AfterWorlds (Book 1): Chasing Blood

Chapter 6 Playing with Fire

Chapter 6

"Leave her at Gallay?" Ridicus said his voice was nasally and annoyed as he stared down at a large quilted map with small figurines and tiny statues of different sized castles. "You have spent many years there, you of all people should know how safe it is." Juliet spoke quietly in the dimly candle lite room. Ridicus eyes glanced up to the nurse who was standing arms crossed at his side. He stared at her for a moment before turning back to the map. "Elise listens to no one when it comes to Gallay, she insists she belongs there." Juliet said irritated, yet her lip pulled into a small smile. "Is that so?" Ridicus asked curiously. "Yes, let her cross under the Arch, if she is declined entry you know she will have to come back." The witch said even quieter. "You realize what this means." Ridicus spoke after a moment of silence. Juliet gazed at him waiting for the answer. "It means she might not be returning at all. Not until the end of terms." Ridicus said, his eyes blood shot and dark crescent circles hung under them, smiled."You should sleep my King. It is almost sun rise and you will be traveling to Kingsdown soon." Juliet insisted in a loving manner.
"Yes." Ridicus said with a sigh as he rubbed his eyes gently with the palm of his hand. "Will you be returning to Kingsdown as well Lady Juliet?" The king said with a slight smirk as he stood up. "Of course, but I will be there much sooner then you." The nurse maid said as she left through the open door, two knights stood in the hall, one on each side of the door frame. Ridicus watched the witch leave and pinched the bridge of his nose sitting in the silence before he too stood up and left, the knights flanking the door now following a few feet behind him as he walked up a large stone staircase to reach his headquarters. When he reached the large thick wooden door to his chambers a woman in a plush pink dress that hung from her shoulders and long orange hair pulled back with two French braids, a large scar across her collarbone. "Whinnry." Ridicus said softly as he closed the door behind him, his knights being left on the other side of the wooden door to guard. "Ridicus." Whinnry said in a voice so low most wouldn't have heard her. "How are you feeling?" The King said walking closer to where the girl sat upon the large bed. The young girl stood up abruptly, causing the king to stop walking, only a few feet away. "Please, if you are tired sleep. I will not be staying, not tonight." The king said with a smile but it faded quickly. "Again my King?" She said softly with worry. "How are you feeling?" Ridicus pressed ignoring her question. "I am alright now, thanks to you." She said, a small smile pulling at her lip. "Will you be working again tonight, Ridicus?" Whinnry asked again. "Yes." Ridicus said with a low sign, turning on the ball of his heel he walked towards a large wooden table; it was covered in large jars of juices, wine, a few other liquors, and empty goblets. Ridicus filled an empty silver goblet with red wine and took a few sips. "Would you like some?" The king offered moving back over towards the girl, she did not flinch or move away, simply stared up at the elf as he moved closer to her. "No thank you." She said staring at the glass as the king finished it quickly whipping his mouth on a small napkin he pulled from his robes. "Juliet said if you are feeling ill or anxious to digest this... plant." The King said reaching into his robes once more pulling out a small parcel wrapped and tied in purple fabric. Whinnry watched Ridicus place the small bag on the wooden table by a jar of orange juice and turn back to face her, his body slouched slightly from being over tired but his eyes wide with alert. "Ridicus you need rest." The girl whispered in an urgent tone. "I can't. Not now, not until we arrive in Kingsdown tomorrow. Right now I need to plan." The King said his voice slightly strained. Ridicus pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment his eyes closing, the room staying silent as he did. "Lady Whinnry." He spoke softly as he turned to look at her, she was staring down, nervously lacing her fingers together."Have you any memory of..." The king spoke very gently. Whinnry shook her head so quickly she looked as though she had just simply shivered.Walking