Divided (86 page)

“Bravery and sacrifice were his burdens to bear, but the
love of another was his gift.”

-A Hero’s Peace v.i

Leif’s swords moved in two solid lines, cutting through
another of the monstrous creatures that coated the city.  They had been safe in
the cellar, but Leif had been unwilling to sit idly there while people were
killed around them.  Now, though, as they progressed, they realized that
Telandan guards were not the majority of the men fighting. 

No, Leif and Aela both knew some of the men that they saw
fighting, and some of the ones that they saw dying.  “What is going on here? 
What are these things?”  Aela cried.  Her bow was raised as she walked through
the streets.  Taeru pounded through her mind.  These things wanted him, and she
knew they did.  The book had told her that.  She had fastened the book to the
back of her belt, and it currently felt like an awkward weight beneath her
cloak. 

Ryo or her father must be here, as well.  If she knew her
eldest brother well enough, then it would surely be him.  He would never pass
up the opportunity to help Taeru, despite Taeru’s general inability to accept
it.  Leif spoke, as though he’d heard her thoughts.  “Ryo should be here
somewhere.  We ought to find him.  Taeru isn’t in the city, as far as we
know.”  His blade cut through another of the creatures’ grimy flesh. 

Aela pulled up her bow, with an arrow already notched, and
fired between the eyes—if they could be called that—of another one.  The
creatures weren’t particularly adept at fighting or moving about, but they were
brutal and without mercy, once they had vulnerable prey.  The wings along their
backs were massive, and Aela was sure they could have carried at least three
men. 

The creatures seemed to lack direction, as though they’d had
something snatched from under their feet, and they were all adjusting.  They
didn’t know where to go, and they were attacking anything that got in their
way.  Taeru wasn’t here, and they were searching for Taeru.  “They want Taeru,”
Aela growled.

“Doesn’t everyone?” Leif replied sardonically.  A joke that
rang incredibly true over these past few phases.  Everyone seemed out to either
kill or protect Taeru, except Taeru, who seemed interested in anything other
than himself. 

Aela fitted another arrow and shot into the back of a
creature that was gnawing at the innards of a woman that was already dead.  She
flinched away from the sight, though the time for being squeamish was past and
she knew that.  “This isn’t… this doesn’t make sense!  There cannot be a war if
Cathalari are defending Telandans!  No!  This isn’t right!”  She stared around,
watching another creature leap down towards a running child.

At the last second, a Cathalari soldier moved in front of
the boy, cutting the creature in half before it caused damage.  Aela’s eyes
widened, and she shook her head further.  “Leif!  It makes no sense!  Something
is wrong!”  Her voice was agonized. 

As if responding to her voice, the weather seemed to worsen. 
The creatures around them stared up at the sky, and an odd hue of red-yellow came
into their eyes as rain began to swirl around them.  “There is a massive red
streak in the sky, it’s storming the likes of which I’ve never seen, and the
moon looks like it is trying to eat the city!” Leif responded.  “I’d say there
is a lot wrong!”

Trekking towards the gate, Aela found herself soaked within
moments.  The rain was frigid.  Rain ought to never be this cold—in fact, she
had never felt it so cold.  In the winter phases in Cathalar, rain had not even
neared this icy level, and Telandus was supposed to be warmer in all phases. 
This was a summer phase, which meant that cold rain shouldn’t even be a
possibility.  She didn’t know why her mind continued to wander towards reason
when she knew that Aleia had caused this. 

Leif wielded his blades with precision, spinning and slicing
through creatures as though they were without motion.  She worked to kill the
ones in the distance, making sure to catch the ones that seemed to be winning their
battles more often.  As they progressed, though, she slowed her shots—after
all, the quiver Leif had retrieved for her was not so full that she should be
shooting constantly.

Even if these people were important to her, important
despite the fact that she did not know them, Aela was sure that there was
something looming on the horizon for which she would certainly need her
arrows.  “Where will we go once we reach the gates?” she asked over the
screaming wind.

Leif thrust forward, soaked to the skin, and slammed a
single sword through the face of another charging creature.  “You’re the one
with the magic book, princess!  You tell me!” he shouted.  That was right—she
did have the book.  Perhaps it had updated itself, but she didn’t want to pull
it out in the midst of the rain. 

