Chapter II
Sorrowful Teardrops Always Fall with Romantic Rain
Sorrowful Teardrops Always Fall with Romantic Rain
Ghost sighed with a soft smile as he saw Donas grazing in the middle of a field. He had been wondering where the great beast had gotten off to. It was good to know he was safe. Ghost petted the large beast and laughed as he was licked on the cheek. “Hello, Donas, it’s nice to see you too.” He took the horse’s reins and started to lead him on a walk through the woods. The weather was wonderful with only a slight breeze. As the sun went down, it became cooler and Ghost loved it this way. He hated extreme cold or heat. He started thinking over a lot of things, primarily what his brother planned to gain by staying here. Somehow, his thoughts wandered to Angela.
This worried him a bit, though. Why would he think of her? He tried not to let it bother him as he made his way back to town. He noted the slight breeze, the way the clouds were graying and the dampness in the air. “It’s going to rain soon, Donas. We had best get home before we get caught in it.” Donas only seemed to let out a soft sneeze in response. This was not one of his more chatty days. Donas stopped walking suddenly and his ears pricked up, turning slightly to the left and right until they focused to the right, which in their original direction. Ghost placed a hand on the beast’s neck and patted him gently whispering in old elf, “Easy Donas…be calm.” The horse was starting to stomp gently in place with his front hooves, in a very uneasy manner. He scratched at the ground a bit and Ghost tethered him to a tree as he made off in the direction that Donas found so unsettling. He pulled out a dagger as he hid behind a tree, ducking, letting the tree’s shadow hide him.
That’s when he smelled what Donas sensed before he had. Ghost smelled smoke and a lot of it. He swore and released Donas from the tether and ran toward the house he knew was the most likely candidate to be on fire. He was panting a bit as he got around to the front of the house and found Sinbad carrying Blaine out, his left arm broken and looking the part. While a young woman with light blonde hair reset Blaine’s arm, Sinbad said panicked to Ghost, “Angela is in there and unconscious! I’ll pass out if I take anymore smoke in my lungs!”
Ghost stripped out of his cloak and ran into the house, swearing in elf softly as a beam fell in front of him blocking his way to the kitchen. He prayed to every God he could think of offhand that Angela wouldn’t be in the kitchen as he darted upstairs, darting falling and burning objects. He kicked in every door he came to until he passed by an open door and having only glanced, almost missed it. He saw her laying there after doing a double take. He ran to her and checked her pulse to make sure there was a serious point in risking his life to get her body out. She was alive, so he decided not to be an evil jackass by leaving her there. He picked her up and started carrying her back down. That’s when the stairs fell out. He swore the entire time as he leaped down to the first landing, slamming into the wall as he landed. He groaned in pain as he ran down the steps and out the front door. He was coughing as he set Angela down next to Blaine, hitting his knees as he realized how tired that little exercise had made him. He blamed the smoke. Usually, that wouldn’t have made him tired.
Sinbad came over just as Ghost realized she wasn’t breathing. He glanced at Sinbad and said, “Pump on her chest when I say to!” He then began mouth to mouth, suddenly feeling a flutter go from his heart to his pants, which made him panic at first but he managed to get her breathing again before he absolutely had to get at least five feet away from her to calm himself down.
He heard her coughing a bit as she woke but he didn’t turn back to her. His mind was racing. He quickly made an excuse to leave and headed back into the woods, finding Donas only three steps out of sight from the others. He sat down by a tree and leaned his head back on the bark. Donas came over to him and lay down beside him, his mussel now in Ghost’s lap. Ghost petted him behind the ear absently as he said softly to the beast in old elf, “What in the name of the Gods is wrong with me, Donas? Why does she affect me this way?” The horse yawned, making Ghost grin. “You don’t have any idea either, eh?” Donas, who was much smarter than normal horses, nodded.