back over to the purple bags of herbs, he picked them up, walked back to where Whinnry stood beside the bed, picking up her hands and placed the bag in them. "It might help. Knight Ladris will be over seeing your watch tonight." Ridicus spoke but Whinnry could tell his mind was else were, she smiled and nodded though trusting the king to know who could protect her best. She had only been under the king's protection for two nights and a day and Whinnry honestly didn't mind the knights. They simply stood outside of the door and if she made any loud noises they would asked if everything was alright.There was a knock and a large knight in silver armor, his armor had a beautiful white flower design, emerged from behind the door."Ah Knight Ladris, Come in. Lady Whinnry I will return to you when the sun sets and we shall depart." The King spoke tiredly and waved the knight in; Knight Ladris, stood on guard a few feet inside the room waiting for his next instructions. Ridicus departed the room, and the knight should have to but once Ridicus shut the thick wooden door behind him, the knight did not move and stood in the center of the room.Whinnry stared slightly wide eyed. "Y-You may leave now." She said clutching the small purple bag in her hands.The Tall knight in silver armor name Ladris simply looked at Whinnry, armor covering his face then down to the purple bag and back up to the girls face, all of a sudden the knight lifted his face mask. It revealed a young man, perhaps only a few years older than Ridicus; he stared at Whinnry for a moment before his eyes jolted down to the purple pouch then back up. "What is that?" He spoke his voice husky and slightly bitter. "I-I don't know. The King gave it to me." Whinnry spoke quickly, but the knight snatched it out of her hand so fast she accidently stumbled back."Majna, Good stuff." He said a bit more softly handing the bag back.Whinnry laughed uncomfortably looking down at the purple bag once more in her hands. "Will it really help me relax?" Whinnry asked her stomach turning slightly, even as help she avoided talking to anyone or being in anyone's company for too long; and now especially after the resent attack she found comfort in being alone. "Oh yes, used it a few times myself before battle. Mellows you right out and you don't have to worry about a nasty hangover like the wine brings, it's fairly popular among the knights in Rebelfall." Knight Ladris said in a deep chuckle, Whinnry laughed again but it was still uncomfortable and awkward. "How do I-?" The girl began but was at a loss for words."Ah, follow me!" The knight beamed and moved towards the open stone window, his hand held back towards Whinnry. She walked quickly towards were he stood and places the purple bag in his outstretched hand. "Now there is a two ways to ingest Majna, cooking and burning." Ladris smiled unclipping his hand armor to reveal and large gloved hand; he reached into the side slit of his armor and pulled out a small stone ball, or at least at first glance that's what it looked like. "Should you be standing guard outside the door knight?" Whinnry asked her eyes darting to the door; she felt something in her stomach flip at the thought of someone being able to burst into the room at any moment. "Hmm? Oh no, there are two knights standing guard fear not Lady Whinnry. Since this is the night before you depart with King Ridicus he has asked for extra eyes, just to make sure no one is thinking of disturbing you before your journey." The knight placed the ball looking stone figure on the table that was covered with wine, juice jars and empty goblets; he then proceeded to remove his helmet and place it onto the table as well. Whinnry shoulder dropped slightly in relaxation at the comfort of knowing there was not just one knight but three watching over her tonight. The girl watched as Knight Ladris opened the purple bag and a small round purple bush made up of tiny little round bushes sat inside of it. "This is a Majna bush. It is a tiny plant that grows in most forest. Most people don't realize how powerful and helpful this tiny plant is, but King Ridicus was smart for thinking it might help you become more... comfortable." Ladris said slowly, hoping that his realization of her discomfort wouldn't upset her; Whinnry simply nodded her head quickly in response looking guiltily at the