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A Soldier's Wife
| Passions in Prose |
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A Soldier's Wife |
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Ruby dagger Member
since 1999-08-01
Posts 76Wyoming, MN, U.S.A |
"What are you smiling about?" Adara asked her friend, who was staring out the window with a dreamy smile on her face. Adara looked out the window and saw a beautiful pale blue sky over a lush green field. "The fields don’t look any different than yesterday." "Just thinking of when I get to see Curran again," Kyra said looking at her friend. "I can’t wait until he comes home." She said with a sparkle in her blue eyes. Adara smiled, "I was so excited when the messenger came through town with the news that we won the war and our boys are coming home. I can’t wait to see Dace," she said with a smile as she pushed a stubborn lock of ebony hair back behind her ear. "It’s been too long since you’ve gotten to spend some quality time with that new husband of yours." "I have been married Curran for three years now. I don’t think you can call him a new husband," Kyra said, then looked out the window again. She really didn’t see the scenery, instead she was seeing Curran’s handsome face, his light brown hair that hung just slightly past his shoulders, his intense green eyes gazing into her soft blue, his muscular arms picking her up and spinning her around, and his soft tender lips against hers. "But, still, you were married for two weeks before all the men were sent off to war," Adara said snapping Kyra back to reality. "All right," Kyra said, then with a mischievous glint in her eye, "Just think, we’ll have more than letters to hang on to." "Thank the Gods! It’s about time too!" They both giggled. Adara looked out the window once more. "Am I going mad or is that what I think I see?" she asked pointing to a spot on the road. Kyra peered out the window and screamed, "If you see a troop of soldiers then you’re as crazy as I am!" The both ran out the door as fast as they could, they found on the street that some children, women and old men were already waiting in the street for the soldiers to come home. In the distance the horses were kicking up dirt from the road as they picked up the pace, knowing that food and a stable was waiting for them. By the time they arrived everyone in town was there. All of the soldiers quickly dismounted as they were surrounded by villagers. Adara spotted Dace and ran over to his waiting arms and gave him a hundred kisses. Kyra looked around and saw fathers hugging their children and wives, lovers in tight embraces, old men patting the backs of the heroes, but no Curran. Her heart was beating faster, she pushed her way through the crowd calling his name. A hand grabbed onto her arm and stopped her. She looked back into a pair of brown eyes, not Curran’s eyes, but his best friend, Tristan. His face held a sorrowful look, in his other hand he held a sword. Kyra looked at his waist to see that his sword was still in his scabbard. "I really didn’t want to be the one to tell you this," the look in his eyes said it all, and he presented her the sword. "I’m really sorry, he fought bravely in the last battle…" "NO!" Kyra screamed cutting him off. Then she broke down crying. Tristan held her shaking body in his arms. Adara had come, and was giving her a hug. Kyra was repeatedly saying, "It can’t be, it can’t be." Adara tried to dry her tears but more would come to replace them. Tristan pushed her now wet, sandy blond hair out of her face. "I’m sorry, I wish I could take his place, I wish that I could have saved him, but this is what happens in war, I’m sorry." "I thought I’d find you here again," Adara said with her hands on her hips giving Kyra a scolding look that all mothers share the ability to give. Kyra was sitting in a tree about a head higher than Adara, looking down at her friend with her husbands sword held across her lap. "What is so fascinating about sitting in a tree?" "Curran and I used to come here," Kyra said looking down at the sword, "this is where he taught me to fight. We had a lot of great times here." "But why are you sitting in a tree?" Adara seemed as if she was talking to someone who was hopeless. "This is where we had our first kiss," she said and gazed up, and held the sword a little tighter. "How romantic," Adara said sarcastically, "but why kiss in a tree?" "I don’t know, it was fun," she said as she gazed up into the trees. The leaves were beginning the change their color. The sun was filtering through the trees as it finished it’s journey through the sky. "I don’t know, it was fun," she mimicked, "you crazy girl!" Adara threw her hands up in the air. "Are you going to stay up their all day?" Looking back down to her short friend she replied, "No, of course not, there’s a harvest to take care of." Adara looked up to the sky with her hands clasped in front of her face, "Thank you gods, she has some sense!" Kyra laughed, "We should probably go, it’ll be dark soon." Kyra then hopped off the branch and started walking. Kyra did not have as hard of a time walking through the underbrush as much as Adara did. While Adara was like most women and wore a skirt all day, Kyra preferred to wear breeches. On the way back to the village Adara told Kyra about all of the gossip she heard from Lydia that morning. "Do you know what?" Adara asked. When Kyra make a questioning sound she continued. "You have been too quiet