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Authors: Bridget Essex
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next, but it’s the truth. “How can I believe that?” I whisper, balling my hands into fists. All of the fight is knocked out of me, but I have to speak the truth. “How can I believe that you’re from another world ? That’s…that’s not possible.”
We stare at one another for a long moment. Her eyes are wide, pained, and then something comes across her face, and her jaw hardens, her expression hardens, and she grimaces, shaking her head, shifting her weight back onto her heels.
“M’lady Holly,” she says stiffly, standing at attention and staring straight forward, over the top of my head. “I realize that I have troubled you too greatly. You have been quite kind in all of this, and I do not wish to further trouble you. I will be on my way, then.”
I swallow as she turns, taking up her still wet fur capelet—it lays across her arm like a sad, unconscious animal—and her still wet cloak. “No. Please. Wait…” I mutter, stepping forward, putting my hand on her warm arm, my fingers against muscled skin that’s surprisingly soft to the touch. “Please…” She turns to look back at me, her blue eyes a gravity that pulls me down and into them, and that gaze again…the jolt of it goes all the way down my toes and back again. When she looks at me, it’s as if she can see into the very heart of me.
Her gaze packs a punch.
“Okay,” I say slowly, breathing out. “If all that you say is true…” ( Oh, my God, Holly, oh, my God , I think to myself, but I push through all of the doubt and keep talking.) “If all you say is true,” I repeat, and gulp, “then how did you end up with that thing…that ‘beast,’ here?”
“Well,” says Virago heavily, licking her lips as she shakes her head, rolls her shoulders down, “the witch was supposed to open a portal to the in-between place between worlds, but she opened it to here…I suppose. ‘Earth.’ And she was trying to change the direction of the portal when the beast—which, unfortunately, our knights could not control nearly as well as we’d hoped—broke through our ranks, and pushed through the portal. Dragging me with it. In its mouth,” Virago adds helpfully, patting her leg, and the wound that had sealed in her skin. A wound from a gigantic mouth and teeth, I now realize. “And then the portal was closed. And it still is,” she folds her arms, her leather gauntlets creaking against the fluid motion as she sighs again. “But it doesn’t matter if the portal is closed or not, because I have to find another portal, and another witch, so that I can do what we set out to in the first place: trap the creature in the in-between space. Or it will wreak havoc on your world. And destroy it,” she says, words weighty and final.
I breathe out, run my hands through my hair, sink back down in the chair again. “Destroy it,” I repeat, gazing up at her, and she nods, hands on her metal and leather-clad hips.
“So you see, it is quite imperative that I find the creature. And a portal. And a witch,” she says, kneeling smoothly down before me again on one knee. She leans toward me, her bright blue eyes trained on my face, her full lips downturned as she murmurs, beseeching, her low words strong and intense: “M’lady Holly, I beg of you…I am a stranger here. I do not know the ways of your kingdom, and we are running out of time. Please help me find these things?”
I splutter, swallow, try to form coherent words. “But…there just aren’t any witches on my world. I mean…” I trail off as she shakes her head, her ponytail moving softly over her metal shoulder, the dark hair drifting over the metal like dripping ink. I follow the motion with my eyes, mesmerized, but then my gaze is irrevocably drawn back to her own, to her bright blue eyes that seem to burn themselves into me.
I swallow as I watch her lean
We stare at one another for a long moment. Her eyes are wide, pained, and then something comes across her face, and her jaw hardens, her expression hardens, and she grimaces, shaking her head, shifting her weight back onto her heels.
“M’lady Holly,” she says stiffly, standing at attention and staring straight forward, over the top of my head. “I realize that I have troubled you too greatly. You have been quite kind in all of this, and I do not wish to further trouble you. I will be on my way, then.”
I swallow as she turns, taking up her still wet fur capelet—it lays across her arm like a sad, unconscious animal—and her still wet cloak. “No. Please. Wait…” I mutter, stepping forward, putting my hand on her warm arm, my fingers against muscled skin that’s surprisingly soft to the touch. “Please…” She turns to look back at me, her blue eyes a gravity that pulls me down and into them, and that gaze again…the jolt of it goes all the way down my toes and back again. When she looks at me, it’s as if she can see into the very heart of me.
Her gaze packs a punch.
“Okay,” I say slowly, breathing out. “If all that you say is true…” ( Oh, my God, Holly, oh, my God , I think to myself, but I push through all of the doubt and keep talking.) “If all you say is true,” I repeat, and gulp, “then how did you end up with that thing…that ‘beast,’ here?”
“Well,” says Virago heavily, licking her lips as she shakes her head, rolls her shoulders down, “the witch was supposed to open a portal to the in-between place between worlds, but she opened it to here…I suppose. ‘Earth.’ And she was trying to change the direction of the portal when the beast—which, unfortunately, our knights could not control nearly as well as we’d hoped—broke through our ranks, and pushed through the portal. Dragging me with it. In its mouth,” Virago adds helpfully, patting her leg, and the wound that had sealed in her skin. A wound from a gigantic mouth and teeth, I now realize. “And then the portal was closed. And it still is,” she folds her arms, her leather gauntlets creaking against the fluid motion as she sighs again. “But it doesn’t matter if the portal is closed or not, because I have to find another portal, and another witch, so that I can do what we set out to in the first place: trap the creature in the in-between space. Or it will wreak havoc on your world. And destroy it,” she says, words weighty and final.
I breathe out, run my hands through my hair, sink back down in the chair again. “Destroy it,” I repeat, gazing up at her, and she nods, hands on her metal and leather-clad hips.
“So you see, it is quite imperative that I find the creature. And a portal. And a witch,” she says, kneeling smoothly down before me again on one knee. She leans toward me, her bright blue eyes trained on my face, her full lips downturned as she murmurs, beseeching, her low words strong and intense: “M’lady Holly, I beg of you…I am a stranger here. I do not know the ways of your kingdom, and we are running out of time. Please help me find these things?”
I splutter, swallow, try to form coherent words. “But…there just aren’t any witches on my world. I mean…” I trail off as she shakes her head, her ponytail moving softly over her metal shoulder, the dark hair drifting over the metal like dripping ink. I follow the motion with my eyes, mesmerized, but then my gaze is irrevocably drawn back to her own, to her bright blue eyes that seem to burn themselves into me.
I swallow as I watch her lean
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