"Keep your hands up!" Hector ordered Rapunzel as he swung his sword at her again. "Do you want me to skin you alive?!"
"I'm trying!" Rapunzel yelped, falling over.
"Trying isn't good enough."
Hector drew in his blade and offered Rapunzel a hand, which she took.
Rapunzel had been begging Hector for the past five days to teach her how to fight, coming up with all kinds of excuses, such as "A princess should know how to defend herself, don't you think?" and "The Dark Kingdom is dangerous! Shouldn't I be taught how to handle myself there?". Two days ago, Hector finally relented and began teaching her the basics on self-defense only. He figured that learning ways to actually harm people wasn't exactly her style.
It had been about three weeks since the destruction of the Great Tree. Hector had started to talk more and offer to help with things voluntarily. At one point Rapunzel had even considered finally allowing him to join the others in the tent at night, but Cassandra had absolutely refused, saying that he was probably just playing nice so he could trick them all. Rapunzel didn't like how distrustful of Hector her friend was. She personally thought he seemed decent enough and shouldn't be forced to sleep outside and eat apart from them. Even Eugene agreed with her after a while, but Cassandra stood her ground.
As the days went on, Hector began to be more open towards Rapunzel and her friends, though he was always on edge with Cassandra and still refused to talk to Adira more than absolutely necessary.
The past week and a half had been strange. First, they had encountered two rather unfortunate-looking brothers with hooks on their limbs. One had a hook on a hand, the other had one on a foot. Weirdly, they were named accordingly - Hook Hand and Hook Foot. Hector had a hard time figuring out whether those were their given names or some kind of cruel nickname they'd been forced to get used to.
Also, during the past few days, the Sundrop's caravan had somehow come into use again. Hector was sure he'd pushed it off a cliff, but apparently the Sundrop could bring both people and horse-drawn means of travel back to life. And since the party had their caravan back, they offered Hector the tent. He had refused, saying that he'd grown fond of sleeping under the stars, so the others had packed the tent away as a backup. After that, Hector amused himself by telling the others how grateful he was that instead of not being permitted in a tent, he now had a whole caravan to not be allowed in!
But the most infuriating thing that had happened in was that Cassandra had somehow managed to use magic to completely erase Rapunzel's memory back to when she left the tower in which a witch named Gothel had imprisoned her since her birth. The stories Rapunzel had told Hector about her escape from the tower and how she'd met Eugene were incredible, but Hector couldn't fully appreciate them over his new hatred of Cassandra. He'd never been fond of the fiery young woman, but now she'd crossed the line. Magic was not something to tamper with! In the Dark Kingdom, fooling with magic to the extent of erasing someone's memory was punishable by death! It was beyond him as to why she had received no punishment whatsoever.
"Okay, okay," Eugene said cautiously, pulling his girlfriend behind him. "I think she's had enough."
"She's only been training for an hour," Hector stated, crossing his arms.
"And that's an hour too long."
"Eugene!" Rapunzel said.
"What? I don't like you training with him every day. I'd feel a lot better if you trained with Cassandra instead."
"I'm standing right here," Hector interjected. "And she's perfectly safe with me."
"Is she?" Cassandra said, walking up in front of Hector. "Because I feel like she isn't. I feel like we shouldn't even be letting you have a weapon around us, let alone around Rapunzel."
"Cass!" Rapunzel protested. "I can handle myself, and Hector said he wouldn't hurt any of us! There's nothing to be worried about!"
"Whatever," Cassandra huffed. "Lance says dinner's ready."
Rapunzel sighed and followed her friend to the campfire. Eugene followed closely. Adira stood up from where she was sharpening her Shadow Blade.
"Aren't you going to come get your food?" Adira asked her brother as she walked past him.
"No," he responded bluntly. "I'm going for a walk."
"Don't be gone too long. Knowing Rapunzel, she might send a search party after you."
Hector didn't respond. Instead, he whistled for his animals and walked through the tree line at the edge of camp, the bearcats jumping at his heels.
Adira sighed and went to join the others.
