Chapter Six: Wanderings
Silvia woke up with a start.
With astonishment visible in her icy royal blue eyes, she threw off a small blanket that she was certain hadn't been with her in Eurchess's tower.
As she sat up, an aching pain seemed to echo through her skull.
For some reason, the tent skin around her smelled of human, and her surroundings were pitch black. She could smell desert sand through her nostrils. Puzzled, she prepared herself to leave the comforting warmth of the blanket and bedspread. Despite the thinness of both, they were made of elfin silk and emanated heat by themselves. She didn't recall ever taking out her traveling pack and retrieving her things, but shrugged and decided all would be made clear once she left her tent. She got up from the bed.
Something made her decide to reach into the velvet pouch tied around her waist. The bag itself was no larger than her fist, but it jangled violently as she stuck her entire arm inside. She smiled. Spacing charmbags were hard to find...but being a princess had certain advantages. With her slender fingers, she found a hard circular disk rub against nails. Taking it out, she carefully checked her reflection on its surface. She looked like a mess. What an embarrassment. Even in front of a horse and a human, she still wouldn't do.
Especially in front of a certain human, a little voice in her mind called. She pushed away this thought with a blush.
What had transpired in Eurchess's tower had truly injured the princess's pride, though she would never admit it. Being knocked out by that treacherous woman....
Brushing aside a stray raven lock from her face, she settled some frazzled hairs, and strode out of her tent.
"What happened?" she found herself whisper to the sight that met her eyes.
Starlight was snoring loudly in the sand. And David was making a fire. Vegetation was scattered every which way, and her tent was the only structure in the entire location.
"Well, at the tower, the white-haired woman discovered the location of the book, Starlight got us away, Eurchess told us how to work your charmbag, we walked through the first portal Eurchess could conjure up to get us to safety, Princess Mya got away, and...I set up camp," David paused. He looked as though he was not sure of what to say next.
Silvia gave him a questioning look, and David continued quickly, "Starlight decided to sleep. At first, he wanted to show you this new trick he had discovered of how he could yodel and eat simultaneously, but...I wanted to spare you."
Surprised at this slight joke, the princess was caught unprepared and found herself smile somewhat foolishly and unprincess-like.
~~~
The human boy's lips quirked upwards at his success. She didn't seem to smile much. He didn't want to admit this to himself, but the way she smiled that moment made her seem to glow.
Clearing his throat at a sudden silence, he decided to go on with his point.
"Luckily Eurchess threw out the intruders after we left. He portalled them far away to give us a head start and located an oasis for us."
"A head start for what?"
"For getting to the book before they do. Eurchess suggested to hide it elsewhere."
"I see..." the princess said slowly. "Then that's what we'll do." She sat down upon the desert sand.
David couldn't help but admire her quick decisions to take action. But he knew there was something he had to bring out into the open now that their next course of action was decided.
"The book is within a castle's walls..." he prompted, hoping this remark would elicit something from the aloof girl. He felt so self-conscious in front of her and knew he most likely seemed coarse to her.
"Yes," she replied succinctly.
"I know you are not just any princess," he paused again. When she didn't say anything, he elaborated,
"You are a runaway. An exile."
With her eyes chips of ice, she stood up abruptly.
"I do not runaway, nor was I exiled. I am no coward," her eyes seemed to burn, yet chill David simultaneously. "I left for a different reason. Don't you dare think any differently!" she concluded angrily.
David turned red, and stuttered out something.
"I didn't hear that."
"I-I didn't mean it like that...I only meant that...well, I, uh, but-"
"Get away from me! How dare you accuse me of being an exile! My kingdom only exile the worst and most dishonorable of criminals if they are not executed!"
David hesitantly got up, dropped his wood and tinder, and walked over to her. Not sure if he should touch her shoulder, he let his hand drop awkwardly to his side. "I didn't mean to insult your honor, princess. Only that I am a runaway as well."
