Page 22 of Capricorn Blessed

I take a small step forward, clearing the bend and staring back at his blue-green eyes.

“Hello?” I call.

He reaches up and runs a hand over his short beard.

“I’m Sierra. What’s your name?”

He cocks his head to the side, watching as the other three step up next to me.

“This is Dennis, Izzy, and Kenric.”

“Maybe he doesn’t speak English,” Izzy whispers. We wait, watching him watch us.

“Beorn,” he finally answers with a thick English accent.

“It’s nice to meet you, Beorn,” I say. “Do you want to come out here and talk to us?”

He looks at the gate, looks at us, and shakes his head.

“It’s safe out here. We don’t want to hurt you.”

He takes a hesitant step forward, lifting his hand to the gate. I can hear the pop from where we are standing as he jerks back away from the exit. When his face lifts again, his eyes are blank.

“Beorn,” I call again. “Can you tell us why you’re here?”

He looks at each of us in turn, like one of us will give him the answer. When we don’t, he turns and looks behind him.

“Where is here?” he asks. “How long have I been here?”

“You’re at Clement Castle,” Kenric supplies. “As for how long you’ve been here, I don’t know, but we can find out.”

“Do I know you?” he asks. “Something about you seems familiar, but I can’t figure out why.”

Kenric chuckles quietly. “Yeah, we’ve met. Can we come in and talk to you about it?”

Beorn scrunches up his eyes like he’s trying to figure out what the correct answer is before finally nodding.

I smile, stepping toward the gate and my confused mate beyond. By our second step forward, Beorn lets out a low rumble. When we keep moving forward, it turns into a menacing growl. I freeze, throwing my arms out to halt the others. The sound continues at the same volume. I take a small step back, pushing the others back as well. The growl softens. I nod and continue to back up the others with me. When we are back where we started, the sound stops.

Beorn looks at us and wrinkles his brow. “I thought you were coming in to talk?” he says. “I was going to make you tea.”

“Dude, you just started growling at us,” Izzy answers, shaking her head.

“I did?!” he asks. “I’m so sorry! I normally have better control over my tiger than that. I don’t know why he would do that.”

I smile gently. “I’m sure it was an accident,” I say gently. “But I would like to know more about you. What’s the last thing you remember before being here?”

I sit on the ground, and Beorn does the same. May as well be comfortable while we figure out what’s going on here. The other three take a few steps back, talking quietly. I listen in while also listening to Beorn’s life story.

“What’s wrong with him?” whispers Dennis.

“I don’t know, but something happened to him. It’s like he keeps losing time. How can he live here and not know where it is?” Izzy answers.

Kenric hums quietly. “It’s almost like he’s being controlled by someone else. . .”

“I was excited to have a holiday over in Paris. It had been forever since I’d had a holiday, and I was excited to take a few weeks off and to go exploring.”

“Did you make it to Paris?” I ask.

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