Wow! Aren't I on a roll here! Chapter 6 and now *drum rolls* Chapter 7! *unknown hands clap* Welp, this is a really important chapter to the basis of the story, so you better make sure you read it thoroughly. A lot of the story is wrapped around this one chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter 7:
And So It Goes
Janus stood on a low branch agitatedly. How dare she talk to him like that! After all, he did save her life! He leaned back against the tree trunk, searching the area for any signs of mystics. "Foolish human," He scoffed coldly, "Why should I even bother watching out for her or her murdering father." He folded his arms angrily, why was he still there anyway? He had watched over the house all night, and yet nothing was holding him there. He had done his good deed by saving them from the ambush but nothing more was necessary for him to do.
He floated down from his hiding place. Dawn was beginning to break and Janus was weary from his vigil and from lack of nourishment; perhaps Leila would give him something to eat before he left for the castle. He gingerly began towards the small shed, careful not to make any noise; for at that moment he wasn't in a particularly good mood to have to face Leila's family.
Upon arriving at the shed, he silently floated up to the window and spied in to see where Leila was. "Now to wake her," He thought, moving closer to the stagnant building. A creak in the wood alerted his senses and his body quickly stiffened. Cautiously his eyes began to search the area around him, his gaze soon fixing on a pair of eyes watching him from the corner of the window. Someone had spotted him, although he didn't quite know whom. Without hesitation Janus flew back against the side of the house and vanished into the shadow, where the gaze couldn't manifest him.
"I know who you are," A masculine voice whispered to him from inside the window, "Please, for Schala's sake, I need to talk to you."
"Schala…" Janus was torn. If he could just talk to Meklanor for a little, perhaps he could get the answers he so desperately craved. On the other hand, this could all be a setup, especially since over the night he'd realized that the other two knights Leila had rescued were no where to be found.
He swallowed hard, "Schala?" He queried, not moving from his hiding place against the wall, "Who is this Schala you speak of?"
The man was silent for a moment, as if his hopes had been shattered by Janus's statement. "You are an enlightened one, aren't you? That's the only way this pendant would mean so much to you."
A jingle was heard from inside the shed, causing a knot to form in Janus's stomach, it was his pendant. "What do you want from me?" He growled, a feeling of frustration swelling up inside him.
"I want an answer to my question." The knight responded, "I am an earthbound, are you an enlightened one?"
Janus was a bit shocked by his statement. An earthbound? Here? "How did you arrive in this time period then?"
The man sighed as if in relief, "The same way as you, I suppose; by a time portal."
A shiver ran down Janus's spine. He did remember that portal. There was no way he could forget the cold dark silence, the void that made it hard to breath or even keep your wits about you. Any man left in that tormented place would easily go mad.
"Did you know Schala?" Meklanor queried, "Or did you acquire this pendant through thievery?"
The man's statement made Janus's frustration peak, "Was the pendant Leila has around her neck given to her or did you steal it from a Zealian?"
"What!?" Meklanor snapped back, "How do you know that's my daughter's name and if she has a pendant like yours?"
The boy didn't answer for a moment, "I've seen her before."
With all his strength, Meklanor rose out of his bed to stick his face out of the window, "You better not have touched her you vagrant or else I'll…"
"Or you'll do what?" Janus sneered, reappearing in front of the man. With one look at the man, the boy could tell that he was not at all well. He was very pale and his eyes were quite dim. "You're obviously not in any condition to fight me, so if you just hand me my pendant I will go my way and leave you and your family in peace."
Meklanor stared defiantly into the boy's deep red eyes, "No."
"What did you say?" Janus's clenched his fists tightly; he had had enough of this game and was beginning to get violently angry.
Meklanor smiled subtly, "I said no. I'm not giving it back to you until you give me the answers I want. Besides, I don't think the Zealian government would be at all pleased with the way you've become. You are acting very unzeal-like for someone who was raised there."
"I don't care what you think!" Janus hissed, his voice beginning to crescendo, "I just want my sister's pendant back!"
Janus froze, staring at the knight blankly. In his anger, he had completely revealed everything he was trying to hide. Meklanor, a statue himself, stared back at the boy, still making sense of what the boy had just admitted to.
"You're, you're," the knight stammered, once he had regained full composure of himself, "Schala's brother?" Janus took a step back, uncomfortable with his predicament.
"Great Janus," He thoughtfully scolded himself, watching the man's eyes study him, "How are you going to dig yourself out of this grave?"
"So, you're," the man stopped, almost afraid to say what he was thinking, "You're Schala's only brother? The same little brother that would follow her around everywhere? The same brother that I had met?" Again he began examining the boy.
Janus, still a bit weary of his situation said nothing and took another step back.
Although his silence was his only defense, Meklanor seemed to see right through it, answering his own questions as if he could read Janus's every consideration.
"Janus," Meklanor spat out as if he had just recalled that name, "Your name is Janus isn't it?" The boy shifted his stance, very uncomfortable with the whole ordeal, but he still wouldn't leave until he had that necklace. "Do you remember me Janus? Meklanor? Schala's earthbound friend? You used to come down to the village with Schala when she would come down to visit me, remember?"
Janus looked hard at the man. He couldn't remember him.
"Boy," the knight laughed, "You sure aren't the child I remember you as."
