Lindsay just stared at him for a long while after that before she walked out into the meadow, letting herself drop down among the tall grass and flowers. Reaching out to touch one of the many flowers, they were unlike anything she had ever seen.
On closer inspection they looked like a cross between a lily and a daisy, the petals were long and curled back. Though unlike a lily there were many petals, like a daisy. From further away they were pretty but the closer you were, they were shimmering in the sun and she was surrounded by the smell of them, almost like roses.
“How can this be real, Damian,” her voice was soft when she spoke, picking a blue flower and twirling it in her fingers. She hadn’t watched Damian follow her out, but she felt his presence as he sat beside her there in the field. In the last few weeks they had spent the most time together and had become close. Mathew made her feel protected and safe, but there was something about Damian she just trusted on a deeper level.
“You’re taking it a lot better then I had thought. I told Mathew we should explain things to you first, but he said it would be too risky.” with a stretch and a soft thud, the large tawny wolf dropped down beside her. Laying his head on his front paws as he watched her toy with the flower. “There is so much you don’t know,” his ears tucked back a little as a look of sadness took over his blue eyes.
“I would have called you all insane,” she admitted with a small smile.
“And in thinking we were, you wouldn’t have been as cooperative as you had been, this was Mathew’s assumption.” raising one front paw to rub his eye and the side of his snout as he let out a lazy yawn.
“That is probably true, the only reason I cooperated though was I wanted to escape,”
“Well that was a given, our plans didn’t exactly work the way we wanted them too. We were supposed to get you, bring you here, but you were never alone, and we missed two full moons waiting until Ian had gotten impatient and took you three weeks before we could leave. He endangered everything.” Damian shook his head as he frowned.
“You followed me for months?” taking her eyes off the flower to raise a copper brow at him.
“Well not me, Ian and Alex,” Damian responded defensively. Even in wolf form, she could picture the look on his human face and it made her laugh.
“Why?” she asked quietly, lowering her eyes back to the flower in her hand.
“Your father.” Damian seemed to ponder his words carefully. “Time is different here, in your realm, it has only been eight teen years since your mother saw your father and you were created.” Lindsay nodded a little to show she was listening before Damian continued “One of your years is ten of ours.” the flower stopped twirling as she looked up and met his eyes, there was a flicker of disbelief but she knew now he was probably telling her the truth.
“Are you telling me then, that my father hasn’t seen my mother in nearly two hundred years?” there was a pause as she looked into those blue eyes.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying, your father sent us for you, three months of your time, which is just under three years here. That is why Mathew wants to get to Ionna as fast as possible. Things were not good when we left.” his voice trailed off slowly and he turned to look off into the distance as if deep in thought “We shouldn’t discuss that here, if you’re okay to travel though, Princess, we should go as far as we can before the sun sets, it’s a three day trip from here to Ionna.”
“Don’t call me that!” she snapped, ignoring everything else but that vile nickname she had been given.
“You’re going to have to get used to it where we’re going.” Damian stood with a stretch and laughed as she wrinkled her nose at him.
“I don’t want to get used to anything,” she snapped back, slowly getting to her feet and following Damian back to the others who were laying on the lakeshore waiting. Mathew rose his head as they approached, his ears perked forward, and though he hadn’t said anything Lindsay understood the silent question in his yellow eyes. “Shouldn’t we get a move on, then?” she asked with an arch of her brow, all three of the waiting wolves looked relieved as they got to their feet.
Alex was still favouring his front paw and took up the rear positions, Mathew leading the way. Damian and Lindsay walked beside one another behind him and Ian behind them. How had this happened? Not to long ago, Lindsay had been worried about school and an ex-boyfriend, her annoying and yet lovable best friend. And now she was walking through the woods accompanied by four large wolves who could talk and the daughter of a King. Her mother was somewhere, worried about her but now there was nothing she could do about it.
There had always been the hope of escaping and getting back to her life, but now. Would it ever be possible for her to get back there? Damian said on a full moon with the right objects she could travel between realms. Maybe where they were going would have books on how it was done. Maybe someone could teach her how it was done. He had told her time moved differently, so even if it took her a while here, her realm things moved slower.
They walked for hours in silence while Lindsay was deep in thought. She still held the flower in her hand, twirling it slowly in her fingers. A fine dust now coated her fingers as she played with it, making her skin shimmer like she was covered in glitter. Lindsay had been too preoccupied with her musing that she walked right into Mathew when he stopped.
“We should make camp here. Continue in the morning, Ian take first watch,” they were in a small clearing, only really large enough for a small party to rest comfortably, she could see the sky through the tops of the trees, it was just like any other sunset. The clouds were shades of orange and pink with purple. The breeze coming through the trees was cool and pulled along the smells of this strange land. Damian and Alex had lain down near one another and Ian sat with his back to them, his eyes and ears alert for any sound and movement.
“No blankets and pillows out here unfortunately, princess. But if you keep close to Alex and I, we’ll keep you warm.” Damian yawned as he laid his head on his front paws. How tired she felt hit her suddenly and her body felt heavy. Taking Damian up on his offer and laying between the two tawny wolves. Her head resting on Damian’s side as she closed her eyes with a tired sigh.
“Tell me about Ionna,” she muttered sleepily, tucking her toes under Alex’s soft fur.
“It’s a beautiful city, cobbled streets and buildings of ivory marble. The market place is always so crowded, merchants and buyers all clustered together, selling everything from food to jewels and the most beautiful cloth for clothing” Damian yawned and shifted under her head, as an image was built in her mind “Children laugh as they play in the streets, smells of meat, fish and bread being cooked fill the air. And in the center of it all stands the towers of gold and ivory, where our ruler lives, from any window you can see all of Ionna spread out,” Damian smiled as he looked at the now sleeping girl out the corner of his eye. Her cheek pressed to his side and one hand curled in his fur, she looked so peaceful. With another yawn he closed his eyes, picturing the city and smiling softly, they were finally home.
Comments (1)
See all