Never in her life had Enya felt so excited as she and Corvus hurried up the trail, keeping their eyes on the tracks as they pressed on to the cave Enya had spotted earlier. She was finally going to see her brothers and her friend again after so many days of worrying for their safety, and hoped they and their animal companions were alright.
"Almost there Corvus! Just a little ways ahead!" She yelled as the cave was getting closer. The dirt trail had ended, now turning to one made of stone, but that didn't stop Enya from moving forward.
"Hang on, let me go first." Corvus said stopping her from moving forward. "Just in case the path gets too narrow for us or if a part of it broke off during the rain."
Enya allowed him to go first and trailed behind him. As the two moved on, her mind wandered to Soren and Claudia, wondering if they were alright. As angry as she was with them earlier in the week, she couldn't help but feel worried something happened to one of them during the fight with the dragon.
"Don't worry, I'm sure they're fine." Corvus assured her, as if he knew what she was thinking. "I don't know them as well as you do, but I'm quite sure neither Soren or Claudia are dead."
"I know I shouldn't worry about them, but I can't help it!" Enya groaned and covered her face in embarrassment. "They're my closest friends, and they were all I had when I thought I lost my father, Callum and Ezran! They were there for me, especially Soren when they saw how upset I was!"
Corvus gave a small shrug. "Alright I see your point, but I've noticed some things going on between the two of you ever since we both got captured, like how he always had you at his side all the time we were tied up, and when the dragon attacked the battle tower he tried to shield you."
"He's always been protective of me, that's just how he's always been." Enya pointed out. "Like one time at a festival some drunk tried hitting on me and when I refused his advances he got mad and tried to hurt me, but Soren got to me first and got me somewhere safe while Claudia distracted the man by setting his pants on fire."
"Has been been acting...strange lately?"
"This is Soren we're talking about, he's often acting strange. Though... when we were younger when it's just the two of us alone he used to get all shy and nervous around me, though when we got older he kind of stopped being so shy around me for a bit."
"Has he tried... kissing you? At some point?"
Enya gagged. "Eww no! He's never tried to kiss me! One time when we were about twelve someone dared him to but he ran off screaming he couldn't do it." Enya then frowned and looked at Corvus. "What are you even trying to say Corvus?"
"Well I'm trying to state the obvious." The huntsman replied and stopped to look at her. "I think your little Crownguard friend is in love with you, it's kind of a bit obvious."
"Soren? In love with me?" Enya asked and gave a small scoff. "Th-that's ridiculous, why would he be in love with me of all people?"
"Well why not? You've got a great personality, you're also good looking, you've got an honest job, you're a really sweet girl, anyone would be happy to date you!" Corvus explained. "How could you not see that the guy is head over heels for you?"
Enya thought back to all those times Soren did something for her. Like trying to protect her at a festival, finding her Amaya to give to her as a birthday present, trying so hard to apologize to her when he hurt her feelings, going out of his way to help her find her father when he went missing, carrying her back to her room when she fell asleep out in Lujanne's garden or when she fainted after hearing her brothers and father were dead and then to that one morning when he stood outside the room she was sharing with her brothers and their friends with flowers in his hands. And then to last night when he pulled her to the side to protect her from the dragon's fire and cutting her free so she could help Corvus save the town. Did he do that for her because she was his friend? Or was there more to that?
"You're blushing~!" Corvus sang in a sing-song tone, interrupting Enya from her through.
"I am not!" She exclaimed and swatted his arm. "Don't lie!"
"You're as red as as a strawberry right now!" Corvus laughed as he attempted to dodge another swat thrown at him. "Hey hey careful, you're going to knock me off the side of the mountain!"
"Ugh just hush up and keep walking!" Enya huffed and folded her arms over her chest before storming past Corvus.
"Yep, you definitely found yourself a keeper Soren." The huntsman chuckled softly to himself before following her.
They continued to walk in silence up the trail until Enya could see the cave at the other end. She hurried forward, hoping the three kids were alright when she saw Rayla and Ezran kneeling over Callum.
"Guys! You're okay!" Enya called out. Both Ezran and Rayla lifted their heads to see her and Ezran gave out a cry of relief before rushing over to hug her.
"Enya! You're okay!" Ezran cried as he hugged her tightly. "Callum's hurt!"
