“Why did he do such things?” Shalina asked, “He never seemed...”
Verenda saw the confused look on her face, “he never has shown that part of him to you, because of his love for you.”
Shalina looked up at him.
“Through the days that I worked with him, I never seen him look at anyone the way that he did at you. It was nice when we would go back to the castle, because he would finally calm down.”
“But Verenda, why did he do it?”
“.....He wants power. He needs more power, and sometimes he felt the need to test what new power he had acquired, or put fear into many, so that they would fill his every wish.”
“Did you fear him?”
Verenda sighed, “Surprisingly, no. Darrengiy didn’t try to force me into anything. He just made me a promise, but then I realized that it wasn’t worth it and I left.”
“You hid...”
Verenda nodded, “isn’t that what you’re doing now?”
Shalina shook her head, “I don’t entirely even know how I got here, but now that I am,” she smiled, “I am happy about it. I’ve never really been anywhere besides the castle, and I felt a little trapped, but right now, I feel free.”
“And do you ever plan on going back?” Verenda asked.
Shalina thought for a moment. She knew that she would start to miss Darrengiy and Cenyera, but didn’t want to go back to feeling trapped because her fiancé needed her to be overly protected for his own personal reasons, “I don’t know....”
“Shalina...when he finds out that you’re gone, he’ll keep searching for you, and you will have to keep hiding if you want to remain free.”
“Well, you seem to be doing pretty well,” Shalina gave a slight smile that showed a hint of doubt.
“Yes, but I can never go back to my home. He’ll know if I did,” Verenda frowned.
“Well, I don’t really have a home,” She looked out of the window and into the darkness, “someone took that away from me as well.”
Verenda’s face straightened in wonder, and he and Shalina held eye contact for a long time....
***
Shalina brushed off the thought of hiding forever, and decided to enjoy the beautiful day, so she opened the door and stepped out into the hot sun. She looked around herself to see if Verenda were around, and when she still didn’t spot him anywhere, she decided to head down for the lake.
Shalina walked around to the back of the cabin and made her way through the colorful forest, and down to the lake, that was less than half a mile away. With no one around she figured that it was okay to wash up, but then again, she was afraid that some kind of monster might have been swimming around in the water. Mooralshia was a very new place for her with large birds, over-sized rodents, thousands of bugs, and many other things that she couldn’t even imagine. The wonders of this world excited her, yet scared her, because out of all the beautiful things, some could be very ugly.
Shalina sighed and decided that she would check with Verenda first before bathing, and crouched down just to cup some water in her hand to drink it. For a lake, the water was surprisingly fresh, making Shalina want to wash her sticky skin even more. Although she was happy to be away from the castle, she already missed the perks that came with living there.
The sound of branches cracking, and trees rustling sounded, making Shalina stand on alert. She looked around, but saw nothing but trees and leaves, and realized that she wasn’t in any danger. At least not yet. The sound came from her right, behind a few trees. Out of curiosity, she slowly walked over to them and peeked her head around.
A few feet away from her was a large white bird, only a few inches taller than she was, with a brown raptorial beak. It stood tall while flapping only one wing and trying to get the other one out, but couldn’t seem to lift it. The bird squawked in pain, and then hit the ground with a hard thud, causing the ground to shake.
“OH, no,” Shalina stepped from behind the tree and slowly approached the bird. She stopped when it looked up at her with its big yellow eyes, and made her afraid to take another step.
The wind blew softly as the two stared each other down, and Shalina was confused about what to do next. How could she possibly help this bird that was in so much pain, and how did she know it wouldn’t try to hurt her if she did?
The large bird blinked at her twice and took a heavy breath, blowing leaves at her.
“Are you okay?” Shalina asked, “Can I look and see what’s wrong?”
The bird took another deep breath, and blinked again, looking as if it were okay with Shalina’s cautious approach. Shalina then, slowly walked towards the big bird, and once she was close enough, she reached out to touch its white feathered wings. The bird jumped at first, and she snatched her hand away in fear, but then it relaxed and let her feel across its beautiful fur.
“I can make flowers grow, and sometimes I can make it rain, so maybe...” she took a deep breath and concentrated the best that she could, hoping that she could help the poor animal, but a few seconds later she was distracted by the sounds of footsteps from in front of her.
Shalina looked up, assuming that the footsteps came from Verenda, but she was mistaken. A white faced Moorenof stood in front of Shalina with the look of hunger on its face. Verenda had told her about the Moorenofs on the first day that she arrived so that she would be aware of the dangerous demons that lurked the woods.
Shalina froze, not knowing what to do next. At this time, she wished that she knew how to control her powers. She looked down at the pained bird, feeling guilty that she didn’t get the chance to help it, and stepped away.
The bird took a deep breath and blinked again.
Shalina started shaking as she backed away, almost tripping, and when the Moorenof lunged after her, she screamed. The bird squawked and stretched out its large wing to block the Moorenof from getting to her. It squawked again as it quickly got to its feet and stood in between her and the demon.
The Moorenof growled back, but it wasn’t even close to being as loud as the bird. The large bird then spread both of its wings and squawked even louder, making the Moorenof back away in fear.
