Chapter Two: Haunted

Light suddenly flooded my vision with a yellowish tinge as a candle alighted in front of my face, illuminating the face of an old woman, her skin so thin I could see her veins pulsing weakly under it. The same eyes stared back at me, full of mirth. Wrinkled lips parted when the old woman laughed, her long white hair trembling. High-pitched and frail, it seemed appropriate for a witch.

            “Ah, did I scare ya?” The woman giggled, an Irish brogue running through her speech now that it was louder. “Sorry, lad and lass, I guess I just got carried away.” She waddled over around the now less-dark room and lit more candles, slowly, with the candle she held in her hand. The beads all around glistened.

            I released Brennan, now that I saw it was an old woman that couldn’t possibly match my speed and power. “A-are you Madame Elmara?” I asked shakily, still jumpy from the scare previously. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Brennan fingering the inside of his robe, presumably handling a knife.

            “Why, yes, dear, that’d be me,” She nodded happily as she set down the candle. Wax dripped down it onto the wooden table. “The healer from a different land, they called me. But now their view of me is a bit different.” A dark glint was seen in her eye for a moment, but the firelight drowned it quickly.

            “Do you have anything for this?” I inquired, showing her my bloodstained side. “We don’t want it to get infected, and the castle is too far away. Plus,” I stumbled, a little dizzy and light-headed. “I might faint from blood loss.”

            Madame Elmara frowned and hummed in disapproval. “Now, how on Earth did you do that, dearie?” She asked, sounding like a mother scolding her child. Were you playing outside without shoes again? Did you fall off of the horse?

            “I almost got run over by a chariot,” I explained, looking at Brennan. “His chariot, actually. His crazy driver wouldn’t stop and one of the horses kicked me.” Brennan smiled and ruffled my hair.

            “That driver has to go, eh?” Madame Elmara laughed, picking up a bottle of something, and then putting it back on a wooden shelf. “You can’t have a driver running around hitting pretty young girls with chariots and horses can you? You’re lucky you picked her up, Prince Brennan.”

            I felt blush creep over my cheeks and neck, but my face remained stony and stoic. Brennan looked down at his feet and rubbed his neck with my hand. “Well, when it comes to damsels in distress, I do what I can,” he said, moving a little closer to me.

            I lightly shoved him, annoyed but sensing the playful tone in his voice. “I am not a damsel in distress,” I argued lightly, standing my ground. “I’m fine.” I decided to ignore the fact that my side was starting to really cause my concern.

            “Whatever you say, Tygre,” Brennan said with a roll of his sapphire eyes.

            “Ah, here we are!” Madame Elmara exclaimed, revealing a purple glass bottle with a chunky greenish liquid inside it, like someone had taken a pile of random fruits and mashed them all together into a mush, then added some herbs to make it green. Actually, that was exactly what it looked like, and that was probably what it was, too. “This should numb it if you spread it on the wound every night, and this,” she pulled out a clear vial with a clear-yellow liquid inside, “should stop the pain for a bit.”

            “Excellent,” Brennan said, taking the two vials from Madame Elmara. “How much?”

            “Ah, not much, not much. Enough that a poor girl or a rich prince should be able to pay. But,” she added mysteriously, the dark glint returning to her eyes, “I have a special sale going on. Buy a remedy or more, get a free reading. Your past, present, and future revealed in one reading for each of you, since I’m feeling nice. Plus, I haven’t had customers in such a very, very, long time.” She stood there, her eyes beckoning for us. “Please, let an old lady do what she loves.”

            “Fine,” Brennan sighed, after a few seconds of silence. “We’ll each have one reading since we’ll each pay for one remedy.” He put his arm around my shoulder protectively as Madame Elmara laughed with glee and bounded across the room with surprising energy and grace. She reached her hand through a curtain of golden beads at the far wall and disappeared through it, like there was a dark, secret room through there.

            Brennan and I slowly and cautiously made our way across the room, our footsteps muffled by the colorful rugs. My thin black shoes were soundless, anyways, and Brennan’s white sandals were so well-made, I’d assume they were pretty quiet as well. I skittishly reached my hand toward the bead curtain and my hand went right through it, into a space behind it. I walked through and it led me to, indeed, a secret, hidden room.

            Petrichor, I thought when the scent of the room hit me. The smell of dusty earth after rain. And indeed, the room smelled earthen and somewhat mysterious, but a natural mystery. Not all matching the theme of the other room. This room, which I assumed was the room where she did readings, was much more down to earth, free of artificial things. The only light in the room came from a feeble candle in the center of a small wooden table, and it reflected off of the dewdrops on the spider webs in the corners.

