Forgotten Heir: Realm Doors Book One

Chapter Four

When Cara woke again it was night-time and she’s slept away the afternoon. She pulled a worn but clean t-shirt from her satchel, yanking it over her head and hiding her skin and bones torso under it. She slipped silently out of her stall, peering into Ric’s as she went. He wasn’t there but she could see the three bottles of E.B. lined up beside his bed, his payment for bringing her to the vampires and elahdril who would use her. She struggled to fight down the urge to smash the little bottles. At least if the blood was still there he must be around too. With that thought at the forefront of her mind she trudged past the line of stalls and through the corridor that connected the stables to the main barn.

Cara paused before she joined the others by the fire. Ric was sitting a little away from them, not part of the group but having nowhere else to go. Pulling over a folding camping stool, she perched beside him, relieved when he cast her a quick almost smile. She chewed her lip a moment before speaking, all the while watching Kalidir in expectation. “What are the last rites, what’s Acknowledgement?”

The elf warrior was clearly startled, his eyes widening briefly in surprise at her question. She wondered if he was surprised that she didn’t know, that no one had taught her, or if he was surprised that the first question she asked him was about death.

Whatever his reason for shock, he only hesitated for a second before answering, “Acknowledgement is the final rite of passage to the afterlife for an elahdrilas lord or lady. The people acknowledge that the body of the deceased is that of a respected noble. In the second of acceptance the corpse is healed of any war or death wounds, to leave the body preserved as perfect for all eternity. It is said that the rite is required to let an elahdrilas soul pass into the afterlife.”

Cara thought back to her father, lying, dying, in a pool of his own blood. “Was my father acknowledged?”

Kalidir bowed his head in what appears to be disgust. “He was laid in the tomb of your ancestors’ on your grandfather’s command. Preparations were made for the final rites but then your grandfather died. When Lady Heliana was elected as the new monarch, the first non-elahdrilas monarch, she gave your grandfather the last rites but refused to allow acknowledgment of your father. She said his research into vampires was heresy and treachery and it would be wrong to acknowledge him. She conceded to let his body lie in the elahdrilas tomb to prevent a rebellion, but no one would offer the last rites for fear of their lives.”

As she bit her thumb nail, looking pensive, Ric pulled her hand away, pressing it to her knee.

“So my father’s body is still lying there with his chest ripped open and his spirit unable to pass?” Cara demanded angrily.

Kalidir shook his head, “No, my lady. The night I exiled myself from Galahidras I crept into the great marble tomb and knelt before his plinth. I said the required words. For those actions I cannot return home while Heliana rules, it is a treason punishable by death to go against what her highness has decreed.”

Standing, Cara padded softly over to Kalidir and, kneeling again in front of him, she took his hands, holding them tightly to her chest.

“I thank you Kalidir, more gratefully than words can express.”

The elf smiled warmly. “Your father was a good man, my princess, he did not deserve that which Heliana ordered. His views and opinions were not traditional but he had a strong heart and a good soul.  His Acknowledgement was a worthy reason for my exile. I would do the same again if I had to.”

Her heart ached as he talked about the man she could barely remember, the man who should be sat on Heliana’s throne. A man who had died for the prophecies which now seemed to be about her. She allowed herself a moment to grieve for her father but in truth his funeral wasn’t what brought her to ask about Acknowledgement. 

“What about the prince who married the vampire girl?” she wondered out loud, ignoring the audible gasp from everyone present as they shuffled uncomfortably.
Kalidir winced away from her in a way that revealed all too clearly his reluctance to answer.

“Why ask about such dark, forgotten things my lady?”

Ric came to her side, answering on her behalf. “Because she had a dream today, where a man lay dead but wounded in a dark stone tomb.”

At Kalidir’s raised eyebrows Ric shrugged, admitting, “I am afflicted with the unfortunate ability to see bits of Cara’s nightmares. Not much of them, just flashes, today I only saw the man laid out on the plinth.” He half smiled, “Today has been surprisingly peaceful.”

The elahdril man eyed Ric warily in response, as if he carried plague, and Cara wondered how much Kalidir could guess about Ric and her. The elf looked even less willing to answer her questions, but as he took in her pleading face, then Ric’s questioning one, he admitted defeat with a sigh.

