The Talons of a Dark Heart Ch. 09

"Novak brought this on us. This wench is Onor, look at her skin and that senile Ulie told us that she is," the smallest spat.

"Since when do we Aricin harm unarmed people? I don't care what she is. Get away, now, or you will have to answer to me as well." The man removed his cloak and the lesser boys quickly scrambled away from Talyis in fear and apologies to the man.

"Yes, your majesty!" The leader reluctantly pulled away but his aura of hatred never dropped.

The boys peeled away and spat curses at Talyis who stood as still as possible against the cottage wall. She didn't shudder from the curses, instead felt empty, responsible for her kingdom creating this hatred even in the youngest of Aricin.

"Talyis," Gareth's voice called for her but she didn't move. "Talyis, what are you doing here? It is dangerous." Her eyes shifted to Gareth standing before her, his sword in hand.

"I wanted to see Delia," she allowed her voice to squeak out.

Gareth shook his head and smiled slightly through a sigh, "Come on."

Talyis gathered all the items that had scattered in the snow back into the basket. Gareth offered his arm to escort her to the tavern.

She didn't know what she expected; she had hoped that the tavern would be filled with happy cheerful Aricin, singing and entertaining each other over spirits. It was empty and only a few people entered to collect any details regarding the war or food. Delia stood with a serious demeanor as she gave them the last vestiges of food before they hurried to their boarded homes.

Talyis stood near the door, not knowing how her friend would receive her. Suppose Delia thought that Talyis was the cause of this new war against her people.

"Pige, why are you standing there like you want to run?" Delia's scold didn't match her outstretched arms. Talyis ran to her friend and hugged her tightly.

"I've brought this on you," Talyis stuttered.

"Nonsense. Calena and the Navapa have been trying to expand their territory over us for a long time." She combed Talyis' hair back like a mother would. "Ain't that right?" She turned to Gareth, "Luv, I saw it coming before you all could put two coins together." Talyis looked at the them, puzzled.

Gareth sighed, "There was a Navapa man scouting out our land right before we arrived. Delia warned us. And Delia, please, do not throw this into Novak's face, he tries his best to keep us safe."

"By marrying that witch! Serves him right for marrying for politics instead of love," Delia scoffed.

"Delia!" Gareth scolded and then walked away mumbling, "That is the last time I will ever share anything with you."

The weight on Talyis's heart lifted just from being in Delia and Gareth's home and watching them tease each other. She picked up her basket and brought it to the table with the food that Delia gave away.

"I brought you some food and some things for Ulie," Talyis said.

"Pige, we need to feed you. You need to keep healthy. Don't let this war trouble you too much."

"Delia, I am the cause of all this and you...." She turned to see Gareth wiping down the bar. "You both have been so kind to me."

"Sit, Talyis," Delia instructed. Talyis sat on the bench and Delia rubbed her hands tenderly. "Listen, and listen good. I may not be sharpest but I know one thing. To love you must learn to forgive. Ain't that right, Gareth?"

"Forgive? After all that's happened. You-" Talyis started but Delia cut her off.

"Yes! Even the genocide. It will always hurt, but if I didn't forgive I wouldn't be able to luv me Gareth as full heartily as I do. You see, I wouldn't have been able to love again and allow me Gareth to love me. I wouldn't be able to recognize love after awhile. I could easily been bitter watching those that had their family intact, Gareth and his family still intact. I'd be stuck in a cycle of hatred, self-loathing and bitterness. And Talyis, me friend, bitterness it the worst of all: it is neither hatred nor love. It's in between and most deadly and destructive."

Delia went over to the pot simmering behind the counter on the fireplace and drew up a large bowl of porridge for Talyis. "Here, eat. And I don't want any whining about our food. You must eat."

Talyis hesitantly took small bites of the food but hunger made her ravenous and she ate quickly. Delia smiled down on her proudly and cut pieces of the bread from her basket, giving it to Talyis.

"How are you feeling?" Gareth asked sitting next to Talyis with a bowl of his own. "Some boys attacked her in the square," he told Delia

"Oh Pige, you have to be careful, especially now... now that Novak is away," Delia added.

"I am fine, Delia." Talyis she continued to eat. "Gareth, when Novak came to you as a boy, did he have anything with him?"

"Why do you ask?"

"No reason... Novak has a large collection of books."