“Shalina,” Verenda had run up from behind, “I heard you scream, are you alright?”
Shalina watched as the fully healed bird defended her with its loud, ear ringing squawks, and quick pecks at the Moorenof.
“Let’s get away from here,” Verenda pulled her away by her wrist, “you don’t want to see what it looks like when that bird starts feeding.”
Shalina looked back at the large bird as it mercilessly pecked at the dying Moorenof. She could hear as the Moorenof screamed in pain as the birds beak dug into its flesh, and was happy that the wing she just healed completely blocked the gruesome event. She turned back around and followed Verenda back.
“What were you doing out there alone? It’s dangerous,” Verenda asked, now that they were in front of the cabin.
“Well, you were nowhere to be found, so I thought that I would go down to the lake,” Shalina answered.
Verenda’s frowning face relaxed as he couldn’t manage to stay mad at her.
“Where were you?” Shalina asked, “Could have let me know.”
“I went to the village,” he answered, “I thought about our talk yesterday, and realized that you needed something,” he reached into the brown sack that Shalina just noticed that he was carrying, and pulled out a knife with a black handle, and a black sheath.
“A knife?” Shalina took the knife and pulled it out from its sheath, “double edged, very sharp...why a knife?”
“You need something to protect yourself. I figured that this knife would suit you since a regular sword might be too heavy,” Verenda said while scratching his head.
Shalina smiled, “are you calling me weak?” she put the knife back into its sheath and tucked it in between the velvet cloth and her waist.
Verenda smiled, revealing his white fangs, “No, I’m just saying that you don’t tr
ain,” he looked away, but couldn’t help but laugh, “yes. I think you’re pretty weak,” Verenda laughed, “it’s not your fault though, you are a lady.”
“So you think that women are weak?” Shalina put her hands on her hips and squinted her eyes at him.
Verenda raised both eyebrows, not sure of what to say next, “no, not at all- you want some breakfast?” he walked past her and went into the cabin.
Shalina turned around, with a smile on her face, and followed him in, “well, I know one thing for sure, I definitely don’t know how to use it,” She sat down at the wooden table, on the left side of the cabin an watched as Verenda pulled out a large brown furred rodent out of his sack, and sat it down in front of her, “that looks different.”
“Yeah, it’s a baby kinnie. They’re hard to catch- fast little things,” Verenda said, pulling out a knife from a cup at the end of the table, “they’re harmless. They only eat insects and leaves, and taste delicious.”
Shalina twisted her face up as she looked down at the dead brown animal with dog like ears, and a rat like tail. She really missed the perks of living in the kingdom now.
Verenda smiled, “oh, I’m sorry, you’re used to the castle food. I’m afraid that this,” he stabbed his knife into the Kinnie, “doesn’t meet your standards,” he cut all the way through until it was in two pieces.
“No,” Shalina shook her head laughing, “It doesn’t,” her face grew pale from watching him cut through the dead animal.
“Well, my lady, I’m very sorry to hear that.”
Shalina looked up at Verenda, who was busy smiling down at her as he cut more of the Kinnie. She blushed and began to feel uncomfortable, so she pulled her knife out, “so, are you going to show me how to use this?”
Verenda also looked away and focused on breakfast, “I can show you a few things. That knife is a pretty special one.”
“What do you mean?”
Verenda smiled, “Vascana...”
The knife flashed, and then stretched out into a light weight sword.
“That’s amazing, how did you do that?” Shalina asked.
“It’s a sword from my world. It must have been left by a traveler. I was actually pretty surprised to find it at the market.”
Shalina stared at the sword with wonder in her eyes, “Vascana,” she said. The sword flashed and went back to being a knife, then she put it back away, “so, now you really have to show me how to use this, or else I’d end up slicing my fingers off.”
Verenda laughed, “Well I’d be happy to help you avoid losing a finger or two.”
“Thank you,” she said with a bright smile, “I’m grateful.”
Verenda finished up with the cooking, while Shalina watched, and they talked about Mooralshia, and the village in the trees.
“Can you take me to see it, Verenda?” Shalina asked as he served her roasted Kinnie in a wooden bowl.
“To the village? Yeah, I can take you,” he answered.
“That’s great, when can we go?”
“Well, it’s nice out today, and I was told that there was some sort of festival going on. We can go after we finish eating, but only under one condition.”
Shalina frowned, “and what is that?”
“You help me cut firewood tomorrow. Maybe we can get a little muscle in those arms,” Verenda chuckled.
Shalina couldn’t help but smile, and then laugh with him.
***
Shalina and Verenda walked through the colorful forest, towards the open space, where they would find the ropes for the village. They were close to their destination when something shot out of the sky and landed on its feet only a few feet away from Verenda.
Verenda stepped in front of Shalina in alert and held his hand out. A golden staff flashed in his hand and he held it as if he were ready for a fight.
It was a man that stood across from Verenda, with the same warrior clothing that the villagers wore. Shalina peeked around Verenda and saw the innocent look on the man’s face, “um, hello,” she said in a soft tone.