“No, Acknowledgement was not given to Prince Dalahan. The legends say he and his vampire bride were executed and buried in a forgotten tomb in the hills that surround Karycadra. He’d hurt his people so badly that he was refused the last rites.”

“He hurt his people so badly?”

Cara couldn’t help the tense rage that coursed suddenly through her body. “What about what his people did to him?”

She remembered the story Ric told her in the van, thinking of the wounds on her dream prince’s body. The elahdril people had their undeserved revenge long before Dalahan’s body was moved to a final resting place. As her anger peaked, Ric shuddered, his hand pressing against her shoulder

“Let it be, Cara,” he whispered softly. “Let it go for now.”

Kalidir’s head bowed in shame. “I am not proud of what our people did to Dalahan and Rebecca. But they did commit treason under our laws...”

“Laws which are wrong!” Cara yelled at him forcefully.

Ric pulled her to her feet, turning her to face him, his hand gripping her shoulders.
“Let it go, Cara, you cannot change the past. This is not why you’re here, these people are your friends not your enemies.”

“They didn’t execute Rebecca,” she spat angrily at him as she twisted back to the elahdril warrior. “Did you know that?”

Ric’s hands slipped from her shoulders and he stared at her in dismay.

“In my dream,” she told him, “the bit you didn’t see, she was there Ric, asking if I’d come to kill her.  I think they left her there, locked in with the body of Dalahan. She’s cowering, starving in the darkness of a tomb no one has the decency to remember. She’s been there for thousands of years watching over the thing she loved most and had taken from her.

“You’re all stood here,” she waved towards Luke and Anthony, “hoping the elves will see sense and prevent Blutholme from being turned into a dark tomb of starvation and torment, but the elahdril have already condemned vampires to that fate! Rebecca is already living that hell somewhere in Galahidras, and you want me, your supposed saviour, to just let it be?”

Ric stepped backwards away from her, denial flashing briefly in his eyes before sorrow masked his face. A question was written in his expression; what would his fate be if he still cared for her?

“I can’t stay here,” he announced, shrugging off the disappointed pain in Cara's expression. “I’m sorry, Cara. I just can’t.”

“Ric,” she whispered, pleading, “please don’t run away again...I love you.”

She watched the panic rising in Ric’s eyes, alongside the determination not to walk the path Rebecca had.

“When the snow melts, I'm leaving,” he told her finally, then he fled out of the room back to the relative seclusion of his stall.

Anthony breathed a shocked inhale, “Well hell, there’s unexpected.”

Closing her eyes, Cara held in tears and fought to ground herself. It wasn't easy, though.

Kalidir rubbed her arm, his touch cautious.

“We didn’t believe him, when he said he’d once loved the Cara Rhine we were searching for. We didn’t know for certain that Cara Rhine was going to be you either.  I am sorry that you gave your heart to him, my lady, it will put you in danger.”

She shook her head as the tears finally trickled down her cheeks. “Don’t worry, friend, he left me before any real treason was committed. I remain as pure as any other unmarried elahdril.” Kalidir struggled to hide his expression of relief, although she was grateful for the effort, even as she added, “After all, who but Ric would have me? Some blood dealing, gutter dwelling, exiled orphan? And he makes it quite clear the consequences are too great for us.”

She moved away from Kalidir, not meeting Luke or Anthony’s shocked and accusing stares.

“I’m tired,” she lied and stumbled back to her stall.

With a heart torn by regret Cara pulled an album from her holdall, a book she’d filled with memories while she and Ric had been together. She crouched in the darkness, hugging the album to her chest as she listened to the man she adored toss and turn next door.

“Is this to be my lot?” she quietly asked the darkness. “To always be left alone?”

With a thud, Ric sent his first flying into the stone wall, startling her. Anger, frustration, and pain in the action, while she sat still, praying the snow would never melt. The weather in the realms was linked, and as long as the way was impassable in the Mundane it would also be impassable in Blutholme. There would be no use in Ric phasing away just yet, and she needed to steal every minute of proximity to him that she could manage.

A/N: So there's the first four chapters. Do you want me to continue editing and hitting the 'publish' button, or shall I return this to the draft pile? A xxx