"Yes, he likes to read. When he came to us he had a satchel of books. My father found it odd that he had escaped into the forests with only a satchel of books and not enough food." Gareth hummed to himself amused. "My father always found Novak to be quite odd, in fact. He was always studying and my father had to forcibly take the books from him so that he'd learn how to fight with me in battle lessons."

"Our Novak is too smart for his own good. That's why he puts his mind before his heart, aye, Gareth, Luv?" Delia smiled and arched wagging eyebrows in Talyis's direction.

Gareth pounded his fists into the table, "Delia! Enough with your pestering." The last thing he wanted to hear today, was Delia's constant hinting on what he had plainly told her was secret. He threw the rest of his food away in the compost bucket and stomped up the stairs. The door slammed upstairs shaking the entire building.

Talyis jumped at Gareth's anger toward Delia, he had been always so tolerant of her.

"Don't pay him no mind. Staying behind waiting while the rest were at battle is stressing him, is all." Delia hinted. "If you want to take these to old lady Ulie's, you better wait till Gareth can take you."

Talyis happily listened to Delia chirp on about nothing for hours while she cozy up in an armchair. Delia never missed a beat in her banter as she helped the few wayward souls that came into the tavern for food and news. Mostly the folk who ventured out wanted to escape the cabin fever. With frazzled and uneasy looks, they quickly got their information and scurried back to their boarded homes. When Gareth shuffled into the room, he looked just as on-edged as the rest, waiting for something to happen.

"Gareth!" Delia quickly shifted mid-conversation, "Are you though scolding me?" Delia asked so sweetly, Talyis wondered how could anyone yell at her. "Take our Talyis to Ulie's."

"It's snowing hard again," he grumbled and the women turned to the windows behind them. Everyone's energy dropped. "It'll have to wait till tomorrow. Delia, help me board up the windows and doors."

"Talyis, you will have to stay here. You can sleep down here. We will bring down a cot and you can cozy up to the fire." Delia patted Talyis's shoulders. "You need your rest."

"I had hoped the snow was done," Talyis said, dejected.

"I know, honey. It's the rainy season, we've got one more month of this. Rain-sleet-snow, snow-sleet-rain and then months of heat. In the long run you'll be thankful for the rainy season."

Talyis helped them board up the tavern for the night and Delia gave her blankets for the cot. She also made sure Talyis ate some more food before retiring upstairs with Gareth.

Delia sat on their lumpy bed, rubbing the soles of her achy feet. They hurt from standing in stiff boots all day long. Gareth snuck up behind her making the bed dip and squeak. He kissed her freckled back by pulling her collar aside.

"Gareth!" Delia blasted, "If you think you are getting any from me you are sorely mistaken, mister."

Gareth growled, pulled her onto him and she giggled playfully.

"I mean it, sir. Not even a peck." She fell back onto the bed and they laid next to each other, smiling. Gareth kissed her check and propped himself on his elbows watching his finger lazily trace her breast.

"That was lovely what you taught Talyis today, sweetheart," Gareth said, his fingers circling around her swelling nips. He smirked, satisfied as her ample chest rose in a tale-tell sign.

"Gareth, why don't you tell her the truth?"

Gareth fell back onto the pillows and stared at the ceiling. "I wanted to so many times, Delia, but I promised."

"She's in love with him, you know. She's afraid and conflicted. She feels she should hate him for what he has done."

"Yes, he knows that too." Gareth turned to his wife. "Maybe it is best that fate works out their love for each other. There is a lot of pain and hurt between the two of them. And after all these years, they are still attracted to each other."

"What do you mean, Gareth?"

"The boy she tells you that is in her dreams is Novak."

"Have you told him this?"

"No, I keep my word to her too. It's not my place to meddle."

"Gareth!" Delia slapped his arm "You men and not 'meddlin' in love affairs, I can't understand for me life. I am glad I am in love with such an upstanding man but this is a secret you shouldn't keep."

"I wish it weren't but it wouldn't have made them treat each other differently; it might have been worse. This is something fate must work out between their stubborn heads and twisted hearts."

Delia rolled over onto Gareth. She pushed his blond locks from his eyes and framed his face with her pudgy small hands. "I hope fate works itself soon. I got a secret of me own. She's pregnant."

