11Wicked and Pure
Chapter Three:
Krynn pulled himself over the marble balcony railing, shivering slightly in the late winter cold. He glanced around making sure no one had caught sight of them leaving.
"Come on and stop stalling," He said irritated. Kilahya spared him a quick glance over her shoulder and continued on her way down the balcony until she came to her door. Krynn watched as she lifted her dress and pulled a thin blade from a strap around her leg.
"You carry that around with you?" He asked incredulously. She didn't answer, but slipped the small blade into the balcony door's key hole and worked it open. Silently she stepped through, holding the door open for him then shut it behind him.
"This is my room," She said as if he didn't know, "Touch anything and I'll kill you." Krynn grinned at her.
"I won't go rummaging in your underwear drawer if that's what you think." Kilahya glowered at him then walked into her spacious closet to change. He didn't hear the lock turn – apparently she trusted him.
Interestedly he gazed around the room. This was the first time he'd been in her room with her permission. It didn't reflect much on her – everything was neat and in order, the bed hadn't been touched and the fireplace was cold. Anyone who came here would have known that no one lived in the room regularly.
Krynn sat down in the bed, remembering when Kil hadn't gone on her trips. She had first started leaving when she was fifteen, three years ago. It had been fun before that, she had been easier to tease and he'd had a much easier time getting her to smile. But after the first time she came back she wouldn't smile at all; every time he made a joke or yanked her hair all she did was stare at him, or rather through him as if she saw something else on the other side. It had made his insides crawled. Over time she had started to half smile and then smile and finally she started laughing again.
He remembered the first time he'd snuck into her room a year ago. He'd gotten her a black stallion named Shadow and planned to take her out riding in the middle of the night. That was the first of their midnight riding escapades. And every time she was in he'd sneak into her room, wake her up and take her out riding.
"Hey, what are you staring at?" Kilahya's voice yanked Krynn out of his thoughts and he turned to look at her. She was dressed in black, like she always did when they went out at night. Her shirt was made of a stiff material, high collared, sleeveless and laced up her front. On each arm she wore shooting gloves, each with three fingers, her thumb, index and middle finger. The gloves rode up past her elbow then seemed to melt into her skin, forming thin, crisscrossing rivulets of black on her arm.
"Are we going hunting?" He asked, eyeing the gloves. She shook her head as she pulled her belt off of her dresser and buckled it around her waist.
"Then why are you wearing shooting gloves?" She spared him a glance before she kicked the wall next to her dresser, forcing a hidden compartment open.
"You know how I can feel death?" She whispered while surveying the array of weapons in the compartment. He nodded. "It's hovering over my shoulder."
Krynn stared at the array of weapons hung on the wall – short swords, long swords, bows, arrows, knives, throwing stars, wicked looking daggers…the list went on and on. Kilahya pulled a pair of sai off of the wall and tucked them into holsters that hung around her waist.
"Do you use all of those?" She nodded.
"When I need to, yes." She stared at him then shook her head.
"You're freezing," She murmured, turning to her closet and pulling out a coat.
I must have left this behind last time, He thought distractedly as she helped him put it on.
"You're eighteen and still can't get dressed on your own," She said with a ghost of a smile and finished buttoning it up. When their eyes met her smile widened. Just as quickly as the smile had come however, it disappeared, replaced by a grimace of acute pain.
"What's wrong?" Kil forced her face blank.
"Nothing," She managed, then bit her lip. The pain was growing, spreading from her heart to the rest of her body, worse than the murdering pain.
"Kil, Kil look at me!" But she couldn't hear him, she couldn't hear anything. She shut her eyes but could still see the red that swam at the edge of her vision, slowly spreading over everything, seeping into everything like blood.
No! Her mind screamed, I don't want these visions!
But it was too late. She could do nothing but scream soundlessly as her sight exploded.
…No one could see her that much she was aware of. She stood in the hall in front of her room. Everything was silent, for the moment. She knew, in several moments the palace would explode with the feelings of death, pain and fear.