            “I need to have the least amount of artificial things in the room while I read,” Madame Elmara explained. “it helps the readings with clarity. You’ll find pillows stuffed with goose feathers, but that is mostly all.” I figured the candle was made of beeswax so it was natural. And indeed, there were little hexagons on the candle’s surface.

            “Now, then,” Madame Elmara said, closing her eyes and rubbing her hands together. “Which one of you would like to go first?” When her eyes opened, her pupils were larger than normal, as if to soak up the last traces of sunlight on a cold autumn evening. She sat down on one side of the wooden table with the candle in the center.

            There was a short moment of silence before I piped up confidently. “I’ll go first,” I said, rather boldly. I sat down opposite of Madame Elmara, feeling the pillows cushion my body pleasantly. Madame Elmara smiled, revealing yellowed teeth, crooked and some missing.

            “Hand, please,” she said, gesturing for me to give her my hand. I reluctantly reached out to her and was surprised by and steady tight grip. I struggled a tiny bit, suddenly feeling quite uncomfortable in this woman’s presence.

            “Oh, you poor dear,” She murmured, her eyes closed as she grasped my hand. “A child, never supposed to be born, and raised in terrible lies. You saw horrid things, and you were aged young. Swathed in betrayal and hate, no wonder you ran away.”

            I gulped, casting a nervous look at Brennan. His deep blue eyes were trained on me, calculating and critical. I saw doubt flash in them, even in the low light. I immediately felt a hint of guilt, lying to the prince, and looked back down at the wood grains in the table.

            “Now your work is harsh and you never have time to breathe, because there is always a silent guardian watching your every move,” Madame Elmara breathed, clasping both hands on my one. I flinched, as her grip grew tighter by the second. “You’re simply not allowed to fail, and your fear motivates you. Ah,” She smiled a little, and chuckled. “You’re in for an adventure. You’ll finally realize life beyond your prison, your cage, the guild of--”

            “That’s enough!” I cried, ripping my hand from her iron grip. I breathed heavily, nervous because that blasted witch had nearly blown my cover, and very soon into the mission.

            “Ah, I forgot,” Madame Elmara chuckled like nothing had happened. “Very well, I will not say. You want to look good in the presence of royalty, and not just for respect. Oops!” She covered her mouth and snickered, like she had said something somewhat naughty. “You’ll find that out sooner or later, though. But for now, you’ll still live in your shell of dry, caked lies and deception.”

            This witch will blow my cover! My mind screamed at me. “Please, enough,” I pleaded, moving away from the table. “I’ve heard enough. I feel uncomfortable.” I stood up and sat down next to Brennan in the pillows. We both glared daggers at Madame Elmara.

            “See, now you’ve made her upset,” Brennan accused. He stood up and moved in front of me protectively. “Even though, for now she’s just a suitor and someone I met, you do not have permission to make any friend of mine feel discomfort.” His strong voice matched his posture, rigid and powerful. I couldn’t help but admire the way his robes rolled over his muscles rippling underneath his skin and his deep dark eyes. But I shook my head, annoyed with myself. The witch is getting to you and messing with your head, I thought angrily.

            “Ah, the lonely prince,” Madame Elmara said, grabbing Brennan’s hand with a snakelike movement. He stumbled into the wooden chair parallel to her, and glared at her. “Surrounded by thousands of men willing to fight for him, a hundred women ready to bear him children, and yet not a true friend in the world. All he wants is a friend and a love, but his life prevents it. Born in royalty, so your every move is monitored and you have no free time to yourself. Your past is filled with glory and riches, but you’re the poorest man in the world, without friends.”

            Brennan looked down, and I could see tears in his eyes, shining in the candlelight. But he quickly blinked them away.

            “Oh, but your future is full of dark twists and turns, dark paths leading to your ultimate destiny, or tree roots leading to the trunk of fortune. But beware,” Madame Elmara’s eyes flashed open again, drilling into both Brennan and I’s very souls. “You both may trip on those roots, and be consumed by the earth you tread.”

            “That’s enough of your soothsaying, witch!” Brennan bellowed with anger. “We’ll take the potions and be off.” He dug a few coins out of his pocket and flipped them to Madame Elmara, and stormed out of the room angrily. “Have a nice day,” He said jeeringly as he disappeared through the bead curtain. I followed him, taking the vials with me. But before I left, I couldn’t help but sneak another glance at Madame Elmara. She was still sitting there, her eyes closed as she chuckled to herself, a small chuckle of a madwoman finally losing it completely. She muttered to herself gleefully under her breath, and I left the room before she could contaminate me.

