by Amy Richie
I let out a huge breath of air after he was gone. I clasped my hand over my mouth to be sure that I wouldn’t scream. I frantically searched the room for something familiar, anything that might explain who I was and why I was here. Nothing in the room was even slightly familiar to me though.
There wasn’t much to the small room. Besides the bed, there was a dresser with five drawers, a desk of sorts, and another small stand with a strange looking bowl sitting on it. How had I gotten here? What happened to me? And most importantly, what the hell was I going to do now?
My eyes stopped at a small window. I flung the blankets off my legs and stood up on wobbly legs. I had to lean heavily on the bed to stop myself from falling. I hated to imagine him coming back and finding me a crumpled mess by the bed. One rescue was enough. He already thought I was crazy, best not to solidify his opinion.
I made my way carefully around the end of the bed. I knew I wouldn’t have much time before he returned so I quickly let go of my crutch and hobbled to the window. My anticipation quickly turned to disappointment and I was sorry that I had chanced my luck. The only thing out there was trees.
Something waited just on the edge of my memory, but I couldn’t get a hold of it. I shook my head. Only trees. I could hear water running in the distance, maybe a mile away; maybe less.
A loud bang from the kitchen made me jump. I turned quickly from the disappointing view and hobbled back to the bed. By the time I had the blanket back on I was breathing heavy. I hoped he wasn’t too observant.
I had barely leaned back on the pillow when he returned holding a large plate of food. There were six eggs and three large chunks of bread.
“I’ll be sure to have a better meal for you this afternoon,” he apologized. He only paused slightly at the doorway.
I looked at him with wide eyes. “You plan on cooking me the whole chicken next time?” I smiled as I took the plate from him. I was proud that my voice was steady.
He laughed and ducked his head. “I’m not used to cooking for a...a girl,” he chuckled.
I shoveled in a large mouthful of eggs. They were surprisingly good. I smiled unattractively around all the food in my mouth. “It’s ok,” I mumbled, “this is really good.”
He waited until I had finished eating before the questions started. “Where were you when the attacks happened?” he asked softly.
I swallowed the bread that was still in my mouth with an audible gulp. The wolf attack. My palms suddenly got clammy and I had to clear my throat before I could talk. I looked everywhere but at him.
“I’m not really sure,” I croaked, licking my dry lips, “I don’t remember much.”
“You said you saw a black wolf,” he probed, “was that the only one you saw?”
Why was he so interested in these wolves? If he thought they were dangerous — werewolves even — why wouldn’t he want to keep far from them? Maybe he did want to; maybe that’s why he was asking so many questions about them. He hadn’t even asked for my name yet, and I didn’t know his. What had he just asked me? “Umm,” I stalled.
“How many were there?” he asked again.
“I’m not sure,” I said in a slightly whiny tone, “I only saw a flash of black fur. I can’t even be positive that it was a wolf.”
“But you saw blood?”
I closed my eyes for and for a moment I could see the dream perfectly again. “Yeah, there was blood.” I swallowed again and picked distractedly at the blanket.
“Was it just your sister?” he asked more gently.
I concentrated hard to try and remember. The image of two men came to my mind. Who were they? Was I married? “Yeah,” I said shortly. I had to be careful what I told this man.
He nodded thoughtfully, with his finger to his lips.
“What’s your name?” I asked abruptly, eager to change the direction of our conversation.
He looked at me curiously, perhaps only now realizing we knew nothing of each other and yet here we sat sharing breakfast in the same bed. He sat up straighter. “I am Nickolas Gant of Le Beaux,” he said formally, “and you are?”
I couldn’t think of anything to say to him. I didn’t even know my name. I only knew what the angel had called me in my dream and I couldn’t be sure that that was even real. “I am Eva,” I told him, hoping that would be enough.
“Eva?” I nodded, keeping my eyes averted. “Do you not remember your father’s name Eva?”