Ghost grinned and petted him in his favorite spot, just behind his right ear, “Oh? Is that right? Well, genius, what’s wrong with me then?” Donas prodded his nose against Ghost’s chest. “That doesn’t answer my question Donas.” The large stallion growled in apparent frustration. Ghost sighed softly as he sensed another presence, making him look around to see who was there.
He was mildly surprised to see Angela standing before him. He glanced up and down her body, inspecting her condition. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail. Her eyes were calm as they gazed down at him. After a minute, her long slender legs began heading his way and she stood over him, shading him from the sun that was beginning to hide behind clouds. She crouched, allowing him to see that her clothes were soot-stained, torn, and scorched. He swallowed as he noticed that her shirt hung off her loosely. His eyes flickered from her hand to her eyes as she reached up to touch his cheek. After a moment, she seemed to lose that rock-steady calm as she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. Ghost at first did nothing more than sit there and let her, but after a few moments, he hugged her back and let her burst into tears, whispering to her soothingly in old elf. She sat in his lap now, crying into his shoulder as if he were her lover, meant to wash all her pains away. He barely understood how badly he wanted to do just that. He wanted to wipe away her tears and make her happy again, to suck all the grief out of her. He wasn’t sure why he wanted to do this but he was decently sure it had something to do with how much he hated to see any woman cry.
He held her in his lap for a time, just letting her cry, knowing that’s all she really needed; to cry it all out. She sobbed a bit, but not much as she wet his shirt. He took his cloak and wrapped it around her, being able to tell that she wouldn’t want to move anytime soon. He gently stroked her head as she started to calm. After a long time of her crying, he said to her softly with a voice that was gentle and caring, “Do you feel better now, Miss Angela?”
She nodded a bit and then shook her head. “I’m not really sure if I feel better for being able to cry it all out for once in years or worse because I made you deal with it while I did.”
He smiled and lifted her chin to face him, saying softly, “You needn’t worry about me, Miss Angela. I’m fine. Besides, everyone needs a shoulder to cry on every now and then. Granted, I didn’t expect to be the owner of said shoulder but at least you feel better.”
She seemed to allow herself to laugh a bit at that. This made his smile broaden, happy he could make her smile. She rested her head back on his chest and said, “I’m sorry that your shirt is wet now, and that I’m sitting in your lap. I just… I came out here to be alone for a bit and you were there and I just…I lost the grip I had on myself.”
He shrugged. “Don’t be sorry for it, Miss. As I said, you needed a shoulder to cry on and I was the only one around. I must ask though. Why did you choose to cry onto my shoulder?”
She shivered a bit as the temperature started dropping and he wrapped the cloak tight around them both, Donas nuzzling close again, making Angela smile and pet him as she spoke. “I’m not really sure. Something inside me told me I didn’t have to be afraid of you judging me for crying or for breaking down. I guess I just needed to break down and despite the fact that my mind was against that idea, the rest of me overruled.”
He noted that her eyes were starting to slowly droop. She was obviously trying to stay awake but she was going to be out cold soon. He didn’t stop her. He’d carry her home once she was asleep. He gently rubbed her back as she huddled against him for warmth. “Mmm…well, I don’t really mind that you did.” He looked down at her to discover that she had fallen asleep. “Are you awake?” He asked, knowing full-well the answer but feeling the need to be sure. He smiled and stood, wrapping her in his cloak to keep her warm. He clicked his tongue and Donas followed suit, getting up and shaking like a wet dog to wake himself up. “Come along, Donas. It will be raining soon.”
It didn’t take long to find Blaine, who was sitting at the edge of the wood, apparently waiting for his mother. After asking the boy nicely, Blaine led Ghost to a very large estate. When Ghost asked where they were, Blaine replied, “My mother has a friend in common here with Sinbad. Her name is Bella Bulio. Her father is an agent for the R.A. Sinbad and the others are already inside.” After being led to the room that was to belong to Angela for the duration of their stay, Ghost laid her on the bed, still wrapped in his cloak. He touched her face gently, wiping a wisp of hair from her eyes. He let out a soft sigh and left the room, closing the door behind him gently before going to see that Donas was taken care of for the night.
