Mariyah returned to the structure after flying above Clover, ensuring his safety home. She shifted into a human as she limped around inside, spinning in a circle and stretching her neck to take this all in. This could be her people's haven...their protection. They could stayed here forever, and no one would be able to hurt them. She grazed her fingertips against the soft glass. She still wondered how her father could have possibly done this, no matter how Clover explained it, it still seemed unreal to her.
Sadness knocked on her heart at the thought of her family residing in this all along, and they would still be here. But she remembered what Clover said and shook her head to herself. No matter how it upset her, her father wanted a life for her, not hiding. She quickly wiped at a tear that had snuck out from her eye, and took a deep breath in, composing herself. "Thank you," she whispered to her father in the hopes he could somehow hear. "Thank you so much." She then shifted into an eagle and took off above the trees, flying back to the camp.
Faces lit up as they saw Mariyah returning to them. They all ran to her and took turns hugging her tightly. Marcy squeezed her into a hug, forcing Mariyah to repeatedly tap her arm in surrender as she laughed.
"Back already?" Kai asked with a smirk, but his face couldn't hide his surprise, and he quickly dropped his sarcasm. "You really made it back?"
She nodded her head. "I-"
“Mariyah!” Cal shouted, jogging over to her from the fire. “You’re okay,” he said, his voice hinting at his relief. His worried eyes settled at the sight of her, his expression almost relaxing.
She smiled at him widely. “I told you they wouldn’t kill me!” she said...leaving out the reason behind it.
“What happened?” Cal asked, his eyes quickly moving all over her body. He looked down at her blood stained dress.
She followed his gaze and looked down at herself. “Oh…yes, I should probably find a new dress…” She laughed lightly. “I’m okay, it just needs to heal.” She turned away and looked around at the listening ears nervously. The crowd quickly noticed their need for privacy and began to go back to their activities.
Cal’s tone lowered. “What is it from?”
“An arrow wound, but it’s been cleaned and- it’s fine, really.”
“They shot you with an arrow?” His jaw tightened.
“It’s a lot to explain…but I’m fine now.”
His eyes stayed sharp. “It’s been cleaned? Are you sure?” He hesitated, looking a bit nervous. “Let me look at it.” He knelt down and looked up at her with his dark eyes. “Can I…”
She nodded with a suddenly quick beating heart and lifted her dress up for him just above her knee where the arrow had pierced her.
He carefully unwrapped her leg. His jaw twitched as he looked at her wound with narrowed eyes, holding her thigh in his hands as he observed, and Mariyah desperately hoped he couldn’t feel her heartbeat through her skin.
After a quick examination, he nodded. “It does look cleaned.”
She cleared her throat with a small smile. “I told you..” She inhaled sharply as he moved his hand and grazed the perimeter of her swollen wound.
“I should have come with you,” he said in a deepened voice, looking up at her.
She gave him a smile, again. “I was fine, really.”
“This isn’t fine.” He gave her a look and let go gently after rewrapping her leg. He moved her dress back down to her feet before he stood up, looking her up and down. “Did he do anything else to you?” His voice was tense and even colder than before.
She exhaled a slow breath as he returned a few inches above her level. She looked down, but her eyes flashed back up to him quickly. “No, no.”
“What did he say to you? And why did he shoot you?”
“I tried to finish this all, and they shot me." She gave a nervous laugh. "Not my best idea."
He shook his head. "Mariyah..."
"I thought I could do it. I probably could have...but he was prepared for me to try." She pushed her hair behind her ears as she explained.
"I wish I came. What else happened?"
She bit her lip. "He warned me."
He didn't understand. “And?”
“That’s really all.” She shrugged her shoulders, not wanting to elaborate. “But I have to show you something very important, follow me!” She didn’t give him a chance to ask any more questions, and shifted into a lioness, moving into the forest.
He lifted a brow and shifted into a bear, following behind her as she began her trek into the forest. "I can carry you, Mariyah," he called out, following after her limping body.
She turned to him and shifted into a human with a quickly laugh, before climbing onto his back. "Thank you."
Once she guided him to the structure, she climbed off of him and he shifted into a human, his widened eyes locked on the massive shelter in front of him. She hopped on one leg as she held her arms out, showing him the giant creation. “Look what my father made for me!" She watched him as his face froze. "I had no idea about it until now. His friend showed me."
