Things I Almost Remember: A Selection Story

The Special Guard

Kate waited the five minutes that Connor had instructed then set off down the cold street. Fresh snow was falling, a sight that she normally would have stopped to admire the beauty of. Even though it was cold and icy, Kate loved the snow. Life growing up in the youth home had been very rough, but one of her greatest memories was when she had been tasked with going out and shoveling the snow. She had loved to watch the falling flakes turn the whole world around her turn a beautiful, glistening white. 

This snow felt different. Ominous. Everything around her was a bit too still, as though the world was waiting for something to happen. The only sound she could hear was the crunch of snow under her old beaten boots as she stepped. Kate continued to crunch along, but then suddenly, she heard more crunching a few feet behind her. She decided to turn into an upcoming alley so that she would have a reason to turn slightly to look behind her. When she did, she saw two men dressed in the unmistakable purple uniform of the Illéan special guard. They were the guard that were unconnected to any specific province and that worked directly under the orders of the monarchy. They were Marid Illéa's personal guards.

Kate tried not to hide the sudden panic that rang out in her head. As soon as she was under the protection of the alley blocking the line of sight of the special guards, she bolted down the alley and continued to wind round the streets trying to remember where she was in her panic so that she could still get to the train station.

The streets were dark and barely anyone was out at the late hour, and a young girl running through the streets alone caught attention from the few people who saw her. Kate knew she would be spotted by someone, and that there was a chance they would report her to the special guard. However, she also knew getting to the train platform was her last chance to get to France, to find out where she had come from.

After what seemed like an eternity of aimless running, Kate finally found herself back on the main road that cut straight through Nieve and to the the center of the city where the train station was. She did not want to run and draw attention to herself from the few other people outside on the road so she stepped quietly, trying to stay out of the light of the glowing lamps.

Kate trudged along when suddenly she felt a soft hand on her shoulder. She swallowed a scream and whipped around to see the familiar brown eyes of Johnny. 

"Don't do that!" Kate whisper-snapped, pulling them both against the shadowed wall of a dilapidated brick building. 

"I'm sorry, I thought you would be ahead of me with the time between when we left, but then, I saw you turn out onto the main road a bit ahead of me. You came from an odd direction. Is everything okay?" Johnny said, his eyes burning   with concern.

"I saw two members of the special guard," Kate whispered, staring down at her boots.

"You what? Oh no...that is not good, Kate," Johnny said as he looked up and down the street. "How did they find you? Did you lead them to you?"

"No!" Kate snapped defensively. "I was just doing exactly what you and Connor told me to do, and they came out of nowhere. I lost them, but they probably are still there. I haven't done anything to give us away though."

"Kate, I'm sorry if I made it sound like I thought it was your fault. I just was so worried there for a moment something had happened to you, you should know, you have to know that I..." Johny trailed off as he looked down at his boots and bit his lip. "We need to get going, it's not important right now."

Before Kate could reply to his unspoken words, he had grabbed her gloved hand in his and began pulling her down an alley.

"I know a back way to the station," Johnny whispered. "It is best if we avoid the main road.

The pair moved quietly along the dark streets. The snow had stopped falling, and the wind had slowed down. The air held an unbearable stillness, both from the natural elements and the tension between Kate and Johnny after his unspoken confession. It was broken slightly by the crunching of powdery snow under four sets of boots.

Kate and Johnny crunched along in that manner for a while until Kate could finally see the lights of the train station.

"We are almost there," she breathed, hardly believing she had come to this moment.

In her awe, Kate failed to notice the crunch of snow beneath shiny polished black boots  behind her as a dark purple figure made its way out of the alley they had been coming from. Johnny had turned back to reply to her words and immediately spotted the person.

Kate saw the sudden change in his expression and turned around to see a tall and bulking man behind her wearing the unmistakable uniform of the special guard. She was not sure if it was one of the guards she had seen earlier, but she wasted no time. She pulled off her satchel and swung with all her might at the approaching man just as he got within several feet of her. 

But, the man was too quick for her and smoothly dodged the swinging bag. In the same swift movement, he put one arm around Kate's stomach and covered her mouth with his free hand over her mouth just before she could let out a scream. 

Kate began to thrash and kick trying to release his hold, but it was no use. She realized it soon too and moved her focus to Johnny who was standing there shocked with his mouth wide. She would have thought he would have jumped into action immediately, would have tried to save her, but he just stood there staring. However, Johnny was not staring at her either, but into the eyes of the special guard who held her.

"Kate, don't scream," Johnny said quietly, as he finally came out of his strange trance-like state. He took a few more steps toward them. "Please trust me, you need to not scream."

Kate widened her eyes and continued to kick at the man, but he continued to hold her in place.

"Kate, please," Johnny said, staring into her navy blue eyes with his brown ones. She could read the pleading and desperation in his eyes, and suddenly, her body went still. Without really thinking or questioning Johnny, she slowly nodded her head. Johnny then looked to the man whose face Kate had still not seen clearly.

"Take your hands off her, or at least uncover her mouth and let her turn around so she can see you," Johnny said calmly. Kate had no idea what was going on or how he could be so calm in this situation. 

Suddenly, Kate felt the hand covering her mouth drop, and she gasped in a breath.

"What is this Johnny? What is going on? And who are you?" she whispered quickly as she tried to turn around to see the man clearly. However, his grip kept her forward in place. She continued to wriggle and kick trying to get free. She nearly bit the man's finger when she felt him take a deep breath in and out.

"I shouldn't have expected anything else, with how stubborn your grandmother and mother were," the man whispered in a deep voice as he loosened his grip on her a bit.

Kate took the opportunity to whip around to finally look at the man's face. She gasped as she found her gaze met with a pair of very familiar green eyes.