Discalimer: the bits of fairy tales that you recognize aren't mine, what you don't recognize as anything already written/published/copyrighted is. :o) on with the story!
~*~
Cedric…Cedric…my mind whispered calling out for him. I awoke with the slow difficulty of one who has been woken suddenly from a deep sleep.
"Cedric," I murmured.
"Quiet, dear," a familiar voice said. "It is better if you rest." I felt a cool hand stroking my forehead.
"Who are you?" I asked, wondering how she could be in Lamar one day, and in Syrlan the next.
"I am the Ultimate Healer, Chosen." I opened my eyes to see a lovely pale woman standing beside my bed. "I am Life." Her face kept shifting, as if she were moving in and out of shadow.
"Thank you," I said humbly.
"Oh, dear, it's all part of my job! You do not have to thank me!" Life laughed, and I smiled. "Now, go to sleep. It speeds the Healing."
"But I don't want to sleep…"I mumbled, as her cool hand on my forehead sent waves of sleepiness seeping through me.
I woke up a few hours later, as thirsty as if I had run five miles. "Water!" I croaked.
"Here, Chosen drink." Life put a cup to my lips and I gulped it down.
"More?" I asked hopefully.
"Yes," Life laughed. "Here!" She refilled the cup and I drank eagerly. After a few more brimming cupfuls of water, my thirst was sated, and I lay back against the pillows.
"Thank you, Life." I smiled contentedly at her.
"You're welcome, Liana, dear." Life stroked my hair back out of my eyes. "You know, your hair is very soft."
I gaped at her, astonished at the change of subject. "Is it?" I asked.
"Yes, quite so. It's getting to be quite long, too." Life smiled deviously.
"What do you mean?" I asked her suspiciously.
"See for yourself!" Life held up some of my brown hair. It was draped off the side of the bed, where before it had just barely touched my shoulders.
"OhdearSky!" I murmured. "How did it get so long?"
"Well, I did it, and I thought it would make you a bit more…attractive to Cedric. He likes longhaired maidens, you know." She smiled happily at me.
"Oh." I stared at the long piece of hair that she held in her hand. "Well, um…thank you." I stuttered out.
"You're welcome!" Life turned at the knock on the door. "I wonder who that could be?" She walked over and opened it, and I noticed that she floated off the ground.
"May I see Liana?" Cedric asked. His voice was monotone. "I need to speak with her.
"Yes, I'll give you two some time alone," Life said merrily, and she floated out of the room.
Cedric looked at me. "Liana." His voice was cold and distant, like the one that he used for annoying courtiers.
"Cedric…" I trailed off, wondering what he thought of me.
"You had General Zarf waiting for you the whole time, didn't you?" Cedric's voice was filled with bitterness. "I was just some side fling, something to toy with. You never even cared for me, did you?"
My mouth hung open, and I felt a tear slipping down my cheek. "Why…how can you say that, Cedric? I…I love you!" I had said it once before, in the Kirin Gardens, and I meant it in that moment as much as I meant it talking to him now.
"No you don't, how could you love someone like me, who will never even rule a country?" He glared at me, and I noticed little traces of wetness running down his face "You just wanted power all along, and not really me. You're just like every other maiden and court lady, just hoping to get higher status by marrying a prince. And I said I loved you." Cedric started to turn.
"Cedric, wait. That's not true, and you know it! We both know it. Cedric, I love you, not your title, or anything else like that! Please Cedric, believe me! I love you!" I sobbed openly, not caring what he really thought, as long as he said he loved me.
"Liana, you have Zarf, who practically rules the country! You don't want me! I'm only the General of the Outriders, a background strategist, no one important. Zarf is a man of power, so take him and be his Queen." His voice was unconvinced sounding. I almost smiled.
"But I don't want Zarf! How could anyone ever love Hate?" I asked him. "I love you Cedric, and I always will. Please, Cedric, please, say you love me." I looked him in the eyes, pleading with my heart, my soul and my mind. I saw a glimmer of love, and then he put up a wall.