After they'd finished eating, Rapunzel helped Lance and Cassandra prepare the caravan for the evening while Adira put out the campfire and cleaned up. Eugene approached her after unloading everyone's sleeping bags from Tekakwitha.
"Hey, Adira," he said. "I'm going to get some firewood for tomorrow. Could you tell Rapunzel where I'm going?"
"Of course, Fish Skin," Adira responded. "Go find Hector while you're out."
"Fine."
The air was chilly. The past few days have been pretty cold. Eugene observed as he walked through the trees. There was a slight breeze that night, and leaves spun around him in little spirals. He bent down and picked up yet another dry branch. He'd collected a large armful of good firewood in the half hour he'd been away from camp. He figured everyone would start to worry soon, and he should probably start looking for Hector. There was no doubt in his mind that the warrior would be perfectly fine whether he found him or not and that he'd be back the next day. After all, they had his rhino and all the supplies, but still, he wasn't about to cross Adira by not doing what she had told him to.
"Hector!" Eugene called. "Hector! Come on! I wanna get back to camp! Hector!"
Eugene grumbled under his breath and continued to trudge through the crisp night. Eventually he heard a distant voice coming from his left. He pushed through the trees, struggling not to drop the many branches in his arms. The voice grew louder and louder. Eugene recognized it as... singing? He walked faster. Soon, he pushed through a line of thick trees and came to a large clearing.
Spread all over the clearing were several weeping willow trees. The grass was solid green and soft, with no rocks, twigs or trampled areas to scar its flawless beauty. There was a sparkling waterfall on the far end of the clearing. Its glittering waters were a perfect azure. The water flowed into a little stream that stretched beyond the tree line. Small silver fish swam in the stream undisturbed. A full moon shone down on the stream, making it appear to glow. By the edge of the perfect water knelt Hector, his forehead pressed to the ground as he sang in a strange tongue Eugene had never heard before. The words formed a lovely, haunting melody as they flowed from his mouth . Hector's voice was nothing like what Eugene would have ever expected from the warrior. It was soft and smooth, light and high in pitch, peaceful and beautiful. The words themselves were calm and appealing in their own right, despite the mystery of their meaning.
Kada du Eguzkia rinkiniai i du zerua,
Ir du Ilargia athina ut i argia,
Zuk valia girdėti ni šaukti fra toli, toli šalin
Ir tai yra kada zuk valia žinoti nire maitasuna.
Du Ilargia argia valia blizgėti på zuk,
Ir bere edertasuna valia kėsti zure bihotza,
Bere sølv izpiak valia vadovauti zuk på,
Gjennom du iluna ir gjennom du liskar.
Nire maitasuna valia niekada galas,
Gurea bihozak valia niekada išblukti,
Jeg skal matyti zuk vėl under du zerua,
Vi susitikti ir du Ilargia valia žiūrėti.
Kada du Eguzkia rinkiniai i du zerua,
Ir du Ilargia athina ut i argia,
Zuk valia girdėti ni šaukti fra toli, toli šalin
Ir tai yra kada zuk valia žinoti nire maitasuna.
As the song ended, Eugene released a breath he didn't realize he was holding. He knew it was probably wrong to stare at Hector, but he stared anyway, silent and waiting. He didn't move and he didn't breathe as the warrior completed some kind of ritual, still using the strange language. He cupped water in his hands and poured it slowly over his head, letting it drip down his face. He put his forehead to the ground again and breathed in and out slowly five times before standing up.
Eugene finally summoned his courage and stepped out onto the soft grass of the clearing as Hector walked over to where his bearcats were sleeping.
"Um-"
"Go away."
Eugene flinched slightly. He didn't know what he'd expected from Hector, but the sudden harsh words still made him jump.
"Well," Eugene began shakily. "I would love to, but you need to get back to-"
"I'll return soon," Hector barked. "Now go! You've already disturbed the Full Moon Ritual with your spying!"
"Whatever!" Eugene huffed angrily, turning around. "Stay out here for all I care, you weird moon worshiper!"
