The Amulet: Chapter Four.

CHAPTER FOUR:

        Cade crouched on the windowsill outside Alize’s bedroom. He could see in just enough to know that the maid was still there. She’d been hovering about all day making it impossible for him to try and talk to the girl. Personally he didn’t know what all the fuss was about, he’d had worse injuries, she would live. He watched as the maid poured yet another cup of water and straightened the bed sheets again. The girl just sat there, as she had the entire day, staring at the ceiling mostly and smiling sadly at the people who talked to her. Sighing he brushed the hair out of his face and waited. He’d been waiting all day except for when he scoured the mansion, mapping out places where he could leave swiftly and places where other people spent most of their time. The last thing he wanted was someone to find him with the girl.
     
  A wave of pain suddenly over-took him and he was scraping his hands on the sill trying to find something to hold onto. But as suddenly as it had appeared the pain was gone. He breathed heavily and leaned against the stone wall for support. Once again he looked down at the ground, he was unimaginably high up and the sill he was sitting on was only a few inches wide. Not that he was worrying about it. If he was to jump he had no doubt he’d land on his feet like usual. He was worried about the pain spells he was developing. They’d been frequent today and if he got a particularly bad one and fell having it... well... he shivered and held on tighter, there was no guarantee he’d land upright.
   
    He faintly heard a door closing from inside the room and he turned to look. The maid was gone and the door was closed. Cade sighed and then swiftly took his dagger out to start prying open the window. He jammed the tip of the blade under the window, hesitated a moment and then shook his head and pushed down.
   
    The window rose smoothly and silently and the girl, who was staring at the opposite wall now, was so engrossed in her own thoughts she didn’t hear him. A second later he was at her bedside, she turned over, sensing something, but before it could register, he had a firm hold over her mouth. She stiffened and stared up at him, eyes wild.

        Cade leaned down gently and whispered into her ear, “If you know what’s good for you, you will not scream. I’m here to explain myself,” When the girl just stared back at him he threw his head back and sighed. She was positively terrified, he could sense the fear running through her veins. “I’m not going to hurt you. No, I was not going to kill that man. Okay, so you don’t believe me.”

        With his free hand he rubbed his forehead, “Look. How about I give you my weapons and we talk. Promise you won’t scream?” It seemed like forever but finally the girl gave a slight nod and he released her from his grip. Immediately she back up against the headboard, still scared out of her mind. For a moment Cade didn’t know what to say, until suddenly she spoke.

        “Give me your weapons.” she demanded harshly.

        “Oh, uh, yes.” He reached down into his boots and then stopped suddenly, gazing at the girl. She was small but beautiful, her golden curls tumbled down her back and across her shoulders. They were messy but stunning all the same. She had a blood-stained cloth tied to her head and a strip of cloth wound around her wrist. She was wearing a simple yet elegant light blue nightdress. Her terror-filled eyes were a blue that was so light it almost matched the sky outside her window. Suddenly he was filled with hatred. Hatred for this girl who had caused him so many problems. Who had put his life at stake. He felt his dagger between his fingers and wanted nothing more than to plunge it into the soft perfect skin of her neck.

        “Now, please.” Cade blinked at her and shook the sudden anger off, his life depended on him keeping control of himself. Then, almost as fast as it had happened the strange anger was suddenly gone. Momentarily confused, he drew the dagger from his boot and handed it to her absentmindedly. Looking up at her he noticed she was shaking with terror now. No doubt she had felt the strange hatred he’d just experienced. Nymph’s, like Druyd’s, could sense one another’s feelings from their aura’s. Though he didn’t think most Nymph’s recognized it as that. He had to be more careful to mask his emotions, unless he wanted her to see right through him. “Who are you?” She asked bluntly.

        It was a moment before Cade got his bearings back, “My name is... Cade.” He hesitated at giving her his name, as he didn’t like to give it to most people but realized that if he was going to be able to get this girl with him he was going to have to play along, “What’s your name?”

        “Alizabeth...” She said slowly, “Alize.”

        Cade, who was still standing by the edge of the bed, sat down in the maid’s chair by the edge of the bed.

        Alize glared at him suspiciously. She seemed a little less afraid with a knife in her hand but her voice still shook, “I saw you try to kill him. You were going to kill him.”

        “I was not,” Cade explained calmly, “I was simply threatening to kill him if he did not give me the package. I never intended to do so.”

        Alize, who did not seem convinced just glared at him, “But, I... felt it.” Cade couldn’t help but grin at her uncertainty, “In your aura,” his grin disappeared. So she did know something about aura’s. Now he had to be even more careful.

        “Well I have to be convincing don’t I?” He continued his calm and masked approach.

        “So you are a thief?”

        “Ah, well... you see, he was the thief, I was merely retrieving what was stolen from a... friend.” He gritted his teeth slightly as he spit out the last word. It was a lie, he knew that. The master was no more a friend of his than the item belonged to him. Maybe the man he was pursuing had stolen it, but there was no way to find out, and it wasn’t important. What was important was getting this girl to believe him.

        “I don’t believe you.” She explained.

        “And why’s that?” Cade was trying hard not to loose his temper.

        “Well, what was the object?”

        Cade blinked at her and swallowed hard, “Well... you see... that’s not really for me to-”

        “You don’t know do you?” He looked up at her and was startled to see her slightly grinning, “And why would you be trying to retrieve something for a friend who would not tell you what you were after? They obviously don’t trust you. And why would you threaten another man for an item that your supposed friend doesn’t trust to tell you what it is? What’s the point?”

        Cade just stared at her, towards caught in his throat, he coughed and attempted to defend himself, “Well...”

        But Alize cut him off, “And if the money was good enough why threaten the man and not kill him all together?” Her voice was suddenly so venomous he backed up a little. She glared at him, her eyes narrowed. Cade struggled to keep his calm front.

        “Those are pretty big assumptions, I wouldn’t want to make assumptions,” He glanced her up and down, shifting in his chair. Her gaze hardened.

        “What are you-” They both froze at the sound of someone ascending the stairs outside her room. Cade was on his feet in seconds, his hand held out towards her. She stared at it blankly.

        “My blade,” he whispered urgently. To his dismay she stared furiously up at him.

        “Oh no. How do I know you wont kill me in my sleep?”

        Cade gaped at her, “If I wanted to kill you I could get other blades.”

        Alize just shrugged, “Plus, I’m not done talking to you. Having possession of this, I can be sure you’ll be back.”

        He stared at the blade and seethed with anger, if he could just distract her... he heard the footsteps again, louder, and thought better of it. He had to come back anyway, he could get his dagger then.  As the doorknob turned Alize quickly stuffed the knife under her pillow. When she glanced back towards the chair, he was gone.