"What?! What did he do?" Enya asked in worry and looked over at the passed out teen. His skin was very pale now, and he was sweating up a storm like he was feverish and dark circles were under his eyes.
"This idiot did dark magic, that's what he did!" Rayla replied as she wiped the sweat off Callum's brow. "I can't believe he did that!"
"Dark magic? How did he even do that?" Enya asked as she and Ezran walked back over to Callum to kneel down next to him. "Oh Callum what did you do?"
"That red dragon that was flying over the town nearby, it got hit by a ballista and crashed in the woods, Soren and Claudia were gonna cut her up and use her for dark magic." Rayla explained. "I tried to cut her free, but they had chained her down and Callum stole some dark magic book from Claudia and did some kind of spell to turn the chains into snakes."
"And then the dragon got free and starting fighting with Soren, but she hit him with her tail and he crashed into a rock." Ezran added. "Zym left the cave to stopped her from finishing off Soren, he's okay but...I think he's badly injured."
Enya felt panic rise in her chest, the same sort of panic she felt when she found out her brothers were missing. "How bad?"
"He...he said he couldn't move."
No...no no no that couldn't be true. First she finds Callum in a comma from using dark magic and now she just finds out her friend fought a dragon and survived, but was probably unable to move.
"I think they took him back to the town." Ezran added, as if reading Enya's mind. "You can go to see for yourself."
"You two stay here, I'll be back as soon as I can." Enya said rising to her feet and looks to Rayla. "I trust you again to look after my brothers."
"Just be careful." Rayla replied and gave her a nod. "We're not going anywhere, not with Callum like this."
"I'll be back, I promise." And with that, Enya took off.
⚔️⚔️⚔️
"Can I get some water, please?" Soren asked the nurse who was busy adjusting his pillows. "I'm feeling a bit thirsty."
"Of course." The nurse said and grabbed a cup from the small table that was set next to Soren's bed and a jug to pour some water into it and pressed it to his lips. "Open up now."
Soren did as he was told and took a few sips before emptying the cup and thanking the nurse before he walked back to tend to other patients. He felt terrible now, people were calling him a hero for saving the town but all he had done for them was bring the danger he apparently saved them from. And to make matters worse, this place was Enya's old hometown, the one he heard her tell Corvus about when they were traveling. At this point she probably hated him by now for endangering a lot of innocent people, but he hoped that she was okay and found the princes, and hopefully took them far away somewhere with Corvus and the elf assassin.
As his mind began to wander, Soren heard someone say "Oh hello there, where did you come from- no no you can't come in!" and the small pitter patter of feet and something sniffing around. He then heard a joyous bark and something scampering towards his curtained off area before a family black and white fluffy head poked through the curtains.
"Amaya!" Soren exclaimed as the dog scampered into the room, her fur all matted and muddy with twigs sticking out of it and barking at the top of her lungs before jumping on the bed to lick his face. "Hey hey! What are you doing here so far from Katolis?" Soren laughed as he tried turning his head to avoid her licking his mouth or nose.
"Someone get that dog off the patient!" The doctor yelled as two nurses ran in. Amaya growled loudly and turned to stand protectively over Soren.
"It's alright, she's a friend!" He assured them and looked to Amaya. "Amaya, sit!"
Amaya did as she was told, but instead of jumping to the floor she just sat right down on top of his chest the way she used to do as a puppy. Normally Soren would have grunted from the heavy weight of the dog but he couldn't even feel it, or her fluffy tail brushing against his bare arm.
"Well she needs to be outside, it's not sanitary." The doctor stated as she reached for Amaya, but jerked her hand away when the sheep dog growled again.
"It's okay, and I don't think she will be leaving me alone, might try sneaking in if you kicked her out." Soren assured the doctor. "Plus I could use the company, and uh... she's my dog."
The doctor gave him a doubtful look before nodding and motioning for the nurses to follow her out.
"You really are a lot of trouble aren't ya?" Soren asked as Amaya turned to give him her happy smile. She lowered her head to his hand and licked it, hoping he would raise it to give her a scratch or pat on her head. "Sorry girl, I can't give you pats or scratches anymore. I can't move anymore."
Amaya gave a small whine, very confused to why she wasn't getting her head pats or scratches. She nudged Soren's hand again before gently nibbling on it, getting no reaction from him. She gave another whine as her ears dropped and flopped right down at his side, seeming to understand he couldn't feel any sort of pain and couldn't move either.
