Shadows of the Light

Page 24

The fire crackled pleasantly as Sakiya and Marcy sat on the rocks. The remains of the rabbit he had eaten lay in a small hole that he lazily scooped dirt over at undecided intervals. He thanked the Light he had watched the cooks closely while he was working in the Mening residence. Of course, when he envisioned himself living alone, this wasn't what he expected. Marcy had looked around and picked some berries and dug up a plant he did not recognise. She washed it in the small stream nearby and proceeded to crunch noisily on it, which she was still doing. Sakiya sighed.

"I know you can't help it, but you need to at least try not to crunch so loudly. Its bad manners, Marcy dear."

Marcy swallowed quickly and was sputtering in embarrassment. "I-I-I'm sorry!"

Then, "D-did you just call me, um, dear.....?

Sakiya's expression didn't change and he said matter-of-factly, "Yes I did." Now he turned to her, "You're all I have left now, Marcy. Luce is gone. Vexel is gone. My parents are gone. I have no one left except you. I'd say the title is quite apt, don't you?" He resumed his lazy burying.

Marcy sat there silent. "I liked your betrothed too, um, Master."

"Call me Sakiya or just Saki if you like."

"Sorry, um, S-Sakiya."

".....you knew Luce?"

"She came and tended to me when you weren't there. She was kind."

"....that she was."

Marcy cautiously took a small bite out of the unknown vegetable she held. The crunches were much reduced. "It is strange," she said.

"What is?"

"You seem to be at ease, even though it is the first time you have stepped out of the city....not to offend you, of course," she said quickly.

"Well, I know what to do to survive but as for where we're going, I haven't the slightest clue. Luckily, Lucienne's father had graciously packed a map with all the other things."

"And the sword."

Sakiya stopped in his tracks. He looked at the straight double-edged short sword on the ground right next to him. Vexel wasn't allowed to see him off. A servant met him when he was out of sight of the gate with the sword and a simple note:-

"Parents banned me from seeing you. Here's something to keep you safe. Let's spar again someday. Good luck, Sakiya."

Sakiya pushed away the thoughts and heavy emotions at the edge of his brain and went to work digging through his bag. He unrolled it on a flat rock near enough to the fire to allow them to see.

"We're somewhere here," he said, pointing at a spot near what represented the river. "We just have to follow the Seariver until the fork where it splits to three. We then have to make a decision; whether to go south to the Dividing Peaks and travel along them till we get to the Mountain Stream or we take a perilous but much shorter way through here," pointing at a grey mark in the middle of an empty space, "the Blasted Sinkhole."

Marcy gulped. "What's th-the Blasted Sinkhole?"

"Its a plain where the Illune Kingdom fought a tide of Infernals, and their blood set the vegetation on fire and unearthed scalding and poisonous geysers. We could travel at its outskirts and cover ourselves completely, but we cannot head into the sinkhole itself. The heat would burn us to ash." He looked at Marcy. "I'm surprised you don't know much about the outside world."

Marcy froze. Suddenly, tears sprang to her eyes. Sakiya panicked. "Did I say something wrong? I'm sorry, I didn't mean it...!"

She sniffled. "No, its just that....I've never seen the outside world before and, and.....I'm sorry!!" She began to bawl loudly.

A mystified and very confused Sakiya went quickly to her and patted her awkwardly, but gently. 'She's exactly like a child!' he thought as he shushed her. She was still sniffing when she looked at him with a mixture of embarrassment, helplessness and a little fear.

"I'm sorry, I haven't been outside the pens before! I can't help you even though you've helped me. I'm so useless!"

Sakiya sighed and embraced her like a father would his child. He stayed like that until her crying ceased and she leant on him sniffing softly. "How did you come to be in Abestos then?"

She whimpered and instead of answering his question, she said, "A long time ago when Shadow Knights were more accepted, our queen would send young adult vampites to bond with."

"How does that relate to you?"

"The treaty broke when the Illune Kingdom began despising the Shadow Knights. They didn't treat any of the vampites well; they didn't care. So the queen stopped sending any vampites. The Kingdom still needed one or two so they kidnapped any stray vampite they could find. I was one of them." She began to tremble. "I don't want anyone to take me away again! Please don't let them! Please!"

Sakiya found himself getting angry. This was the reality of the so-called Holy Illune Kingdom. He tightened his grip around her slightly.

"Don't worry Marcy, no one ever takes you away again. I'll make sure of that."