The Conquerers

Chapter three

Right after what happened to Hiraeth

Third person pov

Xerxes wakes up from his deep slumber suddenly and terrified at what he just saw. It couldn't be, he simply saved the girl, but there is something off about her. Beware of the snake in the forest. What does it mean? He saw her, he say what happened to her, but he couldn't help her, he knows that they are connected in some strange way but he has no idea now, he only knows that she is in danger. He frantically gets up from his bed, though he is half naked, he has no time to worry about looking acceptable, she is in danger. He runs to her wing and then into the garden. He doesn't know how he knows where she is but he does. He finds her laying under the willow tree, unconscious, with a finch in her lap squeaking in a worried manner, the grass and the flowers around her have grown, covering her like you would mummify a dead man. He rips off the grass and picks her up. He carries her all the way back to his wing and his bedroom, he lays her on his bed as he hurries to the bathroom to get some water. He gets a jug of water and puts his hand in the jug. He runs his now wet hands through her face, hoping that the water will wake her up, which it eventually does. She opens her eyes and looks up at him, she asks. "What happened?"
He looks at her with a sense of longing, longing to hold her and protect her from the fear she must be going through, a longing to embrace all her troubles away. She sits up and he says softly
"What did you see my dear?"
She says
"I was sitting beneath the willow tree. When I fell into some sort of faze. I was in a forest, a sort of rainforest. It was night too, I saw a fire in the distance and went towards it to see a bunch of people wearing tribal clothing dancing around the fire. A woman suddenly stopped and approached me, she started chanting the same thing. 'Ugh isismi calu natimo pali'"
He interrupts her and says
"Beware of the snake in the forest"
Her eyes widen and she asks
"How did you know?"
Xerxes wants to tell her, tell her about some sort of connection they have but she has been through enough. He says
"I heard you murmuring it"
She sighs and says
"I'm really sorry Sir, I don't know what is happening to me"
He says
"Call me Xerxes"
She slightly smiles and says
"Very well, Xerxes it is"

At seven o'clock

Still third person pov

Dinner time has come, Xerxes and Hiraeth are sitting across from each other, sharing a heart piercing silence. The table is filled with greek foods such as pastitsio, moussaka, fish, meat and all sorts of other foods. Xerxes looks at Hiraeth while she digs in and serves herself. She is a mysterious thing. She holds a rare beauty, inside and out. And what occurred this afternoon just proves it. Xerxes says
"Hiraeth"
She looks up at him and says
"Yes?"
He says
"What happened before you got here? Why were you in the sea"
Her eyes widen and she staggers
"I....I was locked up since I was a child, nine to be exact. My mother was killed by the men who took me. They would feed me enough to keep me alive but were quite mean. There was this man, I was never told his name but he would teach me things such as English and science and everything, he kept saying I was special or something. He and the other men in the premises wanted something with my blood but never seemed to be able to take it. After all those years, I was finally able to escape until I got centered on a bridge. I didn't want to go back there so I jumped into the water, accepting wherever my fate would lead me"
He felt pity for her yet was not surprised. Based on how she got here and what happened this afternoon, he knew she wasn't normal. He says
"Tell me....when you were there, would they force you to swallow any pills?"
She nods and he says
"I see. My thought is that the reason you were so confused as for what happened this afternoon is because you were no longer taking those pills, the ones which were holding you back from your true self."
She says
"My true self?"
He nods and rubs his fingers under his chin in a thinking manner
"I refuse to believe you are simply a normal girl"
She says
"Then what am I?"
He says
"That's what we are here to find out"