"I…I can't say I love you if it isn't true." He sighed and turned away. I stared at his back in horror. He didn't love me?
"Cedric…" I said his name one more time. "Why don't you love me?" my nose was clogged from my tears, so my question came out sounding like, "Why don't you luf be?"
"Because, Liana, you don't love me." I sniffled loudly at this. How could he say that?
"What have I been saying? Haven't you been listening to me? I keep saying I love you! But, no you can't love me because I don't love you! What the hell is your problem? Are you deaf?" I exploded at him, cursing him, using all the oaths that I had picked up from soldiers, sailors, and family. "I love you, dammit, of course I love you!" I screamed at him. Then I broke down in sobs.
I felt a warm hand on my back. "Oh, Sparrow, of course I love you." I sniffled and let him turn my head to face him.
"You do?" I sniffed loudly. "You love me?"
"Yes, I do." He kissed me softly. "I'm sorry." I smiled at him, and bit my lip.
"I'm sorry too, for calling you what I did." When he looked inquisitively at me, I shook my head and said, "You don't want to know." I sniffled again, and realized just how red my nose was.
"I love you." He pushed me over so he could sit next to me.
I smiled and shoved him back. "You know, it's not nice to try and push a maiden off her bed," I said innocently.
He growled and said, "Well, it's not nice to push a prince, either." He kissed me fiercely then, and I let myself be swamped in the happy feelings that invaded my mind.
Our kisses were abruptly interrupted by a big yawn from me. "I'm sleepy," I said drowsily.
"Well, why don't you take a nap, and I be here when you wake up." Cedric smiled a stroked my hair. "How did your hair get so long?"
"Um, a Healer did it. Would you mind chopping it off?" I looked hopefully at him.
"Why? It looks beautiful long." Cedric smiled at me, and would have kissed me but for another yawn. We laughed, and I pulled the blankets up around me.
"Good night," He said, sitting beside me. I fell asleep with a smile on my face.
I woke up later, to find that Cedric was curled up beside me, fast asleep. I smiled sleepily, and slipped out of the bed, shivering when my feet touched the cold floor.
I eased the grey dress that was laid out for me over my head. I shivered as I felt the soft material against my skin. It was a luxuriously warm, too.
"You survived with your sanity. How?" I whirled around, dropping the old clothes that I had been holding. Hate stood in the doorway, glaring at me.
"Go away." I shivered with fear, remembering our last meeting.
"Why do you want to send me away? I just got here, after all." Hate pretended to sound hurt. "Can't I at least pay a social call?" He asked surreptitiously.
"No, go away." I backed toward the window, not wanting to turn my back on him.
"Smart little one, aren't you? Going to jump out the window, eh?" Hate smirked. "Not so fast, little bird." He lunged for me. I tried to scramble through the glass of the closed window, but Hate's hand caught my wrist.
"Let go!" I yelled. I didn't care if I woke Cedric anymore.
"Caught without your weapon, aren't you?" Hate sneered at me. He seemed intent on bringing me closer to him. I struggled as best I could, but a seventeen-year-old girl cannot do much against a strong immortal like Hate.
"Let's see how well you survive another kiss, shall we?" Hate's mouth was close to mine, and I leaned backwards.
"No, let's not." I said nervously. Suddenly, Hate pitched forward, and his eyes rolled up in his head. His head fell at my feet, and I saw Cedric standing behind him.
"Are you alright, Sparrow?" He extended a hand to help me down from the windowsill.
"Yes, thank you Cedric!" I hugged him tightly when I was down. Together, we looked at Hate's body sprawled across the wall. Sadly, he couldn't be killed.
"Let's go." Cedric said uneasily, as Hate stirred.
"Yes, let's," I agreed hurriedly. We walked out of the room that I had been in, and down the corridor to Cedric's rooms.
