20. Chapter 20
Chapter twenty
My legs and hands ached from the bands that held me to the chair I was sitting in.
My face, although dry, felt sticky as I moved my mouth, and I wondered if I was still covered in blood.
I looked around the room, noticing books and papers strewn about.
The light of a lamp was near a large window.
Whispers were coming from behind the door, and I tried to make out what was being said, but I couldn't. The door opened, and in walked Keil and Ryker.
Great, my two most favorite people in all the universe—not.
“Good evening to you two. Please, have a seat,” I said, nodding to the chairs beside the table.
“I think you are confused,” Keil said. “Ryker, you hit him too hard,” Keil said looking at the angry knight.
“This must be my new room—I might have to complain to the owner about the accommodations. It looks roomy enough, but I am not so sure I enjoy this, being tied to the chair, bit—I mean, whatever strikes your fancy—but consent is important in this country, and I for—”
Ryker punched me in the face again. That was expected.
Irritating him was way too much fun, and his reactions were incredibly predictable.
I wondered how different he would be if he’d let his soul out.
I laughed as I looked at Keil who gazed at Ryker.
I still wondered what secrets the knight was keeping, for that could be the only reason someone would go to such great lengths to shield a soul.
“I obviously didn't hit him hard enough,” Ryker smirked.
“Is that really necessary?” Keil said.
“You heard him. How else in the realms am I going to get him to stop talking,” Ryker said with a chuckle.
I was sure that his violence toward me was payback for our time together in the cave, where I had used the corruptor’s blade on his flesh.
It was a tad cruel, but at the time, I thought it would be my only way to get answers. So I may have deserved his wrath.
“Well, take the crystal; let's see what we can do with it.” Keil walked up to me and watched as Ryker unclasped the necklace from my neck. It wouldn't help them, of course. The crystal was just a useless trinket at that point, nothing but a rock.
“It’s useless,” I said, looking toward Keil.
“Don't listen to him; he doesn't want the soul extracted,” Ryker snapped.
“Fine—waste your time—but I am serious; the melody is inside me with or without that crystal.” Ryker looked to Keil, whose posture slumped in defeat.
“We can still try,” Keil said, sitting down. Ryker walked over to him and watched as he seemed to poke and prod at the rock. He scanned it—prayed over it to the Ancients, anything he could think of, and of course, as I had told them, nothing worked.
By morning’s first light, I had only been able to sleep for a few hours, on and off.
The light that Keil kept on was not particularly pleasant on my eyes, as I had a rather irritating headache, which could be a direct result of the blood loss or from the punches to my jaw.
I didn't want to give Ryker that kind of power, so I called it bloodloss.
There was a crick in my neck from my head being forced to the side, and my head rested uncomfortably upon my shoulder.
All the pain was more than bearable. I had been through much worse.
I awoke just as Keil rested his head on the table.
“Are you going to tell her, or am I?” Keil asked with a sigh.
“I will tell her,” Ryker answered, taking the necklace and tucking it inside his pocket.
“Ah, remind her that she still has me, even after my dear brother is dead and buried. Though it might be best to wait a bit—you know, let the death sink in a little first.”
“Can you gag him? I think he most definitely should be gagged,” Ryker said to Keil, ignoring me.
Keil nodded with a smile. “Yes, I can do that, gladly.”
“I take offence to that. I thought you were the nice one, Keil,” I said as he wrapped a gag through my mouth.
“I am a warrior. We are not nice by nature. However, I am sure Ryker would rather behead you.”
I laughed and watched them both leave, looking around the room as they went.
I wasn't sure how much later it was when I heard some loud banging.
My plans were working out well. I was right where I wanted to be.
Next, I hoped they would assume that my motives were what I had told them in the cave, when I had reclaimed my soul from Shad.
I also hoped that they would find me to be arrogant and easy to capture and defeat.
As the loud banging continued, I thought it had to be at my door, but there was no reason for anyone to bang on my door—except me, demanding release.
And, seeing as I was tied to a chair, if they needed my help to enter, I was useless.
Well, partially useless. I could easily pull out my blade and cut my bonds, but only I was aware of that.
Fools. I knew they were when they didn't fully check my person after they had captured me. Although I use the word captured loosely because at any moment, I could escape. Keil and Ryker came bursting into the room. Ryker pulled himself out of Keil’s grasp.
“Let me go in there, so help the Ancients, Keil, I will—” Ryker was seething, a look of horror in his eyes. Ryker was trying to break down the other door in the hallway. Why? I wondered.
“You must leave her be. If she thinks she can help him, what could it hurt?” Keil asked Ryker.
Ah, they must be talking about Emma. Isn't it always about her? I could sense from Keil’s melody that he was worried that he would not be able to contain Ryker long enough for Emma to finish whatever it was she was doing.
What was she doing locked in that room? Keil wanted her to have more time.
I wondered what he needed to give her time for.
“What a show you two put on,” I said, my head resting on my shoulder again. I didn't feel like moving it; I was tired.
“I thought you gagged him?” Ryker asked, looking over at me.
