"To love someone is nothing, to be loved by someone is something, but to be
loved by the one you love is everything."
~Bill Russell
I brought my sword down to cleave through a Sneevil's skull without a hitch, momentum carrying it all the way through the small creature. I regarded it with a shallow sense of victory, but mostly blankness. It was necessary, I decided with a slight nudge to Tessa's ribcage, but that didn't mean I had to like it.
Besides, if I hadn't, he might have sliced through the tendons in her lower legs with those tiny daggers of his… hers? I wasn't sure Sneevils had a gender. They were somewhat populated, so they had to have some way of reproducing, right…?
"Gah, I'd rather not think about that," I muttered to myself as I shook my bangs out of my eyes. "Keep moving!"
The pair of knights trailed after Tessa and me as we trotted down the path. Earlier that morning, I had been given orders to take two knights out to the short stretch of grass that stood between the woods and the ledge, taking out monsters and beasts that caused us trouble along the way, and make sure that no other adventurers got stuck out there. From time to time, some did. With how the Captain had phrased it, all adventurers liked to go after the monsters before taking a glance at civilization. It had taken almost all of my willpower not to make some snappy, playful comment about how a similar thing had happened to me.
Then I glimpsed flash of gray and ivory peeking out from the treeline a few yards to our right, and my skin prickled.
"Gorillaphant at four o clock!" I roared, jabbing my heel just slightly harder than necessary into Tessa's left side, causing her to spin to my right in the space of a breath. It's showtime. The knights turned as well, to face the danger. As the creature that was twice as tall as a man literally broke the tree line, my sword came free of its scabbard with a subtle scraping noise. With the reins gripped tightly between my left fingers, I wordlessly edged Tessa sideways in the direction of the Gorillaphant, maneuvering so that my sword was between us and the monster.
The two knights came up on both sides as the bulky creature made its way onto the grassy stretch between us and the forest—judging from how awkwardly it walked at a slow pace, their body build was best for charging or climbing, not just walking. Sitting up straight in my saddle, I held my blade at a slight angle out towards the Gorillaphant, making eye contact.
"You do not want this fight!" I called, shoulders tilted so my right shoulder was down a little further than my left one. My slate gray eyes bored into the slanted, almost luminescent yellow ones of the beast. After all, he was no more than that—an unintelligent animal. They could be trained, yes, just like any other creature, but they couldn't speak. They deserved one chance to run away… just one. They didn't take it, that was their problem. "Turn around," I nearly breathed. "Turn around, and walk away."
Not all creatures respond to words, I thought as everything seemed to hold its breath, But most respond to a human voice.
The Gorillaphant shuffled its bulky front limbs, then grunted quietly and retreated a step or two. Submission. In response, I dropped my sword tip an inch, if that. It finally backed into the woods once more, and within moments its furry form was lost in the trees. After a few minutes more, I sheathed my sword and returned my gaze to the faint path that had been marked over time through the short grass before us.
"Hup!" I called out, nudging Tessa's sides with my heels. She broke into a slow trot, tucking her head in towards her chest as she did so. It wasn't much further to the edge of the cliff—maybe seven minutes' ride at this pace. While we went, the knights cautiously shadowed my horse and me, and not a word was spoken between them. I looked down at Tessa fondly, gripping with my thighs and knees to prevent bouncing straight out of the saddle. She seemed to have taken a fancy to Rolith's thick-barreled bay, and watching the two of them interact was similar to watching a bold, humorous young man and a shy but daring young lady.
Well, I could hardly fault her for it. After all, I was in love with that bay too. Even someone who didn't understand animals at all would feel the love of life that seemed to radiate off the stallion. From what I had seen, most of the personnel at Oaklore Keep had wonderful taste in horses and steeds to work with.