She was waiting for it when it came, the sound of something heavy being thrown with great force through the air. Seconds later and the entire palace shook to its foundations. Some one had thrown a projectile into it with a catapult. The palace erupted with screams of fear.
The vision shifted and she was outside of the palace at dawn staring at the carnage and misery that had been wreaked through the place she had called home for eighteen years. Bodies lay in piles, rotting or burning, Here and there were a small group of people, grieving for their dead. But Kilahya knew that soon enough whatever had gotten their loved ones would get them too. Death hung over them like a shroud. The entire palace and all of its property had been demolished. The stone walls of the main building had been smashed to bits and the property had been burned to the ground. No one would live there for a very long time.
Her eyes welled with tears, blurring everything into one, large colorful mess. Slowly, everything faded away and before she knew it, she was feeling the warm sensation of fabric against her skin.
Krynn sat on the edge of the bed, watching as tears slid out from under Kilahya's eyelids and onto her pale cheeks.
"What's going on, Kil?" He murmured softly, watching as she slowly woke. "What aren't you telling me?"
Her eyelids fluttered open and he waited patiently for her to reorient herself. Silently, he reached out a hand and wiped a tear off of her cheek. She stared at him, still disoriented and then a sob bubbled up from her chest.
Instinctively, he pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her.
"What did you see?" Krynn was shaken. It was unlike Kil to show anyone but Kithara her vulnerabilities. He hadn't seen her cry since she was ten. She was shaking uncontrollably and her skin was warm as opposed to its normal cold, ice-like quality.
"Krynn, something horrible's going to happen tonight." She said in hoarse whisper. "Promise me, promise me you won't do anything stupid and get yourself killed."
"When have I ever done anything stupid," He said with a joking smile. Kil looked up at him, her eyes still wet with tears.
"Be serious, for once Krynn!" She touched his cheek lovingly and her voice lowered even more, "Please!"
Krynn sobered immediately.
"Something's really got you worried, hm?" She didn't answer, but buried her face in his neck.
It was obvious the two weren't going riding tonight.
Kil opened her eyes and stared around the room blearily. Despite her attempt to keep her eyes focused anywhere but the window, they were drawn there. The moon was an hour away from its zenith. She shut her eyes angrily, looking away from the sight.
"It won't happen," She whispered hoarsely. Her eyes roved around the room once more – her weapons were exposed, she'd left the compartment door open, the fire was going and the window, of course, was open. Finally her eyes landed on Krynn. His red hair fell across his face in wisps and strands, his eye were closed and his chest rose up and down steadily in slumber.
She closed her eyes, touching his cheek gently. Calmly, she sought the place inside of her that allowed her to sense deaths touch. Slowly she dipped into the well and pulled out the essence, using it to search Krynn. She searched into the very confines of his heart and soul, looking for even a hint of death. Relieved beyond measure, she pulled out. When she opened her eyes Krynn was staring calmly at her.
His usually merry eyes were serious and dark, unsettling Kilahya.
"Now, what's got you so worried that you've got to search my soul with out my permission?" Kil looked away, disentangling herself from him and standing. He stood after her.
"Just get out," She said hoarsely. He walked to her, pulling her towards him, holding her tightly.
"No." It was the only thing he said. But it was enough for something inside of her to break. With difficulty she held back the tears that were welling up inside of her again.
"Krynn, the people here are going to die. All of them…most of them. Death is hanging over this place so thick I can't breathe. And there's nothing anyone can do about it."
"That isn't true." It came out as a hoarse whisper. She pulled away.
"Yes it is! I know death like the back of my hand. Anything it touches, anything it taints I understand! And there's one thing I've learned about it better than anything else – you can not stop it."
Quietly her pulled her back, running his hands through her hair.
"We'll pull out alright." He murmured. She sighed, closing her eyes wearily. It wasn't her place to tell him. That only four of them would survive – that none but herself, him, her sister and her second mother would come out alive. Once again she fought against the tears that seemed so adamant to spill over this night.
So, there's chapter three. Sorry I haven't updated or reviewed all of you guys lately. School's been killing me dead. . Debate, chemistry, English. I'm gonna die early. Anyway, please review. Ciao!