Eugene face-planted into the ground with a shriek. When he tried to get back up, he realized that the sleeves of his shirt were pinned to the moist ground with small but sturdy daggers. Before he could even think about pulling them out, Hector was on top of him, the tip of his wrist-mounted sword pressed to the back of Eugene's neck.
"If I ever hear you say that again," the warrior hissed menacingly in Eugene's ear. "I will free your miserable, ignorant, undersized body from your pompous, childish, ridiculous head."
"You act like it's not true," Eugene growled back through gritted teeth. "And what ever happened to that blood oath?"
Hector hesitated, but finally shoved off of Eugene with a snarl, bringing his knives with him. Eugene stood up and brushed himself off smugly. Hector paced back and forth, drawing his blade in and out. His bearcats were wide awake now, and they watched their master cautiously as he mumbled under his breath.
"So," Eugene said, crossing his arms. "Are we gonna leave or just stand here being angry about your pagan religion? 'Cause, quite honestly, I really couldn't care less whether you worship the moon or-"
"Shut up! Shut your ignorant mouth! You can't tell the difference between worship and a hole in the wall!"
"Well, what do you call that charade you just did? A picnic?"
"It wouldn't make any sense to the small minded!"
"Try me."
Hector took a deep calming breath, closing his eyes. Eugene waited patiently. By this point, he didn't really care if Adira or anybody else would be furious about how long it took him to get back to camp. All he cared about was getting a straight answer out of Hector. Finally, the warrior obliged.
"I don't worship the moon," he said slowly, barely containing his bubbling rage. "Almost no one in the Dark Kingdom ever has. We honor the moon for its presence and what it is.
"The moon is the perfect reflection of the sun. The sun's light burns our skin, while the moon's does not. The sun blinds our eyes, while the moon doesn't. The sun's burning rays scorch the Earth and leave when the night gets cold, while the moon's silver guides us through our darkest hours with no condition. The moon is always with us.
"My people have always honored the moon for what it is. We do not believe that the moon created us or anything of that ridiculous notion. We simply thank the universe or any gods a person might believe in for giving the moon to us, and we thank the moon itself for its many blessings. We know that the moon is not some deity sitting up in the sky. We recognize that it's most likely a star or another planet. But that does not change the fact that we are grateful to the moon simply for its blessing presence. We thank and honor our beautiful lady of night, our Ilargia."
There was a long, uncomfortable silence. Hector glared directly at Eugene, while Eugene himself stared at the ground, hoping that the warrior wouldn't notice the expression of regret on his face. He'd been angry that Hector had been taken so long and thoughtlessly snapped at him. He had not intended to actually offend him, not really. He'd only wanted to make him a little angry and hadn't taken into consideration that he was insulting an entire culture. If there was one thing he'd learned about Hector in the time he'd spent with him, it was that he was loyal to his people and loved them above all things.
"Well," Hector said after a deep breath. "Let's go. We wouldn't want to keep the others waiting, now would we?"
Hector stormed over to the edge of the tree line and almost left without Eugen before he realized that the younger man wasn't following him.
"Are you coming or not?!" Hector barked.
Eugene finally looked up and met Hector's eyes.
"I'm sorry," He said.
"What?" Hector asked, bewildered.
"I said I'm sorry. Jesus, can't you take an apology?"
Eugene strode past Hector with his head held high, not looking back. Hector stared after him for a moment. Finally he straightened up and followed.
Strange Coronans...
~*~
The following afternoon, the party stopped for a break because they'd been riding since dawn with no rest; Tekakwitha and the bearcats were strong but not immune to fatigue. After Rapunzel assigned everyone their tasks, she ran after Hector, who was supposed to refill their water supplies.
"Hector!" She called enthusiastically.
"Sundrop," He acknowledged when she ran up next to him.
"How many times have I told you it's okay to call me Rapunzel?"
"I'd prefer not to count."
Rapunzel's light laughter was cut off by Eugene calling her name.
"Rapunzel," he called again, coming to her and grabbing her hand. "Where are you going?"
"With Hector," She responded in her usual happy, calm manner.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Eugene said quietly, taking Rapunzel's other hand.