The edge of the cliff came into view around the bend, and with relief I saw that there was nobody out there. During one dinner in the mess hall with about a dozen of the knights from various points around the Keep, stories were traded back and forth, and one particular one had been told by Sir Vivor about one particular Warrior who had gotten stuck out there a few years back, around the time that Warlic faked his death. (I still didn't know who this Warlic was—when Magiya stopped by a few weeks back, she mentioned him. From what I'd heard, he was a sort of teacher or scholar?) The Warrior apparently thought the knights were against him, and began attacking them instead of the small horde of Sneevils.
Frankly, if the theory was right that you were only paranoid until it happened, I'd like to be cautious—just a step off of paranoid, right? It was either one extreme or the other.
"Nobody here," I stated unnecessarily, barely pulling back on Tessa's reins. She stopped immediately anyway, and for the millionth time I silently and fervently thanked whoever had trained her, praising their training skills.
I took another thorough glance around, being sure to search for something out of place; blood drops that didn't belong on a monster; trampled grass in more than one area; footprints. Since I'd met the Captain, he seemed to be inadvertently passing on transferrable skills… like noticing tiny details you might have missed otherwise.
"Let's head back," I called over my shoulder, shooting a light grin at the two knights as I nudged Tessa's left side to turn her. As we trotted back up the trail the way we had come, I absently noticed my braid swinging back and forth between my shoulders, and without missing a beat in my posting, shrugged it over my left shoulder to lie against my armor-covered collarbone. Once past the area where we had seen the Gorillaphant, I allowed a back section of my mind to wander, while the rest kept an eye out for anything off. As per the usual, painting was in my thoughts.
I had a plan in mind for a new landscape painting—not that I did those often. I preferred having a noun be the subject of anything I painted, so landscapes or wide shots weren't my preference.
Maybe a long shot of the Keep from the outside? I wondered as the same huge gates in the wall came into view. No… they're seen too often, they're nothing special… but something I haven't seen before, now that will be a challenge.
"A place for wishes and secrets, for madness and dreams."
Out of the blue, my mum's voice rang in my ears. It was an old phrase that I heard, the same one that was the header to one of my favorite things that Mum used to tell me when I was little. She used to recite it to me from memory every night before I would go to sleep, but each time, the story changed. It was never the same story twice, but it always started with that line. Sometimes the story was sad. Sometimes it was absolutely joyful, and sometimes the knight rode in on a while steed to save the princess in a daring rescue. Sometimes it had me. But it was never the same bedtime story more than once.
A place for wishes and secrets, for madness and dreams, I mused silently as my company and I entered the Keep. The Captain wasn't back from his patrol yet. Almost mechanically, I cared for and groomed Tessa, giving her neck a last pat before latching the stall door behind me and heading for my room. I had an idea that I needed to get out on canvas, and I couldn't let it get away, could I? No, this idea had to be chained to a stone block twice its size and six times as heavy. I wasn't letting this one out until it was captured on fabric.
In record time after reaching my room, I had a fresh canvas on my easel, paint mixed, and brush out. A sort of dark, slightly sinister purple to start with… Then gradually lighten it in parts. Because of my lack of windows, I had no knowledge of time in my room, and that also meant I had no clue of what might be going on outside unless there was a siege with catapults or something.
"Probably gonna miss dinner," I murmured, gingerly stroking a separate piece of the canvas. "But that's alright. I wasn't hungry anyway."
I'd barely gotten through the set-up of the landscape when my door was opened without so much as a knock, and I decided if they didn't have the decency to knock on a lady's door, they didn't deserve my attention. Besides, it would have meant looking away from my newest conquest. No sir, they weren't going to get a word out of me, or even a glance!
Of course, just like with all the others, that ruling of mine turned out to be topped with a stink bomb instead of a cherry. With a loud and startling clink, armored fingers grabbed my upper arm and whirled me around. I let out a very undignified yelp as I was spun to face the Captain, who had a grip like iron and wasn't letting go.
"Before you do anything else," he declared, completely unaware of how much he sounded like my father just then, "You are going to do something to remove those rhinestones from my horse's browband."
"Because I'm the only one who knows how to remove them safely, and you can't survive without my unbelievable awesomeness?" I asked cheekily. I received a light cuff to the back of my head.
