“You don’t look any older than eighteen!” Crystal exclaimed.
“I had just turned seventeen the day before, actually,” Althea replied.
“You were still practically a child!” Crystal muttered in disbelief.
“I did not want to marry so young, nor did even I want to marry Bogdan.” Althea explained, “My father was the king of Balim, which is a kingdom southwest of Daldussa, and he wanted to form an alliance with Bogdan. After Bogdan was crowned king three years before the wedding, my father offered to give me as his wife in exchange for an alliance. Bogdan agreed, and so three years later, once I was old enough to be married, here I was, petrified and unsure of what would come next.”
Crystal felt disgusted that a man could sell his daughter like that, but what made her gut wrench more was the look on the young Bogdan’s face when he said, “I do.” He then kissed Althea and the crowd clapped. By the look on the young Althea’s face, Crystal could tell this was the princess’s first kiss.
“Little did I know,” Althea said sadly, “just what kind of horrors would await me over the next four years.”
The scene suddenly changed again to a scene with the young Althea in a library. The Althea in the vision was sitting in a chair reading a book when Bogdan marched into the room and snatched the book out of her hand. She jumped out of her chair with a scared look on her face and tried not to look him in the eyes. He then started yelling at her and asking things like “What have I told you about that?” and “How dare you disrespect me!”
“He wouldn’t even let you read?” Crystal asked.
“No.” Althea responded, “Bogdan was a chauvinist to the core, so I couldn’t enjoy my favorite past time without making him angry.”
Just when Crystal was about to respond, the vision Bogdan struck the vision Althea with the back of his hand and knocked her to the floor. Crystal gasped and put a hand to her mouth and watched helplessly as the vision Althea lay on the floor sobbing and repeatedly saying, “I’m sorry.”
The vision Bogdan then sneered at her before strolling casually out of the room and slamming the door shut behind him.
Crystal looked at Blaze, who had been silent the whole time, and saw the anger in his face. He brought his hand up to his forehead and closed his eyes, unable to take in what he just witnessed.
“Believe it or not, that wasn’t even the worst of the abuse I endured,” Althea muttered. Her younger self then rose to her feet when she saw she was alone, and Blaze and Crystal both had watery eyes when they saw the large, bloody bruise already forming on the side of her face. The poor girl touched the side of her face and looked at her fingers to discover the blood. She then walked weakly out of the room with a blank expression on her face. “Bogdan always found a reason to hurt me. I suffered through not only physical abuse, but also emotional and sexual abuse on top of it. He always made me feel like I was his slave rather than his queen.”
Blaze began breathing heavily out of anger, so Crystal grabbed his hand and squeezed it in an assuring manner, which calmed him down.
“After a year, I even tried to take my own life, but thankfully, someone was there to stop me,” Althea said, “and he would be the one person that would not only make my life bearable, but he would give me all the things in life that no one else would.”
The scene then changed again. They were now in a large, run-down kitchen and a young man was on his hands and knees scrubbing the floor with a scrubbing brush and a bucket of soapy water. He was slightly lanky and had thin, dark hair that reached the bottom of his neck. He wore torn old clothing that was too big for him that was covered in patches.
Suddenly, the Althea from the previous vision came walking through the doorway. Her face was still bleeding and her face was soaked with tears. The second the servant saw her, he dropped everything and wiped his wet hands on his clothes as he rushed over to her.
“Let me see,” he said urgently. It was clear by the way he said it that this wasn’t the first time Althea walked into the kitchen with a blood covered wound. He was tall, but not as tall as Bogdan, so even though he looked down at the teary-eyed queen, it was in a gentle and calming manner rather than an intimidating manner. The young servant gently lifted Althea’s face with his forefinger and thumb, and carefully examined the wound.
After he gave her a reassuring expression, the servant then set Althea down on a nearby chair, wet a rag and rung the excess water out of it, and knelt by her side, lightly dabbing the cloth on the wound. She winced a few times, and so the servant patiently paused until the pain stopped and then started cleaning the wound again.
