Kellryia - Chapter 4

Chapter 4



As the man had my sword pointed at my chest, I remembered my training with the Bard. “Pretend this is going to pierce you in the heart”, he’d said. Having no sword to deflect my opponent’s weapon, I kicked my leg up, my boot knocking the hilt from his grasp.

A shadow approached my opponent from behind, dealing a blow to the back of his head. The man crumpled to the ground instantly, unconscious.

“Lillian, what are ye doin’ out here?”

The shadow appeared to be Baern, all four feet of him. He had splotches of blood covering his clothes, his own or someone else’s I couldn’t quite tell. The dwarf was wielding a hammer, with which he’d struck the man in the back of the head, and he’d thrown on a chain shirt. His armor was similar to mine, only of a higher quality, more decorative inscriptions and it actually fit his body.

Shaking from shock, I didn’t quite process what he said to me. “Baern,” I said with a sigh of relief and fell back to the ground. “Are you okay?”

“Aye, had ta bludgeon a few of ‘em. Looks like that one got away with a horse though.”

Don’t remind me, I thought.

A voice entered our conversation that I didn’t recognize. “Who’s that, Baern?” Peering towards the voice, I saw a tall man wearing plate armor and carrying a very large sword, which he was wiping clean of the blood. Though it was night, I could see that his dark hair was cropped short and he had a tall, lean body. His eyes glared at me suspiciously.

The dwarf knelt beside me and inspected my wounds, causing me to wince. “This is Lillian, she was tryin’ ta help I assume.”

“Who’s he?” I asked Baern between spitting out blood.

“He’s Quinn, a comrade of mine.” Taking my nose between his fingers, he snapped what was left of it into alignment and I tried to muffle my yelp.

Quinn barked, “Woman, what were you expecting to accomplish out here?” His angular jaw was clenched tightly, making it clear that he didn’t approve of me.

“Quinn, take it easy, she’s just broken her nose.”

Bristled by Quinn’s rudeness, I said, “That’s my business, not yours.” The truth was that I needed to prove to myself that I was brave enough to fight in battles, and that I needed to practice what I’d learned.

Quinn finished wiping his sword and sheathed it. "Sure, you have guts, but you don't know what the hell you're doing."

“Yeah, well, I’m working on that part.”

With a glance towards Quinn, I saw that he still was glaring down at me. I didn’t know what I’d done to upset him other than getting myself hurt, but maybe this went deeper than that. He’d mentioned the obvious fact that I was a woman, combined with the statement that I didn’t know what I was doing. It could be that he didn’t approve of women getting involved with fights, since I was from a society where the greatest thing a woman would accomplish was to have babies.

Baern interjected, “I’m gonna fix ya up now, lass. This may sting a bit.” Holding a metal object in his hand, he murmured several words and the object in his hand glowed brightly. Baern’s other hand came over my face, heat emanating from it. I could feel the shattered pieces of bone pull out from within my nasal passage and assemble in their right places. Baern was right, setting my nose back to normal was just as excruciating as when it was broken, but the pain only lasted a second, and then it was gone.

Bringing a hand to my face, I felt my nose. Besides the imperfection of some of the bones not fitting back exactly the way they used to be, my nose was back to normal. The bleeding had stopped, but the blood still covered my skin.

Sighing with relief, I thanked Baern. I reached for his hand to inspect the object he held. “Is this magical?”

Baern let me look at the metal he held. “Aye, it’s a magical symbol of Raethor.”

“Are we done chit chatting?” Quinn said, grabbing me by the arm and bringing me to my feet. “Get back to bed, it’s late.”

Massaging my arm where he’d bruised me, I glared back at Quinn. There were many things I’d have liked to say, like he couldn’t tell me what to do, but I decided against saying it. Turning to Baern, I said, “Tomorrow then?”

“Aye, we’re in between jobs, so we’ll be in town for a bit.”

Nodding, I smiled. “All right, I’ll be around after I’m finished with work.”

Quinn walked off toward the inn without saying a word.

Baern explained, “Long story, best you just ignore him.” Looping his arm with mine, we followed shortly after Quinn to the inn.

Whatever it was I was supposed to ignore, I knew that my curiosity would bring me to figure out what would cause Quinn to be so chauvinistic. I could blame it on this world’s society, but Baern didn’t seem so adamant that I didn’t fight, and the Bard was training me, so he didn’t have anything against women fighting either.

