Anniya 23
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" What the hell do you mean he isn't here!," Robert demanded angrily.
The guard shrank back even further. The Prince of Kellia towered over him in both height and power. The last thing he wanted was one of the most powerful men in the human worlds to become angry with him.
" I would have detained him if I were aware of my majesty's need, your majesty. His highness, the crown Prince Briar, departed on his horse some time ago with a group of his fellow knights," the guard squeaked, hoping it was a sufficient answer.
" Did he say where he was going?"
" No, milord. Only that he'd be away for a week or more, and to give his apologies to the Ayorthorian King and Queen for his sudden absence."
A wry grin came over Robert's face. Even in the light of an emergency, Char's upbringing never failed him to be polite.
" I overheard one of the knight's mention that he was upset about something," the guard added, watching him carefully.
Robert's eyes still flashed with fury, but he said nothing. The fate of a nation lay in his hands, there was nothing in his power he could do about it. Char wasn't prone to spontaneous actions, like taking a trip within a few hours notice.
" Thank you. Take these for your trouble," Robert told the man and placed a small bag of KJ's in the man's palm, and swivelled on his boot heel to begin striding toward the library. That had been the last place Robert remembered seeing Char. If anything had upset him, it had probably happened in there.
As he expected, the library was empty and dark excluding the roaring fire. Of all the damn luck, Robert swore angrily to himself. He collided into the table in the darkness, causing papers to flutter to the ground, several into the fire.
He dived and snatched them out of the flames before they could greedily devour them. But it was too late, for most of the print had been charred already. Robert sighed wearily as he sat down into the chair near the fire. He glanced at the papers to see if they were of any value to anyone. He suddenly realized that the letters were addressed to Char. Robert sat up and began reading.
" These are the first words I ever penned as a married lady. You know him, but I shall not write his name, only that he is very old and very rich and lives far from Frell. And he is fool enough to make me his bride. Someday, and the day may not be long in coming, I shall be sole mistress of a vast estate. I shall not write again, but look for me. When my husband dies, I shall visit Frell. Should you spy a carriage that surpasses all others, peer inside. You will find me within, smiling at my jewels and laughing at the world------------- Ella."
Robert pitied Char. He had been planning on proposing to the girl. Just as well he hadn't. Char was too good for a wench like this one, who had most likely been after him only for his title.
At least you don't have to worry about that. If she was worried about riches, she wouldn't of fallen in love with my cousin, Robert thought bitterly. He unfolded West's letter and looked at it again. Tell her I love her. What sort of heroism was West going for? West switched woman weekly; no, that was too long for him. A different whore every night, that was more West's style. Women flocked to West like bees flocked to honey, and West with his bloated ego saw no reason to settle with one alone. He cared no more for commitment then he cared for honor, and it was evident if you spent less then a day with him.
He himself had fallen in love with her that day at Madame Olga's cotillion, when he had seen her scrubbed clean and shining with radiance. Robert refused to believe that Anniya, who had called West a cad at least once every five minutes on a good day, could possibly have fallen in love with him. Despite his cousins' unnatural charisma, she was too independent, too head strong to fall into his week long affections. The letter had been written months ago. The so-called love in West's heart had probably died a long time ago.
Robert studied the letter the Ella girl had written again. At least he had an explanation for Char's disappearance now. He had most likely gone out on a hunting trip, or something else to take his mind off her. Robert crumpled the paper up, and tossed it into the fire. Standing up, he began walking to the stables. This message was too important to wait and incredibly dangerous to give to a messenger. He would have to deliver it himself, and find Anniya. And if he knew Anniya, she was probably throwing herself into some life threatening situation, convinced that she had perfect control of it. And he sure wasn't going to let her do it by herself.
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Anniya had been traveling for nearly five days toward Frell when she heard an ear shattering shriek fill the air. Her head suddenly exploded with a strange feeling that made her think of Gleex for some reason. She paused for a moment, listening carefully. Anniya wasn't about to let herself think what she wanted to think it was. Diobla flicked his ears back and forth and nickered nervously, but she pushed him on. She planned to stop in the town of Banlieu that night. It wasn't until several hours later that she heard the same shrieking whistle directly above her head. This time her head erupted with the same feeling, and Anniya knew that it wasn't one of the necklace's magic's pathetic tricks. She snapped her head around just in time to be thrown off Diobla. She hit the ground with a thud before she had time to scream. But out of the corner of her eye, Anniya saw something that made her happier then cursing the horse.
When Diobla had last seen Gleex, the emerald dragon had been the size of a large dog, and the horse had towered over the creature. But now the dragon was the size of an incredibly large horse, and towered over Diobla. The horse neighed, terrified and probably wishing it had stepped on the dragon while it had the chance. It's emerald scales were still sleek and shiny, and his tail had grown jagged spikes along the end. His leathery wings were now almost as big as Anniya herself, but to her, it was still her dragon.
She leaped up and threw her arms around the creature, and tears welled up in her eyes. She hated herself for being so weak, so feminine, so Hattie-like, so all of the things she had prided herself of not being. So much for her never ending promise that she wouldn't cry.
Dragons recognize affection, for all the stories that they cannot feel emotions. Gleex let out a caring whistle and licked the top of Anniya's head with it's large, rough tongue. That caused her tears to dry and laugh. For all of it's size, Gleex acted like a dog. It was true that in draconic years, he was only an infant. A hundred years for humans was equivalent to one year of age for dragons. Adult dragons could speak the tongues of humans and other creatures, but dragons at Gleex's age could barely speak draconic.
" How did you escape from there," Anniya wondered out loud, not really expecting an answer. Guards had probably been by the hundred. It seemed preposterous that he had been able to escape. But he had, and for now, that was all that counted.
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Yes, I am alive. I've come out of my cave to type the next chapter. Upon reflecting my promises, I think from now on I'm not going to promise any more " due dates" for chapters. I'll try and get one out as soon as possible, as the story is 3/4 done. I want to say thanks to everyone for reviewing Anniya. I love writing it and I love reading what people think of it even more, even though that when I read the reviews my mind keeps on switching back and forth between Robert and West( Ahhh!!!!!Peer pressure!!!!!). My mind is pretty sure of my choice right now, but occaisonally it flips around. I'm going to ask that everyone please tell me who they'd rather have come out as top dog. Keep in mind that I'm pretty sure of my choice so I'm not as weak and indecisive as I appear to be. But if everyone likes one of them drastically better then the other, then I might be swayed( ARGH! I'll CAVE INTO REVIEWS!!! I ADMIT IT!!!) To choose the other one( but personally, I love both 'my' guys, just one a bit better. Hehe, I'm really torturing you guys, aren't I?).I'll include a little explanation at the end of the story why anniya chose who she did.
Alrighty That wasn't the best chapter in the world, but I needed to coverup some loose ends, and as it's 11:00 at night on New Years Eve I didn't feel like getting into West's escape. So your all going to have to wait for hopefully not long. I have next chapter all planned out, and if time allows, I'll be able to get the plot moving along.
As always ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Faerie_gurl*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
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