760Another day, another chapter! In answer to some of your questions, I don't think I'll be in a position to do a holiday bonanza =( I just haven't written enough to get it done, especially with the chapters being so much longer than the wolf series. Sorry about that but i'll still be doing regular updates over the holidays!
Chapter Two – Caged
Scowling deeply, Kieron continued his journey home, his steps brisk and filled with anger. This just isn't right, he cursed. He closed his eyes, clutching his head as more fragmented, disturbing images flashed through his mind. Rather than subsiding as they normally did, memories of the night continued to assault him and his mood darkened with each step he took. This close to his home he was beginning to worry. If something didn't happen to change his frame of mind soon then Lily would be exposed to the darker side of his nature. Venomous curses flew from his lips in an attempt to dispel the worst of his temper but his anger continued to rise.
I wish there was someone I could vent all of this onto but no one is stupid enough to come here at night. Especially not for me to just pound them into the earth. The words passed through his mind but he was well aware that the wish was an impossible one. Everyone knew better than to venture into the woods at night, all sorts of predators roamed the lands around the city and even skilled warriors could find themselves overwhelmed. The sound of a crash rung in his ears and he turned to find the source of the noise, a cruel smile emerging on his lips. Maybe I was wrong and there are some really stupid people in the world.
He stalked closer to the source of the sound, stunned by what he found. Rather than a drunken idiot or a group of adolescents trying to prove their worth, a woman lay panting heavily against the ground. The moonlight faded, obscuring his vision and he moved forward silently, curiosity compelling him to discover more. She rolled over as the light from the moon was revealed again and Kieron sucked in a stunned breath. He'd never seen a woman so beautiful in all the years of his life.
Her skin was a glowing brown, warm and inviting to the touch. Her hair was cut short, the colour a strange mix of orange and red, and a stunning contrast to her skin. Her lips were plump, her cheeks high and her features cherubic in appearance. When she opened her eyelids, revealing startling violet eyes, he could have sworn his heart stopped. The clothes she wore were strange and combined with her unique appearance; he quickly concluded that she didn't originate from the lands he lived in. Her breeches were made of a thin gauzy material, the loose cloth sticking to her skin and highlighting the shapely nature of her legs. Her shirt was made from a similar material, revealing the bare skin of her now injured arms while clinging to her firm breasts. She struggled to get to her feet and Kieron moved closer. She grunted in pain when her legs gave out beneath her sending her tumbling back to the ground.
"You shouldn't be here," he began. Her head spun round to look at him and he shifted his hood, ensuring she couldn't see his face. "The woods at night are a dangerous place."
Kieron's actions shocked him. He rarely spoke to any one outside his family. When he did it was only because someone else had initiated a conversation and he never spoke to women, especially not ones as beautiful as the one that lay at his feet. Silently he swore at himself. Nothing good could come from this meeting. He was cursed; all he did was bring pain and misery. He turned to walk away, though she was clearly injured it was safer for this strange woman to be left alone in the forest rather than spend any more time in his presence.
"Wait, please don't go. Help me."
Her voice was musical, moving through his body like a calming breeze and Kieron let himself have the small pleasure of savouring the sound before he realised what he was doing. He hardened himself against her pleas, turning to face her, his frosty expression hidden by the swath of material covering his face. "Why should I do that?"
Her brows drew together in confusion as though she weren't used to having her requests denied. "Why should you help me?" she said slowly as though trying to fathom the reason for his refusal.
"Yes. I don't know you nor do I care to. Why should I help you?"
"Because it's the right thing to do," she argued, violet eyes flashing. "When an injured person asks for help you're meant to give it to them."
"And what if I don't want to?" Kieron snarled becoming annoyed with the conversation.
The few words he'd exchanged with the feisty woman on the floor were more than he'd said to another living soul outside of his family in what felt like a decade. People normally went out of their way to avoid any and all interaction with him, the woman before him only spoke to him because she didn't know better. If she knew what she was getting herself into by merely speaking to him he was certain the conversation would end abruptly. As it should be, the logical side of his mind reasoned. There was no way for anyone to be around him without misfortune befalling them. Kieron's reactions to the strange beauty in front of him baffled him and a scowl appeared on his face as a result.
"What sort of man would refuse to help an injured woman?" she hissed, all too aware of Amir's men closing in on them. Despite the fact that she couldn't see his face it was obvious that Kieron didn't want to help her but she didn't have any other options. It was better to leave with the reluctant stranger and be taken further into unknown lands that wait for Amir's men to catch her and return her to his clutches. Any fate had to be better than the one she'd left behind.
"Who said I was a man?" Kieron demanded becoming frustrated the conversation. "I could be a beast. Are you still so eager to have me help you?"
