The Elven Prince – Page 4

Chapter Two: part one

A knock on the door woke her from her doze. Anan took a deep breath and looked toward the side of her house that faced Finara. She shook her head when she realized it came from the Grenlacks side. Anan stood and went to the door that led to the human world. She recited a spell, just in case, but did not release it. She held it as she opened the door.

Four guards stood in front of her door, all sporting the crest of the King of Grenlacks. Castle guards. To their left, there was an older man, with long white hair. He wore fine dark clothing and looked like a nobleman. Anan locked eyes with him and curtsied.

“Greetings, Klaes. How may I be of service?”

The old man smiled. “Anan, we are here for the Prince. He did not tell the King or Queen where he was going.”

She looked to the curtained area behind her. “He is still asleep. Come in, Klaes. Leave the guards outside, please.”

He nodded, walked past the guards and shut the door behind him. As Anan walked to the bed, she told Klaes what happened.

“I found him in the woods. His horse lost a shoe. He stated he was headed to Taren. Considering it was close to dusk, I brought him here to protect him.”

“Did you give him anything?”

As she drew back the privacy curtain she nodded. “I did. We ate rabbit stew, and I gave him a choice of tea. He chose the dreaming tea.”

Klaes nodded, but did not speak. He looked to the Prince, still sleeping on the bed. Anan went to the boy’s side, sat on the bed and reached out to caress hair out of his eyes. The gentle gesture spoke to Klaes. He clenched his jaw, but said nothing.

“Eloran?”

Though she spoke his name softly, he woke without further urging. The tea also aided in waking the sleeper. Eloran stared up at the beautiful woman above him and smiled foolishly.

“I dreamt of you last night.”

The smile made her heart beat faster. “What did you dream?”

He squinted as if remembering. “We were on the bank of a river, talking and eating, but I don’t remember what we were talking about. I then reached out and placed a flower behind your ear.”

He reached out and ran a hand through her hair, his fingers lingering at her ear.

“Prince Eloran, why didn’t you tell me that you left without your King’s knowledge?”

Eloran frowned. “What?”

Anan pointed to the door, where Klaes still stood quietly. Eloran cursed softly under his breath, then sat up. He nodded to his father’s advisor, but did not look happy.

Klaes bowed. “We have your horse outside, Prince. We will be leaving as soon as you are ready. Your father expects you by the end of the day.”

Anan still sat on the bed beside him. Her soft voice drew Eloran’s attention. “What were you doing, Eloran? You were headed to Taren without a guard. There are many bandits in those woods. You might have been hurt.”

“I was curious about the bandits. I wanted to find out more about them. I didn’t think there would be trouble. I didn’t plan on fighting them; I was going to give them what they wanted. They would never have known who I was.”

“You forgot to take your pin off before you left the castle. They would have seen it; captured you.”

“I could have gotten away. My steed is swift.” He seemed put off.

“There are rumors they use stolen Finaran magic. Can you protect yourself against that?” She stared him down until he averted his eyes.

“No, I cannot.” He looked up again when he felt her hand under his chin. They gazed at each other for a moment before she spoke.

“Leave this to the people who can protect you and who can help the best Prince. I would be upset to hear you were harmed.”

He nodded and licked his lips. She was so close. He started to lean in to kiss her, when Klaes cleared his throat. Eloran cleared his own throat and pulled away. He left the bed from the side away from Anan and pulled on his pants quickly. He wore only his tunic to bed. Once his pants were on, he sat on the edge of the bed to slip on his shoes. Satisfied the Prince would do nothing foolish, Klaes nodded.

“I will be waiting for you outside, your highness. Please do not take over long.”

Eloran nodded as Klaes left. Once dressed, Eloran found that Anan stood at the closed door with his bags. He walked to her and smiled. She reached out and touched his cheek.

“Perhaps we can have that picnic by the river soon.”

He placed his hand over hers. “I look forward to it.”

She laughed softly. “The next time you come this way, tell someone.”

“I will. Thank you, Anan.”

