by Nichelle Rae
A few moments passed and I heard footsteps coming toward me. I felt friendly, loving eyes and knew it was Rabryn. Without looking at him I smiled, “If you’ve come to try and persuade me to go down to the party, you’ve wasted your time.” I glanced at him, and then looked away again with a suppressed smile. “You were never good at persuasion, little brother.”
There was a quiet pause, then I felt him smile. “I haven’t come to persuade you to do anything,” he answered.
My smile widened and I looked at him again. “You were never good at lying to me, either.”
I knew beyond any doubt those were his intentions. He returned my smile, then glanced downward. He was dressed in his “party clothes,” as he called them, though they weren’t much different from his regularly attire. He had on dark maroon pants and black, shiny boots. He wore a dark-blue tunic with a gold sash tied loosely about his waist, the knot hanging gracefully to the side. His brown hair fell long enough to just graze the tops of his shoulders and was cut to loosely frame his face.
I studied his lovely bright blue eyes and didn’t like what I saw. “What’s wrong, Rabryn?” I asked, my eyebrows dropping in concern. I knew when something bothered my brother. I barely even had to read his eyes to tell. His smiled faded, indicating I was right. I held my hand out to him. “Sit down and tell me.” He placed his hand in mine and eased himself to the ground at my side. “What is it?”
Rabryn looked down at his lap. “Well, to be honest, it’s you,” he said, turning his eyes to me.
“Me?” I scoffed and looked away. “And I thought it was something important.” I was trying to lighten the mood.
“It is important!” he shouted. I looked back at him with wide eyes. He never spoke to me like that! He never yelled at me. He saw the expression of shock on my face and softened his tone. “It’s important to me.”
I turned and kneeled in front of him. “I’m sorry, Rabryn,” I said softly, taking his hands in mine. “I didn’t mean to upset you. Please, tell me what’s wrong.”
He sighed and looking down at my hands. “It’s just,” he struggled to find the words. “I know well enough that you are very hated here, and I—” he sighed, and finally looked at me. “You used to come to me when you were upset or hurting. Now you seek comfort in the woods. You don’t come to me anymore, and I wish you did.
“Like today,” he went on quickly, as if fearing I’d interrupt him before he could get it all out, “when Clyryan and Seana were mocking you, you went into the woods instead of talking to me. You seek more solitude in the woods than you ever have, and I’m worried about you.” His eyes filled with emotion. “I feel like…” He let out a heavy breath and looked down at his hands holding mine. “I’m worried that I’m losing you in some way. I’m worried that someday you’re going to go into those woods and never come back.” He looked up at me again. “I’m afraid you’re going to leave me here alone.”
I couldn’t believe he was saying this to me. I smiled and pulled him into my arms. He hugged me close and buried his face in my hair. “Rabryn,” I said forcing back tears, an effort I’d mastered over the past eight years in this torture chamber, “you’re not losing me. And you, above all, should know better than to think that I would go anywhere without you!” We both chuckled. I pulled away and grinned at him warmly. “Rabryn, you are my whole world, you know that.” A flicker of sadness rippled through me. I sighed and sat back on my heels, dropping my hands onto my lap. “When I seek solitude in the woods, it’s not only because I want to get away from the hate these people have for me. It goes deeper than that.” I struggled for words that he might understand.
“You and I both know that I’m not wanted here,” I finally said. “I’m of no use to them, but…” My voice trailed off as I thought about the sword at my belt. How could I tell him anything without telling him about that? I chewed on my bottom lip and an idea formed. I drew out the sword and gazed at it as it rested in my hands. “But I have a great gift, Rabryn,” I said softly as I looked back up at him. “I have the wonderful gift of knowledge.” He looked at me with slight confusion at this point. I tried to think of more words without giving anything away.
“I know so many wonderful things,” I continued, “things that average people don’t know because of the time I spent with my father.” I sighed. “But the knowledge I possess is of no use here.” I sheathed the sword and looked again into his face. “I go into the woods so I can use my knowledge and skills. I need to feel useful; I need to feel like...like I have a purpose besides a dart board of hate.” A shadow of a smile formed on my face, “I feel like that when I go into the woods. Even if I do a simple deed such as, I don’t know, mending a bird’s broken wing.” My eyes brightened and my smile widened. “I can do that! I have that skill.”
