Embracing the Flames (30 page)

“Point taken,” I replied as I shivered, my eyes scanning Priests who peacefully sat praying. Suddenly, I felt a sick feeling wash over me. At first I thought I was reacting to Gwen’s story, but then I realized it was a familiar feeling. Zordon was here. He was close.

I sat up, alert, alarming the rest of the group to scan the area. My scales began to ride along my arms as soon as I felt his poisonous presence. Zhax’s hand stopped me from shifting. “If you shift, you will wear off the essence,” he whispered sharply.

I looked at Zane, furrowing my brows at him.

He nodded, reaffirming Zhax’s warning.

I rolled my eyes and let my scales recede, but the damage had already been done. My body began to flicker in and out of visibility. We suddenly realized that all except Zhax was still bound together by Gwen’s spell because they all began to flicker as well.

Panic rose up. “We have to hurry,” Fenn instructed as he moved to crouch in front of me.

“Over there!” Gwen whispered as she stood. Everything happened so fast I barely had time to digest it. Zordon was suddenly at the tree, a leaf in his hand, when his eyes shot in our general direction. His smirk wavered slightly at the sight of Eve. He went to take a murderous step forward, but the Priests began foggily shaking their heads. One of them fell over, dead. Zordon's smirk resumed as he spun and disappeared in a whirl of smoke.

I ran towards him before he disappeared, the immobilizing spell leaving my mouth a second too late. Instead of Zordon, it hit a Priest that stood where Zordon had been. He fell over, unmoving, as all of the other Priests turned in my direction, hatred and anger burning through their glowing eyes over their fallen brother.

“Oh damn,” I mumbled under my breath. I felt hands wrap around me from behind.

Chapter 25

The Separation

THE PRIESTS SHOUTED AS THEY sprinted towards me. I spun to fight off whoever was behind me, but it was Fenn, pulling me backwards as Zhax and Zane landed in front of me, their hands glowing and ready to fight. Zhax essence had worn off too.

“Track his portal!” Zhax shouted. He pulled out a dagger and began fighting the Priests who threw streams of electromagnetic energy towards him. The energy hit his dagger and rebounded, sending the Priests flying backwards and out of the Temple’s open cracks.

“This way,” said Gwen, pulling on Fenn’s hand. She quickly said a spell and threw it to where Zordon had just ported. A portal opened, and she yelled at us to run for it.

I glanced back at Zane and Zhax, deflecting as much of the Priests’ energy as I could, while backing up towards Gwen.

“Just go!” Zane shouted behind him. Fenn tugged my arm and pulled me towards the open portal. He jumped through, and I started to follow, but a hand caught my foot and pulled me down. My face slammed onto the edge of the stone pond, my tooth tearing through my top lip. Blood instantly pooled into my mouth.

“Aurora!” Gwen shouted as she shot off, “Pellum Descendum,” and ran to my side. The guilty Priest flew backwards into another mob of angry Priests.

She offered me a hand, but another Priest came up behind her. I drop-kicked him and then hit him with Pulsecto — the electrifying spell.

“Go,” she shouted at me while throwing spells without any particular aim. “We’ll be right behind you. Wait two minutes and if we don’t show, seal off the portal,” she instructed.

“No!” I shouted back as I quickly shifted and leapt into the air. I was not about to leave them to those god-awful restraints.

“But Fenn!” she shouted. I wavered for a moment, and remembered what Astral had told me so long ago. Nothing could come in between.

“You go after him…please!” I begged as I shot a flame at a Priest who was about to stab Zane in the back. She glared at me while shooting a spell at a Priest who was about to hit her, and then she leapt through the portal.

I turned back to Zhax and Zane and shouted, “Come on, the portal is closing!” Priests were falling left and right as they swarmed around the three of us. I let a huge flame build within me and then released it on a group that was cornering Zhax, but I wasn’t quick enough to see the two who had Zane cornered next to him.

I let out another flame, hoping I wasn’t too late. The Priests brought their daggers down in unison, and I looked away, not wanting to watch Zane die again. When I looked back, one Priest lay dead and Zhax was on his knees, clutching his bleeding side. He had taken the blow for Zane. The other Priest fell beside him as Zane extended his hand to help Zhax up. I flew over to them and caught Zane’s hand, lifting both him and Zhax into the air, flying all three of us to the portal.

