Chapter 46

This chapter has been copied from the original and may contain typos and grammatical errors.

~*~

Seneca watched on as Gloria fell asleep. Looking at her face, where he once had wanted to learn all of it’s secrets, he now felt that he had no place to look at her. They hadn’t talked much after he cleaned her up. He stitched her cheek up, very carefully, but he was worried that he had done a sloppy job. Barnabus’s wife always did a great job when he had an injury, but he had never done it himself. He hoped it wouldn’t scar.

He felt like he had nothing to do now. He was starving; he would have to be quiet going down to the kitchen for food. He couldn’t even fathom how hungry Gloria was. He hadn’t been concerned with feeding her, when was the last time she ate?

He took his boots off and padded his way down to the kitchen. He didn’t have a clock in his room, how long had he been with Gloria? Had it been hours? It had been evening when he brought her up, and now in the dark of night it was impossible to tell the time.

The clock in the main room of the house claimed it was some time after two in the morning. Seneca felt groggy, but he couldn’t really sleep in his room. Not when there was a girl in his bed.

“Sen,” he heard a whisper from behind him. He spun quickly, nearly knocking a vase off of it’s place on a shelf.

It was Kritsa. She had her hair partially down, dressed in an expensive silk robe. If she were a fine object, Seneca would feel impulsed to package her away from all of the dirt and grime that seemed to be ever flowing from every corner of their compound. How she stayed clean was beyond him.

He realised that he was still in his normal clothes. When had he had time to change? And even his night clothes didn’t look as clean as her worst ones…

“What are you doing up? Did your carriage get too cold?” he asked, smoothing back his hair.

“I couldn’t sleep. Too many ideas in my mind.” she took a step towards him, giving a little smile. “And my carriage is rather cold.” she smiled. Even without her jewelry she still seemed to sparkle.

“Well, I can fix up a fire in the fireplace if you like. Wouldn’t want you to catch a cold.” he envisioned her skin, cold and smooth. He shivered. “You should stay away from Henry. Don’t want anyone catching whatever he has.” he laughed.

She moved even close to him. “I was hoping you would be willing to warm it up for me.” she said quietly.

He felt a shiver run all the way up his spine. “Um, your carriage doesn't have a wood burner…” he blushed. He didn’t want to read too far into what she said in case she didn’t mean what he thought she did.

“Seneca, I’m here for only a few days a year, I want you to warm my carriage.” she raised her eyebrow.

His stomach dropped from the nerves. He had wanted to be with her for months, dreamt of what may happen, but he had never thought that she would want the same thing. And after this evening’s events, he thought he had lost the chance completely.

He craned his neck and kissed her softly, unsure of how to go about it. Everyone knew he was to marry Lady Krista, and he was monitored so closely that he couldn’t even think about kissing another girl without being scolded. He was nearly positive that Baranabus’s wife was psychic.

She grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him to her aggressively. He nearly tripped over his own feet, but she didn’t seem to mind.

~*~

Blake wobbled in his carriage. It had been a four day journey to the capitol, and judging by the sound of people and life getting more and more frequent, he could tell they were getting close.

The bonds that held them were easily taken off by Marco’s experienced fingers. He had been a fisherman years ago, and he could still tie and, more importantly right now, untie knots.

But it wasn’t the knots that held them, it was the doors to the carriage. They were surprisingly strong, and even with the four of them trying to force the doors they still wouldn’t do more than rattle. They were fed twice a day, and let out to relieve themselves at the same time, but they were watched and monitored. They had been disarmed thoroughly and had no weapons. The templars had all of the power, and Blake had to come up with something quick if he was going to get out of dying at the hands of the Church.

“They let us out at nightfall, we could get away then. The darkness will help hide us.” he said softly to the gloom of the carriage. There was a single window, and it didn’t let in much light.

“They’d shoot you in the back for sure. Ok, maybe not you because you’re the Duchess’s son and the Church will want the publicity of your capture, but the rest of us are expendable to them.” Rufus said. “To attempt an escape would be suicide!”

“To let them take us to the capitol would be signing our own death warrants! The king must be told everything we know. He must know that the Church killed his heir but that his queen lives on on the Western Islands. He must know.” Blake urged.

They sat in silence for a while, letting the knowledge that they had failed in the most important mission they would ever have sink in. If they didn’t die at the hands of the Church, they would probably die at the hands of the king for this failure.

The carriage lurched to a halt, and all five of the templars came around to the side back of the carriage to let them out.

“She’s a girl! A restrained one at that, you couldn’t figure out how to kill her? Do you know what sort of trouble she could cause if she’s running around?” one of the templars said.

The blond one picked up.”Hey, drowning usually works! When has drowning not worked? And she’s not running around, she’s been arrested and she’s not going anywhere. Though if it were up to me, I would have killed her. They know how dangerous she is to be kept alive.”

Blake held up three fingers, then counted down until the door was pulled open. The four of them charged the five templars, throwing them off balance. Rufus and Angus made for the trees quickly, but Blake turned and drew one of the templars’ swords and held it at chest height, warding them off. Marco hesitated to leave him there, but knew that the longer he stayed the harder it would be to run.

“What do you me by ‘her’?!” Blake demanded.

“Son, put down the sword. You can’t take all of us.” one of them said, approaching carefully.

“I can and I will if I have to, but you will tell me if it’s Gloria that you’re talking about.” Blake threatened, approaching them without cowardice.

They backed up. As much as they acted like they could fight, Blake wasn’t so sure that they could.

“Word is that the witch you were traveling with has been arrested and is alive. That is all we know.” a different one of them said.

“You’re lying!” he advanced and they retreated again. “Tell me where she is!”

Sir Rhayde drew his sword and slashed at Blake, but was no match for him. Blake quickly had him at a disadvantage, a blade at the man’s neck. “Where is she?” he growled.

“She’s being held at the Compound.” he blurted.

“Sir Rhayde!” one of the other knights said.

“I don’t want to die!” he defended.

“Where is this Compound?” Blake pushed.

“I don’t know, I haven’t been there. Honestly.” Rhayde shook.

“That’s too bad.” Blake said. “It could have helped save your life. But then, attempting to kill the heir to the king is a crime punishable by death.”

Marco flinched at the sight of blood, then turned to join the other men.

We see a new side of Blake! And things are getting pretty serious between Seneca and Krista.

As always, your comments are always treasured and adored!