Hey everyone!!
Here is a long chapter for you all to make up for the long wait!! I'm so sorry about that! It's exam season and I completely lost track of the time since I last updated! DX
I hope you guys are enjoying so far and I was reading some of your comments from the last chapters and some of you are on the right track when it comes to the ring ;)
Also, I'm wondering: WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK OF LUMYRYN? I'm so curious to see how you feel about him! HEHE! Let me know!
See you in the next upload! And thanks as always for your wonderful patience! <3
-Luckycharms!
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Seliaryn’s body was getting sore from spending his days outside, so he finally decided to check into an Inn and rest there for a while.
When he walked into the Inn that was bubbling with people, he walked straight to the front desk and dropped some gold coins. “I need a room.”
The woman at the desk looked at him with a smile. “For how long?” She asked as her eyes looked down at the coins. “One gold coin lets you stay for a week… these are a lot of gold coins.”
“I’ll stay as long as I need.” Seliaryn said. “If I stay longer then I’ll give you the money I owe.”
The woman hesitated. “Okay,” she said, deciding not to ask questions. She pulled out a key and walked around the table. She guided him up to the third floor and unlocked the room for him. “There’s a bar that’s open all day and night downstairs, feel free to drop in when you like,” she smiled warmly, “we also serve meals there.”
“Thank you.” Seliaryn said, taking the key from her.
She nodded her head and closed the door for him.
Seliaryn locked the door and removed his cloak. He tossed it over the chair that sat in front of a desk and sat down on the bed.
He cracked his knuckles and let out a breath as he stared at the wall.
It had been a long time since he’d been home.
And for a long time, he’d been alone.
All he could think of was how angry he was as he worked hard to ignore the emptiness inside him.
He got up and threw the bed sheets over the one mirror that sat in the room.
Why?
Because every time he looked in the mirror, he saw his father.
He looked too much like him.
And seeing that made it hard for him to think.
He had heard the rumors.
The rumors that his father killed King Kyryn.
And he did everything he could to push those thoughts aside.
He couldn’t believe it.
He wouldn’t believe it.
But the only thing thinking about it did to him was make him angrier.
So he sat back on his bed and took a breath.
Sleep. He thought. I need to sleep.
Master Red was pacing as Avaryn held Meenu’s hands in his. “What’s wrong?”
She pulled her hands away and wiped her tears away. “I… I don’t know.”
Master Red stopped pacing. “Was it a vision?” He asked, “did you see anything strange?”
Meenu hesitated. There was something. Something was happening when she fainted. But she couldn’t put her finger on it.
“Something… is happening.” That was all she could say.
“Think hard, Meenu,” Master Red said, “what did you see?”
She shook her head. “I can’t remember.”
“It must have been something bad…” Heart said, cautiously.
Master Red started pacing again, “I have a feeling these fainting spells aren’t going to stop.”
“Which is why she should stay–”
“Avaryn,” Master Red said, sounding like he had had it, “either she’s away from here, fainting here and there… or she stays here and gets murdered by Kiaryna. You pick.”
Avaryn swallowed hard and glared at his hands. “Fine.” He said as he stood up, “hurry up and leave.”
Meenu hesitated, but got out of the bed.
Aside from feeling miserable for who knows what reason, she felt fine.
They returned to where she last remembered being before she passed out at the gates of the castle.
As she got onto her horse, her mind was rather busy with her attempt to figure out why she felt so down all of a sudden.
Knowing she wasn’t paying attention, Avaryn pulled Light and Master Red aside while Heart helped Meenu.
“Take her to Elenia.” Avaryn said.
“The village of the female warriors?” Light sounded a little surprised.
The King nodded, “it will distract her… and I feel like that is probably the safest place for her to go to,” he said, “their borders are heavily patrolled so she would be safe.”
Master Red nodded, “that’s a good idea. Kiaryna wouldn’t have an easy time entering that village.”
Light nodded, “alright, I will do just that.”
When the three returned to Meenu and Heart, it seemed like she had snapped back into her senses. “I feel fine.” She said with a smile, “don’t worry about me.”
Avaryn nodded his head and touched her leg, “just do me a favor and stay safe. Light is in charge. Listen to whatever he says. And your job is to make sure Heart doesn’t do anything stupid.”
