The Rebel's Crown - Chapter 21 - Friends

╚╩╩╩╝ Hamil ╚╩╩╩╝

A junior Freelancer, huh. It wasn't my birthday, but if it was, then this would have been the perfect gift. It's been just over a week since Veria's birthday celebration, but we have yet to actually go out. The junior Freelancer program was established for children to be able to practice their social skills, meet new people and assist their local community through the Freelancer's Guild. Citizens of all kinds would place 'bounties' such as lost pets or common service requests that these children were allowed to take to earn a small reward. Earning money was nice, but for me, it was more of a getaway from a certain persistent girl.

Sitting at my desk, I rolled the medallion across my fingers and held it up to the light coming in through my window. The metal was dull, but it made my mood bright.

"Hamil, you have a visitor." Licilia's voice came through my door. It was clear from her voice who it was, but I had grown used to it at this point.

Sighing, I thanked her and stuffed the coin into my pocket and made sure that I was presentable before exiting my room. Standing in the empty hall, I weighed whether or not I could get away with jumping out the second story window just beside me, but figured that she would take my injuries as an excuse to visit more frequently. Sighing even harder, I walked past the window and slowly made my way over to the parlor and pulled open the door.

"Good afternoon, Hamil." Spoke Charlotte Renae in her usual flirtatious tone. She only spoke to me like this when we were alone and I dreaded it every time.

"Good afternoon to you as well." I responded, trying to be as polite as possible.

The girl flashed a warm smile and closed her eyes as she stood from her seat. Straightening her pale, white dress, she glided across the room to where I was standing and met my eyes. I could feel a cocktail of emotions within her, but the strongest one, by far, was anger. I had been in this situation very few times, but I immediately knew what she was going to ask me.

"I wish to visit town and was wondering if you would be willing to escort me." She asked, nervous, though you couldn't tell from her expression.

I never knew what it was that was making her angry, but knew that it would not be good for the Wark's image for me to refuse her invitations. If I upset her in the slightest, it could mean our whole family being stripped of their titles and exiled not just from Renae as a city, but from the country entirely.

Extending my arm for her to grab, I forced a smile and answered. "I would be happy to."

Feeling her mood brighten immediately, she took my arm and followed me out of the parlor. On the way, we passed by Jaime, sitting on cushioned chair in the corner of the hall. She was focused intently on the drawing pad on her lap. She was drawing two individuals, embracing under a tall tree. I didn't recognize the people, but I recognized the drawing. She had been painting this same image for several months now, but always stopped halfway and started over.

"Jaime, could you let Pert and Licilia know that I will be out with Lady Renae." I stopped and asked.

Lifting her head, Jaime nodded quickly and returned to her drawing. She was confused and saddened.

"That painting is beautiful." Charlotte interjected. She was… nervous. "Who are those two?"

"They're my parents." Jaime responded quietly. "This was the last… the last time I saw them."

"We-well… you look a lot like your mother. You're going to be beautiful." The girl stammered.

Slowly nodding her head, Jaime turned back to her painting as Charlotte and I walked away.

Just after we'd left through the front door, Charlotte lightly tugged at my arm.

"I really meant it." She spoke, facing down at the ground in front of her.

"Hmm?"

"When I said that she would be beautiful. I really meant it." She clarified, raising her head. "She's already plenty pretty, but that woman in her picture, there was something almost holy about her."

Thinking back to her drawing, I knew what she meant. It wasn't a conventional beauty, but a pure one. Like a field of snow untouched by any human hands. But what truly perplexed me about her drawings was the man. Every time, some small detail of him was different, but every time, it tickled something in the back of my mind. I could never figure out what it was, but the man felt familiar somehow.

At the end of the courtyard, beside the Wark's carriage stood a large, pale carriage with several pink highlights. The carriage's driver, a tall, slender woman with short, black hair greeted us. Helping Charlotte into the carriage, the woman winked at me before climbing onto the drivers seat atop the carriage. Pulling myself into the carriage, I noticed that it had two benches on the front and back of the interior, but the entirety of one bench was covered with dozens of empty bags.

