we have come. Nobody knows that we are here.”
“I know my boy, don´t worry, you are protected.”
“Samantha,” Eric looked at me in a loving way. “He is Kenneth and he will help you develop your powers and discover others, if you have them,” he explained.
“Oh, she has them Eric. Let me tell you my dear that your powers are real and your sisters too.”
My suspicions were right; I knew that my intuition hadn´t failed me. In that instant I decided never to doubt myself again.
“How can you help me with my powers?” I asked with great curiosity, as that handsome man, with yellow eyes like a leopard watched me.
“I will help you to connect with your inner self and with Mother Nature. It will be hard; your sister has had many years of a head start.”
“Her sister is real,” Eric determined looked fixed at the man, “why do you and only you know that?”
“The empress didn´t want anyone to know that she had given birth to two precious daughters. You know the ancient stories, the people would separate them. That is why the night they disappeared, she ordered the search for her only daughter and heir, Samantha Owen.”
“Why call me and not my sister?”
“That, only she knows my dear,” he said heavily.
I remained distant for a moment while Eric continued asking him in an efficient manner, convincing him to stay and asking him what would his method be to get my powers back. I heard him say. I did not understand why my mother had chosen me and not my sister. Just at that moment, I remembered an important question for me.
“What is my sister’s name?”
“She is called Elizabeth. Only I have known this during years. It is a relief to be able to get rid of this burden.” His brownish-grey eyes were sincere, I knew he wasn´t lying. “That day your mother proclaimed that if any girl were presented to her that wasn´t her daughter, that person would be punished with fraud against the Kingdom,” he looked at Eric a second with a look full of meaning. He didn´t know what to say.
“And what do you suppose I should do? How will she know that I am truly her daughter? I will not let Eric come with me, if she thinks I am an impostor, I will take the punishment.”
The words came out of my mouth before I could think, leaving me with my cheeks burning from embarrassment. In that moment I was skeptical, I didn´t understand my mother´s posture.
“Believe me, she will know it is you,” he got up and took something that was on top of a shelf above the chimney. You are her living image.”
He showed me a photo of a woman, her face was smooth and perfect; her big eyes were full of life, showing her big smile. She seemed happy. I observed every detail of the old photograph. Her hair was a mixture of curly and straight. It was an oaky brown color. Her lips were full and her nose fine and rounded. My mind started to analyze every corner of the ima
ge with my own physique. Then I remembered my sister. She was thinner and had a fairer complexion than my mother, small eyes, her lips were equally fleshy, and she had straight hair and was fairer than the woman in the picture. I was the contrary, dark hair, almost black, with uneven curls, big eyes and fine lips. We were the living image of our mother, but in different ways. The likeness was undeniable. We were two poles apart, but hair-raisingly similar at the same time.
I stared at Kenneth. Words didn´t leave my mouth. I didn´t know what to think or ask. I felt overwhelmed.
“You are like the ying and the yang; two figures completely different, yet so greatly alike. You don´t have to be startled by this, nature knows what it does,” his words were wisdom to my ears and I soon recovered my composure and sanity.
“I am not startled, I am afraid,” I said firmly, lifting my eyes from the photo for the first time. “I want to learn now, I want to meet my mother and ask her about things that remain unknown to me. It doesn´t seem coherent nor fair that I have to learn to fight and manage my powers before crossing the gates of the palace, but I will do it the fastest I can so that I can resolve this mystery as soon as I can.”
“I told you she was decided,” Eric smiled at him while he squeezed my hand in support.
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Kenneth got up briskly from the sofa and headed towards the main door. We followed. “We have to get practicing as soon as possible.”
He left at a quick pace, coming to a stop in a clearing in the forest just in front of the house and looked at us in fun.
“What better place than the forest to blend with Mother Nature.”
I looked at Eric. His face was peaceful but I knew that beneath his beautiful face he hid something. I gave him a fleeing kiss on the lips, leaving him paralyzed, he didn´t expect it and I went to my new teacher a few steps away. Eric stayed there, standing, looking at me in surprise. I saw how he crossed a timid look with Kenneth. If Kenneth was a good wizard, he would have foreseen it, I thought.
I looked at him content and he responded with a fun smile. Of course he knew, somehow I could tell that he knew everything. He made me sit down on damp and cool ground, placing himself in front of me. We concentrated on my powers. He briefly explained to me that in order to develop them as fast and effectively as possible I should focus on connecting with my inner being and Earth. I closed my eyes and started to breathe deeply and calmly. With every exhalation I felt better, noting how my body and my mind relaxed. He started to speak slowly, telling me to search in my interior. That night we worked on the power of the Earth. I started to search without ceasing for the most important thing in my being and when I found it I pulled on it strongly as Kenneth had told me, extracting it from within, awaking it; that it may feel the power of the earth in which it was founded. After pulling on the inner force, I saw only a green light in my mind. It was all that I could discern. I filled myself with it and let myself go. I could see how it kept growing. My head started to hurt, but I kept pulling on it and making it grow. I didn´t know how long I had been this way when I returned to my body. I was aware of someone shouting at me, calmly but firmly. I opened my eyes and saw Eric in front of me with a concerned expression. Kenneth was at my side and had stopped shouting. My vision started to accommodate to the darkness until I fixed my gaze behind Eric. There were no longer any trees, they weren´t there.
Confused I looked at Eric. He was holding my hands; I had buried them in the earth without realizing it.
“What happened to the trees?” I asked.
“You have torn them down,” said Kenneth.
