My Way To You

"You intrigue me child, you will stay at my residence for the night along with your "mother"... tomorrow morning I will personally escort you back here to complete your adoption." She said before she moved her gaze to Lady Zula. "It looks like it would be more entertaining having you by my side rather then keep you at a distance." He words struck a nerve with Lady Zula causing her to clench her jaw and scowl.

Countess Drake gave a small chuckle and turned her back to the women. The men before her parted once more and created a path for their commander. "Vice Captain Drake!" She yelled out into the night air. A moan was heard from the side as the vice captain as he started to lift himself from the ground. "Yes commander." He said roughly as he rubbed the back of his head. "Your performance was pitiful to say in the least... I will need you to accompany these women to my estate so we can do some one on one training. I need to re-educate you in manners and gave you brush up on your fighting skills."

The surrounding soldiers winced when they heard Countess Drake"s words. They knew what her education was like and remembered the horror that would befall the poor person that had to endure, that is if they could endure. "Yes commander, it would be my pleasure." Vice captain Drake said as he lifted himself to one knee and bowed.

With that the Countess moved forward and yelled at some soldiers as she pa.s.sed by to ready her carriage. Ariana stood her ground as she watched the woman"s back became smaller. A slapping sound was heard from behind her. She turned and watched Lady Zula growl as she stared down vice captain Drake. "I don"t need that hag"s lap dog to lay even a finger on me again."

Vice captain Drake"s right eye started to twitch. "I can a.s.sure you that I would never voluntarily even breathe the same air as you but my commander has given her orders. I must obey." Lady Zula gave him a dirty look then started to walk towards Ariana. The disgust she had in her eyes were instantly replaced with worry as she quicken her pace. "Ariana, honey are you okay?" She said as she dropped to her knees. Ariana gave her a small smile and leaned in for a hug. "I"m just really tired." Was all she could say before she blacked out in Lady Zula"s arms.

.....

Ariana woke up in the middle of an overly plushed bed. There were giant pillows under and around her head, four posts holding a white canopy and a velvety red and gold duvet on top of her. It also looked like she had been cleaned up and was wearing a white silk gown while her hair was delicately braided.

She looked around the room but it was too dark to see anything else other then what was right beside the bed. Someone was slumped over on the edge of the bed, soundly sleeping. She slowly crawled out of the covers and inched her way over, she brushed back some locks of hair and felt relief when she recognized Lady Zula"s face. She bent over slowly and placed a soft kiss on her temple. She then scooted off the bed and pulled a loose blanket from underneath.

She tipped toed as silently as she could and gently draped a blanket over her shoulders. She then walked over to the window and saw that they were facing what seemed a dark sea. She felt someone watching her and looked towards the gate. Two lamps were lit and standing in front of an iron gate was a black, crouched figure.

A faint, red glow was admitting from within his cloak. Thunder suddenly roared through the night sky and a flash of lightning lit up the scene before her. She caught a glimpse of grey eyes staring at her window. Her heart skipped a beat. She instinctively back a way and turned herself around. She reached out her hand to try and feel her way around the room. She saw a faint glow near the ground and started to make her way towards it.

She found the door handle and open the door, her heart was pounding hard against her chest. She looked down either end of the hallway, swallowed back some saliva and decided to run down the right side of the hallway. She didn"t know if she was going the right way but she needed to try and get to him. She found a set of stairs and raced down them, tripping down the last two steps.

She stumbled a bit but caught herself near the end. She looked around and caught sight of another flash of lightning. She ran forward and slammed her body against double doors. She fumbled around until she found the lock. When she opened the doors she rushed out towards the gate. At first there were only small drops of rain but as the thunder roared again across the night sky did the rain become heavier. She kept up her pace as she saw her goal in sight.

She slid and slipped in some mud but the momentum she was going at was too great. Her body slid forward and only stopped when she hit the gate back first. The force caused her to cough up saliva. "Ari - Ari - ana." Cayden breathlessly said as he barely touched her back with the tips of her fingers.