"Yes!" she cried. Black spots were beginning to appear before her eyes and she knew her time was short. Soon she would be rendered unconscious by the pain, she needed to ensure his cooperation as soon as possible. "I don't care if you're the devil himself, I need to get out of here."
"I might not be the devil but I'm close. Trust me, it's better for you to stay here and have someone else find you. You're very persuasive but I'm not one to be swayed by words. Good luck."
When Kieron turned to leave, Estraya leapt into action, reaching out to grab his ankles tightly within her hands. Her eyes watered as pain radiated through her body because of the move but she forced herself to hold on, looking at him with beseeching eyes. "Please help me. There are men after me. If I don't hide they'll catch me and they'll kill me." Amir's guards would never kill her, what they would do was far worse and she couldn't help but shiver as unwanted memories rushed to the forefront of her mind. "Please, I'm begging you."
Her words touched Kieron, compelling him to give her aid and his scowl deepened. It was quickly becoming obvious that the woman inspired strange feelings within him and that was a dangerous fact. His emotions and powers were volatile enough as it was, he didn't need an unknown element adding more instability. He moved forward nevertheless, preparing to lift her body into his arms and carry her to safety. Frowning when he realised how tender the hold might seem to this strange woman, Kieron placed both hands around her waist, lifting her from the ground and placing her over his shoulder. A muffled scream left her lips and she clutched his shirt trying to anchor herself against the pain. Hardening his heart to the sound, Kieron strode forward, unsure of what exactly he was going to do with the woman.
Estraya's body felt as though it was being overwhelmed by pain but a smile appeared on her face. She was moving and anywhere was better than here. The black spots in front of her eyes multiplied the longer they moved, her mind succumbing to the pain radiating through her body as she bounced on Kieron's shoulder. Finally, I'm free. The words whispered through the corridors of her mind, hope filling her addled mind.
When Estraya went limp, her every muscle involuntarily relaxing, Kieron breathed a sigh of relief. His actions were beginning to confuse him and if she spoke to him again he would only become more bewildered by what he was doing. He never willingly spoke to people let alone ventured his help. Not only had the woman tied his mind in knots but she was doing the same to his body as well.
Despite all he had gone through Kieron was still only a man and his will was being sorely tested by the gentle curves of the woman pressed so closely against him. She smelled intoxicating, like the rarest lily and her scent called to him calming him while angering him. She was a contradiction the likes of which he'd never known. Her eyes and voice had pleaded with him, imploring him to help her with an innocence he rarely saw in women but her body was well toned, the body of a fighter. He didn't doubt that under normal circumstances she could take care of herself. Everything about her piqued his curiosity and made him want to learn more about the circumstances of her arrival. It was obvious from the way she looked that she had travelled a great distance to reach his shores, which only begged the question, why?
The sound of men calling to each other reached his ears and he frowned remembering her desperate words. Would they really kill her? he thought, halting his stride. He was sorely tempted to leave her behind, to pretend the entire incident hadn't happened and continue living his solitary and predictable life. She doesn't belong here. I'll be doing her a favour by giving her back to her people. No one would want to hurt someone as beautiful as she is. She'll be safe. Even as the words formed something within him protested, rising and becoming dark, ugly…dangerous. Shaking his head, Kieron resumed walking immensely disturbed by what had just happened. Clearly he couldn't leave her behind either.
"Well I'm not taking her home," he groused. "Lily wouldn't understand and how can explain it to her when I can't even explain it to myself?"
From beneath the depths of his hood, Kieron's sharp eyes spotted the opening to what looked like a cave and he sped up as an idea formed inside his mind. When he stepped over the threshold he was pleased to find that the area within was large, spacious and most importantly impregnable aside from the entrance he'd just used. Laying Estraya against the soft grass, he couldn't help but stroke her cheek, his eyes closing to better savour the sensation. Her skin was unbelievably soft and for someone so deprived of human contact, it felt like heaven against Kieron's work roughened fingertips. Scowling angrily, he snatched his hand away from her face, forcing himself to step back and leave her alone. He walked backwards to the cave's entrance, unable to take his eyes from her.
Placing his hand against the solid stone, he summoned the power within him and the earth moved. The rock shifted, spreading from the ground upwards until the entrance slowly disappeared from sight. When he was finished the cave entrance looked to all appearances like a sheer stone wall. The dark rock looked as though it had been there since the beginning of time, no normal person would be able to find it and only the most skilled earth elementals would be able to make the entrance appear again. His hands moved again, rising higher against the stone and closing his eyes he created a small hole in the roof of the cave for air and light to enter. After all the effort he'd gone through the last thing he wanted was for her to suffocate alone and panicked in the dark. The woman, whoever she was, was safe.