Keil had, indeed, gagged me, but I purposefully stretched my jaw out as he was putting it on, giving me one extra inch of room.
It was all I needed to get it out of my mouth.
I had ample experience un-gaging myself, in my youth.
Tarick thought it fun to gag me before he beat me, and he never undid the gag.
I had spent days without the use of my mouth, and the little food that I was provided went to waste until he undid it—but there was no reason for it, then; I never screamed—which is probably why, as I got older, he stopped gagging me altogether.
“I did,” Keil answered, looking at me in confusion.
I smiled wide.
“But please give her time with the prince,” Keil said, but I heard it then, a loud wail, as if someone had died and their soul was splintered into a thousand pieces.
I let out a groan, as the melody rose and fell, broken and incomplete.
Ryker, for a split second, let his guard down.
I watched, and his eyes connected with mine.
The pain that I suddenly felt seared my insides.
Emma had done something to her melody, and from what I could tell, it wasn’t good.
Was she ripping it apart? I cringed again, surprised at my inability to keep my moans and groans inside, but the pain was too acute.
“What is it?” Ryker asked, coming toward me. I lifted my head.
“Her melody,” I offered before another round of the searing pain silenced me again. Then for a moment, it stopped. It was silent for seven heartbeats.
Ryker looked at me as I raised my head. I was relieved at the subsiding pain.
I thought I had endured much in my life, but her soul’s melody produced a pain all its own that I was not strong enough to handle—not then anyway.
Ryker’s eyes never left mine as if searching for answers.
He stood there, frozen in time, and then, he let his shield drop more.
I wasn't sure if Keil was paying attention, but I knew that Ryker was reading my melody, trying to decipher what had happened to Emma through our connection.
And there it was—there was the secret—the real reason why the knight shielded his soul.
I smiled at him, and his eyes looked horrified—realization hitting him about what he had just done—what he had just inadvertently shown me.
His shield was back up in mere seconds. He punched me in the face, and left the room.
Keil hurried after him, shouting. I rested my head on the back of the chair.
Interesting.
Very, very interesting.
Yes, interesting indeed. I smiled as I spat out some blood, using my tongue to verify that my lip was cut. I heard a thought, through my connection to Emma that wasn't hers.
Is that Shad? I tried to reach out and could sense Emma's broken melody, side-by-side of itself. She was happy, even joyful. Had she found a way to save my brother? Well, what did that matter if she knew the secret her knight held from her?
The secret I now knew. The knight had marked Emma. I could still win. Even if she—
You will love Terra.
Take me there.
The words made me want to vomit. That was definitely Shad, and he was soul speaking with Emma.
How?
Had she—had she–split her soul in half, and had she given half of it to my brother? As the realization of that possibility struck me, I heard a loud crash across the hall.
I closed my eyes, counting slowly each breath I took–in and out.
Formulating plans and ideas based on my new findings.
I shuffled through them and filed them from the most likely to least likely.
The largest issue—a truth which rang bright and strong inside of myself, the truth about the guardian knight, Rykerian Dallard, that he was marked—he was marked with Emma.
Emma could never be with anyone else. A marking couldn’t break. Why had he not told her?
Why is it a secret?
While it was unfortunate that she was linked to the knight in such a way, I was sure that I could wait it out until his death, which was no doubt to come soon with a temper like his; then I would happily mark her myself.
Or, if the knight died another way, she could be mine even sooner.
I had already counted the lives I was willing to take.
Should I add the useless knight to the list?
Is he worth it? Emma was. Regardless, I was happy for that information; it was another thing kept from Emma.
Another lie, and I could use that to my advantage when I pulled her over to my side of things.
I heard and read her soul, and the betrayal from her family had hurt her the most. And that secret?
While she had forgiven many other things, I wasn't sure Emma could get over being kept from Shad.
And by her supposed best friend at that?
Oh, it was just too good, and Ryker knew it.
I also needed to work on the situation with my brother, needed to get Emma to piece her soul back together.
There was a connection to my brother that had opened up.
I couldn't let him undo all of the plans that I had for Emma and myself.
But I could use that new development to my advantage.
Deep inside my soul, the soul which he had stolen from me, I was sure I could find and show him the darkest parts of himself, or use some of my own—then I would watch as his guilt slowly rotted him from the inside out.
I saw enough softness in his memories, the ridiculous anxieties of not being good enough—his worries were rather pathetic.
He was physically strong, but emotionally, he could be torn apart if I showed him the right things, said the right things.
“Such weakness,” I muttered softly with a smile.
Thoughts, unwelcomed ones, within my melody had caused me to rethink breaking Shad. But only for a moment. Only for a moment did I question the necessary cruelty. Then I filed it away.
This is war. I had to do what must be done.
I sighed again, and a grin that I couldn't contain spread across my face. Yes, things were going to work out nicely for me. All I needed to do was just find the right memories, find the right time to present some strategic revelations, then sit back and relax, and everything would unfold.
I sat there, tied up, counting the breaths that I took, again, until the blood loss and exhaustion took me, and I fell into a peaceful sleep, my dreams bathed in greenish-blue light as I waited for all my plans to come to pass.
The End . . . for now.