Anastasia (The Bolton Series Book 1) (8 page)

It was easy to tell that the thick brush had been recently disturbed. Branches were broken and fallen leaves stepped on. We followed it until we heard what sounded like someone grunting. We walked up to a small clearing. The minimal light entering the area was just enough for us to see what it contained.

Arabella lay on the floor face down a few feet away from us. Her blue hair was stained with blood. I panicked when I saw that she was not moving. There was no rise and fall of her chest from her breathing. I moved forward only to be stopped by Yelson’s strong hand. He motioned for me to look across the clearing.

Two huge men were holding Weldon while a third was punching him everywhere. Both his eyes were swollen shut, a long cut was on his cheek and his right leg seemed to be contorted in an odd fashion, it must have been broken.

The man who kept hitting him had a sinister smile on its animal like face. He was enjoying himself. That thought made me want to punch his throat in.

“We have to do something,” I whispered to Yelson. I wanted to go out there and beat up the men hurting Weldon but I knew I could not do it alone. We needed a plan that could take all three of them out. There could also be more hidden in the trees.

“We need to distract them from Weldon and find a way to kill them before the kill us.” The way he said it you would think he killed people on a regular basis. Heck, for all I knew he probably did.

One spell went through my mind. I wasn’t sure if it would hold more than one person or even if I could do it. I had never used magic before. But I had to try. Those things were hurting my friend.

I’ll be damned if they were going to leave here without a scratch.

“I have an idea.” I moved again to walk out into the clearing but Yelson stopped me and pulled me back to him. “Just trust me.”

He trusted me, I could see it in his eyes, but it was his job to protect me. He didn’t want me to walk into what could be my death. But Yelson knew we had to help Weldon and Arabella. After a moment’s hesitation, he let go of my arm.

“Be careful.”

I nodded to him before I walked into the clearing. I instantly ran to Arabella. I turned her over and tried desperately to feel a pulse. It was faint but it was there. Her forehead was split opened just below her hairline. Blood covered the left side of her face. It scared the crap out of me. I gently laid her down and focused my attention on the men.

They did not seem to notice me until I started to chant the binding spell I had learned a month ago. Before I was finish, all three of them were frozen in place. The man who was hitting Weldon had started to make his way to me but was stopped in midstride. The other too still held him in there grasp.

Yelson came running out of the forest to Weldon. He was passed out in their hold. Yelson pried the men’s claw like fingers off Weldon’s arms and carried him to where I was now knelt next to Arabella. Weldon looked tiny in his arms.

“Can you carry her?” He asked me. I nodded keeping my focus on holding the spell. Gently, I scoped Arabella into my arms and followed Yelson back to the palace.

My head was starting to hurt and I was feeling faint when Cabel suddenly appeared by my side. We weren’t far from the palace so it wouldn’t have taken much to find us.

He took Arabella from me before I could fall to the floor. One of the guards who had followed Cabel wrapped his hands on my arms to keep me up. He smiled gently when I thanked him causing his gold colored eyes to sparkle.

Cabel asked what happened after a few seconds when he was sure I wouldn’t pass out. After Yelson’s explanation Cabel ordered the five men next to him to apprehend the men from the clearing. We began to walk back to the palace and after a few minutes had passed Cabel told me to let go of the spell.

My body relaxed instantly after. I felt drained all over. It was the first time I had used my magic. I was a little mad that no one warned me about the side effects.

We continued to walk to the palace. Cabel carried Arabella, holding her close to his chest. He murmured soothing words to her even though I was sure she couldn’t hear him. His kindness seemed unusually to me. The way he carried and spoke to her showed just how much Arabella meant to him.

When the palace came into view, Emilie ran out of the door. She held a small stone in her hand as she made her way to Arabella. She started to say something under her breath as she held the stone over Arabella’s wound. Slowly the skin started to fuse together until a faint pink line was left.

She then moved to Weldon, who Yelson still carried, and repeated the same spell three times, once over his face, then his chest, then his broken leg. After a minute, his wounds subsided leaving nothing in their wake.

“Let’s go lay them down.” Cabel walked into the palace to the living room with everyone in tow. He put Arabella down on the loveseat and Yelson put Weldon on the couch across from it. We then left them to rest and went into the kitchen. Emilie shut the doors that separated the two rooms once we were all in.

“How could you let this happen? You know none of you are to be out of the village lines,” Cabel quietly yelled at Yelson, as he did not want to disturb Arabella or Weldon.

“I know, sir. It was stupid on my part.”

