And chapter 4! :D A bit fo a sad one but its got some happiness and its brinign them closer together. Enjoy! :D
Chapter 4: Loss and love.
"Elmont?"
The only response she received was a grunt of exhaustion accompanied by a vicious swing, a dull thwack echoing throughout the courtyard, making the fifteen-year-old girl flinch slightly as the broadsword sliced into the oak dummy's waist.
"Elmont, please!" the Princess cried. The just turned twenty-four-year-old man stiffened, his back rising and falling, unbalancing the perfect t-shape across his shoulders as he panted for breath. Slowly he turned around to face her, sheathing his sword with a hiss and click as he did so. He looked as if he had sweat like a pig, his thick auburn hair matted against his forehead, slightly shielding his storm eyes.
Swallowing heavily and gasping for more air he only nodded in response, yet he saw that her eyes weren't on his face, but locked on his instead, shining with grief.
"You have done nothing but train every single day. Barely anyone has seen you around the palace." He frowned when she paused, crimson lips pursing tightly, for when she spoke again, her voice was laced with terror.
"And you're barely standing!"
The knight, now promoted to Captain and Isabelle's official guardian, had been almost completely obsolete, only being spotted sporadically walking aimlessly about the gardens or staring out across the emerald fields from the top of the castle walls.
What he was really looking at was the very patch of ground where he had fought the guardian's traitor, Jonathon.
And where he had seen his own Captain and friend murdered in cold blood by the sadistic knight.
Training was where he had been. When no one else was present he'd sneak out and attack the dummy's, attempting to erase his mind of the disgusting memory.
And another of his distracting thoughts was an alteration in blades. After slaying Jonathon he had pondered on how Araman had fallen. He only used a broadsword; sacrificing the defence a shield could offer the body for ferocious, fierce two-handed combat.
That and the strain it pulled on the middle-aged knight was what had led to his demise.
It was his death that had made Elmont decide to sacrifice the two-handed necessity of a broadsword for the one-handed and lighter long sword.
Quietly he asked, "What can I do for you, Princess?"
A pause and the two grew weary as the silence dragged. Eventually, the thick cord that had forged between them snapped violently, and Isabelle pounced forward, grabbing his hand and tugging him towards the stables.
He didn't resist; just let his legs work backwards and forwards and gazed with lifeless storm eyes at his black stallion whose head was hanging over the door, pitch black eyes glistening straight at him.
As if his horse sensed his grief it nudged its head against his shoulder, pushing against the knight until he had to step back to regain his composure.
He copied Isabelle as she climbed onto her own horse and spurred it out of the stables and the palace into the emerald lands ahead.
The sky was baby blue with the summer time, yet light grey clouds set overcast, filled with precipitation waiting to burst forth and rain down upon the land.
Time had whirled past for the both of them and before they knew it they were still saddled upon their mounts by the lakes edge, the sun's rays bleeding through the trees and kissing their faces lightly.
Elmont squinted his eyes up at the sun and imagined that somewhere Araman was at peace, watching over him as he took on his role as Captain of the King's guardians.
Isabelle stared at him with worry-filled cerulean eyes. The man was unaware of her stare as he glared up at the obscured sky, like he was blaming God for taking his mentor and second father figure away from him.
Memories of her time spent with the man next to her flittered through her mind like a projector: all of the times he had saved her from dishonourable men throughout the years they had known each other. How he would sometimes help her sneak out and then 'chase' her to fool anyone who found out she had escaped. How he portrayed her saviour when they played 'Princess's, Knights and Dragons'. The nights he stayed by her side in her chambers as she cried herself to sleep after her mother's passing. He thought that she was unaware of him stroking her hair tenderly with his calloused fingers as she slept, but she had always been aware.
And all of the happy memories they had shared here had brought them even closer together; towards a bond that was unbreakable.
As the years went by and they continued visiting the lake yearly, she found herself being drawn closer to him, like a moth to a flame. Entering the life of a teenager not only meant that she found herself drawing the attention of men's hungry gazes, but also finding her own eyes settling on attractive men.
And as much as she despised the butterflies fluttering inside of her stomach she found that they fluttered the most whenever she looked at Elmont.
She remembered how she felt, for the first time in her life, unable to tear her gaze away from the kneeling knight as he was promoted to Captain and her guardian within the King's chambers. His lithe form as he rose after her father's blade had touched both of his shoulders lightly. Her lips curled slowly into a small smile, mirroring the one she gave him as he smiled warmly at her.
Despite that happy moment where she felt delighted for his promotion she had seen the hidden depths of sadness and guilt within his eyes. She knew the young man could be very cynical with himself, and she had realised immediately that he blamed himself for Araman's death.
He would always wonder if he could prevent it.
Regardless of what he thought she knew otherwise. He tried his best to hide it, but she knew.
And she would do everything that she could to reassure him that it was not his fault.
This she was adamant with.
As if he had read her mind he murmured, "It was my entire fault."