I paused again, wondering if he understood me at all. “I go into the woods to use my skills, just so I can feel that little bit of worth that I don’t feel here.” I shook my head slowly and gestured toward the party. “I mean nothing to these people. It doesn’t matter to them that I mended a bird’s broken wing.” A corner of my mouth tilted up and I shrugged a shoulder. “But it mattered to that bird.”
I gazed down once again and sighed, glad to get those feelings off my chest. I felt a sliver of pride at explaining my feelings that well without giving away the full truth—that I felt I could be making myself more useful by killing Hathum and hopefully bringing honor back to my father’s name, but I had to wait for my call of duty first. Beldorn told me I would know when the time came.
I went into the woods to practice my skills and sharpen my abilities with the sword. I also did a lot of thinking about what I was going to do when I finally got out of here and how I was going to do it. Nothing spectacular came to mind. How do you prepare to face the greatest Evil known to the world? I hoped I would know what to do when the time came. For now, I was trapped in The Pitt, just waiting for it to happen.
I looked down and softly laughed. This was stupid! Rabryn was generally accepted among the people of The Pitt. He was one of them. He didn’t know what I was talking about, even if I had explained myself rather well. But I had probably just wasted my breath trying to explain it to him. I was never good at explaining what my emotions were, and even worse while hiding something.
“I’m probably making no sense to you at all.”
There was a brief pause before Rabryn spoke. “Azrel, look at me,” he said softly. I looked up and saw him smiling at me. “Who am I?”
“What?” I asked, confused.
“Who am I?” he asked again, his eyes big and intense.
I began to question his mental health. “You’re Rabryn, right?” I asked with an awkward smile, wondering if that’s the answer he wanted.
He chuckled lightly. “No, that’s my name. Who am I?”
I shifted my eyes from side to side to see if there was anyone around who might save me from this nut. “You’re my brother?” I asked cautiously.
Rabryn smiled. “That’s right, I’m your brother. How could you doubt that I would understand you?” He crossed his arms over his chest, smirking. “Give me a little credit. I understand you just as well as you understand me when I tell you what I’m feeling.” He leaned forward and looked at me from under his brows. “This isn’t a one-way sibling-ship, you know.”
I chuckled gently. “I know that,” I said. I pulled him into a hug, secretly thinking that he couldn’t possibly understand me; he didn’t know me as thoroughly as I knew him. I had one big secret, and when it surfaced it was going to hurt him deeply to find out that I’d kept it. Another reason to hate this “gift” I had.
“I’m glad I decided to talk to you about this. I was getting worried.”
“Thank you for caring for me so much, Rabryn.”
“Always.” He pulled away and looked in my eyes, “So will you come to the party now?” We laughed because we both knew that was a dumb question. Of course I wouldn’t.
“Absolutely…�
� His eyes widen in disbelief that I might say yes. “Not!” I added. We laughed again. “You should know better than that,” I teased, peering at him with one eye.
“I do know better,” he said with a smile. “I just thought I’d try.”
“I won’t go to the party, but will you do me a favor?”
“Anything.”
“Stop worrying about me!” I cried and gently shoved his shoulders. We both laughed again.
“Now it’s my turn to say, ‘You should know better than that,’” he smiled.
I returned his smile. I did know better—I knew he’d worry about me no matter what I told him to do. I ruffled his soft brown hair. “Well, go have fun at least.”
He kissed my forehead and stood. “As you wish, your majesty,” he said in a noble tone, bowing deeply at the waist and making an exaggerated sweeping motion with his arm. I chuckled as I watched him walk away toward the party.
I looked out at the town center and saw all the happy, smiling faces. So much warmth and joy was just a short distance away. An overwhelming desire to be there came over me. I wanted to be among that warmth and joy with my brother. I suddenly didn’t care if they wanted me there or not!
