Valley Of Glamorgan (31 page)

“So, this must be your new guardian? Hey man
I’m Eirnan.”

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Lorcan,” and the
two shook hands warmly.

“If you ever need a guardian to show you the
ropes around here feel free to call on me,” said Eirnan. It seemed
he was really trying to reach out to Lorcan but he was experiencing
the same problem I was as Lorcan’s reply was short and to the
point.

“Thanks. I will take your offer into
consideration.”

After Eirnan had let us through the gate,
closing it firmly behind us, we made our way to Willow’s cottage.
If anyone could get someone out of their shell it was her. “Is it
really a good idea to be outside the gate Carmina?” asked Lorcan.
The use of my name sounded strange coming from him but I was glad
he had finally stopped calling me Banphrionsa.

“Of course. After all I’m supposed to be
safe with you, remember?” I responded smartly.

“Yes, but it seems foolish to purposefully
put yourself into the path of trouble unnecessarily,” he responded
simply.

“Look,” I said, stopping abruptly in front
of him. “I know that you are still new here and that you mean well
but you have to stop being so formal and cryptic.”

Suddenly he let out a strained laugh, almost
as if laughing didn’t come easily to him and he replied, “Please
remember, I am here for your protection Carmina, not to befriend
you. That is why I am the best man for the job. When you get too
close to someone you compromise your job.”

For some reason I suddenly felt sorry for
him for in that instance something told me that where he came from
he didn’t have many friends, if any at all. Looking towards him I
said patiently, “Well, you can still protect me and be my friend. I
don’t care what you say, it is possible.” He didn’t say anything
and I flooded with relief as we reached Willows cottage.

Knocking three times we waited, being
welcomed by Willow, and the strong smell of burning herbs as she
opened the door, before ushering us inside. “What’s with the
smell?” I asked curiously.

“If you are referring to the scent of the
herbs, then I am trying to cleanse the house again. It hasn’t felt
the same since the fire,” explained Willow. Her comment causing me
to flash back to the day of the fire, as I tried Shaking off the
image. I found my way to the small arm chair that I had started
claiming as mine whenever I visited her. “To what do I owe the
pleasure of this visit Mina?” she calmly asked me.

“I am just visiting,” I replied, yet sensing
she knew better, after all I wasn’t one for just stopping by and
visiting.

“Spit it out,” demanded Willow but in a
motherly tone. It felt strange to me bringing the subject up in
front of Lorcan but he was now a part of my life and would have to
get used to my constant worrying.

Slowly I began explaining, “Willow, I am
afraid that I will disappoint you, and the village, on the night of
my animal ceremony.” Pausing I suddenly felt terrified by it all.
“What if I don’t become the savior of the village? What if I just
turn into the fox and that’s it?” I concluded miserably. Sitting
with my legs crossed I waited for her to respond.

“Mina, you could never disappoint me,”
declared Willow gently. “We don’t expect you to be anything but who
you were born to be, and if that person just happens to receive a
magical gift which will help us put an end to the evil that lurks
within this word, then so be it. Just know that I will love you
either way though. I sensed she was smiling at me as I felt the
compassion laced within her words. It meant the world to me that
she just wanted me to be who I wanted to be.

Suddenly I felt my cheeks starting to get
hot from embarrassment as I became very aware of Lorcan’s presence.
It had been so easy talking in front of Knoll, unless it had been
about him of course, but with Lorcan it was hard because I still
really had no clue as to who he was. Running my hands through my
tangled hair I couldn’t even remember if I had brushed it or not
that morning. I wanted to talk to Willow more. To ask her how she
was really doing, but I knew she wouldn’t tell me with Lorcan
present either.

A knock sounded at the door. Standing up I
would have offered to answer it but it would have taken me too long
to shuffle my way across the room. Hearing someone making their way
to answer the knocking, I waited listening for it opening with a
loud creaking noise.

“Hello, Salvador,” Willows aged voice called
out, obviously inviting him inside.

