Chain Mail and Butterfly Wings

Two nights later and I wasn’t tired at all, even after walking all day without stopping, sure, my legs were throbbing and thankful for the rest, but my mind wasn’t tired at all. Oh, and by the way, Aiden was already flirting with me again, although I was much more harsh when dismissing his flirting, I didn’t leave as I promised myself I would if he broke any other rule.

I rolled over several times in my blankets before deciding to kick them off of me and tip-toe out of the tent. As opposed to the windy night before, it was strangely warm on this particular night, especially in the tent. I sat on an old log beside the fire, picked up a stick and randomly prodded the fire, watching absently as it crackled and spit sparks into the air.

I yawned and shook my head, rubbed my eyes and then tossed my stick into the fire. What was I even doing awake? I had nothing to think about and no one to talk to but myself, which was always a bad thing. Since, majority says, talking to yourself is crazy. I shifted uncomfortably on the log and scooted to the side a bit more, but yelped in surprise when the log gave out beneath my weight, weakened by rot and termite damage. I probably should have expected it, but didn’t.

I grumbled and tried to wriggle my way out of the log, but only managed to slip in deeper. Changing my strategy, I propped my elbows on either side of the log and tried to lift myself out. Unfortunately, this only succeeded in breaking the log more. “This is--” I began but stopped to jerk my head upwards when I heard chuckling.

“Hilarious?” Aiden offered, standing on the other side of the fire.

“No. Stupid, you know, kinda like you,” I spat back, my face secretly a modest shade of red as I kept myself from falling completely into the log.

“See, that wasn’t very charming,” Aiden pointed out, trying to sound scolding as he sat down in front of the log but beside me. “You should start being nicer to me, considering you might be sleeping in that log for the rest of the night.” I scowled at his smirk.

“I don’t need your help,” I insisted stubbornly, debating whether or not I really did need his help to get out of my butt trap.

“Whatever you say, Angel.” He shrugged and reached up to ruffle my hair into my face.
I reached up to swat his hand away and ended up slipping into the log to the point where my butt touched the bottom and my arms were pinned up in the air, while my legs were still hanging over the side of the log.

Aiden was chuckling again.

“Shut up. This is your fault,” I accused, trying not to think of the bugs that were in the log and probably slowly working their way into my crevasse.

“Alright, I admit that one, but you got yourself stuck in the first place.” Aiden leaned his head back and sighed. “So, Angel, why is it that you can heal?”

I scrunched my nose in disdain and remained silent, I didn’t really want to answer any questions about myself.

“You know I could just go back to sleep, you’re the one that’s stuck here,” Aiden pointed out, making a move to stand up.

“Wait, wait, wait, you’re gonna leave me in this thing?” I asked incredulously.

“I thought you didn’t need my help?” Aiden inquired with a raised brow, although I could hardly see his head over my arms.

“I…well…I don’t…no, alright, I do. I’m stuck,” I huffed, wiggling my hands in the air to emphasize my plight.

“Well then, my help comes with a price. Which, in this case, would be answering a few questions.” Aiden smiled charmingly in my direction, still I was hardly able to see it.

“Fu--” I began to say but Aiden made a disgruntled sound that covered my swear and I said instead, “Fine.”

“So, how come you can heal? That’s not normal for a human,” he prodded, inferring that I might be something other than human.

“No it isn’t normal. But it runs in the girls blood on my mother’s of the family, some sort of freaky mutation I guess,” I grumbled bitterly, still not wanting to answer questions about myself.

“Interesting. Then why does it take so much energy out of you to use it if it’s natural?” he asked next.

“Because, I don’t use it as often as I should, or at least as often as other people in my bloodline do. If I used it more than it would probably be easier on me,” I answered, shifting uncomfortably in the log I was lodged in.

“Humph,” was all Aiden said for a long time. Then he said, “What’s life been like for you?”

I was startled by the question, and then I wasn’t sure how to answer it, “What do you mean?”

“Up until now, what’s happened in your life?”

I scowled that was a long, boring story that I didn’t want to tell. “It’s a long story.” I could have predicted his reply before he said it.

“I’ve got time.”

Of course he did. Because I was unable to move, neither of us were tired and he needed to be entertained somehow.

I sighed. “When I was five my mother died of some sort of lung disease and I was raised by my father until I was sixteen, when I was growing up I always wanted to become a great fighter, so my father taught me to fight. My father used to be a soldier in his younger days, so he knew how to fight pretty well. He got called back into duty when I was sixteen, he died a week later, an ambush from raiders, they were killed before they reached the castle, but my father died in the ambush.” I paused, reflecting on what I’d said, then continued, “So, I chose to become a guard and follow the dream my father had helped me to achieve. Unfortunately, Castle Burdock doesn’t care much for female guards and I got stuck with all the shit jobs. Such as prisoner care taker, the only fight I‘d ever even been in was the one with you, and that wasn’t much of a fight,” I grumbled bitterly. “So, life for me has sucked,” I finished, feeling my arms starting to go numb.