“I’ve got time for a long story, if you’d be willing to share.”

Baern led me inside the common room of the inn and we walked up the stairs to where my room was. “He wouldn’t want me ta tell ye. You’ll have t’ask him yerself, lass.”

Baern bowed to me and bid me goodnight, leaving me wanting to know what Quinn’s little secret was. Opening my door, the room wasn’t completely dark as it should have been, which meant there was someone inside with a light. Readying my sword, I entered through the doorway with caution.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” came the Bard’s voice from the shadows.

As I closed the door behind be quietly and approached his voice, my eyes adjusted to the low lighting and found him cleaning his wound. He was not naked, thankfully, and he had brought in a table and a basin full of water from his room.

“I see you managed to find your clothes.”

Grinning, he said, “I never lost them. When you came into my room, you…well, caught me at a disadvantage.” Turning his head away from me, he concentrated on his wound. It was difficult to say, but from what I could see, the Bard almost looked embarrassed. “Obviously I wasn’t expecting you to come charging through my door.”

As he tended to his arm, I felt remorse for what I had done to him. Slowly I made my way over to where he stood before the small wooden table. Standing so close to him, I was reminded of his size. It was especially rare in times such as these that a man be so tall and overall large. He was easily over six feet tall, and it made me feel like a child to stand next to him. Looking to his arm, I saw that the cut was healed with no visible scar. He was merely cleaning the blood from his skin.

“I’m sorry I hurt you,” I said quietly. “I should have listened.”

The Bard rinsed the cloth in the basin and squeezed the excess water out. Turning to look into my eyes, he gave me a forgiving smile and brought the cloth to my face. “The dwarf did a good job of setting your nose.”

“How did you know-” I stopped myself from finishing, accepting that he knew just about everything when it concerned me. “Does it look all right then?”

Gingerly dabbing the cloth along my nose and mouth, he lowered his face to my level and examined me, causing me to feel a little self-conscious. I met his eyes only for a moment before I lowered them.

Running his finger along the arch, he said, “Very close to what it was.”

His touch made me shiver. “What did I say about you touching me?”

Carrying on as if I said nothing, he wiped my mouth and cradled my head with his other hand. “Are you feeling all right? You lost quite a bit of blood from the looks of it.”

“Yes, I’m fine.” His hands on me annoyingly caused my heartbeat to race. This was probably what he noticed and confused for lightheadedness.

He grinned at my terse response. “I almost have the blood cleaned, after that I’ll let you sleep.”

Giving him a short laugh, I said, “Sure.” My head was too full of thoughts to fall asleep easily, like of the battle and how much the Bard liked to touch me.

“It’s normal to feel jittery after battle, especially when you’re just starting.”

What he said may have been true, but it wasn’t the results of the fight that made me tremble. Ethan should be the one to help me clean my face, to touch me. I knew he wouldn’t approve of what I was doing here, learning how to sword fight and pursuing my musical talents. These skills weren’t practical where we came from.

“I shouldn’t be doing this.”

The Bard dropped his hands from me, his brows pulled together in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I want to be with Ethan, I shouldn’t be here learning how to fight.” I needed to wake from this dream, and there was only one thing I could think of. “Kill me. You need to kill me so I can be with him.”

Misinterpreting, he said, “Lillian, I understand what you’re going through. You wish your husband hadn’t died, but I’m not going to kill you.”

“I lied when I said I was a widow. We’re not married, and he’s not dead.”

“Then why did you ask me to kill you just now?”

“I’m dreaming, and I always wake from a dream when I die in them.” Handing him my sword, I said, “Please, I need to wake up.”

He refused to take the sword. “Lillian,” he said, serious. “You aren’t dreaming.”

“This place doesn’t exist, I have to be dreaming,” I said hysterically.

Grabbing my arms, he shook me roughly. “This was meant to happen. You’re supposed to be here.”

The shaking seemed to snap me out of my mental breakdown. “For how long? How long am I to be separated from Ethan?”

Sighing and loosening his hold, he said, “I’m not sure. Weeks, maybe months. As for Ethan…” He paused for a very long time, as if he were trying to think of a way to soften the blow of bad news.

“What about Ethan?”

He turned from me and moved to the door. “I can’t say. You should get some rest.”

I ran after him and grabbed his arm. “Oh, no you don’t. You don’t get to leave without telling me what happens.”

