by Kelly Napoli
***
Kiethara was lightly running towards the grassy horizon. The sun was practically gone, but the night was not yet upon her. She knew she would have to stop soon. Above her, as the sun disappeared, the sky sank into brilliant lavender, sparkling with silver stars. The minutes of twilight were always a sight to look at; she couldn’t help but smile softly. Her surrounding beauty was at least there to keep her mind off the horrific burning of her throat and the irritating stitch in her side. Her robe flapped around her, but she kept it on as a safe guard against the dropping temperature of the night. The nights were particularly brutal, making her yearn for the blanket that she had been forced to leave behind.
Kiethara had still not dared to take a sip of water. Each day she scrutinized the horizon in hopes of seeing a line of trees rise, but each day she was disappointed. More than once she feared that she was headed off in the wrong direction. She constantly stopped to read her directions even though she knew them by heart, but there was nothing to be gained from them: her last direction was a simple request. Just head west. Had not Navadar once told her how easy it was to get to the forest?
That was when she heard her answer.
Behind her, echoing in the evening, was the faint sound of a horse galloping, slightly muffled in the grass. It grew louder as it approached—soon there was no doubt of who or what it was. With recognition came thoughts of despair. Why? Why had he followed her? For the second time, her name was called out by a man she never wanted to see again.
“Kiethara!” Navadar cried.
This time, she turned around. Numbness did not overtake her; it was far too late for that. No, now there was the white-hot anger she had wished for burning inside of her, chasing away the fear and the hurt she had been avoiding so desperately.
Navadar gracefully leapt down from his buckskin horse. A heavy traveling tunic fit his frame and he had his heavy bow slung across his back. She tried to gauge the range of emotions that were playing across his face. She could see anger, pain, and a whole lot of energy…
He ran forward, leaving his horse to graze in the grass, but then slowed as he took Kiethara in. Her fists were clenched and her eyes were blazing.
“Kiethara,” Navadar said warily, but his eyes were stern. “Stop this foolishness now.”
“Foolishness?!” she shrieked, losing absolute control over herself. “Who do you think you are, to order me around? Is it foolish that I wish to return to my forest, my home, and protect it from the threats that pursue it?”
“Your motive, maybe not, but the way you are doing it is scandalous!” he yelled. She grinded her teeth when he used Trinnia’s favorite word. “The things people are saying…”
“The things people are saying?! You think I give a damn about what people are saying? Of course, I know how much you care about your image, being the conceited bastard that you are…”
It came out of nowhere. She hadn’t meant to insult him like that, but once the words were out, she found she actually enjoyed them. She was tired of acting noble, tired of controlling her emotions. Aaron had always warned her to keep herself under control, but he wasn’t here right now, and she didn’t care anymore. Nor did she care about the fact that her crystals were glowing brighter than the spirit himself, the clouds that were suddenly gathering in the sky, or the wind, which started with a howl and continued to rip its way around them, rippling the grass, tossing her hair.
She had lost control.
“How dare you speak to me like that!” he said in a voice that rang with fury and wounded pride.
“Oh, Navadar, you truly are unbelievable,” Kiethara said in a slightly hysterical voice, shaking her head. “The world could be falling into pieces around you and all you would care about is your pride, dignity, and carefully tousled hair. How could I have fallen for someone so vain, so shallow? I guess my sense of adventure had gotten to my head as well.”
“Oh, don’t lead yourself to believe that you’re some perfect goddess,” he sneered, his fists shaking. “Your point of view is sadly mistaken, in more areas than one. I accidentally caught myself up in your pathetic life. You were desperate for company, desperate for just one conversation. How could I have not pitied you in your worthless state? You trusted me far too fast for someone in your position, and yet you refuse to believe me when I tell you I didn’t kiss—”
“Oh, spare me!” Kiethara cried. “I don’t need this false lecture. Who kept visiting when they didn’t have to? Who decided to save my life and then tried to stop me from risking it again? Who whimpered and flinched every time I used a small bit of magic, hm? A coward, that’s what you are. You’ve been safe behind your walls for years, and only have you recently decided to wander off into a world that has no rules. Now you’re too scared to admit what you’ve done.”
“That’s just it, you single-minded fool!” Navadar yelled, clearly frustrated. “I’ve done nothing, and you’re only taking your anger out like a child on someone you don’t like! Do you even know who Trinnia is? You haven’t known her for as long as I have, no, you don’t know her at all! I’ve known her for my entire life!”
“I think you know her better than you’re putting on,” Kiethara taunted coolly, raising an eyebrow.
