Puddles

Chapter 3: Sacrifice and Revenge

" And who might you be, young lady?" 

It took an embarrassing silence to realize that the unintended compliment was for me. I stood up a little to quickly, sending a new wave of squeaks bouncing of the walls of the small room. "Me? Uh...um, I don't know, sir." Of course you do, stupid! " I mean, my real name is Erin. Erin Cloude."

Desk Man gave me a look that questioned, Why are you here...? But then alarm shadowed his face. He consulted the list only to be disappointed again. His gaze raced back and forth between me and the other girl. His eyes conveyed an inward battle, a weighing two terrible options. Suddenly, a different guard burst through the small door demanding information regarding the delay. The man, unsatisfied with the tense silence and Desk Man's apparent lack of ability to respond, and as I was nearest the door, the guard stepped in my direction, swinging a spiked whip. Without a word, the other girl leaped in front of me, taking the mighty lash to the side of her head. She fell forward slowly and slumped to the ground in a small heap. I saw the shock and immediate horror as the result of the sacrifice hit the guard, then everything happened at once. 

The man behind the desk jumped up with surprising alacrity, and, without a cry and only the despairing expression forever carved on his face, he rushed the guard. Before the soldier could defend himself, Desk Man yanked his whip away, and slashed the guard's face with the fury and force of a tiger. I could only watch in horror and amazement as Desk Man tore up the guard's face with every stroke. He ripped off the armor and lashed furiously at the unprotected arms. I now understand that the guard never stood a chance. Before he could cry out for help against the vengeful old man, the guard lay in a steadily growing pool of blood on the floor.

Then the man with the whip turned on me, and for one instant I thought I would join the guard. But his face softened, if only to a less rocky shape, and then I was looking back one last time at the first man at whose death I had been present, stumbling after Desk Man as he hauled me behind him. We ran down several hallways, through more rooms than I could ever remember. But I would never forget the man lying dead on the pure white marble floor, sinking in his own blood. My mind replayed over and over Desk Man lashing that bewildered face, the fury turning his eyes hard and cold.

Several minutes later we were in a small, cramped room full of coats and other clothing items. Desk Man clutched the whip where he sat directly across from me. That blank stare crept over his steely face again. Neither of us talked, but then a small door revealed daylight and a round, beaming face. But when the new man turned to me, his smile quickly froze on his lips. Desk Man impulsively reached for the man's hand. The new man accepted the rough hand.

" The girl's with me. I'll explain everything later, friend." Ah. Finally, we have a friend. The new man helped me out of the small room, and he led us down three more hallways; left, right, left. The cold, black stone walls drew my gaze. Desk Man followed my wandering eyes and answered my unspoken question.

"We aren't in the palace anymore. Just follow us." 

The friend brought us to a ginormous room, at the center of which sat a relatively large, rectangular stone table the same color as the walls. Another tall, old man with all white hair except for a shock of dark brown stood at the head. All around the table five other men and women nearly shouted to be heard over each other. 

"Members of the Dinarrin Council, please, sit down and be silent. We have visitors." The tall man gestured in our direction, effectively turning all heads. The friend strode up to the old man and whispered hurriedly into his ear. The old man nodded intently, and turned back to the others at the table. "Friends, it appears these three bring important, perhaps vital news. This council is dismissed." Turning to the friend, he said, "Thank you for bringing them to me quickly. You may go rest now."

The old man beckoned for us to follow him. We turned a corner and passed under a small archway into a private room. For a man who seemed to be rather important, he kept a sparse room. A worn cot held its own in one corner, several small candles sat atop little wooden boxes. An empty sack was slumped in another corner. The old man motioned for us to sit down on other wooden boxes around a plain and simple dark wood table. 

"Now, tell me what has happened."

 By unspoken agreement Desk Man began first. He related his job of assigning places to the girls, at which the old man nodded knowledgably. Then when he came to the small fifteen year old, his usually strong voice that I'd become used to so quickly choked up. He tried again, but no words came. I stared at him for a while, trying to discern from the battle of emotions playing itself out on his long face what was going on. I had suddenly disappeared. It was just the two men, staring into each other's eyes, nodding slowly as if at some intangible fact. Never had I felt so absent, so nonexistent. But there was no  loneliness, only a longing to comfort both men who had previously seemed so strong. Finally the old man murmered something, and Desk Man left the room soundlessly. The spiked whip lay on his vacant box.

Then I suddenly existed, because the old man bombarded me with relentless questioning. He hid nothing and told him my entire story: the fall through the puddle, the awakening in a strange world only to be captured by an imperious king, my aquaintence [there wasn't anything else to call it] with Desk Man, and then the death of the other girl. Finally perceiving a break in the questions, I asked two of my own which had surfaced during Desk Man's breakdown.

"Who was the fifteen year old, and why did that man seem to know her?" Of course I didn't say 'Desk Man'; he'd have no idea who I was talking about.

The old man only leaned back against the wall behind his box, gazing off into places and times past. I brought him back to the present with a tentative 'sir,' but he still didn't seem all in one place.

"Well, he did know her, young lady. Knew her very well, in fact. The girl you saw-"

"Sir?" A short, slim figure stood in the entrance to our secluded cave. I turned back to the old man, waiting for his response and wondering how it affected me.

"Yes?" The man's stony visage fell as he watched that of his younger officer. "Another family?"

The woman nodded solemnly. "Sir, if I may...."

"Captain, no matter how many times you ask that question, my answer shall not change. I am doing what is best for our people, and right now, I believe that is staying." The woman submitted to the answer, but something in her face said otherwise. "Now, call together the council; there are many things that have not been addressed for far too long." The man started for the door, when suddenly he must've remembered I was still there. Turning around, he stated rather matter-of-factly, "We'll find something for you, don't worry." And then he was gone.