Meenu nodded with a laugh and watched as Avaryn looked at Heart, “and your job is to make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid.”
Heart chuckled. “Yes, sir!”
And with that, they left.
The travel towards Elenia was long. It sat at the far northwestern side of Raffyre, well past Amberdyse and almost at the border of the nation.
So Light was sure it would be a two-day trip and that they would have to rest for the night.
And when night came, they were in the middle of a dense forest and preparing a small camp to rest in.
Meenu leaned against a tree and Knight sat down next to her as Heart and Light prepared a fire. “How much longer?”
Light looked at her, “If we get up early tomorrow, we should make it by noon.”
That didn’t sound like too long.
Heart sat down next to her and removed his mask. His hair fell over his eyes and he brushed them back with his fingers. “You know, Meenu… I’ve always wanted to ask you something.”
“What?” Meenu asked as she crossed her legs.
Heart grinned, “promise me you’ll answer it?”
She gave him a funny look, “first ask the question.”
He chuckled, “okay fine… how did you fall for Avaryn?” he asked, “I never really understood the whole arranged marriage thing.”
Meenu heard Light groan as he pulled some snacks out of the bags on Meenu’s horse.
Heart pouted his lips for a second but waited for Meenu to answer.
It was a strange question, and Meenu was rather taken aback by it. No one had ever asked her that before.
She thought.
And she thought.
And she thought some more.
How had she fallen in love with Avaryn?
“It was an arranged engagement,” Light said as he sat with Meenu and Heart and handed them some fruits, “and she was a child… you can’t expect her to remember her reasons.”
“You don’t remember?” Heart asked her.
Meenu shook her head, “I actually don’t.”
“The better question to ask is how you fell in love with Blood.”
Heart laughed at that.
“You must have an answer for that question,” Light said, “since you didn’t know Blood was Avaryn, the answer to this can answer the first question as well, as they are both the same people.”
Meenu smiled, “I liked Blood because he was strong and wise and always had answers to everything.” That came out easily.
She definitely knew the answer to that.
Heart nodded his head, “he also always says the right thing.”
She nodded too.
And though they were just having a friendly conversation… Meenu couldn’t stop wondering what her reasons for falling in love with Avaryn were. Light was right, she was just a child.
Could a child know how to love romantically?
Thus, sleep came late to her that night.
~~~
His body was weakening, a lot. It might have been the lack of sleep or the lack of food or just the lack of training.
He assumed it was the lack of training.
So as soon as he woke up the next day, head in pain and body still sore, Seliaryn took his large sword and left the inn to make his way to a large, empty field.
There was nothing there to spar with, so he just fought with air, feeling his muscles relax now that they were being put to work.
Nothing invaded his thoughts while he trained, nothing aside from his movements.
But of course, his peace was disturbed as has been happening for a while now.
“Found you!” He heard Am say.
Seliaryn had to decide on whether or not to ignore her. But he knew ignoring her wouldn’t do anything but make her pester him more.
He stopped moving and stood still with his back towards her, his eyes closed in annoyance. “What do you want?”
“For you to come home. If not to Raffyre than at least to Lumyryn.”
“No.” He turned to look at her, “stop following me.”
“What do you plan on doing, Seliaryn?” She asked, getting straight to the point.
He didn’t know.
That was the honest answer.
But he wasn’t going to tell her that.
Am crossed her arms, looking at him through her thickly lined eyes. “You have no idea, do you?”
“Leave me alone.” He returned his sword to his sheathe and started to walk off.
“You regret it, don’t you?” She suddenly asked.
He didn’t stop walking.
“You regret what you did to Meenu,” she continued, “you love her, don’t you?”
Seliaryn let out an annoyed huff and continued on his way.
And suddenly she appeared in front of him, “you do, don’t you?”
“Dammit, Am!” Seliaryn growled, “I will hit you if you if you continue this!”
When he tried to step around her, she grabbed his hand, making him turn around, look down at his hand and then up at her. “She’s not mad at you, Seliaryn,” she said, “in fact, she’s looking for you. She wants you back home.”
He hesitated, but pulled his hand away and walked off. “I don’t care what she wants or what anyone wants. Just leave me be.”
“What about your mother!” Am called after him.
He kept walking. “She’s dead.”
“No, you fool!” Am yelled, “she’s not!”
Seliaryn stopped walking.