"And what did you expect me to turn out as?" Janus retorted impertinently, "That is, if I am this Janus you speak of." He nearly smacked himself for saying that. Not for that fact that he was rude to this human filth, but for the very fact that in his anger he was giving himself away!
The knight shrugged, "I'm not sure I can say, you were always so quiet. You know, you didn't like me much either. I remember you used to get jealous when Schala would talk to me."
With that strange comment, a flood of memories came back to Janus. He remembered going down to the Algetty Village with Schala and how she used to pay quite a lot of attention to a younger, healthier looking version of the man seated in front of him. This would always frustrate him to no end. A smirk then formed across the boy's face when he thought of all the practical jokes he had played on unsuspecting villagers or on the couple themselves just to draw attention to himself.
"I see you remember," Meklanor snickered. The boy quickly wiped the smirk off his face. He had already given enough of his secrets away; he couldn't allow anymore to slip from him.
"Janus, I do have one favor to ask of you, on your sister's behalf."
Janus didn't answer, instead he just gazed into the dimming eyes of the man he once knew.
"Me and Schala knew each other since before your father was married to your mother. In that time, we fell in love and vowed that we would marry each other someday."
Janus took another step back, how could this be? His sister pledged love to another? To an earthbound no less! Perhaps that was the true cause behind her compassion for those people! A jealousy began to boil inside the boy, how could she have done this to him?
"Since we could not legally be wed, we married in secret." Meklanor then paused, looking around and checking to see if his family was still asleep. "After you were born and growing, Schala became pregnant with our first and only child. We named her Leila."
"What!?" Janus cried out, grabbing the man by the collar. "That's not true! Schala would never have kept such a secret from me!"
"Would you have accepted it?"
His hold loosened from around the man's neck. He was right. Janus would have never accepted such a thought. In fact, he still couldn't. "But how could she have hidden a pregnancy from the Zealian people so well?" He questioned aloud.
"Why do you think she wore such flowing garments?" Meklanor answered, prying the boy's hands from his neck completely. "She wasn't that large either during her latter months, so it was barely noticeable to anyone but us."
"But why?" Janus spat back, infuriated at both the man and the situation, "Why would you do something so foolish as to risk life for such a imprudent reason? Love is probably the most damnable creation ever put on this earth!"
"You'll understand why," Meklanor smiled serenely at him, "You will, once you fall in love yourself."
"I swear that as long as I live, I'll never fall in…" Before he could finish his statement, a motion behind Meklanor caught the boy's attention. Once he had focused in on it, he noticed it was moving towards them.
"Good morning Leila!" Meklanor chimed once he had turned to face the figure.
"Father, you know you shouldn't be sitting up like that, you need to conserve your strength." She reprimanded, then turning to Janus and frowning slightly, "Why is he here? Has he tried to hurt you daddy?"
"Patience child, patience," The man replied warmly to her as she walked up to him and cuddled beneath his arm. "Me and him were just having a discussion. You do know he knew your mother, don't you?"
Leila's eyes perked up as she heard this and she turned to Janus hastily, "You really did know my mother Jack?"
Janus frowned down at her, mimicking the same face she had given to him just a moment ago and causing her to become silent.
"Leila, darling, could you please go search for breakfast for your mother and sister? Me and this man, Jack, have more to discuss." Obediently Leila jumped from her seat next to him, nodded, and was out the door to look for food.
"She does look a lot like her mother doesn't she Janus?" He queried the boy.
Janus simply stared back at him as he continued to try and piece everything he'd just learned into some kind of sense.
The man sighed exhaustedly and held up Janus's pendant to catch the boy's attention. "I will give you this back now, on one condition." The boy's hand barely touched the jewelry before Meklanor pulled it from his sight.
"What do you want?" Janus growled back, this game of his had gone on for far too long and the boy's nerves were raw with anger and frustration.
"I want to ask you a simply favor," Meklanor's tone became cold yet calm as he stared the boy in the eyes, "I sincerely urge you to watch over this house but more so its inhabitants. I am dying Janus, and I can no longer protect my family. Please, for Schala's sake as well as her daughter's, take care of this family."
The boy shuffled his feet not knowing what to do. If he were to accept such an offer it could lead to trouble for him in the mystic realm. Not only that but he was not the heroic type who would risk his life and all else for such a foolhardy reason as this. He only needed to care for himself, why should he accept such an offer.
Meklanor again pulled out his pendant, "Will you accept my offer?"
Again Janus shifted. What was he to do? This was Schala's lover asking him to take care of the closest thing he'd ever get next to his beloved sister, her daughter! How could he refuse such an offer? But how could he accept? He turned his gaze towards the woods thoughtfully and out of the corner of his eye he saw a figure spying behind the corner of the shed. It was all too evident that Leila was the culprit, and it amused Janus to the point of coughing out one small chuckle.
"Janus, I'm giving you one final offer. Will you accept or no?" The man's voice sounded worn out and forlorn as he extended the necklace further toward the boy. Janus plucked the silver pendant from the knight's hand and carefully placed it around his neck.
"Thank you," Meklanor sighed in relief, "You don't know how much this means to me."
Janus shot a glance at the man, "I'm not doing this for you," He jeered, "I'm doing this for her." With that accomplished, he hastily made his way toward Leila to interrogate her and perhaps even obtain rations of food as well.