I jumped up from the ground, “Rabryn!” He turned to look at me. “Wait up!” I called as I jogged toward him.
As I approached his side, he smiled in pleasant disbelief, then offered his arm to me. “Shall we?”
I smiled back and took his arm. “We shall.” We made our way toward the party, laughing and running like children at play for the first few yards, then walking the rest of the way.
As soon as we entered the ring of light, the joyful feeling quickly seeped away from me as nasty, fearful, and some curious looks were shot my way. I suddenly wondered why I wanted to come down here. Some people moved away from me as I approached.
I sighed and let go of Rabryn’s arm, forcing myself to smile at him. “Go on, Rabryn. I’ll be fine here.”
He glared at the men and women standing nearby, then sighed as he looked back at me. “Are you sure? I’ll be more than happy to stay with you if you want.”
I tried to laugh, but it was hollow. “That’s the last thing I want. I see you enough. I don’t need you dangling at my side here.” I tried to hide the quiver in my voice, though I felt hateful eyes burning into me.
Rabryn sighed. “If you need me, I’ll be over with Beldorn.” I nodded, and he kissed my cheek and walked away.
I sat on top of the nearest picnic table, resting my feet on the seat. I placed my elbows on my knees and gazed around. Any face that my eyes scanned would turn away. Some people sneered then went about their business. Some whispered and some pointed. But none approached.
Rabryn took a seat with Beldorn and the children who surrounded a fire listening to stories. Rabryn whispered to the Wizard and pointed in my direction, no doubt telling him that I was here. Beldorn looked at me, surprised, and waved. I waved back and returned to surveying the crowd.
After a few unsettling minutes, I was about to go back to my arthol tree when a sudden explosion caught everyone’s attention. It came from the campfire where Beldorn and my brother sat with the kids. A yellow and orange transparent figure emerged in the fire. It was some hideous, misshapen creature! It stood easily eight feet tall, with claws on its hands and toes that were nearly two feet long, the nails like knives. Its face resembled that of a bat and looked to have had bites taken out of parts of its squished in face. Thin, razor-sharp teeth protruded from the top and bottom of its mouth, nearly cutting open its own nose and chin.
As I looked on with wide eyes, I searched my memory and suddenly realized that it was a Gorkor! Or it looked like one, anyway. But I was taught that Gorkors were solid creatures. It let out a ferocious roar that echoed into the sky, and suddenly terrified people began running in every direction as fast as their feet could take them, tripping and falling over in panic.
Suddenly my breath caught in my throat. The creature stepped out of the fire and walk right toward Rabryn! I watched in horror as my brother slowly began backing away from it, his eyes wide, too dumbfounded to move quickly. He was weaponless! He always left his bow and arrows in the woods where we practiced!
Without thinking, I sprang from my seat and ran toward the creature. As fast as I could go I crossed the clearing, violently knocking aside anyone in my way. I drew the sword and in one bound, completely ignoring the seat, I leapt onto the top of another picnic table, putting the Gorkor’s thin waist within my sword’s reach. I spun my body around with full force and sliced through its belly.
My sword hit nothing! It was as if I had cut air! With the force of my body spinning and no solid surface to slow my momentum, I stumbled backward. I almost lost my balance and almost fell flat onto the grass, but I regained my footing just in time. I looked back at the monster to see Rabryn fall to the ground. The thing was right on top of him!
“NO!” I screamed.
Suddenly the creature vanished and Rabryn stood up from the ground, looking with wide eyes in my direction. “What? What’s wrong? What is it?”
I flinched at his bewildered expression. He was acting as if nothing had happened just now! My eyebrows knitted together as my heart started pounding. “What do you mean, what’s wrong?” I cried.
Rabryn’s face flushed pale when he saw me standing on the table, my sword in my grip. With big eyes and a fist over his mouth, he looked like he was about to throw up as he slowly walked toward me. “Azrel,” he began softly, placing his palm gently on top of my boot. “I was just reenacting a story Beldorn was telling to the children.” My eyes went wide. “That monster was just Beldorn’s magic. Not real.”