"I knew there was something strange about you," she breathed. "Well, control your impulses!" her voice brusque once again. "You seers- you human prophets are supposed to keep control and maintain barriers to other people's memories and thoughts. What about that do you not understand?!"
Her icy blue eyes peered out at David and David felt the irises, icy blue rimmed with royal blue, cloud up and swirl together, suddenly forming different shapes and colors. Drawn into her eyes, David wasn't sure what he would find this time.
"Again! No, wrong! You're supposed to be trying to hit me! Now hit me!"
As though he were a bystander, David felt like he was truly in the memory, since the crisp morning air felt so sharp, and the pine trees smelled so incredibly strong. In front of him in a clearing, a thin gray haired man stood carrying a stick, his back towards David. Curious, the boy edged to one side and realized the man still possessed his youth, despite the pigment of his hair.
David's eyes strayed towards a child the man was yelling at.
Curled up into a ball, with the stick thrown to one side, the child looked up from beneath a short-cropped mop of raven hair. David jumped with a start, for what he had mistaken for a boy, couldn't possibly be a boy. The lips were too elegant, and dark red. The face was too smooth. The eyes, he instinctively knew, were those of the princess.
"I don't want to hurt you," she sobbed, burying her head into her body again. She looked only about six.
David noticed the stern gray-haired man approach the girl, and David tried to run forward to intercept the man, thinking the man would hit her. But his legs felt as though he were wading through molasses as David's arms were pumping uselessly above.
Instead, the man dropped his stick as well, and crouched alongside the child and David stopped abruptly, his brown eyes watching.
"I know, princess, that you wish to fence and spar only for the sake of strategy and fun. However, there will come a day when you are faced with an opponent that wishes to hurt you, or even kill you. You cannot simply content yourself with disarming, or stopping the swing of your blow. You must dispatch your enemy with efficiency and accuracy."
"Do I have to, teacher?" the guileless eyes made the man's face crease into a half smile.
"Maybe another day we can try this again. We'll stick to the fun and games of sparring for now."
The princess smiled, her glistening white teeth dazzling along with her innocence.
"Anwynn, go to your academics tutor, Cornelius. We'll carry out fencing and archery tomorrow."
David watched the little Silvia push herself off the ground with her hands, dust her hands off, and run along the forest pathway towards her castle.
The irises faded to blue as the eyes regained their shape. David felt as though he were shoved out of Silvia's memories with a force not unlike a large sledgehammer in full swing.
"Get out of my mind, HUMAN!" Her thick black eyelashes fluttered angrily as David was replanted in his original surroundings of oasis. The wind picked up, suddenly, throwing up grains of white sand in the night. As vengeful as an archangel, the princess stood in front of the firelight, her plaited hair suddenly let loose in the wind.
There was something inexplicably beautiful, though frightening, in that moment as her eyes met his.
But that feeling disappeared as she resumed her yelling.
"Did I not just tell you to keep control of your Sight?!"
His "witchy eyes" were called Sight, he realized.
"I can't help it, though. You just-"
"-I just what? Do I need to create a barrier against you invading my memories again, human?!"
"Teach me to control it," he said hurriedly.
"Well, first off, don't look so deeply into my eyes. When you do that, it's like you're searching for trouble. Second, imagine a wall around your thoughts each time you look at someone. People can't help but let stray thoughts or memories drift out!"
With a huff, she crouched down, snapped open her tent flap violently, and disappeared inside the animal skin tent.
"Princess," he called out.
"What?" she yelled.
"Please come out."
"No. I don't know when you'll invade my thoughts again. People have secrets, you know."
"Princess, can I propose something?"
Silence.
David continued on, recklessly plunging in head first.
"Each time I see one of your thoughts, you may see one of mine."
Silence again.
"I want to see that stormy night," she said, so softly it could easily have been lost in the rustling of tree leaves.
"Pardon?"
"That stormy night."
"I'm sorry, I must have heard you wrong, but-"
"David! Be quiet!" she snapped open the tent flap again, and made her way towards David.
his lungs contracted, his heart thudded to a stop. He could actually feel his heart stop pumping blood.
