Secrets of the Realm Series: The Dark Knight

Chapter 4

I am sorry it was a while since I posted. I have had college a family (husband and daughter). I will be doing my best to have weekly updates.

Listen to while reading: Hidden Citizens - Out of Time (ft. Erin McCarley - Epic Powerful Vocal Music)

I feel a hand on my face and open to my eyes to him again. He is so handsome. His hair has a ginger color and is long his eye bright green. He is so beautiful but his eyes are evil.

“Don’t you remember me? Veara, we were meant to be.. I will find you.. my princess.. my queen!” I wake in a sweat. Again he plagues my mind. It felt so real this time. I run my hands over my face and see a hand reaching for my face but I flinch believing I am in another dream, but I look and see Ruven. He seems hurt but quickly speaks

“Come with me. I need to speak to you.” he leads me to the river bank. He is different now. Yesterday morning he was threatening me with a knife and now he was being kind. Or whatever version of kind this was. He seemed frustrated but calm. He took a rag and dipped it in the water. He began to reach for my face but still weary of this attitude I stop him and take the rag myself.

“Listen… I know I may seem odd to you. But I am not good at… working with others.” I see he feels uncomfortable but I do not respond hoping to see him squirm a little. After all, he did have a blade at my throat. Although I am not offended. Warriors don’t do feelings, they do battle.

“I just… want to say I am sorry. I promise, I would never hurt you.” He looks at me pleadingly hoping I will stop torturing him. I give in because apart of me doesn’t want to put him through too much pain.

“Its okay. I understand, but you need to understand I will not sit idly by. If you are wrong I will tell you. I will not hold back.” I look sternly at him.

“I understand. I will work on… listening.” There is a moment of silence until Ruven breaks it.

“Yes, I remembered, I wanted to tell you. I saw that you were struggling to get a peaceful nights sleep.Your dreams may be more vivid than before and you may begin to remember things.”

“What’s sorts of things?”

“I am not sure, I reached to the depths of your subconscious and opened a door which may take some time closing. Believe it or not, I do not go poking into others mind everyday.”

“Could have fooled me.” I reply smiling. He smirks and smiles back at me showing me a side of him I have not seen. His smile is so beautiful, so perfectly sculpted. But he quickly retracts and gets up. He begins to walk away.

“When you open the door can it… break curses? Or seals?” He stops and looks back at me, puzzled.

“It depends. I have never tried, again not an everyday thing. Why do you ask?” As he asks me this I feel strange and lie.

“No reason, just curiosity I guess.” I smile trying to hide my apprehension and feelings. He seems to linger around me but in the end he leaves and I am left wondering: can I break this lock on my memory? Maybe I would have a better sense of my life. I put it out of my mind right now. Our mission is more important. I get up and head back to everyone.

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Listen to: ”Winter's Song" (feat. Fleurie) // Produced by Tommee Profitt

We walk during the day and the sun is hot and the air is moist. Rain, it was coming I could feel it. I notice Reysalor alone and slow my pace down to join him.

“Hey.” I saw looking at him. He looks up and his bright smile lights up.

"Hey Veara.”

“Are you alright?” I say, his gaze finally leaving the ground to settle upon me.

“Yes, thank you for asking. And how are you doing?”

“Good, just.. walking.” We can’t hold our laughter.

“This is the most common conversation I have had in the most uncommon of circumstances.” He laughs and stops me. Everyone moves on slowly.

“Veara, have I told you how beautiful you are?” I feel myself blush.

“Thank you Reysalor.” Is all I can muster up to say. How do you respond to something like that? He inches closer to me and I feel something in the pit of my stomach. He places a hand on my cheek, but we are interrupted.

“We are approaching!” Ruven shouts and look at quickly step back from Reysalor and run ahead. I feel bad leaving him so I come back and grab his hand and drag him behind me. I can feel his hand tighten around mine, and I feel strange.. almost guilty.

I release Reysalor’s hand before everyone could see us and run to Ruven’s side. He looks at me but doesn’t ask me anything. As we approach the passage into the mountains it begins to get colder. I shiver. Ruven chuckles.

“Did you ever learn about Dwarves? Do you know why they love the cold?” He says in a sarcastically sinister way, instantly taking my mind off of what just happened.

“I know they love gold above all and that they greedy… and small.” He stops and look back at me as if appalled but in a joking away.

“They love the cold because it brings the women into their beds.” He winks at me making me blush. He laughs. I pout because I do not like being laughed at. He continues to talk.