"Do you intentionally irritate me?" Rolith grumbled, all but shoving me out of my room.
"Irritating?! You said you liked me!"
"That doesn't mean you're not extraordinarily aggravating," he retorted with a faint smile as he pushed me outside. I still had my paintbrush in my hand, and shades of purple, black, and a sort of aqua decorating my left arm.
"Hello, pot, my name is kettle…" I recited, still grinning cheerfully while I was propelled towards the stables.
Anyone who had a brain would know that I wasn't fond of being torn away from my hobby. That didn't mean I wasn't enjoying a good argument, but it also didn't mean that I wasn't going to try to get back to my painting.
I slid my left foot out and to the side, and the rest of my body followed suit while my back automatically arched to avoid any possible grab that might have been made. A hop and a skip later, I bolted for the doors to the immense building, intent on going back to my painting before following any friend-issued orders. If Rolith got all serious and gave me those captainly orders to 'remove those hideous sparkly decorations at once,' then yeah, I'd go along with it. Wouldn't be as fun, though.
All of the breath was abruptly torn out of my lungs as I crashed against a bar that appeared around my middle, and my feet flew out from under me heading in the same direction my upper half was. In the next moment, I was being (literally) dragged back the way I had come, everything from my hips down scraping along through the dust. I didn't even try to struggle, just whining and offering compromises or deals.
"C'mon, I'll do it when I finish this painting! It won't even take that long, I swear! Just another hour, that's all! Okay, fine, 20 minutes! How does 20 minutes sound? No? Then just ten minutes! Ten, that's all I need! C'mon, please please pretty please? Just ten minutes?" I could see that we were getting quite a few odd looks from the other knights around the Keep as I was unceremoniously hauled up to the smaller set of gates that separated the stables from everything else for the benefit of the horses. I really didn't much mind what they thought—I was just being me. "All I'm asking is five minutes now! Final offer! Five minutes! That's all I'll need to finish my painting, I promise, then I won't ask for any more time, I'll be done! Cross my heart! Oof!"
For the second time in as many minutes, the breath was forced out of me in a whoosh that made my lungs hurt. My back hit the wooden wall of the stable, and I glared balefully up at my friend, who was finally cracking a grin that seemed just a little sadistic to me.
"Meanie," I muttered, reaching up above my head to grab at Rolith's bridle. He hadn't gotten a break from the jibes about it being sparkly, to my knowledge—I might have irreparably damaged his 'big bad Captain' reputation. Scrambling up out of the dust, I shrugged the leather contraption over my left shoulder, looking up at Rolith. "Are you going out soon, or…?" He shrugged.
"Not for a bit yet. Why, want me to sit with you?" he teased gently. I was certainly no expert on knowing expressions and reading between the lines, but my friend actually looked… willing? Honest? I couldn't find the right word for it.
"If you don't mind?" I asked quietly, strangely hesitant. For me, anyway. It was either all in or all out, no inbetween. This sort of… tentativeness was really unusual for me.
"Not at all," he replied to my relief, offering a light smile. Sliding down the side wall of the stable to sit in the corner where stable and Keep wall met, I arranged my legs to I would be sitting crisscross and laid the bridle down across my ankles. Rolith sat down next to me with a sound that sounded a bit like a sigh and a bit like a groan.
"Tired?" I guessed, raising both eyebrows.
"Nah." My brows had just come down low over my eyes when he followed up with, "Just a little worn down. It's nice to take a few minutes every now and then."
"Understandable," I admitted, working my right index nail underneath the first stud. "I noticed something." My friend made a questioning sound, and I took that as my cue to continue. "We never finished our questions on the way to Falconreach."
"Not sure you could ever really finish one of those, but you wanna go first?"
"Sure. Um…" I paused as I worked at the rhinestone from another angle. "If you could travel anywhere… and price and distance aren't really a problem… where would you go?"
