“My friends,” Lydia spread her arms, a smile wide on her face. “We are honored to have such important people here with us today.”
Lydia pointed over to the six of them, and Skylar felt her face grow hot as The Rising Sun members turned to look at them, clapping and cheering for them.
She wasn’t sure about using the prophecy for fame and didn’t much like the spotlight anyway.
“As you can see,” Lydia continued, “We have the children of the prophecy with us, honoring us with their presence in Dueglestein.”
More cheers and claps sounded, and Skylar couldn’t stop herself from gripping Luke’s upper arm, her eyes to the ground as the stares continued.
No, no, it’s happening again, she couldn’t help herself from thinking, panic filling her heart as she felt the memories hit her.
Stop, she told herself, she couldn’t let her emotions stop her all the time.
But it was too much. She was back to that horrible day.
…
She had just finished some training while Chris was off with the rest of the guard, laughing and joking whenever they weren’t on duty.
Skylar was practicing her bo-staff combat with another young Protector, dodging his attacks before finally sweeping her staff at his legs, knocking him to the ground.
The Protector landed with a grunt, but Skylar held out a hand to help him get up.
“Sorry,” she said with a smile, “You nearly beat me today.” They both knew it was a lie, that Skylar always won the match but he seemed to just be glad she was helping him up.
“You’re fine, Skylar,” he said with a sheepish grin, rubbing the back of his neck as he got up, “I’m just glad I’m not against some of those guys.”
He nodded in the direction of two Protectors sparring, using dull spears to not hurt each other. The one knocked the other in the stomach with the opposite end of the spear, and as he fell pointed the dull point at his neck.
“Ha! Got you, Ben!”
Ben stood as the one who knocked him down began to walk away, but as his back was turned, Ben kicked the backs of his knees and caused the boy to fall to the ground.
“Wait, wait!” the Protector who was now on the ground holding his hands up in defense as Ben jumped on top of him, pounding his face with his fists.
“Ben, it was just a spar!”
Skylar turned away from the scene, a chill running down her spine as she hoped nothing like that would happen to her.
“I…have to go,” she told the Protector she sparred with, quickly walking for the mess hall to have something to eat. To avoid these crazy boys.
She hurried over to the mess hall, only to feel a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.
“Where’re you going, Verlice?”
Skylar turned to see Ben, the boy who had beaten up the other one because he’d lost the match. As she looked over his shoulder she saw a few other boys join behind him, popping their knuckles and necks menacingly.
“I should ask you the same thing,” Skylar said, trying to make herself sound brave. But this boy had to be almost as old as Chris, and the top of her head only made it up to the middle of his chest.
“I saw you lookin’ over at us,” Ben observed, as Skylar glared at him, “Did ya think that a girl like you could be a part of the guard?”
“I can be everything like you and more,” Skylar practically whispered, her voice ice as her hands turned to fists, “And not a bully just because you’re older and bigger.”
Ben’s face turned into a cruel smile. “Maybe ya didn’t hear what I said,” he raised a hand towards Skylar, and she flinched as he sent it down on her raised hands.
“You don’t belong here, Verlice,” Ben muttered in her ear as the tears sprung in her eyes, desperately hiding behind her hands which were raised to defend herself. “No girl will ever be as great a warrior as a man.”
Despite her fear, Skylar found a rage deep inside her as she heard him say those words. She would not let this bully tell her what she could and couldn’t do.
She kicked him in the groin as hard as she could, sending him reeling in pain as he doubled over, grunting.
“Get…her,” Ben muttered to his friends, and Skylar began to run as she heard them start to chase after her.
No, no, she shouldn’t have done that…now they were going to chase her and when they’d catch up to her, they’d-
Someone stuck their foot out in the path as Skylar ran, and she tripped, falling to the ground.
Turning on her back, Skylar looked up in fear as she saw the group of boys standing over her, their faces filled with sickening smiles. Ben limped behind them, his face red with pain and embarrassment.
“How dare you, scum,” Ben muttered under his breath, a glare so intense in his eyes that it seemed to pierce into her. “You’ll pay for what you’ve done today.”
