The Golden Deer

Chapter 2

Alan was worse the next day. Restless and jittery, he paced his room in tight circles, wringing his hands and talking of nothing but the golden deer. Outside the skin was dull and gray with an icy rain hammering the lead windows. Evy sat curled on the cushioned window seat, pretending that the shivers running down her spine were from the frosted glass.

"Glorious, glorious," Alan muttered. "Absolute sunlight. Carved from the purest gold."

"Alan," Evy said tentatively. "Look at me."

He turned vacant eyes to her, his face flushed and sweaty. He seemed to be leagues away.

"Did I ever tell you about the time I saw a gold deer in the forest?" He asked vaguely.

"Yes," she said evenly. "Why don't you sit down and have some tea?"

"She was perfect," he whispered. "The most perfect creature ever created."

"That's lovely. How about a piece of toast?" She steered him over to the table and gently pushed him down into a chair. He stared listlessly at the buttered triangle of toast she set before him.

"Everyone else has gone after her. No one has returned."

"I know." Throat tight, Evy tried to push away the images of the handsome young men riding off into the woods. "I know you must be worried-"

"What if they've found her?" He asked suddenly. "What if they found her and they are keeping her all to themselves?"

He looked at her, his face suddenly wild with something dark and ugly haunting his eyes.

"Everyone is trying to keep me from her," he snarled. "She is all that I want and you and Father are holding me here while all of my friends ride off to claim her glory for themselves!"

He swept his hand wildly across the table, sending delicate china cups and plates flying. Evy leapt to her feet as shards of china and splatters of tea struck her dress.

"Alan!" She yelped, seizing his arm. His skin burned under her touch. "Have you gone mad?"

He froze, meeting her eyes for the first time, the clouds seeming to clear from his head. He gripped her hand like a drowning man.

"Yes," he whispered, his voice a desperate croak. "I think I am going mad. All I can think of is the golden deer. I need her like a drowning man needs air or a starving man needs food. Every fiber of my being is driving me to go and find her. I fear I will die if I cannot see her again."

"Alan," she said firmly, with a confidence she did not actually feel. "This is absurd. You are not going to die if you cannot find a deer in the forest. Your heart is broken for the loss of your friends and it is affecting your judgement."

"No," he said pleadingly. "It is so much more than that. She is calling me and every moment that I delay being with her I can feel myself skippering further away."

He seemed so much older than his twenty-one years, his body sagging weakly in the red velvet chair while he stared up at her with a beggar's hungry eyes.

"What do you need?" she asked uncertainly. "What can I do?"

At this he pulled her closer, eyes darting nervously around the room he whispered,

"You must help me get out of here. Gather some provisions, get me a horse and meet me beyond the south gate."

"Alan," Evy pulled away, shocked. "You are truly deranged."

"It's the only way!" He said wildly. "I must go after her. I have no choice!"

"Even if I wanted to help you, I couldn't," she said pragmatically. "You could never get out of the castle or the city without being spotted!"

He grinned at her, not the warm, easy smile she was used to but a manic, unhinged smile that did not reach his wild bulging eyes.

"It's easy! Some grooms clothes, a low cap, just like you do when you dress as a page. Slip down the servants staircase in the wee morning hours, out the south gate at first light, its too busy with the morning deliveries to check every person coming and going, meet you and I'm on my way."

Taken aback by the detail in his planning Evy said nothing. Alan evidently took this for support and plowed on.

"Of course, you mustn't bring me my own horse. But any one of the hunters will do. I haven't let anyone in my room for days, why I haven't eaten any food, it may be days yet before they discover my absence. You must keep coming though, so that no suspicion is raised. They will never catch up to me before I reach her."

Evy stared at her beloved, unhinged brother. It was even more unsettling to learn that what she had thought was illness was actually careful planning. Her brother had never defied the king, had never been deceitful or conniving much less wrathful and violent. She knew she didn't have any choice, slowly she nodded.

"Are you sure they will not catch up to you? Father will send the fastest riders, he will send birds, he will call on reinforcements in the north."

"I'm certain," he smiled conspiratorially now. "You see, I never told him how we found her. We were not riding aimlessly, we were following the High Point Star."

Evy nodded again, the High Point Star, the tip of the crown of Prince Julius, Alan's favorite constellation. Northeast, not north, to the borders of the Eldian kingdom.

"Alright," she said reassuringly, her heart sinking like a stone. "It seems I have a great deal to do then."

"I know you can," he kissed the knuckles of her left hand. "My little sister, master of shadows. Come back this evening and tell me what you were able to do."

He led her to the door, opening it just wide enough for her to slip through before slamming it against the sidelong glances from the guards. Evy turned, a gnawing pit of dread growing in her stomach as she headed, not for the kitchens or the stables, but for the king's private office.