The Watched: An Invisible Enemy

This is chapter 21 of The Watched: An Invisible Enemy. Find all the chapters published so far here. Download the entire novel from a major retailer here.

 

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Barric gave up on the lullaby. He stamped down the rage boiling up in him and willed his heart to manufacture the peace she so desperately needed from him.

Edric, the one entrusted with the safety of his daughters, had simply stood there, his sword useless against an enemy he could not see. Another reason Edric was not the one for Aralyn. Edric had forgotten how to pray.

She was so young, broken in unseen ways. He was sure by the way she curled up like an infant in his lap. How did he protect her from this? How did he help her heal?

“Aralyn, you’re safe. Look at me.”

She shook her head and, if possible, curled her knees in closer. She might be grown, but she was tiny. At least to him. How did he comfort a grown child he barely knew and who barely trusted him? Still, he would give the duty to no other.

His back ached and his legs cramped, but he let her cry it out. When the sobs dissipated and the tears seemed to run dry, he brushed the hair from her face. “Are you hurt?”

She shrugged. “It was my fault. I insisted on sleeping apart from you.”

“This was not your fault. You did not invite this.” He hugged her hard. “Tell me what happened.”

She hiccupped. “You’ll tell Edric.”

“I won’t.” She had not shared her vision with Edric either. A thick dread settled in his gut like bad bread because she believed this spoiled her, that Edric would not want her. If Edric did not understand how the enemy attacked her, because she would not tell him, how could he keep her safe?

“What happened dohter fæger ond wlitegost?”

She glanced up. “What does that mean?”

“Dohter fair and most beautiful.” He rubbed soothing circles on her back. It was all he could think to do.

“I don’t know.” She leaned her head against him again and closed her eyes. “I was asleep. And woke to this touch. On my skin. This voice that sounded like Edric. The furs were still atop me, but I felt his breath on my skin. Then I knew it wasn’t Edric. He tore my shift. I couldn’t move. I fought against him, but I felt your hands on my shoulders at the same time.”

The pain and confusion in her voice ripped a hole in his heart. “Do you understand what happened?”

“If that is how a man is with a woman, I want no part of it.”

Barric pulled back so he could see her face. She needed her mother, but Felora, by the sounds of it, had abandoned that duty a long time ago. “No, between a husband and his wife there is love and tenderness and pleasure. A husband does not take pleasure from his wife. She offers it to him. He does not steal or force or threaten. Do you understand the difference?”

Aralyn shook her head. No, how could she understand? Perhaps what had happened to her was what she witnessed between Felora and Oram? Yet she had welcomed Edric’s touch. Barric had caught enough glimpses of that.

“Fa, am I with child? Edric said that is how it works.”

A stone sank to the pit of his gut. There was no blood on the sheets or on her that he could see. Yet there were stories of children conceived in this way from long ago. He only had Lynna’s description to go by.

“Where were you touched? You must tell me everything.”

Aralyn pointed to her torso and shoulders and neck, her finger trembling as it traced a path across her body. He asked question after question, trying to see what had happened through her words, through her inexperience. Her answer to his final question made his shoulders sag. Interrupted. “No, you can’t be with child. I’ll explain later.”

He drew the furs up and over Aralyn again and saw the bruises on her wrists and forearms. A dark smear was rising on her jaw and across her collarbone. He had seen the way Feer had attacked Edric at the river and now Aralyn. But Barric was not powerless.

A decision took form in his mind. Edric would fight him, Aralyn might too, but it was the right decision. No matter where they went, Aralyn would be a target, especially now, but Barric would find no teacher for her here. They couldn’t stay.

“Fa?” A small voice spoke from the doorway.

“Come here.” He held out his hand for Lynna and the younger girl curled up next to him.

“Lynna needs a name too, in the old language,” Aralyn said to him.

He thought. “Leof my love? Dyre my dear or leofa beloved?”

Lynna scrunched her nose at those terms. Barric laughed.

“What’s my friend?” Aralyn said.

“Min freond. Or min sweostor, my sister.”

Aralyn turned to her sister. “Bancung min little freond.” She turned to Barric for the missing word.

“Bancung min freond lýtling.”

Lynna beamed.

“Where did you learn thank you?” Barric asked Aralyn.

“Mother would let it slip sometimes when Oram wasn’t around.”

“Why couldn’t anyone else hear Aralyn?” Lynna squirmed closer, but there was no more room in his lap.

“Why didn’t you wake up?”

Barric squeezed her against him. “Because you have a gift no one else here has. It seems you can see the supernatural world around us, while we must wait for those beings to show themselves. I was praying for Aralyn. I prayed the King would send a warrior to defend her because I could not.”

Aralyn stirred against him. “I heard your prayers. Part of me wanted to follow him. He said I was useless and ruined. But your prayers and your hands held me here.”

He hugged them. “Min dohter leofa, the deofol tells many lies. Yes? We must learn the truth so we recognize the deceptions.”

There was still much he could teach them both and that lightened his heart. And the King had heard his prayers. Barric drew in a ragged breath and kissed both their heads.

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