Eventually I decided to follow this stranger down the left path. At first I hesitated, but in the end I followed him just the same. I considered briefly going the other way and not gambling everything on this man that magically appeared before me, but what would that lead to? I would be alone again, and most likely going down the wrong path. So I took a deep breath and chased after this…man. He was no longer just a voice to me.
As I followed him down the path I started to notice things. I was walking behind him and had to kind of skip run to keep up with his brisk pace. He was much taller than me with longer legs, so it sort of made sense that he could move so quickly. He also wasn’t in a nightgown. Though, his height was more than just tall. It was towering and helped his whole intimidating thing. He also in general was just big, and not as in fat. This man could definitely take a punch and not feel much, but was also lengthy, not wide. I hadn’t seen someone built like him before. Many of my defense guards were crazy looking like they did intense training. I would always give them nicknames like Brick-Wall or Moose. None of those names would fit this man.
I also noticed other things by trailing him such as how he would look back at me ever so slightly and give me a smirk every once in awhile. It was like his way of letting me know he knew I would end up following him. This person was clearly cocky, self-assured to say the very least, but there was another part to it too. I mean here he was showing me the way, right? This had to mean something, even if every other sign was telling me not to trust him: his way too speedy stride, those arrogant piercing eyes, that curling up smile. They were all signs of an untrustworthy guy. Yet he was my best option. More accurately, he was my only one. And more than that, there was just something about his timing. Something in me said to follow him. So I did.
“Are you just going to continue to trail behind me? No questions? No chit-chat?” The man had now turned around to face me slightly. His pace had slowed some so that I could now walk somewhat next to him.
“I don’t know where to begin,” I told him. It was true. There were oh so many questions running through my mind.
“Come on. Just pick something, and out with it.” He already was being pretty impatient.
“Ok, well I thought this place was uninhabited. So where did you come from? The other entrance or should I say our exit?”
“Exit? Nope. I came in through the castle entrance as well,” he told me while smirking again. “Though my entrance into this cave wasn’t as voluntary.” Well that made no sense.
“What do you mean you came through the castle? Do you even know where the exit is? Where in the world are we going?” My voice was getting louder, and shriller. I couldn’t help it. Meanwhile, he just laughed loudly at this.
“We are going in the direction of where I believe the exit to be, though I have never been able to exit this cave before.” Great! I chose wrong in following him. “Come on, another question for me,” the man continued.
“How did you find me?” He laughed again, even louder. What was up with him? “I mean, that was you with the water right? Oh and waking me up…”
“That was an accident.”
“What do you mean?” I asked him while he looked right over at me. He looked kind of confused for a second. His smile dropped and his eyes narrowed, but it really was only for a second. Instantly his smile was back, even his eyes were sparkling.
“Come one, a real question this time. No more weird mystic solving.” He hadn’t answered my last two questions, and instead left me more confused, but I decided to keep playing his game, for the time being anyways.
“Ok, what is your name?” There I gave him an easy one.
“Hmm, now that is a good question,” he told me, but gave me no actual answer. Instead I could see him thinking. His expression was changing ever so rapidly again. This was supposed to be a no brainer, not a stumper. “Tell me yours first,” was the only answer I got.
“Eliana. See it’s easy.”
“Nothing is easy.”
“God! Why even have me ask you questions if you aren’t going to answer any?” I exclaimed rolling my eyes and moving my hands around. Damn! It bugged me even more when he laughed again.
“I will answer the ones I can, but there is a lot you don’t know princess, and I do not feel like filling in all the blanks for you.”
“How did you know I am a princess?” I asked taking a step to the side from him. I stopped walking. He continued for a few more steps and then also paused. He turned around to look at me. This was getting even weirder.
“It was not hard to figure out. You are in this regal-like gown yet with bare feet, and the way you walk.” He was chuckling even more while looking me up and down. I was feeling so judged all of a sudden. I felt my body tighten up a bit. “You have perfect posture and you glide elegantly as you walk. I have seen many royalties in my day, and only they walk like that. And then there is your name, Eliana. The great first queen had that name. No one outside the royal family line would dare to have a name like that.” He seemed to know a lot about my family, and about royals in general. It was strange. He spoke like he experienced so much, yet he really only looked a few years older than me. “Can we continue walking now?” he asked me and then simply turned around and started to move on his own. I slowly began to follow him and then quickened my pace.
“So is that the end of the questions?” I asked him after some more silence.
“You can ask whatever you like, your highness. I won’t stop you, though I am not sure how many I will be able to answer. Like I said, there is a lot you don’t know, and I never signed up to be your teacher.” He was no longer smiling or laughing. He was just looking forward with a straight face. Maybe he was trying not to scare me again by revealing too much? I was not sure, but this was a quick change in behavior again. This man was nothing but a mystery and I was starting to get tired, and hungry.
