“Oh, that.” Darius said. “Well, no more worries. Everything’s fine. Now, where is everyone else?”
“They’re taking shelter just before the mountain pass but I couldn’t stay there. I had to come find you.”
“They do know you left, right?”
I smiled and tried to act innocent about it. “Well—Ruby knows.”
Dirk sighed. “Lana! You didn’t tell them?!”
“I know they wouldn’t have let me go. Besides, I couldn’t sit in there knowing that you’re out in this weather. I had to come and I feel better now because I know you’re not dead but I’m freezing.” Dirk put his arm around me and pulled me closer while I was shivering from the cold but he made it better. He always had a high body temperature because of his fire. “That’s better but I should probably go back and tell them you’re okay.”
“I don’t think so.” Darius cut in. “You’re not going back out there.”
“But I have too. Ruby will want to know you’re safe.”
“Not in this weather.” Dirk said. “You’re already catching a cold from your last venture. I’m not letting you leave.”
“All right but when she finds out that you’re okay, you’re the one that has to explain to her why she couldn’t know sooner so she can be mad at you.”
Darius laughed. “Deal. As long as you’re staying.”
I nodded. “The storm should be over by morning and they’ll catch up.”
Dirk looked outside and sighed. “Over by morning? Then I’m going to sleep.”
He simply laid back next to me and was out in the matter of minutes.
There was a long period of silence while Darius and I remained awake. I wrapped Dirk’s coat around me a little tighter as I sat there and watched him sleep.
“You did the right thing.”
I took my eyes of Dirk and looked over at Darius when he spoke. “What do you mean?”
“You were right in believing my remark about Dirk was misrepresented and I thank you for persuading him to prove it.”
“I had to. When he found out what you said, his reaction was heartbreaking and I knew there had to be some explanation for it.”
“The explanation was my own. I was too distracted to what could have happened that I didn’t see what actually did.”
“I’m just glad it’s settled. He would have never been the same, you know? He may not admit it but he’s always looked up to you, you’re like his hero.”
Darius smiled, taking a look down at his sleeping son to think that it was true and that’s when Ellie and Ryon appeared standing by the fire.
“Ellie! Ryon!” I said excitedly. “What are you doing here?”
“Just letting you know that the others are riding this way.” Ellie answered.
“Through this?” Darius wondered as he glanced outside.
Ryon laughed to himself. “Don’t worry about it. They’re fully capable of getting through this. We just had to make them want to.”
“You told them we’re in danger, didn’t you?” Darius asked in an angry tone.
“We might have but you need to be together. Red was on the brink of a heart attack. I could feel it. She needs to know that you’re okay and the only way was to get them to come here.”
“She came with them?”
“Of course she came and hey, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that.”
“It’s not your concern.”
“Maybe not but I have a lot of free time to think about other people besides myself these days. I’ve seen how all of this happened and I’ve got to tell you, you’re hating him for all the wrong reasons.”
“It doesn’t matter why I hate him. I just do.”
Ryon laughed to himself. “You probably know that I don’t like to but I’m going to be serious here. You don’t even understand all the things Trever has done. Everything you have, the reason you’re here is because of him.”
“Are you referring to him bringing me back to life because I know why he did that? It wasn’t for me at all.”
“No, that was for Red but I’m not just talking about you. I’m talking about all of you. The prophecy, the one that got you together, he planned everything. He was the brain of the entire thing making sure that you would end up together. Trever is the one that did that. He knows more about you than you think. He’s very smart so that also makes it easy for him to hide it all. He spent most of his life keeping Red safe until she met you because she’s the one that was more prone to disaster as I’m sure you could agree.”
Darius lightly nodded as Ryon continued to try and get him to think things a different way. It would have been nice to see it work but Ruby has explained this whole messed up thing to me. He wasn’t going to change; he couldn’t.
“He didn’t even have time to focus on his own life because he was more dedicated to yours, making sure it happened. Do you think he always wanted it to be this way between you? Well, he hasn’t. Yes, over the course of time he spent with Red, keeping her alive, he did share a deep connection with her but he gave it all up because he knew that’s not how it was supposed to happen and he had Bianca. He even held off from taking the throne so all of this would happen. If he was really the selfish, conceded person that you see, do you really think he would have done any of those things? I highly doubt it. He would have taken the throne the second he was old enough and he would have kept Red for himself because he never would have cared to travel and he never would have met Bianca.”
He stopped, just staring at Darius like he was waiting for him to say something but he never did.
“That’s it. That’s what I had to say and you can do whatever you want with it. You can toss it if you’d like and keep up with this feud but I implore you to log it away and really think about it. We wouldn’t want you to take this behavior to your death. You’ll be all too vulnerable to choose the wrong side and we need you. Your purpose isn’t over so think about it.”
It was quite a stirring speech. I know I was seeing better in Trever already, although, I’ve never really seen bad in him before. Ryon just made everything make more sense but Darius still sat without a word.