“First, we find Ryo, and then I will look!” she promised. 
As another creature spilled from the alleyways, Aela slung her bow forward,
slamming it into the thing’s face.  Leif followed up with a lethal strike from
his swords.

Still, as they continued towards the gate, Aela could feel
the book burning on her hip.  She began to wonder if she should have brought it
at all.  It seemed to be trying to detach itself from her, as if it knew that
it ought not be there.  Then, as the hum of the book’s energy seemed to reach
an apex, all of the creatures fighting the soldiers seemed to turn on Leif and
her.  Her eyes twitched in realization.  “I guess if they can’t have Taeru,
then the book is the next best thing.”  The words came from her mouth without
thought.

Leif nodded, and he positioned himself in front of her at
once.  “Stay behind me!” he called.  “And don’t worry about being conservative
with the arrows.”

No matter how many arrows she used, she would likely
struggle with aim in a storm so destructive.  Rather than speaking her mind,
though, she nodded and readied her bow with another arrow.  At once, the
creatures converged on them, and Leif’s blades were again impossible to see. 
They moved as silver streaks, and ones that Aela’s eyes could make out only
part of the time.

She fired her arrows, not conservatively, but only when she
knew her shots would not miss.  Of all times, now was not the time to waste
ammunition.  The stream was endless, though, and Leif’s stamina only extended
so far.  His sword slammed into the head of another creature, and he used the
corpse to knock others backwards.  He was positively stunning to watch. 

At last, though, the things seemed to come to a stop.  Leif
staggered as Aela brought the last one down with a well-placed arrow.  Leif’s
body trembled from the effort, and his swords glistened with oddly colored
blood that was slowly being washed away by the rain.  “Hurry, Aela, I can’t do
that again!”  He reached back, pulling her arm and thrusting her ahead of him.

They walked a little longer, and the city seemed to become a
maze.  She had known the streets during the moon hours and the sun hours, and
yet now it seemed as though she were walking through somewhere else.  Her mind
was disoriented, and the book at her back pulsed with animosity.  She ought to
discard it, but she would need it—and of that, she was sure. 

Turning another corner, her eyes caught sight of what looked
an awful lot like Taeru.  But why would he be here?  The book seemed to snarl
into her back, screeching an awful sound, but she needed to get to Taeru.  She
hurried forward, even as the book thrummed against her back, pleading with
her.  She ran down the alleyway, drawing up her bow, in hopes that she wouldn’t
be taken off guard.  She still had enough arrows to defend herself.

As she walked down the alley, she realized that her eyes
must have been playing with her mind.  There was no one in the alleyway, save a
few corpses of people who had been unable to escape the monsters inhabiting the
city.  She let out a breath.  Why would her eyes choose now to betray her? 
Unless… it hadn’t been her eyes at all.  No—no, it wasn’t her eyes that had
drawn her to this alleyway.

A shriek exploded across her ears, and her eyes flashed up
to a creature, wings spread wide, glaring down at her with red eyes.  Her hands
trembled, pulling the bow up to face it as a whimper escaped her lips.  The
thing leapt down towards her, and she released the arrow that whizzed just by
the thing’s head. 

“Aela!” Leif’s voice cut into her thoughts, and something
hard slammed into her from the side.  For a moment, they stumbled, and Aela
could feel Leif’s damp arms wrapped around her, protecting her.  He seemed to
have gotten her out of the way of the attack. 

Her eyes widened, and she could see the creature landing on
the ground behind Leif.  “Leif!”  But Leif was staring forward, behind Aela,
and she knew that there were more creatures in this alley than the one.  Rather
than bothering with his swords, Leif flung Aela to the ground, covering her
with his body. 

Then, a moment later, he let out a choked cry, and then
another one.  His eyes widened, and they stared at her, worried and afraid. 
She whispered his name, and her heart shattered in her chest.  Her entire body
ached, and she had not been touched physically.  His lips trembled for a
moment, as the first bit of blood pooled and spilled over them.  “Leif, Leif…
no.”

Aela scrambled, seeing the creatures behind Leif, one with
its talons still dug into his shoulder and the other having drawn back.  Leif
was blinking, as if trying to see, but his consciousness began to fade while
his eyelids fluttered.  “Leave him alone!” she cried.  Using his sword, she
beheaded the first creature and then used an arrow to catch the second in the
chest.  She had never known her body to move so quickly, but the moment the
arrow hit its mark, she’d already notched another, and she fired. 

