“We have been walking for forever,” I complained to newly named Calypso. That was it we seemed to be doing for a long time now. We walked and talked some, me asking questions and him evading most of them. Every so often we took breaks so that I could rest and sleep a little or eat and drink water. Then it was back to walking and what felt like a pointless conversation. He never sat down or consumed anything or really did the things that were necessary for me to do. Something was undoubtedly off about this companion of mine, and he did seem to be doing his best to conceal even more from me.
“Not forever princess, but yes it has been a while now. I am quite certain they are on our path already so we must keep moving forward.” He kept saying ‘they’. I assumed he meant my guards. That made the most sense. But how could he know? I mean sure it was virtually impossible for me to have gone anywhere else except into the cave from the castle. But still, a lot had once been impossible and now wasn’t. They could be still searching the castle grounds for me. How long had it really been since I entered here? And yet he seemed so sure that we could not rest for longer than an hour or so and that I had to keep up with his annoyingly hurried pace.
“Maybe the guards know very little about this cave and it will take way longer for my father to be informed about my escape. They are all very scared of him,” I told Calypso.
“I promise you those guards of yours are much more scared of you at this point princess.” His smile quivered.
“Oh hell, stop it with that. We have already shared our names for god’s sake.”
“You sure do like to talk more like a sailor than a princess,” was his response. I just rolled my eyes at this. I knew when I could and couldn’t speak the way I wanted to. I was taught well to hold my tongue, but there was no need to do that at the moment.
“We could just end up walking forever, never to find an exit, just wandering like this.” I was sounding a bit crazy, but I wanted a real reaction from him.
“We will come across the exit sooner or later, I assure you. Now pick up the pace.” He seemed a little flustered as he said this.
“How can you be so sure?” I countered as I quickened my steps to keep up with him. Some company was better than none even in his case, so I had to move faster to stay with him.
“Because I have seen it before. It takes a while to get there, but we will get there.”As he said this, he suddenly turned and looked right at me as we walked on. He was watching me intently.
“You’ve seen it?” I practically shouted at him. What the hell?
“I have. We are headed straight towards it, but we need to reach it before they catch up with us.” Yet again what the hell?
“If you have seen it, then why the hell are you still here?” I continued to yell at him.
“I think you have the wrong idea about me, your highness. You see there is more than simply one way to enter this cave,” he told me making my head spin even more.
“And what does that mean, you dropped in from the ceiling?” Shit he was annoying.
“It means I did not saunter in as willingly as you had.” His smile was now gone. So he had not come in willingly then. What was he implying with this? Not willingly…then he was forced into the cave? For what possible reason could that be?
“Calypso, why are you in here?” I was looking right at him now. I wanted to see his reaction as he answered me.
“I guess you can say as a sort of punishment.” He paused again, and I tried to let this settle in, but it just was not clicking. “You see princess, sometimes limitations come in other forms than just guards and castle walls. Sometimes they take the form of an endless cave that has an entrance and exit that cannot be used by the one meant to be contained.” Now he was the one paying extra attention to my reactions. He took a long breath. “This is my prison, one that you have somehow entered on your own volition.” And just like that his smile was back, but this one came with a hint of darkness in his eyes.
“You are a criminal,” I breathed slowly. It was all starting to sink in.
“Finally you are starting to catch on. “ Holy damn! I was following a criminal through his prison.
“So what is stopping you from leaving through the exit? Guards? A post? “
“Nothing to worry about now princess. Not now that I have you.” So what? Did that make me his hostage? Shit I was in big trouble, on both fronts. “Do you now want to run? Make a quick dash back to the castle, back to your guards? It may be safer. It is not too far behind. You could easily scream at the top of your lungs and I would be too afraid of being punished more to harm you.” He was testing me. I could see it in his eyes, his real meaning.
“You are not scared of that,” I told him outright. “You are stuck in here permanently, aren’t you? That is why I am such good news. I may be your only bargaining chip out of here.”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“So no, I am not going to run. You have not hurt me so far. So I doubt that is your intention. From where I am standing, it makes more sense to continue with you and maybe get out, even if it is as your tool…as long as that means not going back there.”
“What real luck I have, having you of all royals walk into my cave.” His eyes were dancing again. And so just like that I decided to continue on with Calypso, this criminal who was also my best bet at the moment.
