by LH Nicole
Rolling her eyes, she’d replied, “That’s not happening any time soon, bud. My perfect guy doesn’t exist outside of my dreams.” Wade had just laughed before they’d resumed her martial arts training.
Daggerhorne glided above their heads, constantly circling to make sure no Sidhe pursued them. “We can stop for a moment once we’re in the woods,” Dagg said, flying low.
Aliana’s was tired. Her muscles were sore and shaky, and it felt like all the energy had been drained from her body. Yet some kind of power still hummed in her chest.
“There used to be a small clearing not far from the border,” Galahad said. “Perhaps we can use it if it’s still there.”
Just before they reached the trees, the three of them were violently shoved forward and slammed to the cold ground. A pulse of searing pain cut through Aliana. Her already sore muscles screamed as she sucked in a breath, trying to roll onto her side. She bit back a whimper as she accidently rolled onto her injured arm.
“What the hell was that?” Her voice was thin and labored.
“Magic,” Daggerhorne replied, already back in the air, his gaze fixed on the fiery courtyard. Piercing screams ripped through the quiet and Aliana covered her ears, trying to block out the utter terror in the voices. The screams ceased as quickly as they had begun.
Aliana looked up to see Galahad kneeling over her. “Are you all right?” One of his hands rested at her side while the other slid under her head. He gently pulled her up.
She gripped a fistful of Galahad’s tunic and stared up at the keep, tears swimming in her eyes. “Please tell me those screams weren’t from those poor people back there.” The people they had left behind.
He dropped his eyes from hers, nodding.
That could have been me! A tear slid down her cheek.
Galahad carefully pulled Aliana back to her feet. She wasn’t able to meet his eyes and continued staring back at the keep, feeling her heart break with shame, anger, and guilt. She ripped the mask from her face and pulled frantically at the ties of her heavy cloak, throwing both onto the ground. Galahad pulled off his cloak and mask as well, dropping them next to hers.
He didn’t offer her empty words of comfort, somehow knowing that was not what she needed. He gently brushed away her tears with his knuckles and laced his fingers through hers. He just stood there, silently lending her his strength, letting her take whatever comfort she could from that.
Her body on autopilot, she followed Galahad through the dark forest. He had saved her from the Sidhe’s magic, but they had left those other people without even attempting to free them. Since leaving the keep, Dagg hadn’t crawled onto her shoulders again, but now he hovered close. Aliana was determined to get control of her emotions before they found a place to rest. The small corner of her mind she used as an emotional hidey-hole was the perfect place to push the guilt until she could deal with it.
Galahad led her past more moss-covered trees before stepping into a small clearing littered with fallen tree trunks, clusters of large, flat stones, and rounded boulders. The opening provided a beautiful view of the star-studded sky. A crescent moon lit their resting space. Noticing that the trees were filled with large, shiny, green and red apples, Aliana suddenly realized how hungry she was.
Galahad pulled her over to the closest cluster of rocks, embedding his sword in the ground and guiding her to sit on a flat, stone surface. He kneeled next to her and took her pack from her hands. “Do you have anything to clean and re-bandage your wound?” He pulled back the flap.
Panicked, Aliana snatched her bag, or tried to. “Give me that!” But Galahad refused to let it go. For a moment, they played a silent game of tug-of-war, their angry gazes warring with each other. “I can take care of it myself! I don’t like people rifling through my stuff.” A girl had to have some privacy, after all.
“My lady, I am just trying to help you.”
Aliana couldn’t tell if he was offended or confused by her refusal.
She shook her head. “Thank you, but I can handle it.” Everything was spinning out of control, and she felt like she was losing her ability to take care of herself. There were so many things she didn’t know or understand about Avalon, and the thought of having to totally rely on someone else to get her through this was…unsettling.
Galahad narrowed his eyes, reaching out and tugging at the cloth around her arm.
“I said no, Galahad!”
“You can’t clean it properly on your own. Let me help you,” he growled at her in frustration. Aliana narrowed her eyes at him, trying to pull away again.
“Lady Aliana, please let me see to your wound.” Dagg’s voice was calm with an air of authority that reminded her of her father’s when he was dealing with one of his students. “The magic of Avalon can sometimes have ill effects on humans.”
She huffed, feeling like a scolded child. “I wasn’t trying to be difficult, but I don’t need people to do everything for me, either.” She narrowed her eyes on Galahad as she reached into her pack with her good arm and pulled out a bottle of water and her first-aid kit.
“You seem disturbingly well prepared, Aliana,” Dagg said as he examined the first-aid supplies.
“Yeah, well, you live and learn. Get caught once without it, you make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Dagg gave her a questioning look, but she avoided responding to it both because she didn’t want to relive her first trip without her family, and also because Galahad would probably focus on her bad decision.
The knight didn’t say anything as he watched Aliana open the water bottle and place it and the bandages next to him. Taking advantage of her cooperation, he unwrapped the soiled cloth from her arm. She bit the inside of her cheek—the fibers of the scarf had bonded with the dried blood and pulled roughly at her skin.
