When he awoke, he had a buzzing in his head as loud as a
dragon, or, that is, as loud, as he imagined a dragon would have sounded if one
had somehow gotten into his head. His
brain head throbbed in severe pain. The
sound of the cart moving over the ill-kept road then arose mingling with the
dragon’s roar. He cautiously opened his
eyes to the blazing sunshine, which burned with searing daggers of light. He was moving again. He groaned in discomfort.
The cart stopped abruptly.
Myrthis appeared almost instantly with the water jug.
“Drink,” she said. “You
need the water; you’re dehydrated.”
Once again she helped him quench his thirst.
Almost at once he began to notice that he had regained some
slight control of his muscles. He eased
himself up into a sitting position in the cart.
He took the water jug from Myrthis and gulped down its entire contents.
“You seem to be much improved today. It’s amazing what three days of unconsciousness
will do for you.”
“Three days!” he gasped, coughing water all over
Myrthis. “I was out for three days?”
“No, actually it was more like two and a half, really.” Myrthis answered, wiping her face dry.
Right then Tolian’s stomach let out a terrific growl. Suddenly it occurred to him that he was
starving. Not surprising, he considered,
since he hadn’t eaten in three days.
Brythia had come back and was standing right next to him.
“How are you?” she asked.
Tolian curled his arms, albeit rather awkwardly. “I’m getting there,” he said.
Brythia seemed very relieved, “I’m very glad to hear it,
Your Highness. No doubt you will find
that you will be completely recovered in the next few days.”
Her smile was even more heavenly than he had
remembered. Tolian found himself quietly
delighting in the fact that she appeared to be so happy that he was
recovering. Then, of course, he
remembered that they wanted him healthy for some mad, secret purpose. He looked deeply into her deep blue
eyes. She didn’t look insane.
She met his gaze briefly, and then turned to Myrthis.
“See that he is properly secured now that he is regaining
his mobility,” Brythia ordered.
“Of course,” Myrthis said.
Myrthis searched through one of the bags in the cart and
withdrew a strong leather cord. Tolian
knew if he had any chance of escape, it was going to be before he was tied
up. His stomach let out another terrific
noise. It gave him an idea.
“Myrthis,” he said.
“Yes, Tolian,” she said, turning towards him.
“Do you think there is any chance that I could eat something
on my own before you go and tie me up.
I’m quite weak, I’m not likely to go anywhere anytime soon.”
Well, he thought, the part about being weak was true enough,
as was the part about being hungry. He
tried to look as pathetic as he could, which, considering his condition, was
fairly easy to achieve. He weighed his
options. He wasn’t even sure that his
legs would be able to hold him up, let alone carry him in escape. Still, they were only madwomen, and he was
the prince of Lorm; he felt confident that his royal legs would find their
strength.
Myrthis regarded him for a moment. Tolian thought he discerned a trace of
sympathy in her expression.
“Fine,” Myrthis said.
“How about some berries and honey bread?”
“Oh, Myrthis, I could kill for some berries and honey bread.”
She nodded, “Very well, let’s see...”
She went to another of the bags and fished out a loaf of the
tasty bread and some late season berries.
Tolian’s mouth watered involuntarily.
He determined that his best plan lay in eating first. He knew that he required sustenance if he had
any chance in escaping in his current worn down condition.
He made a big show of painfully pulling himself up to more
of a sitting position.
“Oh, um, Myrthis could I please have some more water, as
well?” He inquired.
“Uh, sure,” she said, “I’ll get some more.”
She handed him a plate full of fruit and bread and left to
get more water. The water that he had
already drunk had considerably lessened his headache, and the food and a little
more liquid should be sufficient to bring him up to the best shape he was
likely to be in soon. He ate.
Myrthis had to go to the other side of the cart to get
additional water. Tolian casually looked
about him. The other druidesses were
gathered several yards away enjoying their own lunches. None seemed to be paying any attention to
him.
He grabbed the freshly filled water jug from Myrthis’ hand
and hastily gulped down its contents with remarkable speed. With each drop of water he felt himself
growing stronger and the headache decreasing.
He was careful not to show any visible signs of the improvement that he
felt. He finished his food with a wary
eye on the others.
“Myrthis, I do so hate to keep bothering you. But, is there any chance I could get just a
little more water?” He asked as meekly
as his royal nature allowed.
“You are thirsty,” she said. “Give me the jug.”
He struggled to get the jug over to her, with a couple of
histrionic groans thrown in for good measure.
He waited until she got completely over to the other side of the
cart. Another quick look at the others;
they were still eating in their customary silence.
Now.
He summoned all of the energy he could to roll clumsily off
the cart. His legs faltered at first, as
they found the ground. He concentrated
on running. His moves seemed
ridiculously slow at first; he looked back to see the look of shock on Myrthis’
face. Move, he told his legs. Move now.
And, to his grateful amazement he was running into the thick
of the forest. His legs screamed in
agony with each clumsy footfall, but they did not fail him. He knew that he could not afford to waste
even a second in looking back. He willed
himself to greater speed. He tore
through the brush. Briars ripped into
his skin and wrapped about his legs in an almost premeditated fashion.