Under my hand I could feel his muscles flex as he debated what to tell me. “Sit down,” he said softly, and guided me to the edge of the bed. Lifting the weight of my chain shirt from my shoulders, I raised my arms as he removed the armor from me.

I allowed him to help me to remove the armor, assuming he was biding time. As long as he planned on telling me what he knew about Ethan, I could be patient enough to wait. Unbuckling the straps to the leg and arms pieces, we finished removing my armor.

“You’re not going to see Ethan for a while, assuming you will be reunited.”

“What?” I cried out, my heart filling with dread.

“He is in your world, yes? And if you cannot get home…” He let the sentence trail, allowing me to infer that if I could not return to my world, I wouldn’t see Ethan again, a fact that I only just now felt the gravity of.

Burying my face in my hands, I tried to hold back my tears. The thought of never seeing Ethan again was something I couldn’t accept. “Then I have to get back.”

“Then I’ll say this now, if you want to return, you must continue with your training. The components needed for you to return home will not be easy to find, nor to retrieve, so you will need skills to combat enemies that will also be in pursuit of these items.”

“You know what I need to do to get back. Help me. Please.” If he would agree to help me, I was sure that I would return home relatively quickly.

The Bard considered me for several moments, staring at me. “I cannot.”

“What? Why?”

“I have other obligations.” He averted his face and began to turn away from me.

Before he could move, I clutched his shirt. “Please, I can’t do this alone.”

Removing my hands, he said, “You won’t be. When your training is complete, you will leave with Baern and the rest of his mates.” His clear rejection of my plea confused me. I thought he was here to help me, and now he was sending me away?

“Baern and Quinn? Quinn doesn’t like me and he’s made it very clear he doesn’t want me fighting.” Lord save me from traveling with a chauvinist for who knows how long, hearing his comments every step of the way.

“It is important that you travel with them. You all have something to learn from each other.”

If they had something to learn from me, it must be patience. “They saw the embarrassing display I made earlier. I don’t think they’d even allow me to travel with them.”

“I’m sure you’ll figure something out.” Stepping away from me, he moved to the door. “We’ll meet after evening dinner tomorrow.” It annoyed me how final everything he said was, as if I had no free will, everything already decided. Fate.

Saying goodbye, he closed the door behind him. I didn’t understand his change in mood, as if he were unhappy with something. What exactly was keeping him from helping me? From what I could see, he didn’t have obligations, but then again, I didn’t know him that well.

Stripping to my chemise, I scurried under the blankets and tried to get warm. I blew out the candle next to the bed, remembering that unattended fire was not so smart. The darkness surrounded me, and I closed my eyes against it, fearing I might see something move. I tried to imagine something happy and warm, but my mind was too distracted with thoughts of what happened since I arrived to this world.

Most of all, I thought of Ethan. He must be with me at the hospital, praying that I wake from my coma. Yes, I still couldn’t believe that I was really in Kellryia, because I knew it wasn’t real, Ethan had made it all up. The portal I saw at the bottom of the pit as I was falling had to have been part of the dream as well. I must not have felt any pain as I hit the bottom, knocking me into a coma, thus causing this crazy hallucination. Though I had to admit, this was the most real-feeling dream I’d ever had.

Eventually my mind went blank and my body relaxed, sleep taking hold over me. The next thing I remembered I was with Ethan, and he was shouting at me. All I could see was his angry face, the edges blurry. “Lilly, how could you be so stupid? What did I say about going into the cave? But you wouldn’t listen, you never do.”

I pleaded, “Please, I’m sorry.”

One of his hands grabbed my arm viciously. “I don’t like what you’ve been doing, dear. Sword fighting? Roaming about with strangers? You’re going to get yourself killed.”

“Ethan, please, I have no other choice!” Tears sprang to my eyes, feeling guilty that I’d made him so disappointed in me. Stroking his face, I tried to placate him. “Please, don’t be mad at me, baby.”

“Don’t ‘baby’ me. You’ve really gotten yourself in trouble, I don’t even know what to do with you.”

“Help me, please. I don’t want to be here.” Blinking back the tears, I looked into his eyes and his face softened.

His voice was still rough when he said, “There’s not much I can do to help you, Lilly.”

“Then what am I supposed to do?” I approached him, sincerely wanting him to help me.

“Don’t get into any trouble, I’ll figure something out in the meantime.”

