The Love of a Knight

Untitled Part 18

Lord Chambers walked down to his sitting room, and he paced as he thought over the last few days. He was not a believer in magic but he knew his niece was special and something had happened in the last few days. He immediately called for a messenger as he wanted to summons the healer that lived one town over. It was said that she had saved the life of a King. Maybe she could help save Felicity.

The messenger arrived and bowed, "Yes My Lord?"

"I want you to go to Liencster and find a woman by the name of Lyla. She is the healer there and I want you to bring her to me. Is that understood?"

The messenger nodded and then hurried out of the castle.

Lord Chambers sighed and ran a hand over his face as he climbed the stairs to his chambers to bathe and change clothes. He would check on Oliver later.

***

Oliver woke from having dozed by her side. He had been back a day and she was as still as the day he had returned. So he talked to her. He talked to her about his life before he was a knight. About how his sister use to chase him around the meadow near their home. How they would catch butterflies and caterpillars and how his sister always found a way to make him laugh. He talked about what life would be like after he retired. How they would be together and Alara would have new lands to roam. He gently stroked the panthers head as he spoke. She had not left Felicity's side to eat or hunt and he was concerned for her. She kept her head on Felicity's stomach and a low purr could be heard as she slept.

Oliver knew he needed to keep up his strength, so he kissed her lips softly and then headed down to dinner. It was nice to get out of the room and have a change of scenery but he would not be gone for long. He wanted to be with her. He wanted to be the first face she saw when she woke.

He was tired and he sat at the table and rested his head in his hands, ignoring the girls that tried to catch his attention. Slade saw him walk in and lifted the girl from his lap before walking over to sit across from him.

"Sir Oliver. You look exhausted my friend."

"I have been sitting with Felicity." he said. By now the whole castle was abuzz with the Lord's niece and her condition and many people had sent up well wishes for her as word spread.

"Oliver I am not one to believe in magic or mystical things but something happened on the field that I cannot explain. And that panther saved your life. While I will never understand what I saw and might not even speak of it again, I want you to know that the woman you have is special. She will pull through this, I promise."

Oliver looked at his long time friend and nodded, their eyes saying what they did not have to say. Slade would be there for whatever Oliver needed. Slade stood and walked back to his table as Oliver filled his plate with food and quickly ate. As he was about to finish a young woman approached his table, shy and unsure.

"Sir Oliver?"

He looked up to see a pretty young woman, dressed as a servant, looking at him nervously.

"Yes?"

"You do not know me but my name is Alaina. I work for Lord Chambers and wanted to tell you that I have been sending up prayers for Lady Felicity!"

Oliver nodded, "Thank you Alaina."

"Lady Felicity helped me get my job here with Lord Chambers so I could feed my family. In fact you met my son. You gave him some gold coins." She looked at him with gratitude.

"That was your son?" he asked surprised.

She smiled. "Yes. He is such a good boy and the day you found him we were running low on food. He took it upon himself to go try to find some and that is when he got into trouble. He came home and told me what you and Lady Felicity did for us. I will never forget that. Then Lady Felicity came to see me one day and she told me to come see Lord Chambers, that he might have a job for me."