“Really? You are such a hypocrite!” Navadar cried with a hysterical laugh.
“Hypocrite? What in the world is that supposed to mean?! We kissed twice! I’m not sure the first time even counted for anything, for we were interrupted and then you went running—”
“I didn’t go running, you nearly attacked me just to get alone with your father! Goodness knows why…”
“Navadar,” Kiethara whispered. Her fists loosened and anger faded for a moment. Her navy blue eyes widened as the wind picked up around them. Above them, thunder rumbled in the now darkened sky. “What did you just say to me?”
Something flashed in Navadar’s eyes and he frowned, but his fists stayed clenched. “You might hold back certain truths from your precious Aaron, but you’re certainly not innocent.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” she asked in a quiet, wary tone.
“You damn well know what I mean. You had an old man drive you in his cart out of the kingdom. His own cart! Not a lot of people do that for strangers, Kiethara…”
“What are you suggesting?!” she yelled, losing control again. Lightening streaked across the sky, lighting the plains below.
“Don’t act like you don’t know!” he cried. “Goodness knows that you slept with him in order to get yourself a ride! That’s probably how you earned your freedom from those men, too!”
Kiethara’s mouth opened slightly in shock. Above them, the storm was quiet, as though it were holding its breath while it waited for her to respond. Her eyes sparked dangerously. Navadar suddenly looked startled.
“WHAT?!” Kiethara shrieked, her hands bursting into flames as she took a step forward. Lightening flashed in the sky. “THAT’S WHAT YOU BELIEVE?! WHO TOLD YOU THAT, TRINNIA?!”
“Stop attacking Trinnia!” he yelled back. “It’s not her fault she’s driven to such extremes. But defending her doesn’t mean that I’m in love with her—”
“Of course you are!” she shrieked. “Don’t give me that! If you loved me, you wouldn’t be defending Trinnia. And you obviously don’t, because you’ll believe any piece of rubbish that pet of yours whispers into your all too eager ear…”
“I believe what is true, you ungrateful little brat!”
Kiethara laughed hysterically, her mind spinning wildly. He honestly believed what that ditz of a blond told him! She really admired Trinnia for what she could wrought. She had a tongue of silk and a mind of a fox. But she could still not get over the fact that Navadar believed her enough to say that to her face.
“Ungrateful little brat? Is that the worst you can do? Well, I can see you truly trust Trinnia. You cling to every word she says, as long as you get to pant over her while you hear it. So let me get this straight, Navadar, because I’m a bit
confused,” she paused, taking a breath. “So, according to her, I was kidnapped, slept with one of the men, was released, then kidnapped again, brought by you, and then was told I was loved, by you. Then I wake up to find your tongue in her mouth, realized I had to find my own way home, and—because your precious Trinnia saw everything, apparently—slept with a seventy year old man to get a ride in a cart. She probably also told you I slept with my father to get out of that scrap, too!”
“What?” Navadar asked, taken aback. His glare turned into a blank stare.
“Oh, that’s right, I forgot to tell you I ran into Gandador,” she said sarcastically. “How silly of me.”
“I…” he trailed off.
“Mm, we had a wonderful conversation. Besides the fact that he slammed me into a desk and then continued to strangle me, it went rather well.”
“Wait….you….he what?” Navadar stuttered, looking thoroughly bewildered.
“Slammed-me-into-a-desk,” she emphasized slowly. “Or were you referring to the part where he strangled me?”
Kiethara pulled the neck of her robe down to reveal the nasty bruises that continued to throb there.
“W-When did…”
Kiethara shook her head in disbelief. “You really are amazing, Navadar. Remember our first conversation? You were just as worried then as you are now. Frightened, really, about my tales of Gandador. And after everything that has happened, you still act the same. I’ve finally figured it out.”
“What are you talking about?” he asked.
“You never cared for me. Those questions had not been aimed at my well-being, but at yours.”
“What?!”
“You only wanted to know because you needed to know how my fight was going with Redawn’s strongest enemy! Fear is what drove you, not love!”
“Kiethara, you must be insane! One thing, you only saw one thing, and now you’re convinced that I’m some…some traitor! Stop with these melodramatic lectures, please! You sound like a drunk!”
“Oh, Navadar, just go home and cry in Daddy’s lap. I have to get home. Tell Trinnia to keep her tongue out of your lying mouth.”
“How dare you, you slut!” Navadar roared. “You can’t talk to me like that! I am a man; you will respect me!”
“A man?!” she shrieked back. “Is that what you think you are?!”
