Prelude to a Dream (3 page)

“Just as most brothers and sisters should,”
she finished, and he slowly let out a breath before relaxing once
again.

Feeling like a pile of dung, he reached up
and rubbed the back of his neck. Wanting to change the topic, and
quick, he looked down at the biscuit still being held in her hand.
“Are you gonna eat that, or save it to be taken away… again?”

The color that bloomed on her cheeks made her
face start to glow again. Reaching over with her other hand, she
pulled off a small chunk and put it in her mouth. Her expression
was almost comical. She moved her gaze away from his, and it looked
as if she was working hard at chewing.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nuffin.” She still had food in her mouth,
and her answer came out muffled.

“Yeah right, what is it?”

Once again, she vigorously shook her head,
and said, “Nuffin!”

“Uh-ha.” With quickened speed, he reached
over and snagged a chuck of the biscuit, and before she could stop
him, shoved it in his mouth. The taste hit him within seconds. One
time, Gerard took him into the wilderness, and taught him the
different things that were edible. This reminded him of that trip,
when Gerard had him bite into tree bark. It was gritty, with a
taste that made his gut clench in protest at having to swallow the
foal food. Without a second thought, he leaned to the side, and
started to spit out as much of the bite as he could. “Wow! That was
awful.”

When he saw that she still had the bite she
took in her mouth, he turned her, so she would be covered and could
spit out the piece. Apparently, it wasn’t ladylike to spit out
one’s food.

When she stood back up and faced him, she
wrinkled her nose, and asked after wiping her mouth, “Where did you
get that?”

“A woman was selling them.” He craned his
neck until he found the vendor and pointed her out.

“Mavel? She giggled once again, and shook her
head. “Mavel is a nice lady, and we all buy things from her once in
a while, but no one can eat what she makes, so it usually is given
to the animals.”

“Good to know.” Chuckling with her, Malachi
looked into her expressive eyes. “I’ll bring you a different one
tomorrow.”

Her smile this time didn’t quite reach her
eyes. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

“Why not?”

This time, she looked at him as if he were
missing some crucial point. She gestured once again to the girls
standing on the other side of the dance floor. “I’m not like
them.”

“I think that goes without saying.”

“Nothing is going to happen between us.”

“That’s good. Then I don’t have to worry
about you trying to flirt with me.”

She rolled her eyes and placed a small hand
on her hip. “So, friends… but how can that be when we’re still
strangers?”

Not missing a beat, Malachi clasped the hand
at her hip, pulled it up, and bent over it before standing back up.
“It’s good to meet you. My name’s Malachi.” Freezing for a second,
he realized he had just given her his real name. Never had he done
that before. Always, he would use the shortened version of his
name, Mal, to help keep his true self a secret. Deciding not to
dwell on the fact, he looked down at her expectantly.

“Nope. I don’t tell my name to
strangers.”

Placing a hand over his chest as if he were
wounded, he stumbled backwards. “That’s harsh.” Tilting his head to
the side, he grinned. “Then tell me. How does one not become a
stranger to you?

“I’ll tell you what. If you truly bring that
biscuit to me tomorrow, I will tell you my name.”

Smiling fully, he nodded in agreement. “Deal.
How will I find you?

Lifting a shoulder, she gifted him with a sly
smile. “I’m sure you can think of something.”

“Hmm, a challenge. Alright. Plus, to show
that I’m gonna be a good friend, I’ll even let you keep the biscuit
from today.

Her smile grew even more. “How generous of
you.”

Opening his arms outward, he started walking
backwards to leave. “That’s just the type of fellow I am. Until
tomorrow….”

She lifted her hand to cover her smile, and
then just as quickly, lowered it again. “Yes, until tomorrow….

******

Malachi laid on the grass and looked up
toward the blue sky. This was his favorite place, a secluded
clearing with one large tree near the center along with tall grass
and wild flowers that came to his knees. It was the perfect place
to get away from everything and everyone. Of course, right now it
was covered in a layer of snow, but it was still peaceful, none the
less. He would come here to train, to think, or to do absolutely
nothing. As far as he knew, no one ever came there except for him
and, on occasion, Gerard.

