Beautiful Dreamer

Chapter 3

Analise had finally fallen asleep, it had taken awhile for her to actually calm down but the exhaustion had seemed to take its course. She looked so at peace sleeping. Her light brown hair gently caressing her soft cheek. I got up and pushed the hair from her face, the strands felt like silk against my fingertips. I ran them along her supple lips. How I yearned to press mine against hers. It was not supposed to happen like this. I was not supposed to get feelings for her but I just could not help myself. There was something special about her, and she was not appreciated the way that she should have been. I took the job not thinking anything of it. It should have been so simple but she made it hard. Now I was stuck here in this cottage with her all to myself. I knew I was going to have to tell her the truth but how was I going to explain it without her hating me. She looked at me with so much trust earlier. I just wanted to live like that forever. I knew telling her the truth would take that all away though. I would just have to win her trust back. She had to trust me! I was all she had now. The world she thought she knew was going to disappear and I was the only one she would have to turn to. I got her out of that castle. I saved her. Surely, she would see that and take it into consideration. She would know I was not all bad. I cared for her, and she cared about me...even though it was not real.

I had in fact had only met Analise a couple weeks ago but to her it must have seemed like a lifetime ago. In her mind we were friends, her first boyfriend that did not quite work out. In the end we decided we were better off as friends, even best friends.  That is what she thought had happened at least, because that is how I made it seem. 

I had received summons from my king. He had use for someone with my specialty in magic. I had trained proficiently in sleep and memory magic. A very rare talent for someone as young as myself and I was the best, which I suppose was not saying much since the gift of magic was so rare that across the lands it was nothing but a myth for most. For those who knew what to look for it was easy to find though, and that is how the king found me. He did not have magic himself but he would do anything to control it himself. He was power hungry and I could tell the idea of having me in his employ exhilarated him. He offered me a place in his castle, access to his extensive library, and wealth that I could not even begin to fathom. I accepted this role at his side before even knowing the job he wanted me to do. It did not matter to me though; with the power the king had, I could have anything I wanted. His offer was easy to accept as I really had no moral compass myself. Which pleased the king even more, I was just a tool that had no qualms with just doing what I was told.

The king and I walked along the halls with his guards close in tow as showed me around his magnificently large castle. Bragging about where he acquired each and every gaudy little trinket. His ostentatious display did not impress me though. All I really cared about was getting to the books. I heard the library here had many books that touched on magic since the king was obsessed with it. As we headed in the direction of the library a young woman in a light pink dress was walking towards us. Her nose was buried deep within the pages. She walked straight into me dropping her book on the ground.

“Oh...my apologies,” she said timidly, and then curtsied to the king.

I picked her book up and handed it to her. Two dazzling grey eyes stared back at me, as she accepted the book. 

“The intricacies of magic, it is one my favorites,” I said smiling and she quickly smiled back.

“Lady Analise, I would like to introduce you to my new friend Zachariah Ruland. He will be staying here at the castle with us,” King Cardwell told her.

“I am honored to make your acquaintance sir. Any friend of our king is a friend of mine. I hope you will enjoy it here. If there is anything, we can do to make you more comfortable here please let me know.”

Analise then took her leave and I could not help but to watch her go. She walked with so much grace that it almost seemed like she gliding. She was mesmerizing with a body like an hour glass and beautiful light brown hair that ran to the middle of her back. Analise has truly piqued my interest and I was now looking forward to my stay at the castle even more, with someone as bewitching as her gracing the halls. I turned my attention back to the king. He wore a devilish smile as looked at her and then back to me.

“So, about that job,” the king said, looking at Analise now, “I will need you to wipe her memory out completely. I do not want her to have a single original memory. You will wipe them all and replace them with this.”

He handed me a piece of parchment that had very specific instructions on what her new memories would be. He wanted to make sure he could control her and knew that with my power he could. After ironing out a few of the details, I started the job. I went into her bedroom and placed her further into a deep sleep so she would not easily awaken. I went in and began at the start of her life taking her memories and replacing them. It was like a dream but it would feel like an entire lifetime to her.

Remembering what I had done to her, now made me sick. I wanted to fix it but it was not as simple as just giving her the memories back. I had to bottle them and those bottles now belonged to the king. The only thing I could do now was tell her the truth of what had happened. She would probably hate me but at least she would be out of his grasp now. I would protect Analise and keep her away from him. Even if she did not want me to be the one to do it. I put my hand on her forehead and pushed her into a deep sleep like I did so many times before. I needed to run into the town nearby to gather a few supplies. The last thing I needed was for Analise to wake up and take off. It was in her best interest that I keep her here. I grabbed my cloak and headed into town. 

The town was pretty big so I easily blended into the crowd not wanting to stand out. I found the market place and quickly made my purchases. We would need quite a bit of food to sustain us for how long we would be staying in the cottage. As I was handing my coin to the fruit vendor, I heard two men behind me, I turned ever so slightly to see them out of the corner of my eye. They were palace guards. I lifted my hood up to hide my face and slowly passed by them as they showed a picture of myself and Analise to one of the other vendors in the market.

“Sir!” I froze dead in my tracks. 

“You forgot your change,” said the fruit vendor.

I did not dare turn around for fear of being caught. “Keep it,” I said.

It was too close of a call and I knew I needed to get back to the cottage now.