Kingdom of Arzialla by Marilyn Arias (story reading txt) 📕

“I’m sorry, something slowed me down,” Callaghan told him.
“Well, were you able to deliver the message?”
“Yes. It should’ve reached Thomoire by now. The soldiers should be here soon,” he replied. What’s Thomoire? I wondered.
“Good. So who’s this child?” he asked again.
“Byrne, I don’t have time. I need to get to my office,” he said. Is he avoiding his questions about me? Why?
“With a child, sir?” he asked.
“She needs medical treatment,” he told him. I do? I started looking around myself but I found myself perfectly fine. At least to me I was.
“Would you like for me to call a doctor for you, General?”
Callaghan rolled his eyes in irritation. “No, I can take care of her.”
“Are you sure? I can—”
“Don’t you have something better to do, Sergeant?”
Whoa. He’s gotten serious…
“Well, yes b-but—” Byrne stuttered.
“Then you are dismissed.”
He blinked. “What?”
“Do I stutter, soldier? I said you are dismissed.”
When he said that, it reminded me of my father. He’d ask me “Do I stutter?” if I don’t do what he says right away. It ticks me off…
“But, sir.” He really doesn’t know when to give up…
“That’s an order, soldier,” he said with a harsh tone. His eyes flashed a demonic bright red when he said that. Suddenly, I’m scared of this man…
Byrne paused before saying his goodbyes and leaving.
“Zel, you need to be with your men. They need you,” the man with black hair started telling Callaghan.
“They’re perfectly fine with O’Shea.”
“Yes, but they don’t look up to him as they do to you,” he said. “Here. Let me take the girl. I’ll take care of her while you’re gone.”
“No.”
“But, sir.”
“I said ‘no’, Lieutenant,” he snapped at him. His eyes blazed like fire and began to turn into a darker shade of crimson.
“General,” he ignored Callaghan’s warning. “I won’t tell anybody. Just let me take care of her for you.”
Callaghan turned around and looked at him. They stood there, staring at each other, I guess waiting for the other to say something. At least I thought so until Callaghan turned around and unlocked a door.
“Troian, just… Just leave everything to me,” he said as we entered what looked like an office. Callaghan set me down on a gorgeous leather couch and my jaw dropped when my eyes examined the immense number of books that were put neatly away in one complete shelf that fit perfectly in one wall.
I love to read and this… this was incredible. The only problem was none of the books were in English.
“General, I insist in ta—” the black haired guy was saying until he was interrupted by a fist. Callaghan punched him firm in the jaw.
I screamed and hid behind the sofa. Strangers can be nice to you, until they have you trapped alone with them my father always used to tell me. I looked around and found a knife sitting on a desk. I quickly went to it, grabbed it and hid under the desk.
I listened to Callaghan and heard him shut the door and locking it. There was silence for a second and then, “Anna?”

I stayed quiet as I listened to his steps wander around the room.

