From the Depths

Henry gently closed the door to Kirea’s room behind him as he exited to the hallway.

Outside the room, Ren was still attempting to dress himself.

He sighed shaking his head at the siren, he very much reminded the Knight of a child. Thankfully the sun had not risen yet and the halls were quiet enough that no one was wandering around at this time of day. That would be one hell of a thing he would need to explain away. A naked man leaving his bride-to-be’s room, rumours were not what he needed right now.

“Why didn’t you tell her!?” He hissed in a hushed tone not wanting to alert Kirea on the other side of the door.

“I tried! But honestly, she wasn’t having it. She barely let me speak.” Ren protested.

“Ahuh.” Henry raised a brow at him. “I would be mad at you if she didn’t look healthier than I’ve ever seen her.”

He watched as the siren appeared to sadden. He finally slipped on the shirt and managed to fasten the trousers around his waist. “It sadly won’t last long, could be months, days or hours. Her body is very badly damaged.”

“That bad already?” Henry’s brows furrowed. "I had expected as much with her age."

“How long has she been ill?” Ren asked.

“I would say well before her teenage years, so around 8 to 10 years now.” Henry couldn’t help but cringe. This illness was meant to be a thing of the past, it was a miracle she had survived this long. He surmised it was probably due to her medical training, and the fact that her mother would have helped by putting in measures to lessen the exposure to the child.

“The inside of her body looks much older and worn than what a being of her age should be...” Ren appeared to be finding it hard to express the words he wanted to say.

“It’s okay, I get it. I knew someone who went through the same thing... She’s at least more conformable, for now.” He started moving, walking in front of Ren so the siren could follow after him.

“Hey, Henry?” Ren asked from behind him.

“Mmm?” He responded with a quick glance over his shoulder.

“I- Thanks for caring about her... and I’m sorry I was so hostile toward you before.” Ren appeared to be fiddling with his fingers as he spoke. Was he embarrassed?

“I'm also sorry for a lot of things in my life, but that girl deserves a heck of a lot better than this place.” He remarked truthfully. “You had every right to be hostile with me, I had hurt her. Unintentionally or not it was still wrong.” He admitted truthfully.

“You’ve grown.” Ren smiled brightly.

Henry made a disgusted sound. “Don’t tell my knights, they’ll think I’ve gone soft.”

“I don’t think it’s a bad thing.” Ren pointed out.

Henry huffed a laugh. “It wouldn’t be a problem anywhere else, but here in this castle under this King. My reputation is all I have keeping me alive.” The siren was considerably easy to talk to he realized, odd. Was this how Kirea felt around him? He could understand why Kirea was so at ease around him now.

“Why stay if the living conditions aren’t to your liking? You can just leave, yes?” Ren was asking the hard questions now.

Henry smirked shaking his head. “Says the one that can walk out of his captive habitat at any moment.”

“There is a good reason I chose to stay within those walls,” Ren concluded his gaze showing a fearful expression for a moment.

“As is there a reason I chose to say within these.” Henry gestured to the stone around them. “But, It won’t always be like this... At least that is the hope.” He added. "There has to be something better at the end of all this... or it's all been for nothing." He muttered.

Rounding a corner they could hear the commotion of the Knights up ahead. Henry changed direction to head across the courtyard instead. If the Knights were dining then they wouldn’t be training. Besides, not far past the lush green grassy patch they could vault over the palace wall and take a shortcut to the cliffside path.

Heading out into the open air area, the sun was peeking over the horizon casting the sky in a brilliant pinkish orange hue. Ren had stopped abruptly as his feet hit the grass. His eyes bulged wide as his mouth gapped open.

“What is this!” He exclaimed as he lifted a foot off the ground. “It’s so soft!”

With a groan, Henry turned around and took hold of the giddy siren. “We don’t have time for this!”

Still in a state of utter amazement, Ren had to be dragged to the other side of the courtyard. Releasing his hold on the siren for a moment, Henry scaled the wall with ease. Turning he sighed as Ren was once again looking down at his feet and walking on the spot.

“Ren! Come on!” He pleaded.

Ren looked up with an apologetic expression. Taking hold of the Knights hand he climbed the wall and sat on the ledge waiting for Henry’s next direction. He couldn’t help but look out over the ocean that lay below the cliff, it was beautiful. The small rays of light that were peeking over the horizon were reflected on the blue blanket that coated the world to the east. He’d never seen anything like it and it was utterly awe-inspiring.

Henry hadn’t missed the expressions crossing the siren’s features as he took in the world. He slipped down the other side of the wall and extended his arm up for Ren to safely join him. “You know-” He began. “There is much more to the world you haven’t seen, we can show it to you.”

Suddenly Ren’s posture grew stiff and rigid, his eyes locked on the sands below.

“What is it?” Henry asked, noticing that something was clearly off.

“Do you have a weapon?” Ren’s eyes never left the distant beach as he slid down the wall to join Henry on the ground.

“My training gear is back in my room, but I always have a dagger on me.” He confessed.

“It won’t be enough.” Ren’s expression changed to reflect concern and fear.

Henry walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down, over near the hidden entrance stood three people. From this distance, he couldn’t make out the details of the figures.

He groaned, just what he needed. “I’ll have to get rid of them, wait here-”

“You don’t understand.” Ren cut in.

Henry turned to him confused.

“Their here for me, they must have seen me leave the cave. You’ll be in danger if you go down there... already I can hear their song.”

“Song? Wait you dont mean...” He trailed off.

Ren nodded grimly. “They’ve come to kill me as I feared.”

“I won’t let that happen, we just need to get you into the cave, they can’t get in there.” Henry was running through scenarios in his head. “There’s only three of them, I can take them. If only for a little while.”

“You’ll fall to their song just like all the other men, you need to go back inside the castle walls, now!” Ren reached forward taking hold of Henry’s arm to pull him gently away from the edge of the cliff. “They haven’t noticed us yet, hurry.”

Henry stood strong, the light tug at his side going nothing to move him. “Ren.” He turned his head to look at the stressed siren. “Do you want to live in fear for the rest of your life?”

“Of course I don’t, but what other choice do I have!? I don’t fear my death, I fear yours!” He pleaded.

“Fight back, don’t let anyone control your fear, not ever.” Henry’s eyes bored into Ren.

The men stared at each other for a time. Ren’s eyes lowered as his gaze began hooded. “I’m not strong enough.” He finally said.

“You give yourself too little credit. Why are they trying to kill you if you’re not strong enough? Why bother going out of their way to come here and come after you and in such numbers?” Henry was really making Ren think. “They know more about you than you know of yourself. They fear what you will become if left unchecked.”

Ren looked up at Henry with wide unbelieving eyes. “What I can become?”

Henry smirked. “You have abilities you don’t know how to use. So far what I know is that you can heal people. That in itself is extraordinary, god only knows what else you’re capable of.”

Ren was taken aback by his sincere words. “Y-You think we... we can do it?”

Henry nodded once with a stern look in his eye. “I know we can.”