A deep frown formed across her forehead, and she continued to look at him inquisitively until he turned his own gaze upon her.
Her heart twisted as she registered his sparkling, tear-filled eyes. "Araman… If I had been faster… I could have saved him, and he'd be at the palace right now, training the men. And I wouldn't have to bear this responsibility that he had."
For a moment she thought that he meant protecting her, but he would never suggest that he disliked his role. They were friends, and he was loyal to her and the King above all others. He disliked the pressure that was weighed upon his shoulders of leading so many men.
He feared of going astray; of steering wrong.
Jumping off of her horse she slowly approached the knight, the sound of the crisp leaves under her shoes were as explosive as the bellowing of men and the clashing of swords in battle compared to the silence within the forest.
She rest her left hand softly against his black stallion's neck as Elmont slipped from his saddle and landed in front of her, looking down at her with a face as solid and cold as stone.
"You did what you could. You confronted him, despite him being much more experienced than you. And if Araman believed that you couldn't have matched Jonathon he would have sent you away without a second's hesitation. He didn't say anything because he knew you could take him."
His storm eyes flashed for a second with something. Isabelle frowned. Was it actual belief? She felt a swell of hope rising in her chest, forcing more than what was needed oxygen in her lungs.
"He trusted me to have his back. And I failed him."
And in just a short second the hope she felt swelling inside of her chest burst like a needle piercing a balloon, the air practically knocked out of her lungs from the sheer force of the surprise, and suddenly she felt as if there was no more dreadful feeling in the world than seeing Elmont so ashamed and heartbroken.
Without further thought, she reached out with her hand quickly and clutched his larger, more calloused palm, pulling him along away from the horses and towards the waterfall by the cave.
He was silent the entire way, and it irritated her to no end. Elmont always had something to say; something that was supposed to help him move on. But this time he was completely mute, and she knew that he was beating himself up devastatingly, his sharp mind tormenting him with various ways that he could have saved his friend.
She soon stopped right beside the cascading ripples, the harsh fall pounding her ear drums as the spray cooled the skin on their faces.
Tugging lightly on his arm, she hesitantly lowered herself to the ground, folding her legs behind her so she rest on her knees. The knight was seated beside her, head bowed and unmoving.
She brushed her fingers against his until they fit the spaces in between, where she then curled them so that her hand was interlaced with his.
Isabelle's heart clenched, as if crushed within another's hand, as she registered her close friend's next words.
"I keep seeing his face. His eyes… are haunting me."
She felt a deep burning ignite in her gut as he lifted his head with a minute shake to gaze at her with shimmering, tear-filled eyes. The burning intensified until it was flaring to life throughout her entire body. The need to be near and comfort him; be someone who he could confide in.
His shoulders shook as he suddenly became dead weight and fell forwards. Instinctively she thrust her hands out and caught him, fingers clinging to his leather bound arms like claws and the air rushing out of her lungs, through parted crimson lips, his head rolling forwards to collide with her shoulder. She just managed to counter the force his extra weight put onto her to stop them from toppling over onto her back.
Slowly she manoeuvred her arms around his back until he was cocooned in her embrace. She felt his head brush along her collar bone, his hair tickling her, making her heart flutter lightly inside of her rib cage, as his forehead now came to rest where the side of his head had been moments ago.
She felt the heat rise up her neck to her cheeks and the shortness of her breath; though she tried her best to mask it, as his suddenly inferno breath tickled the slope of her neck.
A wet trail slithered down her chest, and only after she heard his short bursts of breath and sniffling, did she realise that Elmont was crying.
In the years she had known Elmont she had never seen nor known of him ever crying. He always looked so strong and sturdy. Unbreakable.
Now here he was, leaning on her shoulder so that he may release his grief. He wasn't bottling it up by training or anything else.
It was just them alone together by the cave at the lake they always shared their memories at. This moment for them wasn't the happiest of memories but Isabelle understood that they had many years together left to replace the bad with the good.
Breathing soft words of comfort such as, "It's okay," and "I'm here," her lips a hairs breadth away from his ear lobe she closed her eyes tightly, trying to subdue the salty tears welling behind her lids as a lone tear escaped and trailed an already drying line down her rosy cheek.
"He's still with you. And you have me. You're not alone. Remember that, Elmont."
He moaned somberly, almost as if physically wounded, and nodded slowly. She slipped her left hand up to cradle the back of his head, fingers gliding across the back of his neck, and raked her fingers lovingly through his thick, velvety auburn hair.
She felt his body shiver against hers, chest to chest. She swallowed heavily, heart thumping wildly and ready to burst forth from her chest as she lifted her head and propped her chin atop his head. Isabelle felt her body being drawn impossibly closer to his to the point where she could feel his body heat radiate through his black armour as his arms tightly wound themselves around her.
The hours drew by until it was almost dark, and all they did was sit together, comforting each other with soft, kind words and tight, sweet, loving embraces, never letting go.
And we draw ever closer to the moment in chapter 5! That moment is gonna sizzle! :D