That was a more condensed version of my life, but I really didn't feel like giving him a full narration.

“I thought so.” Aiden said absently, more to himself than me.

“What?”

“It didn’t seem like a bitter person like you was just born. So, I figured you had faced some hardship at some point,” Aiden answered coolly, although I couldn’t tell if he was looking at me or not.

“Yeah, well, whatever. Will you help me out now? I answered your questions,” I said, now the feeling in my butt was leaving.

“One more question,” Aiden said gently.

“Alright, shoot.”

“Have you ever been in love?” I stiffened at the question.

I swallowed hard, I knew the answer, but why was he asking? I was embarrassed about the answer, sure I was only eighteen, but I had never even had a boyfriend let alone been in love. I had more important things to focus on rather than getting starry-eyed over some boy. Finally I answered him by saying, “I’ll sleep in the log.”

Aiden laughed at this and stood up so that he could see my face, which was now a hot shade of pink. Absently, he propped his elbows on the log and rested his chin on them, examining me carefully with a grin on his face.

“That’s probably a bad--” I didn’t get to finish before the log crumbled under Aiden’s weight and he fell head first into the hollow log with a yelp of surprise.

This time I was the one laughing, to the point where my stomach hurt and I was running out of breath. Finally I took in a breath and saw that Aiden’s butt was still up in the air, what was taking him so long?

“Holy crap, Angel! Did you know there’s a raccoon in here?” Aiden asked suddenly and I heard scratching noises. “I hope it doesn’t have rabies…” he muttered and then mumbled, “Uh-oh.”

“What?” I frowned, not liking the tone of his voice, “‘Uh-oh’? What’s ‘uh-oh’?” I demanded, unable to keep the panic from my voice.

“I think I made it mad,” Aiden replied skeptically.

Just then something tugged on my shirt and I gasped, squirming when it touched my side--which was incredibly ticklish--and I started trying to thrash my way out of the log. “H-hey! Make it stop! God damn it Aiden, grab it or--” I giggled and jumped and then tried to get my elbow down in the log to chase the thing away. “Aiden, help!” I begged, giggling again as the thing touched my side again.

I heard Aiden snicker and realized he was still in the log. “You ass!” I cried, realizing he was the one tickling me, not a damn raccoon. “Stop that,” I ordered between giggling again, taking the force out of my words.

“Or you’ll do what?” Challenged Aiden, poking his head out of the log to grin at me.

“Stop it or I’ll…I’ll…kick your ass!” I decided, trying valiantly to wriggle my way out of the log again but failing.

Aiden disappeared and somehow got around to my other side and tickled me from both sides and I couldn’t keep from laughing, “Stop…it…!” I ordered between laughs, until finally I threw my head back as I laughed and the top part of the log cracked under the pressure. I slid deeper into the log so that my arms were free and my back slid until my legs were practically elevated and my head was almost touching the bottom of the log.

I gasped, finding myself practically face to face with Aiden who looked as surprised as me. He was laying on his stomach inside the log with his legs poking out the open end, while his arms were on either side of me, still touching my sides. I blushed ten shades of red and then reeled back and punched his shoulder.

That snapped him out of it. “Ow!” He made it so that his arms weren’t practically around my torso and then glared at me. “What was that for?”

“Tickling me!” I said sharply, although I was more irritated with my blush than him. “I told you I’d kick your ass,” I added, trying to throw my legs out of the log, but I was just a tad too short.

“Oh, is that what you said? I couldn’t hear you past your laughing.” Aiden smiled at me when I turned my head to glare at him.

“Yeah, well, you still have to help me out. Could you move so I can get out that way?” I asked, although it was more of a demand and less of a question.

“Fine, fine,” Aiden said with a sigh and began to back out of the log.

I turned so that I was on my stomach and followed after him. Once we were both out, I brushed myself off with a grumble and a swear or two. I shook my head from side to side to get all the dry moss and bark out of it and then straightened it as much as possible.

As I continued brushing the dirt off of my shirt, I jumped when Aiden reached over and brushed some dirt off of my shoulder and my arm. I paused to say quietly, “Thanks.” And then looked at him to see that he had a little bit of dirt on his cheek. “Uh…you got a bit of dirt…right…there.” I pointed to a spot on my face to indicate the correct spot.

Aiden used his arm to wipe it off and then looked to me for approval, I nodded and then he said, “You do too, it’s right…” he reached out with his hand and gently wiped a spot by my mouth with the back of his hand, “…there…and…” he wiped a spot on my cheek, “…there.”

