Awoken (Ilea, Book I) (COMPLETED)

Chapter 7

Slowly we made our way around the castle of the elders. We walked through the guard room where all the soldiers sat eating their meals; everything went silent as we passed. I could sense the men’s thoughts of fear and awe as we walked along the room. One shouted out to Rowan in disgust “How can you let that thing touch you?”

I picked him out from the crowd of thirty men with ease; standing perfectly still I stared at him with cold eyes. He shivered as I walked slowly towards him, floating across the floor. Stopping at the head of his table i spoke, “Pardon?” I said in a low, clear voice.

He said nothing as he looked into my eyes with fear. I could tell that he was one of the big boisterous types which always had something to say and that everyone was intimidated by – he was the playground bully, but on a much larger scale.

He had stopped eating and had gravy around his mouth, I focused on the edge of the table cloth and made it wipe him clean – he sat still as a statue as I did it. “I thought you would be old enough to be able to keep yourself clean,” I said, starting off with a small smile and then changing it, so that there was hardly any expression on my face at all, “Maybe you should go and wash.”

I turned around and walked back to Rowan, who had a small smile on his face. “I would wipe that smirk off your face if I hadn’t been ordered not to hurt you.” He shouted at my back. The table cloth that had wiped his mouth slowly wound its way around his neck and I heard him gasp as he noticed.

“Threatening me isn’t a good idea Frasier, take a look at you commander’s hand if you don’t believe me.” I didn’t look at him as I spoke, but just before we left the room I turned and met his eyes in a steely glare before I let the table cloth drop.

“How did you know?” Rowan asked me.

“I sensed what he had done to you in your mind.” I had seen how Rowan had tensed when he recognised Frasier’s voice and then a buzz of electricity had flown through his hand into my body, followed by a strange show of images that were slightly blurred around the edge. I saw how Frasier had picked on Rowan, how he had beaten him, punished him when he had done nothing wrong, Frasier was Rowan’s commanding officer and made his life a living hell. I knew that my actions would influence him away from maliciously hurting Rowan again. For some reason I felt oddly protective of this strange boy, his mind was a totally different place to what I was used to – it made me think.

“Thank you, I will never forget this.” Rowan said to me as we walked further into the heart of the castle.

  I watched as the rough quarters of the guard turned into the rich quarters of the Elders. The walls changed from whites and creams to soft leaf greens and browns, I saw elegantly furnished chairs, delicately embroidered with leaves and flowers. As we walked deeper and deeper into the heart of the castle the way that it was furnished improved dramatically; there were more windows that looked out over gardens and the forest, open doors that led to massive rooms with exquisitely painted ceilings and light, polished wooden flooring, there were flowers everywhere, on window sills, in pots on floors, tables, draws, chests, anywhere that there was space, it was hard to believe that the people who lived here were also the people that were my capturers.

We finally got to a room with seating all around the walls, long wooden benches that were filled with people, all men, all waiting for me. I walked into the room still holding Rowans shoulder, I heard a gasp run through the crowd as they saw my contact with him; word had already spread of the feather man’s hand. We both walked into the centre of the room and I held out my hand to Rowan, he knew exactly what I meant and handed me the necklace which I tied around my neck slowly, as if there were no other people in the room except for him and I.