Cal looked at her, his still face actually showing his surprise. He blinked twice as he slowly walked up to it before putting his hand out and touching the transparent glass. “What is this…?” he asked in a whisper.
She explained all that Clover had told her, including the protection of the last flower. After his disregard of mention of the flower, he puffed out in surprise at the end of her explanation.
“Like a veined bubble…” She clasped her hands together with a wide smile.
“A veined bubble?” He bit his lip and almost snorted. “That’s-yeah, that’s a description for it…”
“And…look at this.” She stood up on her tippy toes and put her hands over his eyes. “Walk straight!”
He laughed quietly and followed her instructions until she pulled her hands away and showed him the flower.
His eyes widened. “What is this…”
“The Trabea flower. It’s real. And it’s here!”
He tilted his head in disbelief. “I've never seen one before...”
She smiled. “Well. Now you see. Though, it’s the only one here, unless there's others hidden out there... But as far as the rest of the population knows, there aren't any.”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
He nodded quietly, looking at the flower for a long moment before back to her.
She held her hands together and shrugged. “Anyways...what if we moved the people in here?” she asked.
“What?”
“The Shifters...they could stay in here,” she said to him with wide brown eyes, blinking eagerly. “Peter’s village too.”
“You want that?”
“The soldiers wouldn’t be able to hurt them here,” she said quietly.
“Peter too? He banished you.”
“He was trying to protect his village. I don't like what he did, but I have to understand. I want him and all of that village safe too if I can help it.”
“You’re willing to give up what your father made for you?”
She shrugged. “I mean, it’s big enough. I think he’d want me to help others anyways. It’s not really giving up, more like sharing.”
Cal looked around the giant yet camouflaged structure as he pondered his thoughts. “It’s a good idea,” he said to her.
“Then I want to do it. Let’s go get them,” she said with excitement. "We'll bring them to the Dome." She lifted her eyebrows with a grin for extra effect.
"The Dome. I like it," he laughed. He looked at her for a long moment, his eyes locked onto her. “From what you’ve told me, I’d imagine your father would be proud of your choice.”
Maryiah looked at him with a small and grateful smile at his kind words. She took in his soft side with a serious appreciation, it wasn’t often she saw it. “Thank you.” Her eyes turned curious. She was scared to ask, but she finally forced herself to. “Will you tell me about your family?” she asked quietly. “You haven’t told me much about your life before…”
His lips tightened as she asked. After a few moments, he gave a slight shake of his head. “Another time,” he said.
She nodded. “Another time,” she repeated, giving him a small smile.
He noticed her disappointment. “But my full name is Calumn. I’ll talk about more with you one day.”
“Calumn?” She gleamed. “I like that name.”
“Thank you.” He exhaled a laugh. “Anyway…we’ll have to explain everything soon. I’m sure the people are going to be confused.”
“So am I…I don’t even know what I’m doing.” She looked away a bit worriedly as she tilted her head. “I just wanted to save you and run away. Now look…” She looked at him, guilt beginning to fall over her. “Oh, no. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, I will take you to Chaiaysa, I can’t let you wait for me. I don’t know how long I’ll be here.”
“Mariyah.” Cal put a hand on her arm, gently. “Don’t apologize to me. You saved my life, and over twenty others.” He looked at her with a seriousness that almost sobered her up from her creeping anxiety. “Would you come?”
She stared back at him with worried and unsure eyes. “I don’t know about right now…But I do know that I will make sure you go wherever you want to go, I promise you. I told you I’d take you, and I meant it. I will get you somewhere safe. Whether or not I go, I will take you and-”
“Are you going?”
Mariyah swallowed the lump in her throat before shaking her head slowly. “I…I don’t think I can. Not right now, at least. I just…I just need to get this group settled, I need to finish what I started. Make sure they’re safe. And then, then, I can go.”
He looked deeply into her eyes and answered. “Then I will stay until you're ready to leave.”
“Cal, I think it will be quite some time-”
“I’ll stay.”
She studied his face, not sure if he was serious. “You’ll stay?”
He looked away, placing his hands in his pockets. “I’m going to stay until you can join me. You just saved my life, I won’t be able to enjoy my new life knowing you’re here alone.”
“Well, in a way, you saved mine- I just made it even-”
“I’m staying.”
She looked at him with eyes full of appreciation. Her heart warmed for a moment, and she stepped forward before hugging him. “Thank you for everything.”
He hesitated before hugging her back, unsure of what to say. But he did hug her back and just as firmly.