Sitting back down in the chair I suddenly
felt strange being around him. The last time I had seen him he had
been trying to kidnap me because of his restless animal syndrome; I
had come up with this term shortly after the incident, although I
would never say it out loud to anyone because I didn’t think they
would find it as amusing as I did. Then I heard the floor creaking
under his weight and I had a vision of him being a large bulky
man.

“Princess,” he suddenly called out, “I was
hoping I would find you here. Might I ask to speak with you for a
moment?”

I rubbed my hands against the soft fabric of
the chair and took a deep breath in. In all honesty I really didn’t
want to be alone with him, but I couldn’t be that rude for he
seemed to be doing a lot better. Now I could hear the calmness in
his voice compared to the restless rage that had been laced in
every word when he had spoken before.

I pointed in the general direction of the
door saying, “We can speak outside.” I figured whatever it was he
wanted to say it wasn’t something he wanted everyone to hear. As I
stood I felt a strong hand come into contact with my chest,
stopping me from taking another step. “What the hell?” I called
out, annoyed by whoever had stopped me.

“
I apologize Princess,” announced
Lorcan, “but I cannot allow to you go out there alone, especially
with a man who cannot control his animal.”

I could feel my face and ears growing warm
as the familiar heat of anger started to spread through me. “I am
sorry Lorcan,” I said sinisterly, “But you better move your damn
arm and stop trying to control every move I make! I am going to go
outside and speak to Sal, who for your information has his animal
under control!” As I said this I could hear Willow and Sal
whispering to each other across the room

Then I heard Lorcan’s uneven breathing as he
stood in front of me, his hand still pressed firmly to my chest.
Suddenly I realized that his hand was basically resting on my
boobs. Whilst I am sure he hadn’t meant to place his hand there I
was aghast as the heat from it was spreading across my chest,
making my breath come out in uneven gasps. Placing my hand on top
of his, I asked in a low voice, “Would you please remove your hand
from my boobs?!”

He quickly did as asked as he began sighing
and started to say something, sounding as if he was tongue tied,
“I…. I am sorry; I had no intentions of touching you
inappropriately Carmina; I was simply trying to stop you from once
again putting your life in danger.”

“Well, I don’t want your help!” I declared
before walking past him and heading for the door where I grabbed
the doorknob, opened the door and calling behind me for Sal to
follow me I went outside where with my arm’s crossed tightly across
my chest, I waited for Sal to join me.

Moments passed I was about to head back
inside to see what was taking him so long, when I heard the door
open and close. “I am here,” Sal yelled out, a little too
loudly.

“I am blind not deaf!” I yelled back in the
same tone he had used but spreading a smile across my face,
hopefully showing him it was intended to be a joke. Sometimes it
was hard to know if people took my sarcastic humor in an offensive
way or not, especially as I couldn’t read their facial
expressions.

Sal spoke drawing me from my thoughts, “I
just wanted to tell you how sorry I am for the way I acted when we
first met. I was in such a dark place and even though everyone
thinks it was me who saved you, in all honesty Mina, it was you who
saved me.” He paused before explaining, “I was just a ticking time
bomb sitting in that cabin all alone, growing restless and starting
to lose more and more of myself each day. If it wasn’t for you the
guardians would have killed me, so thank you. If there is anything
I can ever do to repay you for your kindness, please let me
know.”

I thought that was the longest speech I had
ever made him give so I stood stunned for a moment. I also hadn’t
been expecting him to apologize to me. I thought back to the night
I had come running towards the gates with him in his animal form
charging after me. I don’t know why I hadn’t just let the guards
kill him; he had been terrifying. But, it there had been something
inside of me, telling me that he could be saved; just as now there
was something inside telling me that we weren’t out here alone.
“Lorcan!” I called out, “I know that you’re out here!”

“I am,” he called out, as if that was a good
enough explanation for him to eaves drop on our conversation. If it
was always going to be this difficult to talk to him, it was going
to make my life hell. Although I knew he meant well, it was the way
he went about doing it that drove me insane.