"Delia, that's a secret you cannot keep. She needs to know so she can care for the babe."

"I know I just didn't find the heart to tell her. She's carrying so much guilt and fear as it is." Delia kissed Gareth's chin and let his whiskers tease her soft face. "What is it, luv?"

"Talyis.... When I went out I was informed that the unknown army was indeed a small Onor army that had resurrected. It is not safe for Talyis, many of the villagers have believed that it was the Onor in ranks and when they find that it is true-"

"Oh dear heavens," Delia cried.

"We do not believe that the Onor know that Talyis is here, and to my knowledge they are not fighting for the honor of their princess." Gareth and Delia sighed feeling sympathy for their friend and hugged each other closer.

***

Talyis listened to the shrill wind blowing down the flue, making the fire crackle. She felt so safe despite the war brewing at the edges of the territory and snuggled under the blankets, knowing that her kind friends were close by. The idea of forgiveness warmed her heart like a fire. Delia and Gareth were so welcoming when they rightfully could have hated her. The desire to release her bitterness and let her love unleash was stronger with each replay of the red head's words.

The boards shuddered against the strong winds, reminding her of the night on the terrace with Novak. She saw him behind her eyes, saw his remorse., She knew he meant to apologize and ask for her forgiveness. He meant to show her he cared but she wouldn't let him, she wanted him to suffer as he caused her to suffer. Her anger showed on her cheeks those nights ago, but now it only chilled her.

He was the green-eyed boy, she wished she had seen it earlier; maybe her heart would finally have had released after all these years. He had been so tender and repentant towards her after that fateful night in the woods. Only when she challenged him did he become testy with her, but the more she thought about him in tenderness the more surely he had became the boy she'd dreamed of.

If she were to tell him, he might reject her, but as least she wouldn't have this uncertainty and heavy heart. Novak was the boy she had always loved, but she wasn't sure she could forgive him. If she could, would it mean she really loved him?

***

"Good morning!" Delia chirped loudly, waking Talyis. "How's yer sleep?" Talyis stretched long and just looked at her friend with sleepy eyes. "Here." Delia patted the chair. "Have something to eat for your ...parasite." Talyis frowned and shuffled out of the bed ready to object, but Delia pressed her finger to Talyis's lips. She slumped her shoulders in resignation and sat at the table. Delia gave her some cold fruits and bread.

"Delia?" Talyis started eating the fruits and watched her friend rummaging through a cabinet, her bum swaying to the happy tempo always playing in her head. "Delia, what if it is not a parasite?"

Delia stopped short; she had wanted to avoid that topic today. She began to hum her tune out loud. She danced around the table with a cheese wheel in her hand making Talyis laugh. She dropped the wheel on the table and danced around the tavern swaying her hips, her red frizzy hair flew in her jubilant dance. She found a knife and hummed while slicing the cheese for Talyis.

"Pige, what do you want?" she finally asked. Her dance had bought her time to think of an approach and cheered Talyis.

"Delia, I don't know." Talyis' mood dropped as she placed her elbows on the table, her hands playing with the back of her neck.

Delia took Talyis's hands and swayed them while humming. "Pige, if everything worked out the way you would dream, what do you want?"

"Oh, Delia. It's all my fault. If I hadn't pushed my boy away, my mother would be alive and then maybe I would have been able to tell him I cared. Apologize for all that I did to him, all that we all did to him but..."

Delia smiled gently, "But you can't reconcile what your green-eyed boy did to you?"

"Yes."

"Pigeon, it's not easy but let me tell you this: I hurt still today. I miss me family so much but if I were so consumed with anger and pain it would drive me. Nothing would be important to me other than my pain and anger. I would be nothing but my pain and anger, you see? Talyis, dear, I mean this, if I didn't forgive so long ago I would never be able to stand the sight of you, let alone be your friend.

"I would be like our Novak who is riddled with the pain that drives him, and prevents him from experiencing love. Yes, Calena would have been great as our Queen, if there weren't the false pretenses to disguise a war. But, Pigeon, he never loved her. He sacrificed his desires for his people. I know I ain't that smart but this I do know. Don't you suspect that he might possibly love you?"

Talyis sat still, her mind so conflicted it made her stomach hurt. Talyis suck in air sharply to keep her heart bottled up in protection. Delia pattered her hand and whispered, "Let it go."

