Beyond the Crimson (The Crimson Cycle) (29 page)

Gr
avity took no mercy on my body; it plummeted me towards the rocks, leaving my heart and stomach on the platform. The drop sucked my breath from my lungs, as I unwillingly fought to scream. Finally, I felt the force of the water cradle my body safely away from the rocks, but it somersaulted me down into its unrelenting depths, becoming so dark I couldn’t tell which way was up and which was down, only feeling the safety of Brendelon’s hand still grasping mine. My lungs started burning; I kicked my legs frantically trying to surface, fearing that I was kicking in the wrong direction. I felt his hand yank me, I worked to move in the direction of his pull, but my lungs were about to explode. Death felt like a comfort, one I might have taken had he not been there with me. I felt one last yank and finally my head broke through the surface of the water, and I gasped in air, still unable to catch my breath.

“Kate,” he barely spat out
. “I have to let go of your hand. Can you make it across?”

“Yes,” I gasped
, as I glanced upward at the terrifying monster that was still attacking towards the side of the cliff. Then I looked forward and suddenly felt like sinking; the shore was far, and I really began to doubt my ability to swim such a distance. I already felt weak.

“Let the current push you,” he commanded. “Do not waste breaths fighting against it.” I tried to listen but I felt like I was drowning. The shore was slowly getting closer
, but it wasn’t close enough. I only thought of one arm in front of the other,
left, right, left, right,
focusing on each stroke to distract me from the burning in my muscles and the clamping against my lungs.
Left, right, left, right…
and I continued this way until my mind and muscles became numb.
Left, right, left, right…

Finally
, I gave one last push, feeling the wet sand and rocks push through my hands and fingers. I lay gasping, body kissing the ground and like a jealous lover the waves angrily tried to pull me back, but I didn’t care as I stayed in the middle of the love triangle; unable to move any farther. I turned my head to the right seeing Brendelon next to me who must have felt the same—wet hair flopped over his eyes, panting for breaths. I let my eyes close, absolutely powerless as my body was giving out on me and there we lay incapable to fear anything, muscles too useless to make any movement until we slipped into sleep.

“Kate… Kate…” I heard a voice calling, I peeked through my lashes to see an angel’s face looking down on me, and for a brief moment I doubted if I had made it out alive. “We have to go,” he said gently, as he kept his green eyes upwards towards the sky.

I groaned, willing my body to move but my muscles wouldn’t comply and before I knew it I was being lifted into the air, thrown over his shoulder. I wanted to protest, but I didn’t even have the energy for that, so instead I closed my eyes because it was all I could do. 

He moved into a covered forest area where trees and large gnarled bushes sprawled from the ground and into a dome blocking the view of any unwanted guests. He set me down, dropping to the ground beside me. I hunched into a ball, finding the hard ground comforting as I fell in and out of sleep while my body worked to recover.

Daylight slowly began to shine through the canopy of trees, seeping energy back into my veins. I pushed my tangled, salty hai
r that was still slightly damp—not quite drying during the cool night—out of my face and peeked over at him. He was sitting down, next to a fire that was blazing, holding his head in his hands as his elbows rested on his knees and
oh my God
, his shirt was off, revealing washboard abs that I had only seen in magazines. He hadn’t caught me drooling yet, so I forcefully pulled my eyes away from his incredible build.

“Sorry,” I muttered, as I pulled myself to a sitting position; feeling terrible for being so feeble. 

He lifted up his head, green eyes slightly widened in shock. “Sorry? For what?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Putting you in danger,
I keep holding you back,” I said, remembering his words from the forest. He was right; I was a burden.

He laughed darkly.
“I do not know any girls that would have done what you did. I should be apologizing to you for making you even go through this.” His eyes flickered with a small hint of wickedness, as the right side of his mouth curled into that beautiful arrogant half-smile. “But we both know I do not do that.”  

I smiled. “W
ell, apology accepted; hypothetically speaking of course.”

He laughed again, standing up as he threw his shirt over his bare chest.

“We better move on,” he said. “Caerleon is far from here.”

“Caerleon?”

He nodded. “It will be too dangerous to take you to Mordegrant’s,” he said as he strapped the metal forearm guards on, the only part remaining from his armor.

“You lost all your armor,” I pointed out.

He broke out his cocky half-grin, patting his sword that was still hanging at his hip. “Who needs armor?” 

*****

I had taken the horses for granted; walking was a lot slower and far more exhausting as we hiked our way up through hills that ranged with different terrain and steepness, and walking in damp boots was anything but comfortable, but I was nervous to ask him to stop. After all, I didn’t want to be caught by the Black Army.

He looked at me from the corner of his eye and must have noticed my struggle because he slowed down his pace. “Want to rest?” he asked.

“I’m okay,” I lied, not wanting to hold him back.

He laughed and grabbed my hand, pulling me off the matted path into the covered forest trees. He plopped down
, resting his back against a large brown trunk, handing me a skin sack filled with water that was still attached to his belt. I sat beside him and drank it, thankful to stop.

I laid down on my back, looking up to the bright sky that peeked its way through the tree tops making beautiful designs, listening to the quiet chirps of birds
, and rustling of other creatures; feeling all my muscles slowly relax and beg for sleep, but I fought against it.

He lay next to me wi
th his hands across his stomach. “Missing that huge beast now, aye?” he asked playfully, turning slightly to me.

I tilted my head to face his crooked grin
, and I couldn’t help but smile back. “Yes, I’d even take your wild one,” I joked.