“He was always there for me.” Althea said, “He may have been just a kitchen servant to the rest of the world, but to me, he was the world. He always held me when I cried, treated my wounds when Bogdan hit me, and before long . . .” After trailing off, she watched herself stare into the servant’s eyes. Without warning, the servant gently kissed the vision Althea on the lips, and then the real Althea added, “. . . we fell in love.”
Crystal wiped a tear from her eye as she watched the servant brush a curl from Althea’s face as he continued to gently kiss her. She then looked at Blaze and saw a slight smile try to form in the corner of his mouth. Upon looking back at the servant, however, she couldn’t help but notice his eyes after he pulled away from the kiss. They were brown, and the way he smiled at Althea made him seem familiar to Crystal, but she knew she couldn’t possibly know a servant from Daldussa.
“We tried to hide our feelings because we knew that it could cost us our lives if we acted on them, but neither of us could run from it anymore. Less than a year after we met, he and I finally confessed our love and we had an affair in secret,” Althea said.
The scene changed once again to Althea staring out of her bedroom window. From where she was standing, Crystal could see a carriage leaving a drawbridge and then traveling down a mountainous path.
“Throughout the next two years, there were times when Bogdan had to leave for weeks and sometimes months at a time to see to business with his military. While he was gone, my lover would sneak into my bedroom every night,” Althea told them.
In the vision, they then saw the servant walk through the door and lock it behind him. He and Althea then approached each other and without hesitation, passionately kissed. Crystal blushed as she watched Althea unbutton the servant’s shirt and pull it off, and she looked away when she saw the servant begin to unlace the back of Althea’s dress as he kissed her neck. Crystal noticed that Blaze was looking away too, but fortunately, the scene changed again before it just as the two of them fell onto the bed and began pulling each other’s clothes off.
The scene now showed Althea six months pregnant and sitting in a rocking chair with Bogdan looking down at her. He was smiling, but in his usual sickening fashion, and actually boasting about finally having a son.
“Bogdan often yelled at me for not giving him a son, and finally, he got his wish. I became pregnant, and even though no one could have known it was a boy, he still wanted to believe it was. I prayed and prayed that I would have a boy out of fear of what he would do if I didn’t. Obviously, though, my prayers were answered,” Althea then smiled at Blaze again, who managed to smile back.
The scene shifted again suddenly to a very sweet and heartwarming sight. Althea, who was the same age as the spirit speaking to them, was sitting in a chair in a nursery holding a tiny newborn baby with thick black hair and blue eyes. Crystal smiled and laughed as the baby Blaze grabbed one of Althea’s curls and giggled. The vision Althea kissed her baby boy over and over again and the tiny Blaze giggled more.
Crystal then looked at the grown Blaze that she knew and was stunned to see his eyes watering. It broke her heart to see Blaze this way and she wondered what would have happened if Althea had lived long enough for her son to have remembered her. She knew he felt blessed to have taken after her instead of Bogdan.
Suddenly, in the vision, Bogdan walked into the nursery an
d sensing his presence, the vision Althea grew silent and now bore a fake smile. He stepped behind her and put his hand on her shoulder, and Crystal could see her wince.
“He’s going to be a fierce warrior someday,” Bogdan said proudly, “just like his father.”
Crystal saw the vision Althea close her eyes to fight back tears, and when she looked back at Blaze, she saw the guilt and shame flood across his face.
“That was the moment I decided that I could never let you be like Bogdan, Blaze.” Althea said, “Bogdan gave me only one choice the entire time we were married, and that was what to name you. I chose the name ‘Blaze’ from my favorite book as a child. He was a noble and kind hero, and I wanted you to be the same way. You see, my lover had found a way for us to escape the castle so we could flee the kingdom and get married, but I felt I couldn’t leave because I was afraid that you would be put in danger. However, I finally decided that I was going to give you the choice to be the person you wanted to be, and so, my lover and I decided to leave Daldussa and flee to Cierith.”
“Why Cierith?” Crystal asked.
