They traveled a good hour before they reached the small stream. The horses naturally walked over to the water and the group sat on the grass close by. Ariana looked up at the moon and felt tears pool in her eyes. She brought her head back down again and wiped the tears away bitterly. "Why does the church want my eyes." She asked in unpleasant tone trying her best to keep the fear from coming out.
"There is a myth within the Capital... that people with jewel coloured eyes can bring forth miracles." The Countess started to say as she closely watched Ariana's reactions. Ariana turned to her mother. "Is that why you wanted my bangs to cover my eyes?" Lady Zula reached over and grabbed the girl's hand.
"Yes." Ariana looked back at her grandmother and waited for her to continue. "I wasn't on the council at the time but after I joined I looked through the archives. It seems that it was a myth that the church started about 35 years ago."
"Over they years the myth started to become more specific with the colour of jewel eyes they were looking for.... honestly it's still a giant mystery to me but one thing is for certain, the panic that started 35 years ago was catastrophic, especially when it came to a reward." The Countess explained.
"So you sent your son away." Ariana whispered and the Countess flinched. "Yes and no... You see the nobles were safe, none of them needed the reward the church was giving... but the ones who volunteered or sold to start their 'training'... to utilize their holy powers never resurfaced again."
"Soon nobles were disappearing in the middle of the night, no one was safe, not even my husband, Gerard... I couldn't let my own children suffer the same fate... the only thing I was feeling at that time was grief, disappointment and so much anger that it caused me to drive all my children away from me and our home." The Countess replied with heartbreak.
Lady Zula tightened her grip on Ariana's hand for a second then let out a sigh. "So you drove me out because of the church? Do you have any idea what kind of life I was living? How much pain I had to endure before I could stand on my own two feet?!" Lady Zula said as her voice slightly rose after every word.
"Your boyfriend, Sullivan wanted to elope, since your mother disapproved of your relationship. He snuck you out one night with a bag of gold in his hand and you both had a wonderful journey until you until into some slave traders outside of Geragera."
"Sullivan was killed and you were sold on the market to a man named slim Jim, who then brought you to Stella Amora and forced you into prostitution. You were able to escape that life because your handler, slim Jim was killed but you were too proud and ashamed to come home."
"Not knowing anything else you started working in a brothel right after you were given your freedom. A couple of years later you met a man by the name of Artie Workskie. You thought you found love and he bought your freedom from the brothel. You lived in modest home and only saw him a few times a week."
"After he found out you were with child, he threw you from the house, cursed your existence and gave you compensation money. Angry and desperate you bought a run down brothel house. You searched for someone to take you seriously as a business woman but no one listened. That is until you found the Grizzly's, after they listened to your story they took you in as one of their own and helped you renovated the brothel to what it is now."
"You have been in business for 17 years now, every woman you ever had in your care has been able to pay back their freedom and found decent jobs. No you're turning your current venture into something unique... Did I miss anything?" James asked as he finished off his report.
"How did you know..." Lady Zula started to ask but it was Roland who answered her question before it was asked. "Your mother had us keep tabs on all of you. Actually she was the one who gave Sullivan the funds to take you away, making him swear to protect you with his life... then that happened... She was furious and sent me out to kill the bastard that had you performing tricks."
"Then Tillie found out that good old Artie had you as a mistress, he had locked away and that his wife found out about you and was planning your murder. She managed to convince him to leave the City and start over with his first wife, we also provided the compensation money. Then your mother... cough... strong armed Mr. Hellium to sell you his business after she found out you were trying to buy it." Roland explained.
Lady Zula's jaw dropped as she looked at her own mother. "Why would you help me?" She whispered, to afraid to hear the answer.
"It wasn't just you, I did it for your sisters and brother. You are my baby... my only regret was I didn't find you in time.... that I could have saved you from all of it if I was stronger.... if only I knew my lack of honesty would have destroyed my relationship with you and your siblings I would have fought to keep you by my side." The Countess said as she sniffed back her tears.
"You can't play that card hag, not now!" Lady Zula yelled as her face twisted with pain, sadness and anger. "I can't process all of this at once... I can't... I can't..." Lady Zula continued with a small and shaky voice. Ariana wrapped her arms around her mother's body and rubbed her face into her shoulder. "She loved you in her own way while protecting her own heart." Ariana whispered.
Lady Zula started to angrily fight her tears but she couldn't keep them from rolling down. "I was only 16! I was still a baby! I was your baby and you let me go! You shouldn't have let me go! I needed you!' She wailed as giant tears rolled down her cheeks.
