Chapter 35: Chapter 35

Without a second thought, Shia stepped into the hole she had torn open from the vibrating air. She called over to his majesty, whom she had been dragging all along in her arms, and to Khailis with a voice that no one would probably dare to refuse.

“Let’s go, Langrey! Khailis!” Shia hissed, trying not to look back at the mage, who was calling her incessantly.

To her great relief, the lady and his majesty followed her as she stepped into the hole and into a vast, silent valley. All at once, the hole shut itself up, and in a second, the vibration in the air she had just seen disappeared. They had just completely left Mage Silas behind on the other side of the void.

Shia was still firmly clutching Langrion’s arm and did not realize that her whole body was trembling in fright. She moved closer to his chest and breathed in between fits of anger and sobs.

“Idiot!” She said, “Are you an idiot?! What were you trying to tell him back there?!”

He pulled her gently away and looked down on her red, puffy eyes. She tried to blink away her tears to see his face clearly, but she failed.

“We should have told him the truth.... the truth about The Mark of-”

“There isn’t anything to tell!” Shia said.

“His highness is right, Shia.” Khailis began softly, “we haven’t told anyone yet including the mage about The Mark of the Beast. Perhaps it’s about time -”

“No!” Shia roared, her voice disturbing the serene sound of the flower valley, “Did you hear what he was saying back there? Did you hear what he had instructed me to do just now?”

“We all did,” Langrion said. “Perhaps that is the way our fates are designed.”

“Do you really think so, Langrey? Do you think our fates have to do with all of these?...” By now, Shia had begun to take back the reins on her bursting emotions, but her eyes held a glint of fury.

They didn’t dare answer her, and she had stopped talking altogether. She does have a firm idea in mind though that she is determined to follow. ‘If destinies have something to do with all of these, I have to tear the designs of destiny. I have to find a way to break from what is to come...’

A heavy silence ensued between the three of them, and Shia was reminded of the time when she first saw the Mark of the Beast appear in Langrion’s chest. Suddenly, she remembered something about the image of the tattooed heron in flight.

“Your highness,” she said, “By any chance, does the Mark of the Beast appear randomly in your body, or has it always appeared only in one place?”

Langrion scratched his head. “It had appeared only twice, but it was always in my chest as far as I could remember.”

The lady nodded as well. “Indeed. It had somehow consistently appeared at the left side of Langrey’s chest. Why do you ask?”

“No reason...” Shia said. She wasn’t sure yet of her hunch, but she distinctly remembered seeing the Mark of the Beast on her attacker’s throat, specifically on the right part of his neck. Come to think of it, she had seen a similar tattoo the last time she dreamed of her family’s demise in the desert...

Shia began to open her mouth to say what she had just discovered. However, there was another pressing issue at hand that Khailis started to point out.

“It’s great and all that we have escaped the mage, but, uh, where the hell are we, and how do we go home now?!”

Shia’s eyes widened. “Didn’t you end your conversation with the mage last time like this too? I thought the mage was the one who made the air quiver, so we could exit.”

“What do you mean? What quivering air?” Khailis replied.

“Uh, I saw something trembling in the air back there, so I pulled it open. I thought it was the mage who did that...”

“Well, we’re really not sure.” Langrion replied. “The mage was always the one who ended our meetings before, and he made sure to bring us back to a safe place just within Sensala... Since you brought us here in a hurry, we won’t be able to ask the mage where we are exactly...”

“So what do we do now?! How do we get home?!” Khailis said, tugging at the ends of her auburn locks in a total state of panic.

As if by cue, the three of them suddenly heard the footfall of hooves and the rattle of a cart. They looked around and saw a hay cart driving past the valley, on the dirt way.

The cart was driven by a man in a large, reed hat that obscured most of his face. The three of them walked towards it to ask for help.

“Uh, excuse me!” Lady Khailis exclaimed loud enough so that the driver could hear her.

Suddenly, the man – or rather the boy, who looked about one or two years younger than Shia - lifted his hat, and he grinned wildly.

“Khailis!” he said excitedly. His accent was odd, and the way he spoke Khailis’ name (he said ‘Kay-leez’ instead of ‘Kaye-lis’) sounded pleasantly exotic.

At the sight of the boy’s face, Khailis’ expression also lit up in excitement.

“Gavil!” The lady scampered towards the side nearest to the driver. “It’s so nice to see you! What are you doing out here?”

“Master sent me to get some hay from Ylann. How come you are here outside of town? Did you go to Ylann too?” The boy asked. His tanned skin and deep set eyes matched the yellow, rolling fields of marigold quite well. Only his accent made him feel like he was not actually from these parts of town.

