Alina's Crossing: Guardians of Terrin (15 page)

I grabbed the flask from him
when he tried to take another swig and recapped it, setting it on the other
side of me, away from his reaching grasp. He didn't object, just continued
sitting there looking drawn and sad.

“Oh, no, you are not going to
get all self-deprecating on me, not now. There is a way to win this Jeb, we
just have to find it.” I said.

It was weird that after all
this, I was the one doing the motivating. It had always been Jeb trying to coax
me into doing something I didn't want to do.

Jeb looked at me, with
questions in his eyes but I could tell he didn't believe my words. I wondered
if I really believed my words.

I could have just been saying
them for his benefit, but I truly felt deep down there was a way to fix this, I
just couldn't figure out how.

That is where Jeb came in.

“I know that room.” I said.

Jeb looked at me, confused.

“The room we were in with
Shael. I know that room. How do I know that room Jeb? I was sure I had seen it
before. How do I have magic? How did I get to the other realm? Who was my
grandmother really?” I said all in one breath.

The burning, unanswered
questions poured out of my mouth with me unable to stop them from coming.

“Maybe I won’t be able to do
anything more to help here until I know exactly who I am.” I said. 

I knew Jeb didn't have the
answers I needed, so who did?

“Did your girls turn their
mother into a princess or did you?” I asked, changing the subject.

“No.” he said.

“Ok?” I said, with a laugh.

Jeb sighed and put his head in
his hands. He then raised his head and looked towards Terrin.

“Your wife was a princess of
that kingdom?” I said loudly, jumping up and pointing towards Terrin.

Jeb nodded.

“So, that would make her...?” I
said, unable to finish my thought.

I couldn't say the words.

“Shael's sister. Shale is my
brother in law, yes. My daughter's uncle. Yes.” Jeb said.

I slowly sat back down, unable
to have my legs hold me up with the weight of what I had just discovered.

“I met her when I was working
on the guard. We fell in love in that meadow I spoke to the girls about. She
didn't approve of Shael and what he was doing. She and her mother fought
constantly over the brutality they were trying to implement over the people.
She tried to stop whatever she could whenever she could but it wasn't enough.
We had been married for several years when it turned really bad, and she and I
decided we must run away. We had just had Varina and she didn't want her
growing up under this torture, even with Shael's promise that he would never
harm her or anyone else who was a member of his family. She would cry in my
arms every night, wondering where her once beloved brother had gone to, how her
mother had become so evil, how she believed her mother killed her father and
how it had gotten to this point. Having her little daughter made her feel even
more despair at what her family life had become, so we hatched a plan to run
away together. We were going to leave Terrin and seek protection in another
Kingdom.” Jeb explained.

It all made so much more sense
now.

Jeb's dedication to the people
was not purely motivated from just a desire to help, it was to help the people
who were under the rule of his family.

Or at least his family by
marriage.

“Do the girls know about
Shael?” I asked quietly.

“Not that he is their uncle, no.
They are not old enough to put it together yet, but they will one day. And I fear
that day. That is why I do this. I don't want my girls to grow up like this. I
want them to be able to live beautiful, happy lives, to grow up and find love,
discover who they are. I had considered testing them, to see if they could
cross over to the other realm, but their mother couldn't and I have been afraid
to try. What if one could and the other couldn't? If we could all cross, I
would have taken them both and started new lives in your world, but I knew it
wouldn't stop me from thinking about the people in this one. This is my home,
and those girls are all I have left of my wife. I do this for them. For her. I
have failed all of them.” Jeb said.

“No, you haven't Jeb. Look at
all you have done here! All the people you have saved. YOU have failed no one!”
I said.

He was leaning against a large
boulder, his shoulders slumped over. I grabbed his hand in mine and squeezed.

“We will figure this out. Shael
will not win. I know I have some sort of power in me Jeb. You have seen it. I
just think we had too much confidence, too quickly, in my abilities to channel
it. There has to be some way I can learn and practice my abilities, so the next
time we try, I will be able to call it up when I need it, not just trigger it
when I am scared.” I said, trying to convince Jeb to not give up.

“Isn't there anyone who can
help me with my magic?” I asked hopefully.

Magic ran wild in this realm.
There had to be someone that could help me.

Jeb was thoughtful for a moment
and then his eyes lit up. He looked animated for the first time in a while. He
grabbed my face with his hands and kissed me square on the lips from pure
excitement. He must have saw the shock on my face because he instantly showed
the same shock on his.

“Wow, sorry Alina. I didn't
mean to...I mean...it wasn't-” stuttered Jeb, but I interrupted him.

“It's ok Jeb. You were excited.
I know it didn't mean anything.” I said.

Outwardly I was ok, but I
wasn't ok inside. That kiss, not being romantic in its intent, had made my
stomach flip.

I felt the softness of his lips
and his breath on my face and the proximity of his body to mine. The way I felt
when I was close to him was not an unpleasant feeling.

In fact, it was nice.

Really nice.

I wasn't going to tell him any
of this, however. He didn't need someone with a school girl crush on him to add
to his list of growing worries.

“So, what were you so excited
about?” I asked, changing the subject, hoping to forget about the awkwardness
that just passed between us.

“You are going to school.”