“After him!” He heard
Brythia shout.
He could hear the sounds of his pursuers behind him, causing
him to increase his efforts. The forest
was very thick, wherever they were, and the sun had some difficulty in
penetrating the verdant forest canopy.
He had no idea where to go. His
one imperative was simply to put as much distance as he could between himself
and his kidnappers.
Tolian was pleased to discover that the more he ran and
pushed his legs the quicker they fought off the poisonous lethargy that had
incapacitated him. His strength came
pouring back into his body. His legs
carried him faster and faster into the dark of the woods. The snapping of branches and the crunch of
leaves behind him grew more and more distant with each of his long
strides. He ventured a glance back. He had gained a great distance on them. They appeared as little more than small white
blotches moving in the dark forest shadows.
That sight gave him additional energy.
He ran for all he was worth, his legs screaming in agony
with each footfall. It seemed almost
funny to him. Here he was, Tolian of the
House of Hemris, Prince of Lorm, champion of a great many battles already
(despite the fact that he was only twenty three). He was generally regarded as one of the
finest warriors to ever carry a sword in the Kingdom of Lorm. And here he was running like a child from
five beautiful women. He felt some
strange dread when he thought of them, he wanted no parts of their insanity.
He had been running for almost an hour when he heard the
sound of water. As he drew nearer he
could tell that it was a large stream, winding through the forest. He didn’t give himself a chance to think
about his decision; he jumped into the water.
It was cold.
His mind snapped into clarity when he made contact with the
chilly water. He swam with powerful
strokes, eager to increase his lead. The
current was swift, so he traveled quickly downstream, but to where, he had no
idea.
Eventually, he made it to the rocks, which lined the stream’s
edge. The sun had not yet set
completely, but it was dark as night in the thickness of the forest. He peered into the shadows that surrounded
him. He could see nothing.
He sat down a few feet from the water’s edge and leaned his
weary frame against a nearby tree. He
had no idea where he was, but he was happy, albeit tired. He had survived his battle with the troll,
recovered the use of his limbs and made good his escape from those so-called
druidesses. He was hungry, but he would
address that concern in the morning. At
that moment, he wanted to sleep, more than anything else. He closed his eyes and let the forest’s night
sounds soak into him.
A branch snapped. He
opened his eyes at once, attuned to the approach of something or, more likely,
someone. Tolian prepared himself. A leaf rustled, closer. He waited.
In a swift motion, he leapt up and pounced on whatever was sneaking up
on him.
“Oh!” said a female voice, as Tolian fell on top of his
assailant.
It was Brythia. She
stared up at him, her big eyes filled with disappointment. She was obviously upset at having been
ambushed. Even in those dim shadows,
Brythia looked absolutely enthralling.
They stared at each other in the quiet darkness.
Something strange moved through Tolian. He felt giddy, almost. A powerful feeling radiated from his heart. Out of nowhere he experienced a great wave of
joy. It was crazy. It was stupid. It completely overpowered his will. He was suddenly, and inexplicably in
love. Tolian could not help
himself. He kissed her.
She gaped in horror; no, shock. Then her expression changed. She pulled him down to her, again. Her lips caressed kissed his.
They lay on the ground for several minutes, kissing
passionately.
Never in all his life had he felt anything like it. Certainly, he had loved women before; but
never like this. The extremity of
feeling; the degree of passion were greater by far than any emotion he had ever
experienced. It was as if love had
descended like some predator and bound them in its embrace. The only thing that Tolian knew was that he
wanted to kiss her for all eternity.
Brythia suddenly disengaged herself.
“Stop!” she said. “We
must stop this at once. It is not to
be.”
Tolian sighed, “Why not?
No one need know. You can tell
the others you didn’t find me.”
She shook her head.
“You don’t understand,” Brythia said. “You must either kill me now, or I must take
you back. There is no other choice.”
Tolian laughed quietly, “I guess, I’m going to have to kill
you then.”
Brythia shrugged.
“Very well,” she said.
She lay there motionless, stoically prepared for Tolian to
deliver a fatal blow.
He just looked down on her and the feeling of love he felt
increased tenfold. He couldn’t believe
it. His heart was pounding.
Oddly, a question entered his mind.
“Why do you need to kidnap me? You never did explain that.”
She gazed deeply into his eyes. He could see that she felt a deep sorrow and
regret for something.
“You are destined to save the world from the powers of evil,
it has been foretold,” she said in a dreamy manner.
“Me?” Tolian questioned doubtfully.
Tears welled up in her eyes. “Yes.”
“How am I supposed to save the world? What am I going to save it from, anyway?”
She brushed her tears out of her eyes. She sniffled.
“You know,” Brythia said.
“I almost want to let you go. You
could run away. I might even go with
you. But the end of the world begins
tomorrow night, and only you can stop it.
I cannot let my own happiness, which would be short lived, take precedence
over the fate of the world.”
