Starlight

Chapter 3 An unexpected meeting

After that we go home and in the next week I get more and more accepted into the Byre-tribe. I help Peter and Mychal out on the Sheep Farm and sometimes Amelia with Lima and Liam.

A week after the last dinner Mychal, Peter and I are once again the guests of Amelia and Brian. The first one was just about to bring the twins to bed when we hear a rapid knocking.

"Help! Please let us in. Weapons Master!" We then hear a boy softly call out and for a moment the time seems to stand still. The next moment, Brian gets up and races to the door. He places a hand on the doorknob and says:

"Who are you? How do you know me?"

"Please, Weapons Master, it's me, Luca! I have a trusted citizen with me. I beg you, please let us in..." The boy states and Brian gasps. He opens the door and let the two guests in.

"Please sit, both of you. Boy, what are you doing here? What is going on? And please, I am Brian here..." He asks and I notice worry in his voice.

"Please can we get something to eat or drink? We're starved..." The boy asks and Amelia hurries to the kitchen.

"I am sorry to involve you, but I did not know where else to go. Lisa and I escaped from Father's troops just a week ago. There was a secret meeting of the Blessed in the City and other places. But somehow Father came to know about it days before and sent troops! We tried to warn the ones in the City and were seen as one of them. So we fled and it may be coincide or Fate, whatever you want to call it, that I somehow came to know your location and I just knew that we had to come here. And please, just call me Luca..." The boy says and Brian nods with a worried frown.

"Very well, Luca. And it was indeed wise of you to come here. I have not forgotten my fighting skills nor my training. You can remain here for a while. Now, tell me. Do you have any injuries?"

That they have. Both have cuts on their arms and legs and Lisa has a swollen ankle. The cuts are quickly cleaned and bandaged and Lisa's ankle is cooled. Then Luca and Lisa gratefully take the food and hot cocoa and eat.

"Thank you, W- I mean Brian. Now, could you please introduce us to the rest of your family?" Luca says after they have finished and the man nods.

"Of course, how rude of me. This is my wife, Amelia and my children, Lima and Liam. This are Mychal and Peter, my grandfather- and brother-in-law. And this here is Lucy. Mychal found her about a week ago and she has lost her memory..." He concludes and I notice a change in the eyes of both Luca and Lisa.

Is that recognition I see? Fear? Confusion? And...

"Why did you call him Weapons Master?" I accidentally ask aloud and I gasp. "I'm sorry, that was rude."

"No need. I understand. I..." Luca says and looks to Brian for a moment. The man nods.

"All can be trusted." The man says and the boy continues.

"I called him Weapons Master, because that is how I came to know him best. He trained me and my sister at the Royal Palace in the City of Sync. I am Prince Luca and this is my girlfriend Lisa." And the two smile when he says that. Brian chuckles.

"Let me guess. Your father does not approve of you being in love with a commoner and you kept it hidden?"

"Aye. And it's a relieve to finally say it. After you were sent away, Father was still very angry and being in the Palace became tense. And when he forced my sister Lya and me a year later to attend at his parties and look for possible suitors and wives it became downright agony. So I snuck out of the Palace more and more and that was when I met Lisa. I remember it like it were yesterday. One evening I was in the forest near the edge of the City when I heard a call for help. I followed it and found Lisa in the river. She'd slipped and her foot was stuck between the rocks at the bottom. I saw that she had little time, undid my cloak and sword belt, shirt and shoes and dived in. I freed her foot just in time and hauled her ashore..." Lisa chuckles.

"Aye. And I was pretty shocked when I saw who had rescued me. I could hardly believe that the Prince, who I had only seen from a distance, had rushed in to save me, a lowlife from the outer reaches of the City. But there he was, wrapping his cloak around me and asking if I was okay. When he was assured that I was, he took his dagger and ripped his shirt to put an improvised bandage on my foot. Then he put his ripped shirt and belt on, picked me up and carried me through the pitch-black City to the Palace kitchens. There he let one of the maids get the doctor so that he could properly bandage my foot. After that, the doctor swore secrecy along with the kitchen-personnel and they let me sleep in one of the extra beds they had in an adjoining room..."

"That's right. They advised me to get to my rooms floors above, but I refused to leave and sat down in the armchair that stood next to the hearth. The next morning I awoke an hour after sunrise to the smell of breakfast and found Lisa watching me from a distance. I smiled and as if on cue, food was set on the table. After breakfast I wanted to bring her home, but..."

"... I refused. I told him about my strict father and how angry he would be because I didn't get home the night before..."

"She looked so scared that I nodded and asked to the kitchen personnel to give her a job so she had an undeniable excuse to being late. After that she put on a uniform and together with the head of the personnel we went to her house. When we arrived, at first her dad seemed to be glad to see she was alright, but after we left, I stayed behind to listen in. And with good reason. Once he thought we left, he began to beat her. I rushed back in and caught the third blow. I ordered him to stop but he wouldn't listen and I urged Lisa to get back. As her father picked up a poke, I drew my sword, fought him and managed to slam the door in his face and run back to the Palace. But he came after us and I ordered the Palace Guard to stop him and never let him in unless he was unarmed and under their watchful eye. After that we didn't hear anything from him. Until a week ago with the raid and I would not be surprised if it had something to do with him..." Luca ends and nobody could say for a few minutes.

"How were you able to hide your relationship from the King? And what about the Queen?" Brian then asks and first got a happy one before he gets a sad smile.

"We solved that by him taking me on as his personal servant. That way, it would not be suspicious if we were together most of the day. In the meantime he learned me to fight like him and his sister. And those moves came in handy when we slipped into the City from time to time so I could see my friends. The first time they saw me with Luca they thought I had been followed..." Lisa laughs quietly.

"And mother, I think she noticed something after a few months, but she never mentioned it. Probably because she knew what father would think of it or do to Lisa. Once she even tried to convince father to stop pressing the matters of wives and suitors, but it would not help. But a month ago she fell ill and she still hasn't recovered. I fear for her. A day before the attacks she called me and my sister to her chambers and she told us her secrets. A personal... and a state. She told us that she was a Blessed and that we are too. The state-secret is that we have or had a sister who also was a Blessed. I can't recall her name at the moment, but mother cried that she could not hide the Mark from father and that she tried to save our sister. She sent her away before father could kill her, but apparently something went wrong. She told us that the official statement was that our sister was stillborn. After that she fainted..."

"I am sorry to hear that. She is a kind woman. But you said you saw Lisa's father during the raids? How? And when?" Brian asks and Luca nods.

"Aye, at the beginning. Right before they began. He was with the soldiers and was dressed like them. It was like he was immediately rewarded with a position high into the ranks..." He makes a face like he smells something nasty.

"That is very disturbing. Is your sister safe? Even though I know she can handle herself because I taught her, I still don't like the feeling of her being there without someone she can trust..." Brian says and Luca and Lisa chuckle lightly.

"You don't have to worry about that. She has a secret boyfriend. He is from the lower middle of the City. I can see that he is good to her. And she has not only kept up her training, they have been training together. He can protect her. We caught them once when we wanted to train too..." Luca states but can't continue when there is a nock on the door once again.