A Life Beyond by Mark Church (e book reader txt) 📖

just a little bit of an issue that needs my attention, please go with Garin and I will be back soon…..Garin I may need your assistance later' as the King strode off he threw a look at Garin which he had seen before and he knew it was not the best of news,

'Yes sir...I'll be along as soon as the children are settled' Garin turned towards the children giving the a smile to try and put them at ease but Lillie saw straight through it,

'What's actually going on Buck...sorry, Garin!!, I know something is up and we aren't going anywhere until you tell us'

'I assure you it's all ok children, just some business that the King must see to personally, so please follow me to the Chamber' Garin ushered the children away down the long hall to another part of the Castle, opening door after door before they got to the Chamber. The children went into the room first and were struck by the sheer size of the room itself.

Garin turned round to shut the doors behind him and just before they closed a huge amount of shouting was heard from the end of the hall ahead of the room as a group of guards ran past carrying a figure on a stretcher, shouting for people to move as they made their way hastily along the corridor and off into the distance, closely followed by the King who was as concerned as he had ever been and was heard saying ‘....and don't let them see!!'.

A look of disbelief spread across Garin’s face as he knew exactly who

it was but knew he needed to keep calm so the children wouldn't suspect anything, so as he clicked the doors shut behind him he turned to all three of them putting on his best ‘nothing is wrong’ voice and said,

'Right children let's get you settled in here ok, I shall have to go to the King for a little while but I assure you I will be straight back'

'I still don't believe you Garin...You're hiding something from us!!' Lillie pressed for an answer but Garin was too clever when it came to being questioned,

'Lillie...I know you think I am hiding something but It is nothing that concerns you or Daniel, I shall be back as soon as the King has attended to this' Garin smiled as he unlocked the door and walked off, he could be heard talking to the guards behind the door telling them to '...not let them leave', and with that his footsteps disappeared off into the distance until it was complete silence out in the corridors of the castle,

'Something isn't right!!' Lillie said as she started looking for a way out of the room without being seen,

'What do you mean by that sis?' asked Daniel as he stood there scratching his head, Harvey on the other hand had decided to sit down on the bed and stretch out flat,

'Yawn...let's just wait until Garin comes back, I'm sure it's nothing and anyway I'm far too comfortable on the bed!!'

'No something is definitely going on, I just heard one of the guards say something about someone ‘normally healing quicker than that’ but I couldn't make out who it was they were talking about' Lillie said as her ear was now pressed to the door listening to the chatter going on between the guards,

'The door isn't locked either!!' whispered Lillie to the others 'Let's go take a look around!!',

'Mmm, I don't know if we should, we might get caught then who knows what would happen….' Daniel knew that they should actually stay in the room as he didn't want to annoy his new family.

'Oh come on Daniel, where's your sense of adventure!!, you know there's something strange going on here, let's go explore!!' Lillie excitedly said as she knew she could twist her brother's arm.

'Harv...what do you think??...Harv...Harv?' asked Daniel as he turned to see Harvey had fallen asleep on the bed and was snoring his head off.

'Typical!!' said Lillie 'Come on Daniel let's make a break for it, the guards have walked off!!'.

So Lillie grabbed her brother after he shook Harvey awake and dragged him out of the door and along the cold corridor in search of answers to whatever was happening here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Fifteen

A Son’s Love

 

 

Deep in the heart of the castle, way below ground footsteps could be heard running back and forth between the sound of slamming doors followed by the sound of shouts from one of the rooms, muffled voices saying ‘...never seen him like this before…’ and ‘...this isn't the way it's meant to be…’ could be heard, all sounded slightly concerned when all of a sudden the King came down the stairs looking deep in thought as he approached the room where the voices could be heard.

'So how bad is it?' asked the King as he approached the door to be met by the duty guard,

'Not too sure sir but he has been asking for you since he woke up' came the reply, the guard knocked on the door which then swung open with the creaking noise expected from such old doors, the King strode into the room and everyone inside bowed respectfully.

The King stood silently as he looked at the soldier lying on a bed looking very dishevelled and displaying what looked like wounds sustained during a fight, he placed one arm across his chest, resting the other one on it as he stroked his beard slowly, his face looking very anxious but also slightly confused,

'I want everyone to leave this room please…' the King said without even turning his head to look at his collection of soldiers and doctors,

'But sir…' said one of the doctors '...I need to stay with him for a while!',

'It's ok, I shall be in here with him, I am all he needs at the minute' replied the King,

'But sir…' the doctor trying to insist he stayed,

'OUT!!!!' bellowed the King 'We shall be fine, I need a few minutes alone with him',

'Y.y..yes sir…' the door opened and all the guards and doctors scurried off as fast as they could out of the room, shutting the heavy door behind them, the King could hear muttering from outside the door but it didn't seem to bother him as his priority was the man whose eyes were now trained on the King.