“She’s alive! She’s just in a deep sleep. You jumped to conclusions… your mother was never dead. All the stress just boiled up and she fell into a deep sleep.”
He turned and looked at her.
“If you’re not going to come home for Meenu or even for yourself… then come home for the sake of your mother. After everything she’s gone through, she needs you by her side, Seliaryn.”
“This is… the truth?”
“Of course it’s the truth!” Am rolled her eyes, “would I lie about something like this?”
He looked at her, feeling happiness for the first time in a while.
His mother was alive.
“She lost her husband, Seliaryn…” she said to him, “the last thing she needs to know is that her son is going insane on his own somewhere.”
Part of him felt like he was going to be getting a second chance… a chance to make things right with his mother.
“Avaryn and his mother are caring for her right now, Seliaryn. I know you hate Avaryn, but he’s doing more for your mother than you are,” Am said, bluntly, “he’s got the best doctors in Raffyre taking care of her… but we both know that your mother would rather wake up and see you than him, or some stranger.”
Seliaryn let out a breath.
“And she’s in the Red Palace right now… she hates that place, you know it.”
She did.
She hated the castle so much.
“Come back and take her home. Take her to where she’s comfortable. Let her wake up and at least think that you were there by her side the entire time.”
Seliaryn took a deep breath and then let it out.
And then he vanished.
But Am didn’t go after him this time around.
Because she knew she had gotten to him.
So she smiled and vanished too.
~~~
As Light had predicted, they were at the village by noon of the next day. The village, much like Lumyryn, had a large wall surrounding it.
Of course, this wall paled in comparison to Lumyryn’s… but it was a wall nonetheless.
As Meenu waited on the horse for Light to get the permission he needed in order to enter the village, she wondered why on earth these places had walls. Lumyryn especially.
Lumyryn was filled with people who were much stronger than a regular human. What did they need a wall for? If anything, it was Raffyre who needed the wall.
And Elenia… did they really feel that they needed protection from their fellow countrymen? Meenu knew for a fact that the wall was not to defend them from the Destynians… the Destynians were known for their peaceful polices. They may not be regular humans but they were peaceful.
So Elenia had to have had a wall in order to protect them from other Raffyrians.
And that just didn’t make sense to Meenu. Amberdyse didn’t have a wall.
It had a gate… but that gate was only guarded at night time and it was easy to get through.
Nothing like this massive wall.
Meenu then thought that Blood would have had the right answer to her question. She thought about Avaryn for a second… and then Light approached her.
“Alright,” Light said as he walked over to Meenu and Heart, “I got us in.”
He tugged at the reins of Meenu’s horse and all of them moved in through the gates.
The gates were guarded with two people. One was a woman, and one was a man… which surprised her.
For some reason she imagined there to be no men in this village… but now that she thought about it, that would make no sense.
Both of them were heavily armored, and to be honest, Meenu would not have recognized the woman to have been a woman if her helmet wasn’t off.
But as soon as the crossed through the gates… Meenu reminded herself of how excited she was.
This was the village that was filled with female warriors.
There was none of the sort anywhere else in the world.
Everywhere else… it was harder for women to become warriors, or knights or anything of the sort. Sometimes it was even impossible.
But here, it was as easy for a woman to become a warrior or knight as it was for a man anywhere else in the world.
However, when they made their way in, she was a little surprised.
The first thing she saw was a normal village.
Men, women, children and elderly… all of them minding their own business doing nothing out of the ordinary.
It was completely normal.
Meenu looked at Heart, who was walking next to her and her horse, “where are the female warriors?”
Heart chuckled, “women who are training to be warriors live in a separate section of this village,” Heart said, “that’s where we’re going.”
Meenu smiled, getting excited.
“But you never know,” he continued, “any woman walking around here could be a warrior.”
She looked back at the bustling village town. There were many women.
Some looked frail and fragile.
Others looked strong and agile.
Some were carrying children in their arms.
And others were not.
These people all looked like they were regular women. Meenu couldn’t believe it.
When they arrived at the section where the training women were, Meenu was shocked yet again.
Just like in the village town, all of the women looked normal.
Some of the younger ones were skipping rope and playing games in their ankle length dresses with their hair tied at the back of their head.
Others were practicing patterns with their swords wearing trousers.