Life met us in his rooms, smiling cheerily. "I'm so glad that you two worked out your differences," she chirped.
"Were you spying on us?" Cedric asked suspiciously.
"Of course!" Life said as if we should have known. Suddenly, Death appeared beside her.
"Hello Chosen." Death nodded to me, completely ignoring Cedric.
"Hello Death. How are you?" I inquired.
"Quite fine. There will be death aplenty for me soon. I can feel it in the air." He laughed. "One could say that I feel it in my bones." He held up one skeletal hand.
"Darling, shouldn't you tell her about what is to happen?" Life tugged at Death's arm. Darling? I wondered.
"Right. Liana Chosen, you will be faced with a battle tomorrow that will never be matched by another. There will be much death, pain and sorrow. You must remain strong through all of it. Your only weapon is lute, as you have decreed by choosing it." Death paused, and his eyes flickered in Cedric's direction. "You will face much personal sorrow, Chosen. You must be strong through it all, and never falter."
"Cedric?" I whispered, praying that it wouldn't be true.
"Chosen, we cannot predict who will die and who will not, but just know that he is a target." Life smiled sadly at me. "I wish you well, Chosen. I will help where I can."
"And I," Death said, "I will refrain from taken too many souls." He walked up to me and hugged me. "I wish you luck, Liana." Then he vanished.
Life stepped up and hugged me. "I wish you a happy Life, Liana Chosen." Then she, too, vanished.
I looked at Cedric, standing there, oblivious to the immortals vanishing.
"Where did the lady go?" he asked me.
"Oh Cedric, I love you," I said in a rush. "She's just…gone." I hugged him tightly.
"I love you too, little Sparrow." His lips brushed my hair and I smiled into his shirt. I pulled back and walked to the lute, which I suspected had come to Cedric's rooms via Life or Death.
"Well, little instrument, you seem to hold the fate of us all." I winced as sunlight lanced through the eastern window, and directly into my eyes. Had the night passed so quickly?
"Good morning," I said with a sarcastic laugh. He laughed and flung open the window.
"Prince Cedric!" a harried man burst through the open door. "You are to report to King Omar immediately." He panted as he leaned on the dresser.
"Damn," Cedric cursed, and he turned to me. "Sparrow, do whatever you can to end this war." He kissed me aggressively, and turned back to the man. "I'm coming."
"Come then, to the dungeons." The man grinned spitefully as five armed guards rushed in and wrestled Cedric to the ground. "You bastard Lamarans have killed my family. Now it's your turn to feel pain." The little man strode out of the room, as Cedric's glare followed him.
As the guards began to lift Cedric to his feet, he shouted to me, "Sparrow! Run to the top of the East tower! Play from there!" Then the one of the men knocked him down to the ground.
When he looked up with blood dripping from his lip, and saw me standing there in shock, he screamed, "Fly, you fool!" They knocked him down again, and he got up one last time. "I love…" he said hoarsely before they knocked him unconscious.
"Cedric!" I breathed angrily, fearing that they would be the last words that I would ever hear from him.
Carefully, I brushed the mark upon my cheek that signified me as a Runner, and ran.
As I ran, my dress changed with each ray of light that hit it. It changed from the grey of the sea mists to the blood red of the rising sun, and finally the color of the golden light that shone down upon me.
I began to play, singing the melody that I came up with. My song accompanied the first sounds of battle that touched the field.
"Life and Death,
Hand in hand,
Wreaking havoc,
Across the land…"
And I sang.
~*~
A/N: I have planned the next couple of chapters. So I'm not really procrastinating anymore.
Comments:
cherrychica-Well, I don't why Cedric was standing there. Maybe he did something after she was unconcious. I don't really know. We might find out later. We'll see...:o)
I updated so quickly!!! I think, no I know, the next chapter will be part of the battle. Just wait and see!
