I have updated! Don't kill me just yet for not doing it sooner!
Reviews:
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godofflight: Coming right up!
beginner150: Cookie! ((eats cookie like a pig))
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KaliAnn: Don't we all? ((sighs happily))
Veronica: O-O How intimate?
Terra: Or else what? ((Almost gets hit by a flaming fireball)) O-O Ok, ok, I surrender!
Witchlover: Yeah, it is kinda weird. But that's what makes it fun! Lol
Mary: I have no clue. Right now I'm just making him rather possessive.
Chaos tenshi: Yay! Someone like me who loves sugar. Actually, strangely enough, I can get pretty hyper without sugar. Oh look, a flying pickle!
Youkosangohiei: Thank you.
Glowren: I feel…LOVED! ((gets warm fuzzies))
Jnr Cpl Scarlett: That has got to be one of the best reviews I have EVER gotten. Me am feeling very loved.
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Lita Maxwell: Right now, I am really glad I am not Phobos.
Angel-1844: Yeah, the coupling is kind of weird, but that's what makes it cool!
Kitsune6: Thankies.
Whitedarkness: The suspense is killing you! Somebody call 911!
SerinaAngel: Thank you.
Nintendo Queen: Yep, I killed Cornelia. But she'll be back (in a sense). But I'm not going to reveal that to you just yet.
Faith-Catherine: Thank you.
Jix: hehe
SandraZaniteZanity: Aw, shucks.
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Chapter 6
An Afternoon with the Enemy
Will sat on her bed, her knees tucked up to her chin. The luxurious covers were gathered in her lap as she looked into the oval mirror, seeing and unseeing her reflection in her contemplative state.
She mused on the rest of her afternoon with Phobos.
FLASHBACK
"Bring me Titan," commanded Phobos to a young Metamoorian, who scrambled off into a stall just a few feet away. Inside it she heard a few scuffles, a snort, and sharp, high-pitched "YOW!" before the groom came out, slinking away from a tall, entirely black horse that looked like he could have been Phoenix's brother (aside from the different coloring, of course).
Another groom hastily ducked out of the way to avoid getting kicked in the groin by the massive beast, whose wild eyes searched around the yard for another victim. They landed on her.
Oh crap, she thought as her brown irises widened with a wave of fear. I am so dead.
The great animal reared up to an impossible height, knocking down the nervous creature who was trying in vain to hold him into a quivering heap in the process. The large stud let out a shrill cry that rang and echoed across and along the walls and made many of the other horses stick their heads out and tremble with fright.
The stallion leaped forward from his imposing stance and galloped toward her with anger and malice radiating off him as clear as the daylight that streamed into the yard and that rested peacefully on her face. A face that was very scared of an approaching danger that was fast coming to meet her.
Will would have screamed, but her voice wouldn't comply with her mind's command. She stared as the dark horse raced toward the young women.
A movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention in the middle of her dilemma.
Phobos knew that Titan was very ill-tempered and did not kindly to strangers unless he (and only he) said they were alright. He knew that he was the only one he truly respected… and feared.
Stepping in front of the Guardian, Phobos prepared himself.
What is he doing! mentally screamed Will. Does he have a death wish or something!
Suddenly, the black-blur with four legs stopped, catching his front legs in a stick-straight stance. He slid about ten feet before he came to a complete halt that was just barely a foot away from the imposing king's chest. Snorting, the giant horse threw up his beautiful head in an act of defiance that was soon cut short by a quick glare from his master. With that, the stallion bowed his head in respect and defeat.
Even with horses, he rules with an iron fist, Will thought disdainfully, using the cliché that was as old as time itself.
Phobos' face cracked into his usual cocky smirk. Lifting a hand up, he started rubbing and scratching Titan right behind the ear. In response to the affectionate touches, the equine stretched out his neck and leaned in, showing all to see that he was most certainly enjoying the attention. All traces of any anger was quickly replaced by an emotion that almost made the large horse look like and oversized puppy.
"Hard to believe that just moments before he almost wanted to harm you," spoke Phobos in that husky voice of his.
