Allura of the Witches

Stephan

We reach the coast of the island before noon of the next morning.  My body aches from riding so long and I was so tired.  Alvar dismounts the horse when we get to the pier.

"Come on." He says as he helps me off the horse.  "Don't say anything while we're here." He tells me and I nod.  I'm too tired to anyways.  I see a man with chestnut hair standing on the pier.  It couldn't be he was a witch hunter.  The man turns and smiles when he sees us.

"Alvar." I say stepping back.

"What's wrong?" Alvar asks as I shakily hide behind him.

"Alvar?" Stephan asks Alvar.  "What is wrong?"  The man looks at me and our eyes meet.  "All..."

"Don't say her name." Alvar tells Stephan. "Why is she scared of you?"  Alvar gently touches my shoulder.  "You're safe, he's my brother."  Alvar tells me and I look at him fearfully.

"You were there when I was attacked.....you're a witch hunter." I manage to say.

"You know we really have to take care of those duplicates."  Stephan says.  "It wasn't me.  There was a mishap a couple of years ago involving dark magic.  There was an evil twin created of all of my brothers, Alvar included.  We've managed to hunt down several of them but apparently mine still escaped." He says.

"He won't hurt you." Alvar says as he takes my hand.  I nod even though it was still hard to believe.  "Are you ready to sail home?" Alvar asks and Stephan nods.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Alvar's POV

Allura was asleep in the captain's quarters.  She couldn't stay awake any longer and I was just thankful that she was safe on our ship.  Stephan felt guilty when he saw Allura.

"What do you think happened?" Stephan asks as the ship leaves the port.  I shrug.  I have no clue what could have happened to her but judging by the look she gave Stephan it was pretty bad.   "She'll be fine though.  She'll see the true side of you."

"Yeah the neglectful brother who ran away from his responsibilities and pushed them off onto you." Stephan leans against the rail.  "I've heard rumors about her."

"We all have but not many of them are true."  I reply.

"How much do you know about this girl?" Stephan asks and I ignore him.  "Alvar?"

"Enough to see that she's the one for me, and I would give up my life to protect her." I reply and Stephan watches me closely.

"Then is it true that she's engaged to Prince Houston of Lisstar?"  I don't reply but silence is truth enough.  "You're going to marry a princess who is engaged to someone else?  Do you know how stupid that it.  Lisstar would destroy our kingdom."  Stephan angrily tells me.

"And if she goes there, she's destroyed.  Someone has to protect her."  I reply and we let the conversation die.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"You know I've never really seen the ocean." I tell Alvar as I lean back against him.  We're standing on the deck of the ship and I'm looking out across the vast water. 

"Wait until you see Pavlara." Alvar tells me and I nod.  I couldn't wait to see his home but at the same time, no one could find out about me being the princess of Relaine.

"No one can know about me right?" I look up at Alvar.  "I mean no one can know who I really am."

"No one will know.  As far as everyone else will be concerned, you're on the road to becoming a mage." He says and I nod.  "Why does it matter?" He asks but I don't know how to explain things.  "Allura you can talk to me."

"It's nothing." I say as I put a smile on my face.  "Anyways I would rather learn about my magic than how to run a court." I laugh and he smiles at me.  "So how many siblings do you have?" I ask trying to take my mind off of things.

"Five.  Stephan is the eldest, then it is me, Liam, Rissa, and Gale."  Alvar responds.  So he has three brothers and one sister.  "Do you know how many you have?" He asks and I resist the urge to lie to him.

"Four.  I'm the youngest with Kimde being the eldest then Roland, then Rowena." I say and I feel Alvar tense up.

"Who told you?" He asks as he makes me turn around.

"I can't tell you that." I whisper and he hangs his head frustrated.

"Be careful of your siblings.  Rowena would make a great queen and Roland is a great warrior but Kimde wants to disrupt the flow of power here."  I nod and he pulls me to his chest gently.  I lean my head against his chest feeling safety.  "I don't want anything to happen to you." He whispers.

"Nothing will."  I promise.