Chapter
33.
Varkus scrambled to find
something to defend himself. He ended up
with the rotted rope in his hands, he squeezed it lightly before it hardened
like a rock. Varkus then climbed up a
small ledge in the cave where he looked down on the spider.
“Varkus,
I can’t use my hand!” Gwen yelled across the cave, looking at her bleeding
wrist.
“Hang
on!” Varkus called back, looking around and seeing the spider right under Gwen,
preparing to grab right onto her. Varkus
jumped off of the wall and not having a care in the world about his own life as
he slammed the piece of rope into the spider’s head. The spider hissed, rubbing her head with its
legs.
“The
rope is breaking!” Gwen yelled, hanging on for her life. She felt tears welling up in her eyes,
watching as Varkus jumped on the back of the spider, repeatedly hitting it with
the rope.
“Varkus,
any second now!” Gwen called, looking up at the rope which was holding her up
by a thread.
“Hang
on, Gwen!” Varkus immediately left the spider and ran to Gwen’s aid as the rope
snapped. With a grunt, Varkus slid on
the ground, catching Gwen right before she hit the ground. Terrified, Gwen clung onto Varkus. He could
feel her tears on his chest, but he could also feel how uncomfortable she was,
yet he still didn’t regret telling her that he loved her. The spider was too weak to do anything, allowing
time for Varkus to carry Gwen through the spider’s cave and escaping on the
other side.
“Are
you ok?” Varkus said softly, looking down at Gwen.
“I’m
fine,” she mumbled. Varkus took a deep
sigh and gently placed Gwen down, leading her to a small room inside an old tree
stump.
The room was fairly small, but there were
two beds both cleaned and made up neatly.
The room was lit with a small vase which was glowing with yellow colored
crystals inside of it. There was a
little coffee table in front of a leaf chair in the corner. Varkus temporarily wrapped a piece of frabric
around Gwen’s wrist before she walked over to the coffee table where she saw a
picture frame of a happy family; a mom, a dad, and two young boys. Varkus walked over and sat on the couch right
behind Gwen.
“That
was my family, this used to be our home,” Varkus said quietly.
“That
was your family?” Gwen asked, sitting down next to him.
“I
know, hard to believe. That was before
my dad died…,”
“Varkus,
I’m so sorry, I had no idea…,” Gwen said softly, placing a hand on his
shoulder. He looked up at Gwen with
tears in his eyes,
“He
was a solder for Nocotee, but one of the solders accidentally speared him,
thinking he was a frog due to the color of his uniform. When he died my mom went downhill fast. She hated those Nocotee people, and swore she
would kill them all for what they had done.
Since then she raised Kroy and I to follow in her footsteps. I just wish that he were still alive,
otherwise none of this would have happened and you wouldn’t be hurt.”
Gwen
looked down at the ground, not knowing what to say next. Varkus smiled softly, gently grabbing Gwen’s
hand in his. She pulled away
immediately, looking at him with wide eyes.
She picked at her cuticle for a moment, thinking.
“Are
you okay?” he asked.
“No,
I am really not. We’ve known of each
other for so long but we never knew who we were as humans. I don’t want my kingdom to suffer because I
fell for the enemy,” Gwen sighed.
“I
understand…but anyway, I think I can heal your wrist, I remember a trick my dad
taught me,” Varkus added, changing subjects.
“Go
ahead,” Gwen replied, flinching slightly at the pain in her wrist continued to
worsen. Varkus placed his other hand
over her wrist. He grabbed a small vile
filled with orange liquid and poured a drop of it onto her wrist then placed
his hand over it again.
“This
helps the liquid go in quicker,” he said, looking at Gwen who was intrigued by
this process.
After a few short minutes, Varkus held
his breath and slowly removed his hand.
Gwen’s eyes widened, looked directly at his.
“I-it’s
totally healed!” Gwen exclaimed in shock.
Varkus smiled widely, laughing slightly at Gwen’s reaction.
“You’re
welcome,” he said sarcastically.
“Varkus, thank you,” Gwen smiled. Varkus sat there grinning from ear to ear. He knew Gwen could never love him, but that
didn’t change the fact her loved her all the same.
“It’s
late, I think we’d better go to bed,” Gwen said, walking over to one of the
beds.
“I
agree,” Varkus added, going into the other bed across the room.
“Goodnight”
Gwen whispered.
“Night,
and Gwen?” Varkus asked.
“Yeah?”
she replied.
“I’m
sorry,”
“It’s
alright. Can we just go to bed?”
Gwendolyn groaned, turning to the other side so she faced the wall. With that, they both fell asleep.