"All this and I don't even know her name," Kieron chuckled ruefully.
Finally away from the strange effect Estraya had on him, Kieron was acutely aware of the rising sun and the young girl at home that would soon be waking and wondering where he was. He took off running, his power spreading out before him touching every element of the forest in front of him and communicating his desperate need to move swiftly. Branches moved, lifting out of his line of sight and falling neatly back into place once he'd move on, overgrown roots pressed themselves flush against the ground to prevent him from tripping over the thick appendages. The trees themselves even moved, rising from the earth to create a straight path for Kieron to travel on.
With the earth obeying his every command, Kieron moved swiftly, his long legs eating up the distance between him and his home. The wind moving past him futilely to push his hood away from his face but the heavy weights embedded in the material kept it in place, hitting his forehead as he ran. Frustrated, Kieron threw the hood away from his face confident that no one would see him this far from the city. Minutes passed and the forest around him gradually gave way to flat fields where animals grazed quietly and crops grew to sustain the needs of the city that he was fast approaching. His lungs began to burn from the strain of having to run for so long and he sighed in relief when the towering gates that led into the city appeared.
Kieron stopped, sparing a final glance over his shoulder as the image of Estraya lying peacefully against the cool grass appeared at the forefront of his mind. The wilds of the woods were where he belonged, he knew it with every fibre of his being, but he was well aware that should he surrender to the call of nature he would bring nothing but chaos and disaster. Turning his back on the woman who called to the darker side of him and forcing himself to ignore the seductive call of the wild, Kieron pulled the hood back over his face. His domestic collar now firmly in place, he walked towards the city gates.
The gates towered over his head; the large doors wide open signalling that the city was prepared to trade. Paddington was a city intended for trade, which was why it was so heavily populated with earth elementals whose skills with nature made them craftsmen of the highest calibre. Guards patrolled the walls around the town, their torches lighting the way for travellers and citizens alike.
"Who goes there?" a guard called from high above his head.
This early in the morning the only people who tried to enter the city were farmers returning with crops to sell at the market and his lone silhouette on the brightening horizon was clearly not that of a farmer.
"It's me Manny, Kieron," he called up to the guard walking calmly through the open gates.
"Oh." The guard's tone of voice was clearly disappointed but it was a tone of voice that Kieron had grown accustomed to over the years.
There wasn't a single soul except for Lily and Julie who wouldn't be delighted if he never returned from his trips into the forest but there was nothing out there that could kill him and it was beyond even his power to escape the mists that tied him to the land here. Putting Manny's clear disappointment to the back of his mind, Kieron walked into the city, his head down to avoid meeting the gazes of any of the city's residents. He needn't have bothered. His hood was well known and people moved out of his path as soon as they saw him coming.
This early in the morning the city was coming to life. Market stalls were being set up, the sellers loudly extolling the value of their wares. The noise grated on his sensitive ears but he forced himself to continue walking, to move through the emerging crowds and ignore the voices and smells that were assaulting his senses.
"Kieron! Kieron!"
The loud sound of his name being called forced him to look up from the ground and a faint smile graced his features when he realised who was calling him. Ignoring the looks he received, Kieron made his way towards Julie and her stall. The simple stall was covered in bright colours, advertising the uncomplicated but useful pottery she made. Julie was a short woman, wide in the hips and chest with a softly rounded face. Wrinkles lined her aged face, her long greying hair tied messily at the nape of her neck. Despite her years, her blue eyes shined with youth and vitality, the smile on her face constant, especially when she saw Kieron. Julie had stepped into his mother's shoes when she died, doing her best to protect Kieron and Lily despite the lack of blood that connected them. Her son had been Kieron's best friend when they were young but Jack had gone to war and never returned. Thoughts of his best friend saddened Kieron to this day and he had to shake his head to dispel the melancholy that had settled over him.
"Good morning Ju–" He cut his sentence off swiftly, realising the mistake he'd been about to make. "Good morning mother Julie."
She smiled widely at him, pulling his much taller frame into her arms and embracing him in a motherly hug. The eyes of the other merchants were drawn to them but Julie refused to relent and he reluctantly placed his arms around her round body placing a tender kiss to her weathered cheek.
"Where have you been?" she scolded fondly, pulling him from the street to stand behind her booth. "If I didn't know better I'd think you were avoiding me. I haven't seen you in days. Whenever I come round to visit you're not there. Poor Lily, she always seems to be by herself."
"I'm sorry mother Julie, the King is looking for me and I won't go to the palace." Not after what happened with Annabelle.