“Veara, dwarves are kind folk. True, gold is desirable to them, very desirable, but they value family above all. Their hospitality is kind but anger them and they will unleash their wrath. They are mighty warriors and feast everyday. I spent 10 years of my life under the kings care. He was kind to me and treated me like his own son.” This explains why I didn’t know him before our mission. He grew up outside of our realm. Although an outcast, I was still able to attend the elvish schools due to my adoptive parents status.

Listen to:Ruelle - Deep End

The gates to enter have an inscription in the dwarf language.

“Shan requires gamil” Ruven reads.

“Family requires trust.” I translate. Ruven looks at me amused. “What? Just because I was wrong about their personalities doesn’t mean I don’t know some of their language.” I wink trying to mimic him and he smirks. I begin to walk on but Ruven extends his hand stopping me from going on. Her looks me and points to a very thin stand that is difficult to see in the dark. He looks at me and snickers.

“Have you no understanding of the saying? In order to trust, you must get through their test. This will be no simple task. We still have a days walk through these ruins which are set with death traps. Now Livo and Jome you must stay here you will not be able to pass this way. I will have the King send someone for you once we are there. Reysalor you can stay with them to stay safe.”

“You are not leaving me behind. I am going with you.” Reysalor says angrily pushing through Livo and Jome.

“Little prince, you might want to listen to Ruven, mate” says Livo kindly.

“We will take care of you.” Jome chuckles.

“Ruven, I am your future King, I will come and that is final. Unless you…” Ruven interrupt him.

“Very well, your highness,” Ruven says sarcastically, “but you must follow my orders or you will die. Cant rule if you are a corpse.” Reysalor does not take his eyes off of Ruven. He breaks his eye contact and walks up to Ruven. Reysalor comes to Ruven shoulder to shoulder.

“But Ruven,” he turns to look him in the eyes now. “Remember who you are and your place, which is kneeling at my feet.” He says low, but enough for me to hear. His voice spiteful and prideful. I see Ruven’s anger boiling. Natural instinct kick in and I quickly take Ruven’s hand. Reysalor sees and looks at me with pure anger, but I do not seem to care, I feel the need to be with Ruven. Ruven takes my hand. His hand is rough but warm. It feels strong. I feel every part of my body tingle, until Ruven releases my hand and moves towards the entrance. I feel like I have been rejected, but I brush off the embarrassment and the hurt I am feeling. I will not let either of them get to me. I am a warrior. I come to stand next to Ruven. We head into the labyrinth. We step over the string which Ruven had pointed out. He shows us the large boulders on each side standing there, ready to crush us if we would have touched the trap. We walk a little further and into view comes a tunnel. Ruven stops us.

“You must step where I step.” The room is made of gold, and there are symbols on each of the squares on the floor. They are different animals, elements, and gestures carved into the gold squares. Ruven steps on a large square with a rock symbol first. Then he steps on a wolf. Next he steps on a bird. I find the bird an odd symbol but do not swell on it much. The last square has two hands as if they are greeting one another. I step and fall into Ruven’s arms knocking him over. I lift my head to be inches away from his lips. I find myself being pulled off.

“Are you alright?” Reysalor asks helping me up. Looking at Ruven with angry eyes but quickly coming back to me.

“Yes I am fine, thank you. Just slipped, that’s all.” We pass through the rest unharmed. We continue to walk but it is quiet and dark.

“We should rest here for the night.” The night is cool again. Spring lingers in the air but the nights are still cool and refreshing. We settle in placing our things on the ground.

“I will take first watch.” I claim. Ruven nods, but Reysalor seems quiet now. He has barely said anything since we entered this labyrinth. I walk over to him.

“Reysalor, can we talk?..” He looks up at me and sadness looms over his face.

“Yea..” He makes a stop next to him and I sit beside him. But I hear a voice in my head. “Veara.. my love..” I am startled.. The voice seems familiar but I cannot remember where I have heard it. I shake it off.

“Veara?” Reysalor asks, concern spreading on his face.

“I am fine.” I smile, ignoring what just happened. “Look.. about earlier..”

“Its okay Veara, you were looking out for me. You wanted to calm him I know.” He takes my hand into his and kisses the back of my hand. I don’t feel anything, just the realization that I want him as my friend and nothing more, but before I can say anything Ruven calls me over.

“Sleep well Reysalor.” I smile.

“You too, love.” I walk over to Ruven still feeling flustered at my feelings. I walk over to Ruven behind the other wall.

Listen to: Ruelle - Find You (Official Audio)

“Veara, are you alright?” It’s Ruven. He seems concerned. Crap, I forgot he can read my feelings. I tell a white lie. I do not want him to know how I feel because I know he would only brush me away again. I also do not want to tell him about the disturbing voices and dreams I have because he will think I am crazy. Don’t another reason to be an outcast. But I cannot lie to him. He will know. So I tell a version of the truth.

