Breaking Free? Ch. 5

Her brow furrows as she moves along the rocky path to the cave, going as quickly as she can, a feeling in her gut telling her that she needs to rush. Careful now. Don’t want to trip…. Nonetheless, her heart starts pounding as she gets closer, fear starting to tickle the back of her mind. Things were very still and quiet.

She turns the bend, unsettled by the quiet and the stone guardian at the door. “What is it?” she asks, worried, her heart hammering against her chest. “Is something wrong?” What a foolish thing to ask!

The guardian puts a reassuring hand on her shoulder, squeezing very gently. He leads her deeper into the cave, several other guardians at work around, cleaning the empty cave up now.

Her eyes go wide and she weaves where she is, relief and dread hitting her at the same time. “Where is he?” her voice is soft, shaking some, her gaze turning to the guardian for support and structure.

Instead of answering, the guardian goes over and picks up one of the manacles, bringing it up and showing it to her.

All of the years boil to the surface and she squares her shoulders, marching over to the guardian, her whole frame shaking with raw emotion—fear, loss, confusion, sadness and anger all roil around her core. She grabs the guardian by a spot on his chest where some rock forms fingerholds and she yanks him to her, her arms strengthened through the years. “Where. Is. My. Husband?!” she demands, her heart pounding in her chest. “I don’t care about the manacles that held him! I…” she stops, something in the corner of her eye making her pause.

She turns slowly and looks at the chains and manacles, slowly letting the guardian go as her heart beats slower, the feeling of time passing becoming a nagging crawl over her skin and being. She kneels down slowly, hand shaking, heart twisting as she reaches for the gruesome chains, still somehow a rosy pink.

Tears well up as her hand shakes, a lump forming in her throat as she starts examining the neatly coiled chains…

Chains…

If that was what people called them…

The edges of her vision began to cloud, going black as her grief creeps closer, slowly wrapping around her heart. Her sons…were gone…her husband….

The sound of a rock clacking against another rock makes her gasp and jump, spinning around where she is, her blurred vision somehow making out a form near the cave entrance.

“He’s gone…isn’t he?” the man’s voice is soft and gentle, warm and very comforting. A familiar one through the years. One of sweetness, hope and comfort. He comes closer, step by careful step. His lithe form similar to her husband’s.

“I…” she begins then stops, sighing softly and nodding, looking at her hands. “Yes…he is.” She doesn’t want to admit it. It hurts and feels heavy in her heart, grabbing on it and pulling her heart toward her knees, the whole thing encouraging her to curl up into the fetal position.

“Hey,” he says very softly, kneeling next to her and hugging her firmly.

She presses her lips together as fresh tears well up. So many faces rush through her mind—people they know, friends and loved ones…All of them smiling and laughing then looking on in shock as their laughter slowly fades. Shock is replaced with flickers of anger then all out bloodthirsty rage as they look around, demanding her husband’s head on a platter.

Tears began to flow, mixing with some dried sweat. She hadn’t even bathed, she was in that much of a hurry to rush back, something eating at her that she shouldn’t leave…but she’d had to…Tears that she hasn’t allowed herself to shed for all the lost lives, the lost moments…the lost hugs and kisses…everything…Nights under the stars. Walking hand in hand, sitting down by a cozy fire and cuddled up in furs…

Anguish tears at her heart and she screams, burying her face in the other man’s chest, not wanting any chance of her crying to reach outside the cave.

He closes his eyes, tears of his own leaking down his cheeks and over her auburn hair, holding her securely to him. At first, he just lets her cry, rocking her softly, knowing that the tears she’s shedding have been stored up inside her for years. When she’s calmer, he kisses her head softly, gently beginning to rub her back. “You still love him, right?” he asks very softly.

Quick as a snake her right hand connects with his cheek and the slap snaps through the air. In the next moment, she grabs his jaw firmly and forces him to look her in the eyes. “If you ever ask me that again, and I do not care how well-meaning you are, I will twist your balls off and shove them down your throat!!!” the raw anger at having her love questioned makes her whole body tremble. “Yes! I still love him! I’ve always loved him!!” her voice breaks and her shoulders slump, the hand on his jaw slowly lets go and she sighs. “We know what happens now.”

He flinches from the slap as soon as it happens, instinctively wanting to swing back as his teeth rattle but he doesn’t, realizing and feeling that her anger at him is simply the tipping point of years of anger and frustration welling up inside her. He’d heard the whispers around the palace, seen the stares of pity and the old king had even offered to dissolve her marriage.

She held her head high and said, “No thank you.”

Or so he’d been told. He hadn’t been born until after all of that had happened.

“I’m sorry,” he tells her softly, his hands moving gently over her back. “Are we, though?” he asked her sincerely.

Her brow bunches up as she looks at him, frowning softly and watching him intently. “What do you mean??? There’s the prophecy…” she speaks slower, mind racing ahead to things, trying to think like her husband and how this man is obviously thinking.

He takes a slow, deep breath, biting his lower lip a bit nervously, looking around. “Well…” he speaks slowly, trying to make sure his thoughts are in order and clear, “the Guardians aren’t upset, which is one sign. Then…” he moves slowly, letting go of her and going over to the chains. Those things…How could anyone ever think that was a good idea? he feels the familiar drop in his stomach, the feeling of the floor falling away from him as he sees the chains. He touches the chains very carefully, reverently, cradling one of the chains and manacles, looking up at her. “They’re not broken,” he tells her very softly.

Her brow furrows more, coming over next to him and looking over the chain and manacle he’s holding. “That one isn’t…” her voice trails off as she looks at the others, moving to each of the remaining three, going one by one, checking the over quickly. “None of them are broken…” she murmurs to herself then looking at him, her hazel eyes searching his. “So now what?” she asked softly, wanting to hope that everything will be okay, feeling hurt that her husband is simply gone and then feeling worried and confused, not knowing what to do or how the others, like her brother and father-in-law, will handle things.

He shrugs softly, glancing around the cave then looking toward the opening. “We need to find him before they do.” He stands and looks at her, his eyes soft with understanding, knowing from the stories and the cave behind him what the king, nobles and other warriors might try to do. He takes a deep breath, holding it and letting it out slowly. “Do you agree?”

She looks around the cave then to the Guardians. “Did you help him?” she asks softly. Her eyes go wet when one of them smiles slowly and nods. “Thank you,” she whispers to it. Then she looks at the young man by her side. A small smile moves across her lips and she nods, “You’re right. We do.” They move through the cave, back to the cave mouth, both of them looking around, trying to see if they can spot anyone coming near.

When the coast is clear, they look at each other, swallow hard and grip each other’s hand, her hand shaking, his palm sweaty, neither one of them knowing what they’ll find. “This way…I think,” she says softly, leading the way away from the cave.