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After he was fed, and his wounds tended to, Jack was violently tossed into a window-less room. He collided with a chair, and as he turned to look at the soldier who threw him, the door was closed, and locked. He straightened up and glanced around at the room he was trapped in. It was one of the many un-used rooms with a desk, and a few chairs along with a few paintings. It was a long ride back to Koura, and he was tired. But there was no sleeping when he could be killed at any minute. After the windows of the store were blown in, everything was a bit hazy in his mind. He clearly saw Ariel and Ryan standing outside, hands facing the store. The men who captured him were all lying on the ground, either dead, or seriously injured, and Elizabeth… he couldn’t see her where she lay under wreckage.
There was no knowing if she was alive, or even in one piece from where he was on the floor, slumped down on his knees, barely able to keep himself from falling to the ground. Ariel had instantly ran to Elizabeth, while Ryan went fishing through the rubble, kicking aside the men, and then leaving Jack for last. He was instantly tied, and ignored while Ryan and Ariel dug Elizabeth out. That was the last of it before everything went blurry, and he woke up in a carriage being jostled slightly. When he looked up, he saw Ryan sitting across from him with his eyes staring out the window. Jack dared not speak, for fear Ryan would kill him on the spot. He was still tied with his arms behind his back, and the way he sat, it felt as if he was just placed there, no one taking his comfort into consideration.
And yet, why should they? He put Elizabeth’s life in danger multiple times in the past month or so, as well as give information to Kanta about Koura, and being the prime reason for the war starting. If none of that information was passed, Kanta would still be forced to use spies, who never managed to get past the gates. But it was the large sum of money offered that made him “Go over to the dark side,” As Donovan once commented about crooks many years ago. Ah yes, Donovan. While gazing out the carriage window, he let his mind wonder to Donovan. He asked himself many times if Donovan would ever put this past him. And always, the answer came to a no. He asked himself in various ways, trying to find some sort of reason he should be forgiven, but there was none. He was a bad man, he concluded. Whatever punishment came his way, he deserved it.
Elizabeth opened her eyes, and she was staring at the ceiling she woke to every morning for the past seventeen years. She felt the familiar sheets of her bed, and felt it’s vast size. After sleeping on a small bed for a month, she felt like a queen. But then it hit her: she was home. She sat up and looked around frantically. It felt like a dream, finally being home, in her very own room.
The door opened and in came Donovan, and his girlfriend Heather. They didn’t seem to notice she was awake, as they sat down at the other end of the room.
“What does Jack have to say?” Heather asked Donovan, placing her hand on his arm.
“I don’t want to see him,” came Donovan’s cold reply.
“With Jack’s only defender unconscious, he needs someone. He may have betrayed you, but you know he’s still your friend. All those times you two used to run off with Aaron for days and left your parents worrying back at home, they mean nothing? Or all the times Jack has saved your skin? Are they completely worthless?”
”What Jack and I were back then isn’t what we are today.”
”Donny, come on,” Heather pleaded. “Go speak with him. Hear what he has to say. For Elizabeth if not for me.”
Donovan sighed. “When Elizabeth wakes up-“
”No,” Heather cut in. “You go now. It may be too late when Elizabeth wakes up.”
“Fine,” Donovan said getting up.
“Thank you, Donny,” Heather said happily as he left the room.
“Donny?” Elizabeth suddenly said. “I haven’t heard that one before.”
“Elizabeth!” Heather gasped, standing up quickly, and running to her. “You’re awake!”
”Yes, I’m awake. Where’s Jack?” She asked quickly.
“He’s downstairs in one of the spare rooms, but- oh no, Elizabeth! You can’t get out of bed yet!” Heather said as Elizabeth threw back the coves and got out of bed.
“Do you know which room?” Elizabeth asked, ignoring Heather’s pleas for her to stay in bed.
“No.”
”Great, Thanks,” she said stiffly, walking over to the door. She was surprised at how she didn’t feel any pain. She was probably treated by a Talented doctor. Heather swiftly followed as Elizabeth opened the door, and made her way down the hall to the stairs.
“Elizabeth, go back to bed!” Heather pleaded as Elizabeth went down to the next floor. Heather sighed, and followed, all the while pleading.
When they got to the first floor, Elizabeth systematically opened spare office doors, and then closed them once again when they were empty. She was almost halfway down the hall when heavy, rapid footsteps could be heard from up the hall. Heather and Elizabeth looked up and saw Jack running down the hall with Donovan in hot pursuit, wrists stiff, and hands glowing with a pending attack. Jack ran behind the girls, and Donovan stopped just before he ran into Elizabeth.
“What’s going on?” Heather asked quickly, looking from Jack to Donovan. “Donny, what’s going on?”
Donovan looked at the three of them for a few seconds before sighing, and turning away. “Nothing,” he said angrily, as he stomped away.
“What’s going on over here?” A deep mans voice called out, and out from one of the doors sprung General Andarie. His face swelled a deep red, and his moustache twitched as his eye paused on Jack. The veins in his thick neck seemed to pulsate.
“You,” he said angrily, pointing at Jack while taking heavy steps from the room to the center of the hall. “How did you get out?” he grumbled, thundering over and taking Jack by the arm and leading him away.