He snapped his fingers as the boys seemed to pounce on her, kicking her as she lay on the ground, unable to do anything. She cried as she lay there, regretting everything she had ever done. She just wished she could die. She wished she could join her father and die…
As they kicked at her, they berated Skylar with insults, calling her names and curses as well as making fun of the fact her father was gone. No, no, she just wished she could disappear, and then it would end this horrible nightmare.
“Skye girl, Skye girl,” they sang, “Her daddy’s the one who died girl. Skye girl, Skye girl, he couldn’t help but die, girl.”
“Stop!” Skylar heard, then heard the boys gasp and run away, leaving her laying there in the mud, beaten up and crying. Alone.
“Oh, Luna, what’d they do to you?” she heard Chris’ voice, as he lifted her off the ground and hugged her close. Skylar cried into his shoulder, letting go of the emotion she had bottled up again, hoping to have let it out through combat training before Ben confronted her.
“What happened, Skye? Why’d they do that to you?”
But she couldn’t tell him. She never told him the actual story. She just told him that Ben had jumped her, not that Skylar was the one who kicked him before they beat her up and made fun of her.
He could never know it was because she was a girl that they all hated her.
…
Back in the present, Skylar gripped Luke’s arm until she thought she might hurt him, staring at the ground as Lydia continued to applaud them, the attention turned back on her.
Luke glanced down at her, concerned as to why she was clinging so tightly to him.
“You okay?” He whispered to her, his eyebrows knit close together as he looked at her.
“Nothing…” she whispered back, dropping his arm as she looked away from him, her face burning.
“Hey,” Luke’s hand reached for her wrist, pulling her closer to him. “If you want to talk about anything, you can tell me, okay?”
His eyes were so full of concern, a look from him she hadn’t seen in a while. He looked so desperate to help, to make Skylar feel better even though he was the one who had recently been in need of help.
“It’s nothing, really,” Skylar reassured him, avoiding his eyes once again, “I just…don’t like all the attention.”
Skylar hated herself for never reaching out for help. All her life she had told people it was nothing, that she didn’t need any help. She rejected help whenever it was offered, and bottled it up inside her until she was ready to explode.
Luke’s eyes shifted to Lydia, before returning to Skylar, who crossed her arms tightly around her chest. She just needed to calm herself down so she could listen to Lydia’s instructions. She needed to stop being stupid and just worry about her flashbacks another day. She didn’t need anybody to be worrying about her.
She didn’t need Luke worrying about her right now.
“So, here’s the plan,” Lydia continued, excited. Skylar pushed away the thoughts that were swirling in her mind, turning her attention back to Lydia.
“The next town we’re going to is Prylyn, where we’ll get the rest of our supplies before leading the Six over the mountains,” Lydia’s dark eyes glanced at Skylar, who tried her best to keep her expression neutral.
“Is it…a small town?” Skylar turned to see Alice asking, her arm raised politely.
“Yes…” Lydia’s eyes narrowed at Alice for a moment before turning back to the crowd, “And we have enough shepels to get you guys finished with your winter shopping as well as other mountaineering supplies.”
Skylar tried to smile at that. Hopefully, they could get Peter a coat he wouldn’t suffocate in and Helen some better boots than the cheap ones they had bought in the last town.
And Skylar had to get used to the whole money situation. For years in the Secret Woods, there was no money at all. Everyone worked together for the good of the community, so there was no need for a money system. If you needed something from someone, you would just barter or trade something of your own or service to that person.
But money…it seemed like everyone had it. And sure, they had all traded food and other catches with merchants and shopkeepers before, but they had never actually made money.
Plus, they quickly found out that Bellonese and Thuron currencies were not accepted in Dueglestein, so they had to trade catches for shepels, the Dueglesteinish currency.
It really had made Adalene upset. She had traded so many goods before for enough money to keep them alive, but now that currency was useless and they needed to spend the rest of their quest here, in Dueglestein.
As Skylar glanced up at Lydia, she just hoped they wouldn’t be with the Rising Sun for long. She didn’t know why, but something about this band of rebels unsettled her...
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