"I"m ... cough.... cough... okay." She said as she tried to peal herself off of the gate. "Cayden, are you alright?" Ariana asked as she turned to face him. The heavy rain caused the cloak Cayden was wearing to stick to him, his hair was drenched but the glow was still strong. She raised her hand and grabbed the clasp of the cloak.

Cayden grabbed her hand, stopping her from undoing the clasp. Her eyes became wide as she looked at the glowing marks that were etched on his fingers, he wore black, fingerless gloves covering the marks on his hands. It extended down his arm and disappeared under his cloak. She saw faint traces around his neck and felt a chill run down her spine.

"Go back inside." He hissed as his hand trembled. "No! Not without you!" She shouted as she shook her head. "How can I leave you out here?!" She quickly got up and looked for a way to open the gate. There was a latch but it was too hard to open by hand. She started searching around the area for a lever or something to open the locking mechanism. "Ugh!" Cayden shouted as he grabbed his chest.

Ariana panicked as she looked back at Cayden. She shoved her small hands into the mechanism, she swallowed back the pain as she inched the teeth of the gears upwards. Her face was covered with a mixture of sweat, tears and rain. "St-stop Ariana!" He spat out as the marks started to glow a fiercer red. "Just a little more Cayden, please hold on!" She cried as she heard the mechanism creak.

She winced one more time before the lock finally lifted. She pulled out her hands, and saw that bits of her flesh were torn off and blood dripped down her fingertips. She moved her hands to one of the iron gate panels and pulled. She had no grip and slid as she took side steps. She refused to give up, she picked herself up again and hooked her arm around the bar, dug her feet into the mud and started to pulling.

Every step she grunted, every minute that pa.s.sed Cayden was getting closer to the ground and the rain didn"t seem like it was letting up. Finally the gate was pulled far enough for her and Cayden to walk through. Lightning struck a tree near by, causing Ariana to drop to the ground. She watched the tree spilt in two as the rain stopped the fire from spreading. She gulped as the thunder roared again and crawled towards Cayden.

She used all her might to haul Cayden up and half drag him towards the estate. The glowing marks on his body started to dim and his breathing started to calm down. She felt relieved that whatever pain he was in was going away. When they finally reached the doors they were greeted by an unexpected person.

"Vice Captain Drake." She said breathlessly as she looked up at his face, her bangs were soaking wet and properly covered her eyes. The lights were turned on and it looked like a butler and maid were standing behind him in waiting. She noticed that his face was slightly bruised and his hands were tightly bandaged. "What do you think your doing?" He coldly said as he stared at the two standing under the small roof above the doorway.

"Please, please move aside. My friend is in some sort of weird pain, I have no idea what"s going on with his body but there are these weird glowing mark...?!" Ariana hadn"t prepared herself for an attack and when she saw it coming it was too late . She closed her eyes and waited for the impact but after a moment she felt nothing, she wasn"t thrown back, she didn"t lose her grip on Cayden but instead felt that the boy she was holding up had become lighter.

She opened her eyes and saw that the fist was stopped by Cayden. He held vice captain"s wrist in place leaving his fist an inch away from her face. "Don"t touch her!" He hissed as he tightened his grip. The vice captain winced slightly and pulled his arm downwards, breaking the hold Cayden had on him. With the immediate danger gone, Cayden slightly slumped forward and Ariana scrambled to catch him.

Vice Captain Drake looked at the two curiously and in a split second he became wide eyed. The little girl before him was staring back at him, her bangs no longer covering the top half of her face. Her eyes caused him to feel chills down his spine and he subconsciously tool a step back. "Who are you?" He asked under his breath but the downpour drowned out whatever he had said. He coughed and turned to the butler and maid.

"Dry these two, then give them something warm. I will go speak with the Madam and see what she wants to do with the..." He paused for a moment and looked back at the two. "With the "new guest", for now treat them both equally hospitable." He finished saying then turned to walk towards a back room. "Do not let them get sick or the Madam will become furious." He shouted as he walked away.