"Aww it's okay girl, at least I can't do anything bad now that I'm like this." Soren assured her. Amaya raised her head slightly and whined before snuggling down closer to him. "I just hope Enya is okay."
At the sound of her owner's name, Amaya perked up and wagged her tail happily. Soren chuckled at the sight and wished he could at least move his arm to try and pull those twigs sticking out of Amaya's fur that were now starting to bother him.
"Gosh Amaya, I really messed up this time. And I bet by now Enya hates my guts for causing all this mess, I guess I deserved it." Soren sighed as Amaya lifted her head slightly to listen. "And that really sucks because I really like her, a lot more than a friend, but I don't think we can be more than that. I thought that childish crush I had on here when we were little would go away, but it never did, it just...grew? There are just so many times I wanted to tell her how I felt, but it never felt right and now I think I messed up my chances of telling her that...I love her."
"Miss you can't be in here!" Soren heard one of the nurses yell. Did Claudia just come back?"
"Marcus so help me if you don't let me in I will throw you out this door myself!" Okay that definitely was not his sister, but Soren now knew it was a different dark haired girl he knew.
"Wait how do you know my- miss wait!" The curtain was yanked back to reveal Enya, mud covering her knees and boots, her hair disheveled and some of it hanging out of the braid she had kept it in, and some soot that was smeared on her forehead and cheeks.
"Oh wow you look like a mess." Soren commented as Amaya barked excitedly and leapt off Soren to go greet her human.
"Amay- whoa!" Enya was knocked right off her feet and hit the ground with the dog happily licking her face and wagging her tail excitedly. "Hey hey calm down! Calm down you silly dog!"
"Good to see you to, you're still in one piece!" Soren called from the bed, lifting his head slightly to see her.
"Oh my gosh I can feel your ribs! You haven't eaten anything!" Enya gasped with her hands around her dog's stomach. "When did you last eat?!"
"I guess it's been a while?" Soren suggested. "Also glad to see you are still alive."
"I'm not dead Soren." Enya muttered as she got to her feet and walked over to the bed. "Ah...Ezran told me what happened and...I had to come, I just had to."
"Hey no worries, I could use the visitors since Claudia got kicked out of here for being loud and the nurses hardly even talk." Soren assured her and gave her a smile. "The good news is that I'm still alive and can still talk!"
"Miss you are in a hospital full of sick patients!" The nurse from earlier scolded as he entered the room. "Also you're filthy!"
"Well geez I didn't have time to wash up, I was busy running through a town trying to help put out fires and running through the woods just to get here, Marcus." Enya retorted and gave the nurse a look. "Funny how you were the one kid who would always come home dirty and complained about baths."
"Oh you two know each other?" Soren asked and the nurse scowled.
"No I do not know this girl." He responded and pointed to the curtains. "If you want to be in here, at least go wash your face and hands."
Enya rolled her eyes before stepping out to do as she was told. A few minutes later she re-entered the room with her hands and face clean and her hair unbraided. Soren couldn't remember when was the last time he'd seen her with her hair loose like that, since she often had it pulled back from her face in a ponytail or in a small bun or most of it pulled back to keep it out of her face and the rest was loose.
"So you finally came around to visiting me?" He asked as Enya grabbed a stool to sit next to the bed.
"After Ezran told me what happened, and I got so worried I literally ran all the way here." Enya responded as Amaya sat herself down next to the stool. "You know, next time you see Zym you should thank him. Despite the fact that you and your sister tried to kidnap him he held no grudges against you and stopped the bigger dragon from killing you."
"If it did Claudia would be devastated."
"So would I." Soren looked over at Enya in surprise, seeing her looking upset. "If Zym hadn't stopped her in time you wouldn't be here, and neither would I. You saw how depressed I got when I thought Callum, Ezran and my father were killed, I would have gotten like that again if you died."
It hurt Soren's heart to see her looking upset and badly wanted to comfort her with more than just words. The last time he comforted her was with a hug, but now he couldn't even do that anymore. As glad as he was that he couldn't hurt anyone, he wished he could still move to be able to hug Enya, because now she looked ready to burst into tears.
