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Johan was back at Lombarton making himself dinner. “Kiera has been gone for a long time,” he thought to himself. “Seems like it should only take a few weeks to get there and back. Then again she is with that Prince Saeran, he is probably slowing her down.” Johan sat down with his bowl of leftover deer stew, but he didn’t start eating it right away, he just sat there thinking. “As long as Kiera comes home empty-handed we should get paid. I can go kill that pampered prince. We’ll get paid and we won’t have some idiot collecting our taxes. Kiera will be grateful.” He smirked and started to devour his stew.
“I think my leg is getting better.” Saeran let go of Kiera’s shoulder and tested his leg.
“I hope not, you’ll need real medical help so that it heals straight.”
“Aah! Okay, never mind,” Saeran reached for Kiera’s shoulder again.
“Good, now I don’t have to worry about it healing, huh?” Kiera looked over to where she thought she heard some leaves rustling.
“What is it?” Saeran asked.
“Oh, nothing, I was just saying that it’s a good thing it hasn’t healed completely yet.”
All of the sudden a man wearing all black clothes walked out from behind a tree. “So this is the famous Prince Saeran? How pathetic.”
“Johan?” Kiera looked at him with surprise. “What are you doing here?”
Johan had his dagger out and started walking forward, “Oh just finishing some business.”
Kiera saw what was going on immediately. She sat Saeran down and stepped in front of him. “You’re not getting the prince.”
Johan was completely shocked, “He is the enemy.”
“Why!? Why is he our enemy!?”
“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten.”
“I remember the taxes, but that wasn’t his fault. I remember the ransack, that was the tax collectors’ fault! I remember not being able to get a job when I was old enough, that was my fault!” Kiera’s voice rose with each statement.
“All this happened because the taxes were raised--”
“By his father!”
“Is that so? Well I guess my work here is done.” He turned and started walking away.
“Oh no you don’t,” Kiera growled. She ran up, grabbed both of Johan’s wrists and pinned then against his back. “You are not going to kill the king!”
“And why not? You said yourself that it was his fault the taxes were raised.” Johan was a master at keeping his cool under pressure.
“Because he is the only family Saeran has left!” Everything went silent, even the birds seemed to be listening intently.
Saeran hadn’t really thought about it but it was true. His sister had been killed by Kiera just a week ago. His thoughts filled with sorrow but was replaced with rage and frustration. This man, Johan, had killed his mother. He wanted to stand up and scream, “You’re going to pay for killing my mother!” But he couldn’t.
Kiera finally continued, “I’ve never had my family there to help, for as long as I can remember you’ve been my father. I don’t want Saeran going through the rest of his life with no one at all!”
There was another awkward silence and Johan’s arms no longer struggled to get free. He opened his mouth to say something but all that came out was a sigh. Sensing that his hostility was gone, Kiera let go of Johan’s arms. Just to be safe, she grabbed his dagger and placed it in her sash.
“You must be getting tired, I could carry the prince if you want,” Johan offered in a low voice.
“What?! No! I’m not going to let the man who killed my mother carry me!” he shouted.
“So you told him that? Hmph,” he chuckled. “I get it now.”
Kiera was helping Saeran up again. “Wait, I’m confused, what does he get?”
“It’s over my head,” Kiera replied. She spoke to Johan now. “I cant risk you going back to Lombarton alone so it looks like you’re with us.”
“Heh, looks like I’ve trained you well in areas other than battle and thievery.”
On their journey back home, Johan had found a thick, slightly uneven stick for Saeran to use as a crutch instead of leaning on Kiera. To keep Saeran from thinking that Johan was going to kill him, Kiera always stayed in the middle, Saeran to her left and Johan to her right. Three weeks had passed and as luck would have it, it started to rain.
“*ACHOO* *ACHOO*” Kiera sneezed, her hair was stringy from the rain.
“I don’t care what you think, you’re sick,” Johan finished the argument. “We need to find you some better shelter than trees.”
Saeran, still hobbling on his makeshift crutch, spoke for Kiera. “Okay, but where? We are in the middle of nowhere.”
“Well then I guess we’ll have to go to a town in the middle of nowhere. There is a small town just up ahead and across the river.” Johan saw the worry in Saeran’s face. “Don’t worry, there is a bridge. I’m not about to let Kiera get more sick than she already is.”
Just fifteen minutes later they came to a strong looking wooden bridge with small embankments underneath that led to a small town. Actually it could barely be called a village. There were maybe twelve small buildings, three animal pastures, about an acre of crops, no roads and not even a wall.
“Here we are,” Johan indicated with his hand. “Now let’s get under the bridge and out of the rain.”
“Wait, Why don’t we go to the chapel? Priests tend to be very caring towards the needy, at least they are back at Lombarton.”
“*ACHOO*”
“Well I guess its worth a shot.”
The chapel was very traditional and maybe even a little plain. The bricks were painted white, above the slightly oversized double doors was a stained glass window. Smoke was billowing out of a chimney at the far end, at the very tip of the steeple was a wooden, rather weather beaten cross. Johan looked at Saeran, “So… do we knock?”
“I don’t know, I’ve only ever been to the palace cathedral.”
“I guess it couldn’t hurt.” Johan pounded his fist against the door.
“A minute later a priestess with a light blue church gown, brown hair with gray streaks and caring brown eyes came to the door. She seemed a little dumbstruck at the rag-tag group in front of her; and old man with all black clothes, a girl sneezing her guts out and a boy in a red satin overcoat with a broken leg, all drenched to the skin. “Please come in out of the rain.” She held the door open for the three to enter. The priestess led the way through the sanctuary to a fire place in the corner. “Sit down, get warmed up, I’ll be back with a blanket.” Johan sat down on a nearby pew while Kiera and Saeran sat down on the floor in front of the fire.
Before the priestess left towards the closet Kiera said, “Thank you…”
“Penthra,” she introduced herself.
“*ACHOO* Thank you Penthra.”
“It’s my pleasure, really,” she left the room.
“You should get some rest, Kiera,” Saeran advised. “It will help you get better faster.”
“Yeah you’re probably right,” Kiera agreed. She lied down and was asleep before Penthra could return with the blanket.
“Thank you,” Saeran whispered.
“This may just be a small village but we love to help anyone, be they rich or poor, we ask for no money,” Penthra responded. “You two should probably get some rest as well,” she directed towards both of them.
“Yeah, the rain has taken a toll on me as well,” Johan
yawned. He leaned back into the padded seat of the pew.
Saeran laid his head down next to Kiera’s and whispered, “Goodnight, Kiera.”
 Ember1257 · Tue May 05, 2009 @ 02:53am · 3 Comments |
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