Olive Charm

Cliella sat in the trees in the garden. From her perch, she could hear everyone bustling around the house, searching for her. Only I knew of the consolation this place gave her, even though she would never admit it to me.
She knew not how often she was in my company, which was, I believe, why she craved it.
Tears trickled down her cheeks and despair was present in her eyes. She pulled her knees to her chest, and rested her chin atop them. I heard her sigh, and such sorrow lay in that sound that I may have begun to cry.
I raised my hand to wipe a falling tear, but my balance was lost and I fell to the ground with a loud thud. I cried out in pain, and Cliella looked down to see who had been watching her.
I had expected rage, but her face lit up in a smile, like I’d brought her the best gift in the world. It didn’t seem fair that she should look that way; that her tears should cease simply because she saw me.
I tried to smile back at her, but it mustn’t have been a convincing attempt, because she threw her head back in laughter.
When she had stopped giggling, she climbed down, and came to lay next me. She fit herself to my side and laid her head on my shoulder. I reached my arm round her torso, and rested it on her hip.
She breathed her scent onto my chest. “Does it seem fair to you?”
I couldn’t help smirking; she had taken the words straight from my lips. But I answered her question with my own. “Are you happy?”
Seeing the sincerity in my eyes, she sighed. “It will upset you.”
I smiled; it pleased me that her need to protect me hadn’t perished. “You are. Then all is righteous.”
Cliella frowned in concentration. “Must I always hurt you?”
I made an effort to put a shining smile upon my face. “I will never leave you. I was your friend, then your suitor, and now I shall be your friend once more. But I will always love you. Always. “
Our eyes locked, and, to break the silence, Cliella giggled. The sound made me smile. She explained before I could ask. “You make it very difficult to be happy, when I know you aren’t.”
A smirk crossed my face as I got up. I answered simply, and scooped her in my arms. “Your happiness is my happiness.”
She kissed my cheek, and I let her down. We walked into the house, casually, as friends.
Ralanis was in the kitchen when we entered. She ran into his arms, and I stood back as they embraced. A sickening feeling twisted in the pit of my stomach. I felt jealousy burn in the back of my eyes. My excuse was a mumble as I escaped to another room.
When they were through, I said my farewells to all in the house, and began my walk home. Once there, I changed into my nightclothes, climbed into bed, and slowly dozed off into a deep slumber.
When I woke, the sun’s brilliance left me in shock. It was as if it was taunting me: daring me to be happy. I arose from my bed. As I was dressing, I heard a shrill scream. I hurried and ran to the sound. I was horrified when I saw the source. There were many men, all hauling a violently protesting girl into a wagon.
I was filled with abhorrence, but the girl’s wrist caught my eye. Upon her slender arm was a rope, with a small charm of an olive hanging from it. Cliella. I ran to where the troop of captors was, shouting, “Take your hands off her!”
One man detached himself from the troop. I recognized him at once. Just as I was about to shout his name, Ralanis’s strong fingers clasped my throat. “Tell no one what you’ve seen. Her life depends on your silence.” He snarled the words; anger and fear twisted in my mind.
He released me, and I sprinted to Cliella’s house.
Exploding through the door, I watched each face gasp at my complete disregard for common courtesy. But the first word that came from my lips was not an apology. “Cliella.”
Adora, her mother, smiled sympathetically. “My dear boy, she’s taken a walk with Ralanis.”
I snorted, but my fury had reached its peak. “She’s gone! Ralanis and his fiends have taken her away in a cart!”
Adora refused to believe such nonsense. “Mendax!”
“What reasons have I to lie? My meaning has ceased. I swear to you, only truth comes forth from me!”
“Hercle! Why do you tell me these things?”
I growled in frustration. “I am trying to tell you what I know to be true.”
And she looked at me in confusion. And I knew her feeling; when you desperately wanted to believe something was false, yet somewhere in your heart you know it to be truth. It was that kind, because when you are in this situation, you are fighting a losing battle, and the opponents weapons are stronger and sturdier. I saw the moment of surrender, when all her reasons had deceased, and her shoulders fell ever so slightly, her eyes grew warier yet. “What reason have you to lie?”
“None.” Once the words had escaped my trembling lips, I couldn’t capture them once more. Tears swelled in her eyes and dripped over the brim. I could see her stability faltering and I outstretched my arms at the exact moment they were needed. I caught Adora and let her cry onto my shoulder, for she hadn’t a husband to cry to.
“I knew you loved her.” Her whisper was raspy with her sobs, but she had made me curious. She’d finished the sentence as if it were just the intriguer. “From the first time you set foot in this house, with the way you looked at her, I knew, “ she continued. She smiled. “There was a time when she returned your gaze with the same sparkle in her eyes. But that time came to pass, when Ralanis came to visit from Rome. You would have made a much better spouse than that despicable man. You loved Cliella for who she was, not what her father was. I saw the slight drop in your eyes when you first heard. You didn’t call as often after that. You are a better man than Ralanis. You always have been, and you always will be. “
When she had finished, her shoulder was nearly as wet as mine. Tears flowed, uncontrollable, down our faces. “I thought I was alone…”
Adora smiled. “Never.” Somehow, having some one else know, without actually having to confide, was comforting in an unfamiliar way.
“I’m going after them, “ I vowed. “I will bring Cliella home, or I will be martyred in the process.”
Adora kissed my cheek, and there was great gratitude in her eyes. “When she returns you shall have her hand, and none but her can deny you it. But if what you say is true, yours will be the only one she’ll ever take.”
“Gratias tibi ago. You know not how much that means to me.” And I hugged her once more before I went to pack my things for the long trek ahead.
Upon my trip home, my thoughts were untamable. It was as if I was firewood. Once my flame was taken from me, I was without purpose or meaning. Love is a luxury only the luckiest among us has the pleasure of. Some say that love died years ago, and marriage is an arrangement of finances and status. There have been times when I was in a state of agreement with them. But that was simply a byproduct of the depression churning inside me. I quickly found the solution and acted upon it. But my solution was not a sure one, as it is now proving. It was to spend as much time in her company, acting as a simple friend. But now even that has been slid out from under my feet. I have lost my balance once again for Cliella’s sake, and this time it is harder to stabilize myself than before.
There was a crater in my chest, an ever-worsening pain eroding my insides. I felt like screaming as the agony swelled inside me. I tripped as my eyes watered with anger. I ran through the streets, and a sight I must have looked with my tear-stained cheeks and clumsy stride. Though in that moment, none of it was real. I fell my last, into the street. But my final thoughts were not of concern for myself, but they grieved for my dearest Cliella. As the crowds trambled me to my death, I breathed and whispered. “Protect her.”