"Eugene-"
"Fish Skin's right," Adira interrupted, walking up beside Rapunzel and Eugene. "I'll go with my brother."
Hector glowered, but didn't try to stop his sister from following him in Rapunzel's place.
Together, Hector and Adira found two small rain pools, and after Adira finished filling her half of the water skins, she went to look for Hector by the second spring. She found him pacing back and forth past his already filled water skins. He absently tossed an apple in time with his steps.
"Didn't I teach you not to play with your food?" Adira said, putting down her water skins and crossing her arms.
"Food," Hector said bluntly, still pacing. "Requires that I was going to eat it."
"Hector," Adira sighed. "You have to eat something."
"I'll manage."
"No you won't. You haven't had anything to eat or drink in days. You haven't slept either. Will you just swallow your pride and tell me what's wrong? Are you even listening to me? Look at me when I talk to you!"
"You see, that's the problem, sister," Hector said with a bitter laugh, finally stopping to look at Adira. "Am I listening to you? Am I looking at you? Am I telling you what you want to know? You, you, you. Everything has always been about you. Always!"
"All I asked was 'what's wrong'!'' Adira growled angrily.
"'What's wrong'?!" Hector snarled, throwing the bruised apple against a nearby oak where it splattered across the dark bark. "Where would you like me to start?! How about the fact that you killed me?! You killed me, with no hesitation! You killed me! You claim to be my sister, and yet you willingly destroyed me, and for what?! A princess from a distant country you've known for a fraction of a lifetime?! A group of foreigners that want to betray everything you've devoted your life to?!"
"Your death was an accident!" Adira hissed. "You know that!"
"Fine then," Hector continued fiercely. "Let's move on, shall we?! How about we discuss your question itself?! 'What's wrong'?! You have never once asked me how I was feeling! You have never once asked about my emotions, let alone try to make them better! But now that the lives of your newfound friends depend on my happiness, oh, my feelings are your top concern! Now that my feelings are of some importance to you, they're all that matter! Now that I have something you want, you're my sister!"
"I've always been your sister!"
"NO! No, you haven't! Tell me, Adira, when was my first battle won?!"
"What does that matter?!"
"Tell me!"
Adira looked around, desperately trying to remember.
Sixteen, he was sixteen...No, no younger than that.... Fourteen?... It... It can't have been a real battle... A war wouldn't start until he turned twenty-one... Twenty-three... Was it a border skirmish?... No, no, that can't be it...
Adira's panicked thoughts were interrupted by Hector's cold, empty laughter.
"There it is!" He cackled. "You can't remember, can you?!"
"I-"
"Oh! Here's another one! Where were you that September evening?! When I was ten?! When I was kidnapped?! Where were you, dear sister?!"
"I was... I-"
"Where were you?!"
"I... I was training."
"Yes, you were. Now, where were you when I had my Erregearen Ekitaldia?!"
"I was training."
"And where were you when my knighting was announced?!"
"I was training!"
"Yes," Hector said coldly. "Yes you were. But where was I when your knighting was announced? When you undertook your Errengearen Ekitaldia? Well?! Where was I?!"
"You..." Adira almost whispered. "You were there... beside me."
"Yes I was," Hector said with a wicked smirk.
"How much more pointless questioning do you have for me?!" Adira finally exploded.
"Just one more, my darling sister."
"What?!"
"Who gave me this?"
Adira looked up, but her scowl instantly disappeared when she saw where Hector was pointing. He traced the long, thick scar across the bridge of his nose. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't move. She couldn't think of anything aside from the answer to the cruel question.
"Well, sister?" Hector said, still touching the ugly, discolored scar. "Who gave me this?"
"...I did."
Adira let her tears fall and roll down her face.
Hector said nothing. His face remained expressionless as he picked up both his and Adira's water skins and walked through the trees back to camp without looking back.
Adira fell to her knees and hugged herself, releasing choked sobs. Tears flowed down her face, ruining her face paint; it stained her face with a dreary red. All she knew was the pain of knowing that he was right. He was right about everything.
~*~
The fire crackled and sent bright sparks up into the crisp night air. Laughter filled the air.