I can't believe how fast that i am writing this! Wow...this makes me happy.
-{Even*Song}
~*~
Cedric…Cedric…my mind whispered calling out for him. I awoke with the slow difficulty of one who has been woken suddenly from a deep sleep.
"Cedric," I murmured.
"Quiet, dear," a familiar voice said. "It is better if you rest." I felt a cool hand stroking my forehead.
"Who are you?" I asked, wondering how she could be in Lamar one day, and in Syrlan the next.
"I am the Ultimate Healer, Chosen." I opened my eyes to see a lovely pale woman standing beside my bed. "I am Life." Her face kept shifting, as if she were moving in and out of shadow.
"Thank you," I said humbly.
"Oh, dear, it's all part of my job! You do not have to thank me!" Life laughed, and I smiled. "Now, go to sleep. It speeds the Healing."
"But I don't want to sleep…"I mumbled, as her cool hand on my forehead sent waves of sleepiness seeping through me.
I woke up a few hours later, as thirsty as if I had run five miles. "Water!" I croaked.
"Here, Chosen drink." Life put a cup to my lips and I gulped it down.
"More?" I asked hopefully.
"Yes," Life laughed. "Here!" She refilled the cup and I drank eagerly. After a few more brimming cupfuls of water, my thirst was sated, and I lay back against the pillows.
"Thank you, Life." I smiled contentedly at her.
"You're welcome, Liana, dear." Life stroked my hair back out of my eyes. "You know, your hair is very soft."
I gaped at her, astonished at the change of subject. "Is it?" I asked.
"Yes, quite so. It's getting to be quite long, too." Life smiled deviously.
"What do you mean?" I asked her suspiciously.
"See for yourself!" Life held up some of my brown hair. It was draped off the side of the bed, where before it had just barely touched my shoulders.
"OhdearSky!" I murmured. "How did it get so long?"
"Well, I did it, and I thought it would make you a bit more…attractive to Cedric. He likes longhaired maidens, you know." She smiled happily at me.
"Oh." I stared at the long piece of hair that she held in her hand. "Well, um…thank you." I stuttered out.
"You're welcome!" Life turned at the knock on the door. "I wonder who that could be?" She walked over and opened it, and I noticed that she floated off the ground.
"May I see Liana?" Cedric asked. His voice was monotone. "I need to speak with her.
"Yes, I'll give you two some time alone," Life said merrily, and she floated out of the room.
Cedric looked at me. "Liana." His voice was cold and distant, like the one that he used for annoying courtiers.
"Cedric…" I trailed off, wondering what he thought of me.
"You had General Zarf waiting for you the whole time, didn't you?" Cedric's voice was filled with bitterness. "I was just some side fling, something to toy with. You never even cared for me, did you?"
My mouth hung open, and I felt a tear slipping down my cheek. "Why…how can you say that, Cedric? I…I love you!" I had said it once before, in the Kirin Gardens, and I meant it in that moment as much as I meant it talking to him now.
"No you don't, how could you love someone like me, who will never even rule a country?" He glared at me, and I noticed little traces of wetness running down his face "You just wanted power all along, and not really me. You're just like every other maiden and court lady, just hoping to get higher status by marrying a prince. And I said I loved you." Cedric started to turn.
"Cedric, wait. That's not true, and you know it! We both know it. Cedric, I love you, not your title, or anything else like that! Please Cedric, believe me! I love you!" I sobbed openly, not caring what he really thought, as long as he said he loved me.
"Liana, you have Zarf, who practically rules the country! You don't want me! I'm only the General of the Outriders, a background strategist, no one important. Zarf is a man of power, so take him and be his Queen." His voice was unconvinced sounding. I almost smiled.
"But I don't want Zarf! How could anyone ever love Hate?" I asked him. "I love you Cedric, and I always will. Please, Cedric, please, say you love me." I looked him in the eyes, pleading with my heart, my soul and my mind. I saw a glimmer of love, and then he put up a wall.