"You know, you were right about me trying to hurt the princes." He mumbled and Enya looked at him in surprise. "Before we left to find them, my dad told me to return with the news that they were dead, meaning he wanted me to kill them when Claudia and I found them. I knew it was wrong, it felt very wrong Enya, but I didn't want to disobey my dad and disappoint him. I've always disappointed him, and I'm always doing everything I can to make him proud and see him actually smile at me in pride the way he does with my sister."
By now Soren was already feeling the tears coming in, but he didn't care, he had to tell Enya at least. He heard a creak and saw her leaning forward to gently brush away a stray tear that was running down his cheek.
"Your dad is so blind to not see that he has a good son like you, he should be proud. At least your mom sounded proud in the letter she sent after hearing you became a part of the Crownguard, and both Claudia and I were so proud too." Enya murmured as she gently moved her hand to place it on Soren's cheek and gave him small smile. "Youngest member of the Crownguard, that would definitely go down in history that should never be forgotten."
"You even sewed my cape too." Soren said with a small laugh. Two days after I told you guys the news you gave it to me and I never took it off unless I was sparring."
"Yeah and one time you tried to cover me with it when we got caught in the rain that suddenly dropped down on us, after that you got so sick Claudia and I had to nurse you back to health." Enya added, cracking a slightly bigger smile. Amaya whined and stood up to place her chin on the mattress and stood up a bit to lick Soren's face. "Don't ever forget that there are more people than your father who care and are proud of you, including me."
Those words made Soren's heart flutter slightly and felt himself blush slightly as well. Enya's smile dissolved in a worried look and quickly pressed her hand to his forehead.
"Oh gosh you're so red! I think you've got a fever!" She gasped and Soren felt his face grow red with embarrassment. "Oh oh doctor! I think he came down with a fever!"
"It's not a fever!" Soren groaned as the nurses and doctor rushed in and shooed Amaya away from the bed. "It's not a fever I swear!"
"Your face went red and you felt much warmer than usual!" Enya pointed out as the doctor examined Soren carefully.
"It's not a fever, don't worry." The doctor assured her. "But if you're going to be yelling and disturbing the patient's I'm afraid you'll have to leave."
"Sorry, I just got a bit worried." Enya apologized and rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment. "Actually I think I should go, just so Soren can get some rest."
No, no please don't leave yet. Soren pleaded silently as Enya walked back into his area. Not yet please!
"Listen, I've got to head back to the others. Callum is in a coma and I don't want to leave him alone for so long." Enya said as she moved the stool back where it was originally.
"Isn't Rayla with him and Ezran?" Soren asked, hoping she could stay a bit longer. "I'm sure they'd be fine."
"I left them with Corvus, and the last time those two were alone they fought." Enya replied and shook her head. "I have to make sure they don't fight each other, and I have to check on Ezran, Bait and Zym as well."
"Oh...okay then..." Soren said and tried not to sound too disappointed. "It's just...kind of lonely and boring in here."
"I'll be back later, don't worry." Enya assured him and stepped close to the bed to place a hand on his cheek. "I'll come back and stay with you Soren, until your sister is allowed back in the hospital." Her hand felt warm against his cheek, he could feel how calloused they were from playing in the woods as a child and gripping knives, and her fingers were worn and calloused as well from her years of gripping needles and poking herself with them by accident.
"Please come back." He mumbled and she gave him a smile before she called for Amaya and started to walk out. He should tell her now, before she left. He didn't know how long it'd be before she came back and he wanted to get it off his chest. "Wait, Enya?"
Enya stopped at the curtain and turned to look at him. "Yeah?"
Tell her now, it's just three simple words! Just say "I love you" already!" One part of Soren's mind screamed. No not yet, it's not the right time now! Another part of his brain yelled, overpowering the first. There will be another time that's more appropriate!
"I...I hope Callum gets better." Soren finally said and grimaced slightly. Okay that definitely was not what he wanted to say, but he knew there would at least be another time. And he did hope the young prince got better, dark magic was not something to be played with if you had no training in it."Try to be careful, please."
"I'll be careful, don't worry." Enya assured him, and gave him another smile before passing through the curtain.