“These are them?” She wasn’t disappointed… not at all.
She had to admit though, she expected more ferocious, exotic looking women with muscular bodies and revealing armor.
But no, she wasn’t disappointed… she was thrilled.
Despite how normal these women looked, they were known for being some of the best warriors in all of Raffyre.
It made Meenu gain some confidence.
“Light.” They all heard.
Meenu, who wasn’t on her horse anymore, turned along with Light and Heart.
Suddenly, the two bowed, so Meenu did too.
When they lifted them up, Meenu saw a gorgeous, tall woman with thick, black hair that fell well past the small of her back. She wore a luxurious blue dress and had a somewhat muscular, fit frame. Something about this woman gave away the fact that she was probably much older than she looked. Maybe she was in her forties... But what gave it away definitely weren’t her looks. She looked like a lovely young woman.
“Lady Kay.” Light said with respect.
“It’s good to see you.” She nodded her head at Heart and Meenu before looking back at Light… and Meenu was mystified by her lovely green eyes. “How is Zaynia?”
Meenu looked over at Light, wondering who Zaynia was.
“Or Life, as you all call her?” Lady Kay smiled as she corrected herself.
Life? Meenu thought. Life was from here? She shouldn’t have been surprised, but she was.
“Life is fine and well,” Light said, “I’m sure she sends her regards.”
“I’m sure she does too.” Lady Kay nodded. And as she did, her eyes fell on Knight. She knelt down and began to pet Meenu’s wolf, not a single bit of fear in her, “so what brings you to my village?”
Light stepped forward and gestured at Meenu, “this is our newest companion, Meenu. Or Ruby, as we call her.”
Lady Kay looked up from the happy wolf and at Meenu, making her feel nervous.
“Meenu, this is Lady Kay, the leader, or mayor, of this village.” Light said to her.
Meenu bowed, “it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“The pleasure is mine,” Lady Kay said with smiling eyes as she stood back up, “I know your name. You are the fiancée of King Avaryn.”
Meenu nodded.
“Quite some trouble you’ve had to deal with, am I right?”
Meenu nodded again.
“She is shy?” Lady Kay asked, looking at Light.
Light chuckled as Meenu blushed slightly. “No, she’s not shy,” Light said, “I think she’s just lost for words. She’s wanted a chance to come here for a long time.”
“Really?” Lady Kay looked at Meenu, who nodded quickly. “And why is that?”
Meenu hesitated, “I… want to be a great warrior one day… and I heard that all the women here are amazing warriors.”
“They are.” Lady Kay nodded proudly, “you must be dying to get a chance to train with them.”
Heart, who had been silent the entire time, probably also mystified by the beauty of Lady Kay, let out a chuckle.
“If that is what you want,” Lady Kay began, “then you are more than welcome to join my girls for their evening training session.”
Meenu scoffed, “really?”
Lady Kay smiled, “I don’t see why not.”
Meenu was thrilled.
“But I’m assuming that you didn’t come all the way here just for that?”
“No,” Light said, “but I was hoping we could discuss the reasons for why we are here in a more private place.”
“So it’s important.”
Light nodded.
Lady Kay did too, “I understand. I’m a little bit busy right now and I want to be able to give you my full attention, so please, join me for dinner as soon as the sun has set. We will discuss it then?”
“Sounds good.”
Lady Kay gave the three warriors and the wolf a light bow, “I will see you three in some time. Please make yourself at home.”
They all bowed, “thank you, Lady Kay.” Light said.
“And you, Sir.” Lady Kay gave Light a calm but at the same time, serious look, “my baby sister has been waiting for your visit for some time. Hurry up and see her. The poor girl misses you.”
Light simply nodded and bowed as Heart and Meenu turned to look at him.
Once Lady Kay had walked away, Heart grabbed Light’s hand. “Vanavy?” Heart said, “Vanavy is from here?”
“Who’s Vanavy?” Meenu asked.
Meenu imagined Light rolling his eyes before turning around and walking off, not answering either of them.
They walked around the training grounds, which surrounded a large home that Meenu assumed was Lady Kay’s. And soon, they were on the other side.
There were a lot of girls here. Younger girls, all of whom were doing some sort of synchronized dance.
And walking around them was a girl who was counting.