Putting my hands on his chest, I slowly leaned into him. “I promise, I’ll be a good girl.”

He grinned at me, pleased, and his grip on me gentled. Wrapping his other arm around me, he pulled me into him and licked my lips. I opened my mouth, giving him access, and he kissed me possessively, making me sigh…

There was a loud noise that distracted me and I turned my head. Ethan disappeared and I emerged from my dream, the banging on the door repeating. The Ethan in my dream intimidated me, leaving me shaken. This wasn’t far from the real Ethan, if he was very upset. It had taken our separation for me to realize how much of a hold he had on me.

Wrapping the blanket around me, I went to answer the door, my feet cringing against the cold wood floor that glowed orange from the rising sun. I opened the door to find a girl holding a basin, steam rising from the top, a cloth draped over the edge. Smiling at her, I allowed her to enter and she placed the container on the table, taking the one used last night. The girl left and closed the door behind her, leaving me to wash as well as I could with no soap.

Quickly I dressed and vacated the room, pausing momentarily at the Bard’s door before I passed it. Taking a seat in the common room, I waited until an employee came around and gave me some breakfast. The food was hot, and that’s all that I cared about at the moment, my mind too busy juggling thoughts.

Was I to stay put and hope for help to come, or take my future into my own hands and continue training and searching for a way home? I leaned toward the latter. Just because I had a dream instructing me to stop my foolishness didn’t mean that I should. I agreed with the Bard on this matter, that learning how to defend myself was very useful.

A figure appeared before me suddenly, sitting on the other side of the table. Startled, my hands knocked into the dishes before me, causing all sorts of clatter.

“On edge this morning?” asked the Bard, grinning.

Attempting to right the dishes, I said, “It would help if you would let me know you were coming.”

Inspecting me with his fingers stroking his chin, he said, “Hmm, I think there is some underlining issue here.”

Snapping my head up to glare at him, I said, “Will you just leave me alone?”

“Sorry, you’re too entertaining. How about you tell me what’s bothering you?”

Staring into his amused face, I knew he would continue to ask me until I exploded with annoyance. Sighing, I said, “My…” I was about to say “boyfriend”, but realized this term was not used here. “My…intended, my betrothed, Ethan, I had a dream about him.”

“I assume that this dream did not please you.”

“Why would you assume that?”

He gave me an incredulous look. “I’d say you’d be a bit happier.”

“Ethan makes me very happy. It’s just in the dream…he was disappointed in me.”

“Hmm, why so?”

“I don’t listen to him and I get into trouble.”

“Yes, that’s true,” the Bard said with a chuckle.

“But it was just a dream, I shouldn’t let it bother me.”

“Just a dream?” He leaned forward, his elbows on the table. “Dreams here are never to be ignored.”

I stared in confusion at him. “Why not?”

The Bard seemed as though I was trying his patience, but he said gently, “The gods speak through dreams, especially if someone is significant in the course of their life. So, someone like you, someone that doesn’t belong here, would capture the gods’ attention. Anything you dream must be considered of importance.”

How could what I have dreamt be important? All it consisted of was Ethan being overbearing as usual.

“Tell me what happened, word for word.”

I raised my eyebrow at him, not exactly wanting to share something so private. “I don’t really feel comfortable sharing-”

“If you want my help, you’ll tell me. Right now.”

Taking a ragged breath, I looked up at him. “Fine.” I explained how Ethan was upset that I went into the cave, how I never listen to him, that he didn’t like that I was learning to sword fight and being around strangers.

“Is that all?”

I nodded my head, keeping my eyes down, hoping he wouldn’t notice I was lying when I said I told him everything.

He lifted my chin with a tip of his finger. “Is that all?” he repeated.

Staring into his blue eyes, it felt like they were looking straight into my soul, and I knew I couldn’t lie anymore. “No, there is more.” As he continued to stare at me patiently, I added, “The end, it was strange.”

“Strange how?”

Relaying the rest of the dream, I shivered from the awkwardness. “I felt so…penitent. The need to please him was so great, I never felt like that before. It was like he was a different person, more controlling than usual.”

He nodded his head, lowering his eyes for a moment. “Something Ethan did in your dream concerns me. Answer me this, has he ever kissed you like that before? Has he ever…licked you before?”

That was one part of the dream that I found the most strange. “I don’t think so.”

His eyes locked onto mine, filled with urgency. “You need to leave Aldenshire.”