Night&gale

CHAPTER 12 - VISCOSITY

I try opening my eyelids which seem to have become the heaviest thing on earth.

I finally lift them and my vision is a bit hazy as I try sitting up.

I notice that I am currently in a stone cave with a faint fire burning beside me.

How am I here?

The last thing I remember is looking into grey orbs.

I hear footsteps approaching. I quickly fall back into my position and pretend to be asleep.

I smell a familiar scent and a calm heartbeat. I hear wood being placed down on the floor.

"I know you are awake Lylah."

I open my eyes to see King Jeremiah crouching near a fire, placing more wood in it slowly, taming the flame.

"What gave it away?" I ask while sitting up feeling a little dizzy. I notice I am covered with a blue cloak. I feel his hand at the small of my back helping me seat up.

"You mean apart from the fact I saw you getting up and notice that you are in a den, nothing much really." He says with one hand on his beard and the other supporting his weight as he leaned back.

"How_"

"I was notified of your absence from the palace premices." He answers my question without having to voice it. He looks towards the fire making his eyes seem like they ignited the flame just by looking at it.

"What about Ohadh and Noah?"

"They are taken care of." His voice held assurity that convinced me that my best friends are okay. I somehow trust the man in front me.

I wanted to ask more about how did he find me and he could've sent the Royal guards instead. Why the King himself felt the need to come after me? What did he mean by taken care of?

But I refrained from asking it because I had a feeling he won't be answering any of my questions. So I opted to talk about something else.

"I heard the cry of the creature...I even saw its shadow."

He looked at me as he raised his knee so his elbow was resting on it while his other hand busied itself in keeping the fire aflame.

The den was dark as the chilly wind howled outside. The burning fire, the only source of light casting our shadows on the stone wall behind.

He stopped before looking at me "No one has even gone close enough to that creature with their memories still intact let alone come out of it sane."

He looks at my neck and his face turns dark with a threatening look in his eyes he leans forward towards me "Who did this to you?"

I bring my hand up to my neck where his eyes have frozen and feel a bruise forming. I must have gotten it while fighting the Rogue.

From the fact it hasn't been healed, I know it hasn't been long since I was knocked out."I encountered an unpleasant acquaintance." I say rubbing the spot and hoping it would magically heal faster.

I see a storm brewing within his eyes. This is the first time I have witnessed an emotion on his face unlike the stone-cold expression he keeps which I am sure is a quality he mastered.

I feel a foreign emotion in my chest as I realize he isn't guarding his emotions in my presence. 

He diverts his gaze to the fire clenching his jaw.

"King Jeremiah, thank you." I say tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear, hoping to distract him from his murderous glare which the poor fire was enduring.