Just as the three warriors approached them, the counting stopped and the girl clapped her hands together. “Good job, everyone. Please continue to practice at home,” she said, “that’s all the time we have for today. I will see you soon.”
The crowd of maybe twenty girls soon left the field and the three warriors just waited.
Moments later, the girl who was probably the teacher, turned around.
She looked almost identical to Lady Kay, except younger, and her hair was slightly shorter.
Her face brightened up immediately and a smile grew.
Light walked over to her, removing his mask and holding his arms out.
The girl who was probably Vanavy ran into his arms and hugged him tightly.
Then they kissed.
Meenu looked over at Heart, who was watching in awe. “I never thought I’d get the chance to meet her… not so soon.” He said.
“I didn’t even know Light had a lover.” Meenu said as she looked back at Light and Vanavy.
When their reuniting was complete, Light guided Vanavy over to Meenu and Heart. “Navy, this is my partner Heart,” he said, “and this is Meenu.”
Before Meenu could even say hello, Heart had pulled off his mask and pulled Vanavy into a tight hug.
The shocked Vanavy gasped, but then she chuckled and hugged him back.
Light just let out a sigh.
When Heart pulled away, he took Vanavy’s hands into his, “I’m Heart! It’s a pleasure to finally meet you! I’m basically your brother-in-law!”
Light rolled his eyes as Vanavy laughed. “It’s a pleasure to meet you too,” she had a soft, sweet voice, “Light has told me a lot about you, Heart.”
“He has?” Heart looked thrilled, “good things, right?”
Vanavy laughed, “yes, very good things.”
Heart was grinning, looking absolutely thrilled.
When Vanavy looked at Meenu, Meenu smiled, “it’s nice to meet you, Vanavy.”
She reached out and touched Meenu’s hand, “you are Blood’s lover?”
“There’s a lot you need to be updated on, Navy.” Light said. She probably didn’t know that Blood was no longer just Blood.
“Well of course,” Navy looked up at Light, who was an entire head taller than her, “you’ve left me waiting for so long.”
And Meenu watched as Light apologized to the woman who he clearly loved.
She knew it because she saw a look in Light’s eyes that she’s never seen before.
And her heart skipped a beat.
And then everything started to black out.
She fell forward, right into Vanavy, who gasped as Heart and Light both jumped to grab her and Knight began to whine.
~~~
They had been walking for a very long time. And after a very long time, Lumyryn and Khi finally found an abandoned farmhouse to rest in.
Lumyryn sat down and let out a sigh as Khi sat down in front of him.
He watched as Khi stared down at his hands, a deep frown on his face. “What’s wrong, Khi?” Lumyryn asked.
Khi looked up at Lumyryn, “this is my fault… if I hadn’t gotten involved with your family… none of this would have happened.”
Lumyryn chuckled, “don’t be silly,” he said, “this is not your fault. It would have happened eventually.”
Khi shook his head and Lumyryn stood up. “Trust me, Khi,” he said, “no one blames you for anything. And no one should. You and I are all we’ve got now so let’s not worry about silly things like who’s to blame.”
The young boy just frowned.
Lumyryn messed up Khi’s hair with a small smile on his face, “rest, friend. And let me go grab us something to eat.”
Now Khi looked at Lumyryn, worry in his eyes, “but it’s dangerous!”
“I’ll be fine,” Lumyryn smiled, pulled the hood of his cloak over his head and lifted up his axe, dropping it over his shoulder. “No one would dare confront me with this thing in my hands.”
Khi’s eyes fell on the axe and Lumyryn could see some relief.
“Now rest. I will be right back.”
The boy nodded and finally gave his older friend a smile.
Lumyryn pulled his hood down more so it covered as much of his face as he could. Then, with his axe over his shoulder, he made his way into the nearest village.
It wasn’t abnormal for people to be walking around with large weapons… especially not during these times when the hunt for the red eyes was going on. So people didn’t pay much attention to him.
If they did look at him, it was because of his cloak.
And Lumyryn heard the whispers, the cloak made him look frightening. But that didn’t bother him. If he wanted people to think anything about him it would be that he was scary.
He purchased some fruit and meat from some extremely frightened shop owners with the money that his mother had given him. She had also given him a lot of bread and rice and some other food. But Lumyryn really needed some meat. He knew that he and Khi needed the energy from the meat so that they could keep walking as far as they could.