"Oh!" gasped Will in surprise, flushing an adorable shade of crimson that came darn close to being the same shade as her already deep cherry hair. "I…I guess," she stuttered, flustered. She hated being caught off guard. Phobos grinned, obviously enjoying her embarrassment.
In the next moment, his expression changed as he turned away from her overly pink face to bark at the groom who had brought the horse Titan out. The groom was still shaking, though not as bad as before.
"Take Titan and saddle him up! And you…," he turned to the ebony animal in front of him, "…No more pranks. I'm already tired of you giving my men broken bones." Titan snorted, peeved that he couldn't pull any of his tricks on the barn staff and visitors.
Trembling, the man took the rope attached to the halter and tugged. The stallion didn't fight this time; in fact, if you had never met him before, you would have thought that he was as docile as a little furry kitten, innocent and pure-hearted. Will didn't believe it for a second – he was too much like Phoenix.
Another movement out of the corner of Will's coffee eye forced her to turn her attention to a Metamoorian woman with avocado skin, a heart-shaped face, and amethyst eyes who was walking toward her and was reaching for Phoenix's lead. "Don't worry," she said in a faint, reedy voice that echoed in the rebel leader's ears, "I'll take care of him."
Will looked her in the eye, calm violet meet erratic sienna, and saw only kindness. Somehow, in some small way, she knew that she could trust her with Phoenix.
"What are you going to do?" questioned Will.
"I'm going to saddle him so you can ride with His Majesty," the unknown woman replied. The girl nodded in silence. She was happy to be riding after so long, just not about the part of having to ride with Phobos.
"Oh…" said Will, trailing off in thought and giving the gold stallion a reprimanding glare that told him to behave with the female groom. Turning back, she asked, "What's your name?"
"It is Yula, Milady," was her answer.
Strange, mused Will. She reminds me of Taranee.
In no time at all, the two similar stallions were groomed to perfection, saddled, bridled, and now were standing next to each other, occasionally snorting and pawing the ground, anxious to go and get this over with while there was still daylight left to burn.
Phobos strode over to Titan, gripped the leather reins in one hand, and mounted with ease. Well, as much ease you can get with a robe.
Now it was Will's turn.
Repeating Phobos' actions up till the mounting part, Will soon came to discover that the simple action would be a little more difficult to execute then what she had thought it to really be.
The reason?
The corset.
After a while of slowly working her way up Phoenix's side and up to the level of the saddle, the Keeper little by little put her leg over the other side of the horse and settled down deep in the leather contraption. Finding her balance and adjusting her dress for a few seconds before looking over to Phobos and told him that she was ready to go with only a pair of cinnamon eyes as her source of communication.
Phobos, taking that as a sign, clucked to his mount and nudged him gently in his obsidian sides, both tell-tell signs of a true horsemen. Will reasoned that she should of expected that because members of the royal family were often given the best of things, including coaching on one's equitation.
The red-head followed suit and was behind the King of Metamoor, listening to the distinctive sounds of clip-clop made by the horses' hooves.
Moments, then minutes went by in silence. Will wasn't sure if she should say anything at all to Phobos. If she were to, it would prove to be a rather thorny conversation with the person who just happened to be her captor and the enemy of the rebellion. So she preferred to stay quiet and enjoy the steady rhythm of Phoenix's movements.
"Why did you become the leader of the rebellion?" came a curt question from the man on the black stallion named Titan that was just ahead of her. He was looking back, seemingly appraising her, though Will could never tell with him and that look; the same expression that often made her wonder if he was trying to read her mind or was deciding how she would taste. She shivered, slight chills racing up and down her back.
The trail they had taken, which winded through forest of trees that had leaves that resembled both maple and Spanish moss, widened to the point where three horses and their riders could walk side by side comfortably. Pressing her lower legs and heels slightly in the amber stud's sides, Will silently asked Phoenix to catch up with Titan so that she could talk to her foe better. When she reached her destination, she finally answered.
"During the 'Last Battle'," she said, using the name that Metamoorians had coined for the battle that would decide Meridian's fate, the one that all her friends and fellow Guardians had died at to protect this world and Earth, "I had fainted due to exhaustion and emotional stress. Surprisingly, I had been unscathed in the turmoil and Vathek had found me just when I had wanted to die most." Why was she telling him this! Her enemy! She hadn't even told Vathek or Aldorn or even Dela (when she had been alive) about wanting to greet death, to join her friends in either the deep bowels of Hell or the ascension to the holy Heaven. She never even admitted it to herself.