Sal cleared his throat breaking into my
thoughts and apparently trying to remind me that he was still
there. Turning to where I thought he stood as I told him, “I am
glad that you are doing better. How about we just say that we are
even; you saved my life and I saved yours. You don’t owe me
anything Sal, other than to be happy.”

“Thank you Princess, that is very kind of
you,” he replied, “I will not take up anymore of your time.”
Shortly afterwards I heard the door open and close behind me; he
had gone back inside Willow’s house which I found odd. Deciding to
let them talk in private I chose to make my way down the path and
head back to the village.

As we walked along I suddenly chose to stop
in the center of the path and turning I walked straight into
Lorcan’s chest. Rubbing my nose I backed away feeling foolish then
sat on the soft grass, patting the ground close by and indicating
that Lorcan join me.

“I am fine standing,” he assured me.

Reaching for his shoe I pulled on his
trouser leg instructing him, “Will you just sit!” After a few
seconds he sat down across from me.

“Did you get tired Princess?” he asked,
obviously confused by my sudden need to sit down.

“No,” I replied, “I just wanted to talk to
you, and this is as good of a spot as any.”

“Okay….,” he said, stretching the word
out.

“You have been here a number of days now and
I just want to know more about you. All I know is that you come
from this creepy island that everyone talks about, as if it’s some
sort of place where guardian celebrities are born. If you are going
to continue being my guardian then I need to know who is walking
around with me all day.”

I heard him snigger before saying, “As if
you have a choice if I am your guardian or not.” His answer made me
feel very annoyed; mainly because he was right. I didn’t have a
choice; he was the only guardian in the valley who wasn’t already
taken.

“I am not trying to sound rude Princess, but
I don’t see the point in all this. As I have told you before I have
no want to be your friend, it just makes my job harder and more
complicated,” he told me.

“Well! That is exactly why we need to have
this talk! I don’t understand why you are so against me getting to
know you; why would it be so horrible if we became friends? “I
questioned, “What are you so scared of? I thought you were supposed
to be fierce and a Mr. Big bad guardian, but for some reason you
don’t want me to get to know you. “Has it never crossed your mind
that not everyone wants to be friends with the princess? Princess,
I have been ordered to protect you and that is exactly what I am
going to do, nothing more and nothing less. And, the sooner you get
over yourself and the need to be accepted and loved by everyone the
better off you will be.” It was cold. There was no emotion in his
voice whatsoever.

Still trying to get my mind around what he
had just said I remained lost in silent thought. I only wanted to
get to know him a little better, although a small whisper deep
within me made me accept that no matter how painful his words were,
there was truth in them. I was always trying to get everyone to
like me or to accept me. After all hadn’t I shed tears earlier this
morning because I felt afraid of disappointing everyone on the
night of my animal ritual? Damn, I knew he was right, but it would
be a cold day in hell before I would admit that he was. He was
still a jerk and I couldn’t wait until Declan became my guardian.
At least he would be kind and we would be able to steal moments
away where he could wrap his strong arms around me and kiss away my
troubles.

Standing up from the ground I wiped the dirt
from my legs and continued walking. If he didn’t want to be my
friend or speak to me, then I decided I wasn’t going to force him,
or make the mistake of trying to be his friend again. I would just
count down the days until Declan became my guardian.

As we got to the gates, I heard Eirnan greet
me, “Hey Mina!” Waving at him, hopefully in the right direction and
stopped walking. It always felt strange waving to people,
especially now since losing my sight. I could almost picture my
hand waving but it was usually way too fast or too slow. Eirnan
went on to ask, “I was hoping that you had seen Declan. We were
supposed to go down to Glam creek to fish.”

Sadly I admitted I had no clue where he was
and felt bad for not knowing or for realizing that we hadn’t had
our usual phone conversation today. “Tell you what,” I replied, “I
will call him and see if he picks up.” So standing just inside the
gate I quickly pulled out my cell phone. Running my fingers across
the number pad I found the three small dots that Maggie had put on
the number three key, hitting it before putting the phone to my
ear; I was immensely grateful for speed dial.