Page 10 of The Knight
“I agree, but unfortunately, Haleston has become corrupt,” I added to his assessment.
“Yes, that was confirmed for me when I was locked in the Dungeons of the Mist,” Shad said with a smirk. “It is as if the traitor King Falcon exists in the air there.”
“His soul–it tortures whoever enters,” I said with a shiver. The traitor King Falcon of Haleson had long ago tried to remove magic from Terra. He was of course unsuccessful, and he was locked inside one of Haleston’s deepest mountains. Over time the mountain somehow opened, and the Traitor King, although long gone, his evil lingered there in that mountain for hundreds of years. The Haleston royals and other royals sent the worst of the criminals within its depths. There, one often gets mad within a few hours.
I hated how he seemed to know something I did not.
Pompous prince.
How was it that he could cause me to feel likeIwas the one who hadjustmatured? I felt like a child, but he was the one who was spouting off fairytales and being his annoyingly calm self.
“I would suggest not sharing too many of those feelings, Rykerian.” He raised his eyebrows as he gazed at the cave one last time and turned around.Oops,I had forgotten to shield those thoughts.
Seriously, he made me feel like a schoolboy being caught doing something I wasn't supposed to do. I switched my thoughtpatterns to other things so that I would not insult his Royal Highness. I watched as he walked a few paces; then he froze.
“Everything alright, Prince?” I asked, standing up and preparing myself for a battle. The look of intensity was in his gaze. I looked behind me, but all I saw was the cave.
“Everything will be alright, knight.” I watched as he closed his eyes and looked one last time at the cave’s entrance; then he turned around. “We are exactly where the creator needs us to be.”
“Will you tell her aunt?” Glasson asked me.
I shook my head of the memory, trying to forget about the annoying threat that Prince Shad had brought to Emma. Out of all of the threats I knew about, he was the least of my worries, because he would never hurt her. Take her from me? Yes. Make her believe his fairy tales? Yes. But she would live. I hated him.
“I told her already. I don’t keep secrets from Mary."
I watched him as he nodded.
“Good. So where are you going, and when will you be back?”
“Just a month or two. I need to get information from the police and then go back to the scene of the crash and figure out how to track down the person who did this.”
“Do you have a tracker?”
“No, but I have some skills in it.”
Glasson nodded, and I knew it wasn’t the way things would happen on Terra. I knew that going on a mission and leaving my royal heir unprotected was a horrible thing to do, but I needed to do it. I had to do it—to keep her safe.
“I will do my best, Ryker.” He placed a hand on his heart, then moved it to his eye. I met him in the middle, and we saluted. He nodded and walked back down the sidewalk. I leaned against thecar. I had already said my goodbyes to Emma, so I was free to go. But as I looked back at the house next door to mine, I thought about Emma, and about how sad I was to leave her, and—about what it might feel like to kiss her goodbye.
Chapter 7
“You are coming back? Does this mean that you found him?” Mary asked me.
“I have some information,” I spoke into the phone as I stared at the hotel room ceiling. The past month had been a nightmare: being away, coming up nearly empty-handed, until I came into contact with the Terran group that I had been searching for.
It was quite strange how after the first few days in the hospital, I had to basically force the cops to allow Emma to describe the man who was with her that night, so that a sketch artist could draw his image. Good thing I did, as it was all I had to go off of in my search.
The Terran group had been much larger than I thought it would be. Glasson had been contacting them for years. Glasson, of course, had many contacts with many Terran colonies. There was an entire system, which he had set up, for Terrans to communicate with each other and to find those Terrans that others were looking for. Prince Shad was a part of the whole system, but I avoided close connections to him.
It was a small town, as the population sign indicated. It was made up of a couple thousand, but when that number was entirely made of Terrans? It was a very powerful town, and in some ways, very dangerous. I drove to the heart of the town, down an old worn road. I worried that if I went into another pothole, I would pop a tire on the old truck I drove. Luckily, the main town area was better maintained. I couldn’t help but wonder if the rough road was kept in such a condition to ward off people. Subtle, but effective for some travelers, I was sure. I drove down the quiet streets of the town. The buildings looked like they had been there for quite a while, as if frozen in time: back to the 1950’s, but everything was well-maintained. Nothing seemed Terran at all, but one thing stood out above everything else, I realized, as I parked near the post office: the melodies. They were so calming, as they swarmed around me, that I closed my eyes at their sounds. It had been so long, too long, since I had heard so many ofmypeople together. It was more than beautiful; it was breathtaking, and I found myself lost in it for a moment.
“Can I help you, sir?” someone asked, and I opened my eyes. I saw a man before me, with dark brown eyes and white hair. He looked old, about seventy or so in this realms years, but for a Terran, he could be anywhere from seventy to over two-hundred years, or cycles, old for all I knew.
“Yes, I’m looking for the leader of your colony.”
He stood up taller, and I took a moment to unshield my soul, just enough to show him who I was. I watched as he bowed his head in the customary way that a commoner would to honor a guardian knight of my rank.
“We are honored to have you here, Rykerian Dallard.” Like usual my name was incredibly useful.