Ariana signaled her grandmother to come over and the Countess needed no coaxing to listen. She got up and closed the gap between her and her family. She dropped to her knees and wrapped both arms around her daughter and granddaughter. "I'm so sorry." She said as she placed a tender kiss on top of Lady Zula's head. It seemed to have stopped the tears for only a second but she burst into a wail as she snuggled into her family's embrace.
Brian coughed as Lady Zula calmed down. He slowly got up and stretched his back. "We should get going now. Ms. Drake you should really come along with us, if the church starts chasing us again they may very well take you hostage to try and coax this girl back." He said as he walked up to the horses. "You might be right but I have no intention of having them win." The Countess answered and then placed a kiss on both girls heads.
"We will keep going until we reach an inn. From there we will catch a ride back into the Capital. I will look into the church's intentions and try to find out why the council lured you here." She said as she let her family go. She helped the two ladies up to their feet and then walked over to James then the horse. "It was Gregory looking for revenge...." Ariana said as she watched her grandmother mount the horse. "Excuse me?" She asked but Ariana stood her ground.
"He found out about me through a rumour... I'm not sure what he knows exactly but it was enough for the church to strike a deal with a council member. He planned to double cross them when the time came but it would have meant sacrificing you to get to his goal." Lady Zula placed a hand onto Ariana's shoulder as she looked at her small figure. "Sweetie who would he want revenge for?"
Ariana looked up at her mother. "The pretty blonde lady, with blue eyes that look like a crystal lake, skin as white as snow and light pink lips that he found too irresistible to not kiss." Roland, James and the Countess all held their breaths as they turned to look at Zula. She gulped back and began to sweat. "Did... can you tell me if she had a strange birthmark? One in the shape of a four pointed star near her jaw line?"
Ariana shook her head. "No, she had a birthmark but it was different. She had two small moles above her right eye, one was slightly smaller then the other." Lady Zula started to collapse as she whispered the name. "Petunia..."
Lady Zula slept soundly within Brian's arms as they rode forward. Cayden decided to ride with Ariana rather then walk and Roland filled in the others what he heard and saw at the stables. "So these Lumas, they warned you of the future?" The Countess asked for the third time. "Yes."
"And you say they got stronger after you swam in the cursed water?" Ariana leaned back into Cayden's chest as she lazily looked at her grandmother. "Yes." The Countess couldn't believe any of the story but she couldn't really dismiss it either. "Can you call the Lumas out again?" Ariana raised her hand and concentrated all her energy as she stared at the empty space. "Luma!" She shouted but nothing came forth. "No."
Everyone sighed, not realizing they were holding their breaths. "Is there anything else the Lumas showed you?" Roland asked as he moved his horse beside her. "No. Just the battle, tears and blood everywhere." Ariana's eye lids were starting to get heavier. "Cayden?" She whispered as she tried to look up to his face. "Mmh?" He answered. "How do... do I know.... know you? Rin.... my big... sister...." Was all she could ask before she surrendered to sleep.
....
By the time Ariana woke up it was morning and she was sleeping soundly with a cloak over her. She sat up and looked around, she spotted her mother's back and got up. She dusted herself off before she walked over to her. She saw that her mother was hugging her knees as she sat staring out at farm land. "Mom, you okay?" She said as she sat down beside her. Lady Zula nodded her head as she looked out towards the scenery. "I'm fine sweetie... we should be back home by noon today. Everyone will be so excited to see us...."
"Do you want to talk about her?" Ariana asked as she gazed upon the land. Lady Zula shook her head and went into deep thought. She thought back about what Cayden said last night after she woke.
"The church made up that myth about the jewel eyes so they could experiment on them, they were collecting different colours and found what they wanted in the end were children with the colour of water. I'm not sure what they were after but they were dead set on obtaining jewel eyes that made people believe they could see a lake, raging river or beautiful ocean. So my job was to protect Ariana but the church ambushed us... The three of us got separate and all I know is Rin ran off with her... We all thought everyone had died, that Ariana never fell into the hands of the church and.... Rin disappeared."
"Rin?! Our Rin?!" Lady Zula yelled, scaring everyone. Cayden nodded his head. "That's right, almost everyone died that day but I think it was mostly because we were scared. We weren't expecting it to happen so quickly but how did she get into the Thistle's hands?" Cayden asked dryly causing the Countess to start mumbling inaudible things under her breathe as she stroked her chin.