"When I came to five days later at the rebellion's headquarters, Vathek had asked to be their leader. After some consideration, I said yes." Will wasn't about to tell Phobos about the message or about the apparitions of her friends singing till they became one voice that was the Heart's and only the Heart's.
"Why did they choose you?" questioned Phobos, an impassive look making itself on his face as he looked at her.
Will sighed. "They knew that I was – am the Keeper of the Heart of Kandrakar and, despite my young age at the time, wanted a quick replacement for Caleb."
"How old were you then?" he asked, his curiosity piqued. He himself looked to be about twenty or so in Earth years, but he was really eons older then that. Much older.
"Fourteen."
"And how old are you now?" questioned Phobos. He remembered the prophecy he had heard just a few days ago on how she would become Queen. Most often, a person ascended to a throne when they reached adulthood. Earth humans had this transition at the ripe age of eighteen.
"Seventeen, though I'm turning 18 in January," replied Will nonchalantly, just any questions he could and would throw at her.
Phobos noticed the casualness in her tone of voice and the way she just tossed out the answer as if she were merely talking to a distant friend or acquaintance. Good, he thought. She still doesn't know about the divination.
Stillness fell between the two of them with only the sounds of their matching equines walking in contentment. If it were possible, Will was starting to think that she was actually enjoying this man's company.
Apparently, it was possible.
Their ride continued in this comforting quiet, a silent agreement of sorts. Neither could really tell. Neither did care, though.
An hour passed, then two hours. Again, nothing was said until the lines separating good and evil were blurred into one blob of nothingness. They both were simply enjoying each other's companionship (if you could even call it that).
But Will knew better. She knew that after this peaceful ride of tolerance and forgiveness, they would become adversaries once again: He the captor; she, the captive. Even though no words were spoken to voice this small agreement, the young woman chanted inside her that she wouldn't fall for the handsome King, she would escape, and, for the love of Kandrakar, find out why everyone was always staring at her! She supposed that it had something to do with her being the leader of the rebellion against Phobos' rule, but Will couldn't help but think that there was something she was missing, something that everyone else knew and were not about to reveal to her.
She sighed as the end of the path started to come to an end as an opening in the mass of blue and green trees.
It wasn't long at all before they were dismounted (with some difficulty for her) and on the cobblestones of the yard. Will stood alone, close to a wall, where she watched Yula untack Phoenix with expertise.
A person right behind her suddenly grabbed her arm and pulled her into the shadows of the wall.
She hit something hard: A chest, she realized. The vivid-haired girl squirmed, afraid of whoever was behind her, trapping her. "I would stop if I were you," came a husky voice that was very familiar to her. She quit, knowing who it was.
Phobos.
"What are you doing?" she hissed angrily at him. Will realized just then that he had somehow managed to teleport them to her room and were now floating ten feet off the bed.
He chuckled. She had spunk, and a certain fire in her that was very rarely put into a living form. Passionate…caring…she was perfect.
She was his.
His. He savored the word and loved – yes, loved – the smoothness of it as he mouthed it against her beautiful red locks. His and his alone.
His.
"Well?" asked an impatient Will. She was sick of whatever kind of game he was playing with her and if he didn't answer her in about three seconds, she was going to kick him in the shins (fall or no fall) and get the hell out of here.
"In a week's time," he simply stated, "There is to be a costume ball with the aristocrats of many lands. You are to attend." He then let go of her and she dropped on the massive bed, pillows and blankets flying in a heap.
When she finally regained her senses from that abrupt fall, Will looked up to see where she and Phobos had been.
He was gone.
END FLASHBACK
Shaking her head, Will ended her staring contest with her double in the mirror. She really needed to go for a walk and think. But where would she go?
Kicking the covers, she slipped out of bed and stopped in front of the large doors.
"To the garden," she commanded and pushed open the door.
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Finally! It is done. Chapter 7 is coming!
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