Between Darkness and Light Trilogy (12 page)

What an interesting idea. “I’ll try.” I
alter the notes that reach us, but that isn’t enough. I reach back
through the vibrations, altering them as close as I can to the
source. The volume decreases a little, then starts coming again
from a different direction. It works! I throw all my concentration
into the task, each time souring her song more, sending her farther
away. I feel jostled, but ignore it – I have to concentrate!
Finally the approach song disappears altogether and I find myself
being crushed by strong arms.

“Shi'ahn! I was so worried about you!”

“William! I knew you would come for me!” I
collapse into his embrace, melding myself against him. My beloved
and warm brother.

I hear a voice I don’t recognize to the
side, “Whoa Baby!”

William’s voice is much more welcomed, so
caring. “You’re cold! Here.” He sweeps a cloak from his shoulders
and drapes it around me – it is warm from his exertions and feels
wonderful! I raise my head from his shoulder and realize he has
carried me out of the cell, we stand in a hallway, and… Novanus
gently cradles Aurora in his arms, but he is gazing deeply into
Gwenllian’s eyes! My sensitive ears hear Novanus’ whispered
words,

“Gwen… my savior yet again.”

Celeste steps out of the cell with her hair
arranged in such a way as to cover most of what I doubt she wants
everyone staring at.

William’s voice assumes a commanding tone,
“Come – we must move quickly – this place is a death trap!” He
draws a sword with his right hand and grabs me firmly with his
left, and down the corridor we flee. William explains as we
continue, “This place is highly shielded – transport crystals don’t
work here. Gwenllian’s ship awaits outside past the canyon.”

My life consists of few things now – run
with William as he holds my right hand in his vice-like grip, and
hold onto the pouch with my left. Aside from listening for the
witch’s song, nothing else matters. Perhaps it is the shock of
surroundings change, but once we step past the gates I become aware
of much more. Novanus must have handed Aurora to Celeste, who now
carries her flung over a shoulder, Novanus suddenly becomes… far
more than he was inside, as though the castle itself had shielded
him from his true power – his wounds are fully healed and he once
again radiates power, but now it is an angry, raging brilliance.
There is a presence about him though, subliminally suggesting vast
space, as though he is truly far more than one usually can
perceive. He looks like an avenging archangel.

A vast army surrounds the outside of the
castle.

William comments, “Reinforcements have
arrived.”

Our plight would seem hopeless, but then
Novanus draws his hand across their positions and their front lines
fall dead. I would not have guessed him to be so… formidable. And
he swells slightly in size. It is almost as though instead of
merely killing the soldiers, he somehow incorporated them into
himself. Is such a thing possible?

I tear my eyes away from Novanus and notice
another figure, a man I vaguely remember seeing outside our cell.
He has very short-cropped light hair, a large and yet not
particularly attractive build, and a familiar, arrogant expression.
I instinctively dislike him… he reminds me of the man outside the
Emperor’s office, the heir Vespasian. Yes… I saw him recently at
the Emperor’s table… Vespasian’s son? Nero, I believe. I pull my
eyes away before he notices my reaction, and see there are some
very strange features to this castle we have just escaped. The
stoutest bridge I have ever seen emerges from one of the castles'
turrets. It does not look natural. Neither does another bridge made
out of arrows. It is perfectly straight, but the angle of its…
existence makes it entirely pointless.

Enemy troops approach us from many
directions, it’s easy to see that we must get away. William pulls
me in the direction of the smoldering remains of a structure, as we
approach it I see it was once a bridge spanning a wide chasm. Nero
invokes a spell in a loud but not particularly resonant voice, and
another very stout looking bridge appears. We run for our lives.
Partway across the new bridge starts feeling… spongy. It becomes
difficult to keep up with the others, Nero speaks again between
gasps of air.

“There may be… a problem. This bridge will
carry men… but…” I look down and see that it is only we women who
are sinking into the structure.

William sweeps me into his arms without
hesitation. Novanus snaps up Celeste and Aurora.

Nero complains, “Hey, don’t I get one of the
naked ones?” A guard snatches up Gwenllian.