"Do you know what kind of experiments they were running?" Roland asked but Cayden shook his head. "At the time I was only 6 years old.... it was later on when I started my life as a slave that I heard rumours about the church."
"Zu...la.... Zula.... ZULA!" Brian shouted snapping Lady Zula from her thoughts. "I swear the two of you can seriously be cut from the same cloth!" Brian said as he pointed to Lady Zula's shoulder. She looked over and saw that Ariana had dozed off on her. Her eyes grew wide when she saw the little girl's sleeping face. She brought up her hand and brushed back a strand off hair. "Sweetie it's time to go." Lady Zula said sweetly, Ariana stirred but instead of waking up she snuggled in more.
Cayden walked over and scooped her up. "She can sleep a little longer if she rides with me. We can tie her horse to mine, so we don't have to worry about it." Ariana brought her hand up and started to rub her eye. "Mmmh no I'm okay now."
"Are you sure?" Lady Zula asked as she looked at the girl's face. "Ya, I'm fine. I just want to go home." Ariana replied as Cayden gently placed her feet on the ground. Lady Zula looked at Brian and he started to rub the back of his neck. "Let's get going."
The rest of the ride was quiet. No one wanted to talk, they all felt exhausted and sluggish. Ariana could barely hold herself upwards and leaned into her horses mane. When they saw the buildings of the City on the horizon, Ariana couldn't help but feel overjoyed. She looked at her mother and could see she felt the same way.
"Shall we race?" She asked Ariana with a wicked grin. Ariana gave her a blank stare then looked ahead. A smile spread across her face as she pushed her horse forward and got it to run down the path. Lady Zula giggled to herself as she went after her, both horses we already exhausted and could no longer run as fast. Cayden watched the two enjoy themselves as he and Brain slowly followed them.
Ariana felt her loosely tied hair lift upwards as the horse picked up speed. She laughed as her mother passed her and flashed her a charming smile. As the started approaching Stella Amora, Ariana could feel her heart soar. Unlike the Capital there were no tall, fortress like walls or guards, just land and buildings.
10 meters to go, she felt her eyes widen and become misty, 5 meters to go, her heart raced as the hooves of the horse hit the earth. 2 meters to go, she felt tears running down her face, she was finally back. 1 meter to go, her horse became wild and she had to grab on to it for dear life.
Her horse started to jerk upwards but was unable to move forward. Ariana looked at her mother and saw that she was barely holding onto her horse and they were slowly sinking. Ariana looked downwards and saw that the earth had melted. She watched in horror as her horse brought its front legs upwards along with stretched out pieces of earth that resembled taffy. "MOM!" She screamed, Lady Zula looked back. "Ariana run!" She screamed back.
Ariana clutched her horse's mane and shook her head. "I can't leave you!" She cried. The horse sensed her fear and started to panic even more, it tried to jerk free as it's neigh pierced Ariana's ears. The earth started to melt around them at an alarming rate and Ariana didn't know if she could hold on to her bucking horse.
"Ariana!" Cayden yelled as he ran down the path. He skillfully jumped into the air and landed behind her. He quickly wrapped and arm around her back and one under her legs. "No! Save my mom! Please save my mom!" She shouted as tears rolled down her face. Cayden looked at Lady Zula and she shook her head. Her horse was already to far in and she balanced herself on top of it. Cayden squeezed Ariana against his body. "I'm sorry." He whispered to her.
The horse started to sink more into the earth, he jumped to his feet and jumped off the horse when dark vines wrapped themselves around the two. Keeping them from leaving the horse's back.
The earth started to solidify as a black hole appeared on the side of the road. "Did you really think that you could get away from me? I mean really?" Cayden body became stiff as a voice boomed from within the void. A male and two cloaked figures slowly rose up from the darkness and Ariana instantly recognized the male's face. "You!" She hissed as she gave him a venomous glare.
"You didn't lie, this one has jewel eyes." The cloaked figure said on the left. "So pure, so, so aquamarine... our master will be very pleased." The cloaked figure on the right said. "Right?! Right?! My sister had no idea what she had in her possession but I did!" Charles said with glistening eyes. "Please accept our master's reward!" The cloaked figure on the left said as she raised her arm and with a quick sweep of her arm she sliced the air. Charles was grinning like a fool, even when his head fell off his shoulders and landed on the ground.
"Cleo, your as vicious as ever." The right cloaked man said as he raised his foot over Charles's head and smashed his skull. "Whatever, it's not like your any better."