"I…I can't say I love you if it isn't true." He sighed and turned away. I stared at his back in horror. He didn't love me?
"Cedric…" I said his name one more time. "Why don't you love me?" my nose was clogged from my tears, so my question came out sounding like, "Why don't you luf be?"
"Because, Liana, you don't love me." I sniffled loudly at this. How could he say that?
"What have I been saying? Haven't you been listening to me? I keep saying I love you! But, no you can't love me because I don't love you! What the hell is your problem? Are you deaf?" I exploded at him, cursing him, using all the oaths that I had picked up from soldiers, sailors, and family. "I love you, dammit, of course I love you!" I screamed at him. Then I broke down in sobs.
I felt a warm hand on my back. "Oh, Sparrow, of course I love you." I sniffled and let him turn my head to face him.
"You do?" I sniffed loudly. "You love me?"
"Yes, I do." He kissed me softly. "I'm sorry." I smiled at him, and bit my lip.
"I'm sorry too, for calling you what I did." When he looked inquisitively at me, I shook my head and said, "You don't want to know." I sniffled again, and realized just how red my nose was.
"I love you." He pushed me over so he could sit next to me.
I smiled and shoved him back. "You know, it's not nice to try and push a maiden off her bed," I said innocently.
He growled and said, "Well, it's not nice to push a prince, either." He kissed me fiercely then, and I let myself be swamped in the happy feelings that invaded my mind.
Our kisses were abruptly interrupted by a big yawn from me. "I'm sleepy," I said drowsily.
"Well, why don't you take a nap, and I be here when you wake up." Cedric smiled a stroked my hair. "How did your hair get so long?"
"Um, a Healer did it. Would you mind chopping it off?" I looked hopefully at him.
"Why? It looks beautiful long." Cedric smiled at me, and would have kissed me but for another yawn. We laughed, and I pulled the blankets up around me.
"Good night," He said, sitting beside me. I fell asleep with a smile on my face.
I woke up later, to find that Cedric was curled up beside me, fast asleep. I smiled sleepily, and slipped out of the bed, shivering when my feet touched the cold floor.
I eased the grey dress that was laid out for me over my head. I shivered as I felt the soft material against my skin. It was a luxuriously warm, too.
"You survived with your sanity. How?" I whirled around, dropping the old clothes that I had been holding. Hate stood in the doorway, glaring at me.
"Go away." I shivered with fear, remembering our last meeting.
"Why do you want to send me away? I just got here, after all." Hate pretended to sound hurt. "Can't I at least pay a social call?" He asked surreptitiously.
"No, go away." I backed toward the window, not wanting to turn my back on him.
"Smart little one, aren't you? Going to jump out the window, eh?" Hate smirked. "Not so fast, little bird." He lunged for me. I tried to scramble through the glass of the closed window, but Hate's hand caught my wrist.
"Let go!" I yelled. I didn't care if I woke Cedric anymore.
"Caught without your weapon, aren't you?" Hate sneered at me. He seemed intent on bringing me closer to him. I struggled as best I could, but a seventeen-year-old girl cannot do much against a strong immortal like Hate.
"Let's see how well you survive another kiss, shall we?" Hate's mouth was close to mine, and I leaned backwards.
"No, let's not." I said nervously. Suddenly, Hate pitched forward, and his eyes rolled up in his head. His head fell at my feet, and I saw Cedric standing behind him.
"Are you alright, Sparrow?" He extended a hand to help me down from the windowsill.
"Yes, thank you Cedric!" I hugged him tightly when I was down. Together, we looked at Hate's body sprawled across the wall. Sadly, he couldn't be killed.
"Let's go." Cedric said uneasily, as Hate stirred.
"Yes, let's," I agreed hurriedly. We walked out of the room that I had been in, and down the corridor to Cedric's rooms.