A few hours later, well into the night, the others arrived and rode directly into the cave.
“They’re here!” I said, shaking Dirk awake.
Ruby was the first to jump off her horse and approached us. “Dirk!” She ran over to him and gave him a hug while he was still trying to comprehend what was happening. “Are you all right? Let me look at you.”
“Mother.” Dirk muttered as Ruby continued with her river of worry.
“Are you okay? You’re not catching a cold are you?”
“Mother!” Dirk said to get Ruby to finally stop. “I’m fine, you can stop worrying about me. Seriously, I’m fine.”
“Well, I guess everything was fine after all.” Zayden said.
“Yeah, weird how that worked out.” Ryon smiled.
“I can’t believe you!” Adele said. “You had us all worried!”
“Loved the effort though.”
“And everything is back to the way it should be, I presume?” Zayden asked while he had his eyes on Darius.
Darius looked over at Dirk and smiled. “Yes.”
“Good. Now we can focus on resting and getting home in the morning.”
Sounded good to me. I haven’t slept yet since I knew they were on their way. I was looking forward to getting it now.
Chapter 16
Darius
Everyone settled around the fire after securing their horses but I noticed that Ruby hasn’t even looked over at me yet. In fact, she’s the only one that didn’t join us. She walked farther back into the cave instead. Adele immediately met my eyes like she thought she knew something and I guess she could have if Ruby told her about the note I left. Could that be what this is about?
Adele glanced back to where Ruby went and I knew what she wanted me to do. I lightly nodded and started to get up. I walked to Ruby, far away
from the others and noticed she was now upset but she knew someone followed her and that it was me because she spoke, only proving how upset she was. “What’s happening to us?”
Just the sound of her voice made me feel bad and I approached her from behind, putting my hands on her arms. “It’s my fault. I should never have said those things.”
“Did you really want me to stay there?” Ruby turned to me as she asked the question with eyes swollen with tears. “I mean, how could you even suggest that I should?”
“I was wrong. I thought I’d lost everything. I just didn’t want to bring you down with me.”
“Do you really regret not leaving when you had the chance?”
“Of course I don’t. I changed my life for you because I love you and I would gladly do it again but I’d change things. Like be around more for you and Dirk like I should have been when he was young.”
“It’s not like you had a choice. I’m the one that did this to us just by not moving back to the city where we could have been together every day.”
“I don’t want to do this. Everything turned out fine. Dirk and I are back to the way we were and I want us to be too.” Ruby seemed hesitant probably because she still felt awful about this whole situation but I had to change her mind and I took her head in my hands. “Hey, I love you. I don’t want you to ever forget that. We can’t keep dwelling on what could have happened. We can’t change what already has. Let’s just move forward. If you need to be distracted, I’ll do whatever it takes.”
Ruby started to get a smile on her face for the first time. “Whatever it takes?”
I knew where she was going with this and smiled back. “Hmm. It has been awhile since we’ve been in an outdoor location.”
“There’s a hot spring back there.” She said as she glanced back into the cave further. “We could relive the first time that got us into this.”
I smiled and took Ruby’s arm so I could lead the way. “It would be my greatest pleasure to relive that with you.”
She held close to me and we just kept walking. It was getting darker from walking away from the fire but not too dark by the time we reached the spring and it was perfect. We could still see each other enough to know who we were with and we took it slow.
I caressed Ruby’s cheek to begin this and she relished my touch. It caused her hands to reach to me and we began to get each other out of our clothes. After all these years she was still just as beautiful as the day I met her. I let her get into the spring first like before and I got in after her.
She came right in close to me and sat on my lap. We didn’t have to say anything. The moment was perfect, although this time, she was quieter about it with the rest of our family still practically in hearing distance but quiet didn’t mean less fun. In fact, it more or less made it more romantic. I could still feel her breath on me and hear how I made her feel when she was breathing it right in my ear.
Everything just seemed right again. I would have loved to stay in here with her forever but we had to get some sleep tonight or we wouldn’t want to leave in the morning with everyone else. We almost thought about not but we knew we should have. We could have all the time we wanted together just as soon as we were home.
We redressed and headed back to the fire. The storm was still going strong outside with heavy rain but everyone was already asleep, Ryon and Ellie, gone. We tiptoed passed them to find a place of our own and I got the chance to hold Ruby in my arms again. It made sleep peaceful even if we were doing it in the dirt but we were together. That’ all that mattered.
Chapter 17
Bryce
We woke to clear skies and sought to start heading back. I was okay with that, I guess. After Ryon and Ellie left last night, we knew it could be a while before we saw them again and had to focus on getting home. They’ve been coming here too much for the Elder’s liking but I knew it wouldn’t be forever. We were beginning to see Ryon as more of a friend than a mentor like we used to.