I brought my fingers to my mouth nervously. I shook my head but didn’t say anything. I wondered if he would throw me out. Fear gripped me tightly, where would I go?
He was still for a moment. I was too much of a coward to look up at him. Then he leaned over and patted my knee affectionately. “If the rain holds off today—” his words trailed off and he got up and went to the small window. He peered outside, tilting his head to the side. He made a low sound. “If the rain holds off today, we’ll set off for the Colony at first light tomorrow.”
“The Colony?” I questioned.
“The Colony,” he said while he came back to the bed, “is a city, a safe city. Lady Neleh rules the Colony so it’s the safest place for you to be right now,” he explained.
“How far away is the colony?”
“It’s a half day ride. By horse,” he added.
“And if the rain doesn’t stay away?”
“If the rain comes today, the river will flood and we might be stuck here for a few days.” He pursed his lips as if the idea of being stuck here displeased him.
The rain started a few hours later. Huge, fat droplets of water. Nickolas sat in front of the window, watching the water gather on the sill. I stretched out fully on the bed. I rolled over so I could see Nickolas. The muscle in his jaw twitched rapidly. I wondered if that meant he was angry.
He turned to face me, as if he knew I was staring. “Looks like we aren’t going to be able to head out as soon as I’d planned,” he stated the obvious.
I gave a weak smile. “So what are we going to do?”
He smiled cautiously at me. “We’ll have to stay here and see how bad it gets. Maybe it won’t last long.” He looked doubtful.
“Well couldn’t we go now? It’s not too bad now, maybe…” I let my words trail off. I didn’t really want to leave this place until I could remember things more clearly, but he seemed upset about staying.
“No, we won’t chance it.” I was relieved that he left no room for argument. He must have misread something in my expression because he quickly added, “The rain here can be very unpredictable, I wouldn’t want you to get caught in some bad weather. And if the river rises—” he watched me to make sure I wasn’t going to argue. He didn’t need to worry.
“Ok.” I nodded.
“You don’t have to be afraid here Eva. My intentions are…”
“I know,” I cut him off before he could finish. I wasn’t afraid of him. I didn’t know anything about Nickolas but one thing I was sure of, I wasn’t afraid of him. “I’m not afraid.”
“Good.” He flashed a heart stopping smile. In two long strides he was standing next to the bed. I carefully masked my surprise. “I am going to go see about your chicken now,” he chuckled.
“I’m not really hungry.”
“It’ll take a little while to rustle something up. You can rest.” It wasn’t really an order, I told myself, just concern.
“Can’t I help?”
“That won’t be necessary.” He patted my leg comfortably, as if we’d been friends for centuries.
“Are there really werewolves out there?” I asked quietly.
He crinkled his forehead in confusion. “Are you afraid?”
Was I afraid? I wasn’t sure if I was or not. My dream had left me wary, but I felt safe with Nickolas. I wanted him to stay with me. The realization took me a little by surprise. This man had a strange effect on me. When I said nothing he sank down on the bed beside me. He put his hand on my leg, just above my knee.
“There’s nothing t
o fear while you are with me,” he said gently.
“What if one of them comes here while you’re gone?”
“First, I won’t be gone. Second, they won’t come here.”
He couldn’t be sure of that. Besides, I was more worried about him than myself. I didn’t want him to be hurt. “Yeah, but what if…”
He put his fingers lightly to my lips to stop my words. “I promise,” he met my eyes straight on, “that nothing will hurt you as long as you are with me.” How could I argue with that? Besides, I knew he was right. I nodded. He had to look away before I could.
He stood up and slapped his hand against his thigh. “Alright, you sleep.” Like that would be possible. “I’ll be back soon.”
“You won’t go far?”
“I won’t go further than I can hear you.”
“So you’re not leaving the house?”
He laughed. “I’ll see you soon.”
