Never Let You Fall (The Prophecy of Tyalbrook) (24 page)

“Fine!” Selene shouted out at last. “Fine. Get the hell off of me, though.”

Xander eyed her warily.

“I’m not going to hurt her, Xander! I’m not stupid. If you didn’t kill me right away Rioden would; his loyalty is to her, not me.”

I couldn’t help but note the sadness in her tone. Was she upset that Rioden would choose me over her? Yes, it seemed like she was. I made a mental note to be watchful of her from then on.

After a few tense moments, Xander finally pulled himself off of Selene and helped her into a sitting position. He still gripped his dagger, but no longer had it pointed at her.

“Tell us the plan and how Rioden came up with it,” he urged.

Selene took a deep breath and looked at me first. “Skye, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything against you with my laughter, nor was I planning to hurt you. Please know that I am now, and have always been, loyal to you.”

I hesitated for a moment and then nodded my head in acceptance of her apology.

“Answers, Selene!” Xander snapped out impatiently.

Dang! He was so hot when he took charge! In the moments since he had risen up against Selene, I’d seen a new side of Xander. This was my Guardian in full force, much like he had been back in Freedom Park when I was being attacked by the Semvon. This was the take charge, I-will-keep-you-safe guy. I really liked this guy!

“Alright! Rioden has used this portal several times over the last two years. Once you’d located Skye, he began to plan out our return home.” Her confession caused Xander to clench his fists. He started to speak, but Selene held up her hand.

“Let me just tell you what I know before you yell at me again. After your parents were killed and Skye had been settled in the group home, I left the two of you and went into the mountains where I could hide and wait for the day when we would all go home. I didn’t see Rioden for almost eight years. Then one day out of the blue, he just showed up. He said that you guys had finally located Skye, and he thought that it was time to put the return plan into place. He came to the cabin and informed me that he would need to use the portal to scout out Tyalbrook.”

Selene looked beseechingly at Xander and continued, “You have to remember that the Kingdom was already a very different place at the time he left, a full five years after you had. When he finally came to see me, it had been eight more years. He was worried about the condition of the Kingdom for our return.”

“I don’t know all of the details of what he did when he took trips there, but I do know that he searched out old allies and began to put together a secret army that could rise up in the Princess’s name when the time came.”

“This I can tell you, Xander: Rioden is true to the cause. He wants nothing more than to kill McClintock and replace him on the throne with Skye. Tyalbrook is his home, and he wants to see it go back to the way it was.”

“He came back and didn’t tell me?” questioned Xander so softly I almost didn’t hear him.

“Yes. He didn’t want to worry you. He knew how pained you were with what had happened with Skye, and he didn’t want you to be concerned about him. Plus, he didn’t want you to try to argue the logic of snatching Skye and returning home right away.”

“Damn him! He knew how badly I wanted to grab her and come back here! Of course he kept it secret - you’re right. I can’t believe he didn’t tell me, though, at least in the past few days. Especially once it became apparent that we were going to have to run.”

I finally butted in on that comment. “I don’t think he had time, Xander! The past few days have been a blur for all of us. I think he was trying to keep us safe in that dimension for as long as he could.”

“Yes. Skye is correct. Rioden has been very worried about keeping you both safe. Initially this is going to be a dangerous place for you, Xander. Once we start this war we can’t un-start it. The enemy will stop at nothing to bring you down.”

I couldn’t help the question that her last comment elicited from me. “Why? Why is it more dangerous for him?”

Xander ran his fingers through his hair as he answered for her. “Because I’m your Guardian. Once McClintock sees the bond we share, he’ll want me out of the picture because he’s going to know that I’ll stop at
nothing
to protect you.”

“But he doesn’t know about you yet, right?”

“No, not that I know of. Rioden told me once that no one knew when you disappeared that you had gone with my parents and me. I think they thought that we had just ran away.”

“Then we hide you!” I answered, as if I had solved all of the world’s problems with one magical answer.

Xander looked at me like I was crazy. “Hide me? You want to explain that logic, hun?”

“Don’t act like
I’m
the crazy one! We need to hide you - hide who you are to me. Nobody needs to know! I won’t risk you getting hurt, Xander.”

“She has a point,” Selene agreed from her spot on the ground. “We were going to try to keep her identity secret for a while, but once we reveal it, we don’t have to say that the two of you are connected. You can just be the guy who brought her back - no connections, no
feelings.”

“You emphasized the ‘feelings’ part, Selene,” I remarked as I strolled to her side and extended my hand to help her up. “You’re right, though. Seems to me that we need to pretend to just be two people who happened to meet Xander. We can’t betray any feelings, or any other connection.”

Selene thanked me for helping her and then offered her hand to Xander. “Look – I know this is stressful. I’m sorry for all the secrets, but I swore to Rioden that I wouldn’t tell you anything I didn’t have to. Let’s hope that he meets up with us soon and he can fill us in on everything else.”

Still scowling slightly, Xander shook Selene’s hand but warned her in deep voice, “We’re trusting you because Ri did, but I’m telling you, Selene - if I sense that you mean any harm to Skye, I swear…”

“She doesn’t,” I hastily jumped in to keep the peace again. “Xander, it was all a big misunderstanding. Let’s get moving – southeast, right?”

