The Guardian’s Echo

The General’s Vigil: Soren

I stood by the window, my back to the room. Every muscle in my body felt like it was coiled up too tight. My palm still burned with a phantom heat where I’d touched Penny’s cheek, and I had to keep my hand in a fist just to hide the fact that it was trembling now.

I watched the village below through a crack in the curtains, but my focus was on the sounds Penny made — the rustle of sheets as she climbed into the bed, her soft exhale, and the creak of the mattress. I hated the distance between us that I’d forced, but I was more afraid of the proximity. I had lived my entire life by a set of rules that helped to make me invincible. Tonight, though, I felt like I was made of glass.

I listened to her breathing. Because of the way our magic had twisted together, I wasn’t just watching her. I could feel her. Her sleep was far from peaceful.

She started to toss and turn in her sleep while that soft, silvery lavender light seeped out from her, casting the room in shadows while the fire died down to embers. She looked so small in that massive bed.

I knew deep in my soul that was dreaming of her daughter. She was dreaming of the “reset” the Weavers wanted. I could feel her grief in the air. Every time she whimpered, a part of my discipline crumbled. I had faced armies without flinching, but the sound of her fear was a blade I had no shield for.

I shifted my grip on my dagger. I had told her I had to remember who I was. I was a General of the Royal Guard. My life was a forfeit to the Crown. I was a weapon designed to protect.

But as I watched her hand reach out into the empty space of the bed, I knew the lie was dead. I wasn’t just protecting “The Queen’s Mother.” I was protecting Penny. And may the stars help the Weaver that tries to take her from me.

I had to force my thoughts away from her. Turning back to the window, I pushed the curtain aside by just an inch. High on the ridge, the Ashendor Estate was almost invisible beneath the growing black vortex. It looked like a hole had been torn in the sky.

The flickers weren’t just at the manor anymore either. They were moving down the slopes toward the village. They weren’t running though. They drifted, slow and inevitable.

Penny was right. We couldn’t run. We couldn’t just abandon the village, not when it could still be turned into a fortress. Besides, in the woods, we would just be hunted in the dark.

I lost track of the hours while I stood watch. Penny’s restlessness reached its peak, and she cried out a single name. “Anya!”

I finally moved towards her. I didn’t get on the bed though. Instead, I pulled a chair over, and sat there with my sword across my lap. I laid my hand near hers on the blanket — not touching, but close enough that my grey energy could wash over her like a soothing balm.

In the dark, I talked to her, keeping my voice low enough that I wouldn’t wake her, but I hoped she’d feel it. I told her about the first time I’d seen Anya, at the Winter Solstice Gala two and a half years ago. Hope no one in the realm knew who she was, no one recognized her, but she had saved the soon-to-be-crowned king. She disappeared for a year after that, and when I saw her again, she was being presented to the realm as King Torian’s intended.

I told her how Anya stood tall on the terrace while it filled with nobles and commoners alike, some scared of where she’d come from and some curious. She had lifted her chin and spoke with love, bravery, and a quiet yet fierce confidence that the realm would thrive because Rosariel’s heir had returned.

I talked for hours in the dark, until the sunlight started to filter through the curtains, turning the room grey, telling her stories about “The Rose Queen” and the things that she’d missed during the year they had been separated.

As the pale light of dawn reached the bed, her hand moved, finally finding my hand, and curling around my fingers. I didn’t pull away this time. I just accepted the fact that the sun was rising on a town that wasn’t supposed to exist anymore, and in a few hours, I would have to become the general that could lead these “ghosts” into a war for their lives.