CHAPTER 31: FEAR

Màu nền
Font chữ
Font size
Chiều cao dòng

Here they are!

___________________________________________

"No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear."

― C.S. Lewis

___________________________________________

DAWN APPROACHED fast. Helene felt as if she had been crying herself to sleep only moments ago. Her luggage was packed and set beside her door, ready to leave as soon as they needed to. Her heart beat steady in her chest, as if she knew what she had to do and there was nothing stopping her.

Not even Grave.

Fear was everywhere. Helene hadn't felt something like it in a very long time, and then she truly knew it was all meant for something much bigger. That she was heading towards something much bigger.

She combed her hair, donned her black armor, put up a mask to trick anyone who would look at her and stepped out of her room, leaving it wide open. Sir Percy immediately rushed inside to pick up her belongings and take them into the ship before she got there.

She had a couple of goodbyes to make first.

Keeping her face as neutral as possible, she followed Sir Percy outside to the carriage waiting for them and with everyone standing, waving goodbye to the army as they all loaded up and headed down to the docks. Helene didn't bother waving like Brenna, and Raylan were. In fact, she stayed where she was, searching through the crowd for two people. Mary Jane and the Princess Daenerys. She found Mary Jane rushing towards her, clutching something small in her hands, "Here." She whispered, "For some good luck."

Helene smiled and took the red ruby ring from her and slipped it on, "Thank you, Mary Jane."

She nodded, and leaned in to whisper, "Be careful. Don't believe everything you see, yes?"

Helene frowned, but nodded as Mary Jane gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and disappeared into the crowd. She turned to look for the white haired princess and found her standing with her siblings, smiling sweetly at her. As if her smile held so many secrets Helene didn't know.

"I wish you the best." Princess Daenerys bowed low, and kissed Helene on her brow, "A blessing."

"I cannot thank you enough for your kindness." Helene swallowed, sending her a genuine smile, "I am very grateful."

Princess Daenerys nodded, "In our religion we give some food to travelers ready to embark on another dangerous journey. Here, take this."

She handed Helene that cake she had eaten at the ball.

How in the world had she remembered that?

Helene tucked it away in her pocket and smiled, "Goodbye. I hope to see you again."

"Definitely," Princess Daenerys of Great Ethele and the youngest daughter of the King and the Queen smiled kindly in return, "You and I are quite the same. I am sure we will meet again, Fire Breather. Until then, have a safe journey."

Helene waved and walked away, and towards the carriage waiting for her. The memory of Grave's face from last night still haunted her and panic set in as she saw her friends worried faces as soon as she came closer.

And then she saw Legion's face. There were many questions on his face which Helene wanted to avoid. She didn't want to answer all of them now, especially after what had happened yesterday.

As if understanding, his face cleared of any questions and Helene felt relief blow into her like a balloon.

As soon as she climbed into the carriage, Brenna's eyes were watching her. As were Cas's and Ella's.

"Helene-" Cas began but stopped short as soon Brenna slapped him.

"What happened last night?" Brenna asked.

Helene looked up, "Did anyone else see the picture?"

She shook her head, and Legion replied instead, "I have them. After the way I saw you act yesterday...do you know him?"

"Who?" Raylan asked, frowning.

"Show them. They'll know."

Legion fished around in his bag for a moment before pulling out the orange envelope and handed it to Raylan who instantly pulled out the picture before frowning, "Why is Gr-"

"He's his son." Legion said.

Raylan made a sound that was close to an animal, "What? That's not possible!"

Ella looked horrified, "Him? This whole time?"

"I didn't know he had it in him to be so evil." Cas snapped, snatching the picture from Raylan to examine it.

"Who is he?" Brenna asked, clearly frustrated.

"He's my brother," Helene pulled out the identification papers from the orange envelope and handed it to Brenna, "The 25 year old one."

"It can't be him," Ella looked shaken, trying to comprehend everything.

Helene tried to grasp the complete meaning of this, connecting as many dots as she could, "Grave came to me in SwynCrest and talked to me. He asked me if I would follow him no matter what."

"And you're telling us this now?" Cas looked upset.

Helene sighed, "Well, yeah. I mean he popped out of nowhere and begged me not to tell anyone that I had just seen my dead brother come back from the dead, so yes. I hesitated to tell anyone. Even you."

He looked hurt and Helene felt bad.

Legion rubbed his face as the carriage rocked onwards, "Anything else?"

"When we were on the ship, Ella told me about how our mom had an affair with another person and had Grave. I'm supposing it was Asmodues since I saw him-he looked human. Literally human. He was too good looking to be true. My mom probably fell for it. And therefore that made Grave half Scar and half Creature." Helene cleared her throat, trying to connect all the dots.

Brenna watched her from where she sat like a guard beside Legion but said nothing.

"So this is it? Your brother wants to take over the world with his dad and do what? Let Creatures run free onto our lands?" Raylan snapped, shoving the picture back into the orange envelope.

Cas looked at Helene, "Why didn't you ask him to take you with him or something?"

"What? You wanted me to go with him to whatever dark hole he crawled out of and trust him for god knows what reason?" She snapped, trying not to lose control over the mask she had donned over herself a long time ago.