All was quiet in the hospital, and Soren hated the quiet. He knew everyone had to be quiet because some other patients were trying to sleep, but aside from the soft footsteps of the doctor and nurses, the small or very loud coughs from one of the patients, he wished there was at least some more noise like maybe some relaxing music or something like that. As he was going to drift off to sleep in hopes that time would pass, Soren heard the door of the hospital swing open with a loud bang like someone kicked it open, and the panicked shouts of the doctor and nurses along with the sound of something crackling followed before Claudia practically stormed into the room. His sister's eyes were glowing a bright purple as lighting flew out of her hands while her hair flew around her face. Normally Soren was used to his sister running into the room while doing magic to show him a new spell she learned, but for the first time in his life he felt scared seeing her like that.
And before he could even register what was happening, Soren felt a jolting pain that coursed through his body as his sister zapped him with the lightning. Soren emitted loud scream as his sister continued to strike him with the magic until she collapsed to the floor and he fell back on the bed with a painful thud.
"Owww...oh gosh that really hurt..." Soren groaned before gasping. "Wait I can feel again! I can move!" He eagerly sat up and grabbed his feet, happily wiggling his toes and exclaimed happily. "I forgot how much I loved wiggling my toes! And I can feel my thighs too! And my ribs- oh I think I broke my ribs!"
Soren fell back on the bed, now having mixed feelings about being able to move again. As happy as he was to feel like he could move and could feel pain now, he did not like the pain. He heard panting and looked over at his sister, who was kneeling on the floor and breathing heavily like she just ran without stopping.
"Uh Claudia? Are you okay?" He asked, wondering if he should try getting off the bed to go help his sister. Claudia lifted her head, her eyes now black and a white streak was now in her hair as she gave him a tired smile.
"You're all better now, that's all that matters." She said as her eyes returned to normal. "And...we can go home."
"Oh but...Enya said she was coming back." Soren replied, remembering what Enya told him. "Oh and you'll never guess who came to see me!"
"Well I'm guessing Enya?" Claudia asked as she tried to get to her feet. Seeing that she had no strength to pull herself up off the floor, she carefully crawled to the bed and leaned against it.
"Well yes, but someone else came too."
"Who was it?"
"Amaya!" Claudia turned to give her brother a confused look. She knew which Amaya he was probably talking about, but she was very confused to how the dog got all the way from Katolis to this town near the border.
"Uh...how did she get here?" She asked slowly as Soren tried to sit up so he was leaning against the headboard of the hospital bed.
"I guess she followed Enya's scent?" He replied and winced as he felt the pain from his ribs. "Oh and Enya came to see me, Ezran told her what happened and she came as quickly as she could."
"I guess she kept you company while I was gone looking for a cure for you?"
"Yes, and when she left I... tried to say something I really wanted to say but I couldn't."
"Let me guess, it was something you were sure was going to hurt your friendship with her."
Soren nodded. "I was going to say...I...love you."
Claudia's head whipped around so fast Soren was sure it was going to snap off her neck. "Wait you're in love with my best friend?!"
"Shhhhh!" They heard someone hiss and Claudia quickly lowered her voice.
"Why are you in love with my best friend?!"
"Am I not allowed to?" Soren asked in a low voice. "She's my friend too Claudia."
"I have mixed feelings about this, like a lot of mixed feelings." Claudia muttered. "The other day Enya said no one probably even liked her, and I told her that was crazy because who wouldn't like her? It's great that you have feelings for someone you actually know well, but are you sure you're in love with Enya?"
"Well of course! Ever since I was thirteen I realized I was in love with her!" Soren scoffed. "My heart starts pounding or fluttering in my chest when we touch, I get nervous and stutter sometimes when we talk, and I care about her very much! I may not know some things Claudia, but I do know that I am in love with her."
"Well that explains why you were acting jealous around her when Corvus was tied up with her!" Claudia snorted and gave her brother a weary smile. "Look I'm happy that you are in love with someone who deserves it, but what are you going to do if Enya doesn't like you that way? She loves you as a friend, and what if she doesn't want that to change?"
"Maybe she is attracted to me but she doesn't know it yet?" Soren suggested and gave a small shrug. "But if she doesn't like me the way I like her and doesn't want things to change between us, that's fine I'll respect her choice. I'm not going to be like those guys who get mad and do bad things to the person who rejects them."
Claudia moved closer to the bed to take her brother's hand and gave it a small squeeze. "I'm glad to hear that, but I hope she doesn't break your heart if she tells you she doesn't love you the way you love her."
Soren smiled and gave his sister's hand a squeeze in return. "I'm sure I can handle it, but first I gotta build up the courage to tell her three words I thought were so simple to say."