Ah, your reviews are so kind. Thanks to all of you, you guys inspire me to keep writing. :)
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Chapter 4: Can't Be Broken
Blaze narrowed her eyes in concentration. Blocks of wood were flying right towards her in quick succession, and break in focus could mean a black eye that she'd have to explain away. Flames spurted from her hands, burning the wood to a crisp before they could strike her. After the last block was coming at her, Blaze hurled it back at Silver instead of burning it completely. The hedgehog gasped in surprise, but managed to halt it an inch from his face before flinging it away and letting the lingering flames consume it.
He glanced back at Blaze, a little impressed. She'd only been at this a week, yet was nearly as good as some of his fellow recruits.
"Wow, I didn't expect you to do that," he said, then realized he was panting slightly.
Blaze smiled at him, and Silver noticed she was panting as well. "You've taught me well, Silver," Blaze said and lessened the distance between them. "I can never thank you enough."
"It's no problem. It's making me a better fighter as well."
"You're the best one we have."
Silver blushed. "Not really. I just - "
"You are, Silver," Blaze assured him.
The hedgehog was glowing at her praise of him. No one (besides Gardon, and only once) had ever given him confidence the way Blaze did.
"Thanks," he managed to say and looked away. "But shouldn't we be getting back now?"
"Let's relax a minute," Blaze suggested and sat down on the grass.
Silver nodded and followed suit. After all, he was exhausted, but he wouldn't miss these sessions for the world. Besides, being with Blaze made him feel like he could do anything. She gave him a weird source of energy. He leaned backwards so he was now lying down, and soon realized his mistake. The grass was so soft and it'd be really easy to fall asleep right there. Silver softened his quills, letting them become a sort of pillow. Yep, he was in the danger zone now...
"Silver?"
The sound of her voice made Silver's eyes snap open, and Blaze instantly regretted saying anything. Not only had he looked so cute relaxing with his eyes closed, but now she had to say something else. And just the thought of what she'd been planning to say made her heart clench.
"What is it?" he asked softly, studying her amber eyes, admiring how they glowed in the moonlight.
Not eager to share her feelings, Blaze blushed and looked away, but as she did that, noted light on the horizon. Oh no.
"The sun's coming up!"
Silver gasped and pulled himself to his feet. They had to get back, now! He grabbed Blaze's hand and shot them into the sky, heading back for the castle. The first rays of the morning light illuminated them, but both were too panicky to enjoy seeing each other in the full light for once.
"Just drop me off, Silver," Blaze said and squeezed his hand.
"There's no time," he insisted and zoomed right past their turret. "Where's your room?"
Blaze bit her lip. Where was it? She chance peeking down, but her stomach dropped to her feet. Oh goodness, if Silver hadn't been holding her hand so firmly, she might have let go and gone plummeting down, down, down...
Silver snuck another glance at the rapidly rising sun, wishing light didn't travel so fast. Soon they'd be a very conspicuous pair, hovering around towers. They were just sitting ducks for watchful guards.
"Blaze, where is it?" he pressed.
The cat gripped Silver's hand and trusted that he wouldn't let her fall. She scanned the towers, but she couldn't tell which one contained her chambers, as she wasn't used to seeing the castle from a bird's eye view.
"I'm not sure. Just drop me off somewhere. You need to get back, too."
"Ah, don't worry about me. Heads will roll if you're gone. I'm just a soldier."
The bitterness in his voice was masked, but unmistakable. It tore at Blaze's heart a little, but she didn't have time to dwell on it now.
"It's that one," Blaze said and pointed to one of the windows. She had traced the path from the turret to the stairs and finally to the oak tree underneath her window.
The hedgehog nodded and swooped down to hover outside of her window before guiding Blaze inside. She lingered at the edge, still clasping Silver's hand and gently stroking his knuckles with her thumb.
"Thank you, Silver," she said and tried to work up the nerve to lean forward and kiss him.
Silver smiled at her, and was resisting his urges. It took an awful lot of willpower to just let go of her hand and zoom away, as he'd wanted nothing more than to gently take hold of her beautiful face and kiss her.
But alas, he knew his place. She was a princess. And he was a soldier.
Although if he would have turned around before flying back, he would have seen Blaze extending her hand toward him and whispering, "Silver..."
...xxx...
Maybe the adrenaline wore off as Silver slipped back into the barracks, but he was being fueled by a much stronger feeling. Ok, so there was no chance of them being together, but this hedgehog still had his dreams. Maybe one day, they could run away together, to one of the distant islands, where there would be no one to keep them apart. There, they could finally be together.
He continued fantasizing as he made his way to the mess hall for breakfast.
"Silver the Hedgehog."
He immediately snapped to attention, as the voice had been Gardon's.
"Yes sir."
The koala eyed him. "I see you decided to go flying this morning."
Oh crap. "Yes sir, I've found it...helps me wake up, and gets...my mind...ready for the day," he said lamely.
Gardon raised an eyebrow. "I see. Well if that helps you, then maybe we should make all the privates do it."
Silver couldn't stop the confusion from flashing across his face.
"It's really a shame the others don't have your...skills."
Now, Silver hadn't the slightest clue how to respond to that. Had Gardon been praising him again?
"Carry on, private," the koala said. "But I have a special task for you, so come and see me when you're finished eating. Dismissed."