My heart stopped and I felt heat rise into my cheeks. The bottom of my stomach sank to my toes. My sword suddenly felt too heavy to hold up. The point sank down and touched the top of the table with me barely holding the hilt.
Wonderful.
Suddenly laughter burst out all around me. I gazed around helplessly at the hysterical crowd. I actually felt more confused than embarrassed. Weren’t these the people who had just run from the same pretend creature? They had thought it was real just as much as I had, yet they were laughing at me? Running from a fake creature seemed more of a reason to laugh than trying to kill one, especially when it was going after a loved one.
I looked back at Rabryn, who looked at me helplessly. “I’m so sorry,” he said in a whisper. “I didn’t...”
I cut him off by sheathing my sword and jumping off the table, roughly shouldering through the hysterical crowd and not caring if I knocked some people to the ground.
Rabryn was after me. “Azrel! Wait, please!” He was quickly standing in front of me, studying my face. The look I had doubtless revealed the straining of my will to remain unaffected. I felt defeated more than humiliated.
Rabryn, having no words to comfort me, pulled me into his arms and held me. My hands loosely wrapped around him in a halfhearted embrace. The laughter rang out all around me, prodding my tears to spill over, but I held them back. I had to.
“I’m so sorry,” Rabryn whispered. Something in his voice provoked me to pull away and look at him. He was in tears! “I didn’t know that you...” he began in a soft voice, but faltered and bowed his head, shaking it weakly.
I forced a smiled, though the laughter seemed to get louder. “It’s not your fault.”
He glanced at me from under his brows and saw my smile. He cleared his throat and wiped his tears, sniffing back more sobs. He then held his head high as he put his arm around my shoulders and we walked away from the laughing crowd.
Rabryn seemed more stung by their laughter than I was. Pain inflicted on my brother would not be tolerated! Not by me.
My defeat quickly turned to anger. I picked out the nearest voice, which was behind me to the right. “Poor Azrel didn’t get to use her cute little sword to save the world from a pretend creature!” Clyryan laughed with Seana. “How ever will she sleep tonight?”
&nb
sp; I stopped and turned toward Clyryan. All at once the crowd went silent and watched me, with fear growing in their eyes as they wondered what I was about to do.
I ignored it as I slowly approached Clyryan with a smile. “Dear Clyryan,” I said in a saccharine tone, “saving the world wasn’t my intention at all.” I tilted my head in the direction from which the monster had faded. “I just thought that hideous creature looked an awful lot like you, and I was going to put it out of its misery.”
Clyryan’s cheeks flushed crimson and hatred filled her eyes. I could have stopped there, but listening to Rabryn start snickering behind me encouraged me on. I sighed and put a look of mock of sympathy on my face. “But alas, it seems the poor creature realized its peril and put itself out of its misery.” My brows went up. “Maybe you should follow its example.” Rabryn’s subdued laughter exploded. I smirked triumphantly and turned on my heel back toward him. Ah yes, I could ward off a verbal attack with the best of them.
But Clyryan, determined to have the last word, yelled after me, “You miserable, worthless waste of halfway-good flesh!”
I froze in my tracks. That was it. The gloves were off. She obviously needed to be reminded that you don’t insult someone who can take your life in the blink of an eye. They all did!
She and Seana were laughing hysterically behind me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw that I was standing next to the silverware table. Piles of forks and spoons and…knives were within my reach. I discreetly reached out with my right hand, keeping it hidden behind my cloak, and took hold of two knives. After positioning them correctly in my hand, I spun around and hurled them at her with all my strength. The crowd screamed in horror, but Clyryan didn’t have time to scream before the knives were buried deep in the wooden pole she was leaning against; each was one centimeter away from the side of her head. She was frozen in shock.
I drew out my sword and walked up to her, indulging in the fear in her eyes as I lightly ran the tip of my blade up her torso and neck, placing it under her chin so firmly she was forced to raise her head to avoid getting stabbed. She strained her wide eyes downward to see me. I brought my nose within inches of hers, my teeth clenched. “The next time you cross me,” I hissed, “I won’t miss.”