As he started down the hall, Ghost realized that for the first time since Angela stood before him in the wood, that he wasn’t warm. In fact, as soon as his fingertips left her skin, he felt cold.
Ghost couldn’t say that he was terribly cold as he woke up the next morning with his head on the belly of his great black stallion and a blanket around him. He realized groggily that he hadn’t pulled a blanket over himself last night and started to wonder who had. He sat up a bit and looked around, but no one was there. Yawning, he patted Donas on his broad neck and got up to go inside for some food but only after feeding Donas and draping the blanket over his bare back.
He released a great yawn as he stepped into the front door of the large house. Blaine had just come downstairs. The boy spotted him and beamed. “Good morning! My mother and the others are in the dining room having breakfast. Care to join us?” Ghost only nodded, noting that the boy was either a morning person or this was a late breakfast.
As he stepped into the dining room, which was extravagantly decorated, he noted a pretty young blonde, Sinbad, Shadow, a young brunette woman, and Angela were all eating. With quick morning greetings, he took his seat next to Angela. Blaine promptly sat on the other side of him, making Sinbad sigh and shake his head. Ghost was kindly introduced by Angela to the other two women. The blonde was the daughter of the owner of the lovely estate. This was the Bella Bulio he had heard about from Blaine. She had long gorgeous blonde hair, sapphire eyes, fair skin, and high cheekbones – all three women had high cheek bones, in fact. Bella was only slightly shorter than Angela and by the looks of her, only slightly younger. She had a bit of elf and human in her. She also had something else…he knew what it was after a moment and asked, “Bella,” He began as he noticed Sinbad ogling the girl’s large chest, “May I ask, besides elf and human, what are you?”
She smiled. “My mother was a Nymph. My father is elf with a touch of human on my grandmother’s side.” Ghost had the feeling that if Sinbad won the girl’s heart, their children would be gorgeous.
The other girl had shoulder-length dark brown hair and light brown eyes. She was lightly tanned and thin, smaller chest-wise than the obviously older women. Angela had had a child, which meant that she probably suffered the most chest-ogling from the swelling her breasts must have gone through in pregnancy. Bella was just as well endowed. The third girl was no older than possibly eighteen and was a little shorter than other women too. Ghost shook his head a tiny bit to avoid dipping his mind in the gutter and yawned, masking it as something to wake him up.
He was saved when the other girl, Nina Prescott, said to him softly, “Do you believe in love at first sight?”
He choked on his bacon for a minute until Angela gave him a hard pat on the back and he was able to get it down. He calmed before looking at her for a moment in the eyes. No, she wasn’t asking because she had a childish notion that she loved him, but there was something in her eyes that worried him. He decided it was safe to answer honestly. “Yes, I do actually. I don’t believe it happens very often and by that, I mean about as often as Dwarves and Elves get along.” This got a couple laughs around the table.
Blaine was the only one who didn’t understand it. “Ghost, why is it rare for Dwarves to get along with the Elves? They’re both really quite nice.”
His mother scoffed harshly at that but made no comment as Bella explained kindly to the boy, “Dwarves have been feuding with the Elves for centuries, Blaine. They’re both thick headed and stubborn. Ask your mother about it if you really want to know. Her mother was alive when the war was settled between the two races. They only live in peace now because the Elves hated the violence and destruction of the earth. The Dwarves were worried about the Craighun Du.”