“No…” I sigh. “I am worried about Reysalor. He seems quiet..”

“Veara, stop worrying.. I am sure he is fine. He is the ‘future king’ and all.” I sense some anger.

“Ruven, can you for once not be a complete imbecile?” He seems frustrated with me.

“Excuse me?”

“He has a lot on his shoulders. If you keep putting him below you, people will not see him as a king.”

“Are you are protecting him now? You take my hand, claiming to be on my side and then you go and protect him? Are you trying to play both sides? Because, sweetheart, it won’t work on me.” Now I am angry.

“Really Ruven? As soon as I took your hand you let mine go. Do you even want me on your side? Or are you too scared to have someone as an ally? You want to be the lone wolf? Fine and you can be. I will not try anymore. There is no point.” I begin to walk away but Ruven grabs my hand and pulls me into him, his lips finding mine. As soon as his lips were on mine I felt weak in my knees. The kiss was careful but once he felt my surrender the kiss deepened. It became more passionate. His one hand on my waist holding me from falling and the other on my face. He stops and looks me in the eyes. His thumb gently rubbing my cheek. I place my hands on his face and drawl him back in for another kiss. This time his hands hugging my waist bringing me in closer. We stop and look at each other. All the anger gone instead wide eyed smiles and we laugh, quietly. We look at each other a while longer.

“You better get some sleep, you have last watch.” I say. He sighs into my collar bone, brushing his lips against my neck, making me shiver. I felt so faint from his musky manly sent.

“You can breath, darling.” He pauses and smiles, his face inches away from mine again. “You know how hard I have tried to hold my feelings back?” He says brushing his nose against mine.

“Me to..” I say kissing his nose. He places his forehead on mine and we close our eyes and stay like that for a little. I can feel his chest rising and falling peacefully. My hands on his waist feel so small small. He is so strong and I can feel the muscles under my hands tense. Goodness.. my knees feel weak again.

“You are right.” He says. “Let us get to our posts.” He kisses my forehead ever so gently. I want to fall back into that kiss but I remember. I am on first watch! Although we are safe here, it’s a precaution. I let him go our hands letting go last. I sit on the other side of the wall where Reysalor is. He is sleeping soundly. Thank goodness. What would I do if he knew? He would be so.. angry. I am afraid of what that would look like. When I chose to stand with Ruven his angry was wild. I thought he would kill me there and then. I won’t tell him anything yet, not until Ruven and I can figure out what the heck is going on. Maybe then Reysalor won’t hurt as much.

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The night passes and we walk at dawn. We ready ourselves and begin our journey on. Reysalor is chatty and talks a lot to me. After last night, I can only think of Ruven and the kiss we shared. Every time he looks towards me he smiles and I blush back. We do not walk far but finally come to a large door made of gold. There is an Erie silence.

Listen to “Aurora - Hans Zimmer” white reading this.

“Ruven where are we?” I asked him quietly, afraid to disturb the silence.The walls were tall and there were many names written.

“The Hall of Knights, these are the knights lost to the war. Their bodies never found or too destroyed to recognize. Their names are put on this slot in hopes their souls find their way home and they can rest here.” He is solemn. He bends his knee, closes his eyes and tilts his head down. I do the same. He whispers

“Maime tye sér- -esse oira senda verya heroes” which means may you rest in eternal peace, brave heroes. His eyes are sad.

“My dwarven brother was never found. He went into the depths of the battle to help save so many.. including me. He saved me from many things, he scarified his life for me.” His eyes sad. I place a hand on his shoulder.

“He loved you, you were his brother, I would have done the same for mine.” gets up my hand falling off his shoulder. I feel a sting from his cold nature, but choose not to engage in any conversation because of the nature of our surroundings. We stay respectful and walk through room. Each slot is pure gold. We are quiet through the whole walk and I observe the thousands of slots which lay of soldiers not laid to rest and feel a sadness come upon me. Reysalor is quiet. He has barely spoken a word since we have entered. I will make it my goal to talk to him once we have a little time.

We walk for what seems like hours.

“Ruven, are we lost?” I whisper. He stops me in my tracks. We come upon a large gold door.

“We need to open it together.”

“How?” I ask.

“thamar ath ein, thamar ath bonded by Krazdran Nar ax. Aarak oz da returned, Nar morn da fallen.’’ He says looking at me for the first time since we entered the bodiless tomb.

“What does that mean?” Although I knew the dwarven language I could barely pick out bits and pieces of that.

“Its an older dwarven language, it means ‘we are one, we are bonded by battle and ax. Open to the returned, and morn the fallen’ ” I nod and look too Reysalor for reassurance and compliance. He nods. We begin to chant together in unison. We say it three times and the door opens.