Timeless

Watching her sleep beside me was the first time I felt at complete ease in years. I had found her and she now remembered who I was. Who we were. She also remembered Adriana and Nien, as well as also having come into her powers. We would be going back soon.

The alarm clock on the floor glowed 3:17 in bright blue numbers, the only light in the room since the curtains were drawn shut. I was wide awake and decided to go downstairs to get something to drink. I could hear footsteps in the back yard, I set down the cup quietly slowly making my way to the back yard. A figure paced on the back porch, it stopped when I flicked the light on.

They had a long cloak on, and judging by the broach on the front of it, the royal seal, I could only think of one person it could be. I unlocked the backdoor sliding it open and closing it behind me as quietly as I could careful not to make any noise that could wake Alana.

“What are you doing here?” I whispered. The hood dropped down and her bright blue eyes widened ever so slightly.

“There was an attack, it was more than we could handle. Nien sent me here while he and Syren looked after everyone trying to get them out safely.” Her voice was trembling. “I tried Darien, I did. We need you to come home.”

“When?” I knew eventually he would build his armies back up, I just figured it would take a lot longer than it did.

“A month ago. We had to wait until it was safe for me to come here.” She sighed and walked over to me stopping only a few inches away. “I’m so sorry.”

“This is not your fault.” I sighed. “But you can’t stay here, Alana has been through a lot the past few days. If she were to find out what happened…”

“Has she remembered me yet?” I nodded and carefully slid the door open bringing my finger to my lips to tell her to be quiet.

Once we were in the driveway I spoke quietly, “I would imagine you can stay with your parents, Alana isn’t speaking to them at the moment so we won’t have to worry about her finding you.”

“When can I see her?”

“I’m not sure.” I shrugged, “Not until I’m sure we can go back, that she’ll be able to handle it. I can’t let her sacrifice herself again.” She placed a hand on my shoulder in comfort as we reached the front door. I rang the doorbell and we stood silently waiting for someone to come down.

“Darien?” Roland asked opening the door.

“Hello father.” She said quietly, he turned his head only then seeing her. I heard footsteps and then Celeste’s voice.

“Did something happen to Alana?” She asked from behind her husband, then peering around him realized why were here.

“Adriana.” She whispered out. Celeste brought her hand to her mouth in shock. “What are you doing here?”

“Can we come inside?” I asked, I doubted any one was awake at this time I still didn’t think it would be a good idea to discuss this on their front porch.

“Of course.” Roland said stepping back and opening the door wide enough to let us in. “Can I get you anything? Some tea maybe?” He asked Adriana.

She shook her head, “I was hoping I could stay here with you, just until Darien and Alana go back. When I know it’s safe.”

“Safe?” Celeste asked, “What happened?” She pulled her youngest daughter into a hug and then gently pushed her towards the living room, “Let’s go sit down.”

“It was nearly a month ago.” Adriana looked down at her feet while she spoke. “We had heard rumors that Tulrick had rebuilt his armies though we didn’t believe them. I sent Nien to check it out, but he told us that he couldn’t find any trace of an army, that their city looked deserted. That wasn’t alarming though, that’s how it always was, you know that.” We did, he treated his people horribly, we had attempted to take over his city a few times in order to help his people but his army was too great. We offered protection from anyone who chose to flee and come live in ours.

“We started sending Syren out to look for refugees daily, and he saw them coming. He flew back immediately and sounded the alarm. Within a few hours the majority of our defenses had been destroyed. There are a couple hundred troops left, but we chose to keep them hidden with the people incase they had been found. We have been able to get many people out to the east, the melusina and fishermen have taken them in.” The melusina, very similar to a mermaid, and the fishermen that lived together out in the east had long been allies of ours. They had all also been great friends of Alana’s.

“What about to the north?” I asked, my brother was king there. “Surely Nicholas has helped.”

“He’s done what he could. Tulrick’s army has tripled in size since the attack Alana stopped. He’s having tunnels dug toward our city, he hopes to give those who are still hidden safe passage without being detected. He keeps his troops in Landock though,” Landock was his city, where we were raised. While I had power over heat and fire he had power over the earth, the armies there I know had a great number and had many of the best fighters. “He needs them there incase they come under attack and at the rate Tulrick is going it could be soon.”

“His army has tripled?” Roland asked alarmed. Adriana nodded sadly.

“No one is sure how he did it, we have a feeling he’s forgone the treaty and gone to the out lying villages and forced them to fight for him.”

“If that is what he’s done then why hasn’t there been any help from the others? There would easily be enough troops to take him down if they all came together.” Celeste wondered aloud.

“Like I said Mother, it’s only a theory.” Adriana sighed and leaned back against the couch. We all sat in silence for a long time processing the news. The only way he could have advanced his army so quickly was to do what she had said, take over the villages, unless…

“Adriana.” I said softly. “We had always assumed that he had gone into hiding after the attack. What if instead he came here and relocated his people, forced them to go back? He could have easily done that as well as take over the villages.”

“It would explain how he did all of this so quickly.” She admitted. I looked at the clock on the wall. It was 6 am.

“I need to get back, but we’ll talk more about this later.”

Alana was sitting on the couch when I came back. Her knees up to her chest she didn’t say anything when I walked in. Just watched me. I walked over to her and leaned down to kiss her forehead, she pulled away.

“Is there something you need to tell me?” Her voice held no emotion, she kept her eyes fixated on the wall. “I may not remember everything Darien but keep in mind I will.”

“What are you talking about?” I sat on the coffee table so that I was directly in front of her.

“You’ve been alone for a long time, I understand that. I just need to know if it started before or after I left.” She closed her eyes just as a tear began to roll down her cheek.

“Alana, what are you talking about?”

“I’m not stupid Darien. I saw you in the backyard, I watched as you took her through the house, and then leave with her. You were gone for quite some time. Who is she?” Her voice cracked and a few more tears spilled out.

“It is not what you think Alana. You are the only person I have ever been with.” I reached over to brush the tears from her face, when I touched her she jerked her head away.

“Then tell me who she is.” Her eyes opened staring directly into mine.

“I can’t, not yet.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Then I’m going back to my parents until you can be honest with me.”

“You can’t.” Anger flashed across her face. “She’s there now.” She stood up and began walking towards the door, I ran in front of her and stood in front of it. I had no choice. I had to tell her, I couldn’t keep her locked in here. “If I tell you, you can not go over there, you can not go see her, you can not ask why she is here.” She crossed her arms. “I’m serious Alana, there’s a chance if you found out what was going on you would do something crazy and I would lose you again. Permanently this time. I can’t lose you.” Her face softened but she kept her arms crossed. “Promise me.”

“Fine.”

“It was Adriana.” I watched her as her face shifted through several emotions. “I know this is going to be hard for you, but you can’t see her until you have full control of your powers, until we can go back.” I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and guided her up the stairs back to the bedroom. “Please, just trust me on this.”

She nodded climbing into the bed pulling the sheets over her, I climbed in next to her smiling as she wrapped an arm around my waist scooting in closer to me.

“I love you.” She sighed. “I promise not to do anything that will put me in harms way, but can I at least talk to her if we promise not to discuss whatever it is you don’t want me to know about?”

“What happened to that promise you made downstairs?”

“I need to talk to her.” She pleaded. “I need to ask her about something I had a dream about. Something I’m not sure I can talk to you about.”

“What? You know you can talk to me about anything.” She shook her head.

“Not this. Not to my parents. Just to her, she was the only one that knew.”

“That knew what? We didn’t have any secrets from each other.” What could she talking about?