“It wasn’t Yelson fault,” I spoke up in his defense. “We all wanted to go out there for the day. We’ve had it planned for days.”

“It does not matter Anastasia. He should have known better than to let you all out there with no protection, especially you,” he said pointing one of his long fingers at me.

“In case you haven’t noticed, Cabel, I can take care of myself,” I huffed back at him.

“What about the others?” He asked me sternly. He stood less than a foot away from me so I could not look away. “Emilie was so distraught when she made it back that she could barely tell us where you all were. Weldon was almost beaten to death and Arabella was holding on by a hair. You may be able to take care of yourself, Anastasia, but do not assume the same for everyone else.”

With that, he walked out of the room, his heavy footsteps echoing on the staircase. I looked around at everyone in the room. Mari had joined us and was leaning against the counter looking at her brother. Emilie sat down at the table absently staring at the stone still in her hands. I hadn’t noticed before but the gash on her arm was gone, not even a scar to prove its existence. Yelson had his eyes closed with his hands on each side of his head.

“Cabel is right. I wasn’t thinking straight. I should not have allowed us to go out there,” he said taking his hands away from his face to look at me.

“No he is not. We have all been kept in this village for too long and needed to get out.”

“That is no excuse Anastasia,” Mari said accusingly. “We all know how dangerous it is out there. That is why they keep us in the village lines. They are protecting us but you just had to go out didn’t you?”

“Mari, she didn’t suggest we go out there.”

“No,” Mari said to her brother. “But if it wasn’t for her, Weldon would never have suggested it.”

“That’s not true.” Emilie in a small voice as she stood up from the chair and glared at her. “Weldon had been talking about going into the woods for months before Annie even came here. You can even ask him when he wakes up.”

Mari stared angrily at Emilie as she came to my defense. Her dark blue eyes turned cold as she turned to look at me. The anger that was building up inside her threatened to burst at any moment but before the flood gates could burst open she walked out the room into the backyard.

I let out a breath as the door closed behind her. Mari would never like me, or at least be in a room with me without getting angry.

“Sorry about that,” Yelson apologized.

“Yelson you really need to stop apologizing for her. It’s not your fault,” I said placing my hand on his arm. His gray eyes softened as he looked at me. His gazed caused the knots in my stomach to unclench and my mind to ease.

“Well I’m going to go check on Weldon and Arabella,” Emilie said walking by us. I quickly dropped my hand to my side as if I had been caught doing something wrong.

“I’ll go check on Mari. You should go take a nap Annie, you look exhausted.” Yelson murmured next to me. 

“Yea, that spell took a lot on energy to hold,” I sighed. I was getting tired just thinking about it.

Yelson walked out the back of the palace to find his sister. I walked towards my room. Weldon and Arabella were still unconscious. Emilie was trying everything to help them but I could see she was frustrated.

“Can I do anything to help?” I asked her when she let out a frustrated sigh.

“You can go sleep. You look like you’re gonna pass out at any moment,” She laughed as she pressed her hand to Weldon’s forehead.

I did as I was told and quickly made my way to my room. I forced myself to change out of my clothes before I allowed sleep to take me over.

Dark circles found their way underneath Weldon’s brown empty eyes. His usually tanned skin became pale as the days had progressed. He had not spoken since the attack three days ago or tried to have any contact with anyone. He would just lie on his bed staring at nothing.

The blue comforter that usually covered Weldon lay on the floor in a forgotten heap. He was sitting up in the bed, a drastic change from the past two days.

“Weldon?” I asked as I picked up the bedding. His eye’s still stared at nothing but they seemed more focused than usual. Almost as if he was trying to figure something out. “I brought you something. You told me it would help me so maybe it could help you again.”

I placed the book of paintings he had given me my first week next to him. He made no attempt to pick it up, no move to acknowledge that he saw it.

“Okay, I’ll do it for you,” I said as I got onto the bed next to him. His cold skin surprised me at first. My fingers grasped around the comforter as I thought about putting it on him but I remembered that he was a fish. A mer completely out of his habitat.

I felt sad for Weldon. Emilie told me that he could never enter the ocean ever again. She was not sure why, Weldon never wanted to talk about it, but we could tell something horrible had happened to him. But maybe that was what he needed, a little piece of his home. Maybe that would get him out of the catatonic state he was in.

That would never work. Weldon would not let us anywhere near the ocean with him. Shaking my head I opened the book to a random page.

A small family of elves smiled back at us. The mother and father held each other as they watched their children play. A small boy laughed as he ran from his sister who chased him around a tree. They seemed happy in their little part of the world. They were untouched by the bad and only allowed the good into their hearts. I very much envied this family. They seemed to have everything I was missing.

