61 — unexpected confessions

They had been walking for over an hour with Lily somehow finding herself at the front, the priestess and the now quiet Ralph behind her and the grim looking soldiers at the rear end. Their small group had let the silence envelop them and not a soul broke it. It seemed that every one had settled for his own thoughts and there were no more gossiping. The soldiers had grown tired if talking and bored of repeating the same topic over and over when there was clearly nothing about again. It was a temporary refute and Lily welcomed it.
The silence cleared her anger and irritation and she was starting to feel remorse for the soldiers themselves. Taught and trained to be fearless and brave, they were clearly not expecting to be marching to the wolf kingdom with no plan or prospects in mind. Lily thought that maybe she'd been a little short with them and they deserved a break. Besides, she thought glancing up at the gradually darkening sky. They deserved a rest. They weren't machines.
She paused, making Ralph pause and the group behind the priestess to pause as well, giving her curious but tired looks. They wanted to know why she'd stopped, maybe go inspect the ground or the trees as she had once done earlier back. Lily guessed their thoughts correctly it seemed, because when she did neither of these things, they frowned.
"We're taking a break," she announced and she heard the audible sighs that passed round the circle. Had they really thought she was that heartless to make them walk and walk even though they were tired? She remembered the first time she'd seen Nicolas as she thought. Suprised, she jerked back as though she's been hit across the face.
Thankful no one noticed that because they were too busy throwing their sacks on the ground, spreading mats for their colleagues to sit on and providing food, Lily sighed and sat on the mat spread out for her to sit on. She didn't understand her thoughts and why, even though she despised him, Nicholas was always on her mind.
For some reason, she thought as she collected the bread which was passed round and the cheese as well, she couldn't help but think of how easy it would be if Nicolas would just be on their side. He knew a whole lot about his father and his plans, it would be nice if he shared that information with them but Nicolas, she grimly counteracted her own thought, was a doublecrosser, not worthy of anyone's trust.
Sighing in deep acceptance, she munched on her food and ignored the chatter going on around her. A soldier had gone into the woods and had returned with wood which had been lit and was now acting like some sort of bonfire.
She analysed the situation she found herself in. A supposed child of Glory, the spirit had said. She could not even think of a plan and she was a child of Glory? Maybe they'd been a mistake somewhere. She thought of what Baba Mbari would have said had he been here. He would have told her to meditate, to sit still and focus on the problem. She sighed again in frustration. She'd done exactly that and it was not proving to be if any help.
She glanced at the priestess who was staring into the small flames, a shawl across her shoulders despite it being warm out here in the woods. The woman had put a lot of faith in Lily, Lily realized. A lot of faith that she would not let be disappointed. For her to have spoken in that time and addressed the murmuring crowd as so, it meant a lot of things. And one of those things was that the priestess was trusting her to do what was right because she was the leader.
Turning her head, Lily stared off into the far woods and was surprised, startled even when the bushes across her rustled and moved, like there was some frantic movement behind them.
Lily looked round and noticed she was not the only one who noticed the rustles because the small chat that had been going round as well as the rations stopped, breath held in fear and anticipation.
Standing to her feet, Lily approached the rustling bushes and she was more than surprised when a figure emerged from the bushes, staggering and haggard looking.
There were sounds of multiple drawn swords behind her but Lily ignored it, moving closer to the person who's back was to her. The person turned and the moment she stared into those cold grey eyes that so resembled that of a dead fish, she knew who it was.
"Nicolas," she whispered right before the man himself collapsed in a heap at her feet. The universe was cruel indeed.
****
The first person who rushed forward, eyes filled with anger, hatred, betrayal and revenge, an unsheathed sword in his tight grip and a thin line on his face from where he was compressing his lips was Serin. Lily wasn't sure if he even knew Nicolas or had an unsettled score between them but she was sure that if she didn't do something, things would get bloody.
Removing her staff from where it was always kept, at her back along with her knives, she swept the soldier's feet under him and watched as he sprawled on the floor, grunting with the impact his body made with the ground.
"What are you doing?" He asked, getting to his feet and eyeing Lily who was now blocking his way to the unconscious body.
"What are you doing?" She asked back, griping her staff tightly. She had no idea why she was defending the traitor, the man who had lied and lied to her until he'd finally left her for his bride back home. She had no idea why she was still feeling giddy that somehow, he had ended up with her and in her sight, she had no idea why she was doing all these, to be honest. Maybe she was foolish.
"I'm going to kill the bloodsucker, is what I'm doing. What are you doing, commander, protecting him from death?" Serin asked, his lip curling up in a sneer. A mumble went round the soldiers again. The priestess remained silent.
