The Legend of the Blue Eyes (35 page)

This is definitely not the
spot I want to try to escape from,
she
thought viewing the forty-foot walls.

In the corner of the garden, near the door
they had entered, stood the young man, Anatolio. Leila cautiously
walked near him and tried to catch his gaze, but he continued to
look elsewhere. Approaching him, she studied him carefully. He was
modestly dressed with no specific garb to indicate his position or
job within the palace. He didn’t carry a weapon, so he was no
threat in that way. He was taller than she, but from his face he
was at least two to three years younger which meant much less
experienced.

This should not be a
challenge
, she thought.

“Since you didn’t bring me to jail nor to
your king, am I to assume you know who I am?” Leila asked Anatolio.
He continued to look elsewhere. Leila moved closer right into his
line of view so that he couldn’t avoid looking at her.

“Who gave you orders to bring me here?”
Leila asked.

“I did, Miss,” a voice said from behind
her.

Leila spun around to notice an old man. He
was sitting so still in the garden that she wasn’t aware of him
before he spoke. As soon as they had entered the garden, Anatolio
had been staring straight at the man. The old man had a long, white
beard and matching white hair that lay on his shoulders like a
cascading waterfall. Dressed in a light blue robe, he should have
stood out in the abundance of green in the garden, but he had
blended in so perfectly that even the birds were startled when he
talked. He was sitting between two flowering trees filled with
small birds. He sat ever so still, that only his mouth moved as he
continued to talk.

“Since I know who you are, I’ll ask you the
same question. Do you know who I am?” His eyes twinkled as he
asked. He moved his head slightly as Leila thought of her answer.
“You may leave us, Anatolio.” Anatolio bowed, turned to the door,
and gave two knocks. The old man slowly returned his gaze to Leila
who had yet to answer.

“I’ll take a guess. You’re the palace seer,”
Leila answered.

“The tales told of you do not disappoint,
young lady,” the man commented, in approval.

“I’m Gabor, and you’re Leila,” he said,
while gently standing without disturbing the birds that were in the
trees next to him.

“Why do you think my name is Leila?” she
asked. When traveling on assignments, she had never told anyone her
real name. To know the real name of a courier was deadly; if this
secret got out, Leila would never be able to work safely again.
Only her allies knew her name, and she had never met this man
before.

“Do not worry, child, for I’m the only one
who knows who you are,” Gabor reassured her. “Not even Anatolio
knows. To him you were just a favor to an old man.” He chuckled to
himself.

“So why am I here?” she asked.

“Just as I’ve been told, always direct.”
Gabor smiled at her as he moved closer. Not knowing if he was a
friend or foe yet, Leila took a step back. “It’s all right child,
I’ll not hurt you,” Gabor tried to reassure her.

“If you mean me no harm, why would you bring
me here by force, and then keep me in a locked room?” Leila asked
cautiously.

“You’re free to leave at any time,” Gabor
assured her. “I merely requested your presence and didn’t specify
to Anatolio how to attain you.” Leila stared at his eyes as he
talked. He wasn’t lying. Gabor tried to move closer again, and this
time she didn’t back away.

“Would you like me to look into your
future?” he asked, while offering her his hand.

“No, thank you,” she replied, without taking
his hand. “I live only in the present.” Gabor slowly withdrew his
hand. Leila didn’t want to offend the man, but she also had no
desire to be told what she would do in the future.

Gabor returned to his seat on the bench
between the two trees, disturbing the birds which flew to other
trees in the garden. “Child, do you know why anywhere you go
there’s always someone there to help you if you get into trouble?”
Gabor motioned for her to sit beside him. Somewhat guardedly, Leila
moved closer and sat down. Gabor continued, “You’re special. To the
trained eye, you’re an easy one to spot. The aura around you is
pure white, and it doesn’t change. Most people’s auras are
different shades of color, and they change depending on the purity
of their action. Yours, though, does not. When people come in
contact with you, their aura becomes whiter in color to match
yours. You have the power to change the world.”

“Then, you will help me leave?” Leila
asked.

“I’d not turn you down, but first I must ask
you,” Gabor paused to look her in the eyes. “How long will you run?
You continue to punish yourself with these incredibly hard missions
time and time again, but that won’t bring him back. Is it not about
time you stopped running?”

Leila was tempted to look away. How did this
man know everything about her? It had been four years since Erich
died saving her, and yet it was a hard subject for Leila to hear
spoken aloud. Had she been better at what she did, Erich would not
have died trying to save her from a jail.

“I’m not running,” she lied, responding to
his question.

“Just like you, child, I can tell when a
person lies,” the old man moved to pat her shoulder. Leila quickly
stood up before he could touch her. Her quick movement caught the
old man off guard. “You can lie to me, but how long can your
continue to lie to your heart?” He motioned for her to sit back
down. “I have no desire to read your future; I already know what it
is.”

But how?
I did well not to come into contact with
him
. Leila examined herself to see if she
could remember any part touching him.

