My eyes blinked once, twice. No matter how much I tried to analyze the situation, I could not comprehend it. Staring back at a person who is looking at you like an alien object is very tiring. Also, calling the other person who was dousing the flames and whispering something to him like it was an important secret was adding fuel to my fire. Furthermore, the smoke and dust in the atmosphere did not exactly lift my mood. My gaze of puzzlement soon turned to irritation as I snapped.
"Why are you both staring at me?"
"Jane, do you really not remember anything?" asked Haytham, shaking his brown wavy hair.
"I can only remember almost being burned to a crisp" I retorted, looking at Alastair. How silly could he get? Haytham must have stopped the ball of fire after I lost consciousness.
"What about the black ball?" Alastair cut in.
"What black ball? The only ball that was there was the giant fire ball you threw at us! Perhaps the fight had made you dizzy?"
"We should be asking you that, Jane" Haytham replied with a scrutinizing look.
What exactly did I do to make him mad? Is he now on good terms with Alastair?
"You seem to be getting along well with Alastair."
His face flustered for a moment before he regained his composure.
"I have no idea on what you are talking about"
Al just remained silent, watching Jane laugh and poke fun at Haytham. If one observed closer, they would have noticed his fragile faint smile on his lips and his palladium eyes gazing gently at her. He shook his head as he thought of how stupid they both have been. He strode in gentle steps towards those two who were in their own world. Kneeling down gently beside the seated Jane, he called out to her,
"Miss Jane Summers, if I may be so selfish as to ask for your forgiveness, please do pardon me. I was wrong, you are a strong woman."
Jane looked at him with a perplexed face and only after a while did she realize what had just happened! She closed her mouth in shock at this sudden apology from Alastair. And did he just call her strong? It had been ages since someone had called her strong. That was when her parents passed away. It made her happy to think someone thought of her as strong.
"Thank you" she replied in a constrained voice, not wanting to let her happiness to be shown.
"So, may I take this opportunity to travel along with Mr. Blackwell and you, Miss Summers?"
She nodded with a smile, and looked to Haytham who had a rather troubled expression on his face. Her smile slowly disappeared as she saw that and so was Alastair's smile.
"What is it Mr. Blackwell? Are you still dwelling on the past that happened between us? Is that the reason for your hesitancy?"
Haytham trembled slightly at his reference to the past. He had still not forgotten about it, about the fear he experienced. Alastair gracefully stood up, and looked at Haytham's ochre eyes in a calm demeanour.
"Perhaps, we should take a walk; sort out the issues between us. Don't you feel the same way, Mr. Blackwell?"
The manner in which he delivered those lines was perfectly calm, concise and polite. A simpleton like Jane could never understand that those lines were laced with rage, hatred and malice. Thankfully Haytham, though dense, was not a simpleton for he sensed the danger lurking behind those words. He perfectly grasped the meaning underlying in Alastair's invite. Gently shaking his head, he let out the most forced smile and said through gritted teeth,
"It would be a pleasure to have you accompany us, Mr. Alastair Reed."
YOU ARE READING
Mage of Eden
Fantasy"There's a power in this world that no one has seen before. It is gentle and sweet; but brutal and devastating. Maybe, if it could be seen, everyone would fight over it. That's why no one has ever seen it. The universe hid it so that no one could ge...