Silently I ask William for confirmation of
who the ineffective cad is. ‘That’s Nero, Vespasian’s son.’

‘I was afraid of that.’ Once we reach the
end of the bridge Nero speaks yet another spell, and the bridge we
just crossed explodes in flames. I think to William, ‘Well, he’s
good at burning bridges.’ He sets me down with a laugh and we
continue running, just in case our pursuers are also good at
building bridges. Novanus, however, hands Aurora back to Celeste
and holds his ground, looking intensely back to the other side. A
tortured scream splits the air, I’m pretty sure it belongs to our
captor; I look back and see Novanus pointing at a burning figure. I
hear him somehow project words to the burning woman, she is the
only one intended to hear: “This is for Aurora.” Her scream
continues for an unnaturally long time, given the manor of her…
execution.

We finally come to the most beautiful
sailing ship I've ever seen, a large, three-masted schooner. The
sails are much the same colors as the Citadel, pale blue shot
through with traceries of indigo and violet. Oddly, it sits on bare
rock and we must climb a rope ladder to get aboard. I can’t help my
look of concern. Gwenllian smiles, “She’s more versatile than she
looks.”

Novanus suddenly rejoins us, and without
even the slightest shaking, we begin to rise into the air. William
laughs, “You haven’t seen anything yet!” Soon we are streaking into
the sky, the air becoming thinner; there is a sort of zap, and a
barrier strengthens around the ship.

Novanus once again takes Aurora up, cradling
her tenderly in his arms, and carries her away into the ship.
Gwenllian walks over to me and says,

“I suspect you’d like to freshen up?” I
unconsciously sniff the air.

“Oh yes… Novanus was right, you do get used
to it, but right now I can think of nothing I would like more than
a bath.” She nods understandingly.

“Then come this way.” She leads me to a
small but not uncomfortable room. “You will find some spare
clothing in the closet there – chose whatever you wish.” I close
the door behind me and toss William’s cloak and my bag to the floor
as I almost run to the bath. What I find is a shower, but a very
nice one. It even massages.

Ah, what luxury, to be clean and warm once
again… I could stay here forever. My stomach loudly disagrees; time
to get dressed and find some food! I chose a midnight blue dress,
but before I finish dressing I notice that smell again – the cloak
and bag! A quick cleaning spell should do it. The cloak is soon
fine, but the bag takes several spells. When it is presentable most
of the food has also been cleaned out of it… Rats! There’s a knock
at the door.

“Shi'ahn?” I open it and am almost hit by
the wonderful smell of food.

“Thank you William! Come in, come in!” It’s
amazing how urgent I suddenly feel, but the smell, it’s so…
enticing. William laughs.

“Geez, Shi'ahn, I’ve never seen you so…”

I pause, realizing that I’ve been stuffing
food into my mouth, barely pausing to chew before swallowing. I use
my music to project my thoughts aloud, “Unladylike?” He laughs
again. “Honestly, William, I’ve never been so hungry before in my
life.”

“This is new. Has Novanus been showing you
party tricks?”

“Hardly, though he is partially responsible
for my hunger. He kept draining my strength from me so I would
appear to be a servant, instead of another member of the Imperial
family. It worked, but… I’m famished.”

“Yes, I see that. Shi'ahn, how long were you
in that dungeon?”

“About three days or so… I’m not really
sure. Novanus had been there for weeks before we arrived.”

“Weeks! Was he given any food during that
time?”

“No – no food or water. He was in pretty bad
shape when we arrived. He had even, and I know this sounds strange,
but he had shrunk. Fortunately, I’d stuffed much of my unfinished
breakfast into that bag I was carrying, and the cell was very damp,
so I condensed some water for him. With that and the energy he kept
taking from me, he recovered quite a bit. And then, after you
rescued us and he killed so many of the soldiers, he regained much
of his mass. He is a strange and frightening man.”

“Wow.”

A disembodied voice suddenly fills the room.
“Folding space in thirty seconds.” I look questioningly at
William.

“That means sit down or hold onto something,
you’re about to feel sort of… well, weird.” I put down my grapes
and make sure everything is swallowed properly.