I couldn’t help but smile as I watched him leave the room. He was such a good man. Nice. Considerate. Strong. Handsome. Comfortable. Protective. For the first time I wondered how it was possible that he lived alone here. I sighed and let my head fall deeper into the pillow. Best not to allow myself to think along those lines.
Chapter Nine
I sighed a small sigh. As soon as I pushed thoughts of Nickolas out of my head, thoughts of a different sort forced their way back in. What was I going to do? I couldn’t just stay here with Nickolas. Soon he would be moving us to the colony. The colony didn’t sound like a place that I wanted to be, at least not until I got my memory back.
My memory would have to come back. It just had too. I needed to know why I was here. Where had I come from? Maybe there was a house nearby. I perked my head up a little. There had to be a house nearby, otherwise where would I have come from? Maybe my family was looking for me. There must have been an accident, maybe I fell.
I poked and prodded my head, searching for an injury, but I found none. I experimentally checked the rest of my body for injury. On my left arm was a large oval shaped bruise. It was dark shades of purple and black. I gingerly touched the offending mark, it didn’t hurt. Actually, it was strangely numb. I pinched the area. No feeling. Odd.
Other than that one bruise, the rest of me was in perfect shape. I must have fallen though, how else would Nickolas have gotten me and brought me here? Had he captured me? Kidnapped me? I banished those thoughts immediately. Nickolas was my hero, not the villain.
I laid my head back down on the pillow and rubbed furiously at my eyes. I yawned a deep yawn. Maybe Nicolas was right, I did need to rest. I flipped over to my side and let my eyes drift closed. I could worry about everything else later.
Before sleep could claim me a scene played out in my head. It was so vivid and real, it left me gasping for air. I was sure it must be a memory, a clue. In my mind, I was in the forest and I was running, running as fast as I could. I heard the sounds of someone behind me. Someone was chasing me. My expression was one of terror and I kept tripping over branches and tree roots. My arms and face were scratched up and bleeding in several places. The sounds behind me were getting closer.
I bolted upright and covered my mouth. No screaming, I didn’t need Nickolas to come running. Something had definitely been chasing me. What was it? Maybe it was the wolves. I looked at my arms again. No cuts. I jumped quickly out of bed and almost fell. I caught myself and made my way to the stand with the mirror. The bowl on it was full of water and there was a cloth of some sort draped over the side. I ignored the bowl — I wasn’t thirsty — I needed to see if there were any cuts on my face. The small mirror showed no cuts on my face either, though. Maybe the vision wasn’t real. “But it was,” I whispered.
My steps were surer as I walked back to the window. Trees. I must have run through those trees, to this house. Nickolas’s house. But why? Why was I in the forest? What had been chasing me?
The only conclusion I could come up with was that I lived nearby and that I really had been attacked by werewolves. But I was absolutely certain that the angel was not my sister. So what did my dream mean? Who was she? I sighed heavily. Every answer I could come up with only brought more questions. A sudden thought occurred to me then, Nickolas must already know who I was. If I lived somewhere close by, he would know me and my family. That is — if he lived here.
With determined steps, I went over to the dresser and pulled open the first drawer. All I found were socks and other bits of fabric. I pulled one out and held it open. It didn’t look like anything I had ever seen before. I threw the fabric back and opened the next drawer. More clothes. This drawer was full of shirts and the next was filled with pants.
These must be men’s clothes, I concluded after taking stock of my own clothing. All I had on was a tight fitting shirt made of a thin white fabric and short pants of a similar style. I turned to look around the room for any other items that would prove this was Nickolas’s room. There was a door that I hadn’t seen before. I quickly went and pulled open the door. More clothes hung there in a very small room. I was confused. How many places did one need to put their clothes?
I backed out of the small room and shut the door. I pressed my back against the cool wood of the door. He must live here. So he knew my family. After only a moment of hesitation I made my way to the doorway that Nickolas had disappeared through earlier. He had said he wouldn’t go far; I needed to find him while my memory was still clear. Maybe he could fill in some missing pieces.