“I know what can become of you. If only
you,” Gabor started.

“I do not wish to know my future,” Leila
said harshly. “I only wish to know where my friend is being kept,
and then we can be on our way home. Thank you for your explanation
of everything, but now it’s time for me to be on my way.” Leila
didn’t like talking about herself, especially with a stranger.

Gabor slowly stood and walked to the door.
He gave three knocks and the door opened. Anatolio stood before
Gabor and bowed his head. “She wishes to be taken to the jail that
is housing her friend Kay.” Anatolio nodded and walked back over to
Leila.

“Child, don’t let your heart grow cold. The
immense power you have in your innocence can be amplified a hundred
times if you let yourself love again. Erich is gone. It’s not your
fault. You may think you’re alone in your pain, but there’s another
in just as much pain from being without love. I just hope that the
day you see him you can recognize that you’re not alone.” Gabor
smiled kindly at Leila. Anatolio moved behind her and grabbed her
arms.

“I thought you weren’t keeping me here,”
Leila asked suspiciously.

“I’m not, but in order for you to be brought
into the jail, you must be a captive. No one apart from the king
can walk into the jail with a guest and demand to see someone being
held there,” Gabor explained. “Anatolio will take you there and put
you with your friend, but that’s all he’s allowed to do. Jail will
give you some time to think over everything we talked about,” Gabor
said as he smiled at her. “May we meet again, child.”

Anatolio pushed gently on her arms to force
her to begin walking. This time around Leila didn’t test his
resolve. He would take her to exactly where she wanted to be. Leila
took no notice, though, of the change in her guard’s mood which was
now gentler. She was caught up in her own thoughts.

Why did he tell me these
things? What does he know of my future? Can I really be happy again
without Erich?
Leila questioned herself.
She tried to get their conversation out of her head.
I need to focus. Plan an escape. What does it
mean?
Leila began to trail off with her
thoughts from the seer again.
How did he
know about Erich?

“We’re almost there,” Anatolio said to Leila
breaking her thoughts. “I can get you into the same cell, but
that’s it. I don’t have any more authority than that.” Leila was
shocked to hear him speak.

“There are two guards on shift at one time
inside the jail and two guards outside the gate,” Anatolio
continued to explain. He let go of her arms, and she turned to face
him. “The guards only change one person at a time so that there’s
always someone here. Right now there’s only your friend in the jail
and no other prisoners.” Gently, Anatolio turned Leila back around
and took hold of her arms again. “Good luck,” he whispered in her
ear as they approached the guards at the gate.

“Open,” Anatolio ordered. “I’ve one prisoner
here to be placed with the other prisoner.” The gates opened. Two
men immediately jumped up from their card game as Anatolio
approached. The portly guard’s mustache failed to hide the smile
that crossed his face. He was always fond of having beautiful lady
prisoners under his watch in his section of the jail.

“She’s to be housed with the other
prisoner,” Anatolio commanded.

“I’ll take her there,” the prison guard
offered.

Anatolio replied, “I’ll take her myself.” He
changed his grip to hold back Leila’s arms with one hand. Leila
played along like she could easily be held with one hand. Anatolio
took the keys and led her down the hallway. He approached a room
and unlocked the door. Leila walked through the door.

“You’re on your own now, so be careful,”
Anatolio warned before locking the door behind her.

Leila walked into the dim
room. Though she hadn’t noticed, it was already dusk. The room had
no light in it except for the last rays of sunlight streaming in
one window.
This is bad
, she thought, noticing they were not in the women’s quarters
of the jail. Through the dim light she surveyed the room. The room
was sparsely furnished. There was one window, a bed with a blanket
in one corner, and in the other corner, staring at Leila with a
tear-streaked face propped on her knees, sat Kay.

As with any work of fiction, there are many
people to thank along the way.

To you, the reader. Thank you for taking the
time to read this story. If you liked it, please leave a review on
Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, your own blog, my blog,
twitter, facebook, etc. The greatest help you can do to keep a
writer going is to support them by spreading the word about their
books and leaving them encouraging words.

Also I would like to thank my editor and
cover designer. A good editor is essential to getting the story
correct. Thank you so much Kathie for catching all those errors. I
will be working hard to better my writing through seeing everything
that I have to work on. A thank you also to Ravven for such a
pretty cover. I greatly appreciate all those that can do what I
cannot, like editors and cover designers. Thank you also Kathy
McMichael for your financial and promotional support.

I’d also like to thank my hubby for
continuing to push me further down the writing road. I really never
planned to let anyone ever see my writing. I have written tons of
stories over the years for my own enjoyment. Writing is a great
creative means that you can do alone. This particular story was
written two months before Twilight came out, and I laughed when the
vampire craze took over. Vampires were always a creature I thought
you ran from, not kissed! I never considered going further with
this story until my hubby asked me to try and put myself out there.
So thank you, B. for pushing me off the deep end (or the cliff as I
see it sometimes).