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rolith tip his head back against the wall of the stables as he pondered this. For some reason, I was getting the feeling that this particular conversation wasn't one where one of us would purposely vex the other—it was an honest conversation between friends. And it was different from my usual style of busting through without thinking, but—I liked it. Sort of.
"Here," the Captain eventually said quietly, looking up at the sky past the wall of the stable. "It's a little crazy sometimes, like when the bandits get up to no good, but… life is normal here." He rolled his head to the side to meet my curious eyes. "As a person… I can't say I've ever really thrived on change. Some people do—I'm just not one of them." A dry chuckle was pulled out of him. "And here, at the Keep, life stays mostly the same on a day-to-day basis. I like it. The regularity and consistency… it's comforting, in a way, I guess." With a quiet pop, the first stud came off, and went flying over my shoulder.
"That makes a lot of sense," I conceded. As for no change being comforting… I didn't have an opinion with that. If change came, I rolled with the blow and made the best of it if the option was there. "Your turn."
"Hm… what's the worst job you've ever had?"
With that question, the slightly solemn mood was banished, and I proceeded to explain to Rolith (in slightly gruesome detail) about the job I had for a total of three hours back home when I was fifteen where I was working at the butcher's, just wrapping meat. It made me sick anyway, having to handle it, so I went to beg a job from the smith later the same day.
"Wound up working him for two and a half years," I said a bit ruefully, a smile tugging at my lips as I thought of my first lesson in sword fighting while still in his employment. The fourth stud came popping off of Rolith's browband, and I offered a small smile. "Now… if you could be a type of animal, what animal would you be?"
"Pridemaster, I think," he said after a moment's consideration. "They're really…"
"Noble?" I guessed, working with my nails at the fifth rhinestone.
"Yeah. I guess that's the word I was looking for. Did you know Magiya's got one?"
"Really?" I demanded, my eyebrows shooting up. "I wouldn't think she did. She seems a little… hm… a little like she wouldn't get along well with others, and maybe animals, too, I guess. No offense meant," I added hastily. "I just… I can't see her as an animal person. The whole 'scared of horses' thing kind of alienated me," I continued, rattling off whatever popped into my head.
In my peripheral vision, I could see Rolith doing the 'soul-searching' kind of look that my mother did the one time I innocently suggested that my brother had tied himself to the roof of the stables. After a second, I drudged up the courage to lift my head and meet his gaze squarely. I could feel my pulse leaping for its freedom under my jaw, but I pushed it to the back of my mind. I blinked once or twice, a bit startled by the intensity that could be packed into two-tone eyes. More specifically, a particular pair of hazel irises that, try though I might, my paintbrush just couldn't match.
With a mental jolt, I realized that we'd both been sitting there staring at each other for a little bit longer than a minute, and that was a minute I wasn't working on the browband. An uncalled-for blush abruptly forced its way into my cheeks, and I quickly looked down at my hands, praying to whatever deities that might have existed right then that he wouldn't notice or comment. In particular, the latter.
"Uh…" Words failed me as I bit down on my lip, letting my bangs fall into my face gladly. My heartbeat was racing, to the point where if I held my breath I would probably feel it jumping beneath my skin as though it were trying to break its way out, slap me in the face, and go, 'You nut, just show me somebody already, I'm starving here!'
Under normal circumstances I would probably just blurt out something incredibly random that would ruin the moment. My issue was that this wasn't what I would dub a 'normal circumstance'—this was a Captain and his subordinate. He shouldn't… I shouldn't.
But 'should,' 'would,' and 'could' had no place in any course of action. I kept my eyes angled downwards, picking uselessly at the next stud in line, the entire time internally chanting, Nothing can happen. Nothing will happen. Nothing is going to happen. Nothing can happen. Nothing will happen. Nothing is going to happen.
You know all that 'he said, she said' stuff about how when something momentous happens, they say you feel your heart skip a beat? You stop breathing, your heart clenches, and it feels like the world's just stopped around you? Yeah, all of that. They sucked at describing stuff with that. Truth is, you feel like you're about to jump out of your skin, and you feel like your blood's boiling if you don't get up and move. So when Rolith's armored fingers tentatively pushed my bangs back behind my ear, brushing my cheekbones along their path, that's exactly what I did.