For all of his irritation with her, Galahad’s touch was extremely gentle. He took great care washing away the dried blood while Dagg watched silently from his perch on Galahad’s arm, his purple eyes missing nothing. As the mess around her wound cleared, she saw that the cut had already mostly closed. All that was left was a thin scab.
“That’s not right,” she said. “That cut was deep and much wider than this.” She poked at the red skin, but even the pain from earlier was almost gone.
“Interesting,” she heard Dagg mumble to himself. “Avalon’s magic does not normally act in such ways with human blood.”
“What do you mean?” she asked while Galahad poured more water down her arm, washing away the last of the dried blood.
“You’re fortunate,” Galahad interrupted before Dagg could answer. “I remember the first time I came to Avalon. I had wounds all over me, and the magic felt like it was trying to burn away my blood. Had Avalon’s magic not been tempered, I am not sure how long I could have endured the pain.”
Aliana frowned. “That’s strange. It hurt at first, but after a while the pain lessened. Honestly, I had forgotten all about it until that blast of magic hit us.” She dropped her eyes. “What happened to them? What did the Sidhe do to those people, and how did they get here?”
Dagg jumped from Galahad’s arm, circling around them in the air as he told Aliana what she wanted to know. “The Sidhe lure mortals here and use their human spirits to strengthen their powers and make them less vulnerable to the sun’s light. Sidhe magic is dulled by the sun’s rays and thus they become weak or tired. Humans thrive in sunlight. The problem with stealing the spirit of a human is that it does not last very long—no more than two moon cycles—so they have to constantly find new humans to drain.”
Aliana thought for a moment. “So it’s the same thing as stealing a Pegasus’s magic to gain their ability to fly?”
“How do you know about that?” Dagg asked, a worried kind of curiosity in his voice.
“I saw a Pegasus earlier. I followed it into the woods, but we were attacked by some Goblins.” She ran a hand through her hair, thinking about the whistling arrow that had almost done her in.
“What? You were wandering in these forests by yourself, unprotected?” Galahad’s jaw clenched tight.
“And why shouldn’t I? Despite what you may think of me, I can take care of myself. I’ve been traveling on my own for a while now, and it’s not like I had another choice.” Just because she’d nearly gotten trapped in the Sidhe’s web didn’t mean she was helpless. Wade and her father had made sure she was very capable of defending herself.
“Oh really.” Galahad tightened his grip on her arm, reminding both of them how easily she could be hurt. “Is that why you have this wound—because you know how to take care of yourself so well?”
“Get your hand off me!” Aliana wrenched out of his grip. “For your information, my arm got cut while I was trying to find you back in that damned keep when the stairs crumbled right underneath me!” She poked her finger into his chest.
“Enough, both of you!” Dagg commanded, flying between them. “This is getting us nowhere. We all need to rest for a few minutes and get some food in us.”
Jaw locked tight, Galahad kept his eyes on Aliana when he said, “Very well, but then I want to know exactly what has happened to you since you arrived here in Avalon.”
“Why would I tell you when all you’re going to do is snarl and glare at me?”
“And when are you going to understand that I am concerned for your safety?” Galahad gripped her chin, forcing her eyes to his. “You are the key to awakening the king and reuniting the knights so we can defeat Mordrid! Your life is important and cannot be placed in danger so easily.” His face was mere inches from hers; his breath teased her lips, and his blue eyes darkened. His gaze flickered from hers for a moment, dropping lower, then back up to her eyes.
Aliana looked away, pulling from his grip. So she was right—she was only a burden to him. Closing her eyes, she pushed back her disappointment and focused on calming her racing heart.
“Lady Aliana,” he said softly. “Please understand that you are important. Only you can break our curse.”
Unable to bear his nearness, she got up from the rock and walked a few feet away. She crossed her arms, staring up at the starry sky.
“My lady?” Galahad placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Do you understand?”
Putting on a smile, she turned to him, simultaneously pulling away from his touch. “I get it Galahad. You need me to fulfill this prophecy.” Her voice was calmer and softer than it had been seconds ago. “I don’t intentionally place myself in bad situations. I did the best I could with what I was told by the Lady of the Lake.”
“Tell me, please, what has happened since your arrival here in Avalon? I need a better understanding of what you know and what you have seen.”
Aliana walked past him, taking a seat on a small stone, away from the one still covered with her first-aid supplies. Galahad followed and sat on a rock directly across from her.
“I came through a cave by a lake in my world…” She paused for a moment. “Wow, it sounds really weird saying that.”
Galahad raised an eyebrow.
“Sorry, this is all new to me and very strange.”
“I understand. I felt much the same when I came here with King Arthur.”
Aliana leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “I grew up listening to all the different stories about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. I feel like I know all of you already. But what happened to everyone? Why are you here? And when did you live in Camelot?”
Galahad chuckled, as if amused by her eagerness. “In time, my lady. First I need to hear what has occurred since you’ve been here.”
She told him about meeting Deidre and what the Nymph had said she was supposed to do. She described the little creature she had freed from the bush and meeting the Pegasus. Galahad’s jaw tightened when she told him about the Goblins, though she purposely left out the part about the arrow almost taking her head off. The knight listened, taking everything in silently.