“Well, there are beaches there in the south and east. In Balim, I lived next to the ocean and always wanted to go swimming in the water, but I was not allowed. My whole life I dreamed of swimming in the ocean, so my lover wanted to take me there. Obviously I couldn’t go back to Balim, because my father would have found me and shipped me back to Daldussa, so Cierith was the best option,” Althea explained.
Crystal’s heart sank, but then she directed her attention to the scene changing once again to the castle library. It was in the middle of the night and Blaze and Crystal watched as the servant led Althea, who was clutching the infant Blaze in her free arm, to a bookshelf. The servant flipped some kind of switch in the back of it, and then he carefully pulled the shelf outward like a door to reveal a secret passage.
“He found it a month before. The passage led to the outer walls of the castle, so we could escape without anyone ever knowing where to find us,” Althea said, “but . . .”
All of a sudden, dozens of guards flooded into the library with torches lit and swords drawn. Crystal’s heart sank and as she watched a raged Bogdan march into the room and yell for the guards to take Blaze. Crystal cried as she watched the screaming baby Blaze being ripped out of Althea’s arms and another guard holding her from running after him. She cried her son’s name repeatedly, and the grown Blaze took several steps back shaking his head in disbelief.
When the servant tried to pull the guard off of Althea, Bogdan ordered several other guards to restrain him. He then marched over to the sobbing vision Althea and grabbed her by the hair. She shrieked in terror as Bogdan pulled her hair downward and forced her to face him.
“Did you honestly think you can put out to a servant and not expect me to find out?” he growled at her. He then faced her towards the servant and gave him the most heartless and gut wrenching grin before taking a large knife out of his vest and plunging it into straight Althea’s chest.
Crystal cried out and put her hands to her mouth. Her tears began flowing uncontrollably as she saw the servant screaming in horror and blood dripping from the vision Althea’s trembling lips. Blaze was visibly shaking and fighting back tears, and he nearly lost it when the young Bogdan removed the knife and tossed Althea to the floor like an old rag doll. The servant managed to break free of the hold the guards had on him and he fell to the floor next to Althea. The guards went to grab him again, but Bogdan held his hand out for them to stop. As sickening as it was, the king seemed to take pleasure in watching the heartbreaking scene.
Just when Crystal didn’t think she could cry anymore or could witness anything more shocking, the servant placed his hand on Althea’s face, and she breathed her last words, “I’m so sorry . . . Gavril.”
“NO!” Blaze cried, “It can’t be!”
Crystal felt numb. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t recognized the same warm brown eyes that always comforted her and the same smile that assured her things would be all right. She then watched with a broken heart as the young Gavril leaned over Althea and sobbed hysterically.
“Please don’t leave me!” Gavril cried.
Then, Bogdan leaned over Gavril and uttered, “I bet you wish you hadn’t slept with that bitch now.”
In an act of vengeance, the young Gavril then removed a knife from his vest and blindly swung it upwards. Bogdan flew onto his back screaming, and Crystal had a feeling it was more out of rage than pain. When Bogdan looked up again, Crystal’s heart sank at the sight of an enormous and deep gash across his left eye.
In the ten years since she first saw Bogdan’s scar, she never in her life would have thought Gavril put it there.
Several guards ripped the knife out of Gavril’s hand and held him to the ground while holding his arms behind his back and his legs to the ground. Bogdan rose to his feet, clutching his face again, and ordered the guards to stand Gavril up. The men obeyed without hesitation and even though Gavril still struggled, he couldn’t budge an inch with all of the guards restraining him.
Bogdan then walked over to an old desk and opened a drawer to reveal a black box inside it. Bogdan picked up the box, opened it, and pulled out a red and black knife. The blade was dark and curved and had strange, demonic symbols on it. Bogdan began to chuckle as he turned to look at Gavril and said, “I never thought I would have to use this blade. It was forged by a demon sorcerer. There is a dark curse on this blade and once it is used to stab someone, the victim’s blood boils and the flow slows down dramatically. A wound that would normally bleed out quickly would take weeks to do so, and because the blade makes the blood boil, the victim lies in agony the entire time they wait to die. It will literally make the victim feel like they are being slowly burned alive, and therefore, I believe this is the perfect punishment for a worthless piece of shit like you.”