I leapt to my feet with some jumble of words—several of which were 'pony,' 'paintings,' 'flower,' and 'banana'—dropped his bridle, and made myself scarce. I didn't run—I just made sure I could get myself out of sight quickly. Really quickly. Not even minding where I was going a the moment, I let my feet take me where they wanted, and wasn't exactly surprised when those little traitors had me by the fountain I remembered discovering on my first day exploring the Keep. Sir Prize wasn't here this time, though, so at least this time I didn't have the wits scared out of me when I rounded the corner.
"That door was locked last time," I muttered, striding up to it after shooting a furtive glance over my shoulder. I just… I needed some time to think. Kneeling down to the lock, I slid my dagger from its hidden and not-often-used sheath, then worked the tip into the lock. I didn't have much practice with picking locks—but whatever this place was, it had to be small. Small and secluded. If you walked around the walls outside of the Keep, the wall didn't change. It didn't require enough space for an expansion along the outer wall.
"Be it a broom closet, a cage for monsters, or the food store in case of a siege," I muttered as the rusted lock popped open and fell to the ground, "I don't care." Opening one of the two doors with no mind for decorum, there was light enough for me to see only an inch-thick layer of dust and a few boxes piled around a tight, winding staircase that went up further than I could see into the darkness.
"Worst case, it leads to a room full of bats, right?"
With that single line of comfort to myself, I took a swift look around, memorizing where everything was, and closed the doors behind me. Moving by feel, I found the railing to the stairs, held fast to it, and began to climb. One single, mindless task with no visual aids left my mind open to things much further than I'd have liked.
What would have happened? I wondered silently, a small surge of panic swirling through my mind. If I hadn't gotten up and run, what might have happened?
"Stop it," I whispered to the earsplitting silence as I went higher and higher. "You don't look back, and you don't wonder about what could have been, might have been, or anything! Focus on what's going on now. That's what's always important."
But it was never easy, being confronted with the idea that what you believed for the better part of 19 years was wrong. Granted, I can't remember another time when this had happened to me… didn't mean I had to like it this first time.
Bam.
"Ow," I muttered reflexively, rubbing my head after cracking it against the ceiling. If I didn't know better, I'd have said it was stone. Feeling around in front of me, I felt wood—old, dilapidated wood that might fall apart if it got rained on—in front of the next step. Then a ring set into the wood where the door handle would normally be. "Leap of faith."
I thought it was a bit odd to have a door that opened outwards at the top of a stairwell, but I took a step back and tugged on the ring anyway. The door opened at once, and led into a small, low-ceilinged room with a trap door in the middle. The room was composed of the same stone as the rest of the Keep, but the trap door was ill-fitted to the stone, and small shafts of light pierced the places where the wood wasn't pressed up against the smooth rock. After a quick assessment of the door in the dim light, I determined that it opened outwards, and quietly closed the door to the stairway behind me. A light pressure of my fingertips was all it took to open the trapdoor, and I poked my head up.
The sunlight blinded me for a solid minute, but when my slate-colored eyes had finally adjusted, my jaw fell open a little. By the looks of the scene around me, I had found my way all the way to the roof of Oaklore Keep, and the view from up here was breathtaking.
I could see all the way from the walls of the Keep to the mountain twenty miles from the cliff, and the forest inbetween both of those. If I looked left, I could see the river. I could see the bridge (it had finally been rebuilt again), and even further off, the Guardian Tower. And if I squinted… was that the ocean? And the sun was warm up here, with nothing to block it. It bounced off the gold-tinted blocks of stone that the keep was comprised of and reflected into my eyes, giving everything a gilded appearance.
With a mental nod, I closed the trap door and sat on the stone beside it, braced my hands behind me, and sighed deeply to clear my thoughts.