Lily struggled to find her words but continued to loose them the more she tried to. She had a perfectly good reason for protecting him in her head but it would not pass her lips. Maybe it was because her own brain perceived it to be a lie and so, refused to let her mouth utter it. Lying had never been one of her gifts.
"Back off, soldier!" The priestess ordered and the soldier gave the priestess an incredulous look before he dropped his head and walked back to his group, muttering under his breath.
The priestess approached the unconscious man, checked him and nodded, to ease the tension growing between everyone.
"He will live. Just passed out from exhaustion," she waved her hand around before she pinned liky with a look.
"Commander, tell your soldiers why you can't kill prince Nicolas right here, right now? Or do you not have a reason for your actions?" The priestess gave her a sly smile, raising her brows in question.
Lily forced her lips to move, despite the people looking at her.
"He will wake soon and we shall get him to tell us his part of the story and how we can help the wolf kingdom, because the current ruler of the wolf lands is his father." Lily said but this didn't seem to reassure the group, it only made them more uncertain.
"How do we know that he'll tell us the truth?" Someone barked out and Lily winced at the tone, staring at the still and very much pale form of the prince, sprawled on the floor like a commoner.
She sighed and opened her sack. There was only one way to find out. From the horse's mouth itself.
"We're going to wake him," she simply said, walking over to bind his hands the same way she did the day she took him captive. It seemed like lifetimes ago, some memory it looked like and not even the reality it clearly was.
****
It took some splashed to wake the man. Actually, Lily thought when she dumped the second waterflask on his dark head, it would take something more than just wasting water in him when he was not waking up.
"What's going on?" She impatiently asked the priestess as the water dripped off his hair and down his neck but other than that, there was no movement from the man.
"He's supposed to be awake by now," she almost snapped at the woman who shrugged.
"Try harder," she slowly replied, shrugging again. Lily, frustrated with the sheer amount if time she was wasting all over this leech, she walked up to him and shook him as hard as she could. That did the trick because he blinked his eyes open at that moment.
Lily could have almost have screamed in joy at that moment. Thank the goddess.
"Finally decided to come around, didn't you?" She murmured, closing the water bottle and returning it to her sack. The look on Nicolas face spoke of shock and disbelief while the soldiers and Ralph stared at him with distrust.
"Lily?" He incredulously asked, squinting like she was an apparition. Did he think he was dreaming?
"Wanna tell us why you're in the woods, prince Nicolas?" She curtly asked, drawing her own sword to show she meant business. Feelings or not, she would kill him if need be. After all, it was what her people expected from her.
"I had no where else to go. My father is searching for me desperately and will not stop until I am dead." He bitterly said, eyes down cast in something like shame.
"Why?" The priestess asked, her eyes were as cold as ice and hard as pebbles.
Nicolas seemed to notice the swords pointed in his direction as well as all the numerous eyes on him filled with blatant hatred and distrust. He swallowed.
"I've always seeked to please my father. It is the reason why I married the werewolf princess, it was the reason I started my quest to create hybrids, it was the reason I came to your lands in search of information," he paused and Lily grimanced. Finally, some truth.
"I overthrew the werewolf king because I thought if I did it and ruled it as well, my father would finally see me to be something else other than a waste of time, but I now see that I have been wasting my time and fooling my self all along because the man just wanted nothing but to let me go through the stress so he could real the rewards," Nicolas sadly said. Against her will, Lily felt her heart which had been filled with so much hate to soften a little.
"Yes, I am a weak man. A weak son as well who just wants his father's approval, just for once. But I am over that. I will not do that anymore because clearly, it is not what I am." Nicolas said and the priestess nodded at this.
"We were just on our way to the wolf kingdom to help them take back their lands and restore it to them," the priestess informed and Lily glared at her, wondering where this was going.
"To prove your innocence and maybe absolve your guilt, you can come with us and help us. That way, we may not kill you. The choice is yours," the priestess said. Lily could feel his eyes on her averted gave but she refused to look up at him.
The priestess was smart and wise, Lily would give her that. They had nothing to lose because if he refused or betrayed them again, they could as easily just kill him or return him to his father to be dealt with. Either way worked for them
"I agree. I will help you rewind the mistake I have made. I only hope it is not too late," he remorsefully said, staring straight into the eys of the priestess who'd seen a lot of good and bad people go and come. Lily was trusting the woman was making the right decision when she said.
"Great. Commander, untie him,"
Lily was really hoping the woman knew what she was doing.