I was a little hesitant about leaving the safety of the bedroom. I hadn’t been out of it yet, and Nickolas had told me to rest. He seemed nice enough but would he be mad at me if I disobeyed him? I bit the inside of my lip. Well, I wasn’t going to be able to rest until I knew so before I could change my mind I ducked through the doorway.
The house was very simple in its arrangement. There was a large open area with a dead animal on the floor. I crinkled my nose in distaste. “Eww,” I whispered. Against one wall were two chairs made of wood and a hole cut out of the wall. The hole was full of black stuff. From where I was standing it looked almost like ashes. “Eww,” I said again. Situated between the dead animal and the hole full of ashes was a square shaped wooden table. There were three chairs placed around it. I narrowed my eyes slightly. Why did he need so many chairs if he lived alone?
I had to step around the animal to make it to the door. I stood on my toes and danced towards the door — careful not to touch the fur. I shuddered when I got to the head and saw the large teeth. “Eww.”
I was quick to open the front door and get outside. My mind was still on the horrible toothy grin on Nickolas’s floor when I stepped off the front porch. It took me a moment to remember why I had come outside in the first place. I looked around at the scenery for the first time. Trees. I shook my head in disbelief. The clearing in front of Nickolas’s house was just big enough for a few items that I did not recognize.
The trees seemed eager to come up and swallow the house and me. I took two steps back. I thought about running back to the safety of the bed but I had come out here on a mission. With a firm resolve, I straightened my shoulders and set out to find Nickolas and the house I must live in.
I ran all the way around the wooden house and didn’t find anything. Nickolas was nowhere to be seen. And I couldn’t see any houses either. In fact, the only thing I could see was trees. “I won’t go further than I can hear you.” I remembered Nickolas’s promise from earlier.
I cupped my hands around my mouth and called as loud as I could. “Nickolas!” I counted to ten in my head before I tried again. “Nickolas!” I rolled my eyes at my own foolishness. If he did know my family he would have said something by now.
I had already turned to go back inside when I heard his voice. “Eva?” he called. He shot out of the trees in a near blur, freezing me in my steps. His relief when he saw me was evident. “Are you hurt?” I couldn’t even shake my head before he was at my side. His hands felt down the length of my body, check
ing for injury. Almost instantaneously he was crouching low in front of me. “What is it? What happened? Is someone here?” he asked without looking at me.
I hadn’t even blinked yet and I was feeling incredibly stupid for calling him. “There’s no one here,” I muttered. I was angry, but only at myself for acting so impulsively. And now I was embarrassed.
He spun around to face me. “Then what…I mean why…?”
“I wanted to ask you a question.” I crossed my arms and looked away from him.
“You mean to tell me,” he began angrily but then took a breath, “that I just ran faster than…maybe than I ever have, so you could ask me a question?”
“You said you wouldn’t go far,” I reminded him. I was moments away from stomping my feet.
He stood there chewing the inside of his lip while I blazed red. Finally, after an extended eternity, a huge grin broke out on his face. “Well, it better be one hell of a question,” he teased.
I gave him my best glare, turned back to the door, and stomped all the way back inside. I placed myself in one of the chairs by the hole of ashes. I sat and scowled, expecting him to follow. But I sat there pouting for quite a while before he came in. He was holding a large plate full of food. He set it down on the table and turned towards me.
“Your lunch Milady.” He bowed foolishly low in front of me.
I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at him. He winked. I got up with a haughty air. “Your animal over there is dead,” I informed him with a flip of my hair.
His loud laughter startled me and I jumped. He was still laughing when I sat down and started eating. The food was delicious. I would have told him that if he didn’t aggravate me by laughing so much. Really, what was so funny?
Nickolas kept chuckling while he made several trips outside to make a small pile of wood by the door. When he finally quit laughing, he would look at me and start up again. I sighed loudly and got up from the table. I would just go to bed, that would solve his laughing fit.