CHAPTER
11

TRAVEL PLANS

We set out at first light and
Jeb still hadn't informed me of our destination. He did tell me to bring the
tablet with us and that peaked my curiosity. I quickly realized where we were
headed when we started the climb to the cliff with sheer rock wall that led to
the boat. We were accompanied only by Jasser and Helix, both looking excited to
spend some time with their uncle. I knew that we were relatively safe on the
island, not really needing escorts, but that made me respect Jeb even more
because he too noticed that his nephews needed some time with him. Jeb tried so
hard to spread himself around with the people on this island. His nephews, his
daughters and now me, each of us needing something specific from him in the way
of his time and attention.

He was truly a remarkable
person.

Riff was tucked safely inside
my jacket with his little head poking out through the top. I hadn't planned on
bringing him with us, but he saw me packing things from my trunk into my
backpack and must have realized I was going somewhere.

He wasn't going to be left
behind.

He followed us all the way
through the forest even though I tried to shoo him away several times. Once it
was apparent that he was not letting me out of my sight, I bent over and he
jumped into my jacket for the ride.

Jeb laughed and Helix and
Jasser actually smiled.

We made the treacherous climb
down the rope ladder to the boat that was stored on the side of the mountain
wall and we sailed away from the kingdom, still inside the invisible barrier
that protected us.

Jeb told us that we were
heading to the Galo Mountains and to the Enok. We would stay inside the barrier
until nightfall. We would continue on foot, under the cloaks. It would take
almost four days to reach the Enok, and I wondered if I could use a portal to
get us there quicker.

“Couldn't I just use my magic
and get us there though with a portal?” I questioned, wondering why Jeb hadn't
thought of that option.

“No, we can't risk it. Opening
a portal in Terrin will alert Shael to our whereabouts and he could find us.
Shael somehow knows when magic is used and he can track it. We need to go on
foot and be as inconspicuous as possible.” He said.

“Couldn't I just open it in
here, under the bubble?” I asked.

“I'm not sure if the bubble
would hide the portal Alina. And it would still be opening on the other end,
inside of Terrin, where Shael is sure to be able to detect it. We have to do
this the long way, unfortunately. We just can't risk being discovered if we
want to get the answers we need.” said Jeb.

I thought it was a reasonable
caution, so I didn't argue.

I was itching to get some
magical practice in and looking for every opportunity I could take advantage
of. I had already opened a portal once with relative ease, practicing would
allow me to do it quicker and with more accuracy, but Jeb was right.

We needed to display caution.

We spent all day and well into
the night rowing and dozing off in shifts, none of us getting any real rest. We
drank water from our containers and ate dried meat we brought with us from the
island. Once we made it to land, my aching arms were thankful for solid ground.
Jasser, Jeb and Helix pulled the little boat on shore and stashed it under
branches that were laying around.

We hiked into the mountains,
for several days, making camp at night. Fires were not allowed, nothing was
allowed that would draw any amount of attention from us if Shael was somehow
spying on us. We kept our voices at a whisper and watched our footing,
attempting to make as little noise as possible.

Riff was well behaved, quietly
eating his leaves or grass when he needed to. I gave him water when we stopped
for our rests and he never wandered. Riff simply took care of his own needs and
then ran back to me, taking his place back inside my jacket until his next
venture.

 We stayed under cloak the
whole time, even to sleep and it was hard to maneuver up and around things with
the long black cloak hindering my legs.

I was not worried about lack of
exercise in this world. I kept getting unbelievable workouts.

When I thought I couldn't push
on any longer, tired and exhausted, dirty and grumpy, I was rewarded with the
knowledge that we had made it to our destination.

We were in a particularly dense
and dark part of the mountain, halfway up the gigantic, beautiful range. At one
particular resting point, the view afforded me a long-range glimpse of this
magnificent realm.

It was just after sunrise, the
two moons of this land making their way for the sun's appearance. I could see
for miles and miles, or quarcets and quarcets (I was still trying to get used
to their measurements, but old habits die hard) and it was just breathtaking.
If you didn't know the truth about this place, the turmoil that existed in this
land, you would think you stumbled into heaven.

Below us, beautiful landscape,
untouched by modern development sprawled out endlessly. There were animals both
wild and tame, lazily grazing on the lush grass, a never ending supply of food
for the lucky animals.

“Beautiful, isn't it?” said Jeb,
also admiring the view.

“Yes, it is.” I agreed.

“All that land used to be
farmland. The ground was so lush and so perfect for crops, we would always have
more than anyone could eat. Now, it sits untended and people are starving. It
just doesn't make sense to me.” said Jeb, with a frown.

“We will figure this out Jeb. I
know we will. Soon, those fields will be tended and no one will be hungry or
scared.” I said, reassuringly.
 

There were clusters of homes,
tiny dots from where I was standing, but no smoke coming from their fireplaces.
The civilized portion of the realm was basically nonexistent. It made me sad,
to think of all the people in this realm, stuck inside their homes, wondering
if today would be the day they would meet the Shadow.

I couldn't imagine living like
that.

The trees in the area took on a
sudden change from the scenery we had encountered on the way up the mountain.
Once beautiful and peaceful, the further up we climbed, started appearing
somewhat dark and mysterious.

At first, it was just sporadic,
but it fast became the more prominent feature of our surroundings. I was used
to the light green Spanish moss that populated the trees of my familiar world
but this was something altogether different.

I thought the substance was
dark in color due to the denseness of the tree population, blocking out all the
natural light, but then as my eyes adjusted to the area, I noticed that the
trees had no leaves on them. All the branches were smothered in a web-like
covering. It wove through the branches like a thread through fabric, in and
out, up and down and around, creating a thick mass that looked like black
cotton candy.