Seventh Crown VII

Do not read if you had not read the previous parts.

Seventh Crown VII

~

The morning came and the breeze wafting in through the window hit his face with a breath of fresh air. The night was always so long and depressing for him. He did not sleep so much, only one or two hours before the sun came back to its place on the sky. Even if he had not slept a lot, he was full of energy like never before. It was time for them to talk about their journey to the mysterious lands they knew nothing about. The library was open from the early morning, so he decided to go and check, if the answers he is searching for, are in one of the books there. Unfortunatly, he knew the Queen is a morning person, so he needed to hurry up and go to the library which was under ground like his room, fast. He stood up and looked around. He blinked several times, so his sight goes back to normal from the sudden blindness he had felt from the sudden standing from the bed early in the morning. The sunlight was falling down his face from the window, just near his small bed. Thanks to the bright sunlight, his eyes looked even redder, even sharper and prettier than usual. He sighed and decided to put on his clothes already. He was always sleeping naked, which was maybe not the best idea he could think of but this was the way it was, habits. He only had a piece of thin cloth around his waist, as something to cover him up, at least the important parts.

He didn't know how long they would be traveling, so he decided on more sturdy clothing; tough black pants, a gray canvas-cloth shirt with a black sash around the waist to keep his pants up went on over a polished mail shirt. If he was going to protect that queen, he needed to be able to protect himself. He pulled on his sturdy hunting boots and started to head out; only stopping when he realized he forgot to put on his iron shin and thigh guards on under his clothes. He slipped his pants off, tied the guards on, then finished dressing. He glanced in the mirror and cringed at what he saw, his rich black hair was a mess from all the tossing and turning of the night, and the whites of his eyes had a red tinge to them. He hadn't shaved in a couple of days and his face was covered in a light but corse stubble. He stripped off his shirt and shaved, then he washed his face with cold water, put his shirt on, and straightened up his hair. He was finally presentable enough to be in the presence of his queen. That was making his heart race.

"Come on, Cage, we need to stay strong." He chided himself mentally. He rushed out of his messy prison-like room and climbed the precarious stairs. He reached the top and set of at a brisk walk towards the library hall. The place was pretty big, so he decided to ask the young librarian who was walking around where he can find what he needed. The librarian was a girl taken on by the royal family to keep the huge hall of books clean and neat. It was almost a dream come true to her; she loved to read and also to write. She loved to stay in the great hall all through the night, sorting, cleaning, and reading. It wasnt like she really had anywhere else to go. She and Cage were a lot alike in the sense that neither of them had a family. He had been alone since childhood and her parents had abandonded her at the church as a baby. Cage loved to stay in the library with her when he had nothing else to do; it was one of his greatest joys to sit for a while and listen as she read him stories in her small clear voice. She was only eight and had never been sent to a school. Cage had felt bad for her and decided to help; he had taught her to read, write, count, and how to dream. Maybe this was why she had fallen in love with him. He was very kind to her and loved to spend time with her, no one else did that and she loved him for it.

She had long blond hair with short bouncy bangs that fell just to the top of her big, bright blue eyes. With her fair skin and light features, she seemed like a princess. She really was a real beauty, even if she was still only eight. She loved to always wear the same red dress with the big white ribbon sash that fastened in a flouffy bow on the back of the waist, making her look like a cute, child sized doll. The Queen did not get along with this small girl child, or at least, this is what Cage had always assumed. The child was always running away, but it was more because she mourned the lack of luck that was in her life, she was jealous of the queen. 

"Eliza, are you okay?" Cage curiously asked the small girl, Elizabeth. "Please tell me if something is wrong, okay? You know I worry a lot about you." He knelt down until he was shorter than her; looking up into her face and smiling at her. The child was obviously hiding something; she was not expressing her feelings so much, even though Cage the person who was questioning her.

"Everything is okay, Cage." Her lovely smile warmed his heart a bit and broke the ice. But there was something in her eyes that told him she was not being as truthful as he wished she would be.

"Fine then. But please do not hide anything from me, deal?" He asked her quietly as he gave her his pinkie and crossed it with hers, making a promise between them both. She nodded solemnly and then with an excited smile grabbed his wrist gently, she was not a very strong child, being as small as she was.

"Let's go, Cage!" She chirped happily, "Remember the books you were asking for? I found where they are! Let's go, let's go, lets go!"She impatiently pulled him to the direction she wanted him to go, she had found what he needed and wanted to show him. She was actually ready to help him at long last!

~

The section she dragged him to was stufffed full of huge books with who knows what knowledge.

"This is it. I found them, but I can't help you anymore than that." She suddenly looked a little downcast, "I am really sorry, Cage. I don't know which exact book you are looking for. But this section is for the mystery lands' books, written by people who traveled to places where no one has ever gone before and came back alive. A few of these are written by people who had lived there for ages. I know you are in a hurry, but there is a lot here, and you are going to need to take your time." She gave him a soft smile and turned away, leaving so to continue fulfilling her endless job. She grabbed two large books about mythological creatures in her tight grip and hugged them close, taking care so that they did not fall down to the ground and get ruined. She rushed to one section, quite near the section where Cage was browsing. She carefully set the books down on a table and made a space on a high shelf where they belong. That was when she realized they were much too heavy for her to lift over her head.

"Ah, Cage!" She called, "Im sorry, but can you please help me? I cannot reach this shelf!" The situation made her feel quite helpless, but there was nothing else that needed to be put away at the moment, so she needed Cage's help. He stood up, abandoning his comfy reading spot on the floor. He wasn't sure what section she was in; but then he heard her coughing and it led him right to her.

"Elizabeth, please stop lying to me." He smiled gently as he met her innocent eyes. She gave a strained smiled back and looked away. "It seems that I'm a pretty bad liar, aye? Im not really sure what is wrong. I did not want to worry you; you are very special to me, and I do not want you to leave or go away because I am sick. I was afraid I would scare you away."

When she looked at Cage again, there were tears bubbling up in the corners of her eyes. Cage's heart melted at the sight, "Eliza, you thought that knowing you are sick would scare me off? Do you think me so heartless?" Cage shook his head in disbelief. "Do you only have that horrible cough? Or is there more?"

Eliza thought about it. "It is really just the cough and sometimes headaches too." She looked at the floor and whimpered, "I hate being sick."

-to be continued-