“Get off to the side!” cried Alanna in desperation.
Thomas was dumbstruck as a flood of water pushed the sides of the bank out, and started channelling down the path toward him. He made an honest attempt to lunge out of the way of the fast moving stream, but he was so exhausted that he didn't even make it more than a few feet before the water had caught him and was hauling him down the mountainside.
So this is it, thought Thomas as he was carried away. He could see that the water was taking him toward the edge of the mountain at an alarming speed. He was almost too tired to care about his predicament. He had a lot of regrets, but not enough time to think about them. He closed his eyes and wished Alanna a long and happy life. Just as he resigned himself to the inevitable, something swooped out of the sky and grabbed him. Dazed, Thomas looked up blearily through the downpour. A blue dragon. It carried him to a ledge far above and set him down gingerly.
“I suppose there is not much we can do about this is there?”
Thomas blinked. Alanna? He had almost forgotten that she was a dragon. He had never seen her transform before.
“Not much we can do about wha...”
But before Thomas could finish, Alanna changed back to human.
Thomas stood gaping. Standing before him in the pouring rain, was a beautiful woman, entirely disrobed. Thomas went completely red.
“You could have warned me!” Thomas shot at Alanna, not entirely angry.
Alanna swooned and dropped.
“What's the matter?!” Thomas dropped to the ground beside Alanna, took off his jacket, which was thoroughly soaked anyway, and wrapped it around Alanna.
“Sorry Thomas. I had no choice. It takes a great deal of energy to hold that form on the rations we have been eating lately.” Alanna took a deep breath. “I just didn't have the strength to hold on to the dragon form.”
Thomas didn't really understand, but he could see that she really wasn't in the condition to answer a lot of questions. She had just saved his life.
Thomas grabbed Alanna up in his arms and started to carry her.
“No Thomas, you are weak.”
“I've got news for you Alanna, you aren't doing much better.”
Thomas knew he wouldn't be able to carry her very far, so he started to look for somewhere the two of them could take shelter from the storm.
“There are caves not too far from here. If we can get to them, we should be able to get some shelter.”
The storm had picked up and was making life even more miserable, if that was possible. The wind was blowing so hard, that for every two steps they made forward, they took one back. The rain turned the hard packed dirt underfoot to mud. Thomas was having to fight just to keep his feet under him.
“We're almost there Thomas. Look!” Alanna pointed into the distance. Thomas could barely make out some dark orifices in the rock wall ahead. He let out a sigh of relief, and allowed himself a moment to smile. A little too soon.
A rumbling came from above. Thomas just had time to look up to see the mountainside coming down on them. In a desperate split second decision, Thomas saw a small natural alcove jutting into the side of the mountain path they were on. With what little strength Thomas had remaining, he shoved Alanna with all his might into the opening a split second before the mountain came down on him.
“THOMAS!!!” Alanna screamed. No one replied.
CHAPTER 20
HOMECOMING
Ganton Blackrock paced around the room trying to keep his emotions in check. So far he hadn't been too successful.
“You're lucky I don't have you stripped of your title and exiled.” Ganton was fighting to keep his voice clear, but it trembled with anger.
“I'd understand if you did father. All I can say is I'm sorry.”
“That's not all you can say. You can explain to me exactly what was going through your thick head when you decided to take off on the day of the engagement party.” Ganton pounded his desk with his fist. “Then to run off. Not to even tell me where you were going, or why.”
“Oh come on. I know what you would have done.”
“Exactly what is it that you think I would have done.” Ganton asked making no more effort to mask his anger.
“You know exactly what you would have done. You would have forced me to go back. You would have made me go through with the marriage, no matter what I wanted. It's always been the same story with you. I wanted to study architecture, you wanted me to study military strategies, battles, leaders, armies. There has never been any room for what I want.”
“You're right! And it would have been for your own good!”
“Do you even have any idea what's good for me? You're trying to build me into something I'm not. I have no interest in ruling! I never did. You have other sons who would jump at the chance. Why the interest in me?”
“Don't tell me that you can't figure that out on your own. Isn't it obvious? You had a connection to the Alkamire Dragons. We could have been on an equal footing with them. An alliance of that strength would have guaranteed our place in the hierarchy.”
Gatsby walked over to a tapestry hanging behind Ganton's desk. “That's always the answer isn't it?” Gatsby shook his fist at the tapestry, an intricately woven rendition of the Ganton family tree. “That's what it has always been about. Manoeuvring. Power. Were you ever a son? Or a proper father? Did anything but this...” Gatsby stabbed his finger at the tapestry, “...mean anything to you?”
“You ungrateful little wretch! I cared for you. I gave you everything you needed. I nourished you, I protected you. The only time that you can do something for me, for your people, you shove it back in my face!”
“What you thought I needed, not what I wanted.”
“And what of Alanna? She wasn't good enough for you?”
Gatsby stumbled on mention of Alanna's name. What could he say about her? He hadn't even figured out what he felt about her. Hearing her name mentioned invoked a piercing sharp pain through his chest. He couldn't help but feel he had made a mistake there.