Today was the perfect day. The sun was
shining, melting the snow that was still on the ground from the
week before. The slight breeze always brought different scents from
nature, and at that moment, was a slightly metallic smell. It was
somewhat odd, but not enough to deteriorate his good mood.

All he had to do was finish his training, and
then he could sneak past Gerard and get to the village before sun
down. He felt his mouth start to curve up at the thought of
spending time with the little blonde haired, violet eyed village
girl.

He was mentally replaying their conversation
the day before, when he felt something nudge his leg. With a start,
he grabbed his falchion that had been lying beside him, and swung
it out as he sat up. Its progress forward was quickly deflected to
the side by another sword.

“Ye call this training?”

Malachi had to shield his eyes against the
sun to see who was in front of him, but he would know that gruff
voice anywhere. Gerard was standing over him, glaring down to show
his obvious disapproval.

“I was just taking a break… no big deal.”

Letting out a loud sigh, Gerard shook his
head as Malachi stood up. “I thought ye said that ye were going te
try harder at taking this seriously.”

“I am! I just took―”

Just then, the wind blew over them and Gerard
held up a hand to silence Malachi. “Do ye smell that?”

Malachi breathed in through his nose, and
didn’t smell anything unusual. The metallic smell was still there,
but that could be anything in nature.

“Blood! A lot of it.”

The hairs on the back of Malachi’s neck stood
at attention, as he and Gerard turned simultaneously to put their
backs together. Both crouched into a defensive position and held
out their weapons.

“Is this a test?” He didn’t think so, but he
thought there was no harm in asking.

“No, boy! Now stay on alert.”

They started to turn, so each could scan the
clearing, but Malachi didn’t see anything. It wasn’t until he was
facing the large tree, and the breeze picked up, that he saw
something unusual flutter on the opposite side of the tree. “I
think I see something… by the tree!”

Gerard glanced over his shoulder to look, but
quickly returned his gaze to the other side of the clearing. “I
didn’t see anything.”

“I did! Something’s there.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Gerard finally
conceded. “Fine. We’ll go check it out, but we do it using a wide
berth. Whatever ye do… don’t take your attention away from your
surroundings. Got it?”

“Yeah.” Malachi answered distractedly before
he started to move.

They walked side by side, but kept turning to
make sure they were alone. They did as Gerard said and came around
wide, but the closer they got, the more Malachi knew that there was
indeed something there.

Once they got to the other side of the
clearing, and what was by the tree was in plain view, they both
stopped in their tracks. There was a body impaled on the tree, a
female one to be exact. She was pinned on the tree a couple feet
off the ground and covered in blood. A stake had been driven
through her chest, head, and arms, as if to put her on display. The
contrast between the red blood and the white snow drew his
attention. Who could do something like this?

His gaze was brought back up to the body, and
he started to pay closer attention to the smaller details. The
petiteness of her showed that this was not a woman, but instead, a
young girl. He could see a few spots of blonde hair that had not
been touched by blood, and her blue striped dress moved around her
ankles whenever the wind blew. That must have been what he had seen
earlier, he thought.

Taking a closer look at the dress, he had a
nagging suspicion that he had seen it before. All of a sudden, a
flash of the day before replayed in his head. He saw a small girl,
in a blue striped dress, laughing as children brought her down to
her knees.

Before he realized what he was doing, his
feet took off running towards the tree. The curse, and the
crunching of the snow behind him, signaled that Gerard was
following.

He had just reached her, and placed a hand on
a tiny foot of hers that was missing a slipper, when he was grabbed
around the middle and pulled back. Malachi fought the hold on him,
but Gerard wasn’t letting up. He just wanted to reach her to see if
he could do anything to help.

“Malachi, stop!” With one last heave, the
older man was able to get him back a few feet. The movement made
him stumble to his knees. When he made a move to rise, Gerard knelt
in front of him, and placed both of his hands on Malachi’s
shoulders to hold him in place. “What has gotten into ye?”