“I need a break,” I told him after a while longer. Then I sat down on another group of boulders we had come across. I took out a few almonds from my plastic bag and held them out to him.
“Not necessary,” he told me while shaking his head. I was too tired to argue so I just let that go for now and ate the almonds myself. “The water to your left is safe,” he added a little later. I stuck my hands into another wall dent and drank some of the water. Then I allowed myself to relax against the hard wall behind me and closed my eyes.
This time I slept long enough to actually have a full dream and remember part of it. It was fantastic. It was of that same blue sky. The sky was as expansive as ever. In this dream I was rolling around in the grass. I could feel it all, the wet dew on each blade, the cool breeze pushing against me. I could even smell sweet flowers all around. It was exactly how the dream always was, for an instance anyways. Then something flew across the sky casting a shadow. I looked up quickly and there was that bat again. It was that bat I had seen in the cave with those crazy eyes. Then all of a sudden it spoke to me. “Time to get up now. You have to keep moving. Get up! Now!”
Just like that I sprang up. I looked around quickly and saw that man watching me. He looked a bit startled. I guess I had jumped up rather abruptly, but there was something about that bat and that voice. It sounded like the same voice I heard before, but wasn’t that this man’s voice? Was I dreaming of him? And what was up with that bat?
“Now that you are up, let’s get going. Eventually they will think to look for you in this cave, so we need to get farther along. They will not move as slowly as we do.” I narrowed my eyes at him. Did he just assume I was on the run since I was in here?
"How..."
"Relax princess, of course I could have guessed that you are running away. Why else would royalty be in this dingy cave? You must have been overly restricted to have chosen to come in here.”
“Overly restricted? That is quite the understatement.”
“Well with you, I get it.” And there it was. Just like that he was smiling and laughing at me. What was just so amusing to him?
“One itty bitty princess is really that scary?” I teased. I was showing that I could play his game too; at least it would be entertaining.
“You do not even know your own power,” he told me between laughs. What was this guy’s deal? He was acting so strange with all his commenting and laughing.
“What’s up? You seem to be constantly swinging into such good moods even though you are also stuck in this cave.”
“Well after all this time, I have come to accept my reality of being stuck here alone to wander. I could not go forward or back, but then this girl appeared before me. I was very skeptical at first. Maybe I was hallucinating from isolation? But she did not go away. And so yes I feel anger about my fate, but I also get moments of pure joy. As you can see, I now am not alone. “ This confirmed my previous statement, this man was nothing but an enigma…and a major weirdo.
“How long have you been here for? I can’t even tell how much time has passed since I entered anymore. I was stupid enough to forget to bring a watch with me.”
“Another great question.”
“That you are not going to answer?”
“Just like with your others, I am not sure how to without opening a can of worms.” This man was still smiling so I felt comfortable pursuing this subject further.
“Just tell the truth.” He was still silent. “Come on! I at least need something to call you. You know my name. Or should I just keep referring to you as ‘the man’ as I do in my head.” He laughed rather loudly at this. It echoed through the cave.
“Ok well then why don’t you give me a name? I never really liked my last one, or the one before that. Now my first one was rather nice, but it really does not fit anymore.” I just gaped at him. What the hell?
“Well I am the master of nicknames. I have created plenty of gems. How about Speedy? Or Scout? Mr. Guide?” All of those options were completely ridiculous, but that is what he gets for being all joking and secretive, and just not helpful.
“That is the best you can do?” The man dared me while he was looking me right in the eyes. I couldn’t help but turn away. What was up with him?
“Says the man who calls me princess and your highness even when knowing my name. Not really original.” He was quiet after hearing me say this. I guess I won that round.
“But isn’t that how you identify yourself, princess. It is certainly how you present yourself.” That response surprised me. Was that how I was seen? Maybe I really couldn’t get away from this princess role of mine even with distance. “Come on, look at me,” the man continued. “I am not asking about a nickname or anything else. Tell me, what is a fitting name for me?” So I did as he asked. I looked at him up and down slowly. I would give him a real name, not just a silly nickname like I had before. This was turning out to be different than when I was with my guards. But what kind of name would fit this a man like this? It definitely wouldn’t be something ordinary.
“Calypso.” He looked over at me when I said this. He was visibly surprised yet amused.
“Of the Greek origin?”
“Latin,” I told him with a placid smile.
“Then you know Latin?” he asked while his eyes held direct contact with mine.
“Don’t all princesses?”
“Good. Things just got a whole lot easier.” There he went again, being mysterious and all.
“Easier how?”
“You will see,” he told me with that stupid smile of his.
“You speak Latin?” He had to give me some sort of detail about himself at some point if I kept pressing like this.
“Some.” Well that was a start. “So Calypso, hmm? Meaning to conceal.”
“To try to conceal or hide,” I corrected him. I said this as a sort of warning as I emphasized the word try.
“Maybe so, but it does happen to be one of my specialties.”
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