Bogdan smiled inhumanely as he twirled the cursed dagger in his hand mockingly as he walked towards the pale and petrified Gavril. When he got up close, he ripped Gavril’s shirt open with his free hand and without hesitation, he plunged the blade into Gavril’s abdomen. The then scene went dark as they all heard Gavril’s screams of agony.
Althea bowed her head, sniffed, and tearfully said, “The last thing I heard was Gavril’s scream, and it has haunted me for years. To this day, I have no idea how Bogdan found out about my affair but I am just so relieved that he didn’t harm you, Blaze.”
Blaze paced back and forth with his hand on his forehead. His anxiety reached its highest level, and he kept muttering to himself, “Why didn’t Gavril tell me?”
Althea’s head snapped up and she asked Blaze, “What do you mean, Blaze? Do you . . . know Gavril?”
Blaze, however, couldn’t respond out of shock, but Crystal wiped her face and managed to reply, “Gavril is still alive, Althea! I’ve known him my whole life, and Blaze knows him too!”
A hopeful smile grew on Althea’s face and she stammered out, “But, how did he survive?”
Crystal then told Althea the story of how her father found Gavril floating on the raft and then brought him to Cartigo where her mother healed him. She told him how he became her father’s general, how he and her father were best friends, and even tearfully told her how he hid with her and watched Bogdan kill her parents. She also told Althea about how she and Gavril met Blaze and recruited him with the rebels, leaving out the details of how Blaze and Gavril fought on a regular basis, of course. She then concluded by telling Althea what a great man Gavril was and how he dedicated his life to protecting her.
Althea cried tears of joy and said, “I am so happy Gavril is alive! I only wish I could see him again!”
“You can, Althea,” the guardian said. Everyone jumped when they heard him speak, having forgotten he was there.
“How can I see him? Please tell me!” Althea begged.
“Just as you can show others your memories, you can view the memories of others. In this case, it is necessary for y
ou to receive closure and as a result, for your soul to be set free.” the guardian explained, “Place your hand on Crystal’s and you will see Gavril.”
Althea stepped towards Crystal with her hand out, and Crystal smiled and did the same. When their hands touched, Crystal felt a chill over her whole body, and Althea gasped and closed her eyes.
“Oh my goodness,” she muttered. She then smiled and said, “I see him! He’s much older, but there’s no mistaking his eyes. I see him by your side, protecting you. He’s a wonderful fighter! He’d always wanted to learn to use a sword. I see him training you too! I’m so happy he’s all right. Now I see him . . . oh, he’s looking at the ocean. He looks . . . sad here.”
Crystal’s heart sank again and she replied, “Yes, I sometimes found him staring at the ocean when we were near it, and when I asked him what he was doing, he would say, ‘just wondering what it would be like to live on the beach.’ I never understood what he meant until now.”
“I hate the thought of him feeling sad for me,” Althea said softly, “but from the sound of it, he’s led a great life!”
“Yes, he has,” Crystal assured.
Althea then removed her hand from Crystal’s and wiped a tear from her face. She was still smiling, and she looked at Blaze and then back at Crystal and said, “You two love each other, right?”
Crystal and Blaze both smiled and nodded.
Althea looked at Blaze again and said, “I want you to take good care of her, understand? Whatever you do, don’t take her for granted.” After Blaze nodded, Althea then added, “Now I need you to do something for me, Blaze. Only you can do it and I therefore cannot get Crystal involved, so I will whisper it in your ear. Will you take this burden and lift it from my soul?”
“Yes,” Blaze answered quickly.
Althea then walked over to his side, put her hand in front of her mouth, and whispered into Blaze’s ear. Because she was much shorter than he was, Blaze had to lean downward a bit for her to reach.
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