The butler and maid bowed as he walked past them. "As you wish." Clearly stating they understood their orders. The butler moved forward first and easily picked up Cayden in a princess hold. "Please don"t hurt him." Ariana pleaded as she felt the energy in her body drain. The maid bent down and extended a hand out. "Don"t worry the young master has spoken, we need to warm up your body then treat your wounds or else we won"t be able to avoid a severe beating." The woman said casually but it cause Ariana to tremble.

Another roar of thunder was heard, the sound was menacing making Ariana turn her head to look out back to the front yard. Instinct told her this was not a normal storm. The maid dragged Ariana up and slammed the door shut. "You don"t need to see that." Was all she said before she picked her up like a sack of potatoes and carried her up the stairs. The butler followed suit and quietly carried Cayden with ease.

An hour later Cayden and Ariana were both warmed, patched up and clean. They sat side by side in a small room that was warmed by a fireplace. Ariana fiddled with the new night gown she was wearing as she heard Lady Zula"s screaming from the other side of the door. "She really cares about you." A gentle voice said causing Ariana"s cheeks to turn red. She turned to face him so she could answer him clearly but felt her face turn hotter.

Cayden no longer wore a cloak and tattered clothes. He wore a nice, long sleeved, green shirt, sand coloured pants and shiny black shoes. His hair was no longer in spiked clumps but combined to the side neatly. Ariana looked up at him again and reached out to touch his hair. "Did they give you a hair cut?" She giggled as she felt the softness of his hair.

Cayden winced and brought his hand up and tousled his hair. "I look stupid don"t I?" He said as he moved his hand over his face. Ariana stood up and moved in front of his. She placed her hand over his, knelt down and gently pried his hand off his face. "No, I actually like it better this way." She said as her eyes sparkled with admiration.

They had trimmed his hair a lot shorter but left a medium fringe in the front, framing his face in a rather handsome way. "You look so cool." She said as she turned her face after the words left her mouth, she felt her face turn hot again. She felt a hand on her chin and her face was brought back to his again. "I always believed I lost you..." He said as his grey eye started to glaze over, he then dropped it to her hands.

He scowled as he looked at her fingers, he brought the hands up and gently placed a kiss on each hand. Ariana was about to say something when the door swung open with a little too much force. Cayden stood up and quickly blocked Ariana from the intruder.

"Stand down." A commanding voice called out but Cayden took one step forward and raised his fists. Ariana peeked around his body and saw that it was Countess Drake, Lady Zula and Vice Captain Drake who entered into the room. "Mom." She whimpered out as she shrank back behind Cayden and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Don"t let them hurt him! He"s my friend and saviour!"

"To my understanding it was him whom you saved." Countess Drake said as she stared at the two. Ariana could feel Cayden"s back tense up and she tightened her embrace. "Today I did but he has saved me before and has been watching over me ever since."

"Is that why you take a plate of food outside everyday?" Lady Zula asked quietly. Her voice caused Ariana to tremble slightly and she felt her eyes starting to sting. "Yes." She managed to say before she heard footsteps coming towards them. "Well hag, if you want to throw this fine boy out then we are going with him. I didn"t want to stay here anyways, it"s still got that lingering feeling of oppression and blood in the air." Lady Zula said as she stepped in front of Cayden, making her stand clear.

Countess Drake raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Even if this child bares the markings of a slave contract?" Lady Zula didn"t flinch when she heard the words slave, instead she stood tall and faced her mother, defying her with just a glare. "Fine do whatever you want but I won"t toss you out tonight. It seems the Thunder bird is on the prowl tonight and I"m not that much of a monster to throw you out and feed you to it." She said as she waved her hand in the air. "Come along Gregory, it"s late you should really be resting to heal those wounds."

"Yes Madam, whatever you say." Vice Captain Drake said as he bowed to her as she left the room. He stood up and looked at the three. He narrowed his gaze and clicked his tongue before he left the room. Lady Zula let out a small sigh of relief and turn to face the two. She pulled the boy into her embrace and hugged him tightly. "You were the boy that saved Ariana at my brother"s pub. Rin told me, thank you." She said then reached out and pulled Ariana into the embrace. "I"m sorry, so sorry your locked up her with me."