Malachi couldn’t speak beyond the lump that
had formed in his throat. Looking back up at the young girl, he
could now see her more clearly. Her skin had lost its color, and he
could still feel the coldness on his fingers where he had touched
her foot. Her eyes were still open, and the intriguing violet eyes
that had held his attention just yesterday were now lifeless and
unseeing.

Gerard kept his hands on Malachi’s shoulders,
but angled his body to look over his shoulder. He didn’t speak for
the couple minutes he took to examine the body. Letting out a loud
sigh, he shook his head before focusing his attention back on the
body. “What’s in her mouth?”

Malachi felt the bile rise up in his throat
once again, because he knew what it was. It was the first thing he
had seen when he got a look at her face close up. It was large
chunk of bread…probably the biscuit he had given her the night
before. Squeezing his eyes shut, he shook his head back and forth
to try and rid the image away.

“Malachi, open your eyes and look at me… only
me.” Gerard’s voice was gruff, but still just as steady as he had
remembered from his past.

Without hesitation, he did as he was told.
Trying to ignore what was behind him, he tried to focus solely on
his instructor and friend.

“Malachi, I understand that this is not a
normal sight for ye, but do ye get it now? Do ye understand why the
world needs people like ye? Think of the amount of evil someone had
to possess te do this.” Malachi’s gaze started to return to the
body, and Gerard’s grip tightened. “Look at me!”

When his gaze returned, Gerard continued.
“This is why I push ye so hard. This is the type of thing ye will
be able te help prevent. Unfortunately, there are evil people as
well as evil beings out there, but your job is te help as many
people as ye can. Do ye understand?”

He bowed his head and nodded.

“I need te hear it,” Gerard snapped.

Whipping his head up, Malachi looked into
Gerard’s eyes. “I understand.”

Letting his gaze move back over to the girl,
Malachi slowly shook his head in disbelief. “She was so full of
life and happiness. She had people that cared about her. It’s hard
to believe that anyone would want to harm her.”

“Why does it sound as if ye knew her?”
Gerard’s voice had turned harsh, and he swiftly stood up and
towered over Malachi.

Malachi knew he was in trouble. Taking a deep
breath, the truth spilled out without hesitation. “I met her
yesterday evening when I went into the village. We talked for a
short amount of time. That’s it.”

Before he could blink, Gerard grabbed his
upper arm and hauled him to his feet. Immediately, Gerard started
to pull him from the clearing, but Malachi fought to pull away.

“What are you doing? Let me go!” Malachi
shrieked, as he eyed the tree, wanting to get back to her.

“No! We need te get ye out of here.” Gerard
grunted from the struggle, but didn’t stop pulling.

“What are you talking about?”

Finally, Gerard stopped and brought Malachi’s
face up to his own. Pointing to the girl, he snapped, “Ye met her
last night. Someone probably saw that ye felt something for her.
Now…today, her body was displayed at a place where only ye come.
Obviously, this was meant for ye te find. That means ye need te get
as far away from here as possible, as quickly as possible.”

The logic made sense, and even caused an ire
feeling to slither down his spine, but he still couldn’t go. “No.”
He tried to turn back to the tree, but Gerard’s grip didn’t falter.
Malachi then pleaded, “I can’t just leave her like that. It’s not
right.”

“Fine.” Through clenched teeth, Gerard spoke.
“Once we get back, I will send people back down here te take her
down and place her somewhere near her village… someplace where
she’ll be found.”

Malachi didn’t like the idea. He felt as if
it should be him that made sure she was properly taken care of. The
reserved look must have shown because Gerard’s grip tightened on
his arm.

“It’s the best deal ye’re going te get.”

Malachi angrily bit the inside of his cheek,
so as not to say something he would later regret. Instead, he
stayed silent and stiffly nodded.

“Listen up, boy! This should be a wake up
call.”

Malachi took a step back when Gerard took a
menacing step toward him.