Kindred Spirit

Chapter 5

The King leaves me alone in the room he claims will belong to me. It's not a bad room; the bed beneath me is surprisingly comfortable. However, the room itself isn't at all comforting. Bars are on each window, and the balcony is more like a cage. I get off of the bed, rubbing my neck softly. I wince at the pain in my hand. I walk towards the glass doors that lead to the balcony. They remind me of the ones back in my room. That's how the King got in, that's how I was taken. I rest my hands on the glass.

The morning sun casts a soft glow on everything. The landscape around the castle is beautiful, bit I miss the familiarity of my home, and the beauty I always adored there. Has my brother noticed I'm gone? Surely he has by now. Who found Anne's body? Will they take care in burying her? Everyone is aware of how close we are- how close we were. It hurts to speak of Anne in the past tense.

The beauty that I see from my prison causes me nothing but pain. I look up at the colored sky. My eyes sting with fear. Will I ever get out of here? Why was he asking me so many questions?

He has questions, and so do I; the only difference is there is no one to answer mine. I lean my head on the glass, the coolness on my skin helps to calm me. I close my eyes both to keep my tears contained and to check in on my brother. I call forth a vision of my brother, a thin smile spreading over my lips as I do so. My brother suspected I had informed the enemy of his plans, so he changed the time of the attack. Now as I see the attack, I'm looking at sunrise. He should be here very soon it seems.

My anxiety builds as moments of silence pass by. I know he is going to attack in the early hours of the morning, but was it on this day my vision saw? I cannot tell which day my brother will attack on. When spying on Ryker it is much easier to get all the details. I'm a lot more in tune with him. It's as if I can just tell when he will do something, and what time. I know my brother will come soon. My visions only reveal things that are soon to happen.

My eyes open and wander around the landscape I can view from my bar covered balcony. I see nothing, no sign of an impending attack, no approaching forces, no defense. Suddenly, I turn around and the room I had awoken in seems entirely different.

Paintings hang on the wall, paintings that look to be done in my own style. I know for a fact that I haven't created them, but they seem so familiar and personal to me. I walk over to a beautiful night landscape painting. I reach out to touch it.

Just as my fingers are about to come into contact with the painting, the entire scene before me vanished. My eyes open quickly and I find myself once again staring outside. I turn around in confusion. The room is as it was when I had awoken. The walls are bare. One other detail I noticed in that odd... vision? Or was it a daydream? Was that the windows and balcony had no bars covering them?

"What was that?" I mumble to myself in confusion. It's then I return my attention to my balcony. The once empty green landscape now if filled with several people and several weapons. I see bodies falling to the ground. Before I can look more closely however my door is flung open. A man dressed in armor enters. He quickly grabs me and wordlessly begins pulling me from the room. I try to resist which doesn't get me anywhere.

"His Highness has instructed me to get you to a safe location," The man says clearly frustrated with me. He lifts me into his arms. I struggle against him, but he doesn't seem to notice. We walk down several sets of stone stairs and halls. I've lost count of how many twists and turns we take. The battle has gone beyond outside and has now spilled into the castle itself. I can tell we are deep within the large castle since it's hard to hear the distant sounds of battle.

The man places his hand on a certain stone and the wall slides open, revealing a room. Ryker quickly approaches and removes me from the man's hold and holds me in his own arms. "Get back to the battle," he orders. The man nods as he steps out of the room. The wall slides shut behind him. Ryker glares down at me, clearly displeased. He slams me against a wall. "Did you or did you not have a vision this morning?" He demands as he leans his forehead against mine. His voice is low but filled with a commanding tone.