            “Well, then,” I sighed to Brennan as we opened the door from the old ramshackle building. “What a show.” I opened the vial with the clear yellow liquid in it and drank it down. I felt a little tingling through my throat as it traveled downwards.

            “That crazy witch,” Brennan growled, obviously shaken. “Rubbed my feathers the wrong way. I should have listened to you, Tygre, sorry. She really is nutty.” He shook his head and looked back at the sky. “Huh, why is the sun setting?” He asked aloud.

            I turned my gaze skyward as well, following his eyes. And indeed, the once midmorning sky was now tinted orange and pink with the setting sun. “We must have been in there for hours!” I exclaimed. “It was probably all of those herbs and things, messing up our senses. Ronan will have a fit when he finds out.”

            “Ah, forget Ronan,” Brenan smiled. “We’ll walk to the castle. It’s really not that far. Only a thirty minute walk from here.” He offered his arm to me, smiling.

            “I thought you said it was much farther than here,” I said, taking his arm and trying to suppress a smile. “So far we had to stop at that crazy witch’s place.” I noticed my side was slightly numb now, and I smiled even more.

            “Well, Ronan’s too much of a pain in the neck,” Brennan laughed as we strolled down the sidewalk, strides matching. “He’s a grump, but very dependable…sometimes.”

            I laughed, gazing down at the stone beneath me. I could still feel the petrichor aura of the room linger to my clothing, my body, all around me. Faint, but there. Almost like a ghost, wrapping around me and smothering me in the gentle scent.

            “I assume we can’t see the rest of the city tonight?” I said, looking straight ahead. My eyes reflected the thoughts running through my head, small questions that regular inhabitants would know by heart. Unfamiliar questions that lay unanswered like a half-finished wineglass.

            “No,” Brennan sighed, his smile fading in the pale wind. “But you know what?” He turned to me, seeming somber and still. “Someday, when we get the chance, I will show you every inch of the city. We will discover its history buried beyond the books and scrolls, we will navigate our way through every crevice and alley we stumble upon while we get chased by angry merchants for stealing bread. Someday,” He looked away from me and I could see his breath in front of him. “We will be free to do what we wish.”

            I stared at him in wonder, in awe of how similar that speech sounded to my true desires. To be free and wild, with just me, my thoughts, my desires, and my friends. To have fun.

            “That day will come soon,” I breathed, shivering a little in my black clothing. “We’ll be free of the cage that traps us.”

            “What cage do you have?” Brennan scoffed quietly. “You’re nothing but a baker girl, living up to your family’s potential. I have to fill my father’s footsteps in every move I make and be twice the man he ever was, which is impossible. I must be the perfect child, husband, and prince.” He rubbed his temples and closed his eyes.

            Guiltily, my eyes flicked to the ground, uncertain and uneasy. “I’m a lot more than that,” I said quietly as I picked up my pace towards the castle. I could see the stone walls shining in the fading light in the distance, atop a hill.

            I was walking alone for a few minutes after that, alone with my thoughts and somewhat hurt by Brennan’s judgment of me. Sensitivity will make him trust you more, I thought sadly. But true weakness will lead to your downfall. Snap out of this stupor immediately! It was almost as if Master himself was implanting these thoughts in my head, to keep me on my toes. My head dropped to my feet against the cobblestone pathway.

            I felt a warm, strong hand wrap around my shoulders comfortingly. I looked up and saw sapphires. “You look cold,” Brennan said warmly as he pulled me into a hug. My back was pressed against his front, and I basked in his warmth radiating from his thick robes. My eyes closed and leaned my head back, glad for support.

            “I’m sorry for what I said back there,” He murmured into my ear. “I didn’t mean it. It’s just that being royalty is so hard and--”

            “Shh.” I hushed him by turning around and putting a single finger on his lips. “It’s fine. I know. I just overreacted.” I let a small smile play on my face. “I forgive you.”

            “Come on, Brennan,” I said warmly, linking my arm with his again.

            “My pleasure, Tygre,” He murmured as we started off again, our bond retied.

            What a pleasant man, I thought coldly as we walked toward the horizon, out arms linked like best friends. So very close but yet distant, like clouds in a plain blue sky. What a shame that I will have to kill him.

Author's Note

Second chapter, and this one was a bit difficult to write. I've always been a little iffy about some parts, but comment please for me and tell me what you think.