And as for the fruit… Lumyryn just really loved blueberries.
A lot.
But as he was making his way out of the village and walking back to the abandoned farmhouse, he heard a scream.
Lumyryn stopped walking. He closed his eyes and listened and heard people shouting “red eyes” and “kill them” and “devil baby.”
When he opened his eyes again, he knew he couldn’t just leave.
Leaving the basket of food at the outskirts of the village, he was at the crowd in a second. And they all noticed him instantly.
The men and women turned around immediately to face to hooded man with the axe. A fear overwhelmed them all as they stepped away as far as they could from him.
But that move revealed the red eyed family in the middle of the crowd.
A red eyed man was being held back by three people. A crying red eyed woman was being held back by another two.
But what caught Lumyryn’s attention was the crying red eyed baby that was in the arms of a ferocious looking man.
Without thinking twice, Lumyryn ran for the baby.
No one saw the move. He disappeared for a second and reappeared the next but with the baby in his arms.
The ferocious man stared in shock, not knowing how he had lost the baby. “What the hell–”
Suddenly, some men from the crowd started to shout and began to run towards Lumyryn.
Lumyryn simply swung out his axe with the one arm he was holding it with. And that made the men stop in their tracks.
“None of you can hurt me.” Lumyryn said. “But I can hurt every one of you without breaking a single sweat. So step away from the red eyes, now.”
The men hesitated, but didn’t look like they were going to move.
So Lumyryn sighed.
He turned his head to the man that was closest to him and then tossed the axe at him. The handle of the axe hit him and knocked him to the floor.
Of course, Lumyryn had no intention of hurting anyone. He just wanted to scare them.
And he did.
When the man tried to lift the axe off of him, everyone saw the weight of it. The tremendous weight that the man had to use all his strength to lift, but Lumyryn could wield easily with one hand.
The people panicked and some ran. Shouting started as Lumyryn went to retrieve his axe. But when he pretended to throw it once more, the men let go of the red eyed folk and ran off, tails between their legs.
Without thinking of anything else, the crying woman ran as fast as she could to the stranger holding her baby. “Thank you!” She cried as she took her baby from him.
“Thank you so much,” the man said to Lumyryn as he reached over and took his hand, “you saved us. Thank you.”
“Come with me,” Lumyryn said, “there’s a place where my friend and I are hiding out.”
The couple looked at each other and both of them agreed.
When they arrived at the abandoned farmhouse, Lumyryn had gotten to know a little bit about Sheelah and Marv. The couple were both red eyes and together they had a red eyed baby named Lumynos.
Lumynos. It meant Red King in their language. And Lumyryn liked the sound of that name.
They were passing through the village to get some shelter after escaping from their own village. But when they were spotted, they were stopped.
Lumynos was also red eyed. And because he was the son of two red eyes, the villagers thought he was a demon child.
And they were going to kill him.
Khi was rocking the baby in his arms as the couple continued to thank Lumyryn. He had gotten to a point where he was ignoring them. They had thanked him far too much.
He had cooked the meat and was serving it to all the guest when he looked over at Sheelah.
She was a pretty woman, but the obvious stress had clearly taken a toll on her. Her hair was a very dark brown, almost black and her skin was a tanned shade. She was thin, probably from not being able to eat well for the last while.
Her husband, Marv, was a built man. He had black hair and small eyes and a kind smile. Sheelah seemed to be very dependent on him. Constantly holding his hand whenever she can.
But Lumyryn could see why. They had gone through a lot.
The group stayed in the farmhouse for a few days, and surprisingly enough, they were comfortable.
Lumyryn sensed no trouble… the farmhouse was a far enough distance from the village to keep the villagers away.
But the more and more he thought about it, the more and more he realized what he wanted to do.
He knew there were more like him… more people suffering from being persecuted simply because they were different.
And he wanted to help them.
He wanted to help as many people as he could and then together, they could find a place where they could be safe.
Lumyryn knew that he had some inhumane abilities. It only felt right to use those abilities to help people. People like him. People like Khi and Sheelah and Marv and Lumynos.
And so it was decided.
When the finally left the farmhouse to continue on their journey to find safety with his three new friends, he decided what he was going to do.
Every village they passed… if they came across someone in need, he would help them.
His mother would have been so proud.
Lumyryn left the new hideout and went across the town to scan for anyone in trouble.