lately. You can’t let your world die just because he did." She said with a comforting hand on Kyra’s shoulder. Kyra looked away until she could get her tears under control. "I just want to focus on work and get the harvest done. Then I can leave." "LEAVE?! What do you mean leave!" "Leave town. I can’t stay here anymore, it has too many memories. I need to go away, maybe not forever. Just until I can learn what to do with the rest of my life." She said trying to avoid her friend’s eyes. Adara pulled her down into a hug and patted her head. "You don’t need to leave, it’s been four months. Do you really want to leave your best friend behind? And in the winter no less." "No, I feel bad about wanting to leave you, but I can’t stay here. Everyday I go through the torture of old memories," she said speaking into Adara’s shoulder. "You don’t have to go through this alone. You have friends here to help you through this pain. Also I think Tristan is hard time with it too. The sight of you must bring back memories of Curran, because every time he looks at you he looks sad. So, how about you stay here for the winter and try to have some fun. All right?" she said holding her friends face out before her own. When Kyra nodded her head Adara started shaking her finger at Kyra, "Now I don’t want any talk more about leaving. Promise?" "I promise." Dancing, singing, laughing, bright flashing colors, ale, this is what the harvest festival was like. Kyra watched as Adara swerved off the makeshift dance floor to a hay-bale next to her. Kyra passed her another ale. "How many of those has she had?" Dace said in a slightly slurred voice. "As many as you," Kyra replied as she handed him one as well. "Here have another." He took the tankard and gulped it down. He then put his arm around his giggling wife’s waist as he lifted her back to the dance floor. Kyra laughed to herself as she looked around to see just about all of the adults drunk. The kids either have already been tucked in bed or dropped from exhaustion from playing and dancing all day. Now is the time for my escape. Once she gathered her belongings, including Curran’s sword, and loaded them up onto the back of her plow horse, tying the sword in place on top. Before she walked out of the house she left a letter on the bed addressed to Adara. She then lead Flint to the road and started on her journey. Kyra was about a furlong from the small town, the town she had known her whole life, when she heard the noise. Walking slower and eyes darting around she listened carefully for the noise to give itself away. To her right was a cornfield, that was where the noise was coming from. "I know you’re there, so why don’t you show yourself?" Kyra demanded. A dark figure that was silhouetted from the moon walked onto the road in front of her. "I’m sorry but I couldn’t let you leave alone." "Tristan! How can this be? The last I saw of you, you were passed out on a hay-bale." Tristan made a very over dramatic bow, "Thank you. So, you liked my acting? But the real question is, why would you try to get everyone drunk?" Even in the darkness he could tell that Kyra was getting furious. He took a step closer. "Kyra, why are you trying to leave? Your heart isn’t going to heal any faster out there," he said with an arm gesture behind him. "Out there you’ll be alone, with no one to count on." "I am alone!" she screamed at him. "I’ll be as alone out there as I am here. Here, no one understands me. Maybe, just maybe I’ll find something out there to ease my pain. Something that I can’t find in this small town. I can’t stand this pain anymore, I have to do something about it. So, get out of my way." The last sentence came out as a growl as she glared at him. "I can’t do that. You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. You don’t know what the real world is like. All you have known is here. I can’t let you leave to go into a world where you could get hurt or even killed." He was approaching her slowly, one step at a time. "You think that I can’t take care of myself? Am I just some poor helpless woman? No! Tristan I grew up with you, you should know that I can take care of myself. For the Gods’ sake you and Curran taught me everything I know. I will be fine on my own, but that’s what I need to do, be on my own." Tristan finally closed the distance between them and gently held her left hand. "Kyra, I can’t let you go alone then. Who knows what might happen or what trouble you’ll get in." she looked down at their hands, then to his face. In the moonlight, he could see the look in her eyes. Pain, then a flash of anger. She gripped his hand and with one fluid moment she twisted his arm behind his back and grabbed the sword from it’s scabbard. "I told you to get out of my way." Then she struck him against the head with the pommel of the sword and he fell to the ground. She slid the sword back into the scabbard and gathered the Flint’s reigns and started walking away. Luv Kelly "At the right time and place, a question was more deadly than any sword." -Mercedes Lackey |
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Alwye
Moderator
Member Elite
since 1999-06-16
Posts 3850In the space between moments |
Awesome Kelly! Very tragic, but you show very well how we can all overcome the hardships in our lives and go on somehow. Great work, keep on writing my friend!  *Krista Knutson* "One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar." Helen Keller |
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