“And if I return with you?”
She paused.
“If you come back, I’ll answer your questions, then you can
decide if you believe our claims.”
Tolian wanted to make her happy.
“I love you,” he said.
She shook her head, “You mustn’t. And I must try very hard not to love you as
well.”
“Why can’t we love each other?” Tolian asked.
“Because,” Brythia said, “We have more important tasks at
hand.”
That was what she said, but Tolian could sense that she was
holding something back. He could see
that whatever it was it was hurting her deeply.
He kissed her softly.
“Let’s go,” was all he said.
He wasn’t exactly sure of what he was doing. This was all complete lunacy. He had fallen in love with the madwoman who
had saved his life, then abducted him so he could save the world. It didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered to Tolian right
then was that he wanted to be near Brythia.
Despite her hard words about not be allowed to fall in love, Tolian
could tell that the druidess was having a difficult time stifling her
feelings. He felt confident that his
princely good looks and charm would win her affection.
He rolled off of her, and got up groaning. He was sore.
All his muscles ached in protest.
He offered Brythia his hand and helped her up. She was smiling, but even in the dim forest
night it was obvious that part of her had great reservations regarding his
decision.
“Thank you,” she said, softly. She brushed the dirt from cloak and pulled
the hair back away from her face in typical feminine fashion.
Brythia closed her eyes.
She then proceeded to let out a most peculiar shrill cry. It was a shrill, broken, high-pitched call,
not unlike a night bird might make. It was
uncanny. It definitely didn’t sound like something that would come out of the
mouth of a beautiful young woman.
Inhuman, he thought.
The eerie call issued three times from her delicate mouth.
She breathed deeply a couple times, opened her eyes, and
turned to Tolian.
“I have advised the others that we’re coming,” she said.
Tolian looked at her doubtfully. “It was a weird noise, but
it wasn’t all that loud. There is no way
in the world that the others could hear that.”
“Of course they couldn’t hear my call,” Brythia
replied. “It will be relayed to them.”
“Relayed?”
“Yes, Oh Doubting One.
Relayed. The forest is the medium
of our communication. Those of the
Druidic Order speak the languages of the wild.
The various creatures of the wood are our messengers.”
She believed what she said.
Perhaps, Tolian allowed himself to consider, she really could do such a
thing.
A tree frog suddenly sang out from overhead.
“Good,” Brythia said.
“The others will meet us on the road.”
Tolian wasn’t entirely sure if she was serious or joking.
“Great,” he said.
Brythia examined Tolian briefly. “How are you?
Do you think you have the strength to get back? It’s not really that far. You actually ran in the right direction. We can be back to the road with just a couple
of miles hiking.”
Tolian had strength enough for any undertaking, or at least,
he was determined to appear that way to Brythia.
“Yeah, sure. Couple
of miles? No problem.”
He bent over and kissed her.
“Please,” she said.
“We have work to do.”
Tolian sighed.
“Come,” she said, walking off into the night.
They had been walking for what felt like an eternity to
Tolian. He was having difficulty in
keeping up with Brythia’s quick pace.
His heart was pounding and he began having trouble catching his breath.
“Uh, is there any chance at all, we could slow down a
trifle?” Tolian managed to say in the
midst of his panting.
Brythia, who was moving through the night cloaked forest as
a bird flies through the sky, slowed down.
“Sorry. We'’re almost
there.”
She shrieked and cooed a few more times while they were en
route, and sure enough some owl or cricket would cross their path with an
alleged reply from the main group.
Tolian had to admit that it was either an eerie coincidence or there
must actually be some form of mysterious communication taking place.
With the pace slowed, Tolian was able to catch his breath
and move up alongside of Brythia. He let
his arms swing in sync with her arms. He
casually slipped his hand around her small hand. She didn’t pull it away. That was a good sign, Tolian assured himself.
Brythia kissed him on the cheek.
“May the gods forgive me,” she murmured. Then, “We did not anticipate this
complication, but we must accept it. I
don’t know what else to do. But it
cannot be allowed to change our plans.
It would probably be best if we don’t say anything to the others about
this.”
She was decidedly uncomfortable about that last bit.
“I won’t say anything,” Tolian assured her. “But I don’t see why there’s a problem. Unless... you’re not spoken for are you?”
The very thought brought a terrible dread over him.
He was relieved to hear, “No, I am free.”
That made Tolian think.
“Hey,” Tolian asked. “Why
aren’t there any male druids with you?
Surely men aren’t excluded from your order?”
“Of course not. Men
and women are equally the children of the gods.”
“Okay, so, then: why
no men with you? You would think that if
you had actually come to kidnap me, a fairly noted warrior, you would have
brought some big ol’ druids.”
She frowned, “Your problem is that you think of women as
lesser then yourself. We are fully
capable of completing our mission without male assistance, thank you. Because of the preparations, required for
your...destiny, no other men are to be permitted near you at this time.”
“Why not?”
“I told you. I will
explain everything.”
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