'F...Father...is that you?' the soldier weakly asked,

'My son….' the King smiled as he lay his hand on the chest of the soldier, 'how are you feeling?, because you look terrible!!'

'I….I..Feel...odd father' came the reply as the King looked his son up and down assessing his wounds,

'Hmmm…' the King said 'I've never seen your wounds take this long to heal son',

'What's happening to me?, I feel so weak!' the King's son tried to turn over but struggled,

'Rest my son, I'll figure out what's going on soon enough I'm sure, so I order you not to move!!' The King chuckled to try and hide his fear at what was actually happening to his son as he lay there stricken on the bed,

'Yes sir…' the King's son lay back down and closed his eyes as the medicine he had been given from the doctor started to take effect.

The King walked over to the door, carefully opening at and called the doctor back into the room,

'Safin….I need you to keep a close eye on my son please, I want you to keep me informed of any change in his condition, I need to find out why his body isn't healing as quickly as it normally does'

'Yes sir...I'll let you know if there's any change' Safin replied as he stood over the King's son looking at his wounds and taking notes,

'There's something happening here that I can't quite put my finger on….Hmmmm, I need to speak with the children…' Off the king strode down the corridor and round the corner his steps getting faster as he knew he needed to speak to the children at once but little did he know that the children had already left the room during the guard change and were searching the castle for information to what was going on. 'You found anything in there Harv?' asked Daniel as they opened yet another door in the castle,

'Nope, not a thing….Errrm Dan….remind me what we are looking for again?' Harvey stood in the doorway of the latest room looking totally lost,

'Are you serious mate?' Daniel's jaw dropped as he stared at Harvey

'Are you telling me that since we started looking you have had no idea about what we are looking for??, you really are lacking in brain cells aren't you!!' Lillie felt her blood boiling as it seemed they had been wasting their time because of Harvey, Lillie turned away just as something seemed to click inside Harvey's head once again,

'Ohhhh I'm so sorry Lillie!!!, I don't really care about all this...whatever it is we are doing!!, And I'm so sorry that we haven't found enough answers for you and Daniel so far but I'm so happy that you're going to meet your dad soon, well YIPPEE….let me congratulate you both on actually getting to meet your father while I never will!!!',

Harvey slammed the door shut behind him as he stormed off down the corridor and in through another door just around the corner from where they had ended up, Daniel looked at Lillie and Lillie looked at Daniel with a look that they both knew something wasn't quite right with Harvey once again,

'What is going on with him now!!!!' asked Daniel as he clapped his hand to his head in despair 'I mean this isn't the first time he's been acting strange since we got here',

'I really haven't got a clue but I reckon this must all be linked somehow, come on let's go after him and see what's going on', and off they went, just as they rounded the corner the door opened and out stepped Harvey who almost bumped into them as they closed in on the door,

'Whoa guys...slow down a bit, you nearly knocked me over!!' Harvey smiled as he was met with the faces of two very confused children just staring straight at him,

'What is wrong with you Harv?' asked Daniel.

'What are you on about now?, and why are you both staring at me all weirdly!' Harvey stood there looking totally confused as usual as Lillie put her hands on her hips and huffed loudly,

'Look Harv...what is the matter with you?' said Lillie 'all you've done lately is have a go at us...what is your problem?'.

'Eh?...I haven't got a clue what you are on about!!, all I remember was leaving the bedroom and stepping through this door...come and see what I've found though, it's so exciting!!' Harvey said half confused and half excited, and off he ran back through the door he had just came out of, Lillie and Daniel stood there just staring in disbelief once again as they were totally lost with the whole Harvey thing now,

'Wha….' Daniel said, unable to finish his words,

'I know Daniel...Come on let's follow that lump wherever he has gone' replied Lillie as they flung the door open and followed the sound of Harvey's heavy footsteps to the end of another corridor until the came to a set of steps leading down into the heart of the castle.

'Do we…' asked Lillie looking at her brother for answers,

'I guess so sis, Harvey must be down there somewhere..I can still smell him!!' he replied not really looking forward to stepping into the unknown, just as a shout could be heard coming from the bottom of the steps,

'Come on guys...there's so much more stuff down here!!', Harvey was snooping round below them and had seen something that might be of interest to both Lillie and Daniel. The staircase dropped downwards like a coiled snake wrapped around its prey, the dimly lit walls feeling cold to the touch as they descended deeper and deeper into the heart of the castle when all of a sudden the