An Unbreakable Tie

      “Oh please!” I screamed, throwing my hands up to defend myself from the attacker that had cornered me in the dark and desolate alley of Kuno Village.

     “You bein’ a pretty thang, I find it hard leavin’ you alone,” he laughed, taking another step towards my terrified body. My lavish maid skirts fluttered delicately around my long legs with the rush of another wind. The petticoats and silk underskirt rustled beneath the red cloth embroidered with dragons.

     “Please let me be. I’ll give you anything!” I informed him as he grabbed my fragile wrists together.

     A pervert to the core, the man replied, “And if it’s your innocence I’m after, pretty little mouse?” I shuddered; utterly appalled that he’d say such a thing to Princess Lorianna’s personal maid. Where were the knights that her father had sent out to rescue me? I knew they couldn’t be dead yet they should have been in Kuno an hour ago.

     His unoccupied hand wrapped around my slender waist and he pulled me close to his throbbing body. The hand drifted around my small buttocks before grasping a cheek hard in its grasp. I screamed, tears beginning to flow down my face as he threw me to the ground. I continued my screams as he was on top of me, reaching up my rich skirts. His dirty hand found my cloth panties and he chuckled as I screamed a third time. His other hand slapped my face, dazing me instantly.

     “Get off her!” I heard a male yell and seconds later a large force knocked the man off of me. His dirty nails dug into my pale calves, gouging a long scratch into the tissue that lay under my skin. I let out a cry as my injury began to burn. Blood dyed my white undergarments quickly and I wrapped a hand around a third of the pain as I sat up. An ugly snap caused me to quiet and I looked at my attacker and the man who’d saved me.

     A mane of curly brown hair framed the blue eyes of my hero. Muscled arms rippled beneath a tight tunic of green trimmed in thread silver, marking him an inn keeper and healer of the Realm. He stood, disentangling himself from the dead body of my assaulter.

     “Are you alright?” he asked, coming close to me as he dare before kneeling.

     I nodded, still holding my burning calf. My head was growing dizzy and I felt hot, almost as if I was ill. I felt my cheeks begin to redden with fever as the poison that had been deposited in my wound began to take effect.

     The royal man placed a wrist on my head and caught me as I fell back. “Easy there,” he murmured. “My name is Jayden. I’m a royal healer.”

     “I can see that,” I retorted feverishly. “You work for my mistress’s father.”

     Jayden let out a masculine laugh as dark blue gathered around his large hands. “Looks like that man had a strong poison beneath his fingernails. I apologize for making him injure you,” he informed me, carefully placing his hands over my calf.

      Fever dragged at my mind and I didn’t reply. Instead I let my eyes drift together as I felt my skin heal. After the perception of broken skin was replaced by a cooling sensation, I felt Jayden’s hands shift to my head.

     “I can dull the fever but you’ll have to fight until we can get to my inn,” I heard him say as I was picked up. My skirts shifted, slightly heavy with the bit of blood they’d soaked in. Jayden carried me out of the alley as quickly as he could and he headed for the location of his inn. My head was pounding as he walked through the dark Kuno streets.

     “Halt!” a voice ordered and Jayden stopped in his tracks. “Why do you hold Princess Lorianna’s maid in your arms?”

     “Sorry,” he whispered to me before answering. “I came across her while venturing from the market. She was in a twist so I helped her out. Poor thing collapsed from exhaustion so I was taking her to my inn for a night of rest.”

     “And why are we to believe you, inn keeper?” asked the same man, who I believed to be a knight now.

     “There is no reason for you to believe me. I’ve only kept her from harm’s way. It seems to me that she’s been poisoned as well.”

     “And that is ‘keeping her from harm’? Hand her over as instructed by the King or we shall use force.”

     I mustered the strength to whisper a denial. “No. Leave Jayden be.”

     “Master Jayden the Royal Healer?” a separate man questioned.

     I could tell Jayden was smiling as he replied, “The one and only. Hello knights. I believe you would like to take Rosella from my healing grasp?”

     Before a comment could be let out, I cried in pain as the poison reached my nervous system.

     “What’s wrong with her?” someone asked as Jayden put me on the street side. He placed cool hands over my temples and sent a cooling sensation rippling through my body.

     “Like I said; she’s been poisoned!” he yelled. “Now I would appreciate it if you would kindly escort me to my inn so I can treat her before she dies!” There was a bustle of hooves as a carriage was brought forth and Jayden placed me within the padded cell before climbing in himself.

     “How long do we have before she expires?” questioned the driver.

     “Not long. Approximately ten minutes,” Jayden informed him, checking the pulse in my left wrist as I opened my eyes to look at him. Sweat beaded every inch of my body and I was growing even paler with each passing second.

The carriage took off, its horses in a dead gallop as knights rode ahead of us, warning Kuno’s citizens to vacate the street.

“It doesn’t hurt much,” I told him, lying as pain sent a shiver through my body.

     Jayden smiled, his teeth shining in the full moon’s light that streamed through the paned window of the carriage. “Sure you’re not. I can see through your lying demeanor though Miss Rosella.” Jayden looked out the window as his smile fell. “We’re not going to make it,” he whispered to himself. “Guess it’s time for drastic measures.”

     “Sir,” called the carriage driver, “I don’t think we’ll get there in time!”

     “Thank you mister obvious,” Jayden murmured, taking a knife from his belt. “This might sting a bit,” he told me as his body began to glow the dark blue that was his magic. He took the knife and put the tip to the skin of my collar bone, drawing a rune in my skin before drawing the same on his left palm. Blood trickled slowly done my chest and off the wells of his palm before the blue grew darker and Jayden pressed the rune on his palm to the rune on my chest.

     Flashes of a childhood passed in front of my eyes as power flooded my veins. I was sure that the brown haired little boy that I was seeing was Jayden. The boy ran around a tall man, his father I assumed, and laughed as only a happy four year old can. The next scene was Jayden, approximately eight now, riding on the back of a grey mare.

     “It’s not nice to look through my past while I’m helping you,”the present Jayden informed me, taking his hand from me. We were both covered in sweat, the result of magic drawing on our strengths. Jayden’s body ceased to glow on every part but the hand he’d used to heal me. I did the same as his power drew from my tired body, leaving a dab of dark blue glowing on my collar bone. These two instances remained bright as everything else in my vision faded. The last thing I remembered before closing my eyes for sleep was Jayden falling into my lap, physically drained after such an experience.