He laughed.
“I do not think I would like that much.”

“Why?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “What if you were to be hurt? I would have nobody to pull me out of enchanted forests.”

I laughed loudly, running my hand across a cool patch of grass beside me. I loved him playful like this. It was a shame that it was a rare commodity, but I suppose that was part of what made it so special. “Maybe you will need to stay away from the enchanted forests.”

He rolled to his side, propping his head up with his elbow to the ground, with a wicked gleam in his eyes. “Where is the fun in that?”

I mirrored my body to his, watching as the little rays of sun danced on his face
as intrigued with him as I was. “You think danger is fun?”

He smi
led, flashing his white teeth. “It is exciting. It lets you know you are living.”

“But it puts you at a high risk of death.”

He shrugged. “Death is not so bad.”

I rolled onto my back, thinking about the death of my mother and grandfather, maybe it wasn’t so bad for the person dying, but it was horrendous for the ones who were left behind. 

“What is the matter?” he asked, suddenly serious.

I shook my head, “N
othing, I was just thinking about my family.”

“You miss them?” 

“Yeah.”

“Worry not
, Katarina,” he said facing the sky again, “I will make certain you get home.”

“N
o, it’s not that. My mom died when I was twelve, you mentioned death and it just made me think of her and my grandpa,” I shrugged my shoulders, not wanting to get into it.

“Oh,” he said sitting up, suddenly looking uncomfortable.

I sat up too. “It’s not a big deal. I’m use to it.”

He chewed on his thumbn
ail, scrunching his eyebrows. “What about your father?”

I sighed, watching a small squirrel climb up the trunk of a nearby tree as a slow
breeze grazed across my cheek. I hated talking about my dad, but he had told me the hardships of his life; I supposed it was only fair. “Well, he remarried after my mom died. I felt like it was too soon and his wife wasn’t really that kind to me, so I asked to live with my grandfather.” I shrugged my shoulders, uncomfortable with the subject.

“So you are like me,” he said, looking off, “one parent in the ground and the other as cold as death.”

“My father isn’t cold… he just…. Well…” I wrapped my arms around my legs, resting my chin on my knees. “I asked to leave.”

He rolled his eyes. “Y
ou are his daughter; parents should want to keep their children.”

I knew he was partly referring to his own past
, but it wasn’t my dad’s fault I left; it bothered me that he thought so. “I wanted him to be happy and I was happier with my grandpa. It was fine.”

“B
ut now your grandfather is gone.” He pointed out, resting his elbow on his knees, clasping onto a chunk of hair as he looked at me with one eyebrow raised.

“It’s fine,” I mumbled, glancing away.

“Do you have brothers and sisters?” he asked, seeming rather interested with my life, which took me by surprise because he always seemed so easily bored. I shook my head.

“Cousins?” he shot out rapidly. 

“I have two cousins but my aunt was adopted; she and my mom weren’t that close to begin with and after my mom died she almost disappeared completely. They live very far from me,” I smiled at him, stretching my legs out in front of me. “You’re fortunate to be so close with your cousin.”

He smiled back.
“I suppose…” then he laughed, looking straight ahead. “Although, I am not sure I would call myself fortunate.” He frowned, putting his hands on the ground behind him as he leaned back. “I am actually quite inauspicious.”

I thought about his childhood and decided to not argue with him.

“So if you are not with your family, where is your home then?” he asked, still surprisingly concerned with my life.

“Well I live with my friend Stacey.”

“And you belong there?” he asked, looking away almost as if he felt awkward asking it. 

I fiddled with
a snag in the silky blue dress. “Yeah,” I twisted my mouth to the side not sure how to put it. “It’s not the same as it was when I lived with my grandfather or my parents, but it’s okay,” I mumbled. “It works for everyone.” 

“Everyone but you.”
He sat upright again, as he shook his head and huffed out a breath. “You try to please people too much,” he said petulantly, face contorting into the familiar scowl. “It is better to not care about anyone. That way they cannot hinder you.” He looked straight ahead.

“That seems awfully lonely,” I replied carefully.

He shrugged his shoulders. “There are worse things in the world than to feel lonely.”

I thought about how painful it was to lose my mom and my grandpa, and even to be separated from my dad, but would it really have been better to never have loved them at all? It couldn’t be. The memories I had with them, the things I learned from them
, would never be replaceable.

He looked at me, with dark eyes but
they weren’t malevolent. “You really are innocent, Katarina,” he said with almost a scolding tone. “You know nothing about the darkness of this world or the people in it.”

“Sometimes it takes darkness for the little lights to shine their brightest.”

He huffed out another breath. “Maybe it takes the darkness to see that what you thought to be a light really never shined at all.” He glanced away from me, keeping his arms around his knees as he ripped apart a small piece of grass. “I like that you see the good in everything,” he said quietly, looking down to the grass in his hands, turning it over as though to examine the damage he had done. “But sometimes you just need to face the truth.” He bit his lip.

“Then why do you care about your friends?”

“I met them before I was wise enough to know better,” he said nonchalantly, keeping his eyes to the grass in his hands.

“And what about Gawain?”
I asked, knowing he had not grown up with him.

He laughed, t
hrowing the grass to the ground. “He understands me.”

I smiled at the light in his eyes
. “What do you mean?”

“He is the only one who does not look at me with
p—” he stopped suddenly, as he features hardened then shook his head slightly. “He thinks as I do, that is all,” he mumbled, picking at a callous on his palm.

“And how is that?” I pressed
, wanting to understand him.