I couldn't get any closer with Rolith, friends or no. I wasn't going to interfere with his ambitions, whether he wanted to stay at the Keep his entire career or no. And if I wanted to rise through the ranks as I'd always dreamed of… I was going to have to close off my heart.
But looking down at the bronzed head of hair walking around the Keep on the ground level, looking for a particular lady Warrior, I wished I could say that I wasn't at least a little bit in love. But lying had never been my strong suit.
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:
There is a possibility that, after Golden Touch is completed, Zhi Lao'Hu will be continued in a separate story. I know I told so many of you that I had no intention of making a sequel, but now that my mind has recovered and settled somewhat now that it's summer, I'm seriously considering forging on with the plot. Same characters from ZLH; that's not going to change. But if you think the sequel should happen, click 'Sequel' on the poll on my profile. If you believe that ZLH should stay the way it is, and I shouldn't try for a continuation and risk changing the characters' attitudes or personalities, click 'Leave it.'
Whoof. This chapter took a week. *_* But I couldn't be any happier with the turnout. :) And I'll be completely honest, save for about two sentences, this entire chapter was nothing but improv. :P I feel so proud of myself right now.
Well, hel-LO there, reviewers! :D
Synchronized Harmony: Yes, nice catch! :D I've been (both consciously and subconsciously) connecting with my "less than 6 years old" side, and I stumbled across that line. I thought it would be perfect for the situation. :)
Yes, Magiya's got quite a sailor's mouth. Personally, I only don't in the presence of adults, but you're right, that is just part of her character. ^^ I'm glad you're liking it so far!
MusicalPoetess: Look kid, when are you gonna admit that you have awesomely fantastic writing and that you can really utilize that on this site? :) Your stuff is terrific, I swear to Cloti. And would you believe me if I said that when I'm looking for random humorous conversations, I look to our old convos?
Luna (anon.): Nah, I updated right on time! :) Almost a day late, though—I had household chores to avoid and I completely forgot about the chapter. xD
Australia?! Really? Awh, I've always wanted to go. What's it like?
*glomps back* If you want a friend to get into Dragonfable, my recommendation is telling them you have a good story they need to read. It's full of adventure, monsters, heroes, etc, and give them your chosen fanfiction to read. Then when they're done reading, tell them that the entire thing was centered around DF. :) Watch their reaction.
I've never taken a psychology course, so working with characters until they feel 'right' is kind of my way of making up for that. :) Oh god, you actually read that? Dx Oh man, do I feel sheepish. Those were horrible, I tell you.
From what I've read, you don't exactly need to have watched Hetalia to understand the concept of most of her fanfictions. :) If you have a question about any of the characters, she's perfectly friendly, don't be afraid to send her a question!
Oh, you're an artist too? :D This is awesome! I can honestly say I was a bit worried about how the conversation between the two when Magiya saw her paintings would turn out—I actually rewrote it four times. ^^"
You're doing a fanart thing?! *glomp* Oh my gosh, thank you so, so much! (And don't worry about autocorrect; he ticks me off too. xD)
Anyway, I really hope that you guys hanging along for the ride aren't regretting having tied their ankles to the wagon. ;D (Translation: I really hope you're enjoying the story this far!) And cheers for the longest chapter yet! I'm sorry this chapter was a few days late, but I've been attending a writing camp that goes for two weeks, and I completely forgot about the chapter. Dx I am so, so sorry!
A quick side note of my life for you guys! I finally took a big step in letting another RL buddy of mine read my stuff a couple weeks ago, and she finally got back to me after reading Zhi Lao'Hu and up to the most recent chapter of Golden Touch. I asked her who she liked better—Magiya or Calliope, since she's pretty cheerful most of the time. Her response caught me a little off guard:
"Magiya and Calliope are the biggest debate for me since Edward and Jacob."
So you see what kind of friends I make. :D
Another shout-out to my sister-friends, all of them—you know who you are! *glomp*
Later, my freaky darlings!
Juliet