ground. "Alright, bring that candle over here, please." The Knight asked pointed to the single flickering white candle on the table. Whinnry moved towards the candle and picking it up by its holder gentle, she walked back towards the knight watching the tiny flame sway and flicker, such a tiny thing, she thought, yet it can grow and destroy so much. Whinnry stood holding the candle as Ladris took the top off the stone ball and placed one of the tiny balls from the small purple bush into the semicircle like cup then placed the top back making it a full stone ball again. "You see this hole in the burning chamber? In hail the smoke, then blow it out the window... It's got a bit of an off putting smell." Knight Ladris added quickly when Lady Whinnry looked up staring as he handed her the stone ball. "You hold the fire underneath the smoke chamber." The knight turned the stone ball in the girl's hands and Whinnry saw the hole near the top of the burning chamber. Placing her lips over the opening so it was completely covered, knight Ladris moved the girl's hand that was holding the candle so its fire gently licked the belly of the ball. "Put your fingers near the top so you don't burn them." Ladris instructed and Whinnry, though she felt silly she was willing to try it if Ridicus has said it would help her calm down, she would do anything to not feel like her life was in danger every moment. "Now there should be smoke, in hail, slowly though, don't need to burn your throat." The knight fell silent as he watched the tiny dull, red haired girl in hail so deeply that even the flame of the candle was being pulled. After a moment Whinnry closed her eyes and held her breath as long as she could and after only moments she felt her head become slightly fuzzy and she let out her breath, the cloud of smoke nowhere near the open window. "Oh gosh that does smell." Whinnry coughed through the cloud as she tried feverishly to move it away from her nose, it took a moment before the girl noticed the knight laughing. "How do you feel now, Lady Whinnry?" Knight Ladris said through a smile. "I feel, wonderful." Whinnry spoke warmly as she realized the knot in her stomach had subsided and the paranoid thoughts in her head became distant murmurs in her mind. "It is a very powerful medicine like I said; Anxiety and pain are the two things it helps so if you have any pain in your shoulder, it should help. I'll be sure to tell King Ridicus the Majna is working when I see him." Ladris smiled tucking his helmet under his arm as he re-clipped his hand armor into place. "You're leaving Knight Ladris?" Whinnry said realizing she actually didn't mind his company now that she could relax; she realized she wouldn't mind anyone's company, of course as long as they weren't trying to chop her head off. "Yes, tonight is a very important night you see." He spoke in a low voice but he smiled slightly. "You love King Ridicus don't you?" Whinnry said gently, placing the candle and stone ball burning chamber down on the wooden table."Of course, he is my king after all and I will protect him and anything, or anyone he loves at any cost." The Knight said very serious as Whinnry walked him to the door. "Will you be seeing Ridicus and me off tomorrow?" Whinnry asked.
"I fear I will probably not Lady Whinnry." The Knight said flatly almost formal. "Oh your stone," Whinnry began but Ladris cut her off. "Keep it, I have a feeling I won't be needing it anymore after tonight." The Knights eyes darted down the hall as he turned to face the girl."Excuse me." He bowed before he began to walk down to hall quickly.Whinnry held the stone ball up, watched Ladris walk down the halls disappear then turned and went back into the room, staring down at the stone. Whinnry packed away the Majna bush back into the purple fabric pouch and placed it into the stone ball then tucked it away into her robes that were placed out for her for their departure in the morning. She had thicker robes laid out than usual, nothing like she was use to wearing, which was usually a very thin, poorly made blue dress. No, Ridicus had given her a long pale white under dress for warmth, a very well stitched powder blue dress with a small bow in the center of the collar and a long thick black cloak with black fur around the neck.
How do high borns not sweat like crazy with all those layers?