She handed him the bags and they stared at each other for a moment. Before he could do anything else, Anan opened the door and let him out. Eloran looked back once before leaving.

Chapter One: part two

“That was delicious.”

“Thank you.”

Dinner was done; she was clearing the table as he sat with a satisfied smile on his face.

“That was probably the best rabbit stew I’ve eaten.”

She smiled. “You flatter me.”

He gave her a serious look. “No, really. It was.”

Anan gave him a curtsey. “Thank you. I use herbs that no one else knows how to find. That was probably the reason.”

Eloran smiled, but said nothing. She was in the kitchen, her back to him, at the fire, pouring water into two mugs. He watched her move around the kitchen, placing herbs into the mugs, and noticed she used different ones for each mug. It only took a little of his attention, though. Most of his attention was on the fact that he wanted badly to convince her to sleep with him tonight.

Anan was beautiful, but that wasn’t the only reason. She was kind, and treated him with respect. He liked her voice, the thoughts she shared, and her long, beautiful blond hair. As soon as she came inside, she took off the cloak. Her hair lay across her back in waves. Eloran shook his head. All right, perhaps it was mostly due to the fact that she was beautiful. She turned to him and smiled.

“Would you like some tea?”

“What kind is it?”

She came to the table and set both mugs in front of him. Anan sat next to Eloran and smiled, one hand on one of the mugs. It was mostly brown with red runes engraved in it. “This one will help you to sleep, but you will remember the dreams you have in the morning.” She moved her hand to mug with the blue runes. “This one will help you sleep, and though you will dream, you will not remember them in the morning.”

He frowned slightly. “Why would it matter if I remembered my dreams?”

Anan smiled warmly at him. “We are near the gateway between Finara and the human world. Your dreams may reveal the future, or may just be very odd. If you choose the red mug, you will remember. The blue allows you to forget. Your choice.”

Eloran looked at both the mugs. Dreams or no dreams? He looked to Anan. “They will both make me sleep?” He gazed intently into her eyes as she nodded. “What if I don’t want to sleep? I can think of far more pleasurable ways to spend an evening in bed, than simply dreaming.”

She smiled. “It is best for you to sleep, Prince Eloran.”

He looked at her in shock. “You know who I am.”

Anan smiled. Eloran realized that she smiled a lot and seemed to smile quickly. “You look like your father.” She reached out and touched the pin on his shirt. “You are also wearing your symbol.”

His hand went to the pin in surprise. He pulled the pin off and shook his head as he looked at it. “I didn’t even think about this. I wanted to travel incognito. I guess I did a very poor job of that.”

She placed a hand on his cheek. He sighed at her touch. “You will sleep Prince, so that in the morning, you are refreshed.”

Eloran gazed at her with a sly smile on his lips and a glint in his eyes. “I would prefer to stay awake with you all night.”

She laughed at his persistence. “Not tonight.”

They stared at each other as the words swirled around them. Not tonight, but maybe another time, was the implication. Prince Eloran nodded and looked to the teas. He picked up the red mug and held it up as if toasting her. “To dreams.”

She smiled. “To dreams.”

The Prince slowly drank his tea, watching her the whole time. Once the tea was done, they stood and she took him to her bed. He sat to remove his shoes, as she drew back a curtain to give him privacy. Anan went to the couch to sit and wondered if she would have any other visitors tonight.

Her house was one of the gates between Finara and the human world. If any Finarans needed passage, they would come through her home. With Prince Eloran here she would have to be careful. Though most Finarans were harmless, some liked to tease and play with humans, especially important ones.

Sighing, Anan settled onto the couch more fully and calmed her breathing. Though she would not sleep, she would meditate. In the end, it would be as if she slept, but she could keep her mind active enough to protect the Prince if she needed. The youngest of King Falk’s sons deserved nothing less.

Chapter One: part one

Eloran stared at his horse’s hoof and cursed himself silently for not bringing tools to replace the lost horseshoe. He sighed heavily, ignoring the scent that threatened to calm him. There was too much to think about.