“Anna, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to see that,” he started saying. “Come on out, please.”
After a minute, his feet started moving in front of me and he stopped.
“Hm…” he said in thought. And then he got down on his knees and found me. I pointed the knife at him.
“Stay away from me!” I said.
His face turned apologetic but he chuckled. “I knew I was missing a knife around here.”
“Go away,” I told him.
His head tipped to the side and stared at me. That’s when I realized that his eyes were no longer red. They were a light gray that seemed tense. How do his eyes change color?
He sighed. “Well, I can’t make you come out if you don’t want to.”
He stood up and walked away. I still didn’t trust him so I remained under the desk. The room was completely silent for a moment and I wondered what he was doing. And then… there was a song being played on the piano. It was soft and slow, like a lullaby. He played the song for a few minutes and I couldn’t help but take a peak.
He played gracefully on a grand piano, his back to me. Still holding the knife, I started quietly moving closer to him. I stood about ten feet behind him, watching his hands from afar as his fingers charmingly pressed the keys.
“Do you like the piano?” he suddenly spoke. I jumped from the unexpected sound of his voice. He laughed, “I’m sorry, did I startle you?”
Embarrassed to speak, I didn’t answer. He turned back around in thought and then craned his neck back at me again to look at me. “You like it?”
“Hm?” my eyebrows rose in question.
“The song. Do you like it?” he gave me a warm smile.
I hesitated but nodded.
“You shy?”
My eyes looked away and shrugged.
“Why? I won’t bite,” he chuckled. “Take a seat, child. You look so uncomfortable.”
I was unsure what to do but I found a stray stool. I took the stool and moved it at a reasonable distance from him.
“Are you that frightened of me?” he asked me. That’s when I remembered that I was still clutching the knife. And stupid of me, at some point while not paying attention, I held it tight on the blade. I loosened my hand and opened it to find a clean, bloody cut all across my palm.
He stopped playing the piano and spun himself to completely face me. “May I see?”
I hesitated before raising my hand to show him. “Do you have hydrogen peroxide, Neosporin and some bandages?”
His eyebrows were brought together. “What’s Neosporin?”
I guess this world is not the same as home…
“Nevermind…”
He sat there, staring at my wound, thinking.
“Can I try something?”
“What?” I questioned.
He wouldn’t take his eyes off of mine. “Do you trust me?”
“I don’t know… I shouldn’t.”
“Why?” he asked me.
“My daddy always told me to not trust strangers.”
His eyebrows rose. “He’s a smart man.”
He stood up, continuing to speak. “But what kind of stranger would I be if I told you that I’m protecting you?”
I was confused. “From what?”
“Everyone.”
I was scared to ask. “Why?”
“It’s forbidden for a human to be in this dimension. Why?” he shrugged and shook his head. “I don’t know the answer to that. It’s been a law for centuries.”
“It’s not your fault that I’m here though,” I said as I watched him walk over to his desk and rummage into some drawers.
“True,” he said, moving into the next set of drawers. “But the fact that I’m hiding you from the king can cause my head.”
My hands traveled up my neck and my mind imagined what it’d be like to be beheaded.
“Then why am I here? I can just run away and you wouldn’t have to do that.”
“Well, for one, where would you go? Two, you almost died in the snow. And three…” he paused to think. “I don’t know.”
True…
“Hah!” He said. “Here it is.”
He walked over to me and I couldn’t help but clutch on the knife, ready for anything. He saw me still holding the blade and he came to a halt. “Okay, how about this. You can keep the knife while I heal your wound.”
I suppose it was fair…
I supinated my hand, revealing the gash in my palm. He took the comfy chair that he used to play the piano, set it in front of me and used it to place his materials aside. He had a roll of bandages and a small brown bag. He sat on it and grabbed the bag. He opened it and pinched out a small amount of sand. He sprinkled it on my wound and it started to burn. I felt the burn travel through my veins, up my wrist, and halfway up my forearm.
“What is this?” I said through cries.
“Don’t worry. If it stings then it’s natural,” he said as he picked up the roll of bandages. Just before he started wrapping my hand with it, the sand sparkled green and purple. He rolled my fingers into a fist and held it like that while I endured the intense burn. After a minute however, it started to ease up. “Feeling better?”
Not sure how to answer, I just shrugged.
“Well then,” he began, taking the bag and bandages back to its place. “If you don’t mind me asking… How did you manage to travel here in Arzialla?”
“Arzialla?” I repeated.
“Yes, Arzialla. The kingdom of power and pride,” he said with a majestic voice. I couldn’t stop myself from giggling. “Ah! There’s a beautiful smile.”
I felt myself blush, but then I remembered Caitlin making the magic circle. My grin began to awkwardly fade away. “My cousin wanted to show me a trick and started saying stuff in front of a pentacle and before you know it, I fell into the circle.”
“And you ended up in the middle of the cruel blizzard?”
“Yeah,” I replied.
“Hm…” he said in thought. “How old are you?”
“Eig- uh… Nine,” I am so used to calling myself an eight year old. “I just turned nine.”
“Oh, really? When?” he asked, interested.
“Today,” I said.
His eyebrows rose as he took his seat back in front of me. “Oh wow! Happy birthday.”
I forced myself a smile. And that’s when I noticed… this birthday is not like the rest.
“Well, mind if I give you a last-minute gift?” he asked.
“No… you shouldn’t,” I said.
He smiled and his eyes started to glow. His forehead lit up with an elegant design and his fingers motioned to it like he was grabbing it out of his skin. When he slowly pulled his hands away, the design disappeared and his hand glowed. He pointed at me and I leaned back.
“What are you doing?” I said.
“Trust me. It won’t hurt,” he said as the tip of his index finger tapped my forehead. I began to see a bunch of jumbled up things before the room around me started spinning.
“Whoa, watch it,” he said, catching me as I fell forward. He placed me on his lap and held me. After a moment, I started feeling better. “You okay?”
His eyes were so warm, so kind. They were a beautiful turquoise color with a splash of gold in the middle. We stared at each other for what seemed like a long time, and I couldn’t lie to admit that he was gorgeous. But I suppose that would be sociably wrong since I’m only nine and he’s much older than me.
His elf ears were pointy and long but not long enough to the point where it completely stretches beyond the back of his head.