"So, so," Eugene laughed. "I said, 'If that's the case, then I bid you adieu!'! Get it?! 'Cause he's a duke?!"
"Oh, yes," Cassandra chuckled. "Don't you have a knack for offending incredibly dangerous people that could easily have you killed."
"All right," Rapunzel said, getting up. "I think it's time we go to bed."
"But princess-" Lance began.
"No 'buts'," Rapunzel said, pointing a playful finger at Lance.
Everyone packed up their things and headed into the caravan. Cassandra checked the alarm bells she had now placed on the outside of the caravan's doors and windows before entering. Adira hung back. She looked over at the large oak tree where Hector seemed to be sleeping, but Adira knew he wasn't. She looked at the caravan, where she heard the others talking softly and then back at her brother's dark form. She took a deep, shaky breath and began to walk towards the oak. She knelt down a few feet in front of her brother. She knew he was aware of her, but he didn't speak. He didn't even open his eyes. But Adira stayed long after the lights in the caravan went out and the voices got quiet and eventually stopped. She stayed and stayed.
"Why are you even here?" Hector whispered after three hours of cold silence, his eyes closed.
"You know why, Brother," Adira responded sadly.
"I said what I said, Adira, and I'm not sorry."
"I'm not asking you to be. All I'm asking is that you allow me to help you. I've made my mistakes, and not a day goes by that I don't wish I was there for you. I don't know why I wasn't. I don't know why I pushed you aside. Maybe I thought you weren't worth my time or that you weren't good enough, but you were. You were far greater than I was, but I didn't see that. All I saw was a small, skinny little bastard. That's not who you were, nor who you are. But I couldn't look past my pride and see you that way. You shouldn't be sorry. I should be, and I am. I'm so sorry, my brother."
There was silence again, but it was not peaceful or beautiful; this silence was sad, sorrowful, and incomplete. A tear slid out from under Hector's closed eyes. His lower lip quivered, but he refused to look at his sister. If he dared look at her face full of pity, all the tears would fall, and he couldn't let that happen for his own sanity.
"I can't. I can't, Adira. I-I'm not ready for... this. I... I just can't..."
Adira reached over and took her brother's hand.
"Don't..." Hector lightly sobbed. "P-Please don't."
"Brother," Adira said, giving her brother's hand a firm squeeze but letting go. "Know that I'll wait for you. Take your time. You're not ready, so don't ever lie to me or yourself and say that you are when you're not. I'll wait for you. I'll wait until the sun dies if I have to, but I'll wait. I'll wait."
Neither sibling spoke again. Hector remained propped against the oak tree, trying to steady his breathing. Adira stood up and walked into the caravan, careful not to make the bells ring too loudly. Neither one slept, but neither moved. Adira's last words hung in the air and stayed in both their minds all that night and kept them bound in place to mull over them not knowing whether to feel sadness, relief, fear, or regret.
I'll wait.
Hello, my darlings! As I'm sure you've noticed, I have yet another chapter out, and I think I should probably explain myself in a few areas. One, I love Adira, and I just think that although she's kind of arrogant and doesn't like things to be kept from her, she's not pushy. Therefore, I don't think she would be too desperate to get Hector to talk to her. I think she'd wait. Two, I think that since Hector is so loyal to the Dark Kingdom, he would still practice the rituals and things even though he wasn't in the Dark Kingdom, and he really had no reason to. Also, Hector being an otherwise atheist makes sense to me. I mean, I don't think he's the kind of person who goes around doing charity for Jesus. And third, I bet some of you are wondering what the hell that language I used is supposed to be. Well, it's a mix of several old European languages, which, to me, makes since seeing as the Dark Kingdom is so very old and must have picked up many different languages over the centuries. In fact, for the nouns, pronouns, and articles I used Basque. For the verbs, adverbs, and conjunctions I used Lithuanian. And finally, for the adjectives, interjections, and prepositions I used Norwegian. So, there you go! The product of me once again over-thinking things! Constructive criticism is always welcome! God bless!
~12thPrinceOfDarkness