“I thought they were going to get us until J’alel stepped in. He made me nervous at first, but then the Pegasus seemed to talk to him, and he helped me get back on to the path. He said he knew of the story of the Destined One and that the Elves would stand by King Arthur again if he called on them.”
“That is good to know.” Galahad relaxed slightly. “The Elves are strong warriors and their magic has helped us on more than one occasion. You said there was a creature that was not what it appeared to be. Can you show me the image you captured of it?”
Nodding, Aliana got up, grabbing her camera from her bag. Turning, she almost ran into Galahad, who was now right behind her.
She stepped back against one of the stones. “Geesh you move like a ninja.”
He scrunched his eyebrows. “What is a…ninja?”
“Uhh…never mind.” She turned on her camera as Galahad moved to stand directly behind her and peer over her shoulder.
“Is this more of your technology, my lady?”
For a moment, his closeness made it difficult for Aliana to speak.
6
Wade and I are eating lunch alone since Aliana’s off on another of her adventures. Wade isn’t the type of person I normally associate with. He’s brash, American, loud-mouthed, American, a comedian, and still American. In spite of that, I like him. Maybe because he and I are total opposites or because he understands loyalty. I’m glad Aliana has him in her life.
~Owen
ACUTELY AWARE OF THE HEAT rolling off Galahad, Aliana cleared her throat and leaned forward, putting a little more space between them. “This is a digital camera. They’re designed to capture an image in real life so you can preserve the memory.”
“Like a mosaic or a fresco?”
“Exactly. Only it’s an instant, perfect recreation. I like to think that it catches a heartbeat of time.” She gave him a big smile, looking between the camera and him. “The great thing about photography is that I can create something that tells a story with only a glance. I sell a lot of my pictures. That’s what I do to make money. I find and create images that inspire people and draw them into the beauty of what I see.” That was the part she loved best about her art.
“Does your father or husband not see to your needs?”
“No, my parents are dead and I’m not married. I take care of myself and I do it quite well.” Aliana leveled a stern look at Galahad. “Things are much different now. Women have their independence, even if they have families and husbands.”
“I meant no disrespect,” Galahad insisted, holding his hands up. “The world now must be much changed from the one I knew.”
“Sorry.” Aliana offered him a small smile, not sure if she was more sorry for rushing to judgment or because she realized how much they wouldn’t fit together. “Here’s the picture of the creature.” She held the view screen up to him.
Galahad’s eyes opened wide. “It looks so real.”
“Like I said.” Aliana beamed at the way he studied the picture as if it was the most important thing he’d ever seen.
He frowned and handed the camera back to her. “You are sure this image is true?”
“Yes, but the creature that I saw with my own eyes was cute with nice fur, adorable black eyes, and definitely no fangs. It did have three tales like in the image, though.”
“That is a TreTale, but this one has been tainted by evil magic.”
Fear skittered down Aliana’s spine. “Why would someone do that? And why didn’t it look like that to my eye?”
“As you learned earlier, these forests are protected, but they hide many a great prize. Sorcerers have been known to spell a creature of the forest so that they may find a target without entering the forest. Once the spelled creature finds what it is searching for, the magic allows them to lead their master to the prey.” His frown deepened. “Even if the prey has moved on to a new place.”
Aliana bit her lip, her nerves rattled by this more sinister angle to the creature. She hoped it hadn’t been sent to find her Pegasus frie
nd.
“What do you think Dagg?” she asked as she slid her camera strap over her shoulder, but no answer came. She scanned the area, trying to find the little Dragon but didn’t see him. “Dagg? Where do you think he went?”
“I do not know, but we cannot move on without him.” Galahad glanced at the apple trees. For a moment, there was a look of such need on his face that it hurt Aliana to see it. He literally hasn’t eaten in ages.
Galahad nodded toward the trees. “Those are the apples of Avalon. Eating one is enough to fill a person’s stomach for half a day. Would you like to try one?”
Aliana considered the apples then shifted her eyes to Galahad. “Sure, I haven’t eaten since this morning.”
Galahad moved quickly to the trees and plucked two very large apples. Talk about temptation! Ripe, juicy apples and an honest-to-God-drop-dead-gorgeous knight in shining armor. Aliana couldn’t help smiling as he made his way back with two perfect apples. Why did he have to look like the charming and brave fictional hero?
“Here, my lady.” His fingers brushed across her palm as he placed the fruit into her waiting hand. Whatever magic he had used to free her from the Sidhe came rushing back, and she couldn’t turn away from him. With sheer force of will, she took a step back. The moment she did, her head cleared and a nervous giggle escaped her throat.
“Thanks.” She took a bite, and sweet, tangy flavor burst in her mouth. “Wow!” she said after swallowing her first bite. “This is fantastic!”
Galahad smiled as he took a bite of his apple. Aliana watched, fascinated, as he devoured half the large fruit in three bites. His eyes met hers for a moment before she glanced away, taking another bite. Before she could embarrass herself any further, she started packing her medical supplies away while she finished her apple. She didn’t have to look to know that Galahad was right behind her. She heard him pull his sword from the ground and re-sheath it.
