The Forest King

Chapter Seventeen

SEVENTEEN

   Grace was holding out for the feeling of falling to stop with her body hitting water or something like cement. With her eyes still squeezed shut, she felt her body dropping to her knees against cool flooring. When she opened her eyes, she could see Silas looking around confusedly. Slowly, Grace pulled away, taking in the familiar surroundings. They were back home, in her old bedroom.

Silas looked to her with knitted brows, "Must be you." He stood with her, his hands moving to assess the books skillfully placed on her bookshelves, moving to the scattered papers on her desk. "You might not remember this. It's something hidden from yourself, something you may have blocked out."

Then, like a gunshot, a noise rang out from downstairs. Grace was quick in opening the door and flying down the stairs. Silas was hot on her heels as she moved on instinct. She didn't understand what she was doing or what was really happening. Her heart was racing as they skidded onto the kitchen flooring. A man had her mother by the neck, a dagger pressed to her heart. He turned to look at Grace with a wicked smile, and Grace realized the man was dressed almost like a Realm Hunter. His cladded armor thick on his body, except his was a deep purple color, a wild shine in his eyes as he regarded Grace's mother.

When he spoke it sounded off, like it wasn't real, "Oh, Griselda, she looks so much like her father." The words cut Grace, never having realized that she resembled her mother in the smallest of ways. A glance in the oven's reflection told Grace that she was younger here. Maybe seven or eight, not fully understanding why she hadn't remembered this. "You know he'd want her dead, the both of you are a threat to Ahriman. First he kills your King and now your beloved daughter."

The man was quick in slamming Griselda's head into the wall, letting her body slump to the floor in a daze as he rounded on Grace. He was coming so quickly, and she was screaming for her mother. His large hand grabbed a fistful of her hair, her hands moving to release them from her. She kicked and screamed, thrashing as he pushed her backwards and into the living room. Her leg swung and got him in the groin, his hold releasing as she scrambled for the glass vase on the coffee table. She slammed the vase over his head, panting hard as he crashed to the carpet. A steady stream of blood began to pool around him.

Griselda came slowly into the room, holding the back of her own head as she ignored the dead man now in her living room. She dropped to her knees in front of Grace, pulling her into a hug so tight Grace almost felt safer. Her mother's words were a whispered rhyme, something that made no sense to her. It was like a completely different language. Silas was beside Grace as they watched her younger self slip into a peaceful sleep. Griselda lifted her up and carried her back into her bed.

After tucking Grace in, she sat on the edge, "Sleep now, my child. You are safe from all harm. He can't get you now, I won't let him. No matter the price."

Grace and Silas back out of the room, as Griselda gets up to close the door. "Those words she was whispering, that's a powerful memory spell. I've only seen used once before by an immensely powerful sorcerer. She shielded your memories up until a specific date. September 21st."

Grace nodded, "my birthday. Silas, I killed someone. I was seven years old and I killed someone."

"Grace, he was a going to kill you. That was Ahriman's personal hunter. The Barren King's personal hunter. He admitted that Ahriman killed your father, do you understand what that means? Your mother is innocent!"

As Grace moves to speak, the floor shakes and shifts beneath them, dropping once more. This time, their bodies fall onto the harsh ground of a darkened forest. Silas scrambles to his feet before aiding Grace up by her elbow. He placed his body in front of hers to shield her from the night's forest. She could feel the jump in his anxiety, wondering if it was because they knew it had shifted to him now.

Everything is still, until there is a rustle in the trees and Senan appears. She looks the same, her angular features smooth and steady as she carries a small child in her arms. Her melodic whispers hit their ears, "Do not be afraid my child, for you are born of an ancient greatness. You will be alone now, but soon enough she will find you and alone you be no more."

Senan set the child down, a young Silas, placing a bow and a handful of arrows beside him. He looks to her with a deepening sadness, looking to be no more than four or five years old and Senan steps back, "Please, momma! Don't leave me with the monsters. Momma!" But she was already gone.

Time shifted and they seemed to watch Silas grow in fast motion, each day flittering past them as he hunted and gathered. Navigating and surviving the vast forest on his own. Until the night he is challenged by a great beast that nearly takes his life. He heals and continues on, day after day, fight after fight. The world feels like it's against him.

Exhausted and especially worn after a particularly trying day, Silas is faced with a sleep demon. It's windchimes ringing out and nearly lulling him to sleep. He snaps himself out of it, waging a war against the monster. Fighting until one of them drops. He gets the final blow, a killing blow as they both collapse to the ground. Life fading from both of them.

Moments before his death; tested and beaten, broken for so many lonely years, he is visited by a man. "You cannot die here. You are destined to be a King, and a King you shall be. Your soul may feel torn now, but soon you shall see. You have proven to this forest just who you will be," the man plunges his fist into Silas's chest and grips his heart. Pain and suffering are all they feel as Silas crumples to the ground, clutching his chest and screaming out. The man continues, "the greatest loss is knowing what could have been and watching it pass you by."

Grace feels helpless, wanting to reach out and help him, but she knows this is just a memory. The man releases Silas and Grace rushes to his side. The ground gives beneath them as she reaches out.

They're back in the old and abandoned ballroom, Silas collapsing against Grace as she falls with him to the marble floor. "You're okay...you're okay, Silas. I'm here now, you're okay." Their heavy breathing mixes together, hearts racing as one, Silas's forehead dropping to the skin of her neck.

Years of pain and loneliness collide, their lives flashing before them. Events intertwining and homogenizing like livewire in their bones and souls. Never had Grace ever felt so completely connected to anything or anyone in her entire life. She could feel his every breath as if her lungs were the ones pumping oxygen through them. It was overwhelming and amazing and terrifying all at once.

Fire. They were on fire, or that's what it felt like. Grace couldn't tell the difference anymore. It was a collision of two souls fusing together. Silas pulled away but the strength of all they felt remained steady and beaming.

Grace had trouble finding her voice, "what was that?" She whispered.

Senan stepped back, both Silas and Grace having forgotten she was there, "A Royal Tether."