The Emerald Legend (Book 1)

Chapter Nine: Betrayal of Bonds

Amalia waved to Calhūn as the rain became a monster in the sky. She smiled and put a hand over her head, watching as he waved back to her. She leaned back over and clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth, Seian caught the signal and began to run across the wet grassy field that led to their house. He slowed as they approached the barn and Amalia laughed as they started to get soaked by the rain. She leapt off of her snow rider and ran under the small cover of the washroom.

Seian followed her closely and shook the water off of the tips of his fur. She squealed a bit as she tried to shield the cold droplets of water that sprayed against her skin. She moved into the room and headed for the large wood armoire and got a dry cloth-woven towel—made by her mother, of course—and began drying the wet ends of her hair. The rain hadn't gotten her too wet but just enough to where she felt the need to dry off.

She looked to her already dried snow rider and smiled. "Well, aren't you just lucky," she said sarcastically. Seian was a very peculiar cat, for at times, Amalia could swear that he could understand the words she was saying quite clearly.

He purred and licked his paw, followed by a cleansing of the ridges of his face. Amalia sighed playfully and watched as the rain darted to the ground in its elegant slanted dance. She stood there for a moment almost entranced by it, thinking of the profoundness of it—thousands and thousands of water droplets were falling from the sky, falling for a short graceful moment, only to be shattered by the ground. Then, as the droplets met the ground, they were consumed by the dirt and the plants, in order to preserve their own lives. What a magnificent thing rain was.

Seian pulled Amalia out of her trance with a slight squeak. Her attention was drawn to him and she wondered how long she had been standing in front of the fleeting rain. She gave her companion a mild expression and patted him on the crown.

"Come on, Sy," she said with an easygoing, carefree flow and headed for the backdoor while still remaining under the thin canopy. She watched the rain for another short moment before sneakily shifting through the thick wooded doorway, and after Seian entered behind her, she slowly closed the door behind them. She sat herself quietly on the small step that divided the cemented mudroom and the main wooded floors of the warm inviting home. She slipped her dirty leather boots off of her dampened feet and sat for a moment longer to let her toes dry.

The small patter of the rain drew her back to how truly immense and vast this world was, and how within a single drop of rain lies an entire universe. Then the thought of herself and how infinitely small she was entered her mind, she was but a single rain drop. Although, she reminded herself, every drop of rain was immensely different from another, just like every human was completely different from the other. And as the rain falls, it collects into puddles, just like humans collect into communities, and each puddle lets the droplets hang onto the surface for that much longer. But when they fall alone, they crumble and are absorbed into the earth.

Just as she was about to dive deeper into thought, she heard the sound of raised voices echoing from down the hall. She perked up and leaned down in the direction of the voices. The faint sounds of her mother and father arguing over something unknown peaked Amalia's curiosity.

She stood up and turned back to her rider, making sure that he understood to stay quiet. His ears laid back against his fur and he somehow understood what she meant.

Amalia crept towards the corner of the hall, where a left turn was required to proceed into the living room. She hung back behind the wall and could hear her parents arguing. "I can't believe you would do something so reckless!" Mezia said in an irritated voice. Amalia listened closer now, she wondered what they could be talking about. She had always known her father to be a very level-headed person. How could her mother call him reckless?

"I can't believe you would give that to her!" She raised her voice even louder, creating a ringing around the room. Amalia's brow furrowed at the thought that they could be arguing over her. That made her listen with even more curiosity.

"Mez, she's a young lady, and she always goes out into the forest with Calhūn—who granted is a very nice young man, but let us not lie, he is gentler than you." Amalia almost laughed aloud. "I'm not letting her run off into the forest unprotected."

It's about the dagger he gave her for her birthday. How did she find out about that? Amalia wondered.

"You think she has the skill to even use such a thing? And, of all the things to give her, you chose that weapon!" Mezia hissed harshly at her husband. Amalia looked down at the small dagger sheathed on her belt.

"'That weapon?'" she whispered to herself, wondering if her dagger held some sort of special significance.

"It rightfully belongs to her," he said with a stern tone that indicated that he was irritated by the conversation.

"Varus!" she yelled. "If you want her to remain our daughter, you will keep all of those things away from her!"

"Giving her his dagger will not give her any sort of information! For Solis' sake, it's only a dagger!" he growled.

Amalia stood completely frozen; what were they talking about? What did this dagger mean?

"Besides, she needs to know the greatness of her parents. Even if we don't tell her directly who they were, she has every right to know!" His voice echoed like a haunting thunder that broke through every thought rushing across her brain.

"What?" Amalia whispered as all other sounds began to fade away.

"Are you delirious!?" Mezia howled. "If we give her any information about them, it won't take long before she starts seeking even more information! When that happens, we will no longer hold the place of her family."

An icy feeling rushed up Amalia's spine, as if every inch of her body was freezing over and cracking slowly.

"We will be nothing more than her aunt and uncle," she said with a hollow, cracked tone and Amalia felt the shattering of every illusion she had believed in her entire life.

It was all a lie.

Her heart surged with an enormous shot of pain. She couldn't stay in this place any longer. She quickly lifted herself off of the wall and rushed back towards the mudroom. Her vision was shaky and everything was disoriented, as if she had just been smacked hard. Her hands were shaking and it felt like every piece of her was crumbling. She tried frantically to slip on her mud riddled boots as fast as she could. Seian followed her in a truly concerned manner.

She opened the back door with her shaking hands and was met by the loud sounds of the rain and thunder. She hurried outside and could barely feel her feet on the ground anymore, she wobbled and tried to orient herself.

She did a double clicking sound with her tongue and Seian quickly rushed under her feet, slipping her up and over his shoulders.

Mezia heard the sounds and rushed to the door. She walked out into the storm and when she saw Amalia sprinting off into the woods atop her rider, she cried out her name. "Amalia!"

But Amalia heard it only as a faint whisper as she flew into the dark density of the forest at war with the thunderstorm.