Ghost smiled at the thought of the beautiful sight that was Craighun Du. Blaine asked about that too. His mother then explained after sipping her milk, “The Craighun Du is a grand work that the Dwarves have spent centuries making. Its crystallized rock collaborated together. It’s beautiful. It’s at the very top of Atelic Mountain. You know which mountain that is because the very top was broken off, so it no longer has a peak but instead a plateau at the top. It used to be where dragons could go and stay in large caves, tunneled out with rock just like Craighun Du, only less of it and in random places to give their caves a…decorative touch. There are roughly ten at the top of that mountain. They say a dragon still lives up there but then some people say a dragon hasn’t landed in the Elf Cities or Atelic Mountain since the King came into power. They disappeared in form of a revolt to Colton becoming King. I think they wanted his little brother, who died mysteriously two years after Colton’s coronation, to be King. I’ve seen the Craighun Du. It’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever set eyes on, let me be the one to tell you.”
Ghost smiled over at Angela. “You’re a very bright woman, Angela. How did you know all that?”
She shrugged and finished off her own eggs, turning to her bacon without looking up from her plate. “My father wasn’t rich but he could afford to show me some of the more beautiful things left in this world. He told me the history of the rock too. I’ve met the King Dwarf of the Iro Clan. He made me an honorary clan member.”
Ghost ate his eggs as he said, “You’re very lucky, then.” He chewed a bit before swallowing. He then added, “Sinbad and I were welcomed among them as boys. We were even raised, until I was sixteen, under the now Dwarf King.”
Angela seemed very intrigued by this but said nothing. Nina batted her eyelashes at him and said invitingly, “I’d love to hear about the experience, Ghost, if you’d be willing to tell me about it.”
Angela, the right corner of her mouth upturned, said wryly, “Forget it, Nina. He’s older than you by at least a decade, which is much too old for you to be daydreaming about.” She said, again, without looking up. Then she added, “However, if Master Ghost is interested in fresh meat, that’s his business I suppose, not mine.”
Nina flushed and said angrily, “What do you mean ‘fresh meat’ Angela? I’m not that fresh! I’m almost nineteen! I’m a woman!”
Angela faced Nina now with the hard eyes of a well-versed mother. Ghost was more than fairly sure that Angela would win this argument, purely because mother’s rarely lost arguments with younger cubs. She then said, harsh but calm, “Nina, you are eighteen for another six months. You are a virgin. You’ve not even been kissed and don’t lie to me. I can tell by the way you blush when Sinbad gets suggestive with Bella. You’ve never shared a bed with a man much less felt an intimate touch. You have no idea what it means to venture into the world of love and intimacy. Wait until you’re older or until your father marries you proper. It’s much more rewarding than acting as if you know a damned thing.”
Nina was glaring fiercely but just the hard look in Angela’s eyes was more than enough of a match for it. “You took a chance with that man ten years ago! You shared a man’s bed when you were fifteen! You have no right to tell me not to flirt or offer my maidenhood to a man!”
Angela rose to her feet and was silent for a long time. Nina seemed to instantly regret speaking and tried to apologize but Angela stopped her by saying, “Yes, I did. It was a mistake. Besides, Nina, then, I was a slave girl working as Bella’s hand-maid because I had no other way to support myself with my father gone. Then, I didn’t expect to ever have a chance at a life that you are so close to. You are eighteen and beautiful, untouched and pure. I’m five and twenty with a son, no job, no home, money, the name Fraser is outlawed all over the country, and I have not a dowry to my name. You have everything but a son and outlawed name. You’re a damned fool if you plan to give it up for a handsome face and the sweet promises he could whisper into your ear.”
With that, she turned on her heel and left.
~
Ghost decided later in the afternoon to go for a bit of a walk. Angela had seemed very furious when she left that morning and had yet to be seen again. Blaine was romping around the house with the sons of the maids. Ghost had last seen him booby-trapping the first stairwell landing for the rude and stiff child-hating butler to fall for.
Ghost whistled to himself softly as he walked through the woods, his mind wandering aimlessly. That’s when he saw her. She was standing alone in a meadow, the wind gently blowing on her hair. She was hugging her arms to her waist, her knuckles white as they gripped her shirt. She was rigid and stiff all over. The tension was radiating from her. He approached her cautiously, not quite sure what he would encounter. He gently touched her shoulder, making her jump. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy. Her face was tear-streaked and her skin pale. She sniffed a bit as she gave him a glance over. “What are you doing here?” She said turning her back to him once more. Her voice was so soft that he barely heard her but he caught the edge and venom in her voice.