With a groan, the creature fell, and she turned back to
Leif.  She could see the deep holes in his shoulder, three of them, and another
set in his abdomen.  She placed a hand over her mouth, letting out a shocked
cry as she knelt beside him, twisting him so that his head was in her lap. 
“Leif, Leif—oh, oh, I’m so sorry, Leif.  Don’t leave me.”

Her words were a pathetic whimper, and she knew that she
would be useless against the next set of creatures.  Her eyes squeezed in pain
as she waited for Leif to respond.  He coughed up another spray of blood, and
somehow, his eyes managed to find her.  “C-Come on, princess…”  He spoke with
much effort, and even more pain.  “You… you need to find Ryo or T-Taeru…”  He
hissed through his teeth, and more blood surfaced on his lips.

“No!” she screamed the words at him.  Her eyes filled with
tears, and those tears intermingled with the rain on her face.  “I’m not
leaving you!  Stay with me, Leif.  It’s going to be alright…”

Closing his eyes, there was a flash of irritation on his
soaked face.  “I… princess…”  His words were gentle, but he was trying to be
firm.  The coughing in between them hurt his attempts. “I… am going to be so
angry… if I just took those hits, and you… aren’t even going to… try.”  He
groaned, and a spasm ran through his body.

“I am trying!” she growled back at him.  Her vision blurred
with tears, and pain enveloped her form so that nothing mattered but the blood
seeping from Leif’s body and the blue eyes that she didn’t want to close.  “I
am going to defend you.  You are going to be alright, Leif.  Please, please,
don’t do this.”

Oddly enough, a hand touched her cheek, and it took her a
moment to realize that he had reached up to her.  Blood had gotten on his
hands, and it smeared along her face.  “You… are a fool.  And… I did tell you
not to come.”

“Stop talking!” she demanded.

He whimpered, and the sound broke her heart unlike any other
she had ever heard.  She had hurt when Taeru had left her, but this pain—this
pain was all-encompassing.  To know that she had fallen in love with this man,
and to see him dying before her eyes.  No—no, he wasn’t dying!  “Ae…la…”  He
spoke, and his voice was weakening.  “Please, go.  I… I love you.  Don’t… I
can’t… you have to be alright.  Find… Ryo.  Taeru.  Someone.  They… need you.”

Tears poured down her face, and words that should have had
her dancing with glee broke her heart even further.  As if Leif had found a
hammer and was striking at her chest with incalculable precision.  “I need
you!” she shouted.  She touched his hand, and he stared up at her with anguish
in his eyes.  Somehow, the pain worsened.  The pain that she had thought
absolute worsened.  She blinked her eyes, and her jaw clenched.  “Leif…” she
whimpered.

His fingers trembled against her cheek, and she shuddered at
his touch.  She couldn’t lose this—she couldn’t lose him like this.  “Katt can
heal you.  I’ll stop this war, if you just hold on.  Please, please… there’s
way too much I need to say to you.  And…”

Leif winced, and he did his best at a grin.  A grin that
reminded her of times when he hadn’t been bleeding in her arms.  “You just…
want to… beat me at another race,” he murmured.  She smiled at the memory.

“That, too,” she whispered.  “Don’t leave me.”

“Aela…” he spoke her name with an undeniable longing.  Her
lips pressed together, but his eyelids fluttered again, and she felt his hand
go limp in hers.

Her eyes widened, and she yanked his hand, touching his face
desperately.  “NO!  Leif!  Leif, please!”  She didn’t know whether to shake him
or not. 

Her thoughts were cut short, though, as she looked up to see
one of the creatures over her.  She stared up at it, entirely unsure what to
do.  Her body didn’t move, shielding Leif with every part of her that was
able.  Then, though, a sword stabbed through the front of the thing and it
toppled to the ground.  Her tear-filled eyes waited to see her savior, and she
was not surprised to see him.

Ryo Lassau sat atop his horse, staring down at her with
worried eyes.  As her voice seemed to have deserted her, he spoke first. 
“Aela,” he said weakly.  His eyes slipped down to Leif’s stilled form.  “Is he…?”