Happiness, love, and family.

I looked up to Weldon, no emotion played on his face at the painting. He had not even looked in the way of the open book so I turned the page.

This painting was set underwater. A small mer boy looked into a dark cave. He seemed scared to enter the darkness. As if something evil was lurking inside. However, it felt as if he had to go into the cave, he had to prove something of himself.

“He reminds me of you,” I said to Weldon. I was surprised to see him staring at the image.

I slowly held out the book for him. His pale hands grasped it as he pulled it close to him. His brown eyes traced every inch of the painting.

Slowly, I got off the bed and walked out of the room knowing he had to be alone. Emilie waited on the other side of the door. Her face tensed with anticipation.

“What happened?” She asked as soon as the door closed behind me.

“He grabbed the book. He may still need some time but he is coming back.”

Sighing with relief, Emilie encompassed me in a hug. “How did you know it would work?”

“I didn’t. However, I had to help him. He helped me when I was in a tough spot.”

We made our way back to my room. Emilie agreed to show me some spells to help defend others and myself. After what happened in the forest, I want to be more prepared.

Yelson had managed to get me a spell book just for defense. The one Simon had given me had been full of basic spells that didn’t, for the most part, have anything to do with defense.

Master Kai still had not returned from his trip. I, of course, was a little worried but Yelson told me that he probably just was held up in some business. However, I could not shake off a feeling that something bad was happening.

It was different from what I felt the other day in the forest. It felt as if something was coming for us, something we would have no control over.

Instead of focusing on that, I allowed Emilie to teach me. She was a much nicer teacher then my brother. She never tried to push me or work me too hard. Emilie always asked me if I needed a break. I had to admit, I did not like it. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was used to my brothers harsher way of teaching or if I just missed him too much.

It did not matter. I had to concentrate. If I did not, someone might die the next time.

“What is this?” I asked her pointing to a page in the book. It was different than the rest. It didn’t look like a spell but more like a journal entry.

It talked about a spell that could cause a person to do as one wishes. The entry warned not to ever try to do this spell. It meant the death of the caster. If you wanted someone to do what you wanted it must be the only thing you wished because there was no coming back from the this death. Not even the strongest of magic could break it.

“That’s nothing you have to worry about. I’m not sure why it’s even in this book. It’s not as if it says what the spell is or how to perform it. All it talks about is not to perform it. Pretty useless if you tell me.”

“Yeah,” I whispered as I stared at the page. Maybe this was what I was looking for. A way to end Daruka but not kill him. I just wished the spell had been written in the book.

~*~

Yelson decided to take me into the village to help distract me from everything. We walked down to the center market place. It was different than the first time I had walked through it. Most people bowed their heads when they saw me looking but no one had really stopped what they were doing. I was grateful. I hated it when the attention was on me.

There was an older woman behind one the many carts. Hers contained handmade dolls. There was one in particular that caught my attention. It was a small doll with long blue hair and a pink gown. I smiled as it reminded me of Arabella.

“Here, you can have it,” the woman smiled at me. She picked up the doll and tried to hand it to me.

“Oh, I don’t have any money.”

“That is alright dearie. I want you to have this.”

“Thank you but I couldn’t possible just take that from you.”

“Consider it a gift. To thank you for coming here to end this sickness that has been thrown upon us.”

I wasn’t sure what to say so I simply smiled at her and took the doll from her hands. Her smile grew when I accepted her gift. “Thank you.”

“No need dearie.” She sat back down on her old wooden stool. The smile was still on her face as I walked away to find Yelson.

He was two carts away. His eyes were trained on me as I interacted with the old woman.

“That is a nice doll.”

“Yeah, it would be perfect for Arabella. The woman let me have her.”

“That was nice of her.”

“Yeah.” I looked back at the woman behind the cart. She was talking to another customer but she still had that smile.

“Come on. I want to get some fruit for Emilie. She is supposed to make some pies for everyone.”

We walked to the other side of the market place. There was a line of carts full of different fruit. Yelson walked over to a vendor who was selling strawberries. As they talked my eyes roamed the area.

People bowed as they walked past me. I learned that they were paying their respects to me being the oracle. The savior they had been waiting years to return. I felt as if I owed these people. As I looked around I could see the sadness that evaded their eyes although something else was starting to show through. Maybe it was happiness, maybe it was hope. Either way I knew I had to help them.