Selene nodded to me again and started off in the right direction, leaving Xander and I to either follow or be left behind.

Picking up the satchel he had tossed to the ground while arguing with Selene, Xander waited for me to reach his side before pulling me back to whisper in my ear.

“Don’t allow yourself to be alone with her, okay?”

Hearing his concern only ratcheted up my own thoughts that perhaps she wasn’t ‘all in’ where I was concerned.

“I think perhaps she’s just bitter. Could you blame her?”

“Bitter? What makes you think that?”

“Just like you and Rioden, she lost her life too. She lost her mother, she left her world behind, and it sounds to me like she feels she’s had to share her lover with me.”

“What the… lover? What are you talking about?” he sputtered; his eyes popping out of his head. His expression reminded me of a Loony Tunes character.

I tried not to laugh as I replayed my comment in my head and took in how he must have heard it.

“God, no! I meant that I’m pretty sure she and Rioden are an ‘item’, and it sounded like she was a just a little bit mad that he had clearly put my safety above his relationship with her. She seemed jealous.”

“You think?” Xander acknowledged my logic. “That makes me even more wary of her, then.”

“Why is that?”

“Well, if she
is
jealous, then she might be quick to be rid of you. Let’s just keep an eye on her, okay?”

“Okay, I will.”

I’d just started after Selene when Xander caught up and grabbed me again. “Hey, by the way,” he spoke softly, his voice as light as a caress. “I didn’t lose my life, Skye.”

“Well it was certainly cha-”

“Shhh,” he lifted his hand to cover my mouth. “I lost my parents Skye, not my life.
You
are my life.”

NINETEEN - PRACTICING MAGIC

Xander

If there was one thing I couldn’t deny it was this: the closer we got to returning Skye to her throne, the more I tended to declare my love for her. I was scared to death! Scared I would have to let her go, and scared I would have to stand on the sidelines to protect not only her, but also the man she chose to sit at her side.

I saw tenderness flare in her eyes at my words. In order to keep Skye from making a scene, I chose to grasp her hand and pull her along instead of letting her speak.

“Hurry! We need to catch up with Selene and make some headway before dark.”

Her face was a mask of confusion at my preemptive strike to delay additional conversations about love. I cursed at myself for my actions. I just couldn’t stand to hear her speak of the past as if everything had been her fault.

No matter what my reasoning had initially been for declaring my undying love for her, it just wasn’t reasonable. She was still royalty; the one who must save the Kingdom. I was still just a Guardian; one who wasn’t even truly raised in Tyalbrook under Guardian leadership.

I’d decided that keeping a slight distance behind Selene made me more comfortable, so we trudged on through the dense bushes and trees with our eyes on her back.

“If you had been raised here in Tyalbrook, what would your life have looked like?” Skye asked, after an hour of quiet walking and nondescript chit-chat.

“Well I would have been lucky, since my parents were the personal Guardians to your parents. That meant we would have been able to live in the Castle. Generally speaking, all children of Guardians are schooled from a young age in their duties. They’re trained extensively about the importance of their jobs, and work daily on their sensing skills.”

Xander continued, “These are all things that my father did for me at home, before he died. Rioden took over after that. So, I guess my life wouldn’t have been so different, except I would have had more kids around me going through the same thing.”

Skye pulled a water bottle from her bag and took a swig. “Do you think that your father and Rioden trained you as fully as you would have been trained here?”

“Absolutely! My dad was amazing. We would play swords in the back yard all the time, and the things he could do…he was just unbelievable. Ri, on the other hand, is just scary.” I chuckled, knowing that she felt just a little intimidated by him herself.

I had no doubt that I had been trained to be the best Guardian I could possibly be. The only thing I lacked was experience at being around magic and demons, other than the Semvon. The more you could be near them, the better your senses became. Those heightened senses led to a better lead time when you were under attack.

That gave me an idea. “Hey Selene,” I called out, as I jogged to catch up with her.

“Could you do me a favor? Will you shoot some different spells out along the path as we go? I want to see if I can sense them. I need to try to strengthen my senses for magical elements.”

She smiled wistfully at me. “I used to do that for your father.”

“You did?”

“Yes. They used to have me come to the house a few times a year and hide objects covered in magic, or cast some spells out. Always when you weren’t there, of course.”

“So that’s how he did it,” I murmured. ”I remember doing hunts for magic items, but my father never told me how he got them. That’s how he trained me.”

“I assumed as much,” she acknowledged. “I’d be happy to do some. Let me get a head start in front of you, though.”

I agreed and then stood in place as Skye caught up and Selene made her way ahead of us again.

“What’s up?” Skye inquired as she removed an apple from her bag and took a loud bite.

I watched as a dribble of juice rolled down her chin. She raised her long sleeve and wiped it up, joking, “I guess these huge things come in handy after all!”

“Yes, built in napkins. Selene is going to put out some magic on the trail so that I can work on my senses as we go. Apparently she used to do the same thing for my dad when I was younger, too.”

Being reminded that she’d been the one who had helped my parents through the years broke down more of my resistance to her. Maybe my pride at being kept out of the loop had affected my judgment?