A Mark of Metal

Chapter 15

Watching him walk away in a leisurely, but swift stroll because of his height, I chase up behind him. Keeping it so that I was beside him in synchronised steps so I could ask him questions.

But my head went suddenly blank, a looming cloud brewing over me as I reminded myself of what had Ester said. Anyone who touches me would know...

"...What do you know about me?" I ask, nervous that my secret could lead to the death of me.

Feeling the dark cloud also spreading over Caspian, his face darkens with thought. After a few seconds of consideration, he speaks.

"Pawell..." Caspian sighs, tossing his head up and peers at me through the corner of his eye.

"What is that?" I rudely ask, getting quite frustrated at the fact that, that word has been tossed around all night by both men, without explaining what it is, and what it has to do with me.

We come to a natural pause, stopping to turn to each other in the corridor, I just stare up at him with a tightly knit frown, curious and afraid to no end to what it meant.

He drones his eyes down to me, in an unimpressed and disappointing manner.

Without saying anything to me, he looks up and scans the corridor, noting the drunken voices echoing distantly through the empty hallways.

"You know about me, don't you?" I ask.

If Ester knew by touching me, then it is without a doubt that Caspian knows as well, leaving me no choice but to face the consequence of my accidental nature to this world.

"I didn't think you knew as well, but the fact that you do changes things." A lump formed in my throat as I stared anxiously at him. He shifts his glace aside and places his hand upon his sheathed sword on his belt. But I hadn't noticed, as I had shifted my gaze to the floor to kick imaginary dirt on the carpet, continuing to talk in the hopes that I could continue to hide the truth, even if he already knew.

"The orcs that ripped my dress had said I carry no magic." I mutter, hoping it changed whatever idea he had on me.

I hear a relieved sigh come from Caspian, "They must've tore your dress to check." He calmly says back to me in a disgusted tone, possibly thinking back upon the memory.

I nod in response.

I look back up to Caspian to see him giving me a pitiful look, almost apologetic that he couldn't have come to my rescue sooner. He quickly looked back onto the hallway to ensure we were still alone and spoke once again, fully sober at this point.

"Pawell was once a religious ancient tribe of non-magic people. Their sole existence was to destroy all magic in hopes of 'relieving' it from the world. Their religious leaders had pushed the idea that magic belonged to the cosmos, and to return it meant to kill those who had inherited the power of the cosmos, which are the members of the royal family. But if their objective ever succeeded it would instead collapse the stars and destroy the world." He takes a breath.

I should've just said I was from another world...

"Though there is..Well was a myth that though they were all wiped out when King Galahad was crowned, some survived, but gave up their heritage to live an inconspicuous life as common folk. Yet here you stand; no doubt that their history, ideals and religious means have been wiped out with them, as you don't seem to even remember the people you once came from."

...Aw this is perfect! If he thinks I'm part of this old tribe of people, then my no-magic status has a solid explanation. I reckon if he knew the real truth, he'd shit his kegs.

"What does that mean for me then?" I wondered what his goal was in keeping me hostage against his side, if it was purely to ensure that I caused no great damage to the world, then it seemed useless to keep me as I had no knowledge or intention of committing the same terror that the ancient tribe wanted to conduct.

"It means that if anyone here knows your existence, they wouldn't care if you no longer knew of your past, and had no intention of fulfilling their deadly desire. They would race to inform the royal family, and they themselves would rage rampant against their own people, killing any that seemed or was ever involved with them. Many innocent lives could be lost."

When he fell upon the end of his sentence, what he said reminded me of the witch trials that had taken place in the west, when at least 200,000 innocent women were tortured, hanged and killed.

The idea that people who may not have had anything to do with the old tribe, could be wrongfully profiled as had and would die an unjust death because of it, made me aware of why Caspian has kept me so close; I was seen as a possible catalyst of disaster, and all he had been trying to do is prevent a continent-wide massacre befalling upon the common folk of this land.

"Ester said that anyone who touches me would know that I carry no magic."

"Only those that can feel magical frequencies can, and the only people that can do that are those born with enough magic to actually put a use to it and have trained that magic to do so."

"Not everyone is born with the same amount of magic?" I curiously asked, as it was to my knowledge that everyone was the same in this world, but only rich people could like, train it or something.

Caspian looked at me oddly, his brows fusing together in suspicion, as if what I had asked was common knowledge to everyone. Feeling concerned that I had just screwed myself over, I said the first thing that came to mind.

"I grew up in a...Stable..On a farm.." What am I? Fucking Jesus? I hold my breath due to my own idiocy.

He slowly nodded, and began to answer my 'obvious' question.

"Everything and everyone has magic, or at least a bit of it. But every so often someone is born with a great skill of magic, this could be at complete random, or if both parents possess high magic as well." He seems to cut his own conversation short with a deep yawn.

"I guess there is more to it, but that's a question anyone can answer." He groans, pulling an arm over his head to stretch it. "Am I relieved from your battery of questions Miss?" He smugly grins at me with tired eyes.

"No." I squint my eyes at him, the corner of my mouth unwillingly flipping up ever so slightly at the sudden playful mood.

"Ah then you'll have to carry me to my chamber, in the same troll-like hunch as you did to Ester." He huffs out a laugh, recalling the image of me mindlessly dragging a man down the hallway.

Oh- A troll?!

I huff out a breath in insult, in which Caspian just lets out a laugh and walks down the hall, leaving my mouth still agape at the grotesque image in my head, of me walking squat and hunch down the corridor with an unconscious drunk man being dragged behind me.

"A troll." I utter to myself with a tut.