“Five, Four, Three, Two, One,
Follllddddddiiiiiiiiinnnnnggg complete.”

Whoa, what was that? For a few moments I
felt like, well, like I was turned inside out, scrambled about a
bit, then poured back into my skin? I swallow hard, just in case
some of my meal hadn’t been entirely returned to my stomach.

“Like I said, it feels weird. Finished
eating for a while?”

“Ah, yes, yes I think I’ll just let
everything settle for a bit.”

“Well then, care for a tour? This ship is
fascinating!” Without waiting for a reply he jumps up like a child
who’s just been offered a trip to a chocolate factory. “You’re
going to love this!”

His excitement, as usual, is contagious. My
discomfort all but forgotten, I follow him out. He leads me deeper
into the ship, while explaining the capabilities of this amazing
vessel.

“This ship is larger on the inside than the
outside, and can take on different forms when needed. It can sail
the seas, dive below them, fold space or, as we are now doing,
cross deep space.”

“But, if we just folded space, shouldn’t we
be back home now?”

“According to Gwenllian, you can’t fold
space from just anywhere, at least not when you’re as far out as we
were. You also can’t do it very close to Lumina – it’s too real, to
fixed.”

“William, just how far away were we?” His
expression of mixed amusement and of being impressed sends a chill
down my spine.

“Pretty far out. Reality was only marginally
stable there… you were deep in Chaos, nearly half way to what they
call the Rimall.”

“The Rimall?”

“All I know is that it is just this side of
the end of everything.

“But then… how did you ever find us?”

“That’s an interesting story, actually. You
see, while we were out searching for you, we picked up a distress
signal from Alma. I wasn’t very pleased with the detour, but as it
happened, while we were rescuing her I felt, well, I felt your
presence. I've always felt something I can't describe when you work
your version of not-quite-sorcery, and soon after we landed it was
like alarms going off in my head. I just knew you were in that
castle.”

“That’s almost too lucky to be believed. So
Alma is on the ship as well?”

“Yes, but you don’t want to see her now –
trust me.” Just then, Gwenllian enters the room.

“So, Shi'ahn, what do you think of my
ship?”

“It’s… amazing. It has so many functions, so
many fascinating capabilities, and yet… it’s absolutely
beautiful.”

My words strike a favorable chord with her,
she caresses a wall before responding. “Her name is Hiraeth. My
father created her… he was, even for one of us, a prodigy. Not many
have successfully created devices that can fold space – let alone
all the other wonders of this ship. And yet, he also loved the
simple life, he loved sailing.” I recognize the longing in her
voice, she still misses him tremendously.

“What happened to your father, Gwenllian?”
She frowns.

“He… disappeared. I have asked the Emperor,
but he will not speak of it. They were close, you see, and Father
was his heir. Maximus firmly believes that he will return, but he
has been gone for a very long time, I fear I have lost hope.” There
is a chiming alarm, and she says, “Excuse me, we will soon reach
the transition point. We will be in Lumina within the hour.”

William leads me out to the deck.

“You're going to love this, Sis.”

He's right, the night sky surrounds us –
space. It still looks like a sailing ship, but I was right about
the shielding around the ship, it's quite impressive. We seem to
leave the majority of stars and planetary systems behind us, there
is but one planet ahead – a water world. We approach it rather
quickly.

“This is going to be so cool!”

He sounds excited, whereas I… prefer to fly
dragons. Safe, dependable. Nearly indestructible. We plunge into
the water – deeply.

“That was amazing!”

He sounds like the little boy I remember so
well. I can almost hear him ask if we can do it again, but he
restrains himself. I think, now that I know it's safe, I'll enjoy
it much more the next time. I must admit that being underwater with
the shielding around us is intriguing. There are some pretty large
fish in these waters. We surface too quickly to properly enjoy the
sights, and set sail for the Citadel.

Chapter 8

A Less Than Warm Reception

Immediately upon our return, we are met by
three separate escorts; one consists of medical personnel intent
upon taking custody of Aurora. Novanus moves to go with them, but
the second escort intervenes. “The rest of you are to be taken to
the throne room immediately.”