Whinnry wondered as she climbed into the large bed finally feeling at ease enough to sleep for a few hours. Unfortunately her peaceful sleep didn't last very long. Ridicus came into the room swiftly moving like a blur."Get up, get dressed, hurry." He spoke quickly but clearly, Whinnry quickly snapped out of her sleepy daze and realized something wasn't right, Ridicus wasn't moving the way he normally did, and his moments were jerky and unsure as he moved about the room, shoving small trinkets into his pockets and a large black bag. Whinnry got dressed as fast as she could, her fear of what was wrong overweight the fear of changing in front of a man. Once Whinnry had buttoned the black furred, and black robe Ridicus had his arm around her and was whisking her down the hall quickly as three knights followed behind and two in front, Whinnry noticed the knight in lead was Ladris, he was now wearing very little armor, and no helmet to move faster and see things faster, but he had large cuts up his left arm, some looked as though they were bandaged fast with ripped clothing.If they weren't properly bandaged he will get a serious infection, Whinnry thought as they walked quickly up the staircase almost to the very highest castle floor. "Therig is waiting, the garden room, on the roof." Ladris hissed quickly back to Ridicus as they marched up the stairs, until Ladris came to a halt and so did Ridicus and Whinnry , the other four knights stopped moving as well, they all drew their swords, Ladris had already had his in his grasp. "Run as fast as you can it won't matter, you'll be dead in the end." A voice said as it echoed through the staircase before breaking into a maniacal laugh. A single man appeared at the very top of the torched lit stairs. "You must be the new King, hmm?" The man said forcing a very strained and awkward smile as he stared, eyes locked with Ridicus.
Ridicus said nothing, simply drew his own sword slowly and held it in front of himself before taking a side step to shield Whinnry, Knight Ladris also took a side step to shield the king and the girl. "Oh you'll regret that very much." The man said shaking his head back and forth running his fingers through his hair. "This means I'll have to kill you first." The man let out another maniacal laugh throwing his head back as he did, lifting his long silver sword the tip pointed sharply in knight Ladris direction. Within seconds three of the four knights charged towards the blonde man, the man and knights were a blur of swinging swords and flashing armor. Whinnry watched heart pounding in her ear as the intruder took the first two knights out with ease, hitting the firsts sword away swiftly with his own and smashing his fist so quickly down on the knights head it began to bleed immediately, Whinnry didn't even see him move his arm. The second knight charged in only seconds later, the man simply stepped to the side when the knight swung, lifting his own sword at the same time dropping it down on the knight causing him to stumbled, the knight screamed out in pain as he realized his arm had been severed but was quickly silenced as the blonde man pulled out a small thin knife and plunged it into the side of the knights chest were his silver armor did not reach. "I am Christapher, and if you simply give me that boy," The blonde man said pointing his small thin sword towards Ridicus."I won't kill you or your," Christapher paused his eyes scanning Whinnry up and down, but he ended up simply shrugging his shoulders in an uncaring manner to finish his sentence. "Or maybe I will, just for fun." He continued as his eyes fell on Ridicus and he knew he struck a nerve, but before Ridicus could lung forward Knight Ladris and the remaining two knights already had. Two more knights came running up the stairs stopping by Whinnry and the King.
"This way my king, please hurry!" The knight shouted under his helmet.As Ladris and the two knights continued to hold off Christapher, pushing him agents the west wall as Whinnry and Ridicus made their way up the east side of the staircase. Whinnry had only ever felt this kind of adrenaline once before, she never wanted to remember that day and she had a feeling she wasn't going to want to remember this one either. As they made their way up the stairs Whinnry felt her feet fall from under her and the next moment her breath was being slammed from her chest by a large body. The man named Christapher with now messy blonde hair was staring down at Whinnry he was shaking and his lips were moving very fast, it took Whinnry a moment before she realized what he was saying."I'll start with your feet then I'll skin you to the very tip of your head." He licked his lips which were covered in blood and sweat.
Whinnry couldn't breath.