“Uh, it’s a pretty long story,” Khailis said, laughing nervously as her cheeks turned red.

Shia and Langrion looked at each other in surprise. It was positively the first time that Shia had seen the dignified Imperial Guard, who even aimed a sword at Lord Fincher’s face once, giggle and blush in front of someone from the opposite sex.

“Do you know him?” Shia whispered to Langrey.

“It’s the first time I have seen him, but the name is familiar” Langrion replied back in another whisper. “Gavil – that’s the name of Khailis’ old pet cat. She kept on insisting that there was an actually person of such name, but it’s the first time I have seen him in the flesh. I actually thought Khailis was pulling my leg back then...”

“Oh, I thought it was because you missed me...” Gavil said, lowering his gaze to the ground as if slightly disappointed.

“Uh, yeah... I did miss you, but this was totally unplanned...” Khailis replied, blushing even further.

An air of apparent attractiveness seemed to linger around as the two – Gavil and Lady Khailis – began exchanging silent gazes directed towards each other. It was only Langrion who broke the awkward glances by coughing loudly.

“Care to introduce us to your... friend, Lady Khailis?” he said, scrutinizing the man in the cart from head to foot.

“Oh, right! I almost forgot!” Khailis said “This is Prince Langrey; you already know him, and this one here is Shia, his betrothed!”

“Prince Langrey, you are to be wedded! Congratulations!” The man said, grinning more positively than ever. Langrion’s eyebrows shot in the air.

“Thanks. It sounds like you know me, but do I know you?”

“Oh, yeah! We have met before. Did you already forget? You bandaged my arm when I was attacked back then...”

“I did?” Langrion asked looking exasperated.

“Yeah, a big eagle attacked me, and you bandaged my arm because Khailis was crying so much.”

“Uh, I don’t really remember doing that to a person... I think I had only done that to a cat...” Langrion’s eyes slinked back in suspicion.

Lady Khailis immediately interrupted their talk. “Gavil, will you be kind enough to drive us back into town, at the Littman Manor?”

“Definitely, Khailis. It will be my pleasure,” the boy said in reply. “Hop on!”

Langrion was about to board the seat next to Gavil, but Khailis shook her head disapprovingly. “Sorry, your highness, but I’m afraid that’s my seat. Besides, you two look suspicious when you were in the carriage earlier. She definitely seemed apprehensive about being alone with you. Did you do anything to her?”

“O-of course... not,” Langrion said as he tried to decipher whether or not Shia had already told her what transpired that morning.

“Good! Now is the perfect time for you to talk about it, don’t you think?” She started signalling towards Shia who was about to climb at the back of the wagon.

Shia’s face colored up immediately when she and Langrey made eye contact.

“Fine,” the prince muttered. “But I don’t trust this friend of yours... I haven’t seen him my whole life, but he acts like he knows me already.”

“Oh, but he does know you,” Khailis replied. “Didn’t you like rubbing his belly when you were younger?”

Positive now that Khailis was alluding to her pet cat and making fun of him, Langrion reluctantly climbed at the back part of the hay wagon next to Shia, who had already seated herself comfortably amongst the stash of dried grass.

The front end on the wagon was filled with so much cheerful energy as Khailis and Gavil chatted the whole time during that mid-morning ride. However, it was the opposite at the back end of the cart where Langrion and Shia silently eyed and avoided each other’s gazes.

Unable to stand Shia’s side glances anymore, it was Langrion who spoke first.

“Earlier at the bed chamber.... I’m sorry...”

“I’m sorry too,” Shia replied after a while. She couldn’t bear to look at Langrion’s eyes, remembering vividly what had transpired at the bed room that day. At the very least, however, she was able to find the courage to speak to him despite her nervousness. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about your ring. I had meant to tell you about it at the woods, but it had totally slipped my mind after... you know...”

The prince moved closer to her. Her muscle tensed up, but she forced herself not to move away from him. She couldn’t avoid being close to him like this forever, right?

Despite the nervousness of her frame and her seemingly rigid form, he began to rest his head on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry. You had been through a lot since yesterday... I should have understood you better.”

“Yes... You did owe me back there for being angry and not hearing me out first,” Shia finally said. Despite the drowning beat of her heart and the rising heat in her face, she couldn’t help but feel fuzzy when she was as close as this with Langrion. “You owe me back in there, so you must promise me one thing.”

“What is that?” he asked.

“Promise me you won’t die. I will find a way to break your curse and steer my own destiny, but you can’t die,” she said. “You cannot die until I allow it.”