The Green Amulet

Chapter 2

Lyra

"Oh my love, my heart pounds for you as profoundly and ferociously as the tempo of the Kingdom drum during feasts… but even  if that is true  my Earl, our stars are crossed in the heavens rendering us cursed if we are to pursue this! I am already a wife to another, my family knows this…the whole Kingdom knows this...Earl your father the King knows this."

Bullocks and crackers! Did she just confess her love then flip it to a sour pile of horse droppings  due to her unsolicited marriage that was done when she was barely old enough to adorn a corset on her own? Traditions be damned!

"Ow!"

My head turned sharply towards Mitchell.  If he so much as exposed our hiding place so help me gods I would throttle him to death. He could go on and meet our ancestors.

"What do you think you are doing you nincompoop? You are going to get us caught!"

Mitchell 's patina eyes appeared glassy with unreleased tears. I angled my head to look at him properly. If his painful yelp wasn't going to get us caught, my suppressed laughter surely would. His face was now a deep shade of red tiding towards purple as he looked at me pleadingly. My eyes travelled down to where his hand was, his derriere.

"Do not make a sound, I will pull it out."

Mitchell shook his head successively while moving backwards. His face scrunched in pain as the thorn plummeted deeper on one of his buttocks, he shouldn't have moved.

"Do not be such a toddler Mitch. Haven't you ever heard of stroke? That thorn is from the mulberry tree which is highly poisonous. Unless you want one side of your behind to lose its sensitivity I suggest you let me rid you of that thorn!"

I briefly turned to the side in order to prevent myself from letting out a cackle as Mitchell's eyes widened in shock. Who on earth didn't know that a mulberry tree had no poisonous thorns?

"Do it, p-pull it out but p-please Ly be g-gentle...Ow! Mother of all apes!"

I swiftly moved my palm to cover his mouth knowing his sudden painful outburst would surely expose us. As he was busy mumbling to be shown mercy, I had stealthily moved my hand towards the thorn embedded on his left buttock and yanked it out. I simply could not resist the pleasure of seeing him squirm, vengeance for him exchanging my wild fruits with pebbles was rather sweet.

"Now shush! We have missed a lot because of your foolishness."

My averted attention turned back to the couple who were currently holding each other for dear life in the clearing bordering the bushy haven we were in.

"...I simply cannot live without you Melanie...do you recall the first time we met? Right there near the river? With your pert features glistened with sweat from fetching gallons of water? Remember how tongue stricken I was due to your beautiful physique, mesmerizing appeal, captivating hazel eyes and those...those ridiculously sultry lips that I forever want to synchronize with mine. We can be together Mel, we can beat the stars."

I rolled my eyes at my brother's corny sentiments. How could such intelligence be washed away with a mere feeling that only bores sadness as fruit?

"Here you are! I have been looking all over for you. I knew I'd find you hiding somewhere in the woods. Now where is your brother? "

I had remained frozen as nanny Theresa rambled on. We had been exposed! My brother would flog me mercilessly, I would meet our ancestors before Mitchell...

"Ah there he is, wait is that Melanie? The blacksmith's wife?"

Mitchell tugged her flannel repeatedly to no avail. Theresa kept swatting his hand away while trying to find a way out of the bushes. My ears were not capturing waves of any sort of conversation which meant...

"Lyra! Lyra is that you? What on earth are you doing here?"

I gulped back the hurling feeling at the back of my mouth that was being stirred up by the storm of nervousness rumbling in my tummy. This was my end, I had after a endured a long fruitful life.

"Were you two...were you two spying on us? "

A whimper escaped Melanie's mouth as she turned away from us. Lovely, she had just handed me my death wish. My brother would  surely behead me now for upsetting his love with whom he could beat the stars with.

"Lyra Mitchulli you are dead!"

In one fluid motion, Mitchell yanked my arm and we dashed from the scene unsure of which direction to take but as fate would have it, Mitchell's clumsiness caused his freedom and my life. I watched in horror as Mitchell fell face flat on the ground on a pound of fresh horse droppings. Torn between laughter and sympathy, I forgot my current predicament.

"Just how far did you presume you could reach without me catching you? How could you invade my privacy like that Lyra?"

I finally lifted my face to look at my brother for the first time since he found us crouching behind the bushes. I expected a look of wrath even acrimony, instead his face was adorned with...pain. Guilt washed over me and more so when I spotted Melanie pacing behind us under the scrutiny of nanny Theresa. She was probably scared to death that her affair with my brother would be unraveled. The penalty for adultery was being stoned to death, what was I thinking? Damn you Mitchell!

"You two, back to the castle right now-"

"Not until I deal with this t**t -"

"It was all Mitchell's fault I swear-"

"No it is not! You begged me to accompany you to spy on-"

"You did what-"

"Enough! Children, your father...your father is dying."

The woods remained still, the chirping of birds suddenly drowned by the dreadful information. Nanny Theresa just wanted to silence us, father was probably fine. She always did lie like this...witty woman. I heard it, first slow then the tempo increased, the Kingdom's humongous bell, it was usually a death announcer...of a noble.

Oh no.