"He said he loved me... I already told you that," she whispered.

"And do you really believe he stopped or... possibly had he loved you all along."

"If that were true, he would have never ravaged me or turned me over to his men for their use!" she spat standing up wanting to throw the damn cheese wheel at Delia.

"Let it go," Delia simply said in the most nurturing way. "That wasn't Novak, that was a diseased heart. That diseased heart was king of his soul, but now he's fought through the mire of his thorny heart, yes?"

Talyis nodded slightly, sucking her cheeks into her mouth to stifle her tears, everything put thorns into her stomach, puncturing her.

"The now is your boy at your castle right?" Delia pushed delicately, watching Talyis shields dropped.

The thorns stabbed her deeper, she didn't want to let any evidence of her aguish flow from her eyes. Her mind flooded back to her boy chasing after her in the gardens, his curly black hair and his devilish grin as he tried to catch her within the garden hedges. Their laughter rang with carefree delight. Then he wasn't the boy in her mind's eye, but Novak, the man.

"Let it go, Talyis, forgive him. Allow your dreams to be." Delia smiled and the last of the shields were gone. "I guarantee you he will never hurt you again. If he does, I'll kill him so Gareth can be king and me queen," she joked lightly.

***

Calena paced gracefully across her warm tent, the white fur garments wrapped around her neck and body to keep her warm would make anyone suspect that this graceful nobel was the intelligence behind the attack and general. The Navapa had been planning their attack for years and now it was her chance to capture the land the Aricin had claimed for themselves and seize it for her kingdom.

"When will we attack? We've been sitting here for weeks not making any advancements." A man's voice drooled with hatred.

Calena squinted in annoyance at the Onor man. "We wait. Let them gather their forces we will destroy them."

"We must eradicate all of these Aricin. They dare to overthrow our kingdom. They all must pay."

"Your princess is in their ranks and alive." Calena smiled. Novak meant to keep this from her, but she known all along. Rumors had floated for months from kingdom to kingdom about the Onor princess's dead missing body and seeing her dark Onor skin she knew. "If you want to save your princess, you must be patient and trust me to deliver a victory."

The Onor scoffed and then began to laugh hard. "I don't care about that wench. She hasn't done anything for our kingdom. Our King even told us so for years, she is a selfish traitor to our people, did not even attempt bring an heir to our throne, drove our king to madness with the way that she looked like her murdered mother.

Calena arched an eyebrow in contempt at the Onor army leader. She turned on her heels, flinging her long blonde hair, and waved the man away as she abruptly ended their conversation. The small Onor army was only along for the ride; it was her army and advisors that would deliver a victory. The land was rich, and to expand the Navapa territory had been their only goal. If any nation objects their attack would be justified as judgment against the Aricin's immoral living standards: history of taking on slaves, conquering the Onor, although justified, and most importantly claiming land that the Navapa had wanted for a generation. This was a personal attack. She smiled wickedly as she practiced using her sword; it cut the crisp air with swooshes.

***

The snow continued to blizzard down for days, and there was still no sound or cry. Talyis was glad to not have to wait alone. She stayed with Delia and Gareth who kept her busy by playing old Aricin word and tile games. She felt her desires quake every time the couple argued and then exchanged apologies through sweet nothings. She wanted more than anything to have someone who'd care for her as much her him despite their quarrels and quirks.

She knew she was stubborn, but the idea of living without someone to match her fiery spirit and who would cherish her. The possibility of living without love made her feel so empty. Delia let her advice settle with Talyis and did not bring up Novak or forgiveness but instead busied herself meddling with Talyis's eating and sleeping habits.

Two weeks disappeared and nothing happened. More Aricins began to take down their boards during the day and the tavern became a meeting ground for news and food replenishment. Many shared their meals with others while the children played at their parent's feet, happy and oblivious to any impending danger. Talyis found herself holding her bulging belly, and finally after months she allowed herself to call it a baby instead of a parasite.

She wondered if it were possible that she carried Novak's child, if he truly loved her, and what he would do when he found out. She tried to push the dread and memories of the night in the forest to the recesses of her mind but some days it surfaced and dread overtook her. She wanted and hoped so much that her need for love would be met. She devised a plan. The day Novak returned she would tell him everything; and if all what Delia said was untrue she would follow her plan to escape this madness once and for all.