They had been resting in this hideout which was close to the Castle Town for the past three days and surprisingly, things were generally very quiet. He actually expected the hunt for red eyes to be worse near the castle.
But today, it wasn't.
Lumyryn hid in an ally and listened as a group of guards spoke about a red eyed girl that was coming to perform for the King.
“I thought he wanted to kill them all. Why would he pay one to perform for him?” One knight asked.
“You fool, it has got to be a trap. He probably is calling her and her group over to capture them and kill them all.” The second knight said, “there’s no way the King would just allow them to get away.”
That was all he needed to hear so Lumyryn pulled down his hood to cover more of his face before he vanished.
“A girl?” Sheelah questioned as she rocked her baby in her arms, “performing?”
Lumyryn nodded. “They’re probably going to kill her.”
Sheelah looked at her husband who shrugged. When she looked back at Lumyryn, she looked worried. “I think I know who she is…”
Lumyryn kept looking at her, waiting for her to continue.
“I've heard of a red eyed girl who dances and sings beautifully. She’s a part of a group of travellers and musicians who perform for money. I heard they’re excellent and that she’s their prized performer.”
“Is she the only red eyes?”
“I don’t know.” Sheelah said, “what I just said is all I know about her.”
Lumyryn nodded. And after a hesitation, he spoke, “I’m going to the castle.”
Sheelah and Marv stared in shock. Even Khi, who was watching the little baby like he always seemed to like to do, turned to stare. “That’s like walking into the lions den!” Marv hissed, “you can’t go there!”
“It’s too dangerous, Lumyryn!” Khi added.
“But this girl… and any other red eyes are in danger. I need to try and help.”
In the short time that Lumyryn had met Marv and Sheelah, the couple had started to care about him deeply. Though they were both only in their thirties, they treated Lumyryn, and even Khi, like their own son. So the thought of him walking right into danger frightened them. Even if they knew he wasn’t exactly normal, even for a red eyes.
“Lumyryn!” Sheelah shook her head, “we understand your wish to help–”
“I’ll see you tonight.”
And before the couple and Khi could try and stop him, he was already gone.
Entering the castle was easy.
Staying out of sight of the guards was easier.
But finding this group of performers was hard.
The castle was large, with a lot of rooms and a lot of halls. Lumyryn didn’t know where to start.
So he had to rely on the voices of the hundreds of people in the castle to guide him. And from what he heard, the performance was to be in the throneroom.
When he arrived, hood over his head, he hid behind the crowd of nobles that circled the makeshift stage in front of the throne.
The king hadn’t arrived. Neither had the performers.
But the wait wasn’t too long.
The performers entered the throne room almost moments after Lumyryn arrived.
He couldn’t see any faces from where he was standing, so he walked around to the left side of the stage, still behind the crowd of people, standing next to a large pillar.
And just as he turned to look back at the stage, the red eyed girl was standing on it.
Before he could get a good look at her, she suddenly bowed low.
Lumyryn turned his head and saw that the King had arrived.
The King walked right to his throne and sat down.
Lumyryn felt himself glare at the middle aged man.
He had a cold expression, even when he smiled. The man had a head of black short hair and a few strands of white hair. But a crown sat on top of it all. He was tall, muscular, and ferocious looking in a sense.
He was the cause of the misery of people like Lumyryn.
And as Lumyryn stared angrily, music began to play.
He looked back at the stage.
The red eyed girl was singing and dancing.
And Lumyryn was lost for words.
Her voice was the most beautiful voice he had ever heard in his entire life. Albeit… he had not heard a lot of singing voices.
And her dance was so graceful that he couldn’t look away, not even to blink.
She had a gentle voice, and as she danced, her long black hair danced too.
And though she was red eyed… though her entrance brought whispers to the crowd, everyone was silenced as they watched her dance.
Minutes passed, and Lumyryn could sense that her performance was coming to an end.
But just as it did, she spun in a circle and her eyes spotted him with ease, despite his attempt to stay hidden.
She froze for a moment as both red eyes stared at each other.
But just as she regained her concentration on her performance, everyone who could see her eyes caught her state.
And before anyone could follow her gaze, Lumyryn disappeared.
He stood outside the throne room and took a couple breaths.
And he waited, for whatever reason, a little mystified.