The three boys led Richard and the others up a series of stairs, rope ladders, and a pulley system that was used for getting them to a point where they were hundreds of feet in the air. 240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYiejR0ydSG
Richard looked over and saw Luke looking over the railing of a bridge and his face turned pale.
“Afraid of heights?” Richard taunted.
Luke didn’t even get mad at Richard for finding his weakness, only nodded.
Richard respected him for that. He too had a fear. Spiders.
He’d encountered a few around his house in Quinton, and would call for his servants to “Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!”
But still, he found it strange that the seemingly bravest one of the group was afraid of heights.
〜
After being assigned small cabins that gave them a bed and a chest, the 3 boys who originally threatened them led Richard and the others back on the ground, much to Luke’s relief.
The one called Chris led them to a sheltered area filled with almost a hundred people. They all looked like Skylar.
Not exactly like Skylar, but they all had brown hair and yellow eyes and pale skin, just like the group’s strange friend.
One thing Richard noticed was that Chris had the same birthmark as Skylar, which resembled now a deformed circle.
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Strange, Richard thought, only a few days ago it had been different. A full circle on her cheek.
But Richard found a rational explanation for their shared birthmark.
They must be siblings.
The aroma of cooked meat hit Richard’s nose when they came to be 20 feet away from the structure.
They appeared to be serving a venison stew, and Richard looked over to see Alice’s eyes wide, a horrified expression on her face.
Richard turned to what she was looking at and saw a single wall was in the structure, and it was covered in deer heads.
Richard leaned over and whispered to Peter what their predicament was and Peter passed it on to Luke, who told Chris.
Chris turned around and gave Alice an apologetic look while Helen was shielding Alice’s eyes and comforting her.
“I can find a vegetarian option for you and escort you to your room if you like,” Chris suggested.
But Alice shook her head as if getting the image of the deer heads out of her mind. “It’s okay, I-I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure?” Luke asked, looking at the redness in her cheeks. She was embarrassed.
Alice swallowed before answering, “Yes, but I’ll still want a different dish.”
Chris nodded and headed over to the cooks.
As everyone else served themselves at a table that had pots and pots of stew, Richard got a bowl then moved over a few tables away from where the rest of the group sat.
He was sure nobody would want to sit with him and right now he just wanted to be alone.
They were in this together, but Richard felt so separate.
Richard looked over and saw Peter smiling at him and waving him over, “Come on, Richard! Sit with us!”
At first, Richard thought Peter was taunting him, but then he noticed that Helen and Luke were trying to get him to sit with them, too.
Richard slowly made his way to their table and sat down. Everyone seemed happy.
Except for Skylar, who shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Richard at first thought it was his fault, since he'd just moved over there, but then he remembered how uneasy she'd been since the day before. She had relaxed a little, but she was still on edge. She was constantly looking over her shoulder, or staring out into the woods.
They ate and joked with each other and laughed. It had been a while since they’d had time to breathe.
Hopefully, it’d stay that way, at least for a while.
...
That night, Richard couldn’t sleep. He’d forgotten momentarily what a real bed felt like, but it wasn’t the fact that he wasn’t used to the bed that kept him up.
He was anxious.
Richard didn’t know why, but he had a gut feeling that something bad was going to happen, and soon. He felt that something was going to separate the 6 of them, but he didn’t know why. Filled with anxiety and restlessness, Richard finally sat up in bed.
He quietly walked out the door of his cabin and made his way to the small balcony overlooking the town below.
Mostly everyone was asleep, so there weren’t many lanterns lighting the ground, but Richard guessed he was about 50 feet high.
He thought for a moment that if someone took one wrong step they could fall to their death. He bet Luke was having a heck of a time trying to sleep while knowing that he was high above the ground. Richard felt a small smile spread across his face.
“Why can’t you try being nicer to people?” a voice asked behind him and made Richard jump. It was Helen.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, his heart beating like a drum from the scare she’d given him, “Shouldn’t you be asleep?”
“Shouldn’t you?” she countered, as she raised a sarcastic eyebrow.
Richard turned away and looked at the starry sky peeking through the canopy of leaves.
Helen walked up beside him and sighed, resting her tiny hands on the railing that kept them from falling off the balcony.
“I’m sorry,” Helen apologized, “It’s just that my life has changed so much in a few days.”
Richard scoffed in agreement.
“Do you ever wonder,” he said slowly, “why whoever made this prophecy would choose us? I mean, Luke and Skylar make sense, they’re the leaders and the fighters. And you are kind and thoughtful,” he saw Helen blush a little at this, even in the dim light of the moon, “and Peter’s brave and strong, and Alice is smart. But what about me? Why would I be chosen? I’ve been a real muttonhead to you all and I probably can’t even pick up a sword. I’m not worthy to be in a quest with you 5. It just doesn’t make sense. I’ll just slow you down and make everything harder for you all.”
Helen sat in silence for a few moments. “A few days before…all of this. Before I was kidnapped and I met Alice and you…I…” she didn’t look at him, “I…didn’t want to keep going anymore. I was…giving up. I thought…if I ended it all I wouldn’t hurt so much anymore. You know?”
Richard’s eyes widened as he realized what she was saying. He was wrong about her. Living on the streets had negatively affected her. Richard thought of all the pain she must have gone through with hunger and just being so… alone.
She had been so nice. So sweet. And she always had a smile on her face. Richard never realized how much pain she was going through.
“Even though I can’t fight,” Helen said after a minute of silence, “this quest gives me something. Something to fight for, to hope for. Sometimes…people just need something to do.”
Richard nodded, although he didn’t know if she was looking at him. “My father won’t be coming for me,” he admitted, “He probably doesn’t even care. My father doesn’t care about me, I’m a disappointment to him,” he felt his fingers curl on the railing in a fist around it. He was trying to answer Helen’s question when she snuck up behind him. Why he couldn’t be nicer to people. “He would talk to me the way I talk to everyone else. I guess in a way he taught me to put an iron wall around my heart. Don’t let anyone in, and you can’t get hurt.”
What were these words coming out of his mouth? He had never opened up to anyone about his past or his thoughts this way before. He had always blocked everyone out. So why was he letting someone in?
No, he wasn’t letting just someone in, he was letting Helen in. Helen, sweet, sweet, Helen who picked Richard a flower. Helen, brave, brave, Helen who saved Richard from the goblins. And beautiful Helen, with her deep blue eyes and the cute way she tucked her hair behind her ear, the pinkness of her cheeks, and the small freckles over her nose.
Richard looked at every aspect of her face now. She had long, dark, lashes, and small but full lips. A smudge of dirt on her cheek below her eye didn’t smudge her beauty, and even though her hair was crazy and matted with dirt, he could see the honey blonde underneath. What radiant beauty was hiding behind her dirty exterior? How could such a beautiful girl be overlooked and frowned upon in the streets?
What was this feeling deep within his gut? He felt butterflies and the walls around his heart slowly lowering. He felt heat rise to his cheeks and suddenly felt awkward and uncomfortable around Helen. She was still looking at the stars with fascination, but Richard had his attention on her.
What was happening to him?
That was when Helen turned to him and saw him staring at her. They stood there for a moment, just looking into each other’s eyes. Then Richard broke it and looked away, embarrassed. He was making this worse. Oh no, what was Helen going to think of him now?
Richard felt something soft and warm brush his right cheek. He turned and saw Helen getting off her tiptoes and turned to walk away, “Goodnight, Richard,” she called softly over her shoulder.
Richard felt his hand go to the spot where she had kissed him and could barely say “Goodnight, Helen,” before he too, stumbled back to his cabin and drifted off to sleep…
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