“Go back upstairs,” he said angrily, tossing Jack roughly into the room next to his. “NOW!”
Heather and Elizabeth flinched before turning on their heels and running to the stairs.
“What was all that about?” Heather asked quietly as she slowly walked into Donovan’s room. He was slumped in his favorite red high-backed armchair, his knees almost inline with his shoulders, and his arms dangling on either side of the arm rests.
“Donovan?”
“Go look in my desk drawer. In the small white box,” he mumbled.
She looked at him with her face squashed with curiosity, and made her way to his desk. She slowly opened the drawer, and took out the white box.
“What’s in it?” She asked, holding the white box about the size of a ring box, only a bit smaller.
“Just open it,” he mumbled again, not moving a muscle.
Heather slowly opened the box, and then looked at him.
“There’s nothing in here,” she said.
“Under the foam,” he replied.
She looked at him funny, and lifted the foam. She screamed, accidentally dropping the box, and a ring slipped out. It stopped sliding on the ground, and the blue topaz sitting on it twinkled in the dim light. Heather picked it up, and stared at it as Donovan sat himself up in his chair.
“It’s beautiful!” She shrieked, dashing over to him, and sitting in his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“If you put it on, it’s official,” he said, barely able to hold back a smile.
“What’s official?” she asked absent mindedly, slipping the ring on.
“It’s on the wrong finger,” Donovan said, removing it, and putting it on her ring finger.
“You mean-“ Heather began.
“Yes.”
Heather shrieked again wrapping her arms around him again, while muttering, “yes, yes, yes!”
Ariel and Michael were just about to leave the estate when Heather came flying by, laughing, and holding her hand as she ran out the open door. Following her was Donovan.
“Why’s she so happy?” Michael asked.
Donovan turned the empty ring box upside down with a goofy smile, and Ariel caught on quicker then Michael.
“Oh, that’s great Donovan!”
”What? What’s great?”
”Michael,” Ariel said angrily. “Get with the program! Donovan’s is getting married!”
”Good, that means you can leave the estate,” Michael said as he quickly stepped away to avoid being smacked by Ariel’s purse.
“I’m really happy for you, son,” Michael said putting a hand on Donovan’s shoulder. “Any idea when the wedding is?”
”We were planning for the spring.”
”But that’s almost a year away! Can’t we have one in a few weeks?” Ariel asked anxiously.
“Ariel, you’re sounding like my mother.” Michael had to hop away to avoid being smacked yet again.
“So where are you going?” Donovan asked.
“We’re off to get the family who housed Elizabeth for the month. Ariel tells me their store was blown in, so we’re offering them a place here until it’s fixed.”
“If Elizabeth catches you, she’ll want to come,” Donovan pointed out.
“She’s upstairs in bed,” Ariel said.
“No, she got out. I don’t know- Mother!”
Ariel had pushed past Donovan and went straight to the stairs. When she was on the first floor with the empty offices, she went quietly, listening for voices, or sounds.
“Don’t worry about your mother,” Michael said. “She’s gotten a bit wacky since Elizabeth disappeared.”
“Oh.”
The two of them stood in silence for a bit while Ariel searched for Elizabeth.
“Ariel, don’t worry. General Andarie is watching him,” Michael shouted. “We must go now.”
Ariel appeared seconds later and shook her head slowly while she made her way down the stairs and stood with Michael and Donovan.
“At least she isn’t with that boy,” she said as she took Michael’s arm, and left. Donovan closed the door after them, and went to the sitting room to read, and relax. He sat on one of the couches, and picked up the book he started a few nights ago. He put his feet up onto the small coffee table, and opened the book to where he left off.
He didn’t get to read more then a few pages when Heather came bursting in with her two older sisters. All the women in her family all looked alike: red hair, freckles, and amazing green eyes. Heather’s eldest sister, Maria, spotted Donovan first and pointed it out to Heather, and her other sister Cara. Heather looked where Maria pointed, and smiled. She came running over and plopped herself next to him while her sisters filed in, and took seats in two chairs across from them.
“We were so excited when we heard the news we just had to come!” Cara said quickly flashing a smile.
Donovan took his feet down, and replaced the bookmark at the place he finished reading before closing it, and leaving it in his lap.
“Mother is excited too,” Heather said.
“Yea, it’s the first wedding for one of the three girls,” Maria said.
“That’s true!” Cara said just as quickly as before.
Donovan hadn’t spent much time with Heather’s sisters as she had with his, but he knew Cara spoke really fast, and with enthusiasm all the time.
“We must decide on a date,” Maria said.
“Well, Donovan and I thought in the spring.”
”Spring? That’ll be so beautiful! Spring is the best time of the year,” Maria said, leaning back in her chair.
Cara seemed to shake with excitement. “Yessiree! I totally agree!”
“Spring it is,” Donovan agreed. “Shall it be here?”
”Ohh yes! Here would be perfect,” Heather said.
“We must go shopping for a dress!” Cara chimed. “A beautiful white dress with-“
But she was caught off with a rather loud bang from somewhere in the estate.
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