Taren, where his brother lived, was more than ten miles away. He could not expect his steed to carry him that far with one missing shoe over cobblestone roads. He sighed and continued to stare at the hoof, willing the shoe to reappear.

“Good afternoon.” A gentle voice spoke from behind him.

Eloran quickly straightened and turned toward the voice. There was a light gray horse a few feet away. The rider wore a gray cloak that matched the steed well. Her hood was up, hiding the color of her hair, but making her stunning blue eyes shine. He smiled and licked his lips, a sly glint in his eyes. She was rather beautiful.

“Hello.”

“Are you in need of assistance?”

He smiled wider. He liked her voice. It was soft, pleasant and promised kindness. “I am. My horse lost a shoe, and Taren is miles away. Do you happen to have a kit with you?”

She gave him a quizzical look. “I don’t usually carry one with me. Do you?”

“I…usually travel with more people. Someone always has a kit and extra shoes, in case of emergencies.” When the odd look did not leave her face, he gave an embarrassed smile. “Our blacksmith makes extra when we go on a long trip.”

She smiled and tried to keep the recognition off her face. “Ah. I see.” She looked him up and down then seemed to come to a decision. “There is a town closer than Taren.”

“There is?” He looked confused and happy at the same time.

“Yes, Gateway. Have you heard of it?”

An interested smile came to his full lips, bringing light to his hazel eyes. “I didn’t know we were close to Gateway. I’ve heard of it, but have never had the pleasure.”

She gave him a lovely smile. “Come with me. I’ll take you.”

He nodded, spellbound by her eyes.

She giggled when he did not move but continued to stare up at her. “You don’t have much on your horse, but you can move the saddlebags to my horse, then you can sit behind me. We’ll go slow, to allow your horse the time it needs.”

Eloran nodded. Of course he should move his things. He moved his light bag to her horse, as she moved her cloak to allow him access. He caught a glimpse of her light blue dress and closed his eyes to his thoughts. He shook his head to clear it and continued moving his saddlebag. Once it was moved, he grabbed the reins and frowned. Her hand appeared in front of him and he looked up.

“Give me the reins. Then you can mount behind me.”

A sly smile appeared on his face at the word mount. She was a beautiful woman, perhaps if he played his cards right, he would be in her bed tonight. He frowned as he handed her the reins.

“What is your name?”

She smiled. “Anan.” As he was traveling by himself and did not have any obvious indications of his title, she decided to pretend she didn’t know who he was. “And you are?”

“Eloran.”

He said it with confidence, and she wondered if he did or did not want her to know who he was. Though it was a common enough name, most knew the king’s youngest son carried the name. She smiled. “Beautiful name.”

The complement pleased him and made him stand taller. “Thank you.”

Anan smiled again and indicated the spot behind her. “Come Eloran. We should leave. It won’t take too long to travel to Gateway, but we need to go slow.”

He nodded and mounted on the back of her horse. He immediately slipped one arm around her waist and took his horse’s reins with the other. She allowed him to settle into a comfortable spot, then leaned against him. He sighed and tightened his arm around her. Anan did not comment, but signaled to her horse to walk.

Eloran sighed again and this time, allowed the scent of the forest, and of her hair, to brighten his mood. The forest smelled of pine and lilacs. Her hair smelled of roses. His arm tightened around her waist again and brought her a touch closer. Anan gave a small chuckled and leaned even further against him. She kept the horses moving, indicting to Eloran that they were not stopping, despite his desires.

Preamble

Goodness gracious! I haven’t posted in so long! Well, I have added a timer to my wordpress page and have added a tab for The Elven Prince!

I will be posting part of chapter one a little later. To promote my book, I will post up to chapter 3 leading to the UNLEASHING! on or around March 31, 2014.

I say “around” as the cover art is not done, the edits are not done and I have no idea how long it’ll actually take to get this thing published through Amazon. When it is done, The Elven Prince will be available on eBook and printed, your choice.