It was so strange though. No one had mentioned him at all. There was a criminal right near me for so long, right by my living quarters, by my castle. Maybe that is why so many guards were always around, but wouldn’t they still think to warn me? I probably wouldn’t have chanced everything by coming in here if I knew this beforehand...maybe anyways.
“When were you imprisoned?” I asked him abruptly breaking our silence.
“The day all the stars fell.” I was quite surprised by his answer. Not only did he actually answer me so quickly, but he also looked so shocked after saying it like he did not mean to.
The day the stars fell. That was a reference I actually knew about. It was what history books called the day of the eclipse. I had read countless records of it during my lessons. It was a day like no other when the sun and moon met and left everything in the dark. There were no stars to guide the people. Instead there was just thick darkness. Never before or after had an eclipse lasted as long. It was the perfect day for mischief. It was when many attempted to take over the kingdom, this kingdom. Rebels had banded together and used this very day to begin their attack, though it did not last very long. After the eclipse, the rebels were subjugated and the kingdom rang supreme. Did this mean he was part of the rebellion? Wait…more importantly didn’t the eclipse take place maybe twenty years ago? I could not stop myself from halting where I was. I just looked up and over at him. This could not be.
“How old are you?” I asked ever so quietly. He paused as well and just stared at me.
“I believe only slightly older than you. “ I waited for him to continue as I watched his expression slightly tighten. “Twenty-four to be exact.” Twenty-four? Yet he was claiming to have been there the day of the eclipse, fighting no less. He seemed unfazed by this all, but there was something in his eyes that was egging me on.
“I see…well I have been nineteen for two months now. A new nineteen… so… how long exactly have you been twenty-four for?” I had chosen my words ever so carefully.
“Hmm, twenty-four? For five years now, same with twenty-three, twenty-two and twenty-one. Now for twenty and nineteen, I was those ages for four years each I believe.” What the hell? What was he even saying? I felt myself get dizzy for a second and I had to exaggerate my breathing just to stay upright. “This is a real shocker I can see. I did not mean to tell you that last part about that day. It just came out anyways I guess. This is why I was trying not to answer your questions. It all can be a real shocker.” He was now approaching me. I started to spin a little more. Then he was next to me and was looking me right in the eyes. “I am sorry about this and we can keep talking, but we must keep moving first,” he told me as he put one arm gently around my shoulders and grabbed one of my arms with his free hand. Then he started moving forward rather quickly again while he dragged me along with him.
“So you do not age normally?” I asked quietly after a little bit longer.
“Depends on your definition of normal.” Even now he was being impossible.
“A year in my life would last how long in yours?” My words were coming out even more slowly than before as I leaned against him to stop some of my shaking.
“It changes with time. When I was little it lasted the same amount of time as yours did. Then as I got older, my aging slowed in comparison to people like you. I am not necessarily twenty-four. I just picked that number. I pick all the numbers. I probably look the same as anyone aged twenty-three to twenty-six I believe.” His words were somehow stabilizing me; hearing them, feeling the vibration in his chest. He seemed so real, so normal. But he wasn’t. That was obvious.
“So you age slower than I do, and others like me. You live for longer, you look twenty-four for longer.” The statements I was making could have easily been questions, but that wasn’t my intention. I was starting to piece it all together. This man was a criminal; he was put in this cave, in this prison, for a reason. He was a rebel who had gone against my kingdom. He was a man who had other abilities I could not reason away. He was the man who was rushing me along, who was trying to get me…trying to get us to this mythical exit.
“Are you feeling well enough to pick up the pace?” Calypso asked me after some more time and silence. My breathing had relaxed a lot and my shaking was minimal. After he asked this, I started to push a bit away from him and to stand upright as we continued walking. Then he picked up the pace even more as he held me by the elbow. He was kind of dragging me along still.
“Why are we moving so quickly?” He didn’t answer me. “I mean this pace now is really fast. Calypso?” I looked up at him and he was kind of looking around us.
“I just don’t want to give them a chance to catch up. In order for you to sleep for a few hours, and to drink and eat again, we need to get even more ahead of them. They are tireless today somehow.”
“What are you talking about? They? How do you know this?” Yet again he seemed so certain.
“I can hear them coming. They are moving too fast somehow.” I could have pressed on about this like I had been doing, but I had enough new information in my head for the moment. I did not need to now worry about this ‘hearing’ power of his. “For now just keep moving. We will have to talk more, but just focus on moving for now.” And that is what I did. I focused on my breathing, steadying it even more, and on walking. I simply let him drag me along as stumbled to keep up.
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