A long passageway opened before us, its end could not be seen, and it was full of fallen trees on either side. I remember smiling feeling satisfied before noting that my vision started to blur.
I awoke with my head in Eric´s lap. I turned quickly and he immediately asked me if I was alright. I calmed him and managed to sit up on the sofa a few minutes later. Before me was a small wooden table that hadn´t been there before, on top of which was a bowl with a hot liquid that smelt delicious.
A second later Kenneth arrived with a spoon, my stomach rumbled when I saw it. I was hungry.
“Today has been a busy day, the attack in the morning, training in the afternoon and now this. It is normal that you be tired. Forgive me for not having taken you for supper before coming,” Eric apologized with a repentant expression.
“Calm down, I am fine,” I took a large sip of soup before speaking again “What happened to all those trees?”
“Princess, do you not remember?” Kenneth looked at me curiously as I denied knowing with my head, and I took another sip of the flavorsome soup. “You did it!”
I almost choked when he said that. I couldn´t remember anything, just a sensation of immense power as I opened my eyes. He explained to me that I had spent a couple of hours meditating with his help.
“To begin with the earth moved,” he said smiling, “then all the trees fell at your order.”
“And why would I want to knock down so many trees? I love the forest,” I exclaimed.
“Shortly before finishing the mediation I told you to use your power, to verify that you had captured it, that it was anchored in your soul. I simply asked you to use it somehow to be able to see it. It worked.” He smiled triumphantly, “I haven´t lost my qualities of a teacher.”
“As you meditate and use your powers more, you will become more conscientious of them and they will help you whenever you need them. You will control them when you are awake,” Eric explained. “This process is what we do from childhood until discovering your power, until you turn twenty or twenty-five years old. You develop it little by little.”
“Yes,” Kenneth confirmed, “but you are going to have to do it in a week.”
Seeing the contradiction in Eric´s face, he quickly continued explaining his reasons. I was happy, the sooner the better.
“I am not going to stay and fight Eric, I am old and you know it. I have contributed to the kingdom the best I could all of my life. Now is time that my legacy,” he pointed to us, “acts. You are the future of this kingdom and you will change it. Believe me.”
He knew more than us about our future. As a good wizard, he never revealed his secrets.
“In one week you leave,” I intervened pensively.
“Yes,” he looked patiently at me, as his eyes shone beneath the sparks of the chimney, until that moment I hadn´t noticed the fire burning.
“Very good, we have a week,” I said getting up decidedly. “Here´s to training the best I can. Within a week everything will change. I will go to the palace, resolve my doubts and find my sister.”
I walked towards the door without looking back; I supposed that Eric would follow me. I turned for a moment to check, then I said goodbye to Kenneth, assuming that for one day, it was enough.
We left towards the city. The moon was waning, but we could still see the pathway that let to town. When we were out of sight of Kenneth´s house I took Eric´s hand and intertwined our fingers. He didn´t look at me, but I saw the corners of his mouth forming a smile. Minutes afterwards I started to question him.
“How do you know Kenneth?”
“He was my teacher; he helped me to develop my power.”
“Is it normal to keep in touch with the teachers?”
“No. He is a friend of my father. They grew up as if they were brothers. Kenneth´s mother took my father in when his parents were killed in battle. They are like brothers.”
“You mean it is like he is your uncle.”
“Yes, you could say that.”
“Have you told him about us?”
I noticed tension in his hand, although he relaxed quickly.
“I swear that I have told nothing, to nobody. Not even to him. He is a wizard, he has visions of the future, and he sees things.”
He bowed his head, and then he stood still to look at me eye to eye.
“I don´t want to put you in danger, even if
that means separating me from my family. I will never betray you, I…”
He left those words hanging in the air. He bowed his afflicted face so as not to allow me to see his eyes. I moved closer to him making him lift his head and look at me.
“I don´t care if he knows, I don´t care if anybody realizes. I would shout it to the four winds if it weren´t detrimental to you. I don´t care if nobody knows, or if everyone knows.” I had a knot in my throat; I wanted to tell him that I loved him but instead out came other words from my mouth. “I like you a lot, you are very important to me. And I know that you would never place me in danger.”
I didn´t know what else to say to him so that he wouldn´t worry, so that the expression of melancholy be wiped from his face. We continued along the path in silence. My head was filled with ideas, sensations, feelings and new information. At that moment the image of dancing with Eric sprung to my mind. Love had come from every pore of his skin, however, I wasn´t sure if what we were feeling for each other was real. We had met only a few days ago and the feeling seemed so strong and true that it could almost be touched. I didn´t know if this situation was normal, if the sons of the moon fell in love this way, but I didn´t care. Be it real or not, I preferred to flow with the moment. I felt sure and loved when I was with him. <
We stood still looking at the door. I was about to tell Eric that he could go and see his family whenever he wanted, that he didn´t have to feel obliged to be with me at all times, when suddenly, we heard a loud crash inside the house. The silence returned. We observed every corner of the house, but there was nothing, no fire, no lights… just darkness. We looked around; nobody seemed to have heard the noises, in the early hours of morning. All of a sudden the door opened with what sounded like thunder, it was definitely broken. It remained hanging to one side almost on the cobble stones, when a figure appeared from the shadows. It walked towards us slowly. In the doorway we could see a big man in an outfit that covered his face with the hood of a black cape that he wore over his clothes. His fingers were fine and long, as were his legs. The man, completely in black, spoke leaving us frozen.
Darkness The Diary of Samantha Owen Page 10