Looking at me with innocent eyes, sitting in the center of the empty bench, Charlotte patted on the cushion next to hers. Holding in a sigh, I sat down beside her. She was happy, but conflicted.

The entirety of the trip, I kept my eyes pointed outside of the window beside me and stayed quiet. The girl beside me, however, often turned to glance at me. I could tell because she would become more and more nervous every time.

Finally arriving at our destination, I climbed down from the cart the moment the driver opened the door.

"Could you please wait for a moment." Charlotte asked as she climbed out of the cart with the woman's help.

Standing a short distance away, close to the many storefronts in this part of the city, I watched as Charlotte and the driver spoke in a hushed tone until finally, the driver patted her on the shoulder and closed the door, climbing into the driver's seat.

"I'll be back in a couple of hours." The woman announced before driving the horses forward.

Charlotte slowly stepped forward and stood by my side. She held her hands together and was rubbing a finger over the top of her hand. Realizing that I had noticed, she snapped her arms to her side and pointed at one store not too far away and, grabbing my arm, pulled me toward it.

Over the next hour, she dragged me back and forth from store to store. She never bought anything, but tried on multiple different outfits and asked me how she looked in them. Not wanting to upset her, I told her that she looked great in all of them, but this just seemed to irritate her. Frustrated, she pulled me out of one store and toward another, but stopped short of it and pulled me into the small alley between the buildings.

Suddenly, I felt something from her that I had only felt from Jaime. She was beyond sad, beyond depressed. Her entire mind had been clouded by darkness and hopelessness. I had just gone along with everything she pulled me along for, afraid of upsetting her and suffering the consequences that would follow. It usually worked, but today was different somehow.

Standing silent for a moment, Charlotte stared at the ground. Her mood somehow becoming even worse.

"You… you don't like me, do you?" She asked suddenly, her voice quiet and weak.

"I…" I didn't know how to answer. I wasn't sure what I felt towards this girl. I was usually too afraid of the consequences surrounding her to think of anything else.

Before I could speak another word, she bolted away from the street and into the back roads and alleys behind the large buildings. Immediately, I turned and started after her. If she went missing shortly after we were seen together, it would be beyond bad.

I managed to catch up with her quickly, but was unsure of how to get her to stop running. After running for a while longer, she tripped on her on skirts and fell face first onto the ground. I stopped and rushed over to her and tried to help her up, but my hand was smacked away.

"You don't have to pretend to be my friend anymore." She sobbed.

She pushed herself up from the ground and sat down on the dirt, holding her head.

Quietly, I squatted down beside her and just listened for a minute as she quietly cried into her hands.

After a couple of minutes, she dropped her hands and took a deep breath. Turning to look at me, I saw that her usually perfect face was now dirtied and covered in cuts and scratches, some of which were bleeding.

"Why are you still here?" She asked quietly.

"I-I'm not the greatest at talking, but I can listen." I replied, fully sitting on the ground.

Tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, Charlotte took a shaky breath as her mood turned for the better.

"I-I'm sorry." She mumbled, nervous and scared.

"Sorry for what?" I asked, trying to get her to open up.

"When we first met, I was rude and mean." She explained. "I've always had people around me, treating me nicely and doing everything for me. It wasn't until I saw your family that I realized that these friends of mine weren't real. They wanted to be friends with my name, my family. Nobody truly cared about who I was. Seeing you, Jaime and Veria together, how you treated each other, made me jealous."

"Well," I started, causing Charlotte to snap her head to look at me. "Knowing those two, I'm sure they would happily forgive you."

"That's not the problem." She responded, turning to look back at the ground. "My father cares more about our public appearance than anything else. If he found out that I apologized for anything then I would be locked in my room again. What's more he-" She stopped, tears running down her face.