The next moment Christapher was being pulled off her by Ladris and another knight, they held him but only long enough for Whinnry to struggle to her feet; Ridicus pulled her up as fast as he could attempting to put himself between the mad man and herself."Run Ridicus!" Whinnry screamed as Christapher moved in a blur of motion somehow pulling his arm free from one knight, pulling his thin sword back and straight through the eye hole in his silver armored mask; Ladris let go in response and swung his sword but Christapher caught it on the blade of his small sword and Whinnry moved forward, now standing beside Ridicus. "Run Lady Whinnry! Run Ridicus!" The Knight spat as he held the blond man in place with what seemed like all his strength, blood was dripping heavily from his wounded arms. Christapher pulled back his sword and moved quickly to Ladris side, moving his sword swiftly he cut another deep wound in knights bicep."Ladris!" Whinnry cried out as Christapher moved faster and faster cutting his arm up until one was so badly cut it was hanging by mere skin. "RUN!" Knight Ladris boomed and Ridicus grabbed Whinnry around the waist pulling her up to the top of the stairs, the fires on the torches burning higher than they had ever burnt as Whinnry watched Christapher cut Knight Ladris until he was forced to his knees from the pain before the blonde mad man. "I told you, didn't I? You'd regret your decision." The man smiled again in a twisted awkward manner.Whinnry's eyes widened, Ridicus was trying to pull her into the hall to get to the next set of stairs that lead to the garden room but Whinnry stay planted her eyes locked on Ladris, limbs missing covered in blood. After only a moment Whinnry watched as Christapher placed his hand on knight Ladris shoulder and stab his thin knife into the knight already bare and badly cut chest; blood flew from Ladris mouth and dribbled down his chin, his eyes staring back towards Whinnry before his limp body fell over at Christapher's feet. Whinnry saw a handful of knights at the very bottom of the stairs rushing up but they weren't fast enough.
Christapher headd turned his eyes wide with insanity; he dashed towards them in a fast blur.
He's going to kill Ridicus, Whinnry thought her hands all of a sudden pushing Ridicus away from her,"NO!" Whinnry screamed at the very top of her lungs, though her voice did not slow Christapher, when he noticed the flames of the lit torches hitting the stone ceiling many stories high, he faltered and at that exact moment the flames splashed down like water causing the entire staircase to be engulfed by flames, the smell of burning bodies and carpet filled the stone walls. Whinnry heard the knights at the bottom of the staircase yell for water as Ridicus finally managed to pull Whinnry up the second set of steps. "You're an Elemental!" Ridicus shouted as they raced up the steps."A what?" Whinnry couldn't seem to catch her breath; all she could taste was smoke. "An Elemental!" Ridicus said again back to Whinnry."I don't," Whinnry began her head was swimming, she couldn't get the thought of Ladris eyes out of her mind."It means you can control an element!" Ridicus said hastily as he pushed open the door to the garden room, it was a large open area on one of the castle towers, Therig paced a few yards away but he spotted Whinnry and Ridicus at once."Thank the gods you aren't dead! Hurry! We must get you to Kingsdown! Now hurry!" Therig hurried towards the two clutching a large thick pale purple cloak with a thick gold string. Therig threw the cloak around the pair and tied the gold rope of the cloak around their necks gently. "Once you say the land and place you wish to travel to, everything will begin to blur, bend your legs a bit, bit of an easier landing that way, alright off you go, quickly!" Therig moved back and stared impatiently at Ridicus."Kingsdown, Castle." Ridicus said clearly. Whinnry waited a moment and everything began to blur, the garden room roof top and Therig began to spin around them until everything was a black, blue, green and white blur, then simply a dull blue and black blur until everything stopped spinning and even though it felt like Ridicus and Whinnry hadn't moved they stumbled when the room came into focus pulling the traveling cloak off their shoulders. "Ridicus." Whinnry said softly placing her hand upon the back of his cloak. "I'm so sorry about your knights... and knight Ladris." "It's alright." Ridicus turned to face Whinnry."He is a strong knight who will do what he must to protect his King." He said to her with a faint smile, and she returned it but it faded quickly, dying faces was not something new to Whinnry but something in Ladris eyes had made her uneasy. "I still can't believe it, an elemental." Ridicus muttered in an almost happy tone as he moved around the room."Ridicus?" Whinnry said again slightly quieter confusion in her voice."It means you can control an element, you can control fire." Ridicus said through a grinned smile.