My eyes stopped on a Fay a few carts away. Her back was to me but I knew who it was. The green Fay I had seen the first few days here. I wanted to go over there and tell her that everything was going to be alright. That I heard the words she spoke if front of that palace and I would try everything I could to make sure they didn’t have to suffer anymore.

She turned around and our eyes connected. A smile spread across her face as she bowed her head. But hers had a different meaning to it. She knew the words I wanted to speak. I didn’t have to say them for her to understand. I smiled and nodded back.

Yelson had finished with the strawberry vendor and moved on to get apples. I followed him. The vendor looked to be some sort of hybrid. He could pass of as an elf or a goblin. His ears were pointed and his nose was elongated but his skin was also a bluish hue. I smiled at him as Yelson told him what he wanted.

We moved to a few more carts before we started the ten minute walk back to the palace.

“How did you like it?”

“It was nice to be away from the palace. I don’t think I will ever get used to everyone bowing their heads to me.”

“They are showing their respect to you,” he laughed. “You seemed to be doing a little bowing of your own.”

“You saw that?” I shouldn’t have been surprised. Yelson saw everything when it came to me.

“Yes. It was nice to see. It’s good to know you care for these people.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I do not know. I just felt like you forgot about how everyone here has been hurt by Daruka as well.”

“Yelson, every time I think about my family I think about Daruka. I think about how he terrorized these innocent people for years. I know how everyone is suffering. I couldn’t possibly forget about that.”

“Yes, I know. I also know how easy it is to get sucked up into your own grief that you forget that of others. I do not want you to forget the reason why we fight, why we don’t give up. If Daruka wins, these people will lose it all.”

“Well then he won’t win,” I said as the palace came into view.

I meant what I said. Daruka wouldn’t win. Not after what he did to my family and countless others.

~*~

It took two more days but Weldon was finally walking around the house. He still seemed out of it but more in control. Arabella had immediately returned to her old self, jumping around the palace and playing with others. Her eyes lit up when I gave her the doll I received for her. She immediately went to show her friend Chi who lived just a doors away from the palace.

Weldon, Emilie, Mari, Yelson and I all sat at the dining table four days after the incident in the woods. A map of my cabin lay on the table for us all to see as well as many other papers that I could not decipher.

Yelson still thought it would be a good idea to return to the cabin to find any clues to where my family could be. Since there seemed to be no advancement in the rescue of my family, I asked Yelson to include me in the plans. He fought me at first but knew how much this meant to me. This was my family that they were talking about.

He thought it would be best to go tomorrow morning. That way we would be there the next day and have the entire time to search the perimeter. Weldon thought it was a good idea as well. I could tell by the strained look on his face he did not much care for the plan, he just wanted to get out of this place. I couldn’t blame him. I was getting a little stir crazy as well.

“Wouldn’t Daruka have his men patrolling the area?” Mari asked. “He has to have at least thought we would have gone back by now.”

“Yes, but it has been months since the attack on Annie’s family. He would have sent his men back.” Yelson studied a paper in front of him. His gray eyes creased together as he concentrated on what it said. “I need to talk with Cabel.”

He started to get up but I stopped him. “Will you ask him if I can go? I know he said I couldn’t anymore because of the attack but I want to go. I have too.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Yelson replied as he collected the papers.

“Please Yelson, it’s my home.” I gazed up at him, trying to plead him with my eyes. He just stared at me. Never letting my gaze slip from his I pleaded and pleaded. It may take a couple tries but Yelson would eventually give in. He could not keep me from visiting my family’s home.

“Yelson you know she will just hold us back,” Mari said from behind me. She, of course, wouldn’t want me to go. I wasn’t sure why. I would keep myself out of their way.

“I’m sorry Mari, but she is right. It is her home.” Before she could reply Yelson walked into Cabel’s study.

Grunting with anger Mari walked out of the room. Her long dark hair flew about her body as she opened the door and walked outside.

“Ignore her,” Emilie said as she got me to sit back down. Weldon got us some cookies to snack on. Chocolate peanut butter, my favorite.

They then began to discuss the progress of my spell training. I had learned a few but had yet to try them. Emilie said that would be dangerous and should only be used when I needed to. She had enough faith in me to believe that I did not need to use the spell to make sure I could do it. I, on the other hand, did not think so.

A few minutes after Yelson had entered Cabel’s study he came out. His handsome face seemed strained from the conversation he must have had with Cabel. His eyes roamed the floor as if looking for some sort of answer.

“Yelson, you okay?” I asked after a minute of him just standing there.

His eyes moved in a flash up to me. “Yes?”