He stood beside her, hands in his pockets. Angela obviously wasn’t in the mood to be talking to anyone right now but someone had to try. He looked down and saw what she had been crying before. It was a small tombstone with only a few words engraved onto it. It read:
Here Lies Trevor Joe Holst
We Pray that the Gods Have Mercy on His Soul
And the Living Keep His Memory Alive in Their Hearts.
He was a Loyal Rebel
A Trusted Friend
A Respected Brother
A Beloved Husband
And is now a Dearly Missed Father
May He Rest In Peace
We Pray that the Gods Have Mercy on His Soul
And the Living Keep His Memory Alive in Their Hearts.
He was a Loyal Rebel
A Trusted Friend
A Respected Brother
A Beloved Husband
And is now a Dearly Missed Father
May He Rest In Peace
Angela stared at the words written, her eyes flickering over them as she read them again and again. Ghost swallowed hard, sighing. He then said softly, “Was this your husband? Sinbad tells me you divorced because he was-”
She instantly snapped, “Sinbad lied. I told him that crock so he wouldn’t ask me what really happened.” Obviously vulnerable at the moment, Ghost feared she was going to tell him. It’s not that he didn’t care or wasn’t interested, but he didn’t want her to tell him something out of sheer grief.
He put a gentle arm around her shoulders and instantly felt warm. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
She rested her head on his shoulder and said shakily, “That’s just it; it’s easy to talk to you. I don’t know why but it is. Do you want to know?”
He thought for a moment before nodding and saying softly, “I’d like to, but again, I don’t expect you to tell me about him. I’m sure he was a good man, though, to have deserved you.”
She scoffed. “He didn’t have to deserve me. Trevor was a dear childhood friend growing up. He had married me because…” She took a deep breath before continuing. “I’ll be honest. I don’t know who Blaine’s real father is. I don’t expect that I shall ever know. I do know that he was…conceived because I was drunk.” She seemed to grin ruefully at that memory. “Trevor married me because I was pregnant and sixteen years old. He did it to protect my virtue and honor. Yes, he slept around with other girls. The marriage was a fraud and we both knew it. After Blaine turned four, we divorced.”
Ghost had unconsciously put his chin on her head as he asked, “Why did you divorce when he was four?”
She shrugged. “We just decided that we both deserved a chance to find love or someone we actually wanted to be married to. We stayed friends, though I pretend otherwise.”
He grunted in understanding, staring at the tombstone thinking for a time. “Why do you pretend otherwise?”
She sighed heavily. “It’s complicated. My father…didn’t like Trevor. We went through some hell to see that the marriage was done before I…started showing. My father died when Blaine was four years old. We decided that since he wouldn’t be alive to scold us for not listening to him before, it would be best to end it then. Besides, Trevor had found a girl he was head over heels for. I couldn’t stand in his way.” She wiped her eyes and cheeks with her sleeve, sniffling again.
Ghost let her step away from him. She crouched before the tombstone and put a hand on it gently, running her fingers over the inscription. He came to stand beside her and said softly in elf, “We may never have met, but it takes a great man to watch over the child of another man and to even wed the mother to save her harm. I’ll pray for your soul, friend.”
She looked up at him with a smile. “That was kind of you.” She was obviously ready to cry again. He took her hand and pulled her to her feet, into his arms. He held her tight for a time and as he knew she would, she broke down again.
He dropped a light kiss, like a brother would to a sister, on her head. He looked up at the sky, seeing rain start to fall down. He closed his eyes, his face upturned and welcoming the rain. He had the urge to kiss her, with the rain falling. He muttered to himself, “Sorrowful teardrops always fall romantic rain…”
