Frozen Memories: Heirs of Ethra

Your Guardian

The walk to wherever prince Adanis was keeping Max was tortuous in and of itself. I longed to see a familiar face in this strange place. 

“When are we going to get there?” I impatiently asked.

“Patience is a virtue,” Adanis returned in his accented English. 

I glowered at him, silently expressing my disdain for him before rolling my eyes. “You speak like them…the humans of earth,” I pointed out. “Have you been before?” I inquired though daring not to look his way.

I took the noise that he made following my inquiry as condescending. Glaring at him, I started to retort in returned condescension when he interrupted me.

“I see you’ve inherited the human race’s hubris,” Adanis rolled his eyes. 

Had I not been determined to see Max, I would have forced him to stop walking and explain his audacity to me. “What is that supposed to mean?” Whatever his accusation was, the tone of his voice immediately alerted to the fact that this was not a compliment. 

Adanis stopped walking and stared down at me. “Humans think that they are the be-all-end-all of everything that ever was, is, and will be.” He said to me. Adanis continued walking down the corridor and then took an immediate left. I followed after him, curious about the meaning behind his words.

“You care to elaborate on that?” 

“Hmph!” Adanis shook his head. “Humans have such…arrogant pride that they assume that they are the greatest and most intelligent creation,” He cackled. “They thought of all of the words, and all of the phrases and all of the science.” He stopped again and stared down at me. “From whom do you think they learned? From whom do you think their ideas grew?” He laughed. “It certainly wasn’t them alone,” He returned. It was when I saw him standing near a heavy metal door that I realized we may have finally arrived at where the prince had been keeping Max this whole time. “It is clear to me, princess…that you need quite the history lesson.” The prince glanced at me, a small amused look upon his perfectly chiseled face before he unlocked the door that would presumably lead to Maxandria.

When the loud door swung open, I headed in as quickly as my weakened state would allow. It was yet again, another dungeon. “Max?” I frantically called. “Max! Where are you-”

“Min…Mina?” 

“Max!” I exclaimed and rushed to the bars where I saw my friend sitting in the corner, her wrists and ankles chained and her wild red hair falling wildly against her arms. “Are you okay?” Before she could even answer me, I stood from the bars and confronted the prince, angrily shoving him. “You said she was safe! That you hadn’t harmed her!” I accused.

“As you can see, princess, your guardian is safe…And unharmed, but surely you did not expect me to keep her in some grandiose living arrangement with a nice view of Ethra.” His sarcasm made me want to deliver a fist full of knuckles to his teeth. Though, unfortunately, I had to admit that I would have probably done the same thing had I been in his shoes. Annoyed, I quickly turned away from him and saw that Max was next to the bar now.

“Are you alright?” I asked my friend again.

Max held on to the bars and chuckled weakly. “I’ll be even better once these weirdo chains are off of me, and I’m out of this smelly old cell.”

When she said this, I looked at the prince, hoping that he’d oblige the request. “Well?”

“How do I know that I can trust her?” He said. “I barely trust you, and you are my mate.”

“Wait, what?!” Max’s eyes ran over me incredulously. “What…is he talking about, Mina?” 

“It’s a long story. I’d like to get you out of this first before I even get into it,” 

Max looked past me and watched Adanis closely. “How do you know that we can trust him?”

I started to counter, but the prince beat me to it. “You don’t know,” He quickly admitted. “But then it’s not like I fully trust either of you. So I assume that we all move on faith alone.”

Max stared at him, She was obviously studying him. It took a lot for one to gain her trust and it was obvious that she did not believe a word that he’d said. However, both she and I knew that she’d be of better use outside of that jail cell. 

“Get me out of here,” She said.

Adanis watched her for a moment and then bowed. “As you wish.” He said. Adonis walked over to Max’s cell, I was standing in the way and so he waited for me to move, silently requesting by a slight nod of his head. Begrudgingly, I did as I was wordlessly asked.