Ganton caught his son's momentary cringe at the mention of her name. “So, there is something there.” Ganton was watching his son like a hawk. His tone softened, his movements became more gentle. “I don't get it Gatsby. Why go through this elaborate charade to get out of a marriage before you are even sure of how you feel about her?”
“I would think that was obvious. I don't like being told what I can and can't do! I don't want to be forced into a marriage! She doesn't want that either! If we were forced against our wills, we would feel nothing but resentment, a crippling distaste for the conditions that led to our union that we might never get over. She is much too precious a friend for me to let that happen. Had you left well enough alone, we may have ended up together on our own.” Gatsby placed his hand against the tapestry. He couldn't look at his father. He knew that he had lost this argument the moment he had realized... he loved Alanna.
“So you leave her in the arms of a human wizard. They are off together on an adventure, and you are sent here.” Ganton idly studied the mug on his desk. “Big mistake.”
Gatsby couldn't hold in the anxiety that had been gnawing away inside him for the past few days, he let it out in a devastating burst. “Don't you think I know I have made a mistake!” Gatsby roared and slammed his fist against the wall.
King Ganton nodded to himself. Maybe all was not lost. “Alkamire Aqual is a clever king. He's already tied us to him as servants, regardless of the marriage thanks to your mistake.”
Ganton watched Gatsby through the corner of his eye. Gatsby tightened his fist at the mention of his 'mistake'. Good. “Sending you here while he sent the two of them on a mission to the seer... he wants to have the humans wrapped around his fingers as well.”
“It's all a ruse!” Gatsby was starting to pace, his protests directed more at himself and his logic than his father.
“As you have told me. But Thomas is a boy, and Alanna is a very attract
ive girl. Alkamire knows this, and has neatly moved you out of the picture, while they set off on an adventure together? Why do you think the king wants them to travel together? He could have sent the human there with a guard or someone more able to protect them. Why risk sending his daughter alone with this human?”
Gatsby could feel his arms quivering uncontrollably as his hands clenched and unclenched. Why was it only now that he was feeling this way about Alanna? Was it because there was never anyone else to worry about?
“Thomas would never do anything! I'm the one who arranged it!”
“And, of course, you asked them not to fall in love?”
“They hate each other!”
“That type of intense emotion can swing from one extreme to the other in a heartbeat.”
“What would you have me do about it?!” Gatsby shouted.
“Fight for her damn it! King Alkamire Aqual plans to place us third, behind the humans. I simply won't accept this. You shouldn't either! She should have been yours. You still have time to undo what you have done!”
Gatsby could feel the jealousy taking control, he knew he had to do something about it. But what? Gatsby laughed coldly to himself. “He's not even a real wizard you know.”
Ganton fumbled with the mug nearly sending it crashing to the floor. “What did you say?”
“Thomas, he's not a real wizard.” Gatsby sat down heavily in the chair across from his father. “He travelled to our world by accident. When I found him, I agreed to help him find his uncle. That's how we came to be in BlueShift. I thought the Alkamire Dragons might know where his uncle had gone.”
“That's IT son!” Ganton slammed a hand down on the desk in front of him. “You challenge the king of the Alkamire Dragons with the claim that Thomas isn't really a wizard! He will have to react to that. If he doesn't know, he will likely be angry enough to get rid of the human himself, then you can sweep in. If he did know about this, then challenging him publicly... he will have no choice but to denounce him. Either way you win!”
“I couldn't do that to Thomas. It was my fault he got into this situation.”
“This isn't about Thomas, this is about Alanna, your future, my future, the kingdom's future. There are more important issues here. If Thomas is willing to go along, you can aid him in escaping this mess. If not...”
Gatsby considered this. “The king will be just as angry with me for letting this happen.”
“He may be angry for a while. Given time though, he will want to keep our alliance strong. You told me about the threat to the dragons, he will want us united. I doubt that he will do anything to alienate any faction now. When he's ready, you will make your move.”
It made sense. Some small part of Gatsby cried out that he couldn't do this. It was his fault that he had put Thomas through this in the first place. Unfortunately there was a larger part that felt anger, jealousy, and the longer he thought of Thomas alone with Alanna, the worse it got.
“Alright father. I will go to King Alkamire and talk with him.”
Ganton smiled slyly, “Make sure it's in public. We don't want to let him get out of this one.
Gatsby nodded slowly. He hoped that things wouldn't be too rough for Thomas, but Gatsby knew what he needed to do now. With a mere nod to his father, he walked out of the throne room, straight through the doors to the courtyard and launched himself into the sky. He would be there before Alanna returned to set things right.
CHAPTER 21
REVELATIONS
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Darkness engulfed Alanna. Moisture was raining down from the cracks in the rocks that had barricaded her against the mountain wall. Her senses were reeling.
“THOMAS!” Alanna screamed in desperation. She reached out in the darkness to feel around. Her pack! Thomas had thrown her and the packs when the avalanche had come down on them. She desperately yanked it around in front of her, hoping against hope that they weren't broken. They weren't. Hands shaking, Alanna took the two halves of the crystal and put them together. A magical trinket. A gift from Edric. When the two made a whole, they produced light. Thomas' life now counted on them working. The crystal produced a high pitched humming and came to life. Within seconds, the area around her was bathed in purple light, matching the hue of the gem.