"Trust me when I tell you that I know about terrible fathers." I spoke, giving her time to collect herself.

"You mean… Lord Wark-" She turned to me again, her eyes wide.

"No, no, not him at all." I quickly interrupted. "I'm talking about my real father. Before I came to stay with the Warks. He would constantly belittle me, force me to do the most demeaning work and, if I failed at anything, he would beat me."

"I-" She started.

"You don't have to apologize for anything. If anything is wrong, please tell me." I spoke, carefully placing my hand on her shoulder.

These words seemed to have broken through to her as the darkness in her mind faded completely.

"M-my father… he intends to have me married to one of Lord Gelling's sons." She grit her teeth, trying to hold back whatever emotions she was feeling, though it was pointless since the amount of disgust she was feeling was almost visible.

"That's… even Lord Gelling's youngest son is six years older than you." I was shocked. What could have possessed Lord Renae to make that kind of decision.

"Father has heard rumors that Lord Gelling is going to receive a new title and wanted to make ties to his family. Seeing as I'm his only daughter and Lord Gelling only has sons, there was no other way." She explained.

"What if… what if Lord Gelling's title was revoked?" I hesitated to ask.

"What do you mean?" Charlotte asked, furrowing her brow.

"My real father, he… he was a criminal." I answered, receiving a shocked look. "He worked for Lord Gelling. I've seen the lord a few times, myself. If I come forward, I'm sure we could do something."

Charlotte didn't answer immediately, but started playing with the hair behind her ear, twirling it with her fingers.

"Do you have any proof?" She asked suddenly. "My father will not accept this without any proof."

"I… I don't have any with me, but I know all of the secret tunnels and areas that were built for my father. One of them connects directly to the lord's estate." I explained.

"This is going to take some planning. Are you still in contact with your father?" She asked, frowning shortly after realizing what she had asked.

"I've been hiding from him. He doesn't know where I am as far as I know." I answered.

"Could you draw a map of the tunnels and entrances?"

"I can show you where the entrances are on a map, but that's about it."

"We'll have to come up with something to show my father, but that can wait." She sighed. "My father wouldn't marry me off until I'm of age, so we have some time."

Standing up, I stretched and reached down to help Charlotte up. "Until that time, I hope you wouldn't mind me being your first friend."

Smiling brightly, she grasped my hand and pulled herself up. Immediately as she got her footing, she wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tight. I hugged her back, realizing that, until now, I had been just like the people she had grown up with her whole life. I didn't see her as Charlotte, I saw her as the daughter of the marquis who owned the city.

"Thank you." She spoke softly.

Letting go, I grabbed her hand and looked in the direction that we had come in through. We had run for not too long, but it didn't take long to get deep enough into the city's back roads that we were lost. Figuring that we had to start somewhere, I led the two of us down the road.

We'd been walking for a few minutes when I heard quieted footsteps not too far away. I recognized the sound of someone trying to sneak up from behind. Quiet voices just loud enough that it sounded like the wind, the soft shuffling mimicking a breeze blowing through the trees. It would have been great, had we not been in a city.

Squeezing Charlotte's hand tightly, I shouted, "Run!" and broke into a sprint, pulling her behind me.

It didn't take long for the girl to trip up and nearly fall. I stopped, realizing my mistake in thinking that she could follow behind as quickly as I was running. It took less than a moment for our pursuers to catch up. Seeing them, three large, burly men, I recognized them as some of my father's men.

"Had enough running?" Spoke one of them, clearly winded.

They didn't seem to recognize me, which was good. If they were like any of my father's other men, then they were clumsy and didn't have auras. If I acted just right, we could get out of here safely.

Activating my aura, I threw my hand forward and summoned a magic ring. In the past two years, I'd had the opportunity to go with Pert to the capital to attempt to raise my aura level. Jaime and Veria had wanted to come as well, but Licilia had insisted that they stay behind. I passed the test with flying colors and was able to go through the process to raise my aura level from purple to indigo.