"When will that man leave you in peace?" she frowned, blowing a stray strand of hair out of her face. "Never mind, you're here now and that's what matters." Kieron froze when her hand entered his hood to cup his cheek. Tutting, she pulled her hand back, running it over the muscles of his chest. "Kieron! You're skin and bone. You're not eating properly. What's a mother to do? You need to take better care of yourself. You're going to take years off my life if I have to worry about your health."
"Sorry mother Julie," he mumbled. "I just haven't had time to buy anything for the house recently."
"Rubbish!" she exclaimed. "It's not that you don't have time, it that some of these fools aren't willing to serve you. I've known you your entire life Kieron don't try to lie to me, I can tell when you're being honest and when you're not. The ignorance of people astounds me sometimes. I should have words with them."
"Don't!" he cried.
She sighed, hugging him again. "You're too kind for your own good Kieron. If they knew the real you they wouldn't dare act this way."
"They have reason to fear me mother Julie and so do you."
"Nonsense! You're like a son to me Kieron and there's no mother that fears her own child."
If only you knew how untrue that is mother Julie.
"Don't worry about them anymore Kieron. I knew that something like this would happen so I bought you some essentials." Julie reached under the table of her booth and pulled out a large basket filled to the brim with food. Her arms quivered under the weight of her basket and Kieron was quick to take the heavy weight from her fingers. "Thank you Kieron. I bought you what I could but money is tight at the moment, I can't craft things quickly anymore. There are some eggs in there, some bread and some ham. I think that should tide you over for now but Kieron you need to stop letting people take advantage of you. You're the kindest soul I know, there's nothing dangerous about you and it's about time they realised that."
Beneath the layers of fabric that hid his face, Kieron rolled his eyes. Julie was always blind to his faults, protecting him even when others had reason to treat him as they did. "Mother Julie, you didn't have to do this."
"Of course I did Kieron. You're the only son I have left. I have to take care of you."
"If you think of me as your son then let me help you. You don't need to work here anymore, I can provide for you and Albert."
"I like working Kieron and I'm not going to stop until I can't do it anymore. How many times will I have to tell you this before you let the subject go?"
"At least a million more," he chuckled softly. Taking her hand into his. He reached for the power that was within him, sorting through the chaos until he found what he was looking for. "If you insist on doing things like this, the least I can do is give you this."
His hand warmed as his powers focused and found an outlet. While other earth elementals had to be in direct contact with something of the earth to work their craft, Kieron had no such restrictions. With the spirit of the earth residing within his body he was always connected to nature and could reach for the source directly within himself. A solid gold coin slowly manifested itself in the small area between their touching hands as Kieron manipulated the power within him to create the precious metal. Smiling, he pressed the coin firmly against Julie's skin before withdrawing his hand.
"Kieron," she scolded, her eyes scanning the area around them frantically for any passerby that might have been watching. Her hand moved quickly, hiding the heavy coin in the voluminous wealth of her skirt. "You can't do things like that in public! The king already wants you to live in the castle with the others who can make precious metals and jewels, if you keep doing things like this it's just going to remind him why you should be there and not here with us."
"I will never go to the castle mother Julie. Never. If King Oliver thinks he can force me to leave my home and become even more trapped than I already am he's mad." The words left Kieron's lips on an angry snarl. Realising that his temper was about to get the better of him, he took several deep, calming breaths trying to get himself under control.
"Promise me Kieron, promise me you'll stop doing things like this. All it does is attract unwanted attention."
He barely resisted the urge to laugh at her words. "Look at me mother Julie. There's nothing I can do that won't attract attention. My life isn't my own. I'm trapped and we both know I can't escape." As soon as the words left Kieron's lips he regretted saying them. Julie's blue eyes were watering and she was clearly on the verge of tears. "I'm sorry mother Julie," he rushed, pulling her into a tight embrace.
"I just want you to be happy," she sobbed.
"I am happy," he said quickly hoping to stymie her tears. "I love my life here. I don't know what came over me."
"Really?"
He nodded enthusiastically ignoring the unease the lie made him feel. Kieron's eyes wandered to the horizon where he could see the mist that surrounded the city. The mist formed wherever a large number of earth elementals settled and while others of his kind could come and go freely, Kieron, for all his immense power couldn't. Whenever he tried to leave the city, the mists solidified as he wandered aimlessly in their depths until he was forced to return home. Even if Julie didn't want to see the truth it was painfully apparent to him. He was trapped within the city; bound by expectations and fears; shackled by responsibilities. Caged.
So what do we think of Kieron so far? I'l concede he's different to the other male leads I've written before but i'm sure in the coming weeks you'll grow to love him. Drop me a review with your thoughts...I really like - no - love reviews. =) Until Monday!