Immediately Alanna saw the arm protruding from under some stone. With adrenalin flowing through her veins, Alanna heaved the rocks one by one off Thomas. Most of his upper body was alright, but his legs had been completely buried. It took Alanna ten minutes of digging at his legs to get him out. It was all she could do to keep from going hysterical. She rolled him onto his back. He was breathing, but he was unconscious.
She ran her hands over his body checking for any injuries. When she got to the stomach, she felt something hidden in his clothing. Carefully she pulled it out. It was a pouch. She placed it to the side, and finished checking Thomas over. He had a nasty gash on his right leg and undoubtedly was going to be bruised beyond belief, but he had been extremely lucky. It looked as though most of the rocks had rolled in on him rather than hit him directly.
She watched him breathing raggedly in the soft glow of the purple light. He had sacrificed his life for hers without thinking. Alanna was dazed. He was not at all what she had thought he would be. He had taken good care of her. He had honoured an absurd agreement to trick her father for her sake. He had mended her wounds when she was in great need. He had provided food for the last month, and carried her all the way to Mount Trekken. Now...
Alanna punched the ground. “WHY?!” she shouted at an unconscious Thomas. Alanna sat in the purple light for several minutes, then remembered the pouch. What was in the pouch?
Picking it up, Alanna pulled out the contents and held them in the light. The missing journal pages! She realized this was the reason she never had found them before. He had never put them down.
Part of her wanted to hold back, wanted to honour Thomas. The pages were there in front of her, casting their hypnotic spell on her. For a month she had wanted to know what he had been writing about her. This would be her only chance to know. She pulled Thomas up toward her so that his head rested on her lap. Then she began to read to herself the forbidden chronicles.
Dear Journal,
I am not sure what day it is, but I guess it doesn't matter. I want to write a little about the time that I met Alanna.
The first time that I met her, was the worst, and now I think, maybe best day of my life. I was hiding on top of her canopy bed, just hoping that no one would find me when she walked into the room. She lay down on the bed directly underneath me! I was terrified about being caught, but as I stared down at her, I couldn't help but feel that she was the most amazingly beautiful girl I had ever seen. Her eyes held me in such a trance that I didn't realize that there was anything wrong until I heard the bed crack.
Needless to say, she wasn't impressed with my entrance. The ensuing fight led to a particularly hard situation between the princess and I. Gatsby wanted out of a relationship with her. Frankly though, I'm not sure how badly she wanted out. However, she went along with Gatsby's plan and forced me into an arrangement which requires me to play her new husband to be.
At first, I thought this was going to be disaster. But the more I am around her, the more I feel alive, really alive for the first time in my life.
Alanna sat looking at the page in front of her. She ran her fingers over Thomas damp hair. He was getting a fever. At the very least, he was breathing, but she hadn't the strength to pull him out yet. She needed rest, and hopefully, he would wake up, and be able to walk out of here on his own. She had thought for sure he was going to lambaste her in the pages that he was keeping to himself. She hadn't even once considered that he was hiding the fact that he liked her company. Why would he do that? She felt sad. All the nice things that he had said, and all she could do was feel sad. He hadn't been so bad really. Alanna flipped the page over and began to read the n
ext one.
Dear Journal;
Today is the day that I 'operated' on Alanna. She was her usual rosy self, but I can't really blame her. She's in a great deal of pain and discomfort. It was hard for me to take those shards of crystal out of her. One day I will have to ask her why she doesn't change into a dragon. That should lessen the pain I would think. The shards would be no more than slivers.
Despite the severe discolouration, seeing her in her undergarments took my breath away. I hope she didn't see me blushing. My face was on fire the entire time I was working on her. I wonder if she realizes this is why I couldn't talk to her afterword. I certainly didn't want her to see how red I was. I am going to make it up to her. I won't let her walk until after she's fully healed. It's the least I can do.
Alanna flipped over to the last page of missing paper. She could almost feel the direction the forbidden pages were taking. It wasn't at all what she had expected. Not this. Her heart was racing as she went on to the last page. Was she really afraid of what it might say?
Dear Journal.
We've arrived at Trekken. I should be happy that we are finally here but I'm not. I suppose I am afraid of what the Seer will say when we finally reach him, but I don't think that's the main reason. I'm just sad. These past weeks have let me live a life that I may never know again. I have taken care of Alanna. I cooked for her, and travelled with her, and without a doubt, they have been the best weeks of my life. I remember being frustrated that we had to walk here. I am so glad that it worked out that way. I might never have had the chance to really get to know her if we had only travelled a few days. The journey wasn't exactly easy. I have never had so many blisters, but the company has made up for it by far.
As I sit here writing this, looking at Alanna, who is desperately trying to look like she isn't interested in what I am writing, I fully realize why I am sad. It will end one day. We are approaching the finish of a very unlikely chapter. As soon as she has her freedom, she will drift away. This saddens me more than anything, for now I know... for all her complaining, for all the scheming and hardships, for all the danger, I can't imagine life without her. I have fallen in love with her... and she will never know.