Life met us in his rooms, smiling cheerily. "I'm so glad that you two worked out your differences," she chirped.
"Were you spying on us?" Cedric asked suspiciously.
"Of course!" Life said as if we should have known. Suddenly, Death appeared beside her.
"Hello Chosen." Death nodded to me, completely ignoring Cedric.
"Hello Death. How are you?" I inquired.
"Quite fine. There will be death aplenty for me soon. I can feel it in the air." He laughed. "One could say that I feel it in my bones." He held up one skeletal hand.
"Darling, shouldn't you tell her about what is to happen?" Life tugged at Death's arm. Darling? I wondered.
"Right. Liana Chosen, you will be faced with a battle tomorrow that will never be matched by another. There will be much death, pain and sorrow. You must remain strong through all of it. Your only weapon is lute, as you have decreed by choosing it." Death paused, and his eyes flickered in Cedric's direction. "You will face much personal sorrow, Chosen. You must be strong through it all, and never falter."
"Cedric?" I whispered, praying that it wouldn't be true.
"Chosen, we cannot predict who will die and who will not, but just know that he is a target." Life smiled sadly at me. "I wish you well, Chosen. I will help where I can."
"And I," Death said, "I will refrain from taken too many souls." He walked up to me and hugged me. "I wish you luck, Liana." Then he vanished.
Life stepped up and hugged me. "I wish you a happy Life, Liana Chosen." Then she, too, vanished.
I looked at Cedric, standing there, oblivious to the immortals vanishing.
"Where did the lady go?" he asked me.
"Oh Cedric, I love you," I said in a rush. "She's just…gone." I hugged him tightly.
"I love you too, little Sparrow." His lips brushed my hair and I smiled into his shirt. I pulled back and walked to the lute, which I suspected had come to Cedric's rooms via Life or Death.
"Well, little instrument, you seem to hold the fate of us all." I winced as sunlight lanced through the eastern window, and directly into my eyes. Had the night passed so quickly?
"Good morning," I said with a sarcastic laugh. He laughed and flung open the window.
"Prince Cedric!" a harried man burst through the open door. "You are to report to King Omar immediately." He panted as he leaned on the dresser.
"Damn," Cedric cursed, and he turned to me. "Sparrow, do whatever you can to end this war." He kissed me aggressively, and turned back to the man. "I'm coming."
"Come then, to the dungeons." The man grinned spitefully as five armed guards rushed in and wrestled Cedric to the ground. "You bastard Lamarans have killed my family. Now it's your turn to feel pain." The little man strode out of the room, as Cedric's glare followed him.
As the guards began to lift Cedric to his feet, he shouted to me, "Sparrow! Run to the top of the East tower! Play from there!" Then the one of the men knocked him down to the ground.
When he looked up with blood dripping from his lip, and saw me standing there in shock, he screamed, "Fly, you fool!" They knocked him down again, and he got up one last time. "I love…" he said hoarsely before they knocked him unconscious.
"Cedric!" I breathed angrily, fearing that they would be the last words that I would ever hear from him.
Carefully, I brushed the mark upon my cheek that signified me as a Runner, and ran.
As I ran, my dress changed with each ray of light that hit it. It changed from the grey of the sea mists to the blood red of the rising sun, and finally the color of the golden light that shone down upon me.
I began to play, singing the melody that I came up with. My song accompanied the first sounds of battle that touched the field.
"Life and Death,
Hand in hand,
Wreaking havoc,
Across the land…"
And I sang.
~*~
A/N: I have planned the next couple of chapters. So I'm not really procrastinating anymore.
Comments:
cherrychica-Well, I don't why Cedric was standing there. Maybe he did something after she was unconcious. I don't really know. We might find out later. We'll see...:o)
I updated so quickly!!! I think, no I know, the next chapter will be part of the battle. Just wait and see!
I can't believe how fast that i am writing this! Wow...this makes me happy.
-{Even*Song}