Wielder's Awakening (48 page)

Traven was somewhat disappointed when she sat down.  He had enjoyed watching her graceful figure circle him.  He knew he should be trying to think of a way out of their predicament but couldn’t help himself.  She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.  It was a shame that she disliked him so much.  He wondered if part of it had to do with him almost beating her in the archery match.  As he thought about it, he had never actually done anything to her to make her so upset with him.  In fact, he had risked his own life to save hers, and thanks to that he was going to die along with her.  He could have just turned back up the alley and left the Princess to be kidnapped, and he would still have his freedom.

Traven thought about pointing out to the Princess that it was actually her fault that he was here in the first place, but then he finally realized why she was trying to hold the stony expression on her face.  She was trying not to cry.  He suddenly felt bad for his thoughts.  His mind was once again working normally, and he began to realize what was really happening.  The Princess was not mad at him.  She was just frightened.  New feelings rushed into his troubled heart.  He suddenly felt the desire to comfort the Princess and let her know that everything would be all right.  The only problems were that he was not sure that everything was going to be all right, and he didn’t know how to comfort her.  If she was not the Princess, maybe he would put his arm around her, but he realized that he couldn’t do that.  He decided he could at least offer some words of comfort.  After working up the courage, he opened his mouth.

“Don’t worry, my Princess,” he finally managed to say.  “Everything will be all right.”  When the Princess raised her eyes from the cold stone floor, Traven wished that he would have just kept quiet.

“What do you mean that everything is going to be all right!” the Princess shouted.  “There is no way out of here, and I am sure that filthy man meant what he said.  Tomorrow we will both be dead.  How can you say that everything is going to be all right?”

He watched helplessly as tears began to stream down the Princess’ cheeks.  He felt somehow guilty for her sorrow and looked down at his fidgeting hands ashamedly.  After several minutes, the Princess stopped sniffling.

“I think we should try and get some sleep,” she finally said in a surprisingly calm voice.  “Maybe with some sleep and the sunlight of a new day our minds will be clearer and we can think of something.”

Traven looked up to find the Princess completely composed.  The only evidence of her earlier breakdown was the slight redness around her eyes.  Other than that, she was the perfect image of a princess of Kalia.  Traven nodded his agreement to her suggestion.  He realized how tired he actually was.  It seemed strange that he could be so tired after being unconscious all afternoon.  He stretched out in the center of the room on the hard stone floor and wished he was back in his bunk in the barracks.  Almost the second that he shut his eyes, he was asleep.

He was awakened shortly thereafter by the freezing wind rushing through the high tower room.  The torch was now out.  It had either run down or the rushing wind had put it out.  Traven’s skin was covered in goose bumps, and he rubbed his hands quickly over his arms.  He tried to fall back asleep but could not.  It was absolutely freezing!  The stone floor only radiated coldness and the strong wind, rushing from one gaping window to another, swept away all of his body heat.  He did not think he would be getting much sleep.  Through the window he could see the bright stars in the now clear moonless sky.  He couldn’t believe how much the temperature had dropped.

Traven glanced to where the Princess lay against the wall and saw that she was shivering uncontrollably as well.  He was surprised that she could sleep through the frigid night.  Almost instantly, however, he saw her eyes flit open.  He found himself staring directly into bright eyes that were sparkling like the stars outside.  He turned away and was glad for the darkness that hid his once again flushed face.  When he looked back, the Princess had pulled her knees up tight against her body in an effort to ward off the cold night.  She was still shivering uncontrollably.

Traven was about to offer her his cloak but realized that it was gone.  Thinking about it, he realized that the Princess’ cloak had also been absent when he had awakened after being captured.  No wonder they were so cold.  Their captor must have done it on purpose.  Traven’s anger was kindled once again against the evil man.  The only warmth he had to offer the Princess was that of his own body.  He dismissed the thought almost the instant it came.  He crawled over to the wall near the Princess in an attempt to escape the wind.  It was better than in the center of the room but still was very cold.  Traven pulled his arms in close to his body and closed his eyes.  He needed to get more sleep.  He needed his strength for the next day if there was any hope of escaping.  He cleared his mind and tried to focus on warmth.  He was pleasantly surprised when the familiar warmth of the stone against his chest increased slightly, lending just a little more warmth to his shivering body.

* * * * *

Kalista watched behind slit eyes as the young man crawled over to the wall several feet from her and once again closed his eyes.  When she was sure that he was not going to open them again, she opened hers all the way and watched him.  She once again noticed how handsome he was.  It was not like Gavin’s mature beauty but more boyish.  She was surprised to see a small smile creep onto his face.  She had no idea what he could be happy about.  Maybe he had drifted back off to sleep and was dreaming one last time of something pleasant.  She was afraid that she would never be able to fall back asleep in the freezing darkness.

Watching the young man, Kalista felt sorry for the things she had said to him earlier in the night.  She had lost control of her emotions and lashed out at the only person she could.  She felt bad about the whole situation.  The only reason he was here was because he had tried, and nearly succeeded, in rescuing her.  She decided she would apologize to him in the morning.  He did seem like a nice person.