Navadar began to close the distance between them, looking as though he was going to hit her. Kiethara’s heart raced, adrenaline pumped…
Boom!
Thunder cracked and Navadar was suddenly thrown up into the air. It was an eerie sight, one that sent chills through every bone of her body. His body was illuminated as the lightening flashed through the sky; he seemed to soar in slow motion—ten feet, then twenty. His back was arched, his cry drowned out by the storm. After one, painful heartbeat he hit the ground—once, twice, three times and then skidded to a halt in the grass.
Kiethara’s hands, which had simmered out, burst into flames again. Once more, her common sense left her, taking with it all the self-control she had once known. She did not feel bad for hurting him; she wasn’t worried that he was not moving. He had tried to hit her for the second time. The first, she had felt that she deserved it. This time, she felt that he had deserved it. She never wanted to be hurt by another person so badly again.
Finally, Navadar stirred, propping himself up on his arms. Nothing but horror and utter shock could be seen on his face; however, his eyes gleamed with something even more intense than that, something that she had been looking for since the beginning of the argument. Sparkling in his green eyes was fear.
He did not say anything, but his mouth was left open. His expression said it clearly, though: How could you?
“Navadar, I believe you have forgotten who I am!” she yelled in a cold voice. “I am not one of the weak pets you breed in your kingdom. Your women are bound by pointless rules and are suppressed by the respect they must show to you men! You have—mistakenly—tried to control me, and now you have seen what has happened. You might be a man, but I am a guardian!”
Navadar struggled to his feet, breathing heavily. He glared at her now, the fear she had glimpsed earlier disappearing behind his anger.
“You never change, Kiethara!” he said. “Always strung up on your little power trips!”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Just because you are the guardian that does not make you better than the rest of us! You have been blessed with a power, but here you are misusing it! Some guardian you are!” he spat.
“Blessed?!” she shrieked. “You consider me blessed with my power? Bound to protect the forest, even if the price is my life? Always having enemies, dodging them left and right, never leaving the forest! It’s not my life that I am living! You think you have it so damn hard?!”
Navadar was thrown back once again. After a moment, he managed to struggle to his feet.
“HOW DARE YOU!” he screamed.
“You are the ungrateful fool, Navadar, and you always have been. You wanted an adventure and you got one! But then you decided to throw it all away, and you ruined everything! How can you still have the courage to defend yourself?!”
Kiethara cried the words at him, tears pouring down her face. Navadar was thrown back once again. Kiethara met his eyes—a single sob escaping from her lips—before she turned and ran from him, thunder rumbling and lightening streaking all around them.
There was only one thing that kept her limbs moving, that kept his face from crippling her every sense. Despite what was happening all around her, despite the chaotic world that was swirling behind her, she was still only focused on one thing: She needed to return to the forest.
It finally began to pour.
Thank you for taking the time to read The Guardians of the Forest: Book One. If you enjoyed this book, please take a moment to review it at your favorite retailer! You can also contact me through email ([email protected]), find me on Facebook, and continue to follow Kiethara’s journey by following me on both Twitter and Instagram!
About the Author
Kelly Napoli is currently a freshman at the University of Florida, majoring in Environmental Engineering and minoring in English. She began writing when she was twelve and, since then, has not been able to stop. She looks forward to continuing this series.
Please enjoy this short excert of The Guardians of the Forest: Book Two
Kiethara did not have to turn to know who was behind her.
She could feel him. She could feel his casual stance; feel his black cloak rippling in the breeze, flowing over his blade. She could even feel the smirk on his face.
She could really feel the wicked amount of magic he was hoarding inside him.
A flash of intuition--this was why they had been gone for so long. Not to assemble some huge army, or practice some intense strategy, but to gather as much power as they could. They most likely had Camella’s grandfather put in jail so he could be forced to make them the necessary potion. If she had focused on her connection as Aaron had instructed, she might have noticed them taking fruit from the fringes of the forest.
All this flashed in her head in an instant, the shocking clairvoyance almost as uncanny as Aaron’s had been. In the next instant, however, she remembered she had to give the signal. She had to alert the others.
Kiethara let out an ear-piercing scream that filled the forest. Birds took off from their perches.
Her shield flashed up around her as she jumped out of her hammock, spinning to face her father.
Just as she had expected, his face was alighted with a smirk. His dark eyes, though, were narrowed in a peculiar way.
“Kiethara,” he addressed. “It’s been far too long, child.”
Fear flooded her stomach as she looked into the face of Gandador.
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