Chapter Six
Kael looked at Gwendolyn as if asking for permission and Rhiannon’s frown grew deeper.
“Go ahead, she won’t give up until she gets what she wants,” the old woman told him before she turned to look at Rhiannon. “But you’ll have to promise me you won’t freak out,” she warned her.
“Very well,” Rhiannon accepted, not knowing what to expect. She already knew he was different, she just didn’t know how much.
With a sight, Kael got up and took off his hood, preparing himself for her reaction. But, it wasn’t anything like what he could have expected.
She just stared at him, in some sort of trance.
He was handsome, even beautiful if you could use such term to describe a man. Probably, not many women would think the same way she did, but she was sure he would stop more than one woman’s heart. He had deep gray eyes, with pupils so small you could barely see them, a perfectly chiseled nose and cheekbones, a kissable mouth and an enviable olive skin.
Taking a deep breath, she continued her examination, looking at his long, straight, blond hair, his tall and muscled body finally the feature that showed the world he was not from these parts: the perfectly aligned ridges that started at his temples and disappeared under his impressive mane.
“Where are you from?” she asked him, amazed.
“I’m from Zuvrak, a place very far from here,” he explained.
“How come you speak our language?” she asked again, curious. Most merchants were only able to speak the essential, and they had been coming to town for years.
“I speak many languages,” he assured her.
“Why are you here?”
“Can we leave the questions for later, darling? I’m hungry,” Gwendolyn interrupted her.
For a second, Rhiannon looked at her grandmother as if she hadn't been able to understand her words, but then, she seemed to snap out of the trance she was in, and she nodded.
“Yes, certainly.” She served the soup and took the plates to the table before she took a seat in front of Kael.
For a few minutes, they enjoyed the soup in silence, but soon, Rhiannon’s curiosity was stronger than her.
“Do you realize people will think he’s a demon?” she asked, looking at Gwendolyn.
“Yes, probably, at least, at first sight, but it won’t take them long to realize he isn’t,” she replied, with a confident tone.
“You’re not being realistic. They will shoot first and ask later,” Rhiannon insisted.
“We’ll figure out a way.”
“I don’t want to cause any trouble,” he said, putting down his spoon. “I’ll leave before anyone else sees me,” he suggested.
Rhiannon looked at him, disgruntled. She didn’t like that idea, for some reason, she wanted him to stay there, at least for a while longer. “Like my grandmother said, we’ll figure out a way.”
“Unless, you prefer to leave, of course,” Gwendolyn added.
He didn’t, especially not now that he had met Rhiannon. She wasn’t the one he was looking for, but he had never felt that way, and he wanted to explore it, as much as possible. “No, I don’t want to leave now. I’ve just arrived, and I feel I need to learn a lot more about this place before I can venture onto another one.”
“I guess we’ll have to keep you hidden for a while,” she said, enjoying the soup.
“I’ll do whatever you believe it’s necessary,” he assured her.
She nodded. “Where is this Zuvrak you come from? I’ve never heard of it,” she asked, returning to her questions.
“Well, it’s a bit hard to explain,”
“Try.” She wanted to know.
“Do you know what a planet is?” he asked, cautiously.
“Yes, I do. Who doesn’t?”
“Well, Zuvrak is a planet, from another galaxy.” His words were followed by a thick silence. Both women were astounded. “The device you saw me in, Gwendolyn, is an escape pod. My friends and I were forced to use them when our main vessel was about to explode.”
“There’s more like you?” Rhiannon asked surprised.
“Yes, there are four of us. But with the blast, we were pushed in different directions, and I have no idea where they are. They could be anywhere on this planet.”
“Will you try to find them?” she asked, not sure she liked the idea.
“Yes, I will. We had settled a meeting point just in case, so whenever I’m ready, I’ll go there and wait for them.”
“This meeting point, is it near Wales?” Gwendolyn asked, with a slight frown. Like her granddaughter, she didn’t like the idea of him leaving the village.
“No, it isn’t. It will take me quite a while to get there,” Kael explained. “I’ll need a carriage and a big boat,” he added.
“Those things cost a lot of gold,” Rhiannon pointed out.
“I’m aware of that. I’ll just have to find a way to get that gold.”
“It’s not that easy, you know? Most people work their entire lives and never gather enough gold to buy themselves a simple coach,” she explained.
“I thought gold was a metal anyone can find on the planet,” he said, a bit confused.
“In theory, yes. But most people don’t know where to find that gold, and those who find it, claim the mine for themselves and no one else can extract gold from it,” she explained.