"Yes sir."
Silver entered the mess hall in a daze. Things really seemed to be looking up right now, with Blaze and Captain Gardon -
The next thing he knew, two strong arms shoved him to the ground. Silver was up in an instant, staring at his assailant. Frost. The baby blue squirrel glared at him, his bushy tail flicking back and forth and scattering ice crystals.
"So ya think yer a big shot now, huh?" Frost taunted him. "Just because Gardon's in love with you doesn't mean anything. You're still a spineless coward, and a parrot."
Silver narrowed his eyes and levitated Frost up faster than he'd moved anything before. The squirrel's head was now only a foot or so from the ceiling. All activity in the hall immediately ceased as the others waited to see what Silver was going to do.
"My name is Silver. And I'm a hedgehog," he said firmly.
He was about to slam the squirrel to the ground, but saw unbridled fear flash across Frost's face, and something stopped him. Silver had Frost paralyzed and felt powerful...yet he didn't want to stoop to that level.
The hedgehog lowered the squirrel to the ground before he ran out of the mess hall, hearing the whole crowd gasp and whisper, "Oh snap," and "Silver coulda killed him." He was breathing rapidly when he got outside, not from physical exhaustion, but from the rush of what just happened.
Suddenly he was on the ground again and a chill ran up his spine. He realized with a start what had happened; Frost had chased after him and tackled him from behind and was now trying to encase his body in ice. Silver mustered all his strength and threw the squirrel of his back and sent a psychic wave to shatter the ice crystals. He then jumped to his feet in time to reverse the blocks of ice Frost was hurling at him and send them scattering. This distracted Frost and allowed Silver to paralyze him.
"You coward. Running away and now you won't even fight me," Frost jeered, despite being frozen and totally at Silver's mercy.
"Silver!"
He whipped his head around, for he knew that voice all too well. But what was she doing out here?
"Blaze?"
"Oh look, now your flaming hot girlfriend is here to save you, Silver. Too bad she's just a fantasy for you."
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?"
Both Silver and Frost froze at Gardon's voice. The captain marched over to face the two troublemakers.
"Silver started it!" Frost insisted.
"Don't try and fool me!" Gardon hissed. "I saw you tackle him from behind. And how dare you say such things about the princess." He turned to Blaze. "Your highness, you really shouldn't be here. If you would have gotten hurt, it would be on my head."
"Yes, Captain," she said and turned to leave, but in the confusion of Gardon continuing to chastise Frost, she passed by Silver and whispered, "He's just jealous; you did the right thing."
When Silver turned to look after her, though, Blaze had already ran away.
...xxx...
Blaze couldn't help it, she'd just had to see Silver again. That was why she had snuck out so soon after getting back to her room. She had hoped to spend the morning watching the recruits, like she had on and off for the past week. All she could hope for was that no one had seen her doing this, as well as seen her whisper to Silver. Now she felt almost foolish for going to see him and calling out his name; it might arouse suspicion.
Blaze didn't know why the fact that they could never be together upset her so much, but the fact almost brought tears to her eyes.
She continued running down the hallway, her thoughts of longing distracting her so much that she didn't even notice she'd bumped into something until she stopped. Blaze looked up into the jade green face of her mother.
"Blaze? In a hurry, are we, dear?"
She blushed and tried to calm down her breathing. "No mother-"
"She must have been spacing out again and not realizing it," Coral said and rolled her eyes.
"Well, no matter," Jade continued. "Blaze, we have some important news for you."
Blaze surveyed the assembly, and her eyes came to rest on Mercury, the cat she had been forced to converse with way too much recently. He was looking at her curiously, his baby blue eyes contrasting with his orange fur.
"Blaze, I am pleased to inform you that you and Mercury are now betrothed. He will be your husband, and our next king."
Everything stopped. Absolutely everything.
"But mother-"
"But nothing, Blaze. It has already been decided. Betrothals cannot be broken."
Blaze closed her eyes, trying to block out all thoughts and sights of this man...her husband. The man she would spend the rest of her life with. Mercury would make a good king, no doubt. He had all the qualities - intelligence, eloquence, benevolence, justice, compassion...He was perfect for the job, born for it, indeed. But Blaze couldn't see herself with such a buttoned up man who would never understand her, never let her be free or be herself.
Like Silver did.
"I will never love you," Blaze hissed at him, seeing no love in his eyes, only a will to possess the throne. She fled from the room, but not before she heard her mother soothing him, "She'll come around, don't worry."
The guards tried to catch her, but her training (with Silver) paid off and she was able to dodge them. Blaze collapsed on her bed and started sobbing her eyes out. She didn't know why this upset her so much; it wasn't like she hadn't seen this coming. It had been drilled in her head enough times that she would be married soon. Before she had just accepted her fate...but Silver had given her hope, allowed her to dream.
Silver...
Foolish girl. You should have know nothing could happen between you. Should have known not to give a commoner your heart.
Her heart, yes, that muscle that felt like someone had just stabbed it with a knife.
Silver...
Oh why did that very name, that very thought tear at her heart so? Blaze lifted her head up and wiped at her tears again. Eventually, it would be dark, and she'd have to go and break the news to Silver that she was betrothed.
And betrothals couldn't be broken.