“H-hello,” the man was taken in by Verenda’s yellow eyes, “y-your eyes. They’re not normal...”
“What do you want?” Verenda asked while straightening back up. The golden staff burst into little golden embers that floated to the ground.
“I am g-going to- back to my village,” the man answered, still taken by Verenda’s eyes.
Verenda sighed, “Well then, why don’t you let us come with you?”
“To the village? I’m sorry-I can’t-”
“I was just there, we’re heading there now, with or without your permission, but we might as well go together,” Verenda held out his hands, saying that he meant no harm.
“Um,” the man frowned in thought, “well, okay,” he didn’t seem to have any energy left to argue.
“What is your name, sir?” Shalina asked.
“It’s Montago,” he said, almost smiling, “and you?”
“I’m Shalina.”
“And I’m Verenda.”
Montago nodded, “well, then. Let’s get a move on.”
Shalina walked next to Verenda with Montago on the other side.
“So, I see you are a warrior,” Verenda started, “where are all the other troops?”
Montago sighed, “We were ambushed. I’m the...I’m the only one that got away,” he shook his head, “the moorenofs came out of nowhere, and it was a lot of them. They were much powerful than they usually are, and we couldn’t stop them.”
Shalina bit her lip, feeling bad for him and the fallen troops. She noticed the cut on his forehead that had blood smeared around it, “are you okay?” she pointed to her head.
“Yeah,” Montago sighed, “it doesn’t hurt much. I’ll get it cleaned up when I get back to my home,” he turned to Verenda, “I don’t ever recall seeing you around here. Are you a native?”
“No,” was all Verenda said.
They had finally arrived to the spot where they could retrieve the rope, “well, I suppose you don’t need any help getting up, so I’ll see you around,” Montago said before jumping through the trees.
“How on earth does he do that?” Shalina asked.
Verenda smiled, “It’s a native thing.”
“Well, how are we supposed to get up there? Can you jump that high?”
“No, not at all,” he answered.
“Then how?”
“Come here, and I’ll show you,” Verenda said.
Shalina frowned at first, and then she slowly stepped in front of him, “well?”
Verenda scooped her up into his arms and took a deep breath.
Shalina jumped with wide eyes when she saw the large gold and black wings form from his back and spread out, then her mouth dropped. Now she knew why she woke up with feathers on her clothes.
“So, you can fly?” Shalina asked.
“Not really, but they give me a boost if something is too high for me. My wings can’t carry me for long though.”
Shalina reached around and touched the beautiful feathers, “they’re beautiful.”
Verenda almost blushed, then he bent his knees and jumped up, using his wings for the extra push that he needed, and reached out for the rope above the first layer of leaves. Once he got a good grip, his wings fell apart like the staff did earlier. Into golden embers.
Shalina held Verenda around his neck as tight as she could when they were yanked up into the trees. She squeezed her eyes shut while everything went by in a blur, then they finally stopped being pulled up and landed onto a large wooden platform.
“Well, take a look,” Verenda said.
Shalina pulled away and turned around to see something she’s never seen before. It was a huge village in the trees with more men, women, and children than she could count.
“What do you think?” Verenda asked softly, standing behind her.
“It’s beauti-” Shalina spun around to Verenda without knowing how close that they were, and their lips touched, “oh
- I’m so sorry.”
Verenda clenched his teeth and stepped back.
“I didn’t realize-”
“It’s okay,” he gave a slight smile, “but, you were saying?” he was doing his best to keep his cool.
“Oh, the village. It’s beautiful. I like it,” She turned back around so that he couldn’t see her face turning red. When she looked up, her mouth dropped once again when a large green leaf slowly glided over her with a man and a woman cuddling on top, “oh my...” she then noticed many other giant leaves floating around with couples holding each other on top of them.
“Do you want to get on one of those?” Verenda asked while still standing behind her.
Shalina slowly turned around so not to make the same mistake and smiled, “y-yes, I would really love to. How are they doing that? I’ve never seen...” her attention went to yet another one of the floating leaves.
Verenda admired Shalina’s innocent blue eyes that were dark like no other. Even before now, when he worked for Darrengiy in the castle, he always came to be distracted by her deep sea colored eyes. Before, they always looked so full of sadness, but now they look full of wonder, “let’s get up there, we have a long way to the floaters.”
“Floaters, so that’s what they’re called,” Shalina said still watching them.
“Follow me,” Verenda walked passed her and onto a bridge that was held up by two strong white ropes.
Shalina followed right behind him, while occasionally bumping into others because of her lack of attention on where she was going, and more so on the beautiful village. She had never seen so many people in one place, and there were so many different kinds of them! Some were dark brown, light brown, pale colored, tanned, caramel, and some even looked yellow. All Shalina had ever been used to was the people in the castle, but now she finally got to see what other races there were, besides her own, and she was amazed at how beautiful they were.
When they finally made it high into the village, where the floaters waited for them, Shalina couldn’t help but look over the edge of the platform that she was standing on.
Angel's Blade: Power (Angel Series Book 1) Page 13