She pulled away quickly and sighed to herself. She cleared her throat. “I suppose you’re right. I should say something to the group…What do I say?” She asked.
He locked eyes with her before answering. “Let’s figure out a plan first. What do you wanna do with them? Let them stay here? And then what?”
“I don’t know. Soliath warned me to stop, and as far as he knows, it worked. We need to move everyone inside and keep the doors locked. We’ll stay hidden and not cause any reason for attention. We'll be safe there, that’s all I know.”
He gave her a small smile. “Then…Let’s round up the villagers.”
She bit her lip nervously and nodded her head.
Mariyah walked beside Cal as they approached the large group of Shifters and the few banished Naturals in the forest by Cal’s camp. She watched as groups sat around campfires, doing their own deeds. She soon became riddled with nerves as she knew she needed to make some sort of announcement, explaining where they'd be going...explaining everything, really.
Marcy approached Mariyah, tapping her arm. “Peter’s here. He’s come to check on us. And when will you tell me what happened?"
"I think I'm about to explain it to everyone..." She looked at Marcy with a nervous smile.
Cal stepped away from Mariyah for a moment. “I’ll get their attention.”
Her heart thudded in her chest as she looked toward the large group.
Cal gave her a faint reassuring smile and nodded his head. He put two fingers to his lips and let out a loud and sharp whistle, silencing the group. “Mariyah is speaking!” he shouted loudly, turning to the girl.
Mariyah bit her lip anxiously for a moment as her friends and the faces of the rescued gladiators all stared blankly at her. She cleared her throat before finally opening her mouth. “Hello,” she began, awkwardly with a nervous smile. “I- I - I just wanted to say a few things. And offer something of mine." Mariyah continued, “When my we all went to the arena, I didn’t plan on saving any others, just Cal." She looked at the prisoners, her stomach slowly calming down but still nervous. "But I saw you all, and we couldn't leave you. So here we are now. As you saw, I was taken by King Soliath. In the castle, he warned me of my actions.” She looked at every face in the crowd.
“I don’t want to lie to you all, and I don’t want you to think it is safe to be with me. The king will try to punish us for anything we do. But I have a location where we can stay protected. It’s large enough for many shelters to be built inside, and if we don’t have enough space inside, then we can build around the structure. At least we will all be together.” She exhaled sharply and her hands hung by her sides awkwardly, fidgeting with her dress. “Like I said, I can’t promise your safety. The king has a close eye on me. But I do know this structure will come as close to a promise of safety as I can give. So I’d like to invite you all to my structure and provide everyone shelter if you’d like.” Her voice trailed off for a moment before she explained the flower as well and the importance of leaving it untouched and a secret amongst themselves. She breathed out once she finished as she watched the eager faces of all ages staring at her. She met eyes with Peter in the crowd who looked almost excited.
And suddenly, the crowd cheered.
She couldn’t help but smile as Cal put his hand on her shoulder. She looked out at the crowd again. “Everyone, gather your things. We’ll lead you to the new shelter. For now, just bring your necessities. Tomorrow we’ll bring as much material and lumber as we can and start building structures inside.”
-
Mariyah and Cal met at the creek again once everyone was settled inside the Dome. The two spoke for a bit, thinking about plans for the new shelters, deciding on small cabins. As much as they could fit, at least. After a few moments of silence, Mariyah stood up. “Well, it’s gotten late.” The sun no longer poked through the trees above them. “And I’m about to pass out,” she said tiredly.
“Want a ride back home?” he asked as he shifted into a bear.
“Please," she said, a bit excited.
He nodded his head with a small smile. Mariyah grinned and held onto the hair on the top of his back, and climbed onto him. “Thank you,” she said softly. She held on tightly and let him know she was ready to go.
He began walking up the small hill and back onto the trail to get to the Dome. He walked slowly and silently, until he soon felt her body lean forward against him. The sound of her steady breathing let him know she had fallen asleep. A feeling in his heart sprouted, and he was extra careful to make it the smoothest ride possible.
When they reached the Dome, he shifted back into a human. Mariyah’s sleeping and limp body fell onto his human body, but he turned around and caught her in his arms. Her eyes opened heavily as he lifted her up and carried her to one of the temporary mats that the others had set up around a few campfires that had been lit inside the structure. She thanked him groggily and after one last glance, he laid on one beside her and fell asleep himself.