The young man stopped shivering while she watched him.  Kalista stared at him in amazement.  She had no idea how he could not be as cold as she was.  He looked so warm, though.  She debated whether or not she should move closer to him for warmth.  It was not proper, but in the end she decided that if she did not move next to him she would freeze to death.  Still shivering uncontrollably, the Princess edged along the wall until she was next to the young man.  She slowly leaned against his body being careful not to awaken him.  The warmth of his body flowed into her own, warming her enough that she was finally able to stop shivering.  Kalista shut her eyes and made herself comfortable.  The soldier was definitely softer than the stones of the ancient tower.  She soon forgot about the cold and drifted off to sleep against the warm body of the young man.

* * * * *

The small smile on Traven’s face grew larger as the Princess cuddled up against him.  He was thankful for the added warmth.  He heard the breathing of the Princess slow and even out as she drifted off to sleep.  Traven soon fell asleep also, thinking of how soft the Princess felt against his side.

33

Blaize slipped into some old clothes and quietly left his room.  He walked down the long, silent hall that led to the training fields.  When he reached the end of the hall, he braced himself as he opened the door and stepped outside into the fresh, early morning air.  Not a soul was in sight except for the sleepy-eyed sentries who straightened when they saw him.  Of course, he hadn’t expected anyone else to be up at this hour.  Normally Traven and he were among the first to wake up.  After the announcement at dinner the night before that they would have a few free days, almost all of the troops had headed out into the city to celebrate.  Blaize imagined that most had celebrated a bit too much.  He didn’t expect to see any of the troops up and about for several more hours.

Blaize reached his normal practice field and began to run through his forms.  He was surprised that Traven wasn’t up yet but assumed he must have taken his advice and slept in a little.  When Traven didn’t appear by the time he was half way through his forms, he began to wonder if he was all right.  Traven had not missed doing his forms in the morning since he had first arrived to the barracks.  Blaize hadn’t seen him at dinner the night before.  In fact, he hadn’t seen the boy since the incident yesterday on the archery range.  He decided that he would have to look in on him when he was done.  He needed to talk with him about the stone.

Blaize finished his forms and headed back towards the barracks with a healthy sweat.  The chilling wind cooled his body down as he walked back into the barracks.  The halls were still empty, and he moved through them in silence.  When he had washed up and changed into his military garb, he decided to check in on Traven before starting a new round of paper work.  The soldiers had several free days, but unfortunately Blaize did not.  He had to make sure everything was ready for the impending march.

Blaize found the door that led into the bunks where Traven slept and silently peeked inside.  He waited a second for his eyes to adjust to the darkness.  When they had adjusted, he was surprised to find Traven’s cot empty.  In fact, it appeared as though it hadn’t even been slept in.  He shook his head and shut the door to the room.  He then went to a pair of sentries nearby and asked if any of the soldiers had gotten up early and left.  They confidently replied that they had not seen anyone except himself, General Blaize.  He thanked them and headed to his office to get a start on the day’s business.

As he sat down at his desk and began to ruffle through papers, he found that he couldn’t concentrate.  His mind kept returning to Traven.  It wasn’t like him to be so irresponsible.  If he hadn’t returned the night before, where had he stayed?  Blaize knew that he didn’t have any friends or family to stay with.  Maybe he had stayed at an inn.  That was probably it.  He had wanted to escape the barracks for a night and had stayed at an inn.  Blaize tried to convince himself that everything was fine but for some reason the nagging feeling that something was wrong would not go away.

Blaize tried to shake off the feeling and dipped his quill into the pot of ink.  He didn’t know why he was always worrying about the boy.  He could take care of himself.  Traven was one of the best swordsmen in the whole army.  He could easily take on three swordsmen at a time if he needed too.  Blaize set his quill against the sheet of paper and froze.  The bloody scene of yesterday’s abduction rushed back to the front of his mind.  In his mind he saw the three cutthroats lying together on the quiet side street.  Someone had taken on all three before being captured.  Traven!  Blaize let the quill drop as he rose from his desk.  He had to know for sure.

He pulled on his cloak and left the barracks.  He was soon mounted and riding swiftly into the city.  The sun was almost up, and the streets were slowly beginning to come to life.  Blaize hurried through the still uncrowded streets.  He pulled up in front of the City Watch and swung down off his horse.  He burst through the front doors and demanded of the front clerk to be led to the Captain of the Watch.  He had never been in the building before and had no idea where the Captain’s office was.  The clerk upon recognizing Blaize’s double eagles, the insignia of a general, quickly obliged and led him around several turns to the Captain’s office.  Blaize burst into the room before the clerk had a chance to announce him.  The Captain of the Watch looked up from his desk with a frown at the unannounced intrusion.  His eyes were bloodshot, and Blaize realized that he had probably been up most of the night.

“General Blaize,” the Captain began as he slowly rose from his desk with a scowl.  “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“I need some information about the abduction of the Princess,” Blaize replied flatly.

“General, I am sure that you are interested in it, but this is an investigation of the City Watch not the Royal Army.  This is a very difficult situation, and the information is classified until the Princess is found.  You may be a general in the army but-”

“Captain,” Blaize cut in angrily.  “I am not here to play.  I believe one of my soldiers was captured along with the Princess.  That makes this my concern also.”

“How can you be so sure?” the Captain inquired.

“I am not certain, but if you can answer my question I will know.”  The Captain motioned for Blaize to go on.  “I need to know if there was blood smeared on any of the three dead attackers’ clothes.”