“Thanks,” I muttered, realizing with sudden embarrassment that Aiden didn’t have a shirt on, as he often didn’t when he was sleeping. And, considering I had woken him up, it only made sense that he hadn’t put a shirt back on. “So…your…fiancée…” I began but shook my head, my courage abandoning me completely.

“What about her?” Aiden asked with raised brows.

“Nothing. Never mind,” I said quickly and turned to go back into the tent, staying up for an hour talking to Aiden cured my restlessness and I suddenly felt like I could sleep for fifteen hours.

Aiden caught my arm and I flinched, wondering if I should just jerk free and ignore him, but my curiosity won over my cowardice. “What about her?” Aiden asked again, more softly this time, as if it were a soft spot for me.

“Ahh…I was just wondering…what…what’s she like?” The little voice inside my head added, is she good enough for you? Are you looking for someone better? Not that I was necessarily someone “better” for him. Although it was nice to think so, it most likely wasn’t true. And besides, I knew the questions were selfish and completely strange. Besides, if I was ever looking to get married, shouldn’t I figure out what guys would be looking for?

Aiden chuckled. “Is that all?” He let go of my arm and I turned to hear him out, he tilted his head back and exhaled. “Well…what can I say? She’s…amazing. We’re opposites. She’s quiet and modest, where I’m loud and cocky, she’s kind and patient, where I’m impatient and maybe a little too cold. Then of course she’s beautiful and faithful…” he trailed off noticing that my eyes fell to the ground.

I could already picture her in my mind: tall and elegant with pale skin and long lashes framing blue eyes, she probably had dimples too, guys were supposed to go crazy for dimples, something I didn’t have. She was my opposite, go figure. I quickly realized that he was staring at me and I looked up again, faking a smile that looked real enough to cause him to smile back. “She sounds wonderful,” I commented, grimacing on the inside.

“She is.” Aiden sighed. “Too bad she’s a princess, the daughter of the King of Castle Reloir.”

I frowned at the sullenness in his voice. “What’s wrong with that?” I wondered aloud.

“Her father doesn’t want her marrying an assassin,” Aiden scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest--of which I was trying valiantly not to stare at--and looking directly at me. “It’s making marrying her a lot harder than I would have thought. He even went as far as framing me, I guess he thought that if I was in prison I wouldn’t be able to marry her.” Aiden smirked. “His mistake of course. I always want what I can’t have.”

“Then why didn’t he just have you killed instead?” I asked, and he looked at me, surprised at the suggestion. “Well, not that I’d want you dead or anything…” I added sheepishly.

Aiden snorted. “Like he’d be able to find anyone to kill what one would consider to be a ‘master assassin’,” he scoffed at the title, although I wasn’t sure why.

“So…she’s worth the trouble?” I asked, trailing off of the topic slightly.

Aiden looked surprised at the question, then nodded once firmly. “Of course. I’ve seen a lot of women in my day, but none like her. I think…finally, I’ve found the right one.” He smiled up at me and I forced myself to smile back.

“Well…good night,” I said abruptly, feeling like the tiny voice inside my head might turn into a real person and sprint across the country to reach this princess and rip her throat out.

I laid down in my blankets despite the heat and hid my face in my pillow. Aiden came in several minutes later, he stopped at the door for a long moment and then I heard him whisper, “Angel? Are you awake?”

I chose to ignore him and rolled around slightly so that I was facing him with my eyes closed and heaved a sigh, then began my fake deep breathing. As far as he knew, I was asleep already.

“Good,” he said softly, but he was closer now, which almost threw off my breathing, but I focused and kept up the illusion. It was only a short moment and I felt Aiden’s lips just barely touch my forehead, then he whispered almost to the point where I couldn’t hear him, “I care about you too, you know.”

I snorted loudly and rolled over, shuffling loudly against the blankets and grumbled something like I was asleep, while when I turned I knew my face was the shade of a flamingo and I didn’t want him to see.

I heard Aiden chuckle to himself. “Always the epitome of a lady.” And then he crawled into his own blankets, rolling around several times before he was quiet.

I opened my eyes to stare at the side of the tent, now I wouldn’t be able to get a wink of sleep. Never mind that he crossed the line in the middle of the tent, or that he kissed me, the point was he kissed me. On the forehead, granted, but it was still a kiss in my eyes. I rubbed my forehead absently and breathed out. But I couldn’t leave even though he broke both rules, because I was supposed to be asleep, embarrassing much?

Get your mind away from impossibilities, I scolded myself, swallowing hard past a lump in my throat. So he cares about you too, so what? He’s getting married and you can’t do anything about it, and do you really want to be known as someone who steals another girl’s husband? The reasonable part of me practically shouted and I rolled around again, trying to get away from the voice. It was right, but it wasn’t selfish enough to comply with my feelings at that moment.

What aboutme? The smaller, more selfish voice in my head demanded.

What about me?

It’s true what they say: All the good men are either taken or gay.