Cas shrugged, "You told me yourself that we tell each other everything. Why didn't you tell me about this of all the people? Me?"

"That's what you are mad about as we are going to war?" Ella rolled her eyes, "He's my brother and I'm not complaining."

Cas shrugged, and from where he was sitting across from Brenna, he looked outside the carriage, "Whatever."

Helene frowned, leaning back and closing her eyes.

Are you okay?

I'm fine. Just shaken. She replied without opening her eyes. And pissed.

Remind me to teach you how to keep someone out. You seriously need to learn. You are practically throwing all your thoughts into my head. There's a lot of anger in there.

Leave me alone, prince. I'm not really in the mood.

Her mind went quiet, as if a snake had slithered out. When she opened her eyes, they landed straight on Legion who smirked in return.

Helene frowned, thinking what was making him smirk like that.

I saw a naked picture of myself in your head. He explained.

Her jaw dropped, and her anger disappeared replaced with complete embarrassment.

Get. Out.

Legion left.

The rest of the ride was spent of them brooding and trying not to think about Grave. Helene thought about it hard enough that she felt as if her brain would explode. If Grave was now on Asmodues's side since god knows how long, he would be fighting against Helene, meaning she would have to fight him. No longer side by side, but finally for once on the opposite ends.

Maybe Grave chose being a Lawyer over being a true Scar and hunting down Creatures because he didn't want to kill them. As if a part of him knew not to kill his own people, the ones that he was half born of. Half made of. Though father hated him for it, he was steady in his choice, explaining to others how important the job of a lawyer was. How much he loved going to the office every day and coming home and being able to help people get out of problems that weren't their fault in the first place. It made him feel as if he was giving them something back.

Father called it a load of bullshit.

Though it hurt Grave, he never said anything back to him. All those years of mistreatment and Helene never realized the most simplest thing. He wasn't her brother. Or at least completely her real brother. Their father left him out at Christmas and Halloween, pretending he wasn't at home. He forgot to get him presents and he forgot to say happy birthday. It was all too much, but Grave never said a word.

Mother on the other hand, was much different. She treated Grave as her prized jewel and told him that she loved him very much every single day, hugging him every time he left on business trips and kissing him every time he came back. Father loathed it.

The carriage came to a sudden halt, making Helene grip the door so she wouldn't fall out. It was hard as they all marched off and made their way to the docks and into the ship waiting for them once again. Many other ships were waiting a long with them, the water moving under them, making them sway back and forth. And yet, they stayed steady as men and women climbed in, tying swords and many other weapons ready on their uniforms. Many carried weird little circle balls which were a shiny silver color, shining under the hot sun. Probably their weird technology they had instead of powers.

"Great to be on a ship again for another couple of weeks. How exciting." Raylan muttered, as a butler carried their suitcases to their rooms. They approached the captain, who was already standing on the edge of the ship, watching the movement happening on the dock.

"A big army you've got there," He said, his accent thick. Helene couldn't exactly make out where he was from.

Legion put his hand up to block his face from the sun as he replied, "It only matters if they truly keep their end of the deal."

"Ay. My grandmama used to tell me, wees een waardige werker en werk zal komen. It means, be a worthy worker and work will come." He sounded Dutch. "Meaning, work hard and the solutions will come to you automatically."

Raylan snorted, "Well, your grandmama seems like a wise woman."

The captain grinned, "Ay, she was."

Helene couldn't help but roll her eyes, "Thank you for sharing a piece of your wisdom but we really need to go."

The others nodded, and Helene tried to catch Cas's eye but he was too busy laughing and talking with Brenna to notice.

At least one of them got what they wanted.

"Ella! Yoohoo!" Raylan grabbed her arm and began to drag her away, "Play cards with me."

Their voices got lower and lower as they walked away, and Helene could hear Ella whining, "What? Go Fish? You ten...?"

When she turned around, Brenna and Cas were walking away, still talking.

It left Legion and her alone with the captain.

"My grandmama used to say, hoe kun je ouder worden als je alleen maar wijzer wordt. It means, how can you get older when you only get wiser." He looked at both of them in the eye as if doing some ritual on them and said, "But seriously, just trust your instincts."

Helene turned around towards Legion and made a face.

Let's go somewhere nice where you can teach me to keep yourself out of my head.

Legion dramatically sighed, aw man. I was hoping to get in there a couple of times to-

Are you coming or not?

"...she used to tell me that-" The captain was still talking and Helene had had no idea so she interrupted him as nicely as possible.

"I'm sorry but we are going now. It's um...Scar business and it is very important. We must go immediately."

The captain nodded, "My name is captain Mario Meeno Maarteno Harpetzoon Tromp. You may call me captain Tromp." And then with a wink he leaned in and whispered, "and when we are alone you may call me Mario."

Helene tried her best not to spit in his face, "Goodbye."

She walked away from him, making her way to the part of the ship full of shade. She settled herself in a chair and waited for Legion to join her so they could begin.

Legion looked at her and narrowed his eyes, "Where shall we start?"

___________________________________________

There is so much left to read...

Vote

Comment

Share

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: Truyen2U.Pro