Chapter 20 The Quest Begins

Chapter 20 The Quest Begins
“What do you mean ‘not without you’?” Flying to my sister would be easier and faster. “I don’t want to put you at risk, and I can take care of myself you know”.  

“Of course you can take care of yourself”. He bent down to pick up his map. “How do you plan to get there? By foot? Can you do your little act of disappearing and reappear in random places that you never been to before? Your sister is out in the desert might I add. I doubt that you know how to survive out there with little water, a scorching sun and don’t get me started on the worms out there”. 

I thought about what he said, and fuck was he right. I only been to the mountains where snow covered everything that I could see. 

“Also, I wasn’t asking for your permission. You are accompanying me so we can save your sister from the Mujaris”. I stood there in the cave before he turned to look at me, “You know sister isn’t going to be saved anytime sooner if you keep standing there”.

He left me speechless. I am to accompany him to save my sister from a prison in the middle of the desert where he could most likely die. Why would he risk his life for my sister? I ran after him and pulled on his arm. “Why would risk your life to save my sister?”, I had to know why. 

“Why not?" Was all he said, before turning around and walking out of the cave. I don’t think I had a choice of going without Alaric. Now my only problem was how do I tell the Queen and Levan that I’m to accompany Alaric to save my sister from some demoralizing demise out in the desert. 

“We‘ll leave tomorrow at dawn”, before I could say anything, “I know you want to go now, but you also need to rest and pack. I also have a feeling that you want to talk to Cassandra”. Well, I guess he does know me a little too well.  

Alaric told me to pack light and to pack three large pouches of water. As for shoes, I wasn’t sure what to wear or what was adequate for the desert. Alaric said something that light and had breathable fabric. Since I didn’t know what breathable meant, I stuck with my military boots. They survived through war, they can survive the desert as well. 

Wondering what my sister was going through while I been living in a somewhat peaceful environment made me feel, guilty perhaps? The fact that I didn’t know or that I didn’t try harder to contact her or even contact father made me feel even worse. 

I sent Rosemary to get the Queen for me for it was an urgent matter that I had to discuss with her as I explicitly told Rosemary. She looked worried but didn’t ask questions. 

When the Queen came, she looked just as worried. “Dear are you feeling unwell. Did Levan come to hurt you again?

“No my lady, I have a favor to ask of you”. She look concerned but sat on the chair while I sat on the bed. “I need to go get my sister. She was sent to the Mujari by my mother, where I believe she is a prisoner”.  

The Queen was quiet for a moment with a thoughtful look on her face. “I know we don’t know each other very well, and to be quite fair to you I want to get to know you more. You have something in you that I haven’t seen in a while. You have courage and a strong willpower that nobody else seems to have”. She got up and came up to me, took a ahold of my hands raising me to my feet. “Lilith my dear, if I let you go on this quest, will you promise to come to back me? I know you have a family back home, but with the little time I spent with you, I want to have more of it”. She embraced me in the warmest hug I’ve ever received. 

“Thank you, Your Grace. I promise I’ll come back to you”. I felt my eyes burning from the unshed tears but I wouldn’t let the Queen see them. “Also, how is Levan. I haven’t had the chance to see him since the other day?”. More like I didn’t want to see him. 

“He journeying with his father in the Arianath Sea”. I nodded to this for I didn’t want to explain to him how I’m leaving to another kingdom.

I hesitated in telling her the forbidden truth about Alaric taking this journey with me. Before I could even bring up this delicate subject, she says, “I’m sure Alaric has spent time in the desert. You should bring him along to make your journey much more safer”.  She turned to look at me before giving me a knowing smile. Now I’m a little nervous on what this smile means. Does she know everything that has happened between us or just that we been training with swords? Then she was gone. I think it’s for the better if that stayed quiet for a while. 

I was up even before the sun came over the horizon. I told Rosemary what my plan was, and she had a small bag of food in her hand and from the looks of it, ten pouches of water in the other waiting for me.

“I’m sorry Princess, for this is all I could gather in a short amount of time”.

I grabbed the bag and the pouches, put them on the floor and squeezed Rosemary. “I didn’t ask for any of this and yet you did it. That alone makes me appreciate you even more”. When I let go of her, her eyes were red. “Don’t worry Rosemary, I made a promise to the Queen that I will return. And when I do, you can prepare all the delicious food you want me to have”. 

She bobbed her head which made me laugh. I grabbed the bag of food and the pouches, placed them in my bag before being stopped by the Queen. The sun hasn’t risen yet, and here we have two beings wanting to see me off. Then peeking from behind the Queen’s nightgown was little Theo. 

I crouched down to his level, he came up to me and said, “You are coming back, right big sister?”, I looked at the Queen with confusion.  

“I told him that you going on a quest with his brother. He wanted to say bye before you left”. 

My heart melted when she said this, so I said, “I’ll be back don’t worry. And when I come back, you’ll be the first to know. Deal?”.  He nodded, gave me a hug and went to his mother’s side. 

“Before you go, I want to give you something”. She pulls out a sheathed dagger from her pocket and hands it to me. “This is to protect you in the darkest of the nights. Use it well my dear”. 

I nodded my head and gave her a hug before leaving them to meet up with Alaric.