I made sure to watch closely. If he made one wrong move, I’d do everything in my power to stop him. If I were being honest with myself, logically speaking, he could have done away with Max long before this moment, and if his goal was to make me watch then he certainly would not have had me unbound, free to try and intervene. No matter how weak I was. My common sense was telling me that he intended no harm-at least for the time being. However, a deep-seated past that I could not shake nor even remember bayed me to keep my guard up.

When Adanis unlocked the door of Max’s cell, I rushed in as quickly as my feet could carry me. Max, whose weight was mostly dependent on the bars of the jail cell, started to tumble forward. I took her arm and wrapped it around my neck making sure to keep her steady as we both made our way out of the cell.

I walked past Adanis with Maxandria in tow. “I trust you have a place where she can heal properly.”

Fortunately, it took very little time before we were escorted to another part of the castle where a room dedicated to healing wounds was located. Quite frankly, I was surprised that prince Adanis escorted us the around without much of a team of guards to protect himself against us. After all, my strength was gradually returning to me.

“While you are more than welcome to our healers,” Adanis said, once Max we finally arrived into one of the private healing areas. “I am almost certain that you will not be needing one of our doctors.”

We both glared at the prince. “Why would either of us take your word for that?” 

“Because not one hand has been laid on your guardian since her arrival,” The prince said, his eyes hopping from me to her as he spoke. “Unlike her majesty, she was nowhere near as difficult to keep down,” He remarked. “Though, now I understand why,” He added. “I doubt that your guardian has been through nearly as much turmoil with Amthirion as her master-”

“I am no one’s master.” 

His words had offended me, I could only imagine how they made Max feel. I looked at my closest friend, ashamed on his behalf for the words spoken on mine.

“I’m sorry, Max-”

“Don’t be,” Max intervened. “He seems to know something that we don’t about this whole guardian thing.”

“I do,” Adanis stared at Max with a wide grin. “And I’d be delighted to enlighten you when you are well enough.”

After he finished speaking, I quickly turned to Max wondering what her response would be. Surely, she’d not immediately not take him up on his offer. 

“Sure.” 

When I heard her answer, my eyes widened in surprise! Sure?  Had she forgotten about the others? Was this a ploy? I stayed silent, waiting for her-hoping that she’d follow with another comment more reassuring than the last.

“Good,” Adanis replied. “I will-”

“After, you tell us where our friends are,” Max cut in. A sigh of relief engulfed me. When I looked at her, her expression turned amused as she looked at me. “Surely, you didn’t think I’d forgotten about your annoying friends.”

I knew that her remark was just a cover-up for her true concern. “Or Nixon?” My brow raised, and then my gaze slithered over to Adanis, whose expression showed slight irritation. “My brother-the true heir of Ethra’s throne.”

The dark elf expelled a harsh breath, tightening his jaw. “Fine,” He finally returned. “I do not know where your little band of misfits have disappeared off to-”

“That’s not a good enough answer!” Max hissed.

“Do you always let your servant speak for you, princess?” Adanis asked me. “I understand that you are out of touch with the way that things are in Ethra. I also get that Guardians are an extremely rare breed but it does not change the chain of command.”

I knew that Max stayed silent at this point, not because of fright but because of caution. She did not want to mess up a good thing and because I was in an alleged position of power, I already knew, by the look in her eyes as she looked at me, that she thought I should use it. Especially, if this prince would allow it. So, I did. 

I stepped to him. “As I said, Maxandria does not belong to anyone because I deem it so,” I said to the prince. “You will respect her. To not do so is a direct disregard to me.” This last part I said in Ethrian tongue. Since this prince wished to condescend to my lack of culture when it came to Ethra, the least I could do was show him that I knew my fair share of it. “Do you understand that…prince Adanis?” 

As I stood there watching him I could have sworn that I saw a smirk turn up the corn of the prince’s lip. Was he amused by my words? Had I said something funny to him? Or made myself look the fool? At this point, I really did not care. At this point…the only thing that mattered to me was that he respect me and Max and take us to our friends.

“As you wish, princess Mina of Ethra.”