“What happens when you find the gold?”
“You have to be sure the land you find it in isn’t claimed. Otherwise it would be stealing, and you could get hanged for it.”
“How do I know if the place is claimed?” he asked, considering all the information she was giving him.
“You’ll have to ask around,” she replied, looking at him intrigued. “You speak as if you could find gold easily.”
“I’m not sure if easily, but yes, I’m convinced I can,” he assured her.
The women exchanged strange looks, and Rhiannon finally turned to look at him. “People say there’s gold in the Devil’s Mountains. It’s a very rough place, and so far, not many have tried to find it. The mountain is still unclaimed,” she explained.
“How can I get there?” he asked, immediately interested.
“Well, I could take you. I’ll tell my father I’ll spend a few days in the next village, visiting a friend and that way he won’t miss me,” she offered.
Gwendolyn looked at the couple and shook her head. Rhiannon was sure she could feel her interest in the man, and she wasn’t very happy with it. After all, he was a stranger.
“It’s better if I take him. Your father won’t be pleased if you leave the village,” she said, with a stern tone.
“Grandma, you know you can’t go to the Devil’s Mountains. It’s too far from here, and there’s a lot of climbing on the way,” she pointed out.
“I just don’t think,”
“I’ll be fine. Dad will grumble a bit about it, and then, he won’t even miss me, you know that. The bakery is the love of his life,” she insisted.
“She will be safe with me, I assure you, Gwendolyn,” he said, trying to appease the old woman’s fears.
“Will you protect her even from yourself?” the older woman asked, with a scornful tone. She was aware of the attraction those two felt and letting them leave on a journey like that one would only mean trouble.
“I would never hurt your granddaughter.”
She sighed and looked at Rhiannon. “Are you sure you want to do this? If people find out about it, your reputation will be ruined,” she warned her.
“I don’t care about that, and you know it. I also know that would kill dad, so we’ll be careful, I promise,” she said, taking her grandmother’s hand in hers. “You know we could use the gold.”
“I know, but not at your expense.”
“It won’t be, no one will know we’ll be alone in the mountains.”
“Very well. You’ll need food and water, just in case you’re unable to hunt or to find a stream,” Gwendolyn said, turning the subject to the practical questions of the trip.
“Yes, you’ll have to lend me one of your winter coats, it’s cold up there. I can’t take mine because dad would suspect.”
“Of course.”
While Kael observed them, the two women got engaged in a lengthy dialogue, discussing the entire trip on their own. A few minutes later, they had decided they would leave first thing in the morning.
“You two are quite the planners. Are you sure you didn’t forget any detail?” he teased them.
“No, I believe we’ve covered it all,” Rhiannon assured him with a bright smile. “All you have to do is bring your expertise to find gold, and we’ll be just fine.”
“Where will we spend the nights?” he asked, curiously.
“We’ll take a tent, in case we’re not able to find a cave. We’ll have to hide it well, to protect ourselves from the demons, but they don’t usually wander through the woods. There’s nothing there that interests them,” she explained.
“Can you set this tent?”
“Yes, it’s easy. I went camping with my father a thousand times while I was growing up, so I’m used to setting up a camp and even cooking on a small fire.”
“Remember you can’t set a fire unless you find a cave,” Gwendolyn warned them. “The demons would spot the smoke, and only the skies know what could happen.”
“I’m aware of that, grandma, don’t worry. We’ll only be gone for a couple of weeks. It will take us at least three days to get to the mountains. We’ll give ourselves a week to search for the gold and three days more to return.”
“Your father won’t like this, at all,” Gwendolyn muttered.
“You’ll help him understand I need to go out more, meet new people,” she said, with a persuasive tone.
“I won’t lie to him,”
“You don’t have to. I will be going out more, and I’ll be meeting new people,” she replied, twisting the truth to meet her needs.
“I truly hope you know what you’re doing,” the older woman said, getting up, and starting to clear the table.
“I’ll go home now, to prepare all I need to take. I’ll have to prepare a magnificent dinner to sweeten dad’s heart,” she announced, as she got up to help her grandmother.
“Good luck with that. Peter was never a sweet boy. He was born worried,” Gwendolyn said, with a slight frown. She knew well her son.
“We’ll leave at dawn,” Rhiannon told Kael. “Let’s hope the demons won’t bother us tonight. Otherwise, it will be harder for us to leave. Dad would be edgy and certainly not in the mood to see me leave,” she explained.
“Let’s hope we have a peaceful night then,” he agreed.