Seeing the aura, one of the men raised his hand. In his hand was a small contraption that looked like a tiny bow on a stick. Before I could react, I heard a twang. A tiny arrow shot through the air and would have hit me in the chest, had Charlotte not stepped in the way.

The tiny arrow pierced through her shoulder and knocked her back into me.

"You idiot! We weren't supposed to hurt the girl." One of the men shouted.

Frantically, I grabbed Charlotte and examined where the arrow had struck. It was still in her shoulder and had not gone all the way through. She had obviously not been hurt like this before and was gasping for air.

Focusing again, I tried to coerce the spirits into acting to save her. Jaime had used the spirits to heal Astrid before, so why couldn't I? Summoning the magic ring, I pleaded with the spirits to heal her. Thankfully, as I finished the spell, the familiar balls of light appeared and started to float around the arrow. Sighing deeply, I turned back to the three men to see that one of them had a black aura flowing from his eyes and was just finishing a spell. With no time to counter the spell, I turned and shielded Charlotte with my body and felt a searing pain as a ball of fire collided against my back.

My shirt now in tatters and my back charred, I struggled to stand and face the brutes. Each of them wore a smug grin as they strode forward. It would be near impossible to focus with the pain from my injuries, but I had to do what I could to protect Charlotte. She had just opened up to me; she trusted me, and I could not betray that trust.

Wrapping my hand around the wooden medallion that my mother had left to me, I resolved to die here.

Suddenly, an intense pain started inside my back, spreading out then shrinking into two small spots on my upper back. The pain grew, pushing toward the surface until, finally, it pushed out. Coming into view from my periphery were what looked like large bird wings. Turning to look, I realized that they were attached to me. A pair of gray and brown wings that would look more at home on a horse-sized hawk were coming from my back.

The three men who had previously wore smug expressions now looked more shocked and confused than anything, with gaping mouths and wide eyes. Taking action, the one with an aura raised his hand and cast another spell, sending out another fireball. I flinched to protect myself and was surprised when the wings reacted as well, wrapping around my front and absorbing the damage from the flames. Seeing their shock again, I grabbed the broken piece of a wooden post that sat on the ground nearby and dashed forward. Just before I could attack, however, the wings changed, the feathers changing to a more metallic color as they swung out. I watched as my new appendages cut through two of the men with ease, almost cutting straight through the bone, as I stabbed the wood into the third man's chest, piercing through to where I hoped was his heart.

Watching all three men collapse, I turned back to Charlotte to see her sitting up, the small arrow that was once in her shoulder had fallen to the ground and the wound had been healed completely. She was looking at me, just as shocked as the men had been. Running to her side, I felt the wings fold in and disappear. Though they had faded away, I could still feel their presence.

Without a word, I reached down to help Charlotte up. She nearly fell again just as she got to her feet. She had probably twisted her ankle and needed medical attention. We both did. I would have walked with her, but the charred flesh on my back was now screaming at me. Taking advantage of the delay in the pain, I scooped Charlotte up and started running.

With some luck, we managed to make it to the storefront street where people began to separate and gape at the two of us. No longer able to run, I collapsed to my knees and gasped for air. A crowd quickly gathered just before the carriage driver pushed through the crowd and gasped in shock.

"I'll bring the carriage right over!" She exclaimed before rushing back into the crowd.

The few moments it took for the carriage driver to arrive felt like an eternity, but I was incredibly grateful when she did as she took Charlotte from my arms and set her in the carriage before doing the same for me.I could hear the woman speaking, but it was all faded in my ears until Charlotte shouted, "No, I'm not leaving him like this!" Her words rang in my head.

Carefully, she helped me onto the bench covered in bags where I laid face down.

"You can talk fine." She whispered before sitting on the floor of the carriage with her head next to mine.

It was only for a moment, but the storm of emotions inside Charlotte calmed down as one stood atop them all. Glad that she had calmed down, I passed out.