Ike Penworthy

Chapter |~ 25

I'd already known before Liam came and told me. The rage had left me. The want to kill, to destroy, to rid the world of him, was gone before he even knocked on the door. I'd been holding on, but I couldn't anymore. I screamed when he finished speaking. A fever had already taken over, making me delirious, but now I was mad and crazy. My wounds were the only things that kept me on the bed and the lack of weapons the only reason anyone stayed alive.

I don't remember closing my eyes, but when I regain some sight, Sorn is the one over me, talking. His mouth moves voiceless, my ears ringing. I feel more people come in, the air tightening around us. I can't see them, can't hear them, but I can't stand them being in here. They have to get out. I can't breathe.

I comprehend the brush of arms going under me and the sway of moving. Cool air blasts my face and I gasp harshly.

Sorn has brought me outside where knee-deep snow swallows the courtyard. He walks to the stable and everything in my calms. He knows what I need, what will calm me. How he can know, I don't know, or frankly care. But I'm thankful.

Cloud is the first to us, her whining piercing through the buzzing in my head. Sorn sets me down in Jax's stall. The hay is thick, pillowing my body. He cradles my head into his lap while Cloud licks my cheeks and nose. Jax is quiet, his body curled around himself, and his head high, watching us all.

I'm shaking, although I can't comprehend why. I'm still screaming, although not verbally.

It's wrong. He was my kill.

"I have a horse." Sorn whispered, his voice penetrating the thick silence in my head. His fingers start playing with my hair, massaging at my scalp and then dividing the tresses. "His mother was killed when he was a colt by their owner. When he was strong enough the man trained him. Broke him to ride, to hear and understand commands, and to eventually carry people into war. But even after all his training, the colt was still untamed. Natural for a stallion, but this was different. He was ferocious. He'd killed a man and had nearly killed the owner many times. Some speculated that the horse knew, that he wanted revenge for his mother's death. But he never killed the owner, another horse did it for him. Now I have the colt and after two years of love and care, he's the calmest creature in my barn."

His voice is soothing and his words soft. But horses and people are not the same. That horse has aged and become gentler, he doesn't know how to hold onto things like revenge. He doesn't even understand it.

"Are you trying to tame me, Sorn?"

He almost laughs, although it could be a scoff. "No. Just the wild thing inside you." He rubs long red hair between his fingers, watching it flutter down to land on yellow hay. "Revenge destroys people, Ike."

I sit up stiffly. My side burns and screams at me to lie back down. "Revenge was mine!"

Sorn sighs. "Ike..."

"No." I shake my head fervently and try to stand, but my leg is tight and my side is cramping. I slip to the floor again, my back against the stall wall and my breathing harsh. I think I'm crying. Something wet drops from my chin onto my hand. I can't remember when I cried last. Seems like before all this I was a weak person. But I never cried. Before all this I had a goal. Find Tye.

But then I got my answer and now... now I have friends and a dragon. Now I could take back what was mine. But it was stolen from me. Like my true dragon. Like my brothers, my mother, my father. Like life. It's gone. All gone.

I have no quest. No heart to move on. I'm tired of running. Tired of fighting. I just want to be done. I want to be left alone and forgotten about. Like before. No one knew I existed and those who did, didn't care. Fantasy never gave up on me, but it sure has dragged me through the ashes of Grimm.

Boots clip on the cobble floor and stop at the stall. It's Liam, his green eyes wide, expression flustered. Something is off. While he seems unsettled, there's a strange gleam to his face.

"Livery's dead." He gasps, but doesn't look out of breath.

"What?" Sorn gasps back, shocked.

I sink into the wall, everything in me giving out. I'm a protector, it's what my family was... is meant to do. I'm to protect the Crown Prince or Princess until they become King or Queen and die of old age. I have now failed a third time in my job. Tye, Emilia, and now Livery.

"Wait..." Sorn had stood up, and he and Liam had been talking, but only what Sorn said next made me listen. "If they're all dead, that makes..."

They both look at me, comprehending what Sorn's saying faster than I can.

"It makes Ike, Crown Princess of Riddle." Liam finishes, smirking.

[Note]: This is where you get that weird feeling in your gut.

Two chapters today because cliffhangers kill people,

JJ

08.31.17