We traveled toward Randal for two days but something felt wrong. The skies ahead were dark in an unnatural kind of way and the smell of heavy smoke filled our lungs.
“What is it?” Adele wondered.
“Troy! Bryce! Look into it!” Zayden demanded.
My father and I didn’t hesitate. We used our vision and looked toward the thickening cloud of black smoke taking a hold of the eastern skyline. As soon as my sight reached Randal, I was horrified with the images. Parts of the city were engulfed in flames and the people were running around in a frantic motion.
“No fucking way.” I said to myself as my only reaction
“Damn it!” My father shouted.
“What’s happening?” Mother asked.
“We have to go!” My father started riding fast to the east without delay to stop this. “The city is under attack!”
Everyone else gasped with the news and we swiftly rode after him.
We were nearing the cloud of smoke and could now hear the turmoil within the city. The horrorstruck scene was visible to everyone when we rode to the top of the hill.
“How could this have happened?” Seth asked in an angry tone.
Zayden’s brow was crunched and his eyes were narrow as his voice expressed an extreme emotion of revenge. “I don’t care how. I want to know who.”
As did we all.
Chapter 18
Seth
My father started down the hill and no question, we followed. We were all sour about this.
The gates to both walls looked to be smashed open with some great force and were incapable of re-closing, allowing us to ride through and we made our way through the city.
The people were running around trying to put out the fires as the soldiers held back the rebels but we knew we had to help—well, the ones of us that could.
“Make it through to the palace! We’ll clean up here!” My mother said. Father nodded and rode swiftly to the palace with everyone else. “Cadence! Seth! Break northwest and northeast! We’ll douse these fires! Then get to the palace!”
Cadence and I nodded and we began to ride separate ways to save what we could. The fires in some sections were too powerful to move through the street and I had to find alternate routes to get to my position within the city triangle. I moved down alleys, over and around fallen stones and timber until I finally reached my position.
I quickly got off my horse and turned to the center of the city with my hands up in front of me. I was ready and pushed forward. A strong wind passed down every street of the city in my area, snuffing out the fires instead of making them stronger.
It was almost complete but I had to let it go because a couple of the rebels discovered what I was doing and were ready to attack. I actually welcomed the bit of action even if it did distract me for a second or two.
I put my hands down and quickly pulled out my sword. I cut down the first one with ease as a second one came at me from the side and knocked me over, making me lose my sword. I quickly rolled up to my feet as the rebel was running at me but I wouldn’t let it end like this because I was a much better fighter and he was about to find out.
I held up my hand and moved it in front of me nearly unseen, making my sword come up off the ground and fly towards the rebel. It stuck in the side of his chest while being thrown to the left a few feet from the momentum. It was beautiful to actually see my sword in action without me but I still wanted it back, ripping it from his lifeless body.
“Thank you very much. This is mine.”
I looked ahead and leaped to one of the roofs so I could see the damage. I mostly only saw smoke, no fires. It looks like Cadence and my mother had done it. The fires were gone. Now it was time to get to the palace and hopefully they’d be there so we could assist in putting the culprit to justice for this mess.
Chapter 19
Zayden
We sped through the city as fast as we could and made it up to the palace where the General and other soldiers were trying to break through the gat
e like it had been locked inside. I was pissed.
“General!”
He turned around and saw us getting off our horses to help. “Your majesty! The rebels have broken in and barricaded the gates. There’s no way through.”
“Who’s leading them?” I demanded with willingness intentions to make them regret ever stepping foot into my city.
“That’s uncertain but he claims he’s the rightful King.”
That made no sense. I thought for a moment as to who it could be but came up empty. I was the rightful King. “How many are inside?”
“Roughly two dozen but you know how impossible this wall is to penetrate and it would seem they knew it as well and are hiding inside.”
“Stop them from breaking through the gates. I want them to remain intact. We’ll get in another way.”
The General nodded and called off the soldiers from the gates. “Cease advancement! Hold the line!” The soldiers stopped what they were doing and turned. “Advance through the city! Take out the remaining rebel force!”
The soldiers all rushed off through the city for the command and I turned to everyone else. “We need a way in. Any ideas? I know how I can get in but that won’t work for the rest of you.” They all looked around at each other like no one could come up with one or at least one that wouldn’t affect the structure of the wall. “Damn it. Where’s Adele when you need her?”
“Did someone call me?”
I turned my head as she approached with Cadence and Seth.
“We’re locked out and need a sound way in.” Ruby said.
“And there’s about two dozen rebels inside waiting to greet us.” Jaylyn added. “We could really use one of your bright ideas.”
Adele gained a smile on her face and everyone leaned in to hear her plan. “All right, we’ll have to get in without giving them a chance to escape. Zayden. Seth. You know what to do. As for the rest of us, we’ll have to go over the wall.”
Despairing Tides (Fate's Intent Book 12) Page 7