I threw them through and then flew into it, trying to ignore the sting of the Priests’ energy as it connected with my back. Zane caught me on the other side.

Alister appeared behind us, instantly spraying the portal, sealing it from anyone else who might try to cross it. “How are we…?” I began.

“Zordon must have sealed off his portal before we could make it through,” Zane answered as his healing energy surrounded me.

“Fenn?” I choked out, my skin still stinging. It felt as if a thousand tiny needles were continuously stabbing me. “Is he here?”

Zane paused his healing. His face fell, remorse softening his angled features. “He’s out there somewhere with Gwen and Zordon,” he admitted sullenly. My lip quivered as the heat built behind my eyes. I inhaled slowly, refusing to have a mental breakdown. I bit my bottom lip and watched Alister as he continued to spray around the room. He seemed a bit nuttier from the last time I was here.

“Be careful, young Progeny,” Alister advised. “Must go now.” He turned from us and left, never explaining why I was to be careful.

“It’s not your fault,” Zane told me, patting my hand. I looked up at him, lifelessly. “You saved us.” He was trying to convince me. “If you hadn’t stayed behind, I don’t think we would have made it out of there.”

I turned from his sincere eyes. I ached at the thought of Fenn with Zordon. “We have to go after them,” I murmured, trying my best to hide the tears that were on the verge of spilling.

“Brother,” Zhax said weakly from behind us. I had almost forgotten about his wound. Zane went over to him, streaming his energy into his wound, helping his already rapid healing. “Thanks,” he said as the wound sealed shut.

“No…thank you,” Zane said, “you saved my life.” He sounded confused and a little rueful.

“You’re my brother,” Zhax replied as if there should never have been a doubt in our minds. “I told you I came here to help.” He leaned forward, testing out his healed wound. He didn’t even wince. I wished I could heal so quickly.

“What next?” Zane asked dismally.

I moved to speak, but Zhax sat forward and said, “If I may.” I nodded for him to proceed. “The next ingredient is blood of the dragon, correct?” Zane and I both nodded. “You obviously have an in there,” he said with raised eyebrows.

“Yes, but right now I don’t think it’s best for us to go back to the dragons’ cave. They will surely prevent us from leaving again.”

“If we don’t go back, we won’t be able to stop Zordon from hurting one of your own,” Zhax pointed out. I felt stuck.

“We have to do something, Aurora,” Zane eased.

I cleared my throat. “I was going to say, let’s start with connecting to my Oraculus. It will at least take us to Zordon, and then we could find Fenn and Gwen. If he’s near the Chasm, well then we killed two birds with one stone.”

Zane looked down, smirking.

“You have your Oraculus?” Zhax asked, his eyes consumed with hunger. Zane looked up at me, his smirk a mere memory.

I felt the anger stir deep within. Zane who was now studying Zhax.

“Do you have a plan for when we get to wherever your Oraculus takes us?” Zhax asked excitedly.

“Not particularly,” I said.

“Well I do,” he replied, his eyes still wide.

“Shocking,” Zane muttered under his breath.

“Okay, what is it?” I asked.

“I don’t think Zordon will waste any time before going after the next ingredient.”

“Yeah, but he also hadn’t planned on Fenn and Gwen tailing him. Who knows what happened when they ported through?”

He shifted. “You’re right. Maybe I should go back first and pretend to be on his side. That way I could find out what's going on. You could let me use your Oraculus.”

“Whoa,” Zane and I said at the same time. I continued. “No one touches it besides me, got it? And I don’t feel too comfortable with you sneaking off to meet up with your father. Especially now that you know where we hide and what we’re up to. How will we know that you aren’t betraying us?” I asked fiercely. Flames had already ignited on the tips of my fingers, ready for him to turn on us.

He threw his hands up in innocence. “I guess taking a blow for your brother isn’t enough to prove yourself,” he said sarcastically as he scooted away from us. “I’m just trying to help. At some point you are going to have to either trust me or kill me, and no offense,” he said as he looked me over, “but it doesn’t seem like you are the killing type.”

“Well, then I guess you don’t know me,” I threatened, stepping towards him and showing off the flames on my fingertips. He knocked over a small wooden table in the room, stumbling to keep steady.

“This is how it’s going to go,” I said icily. “We are all going to connect and see where we end up. If, on the other side, we need you to go in and play up Zordon, then you will. But I will be watching. If that is not necessary, even better. Got it?” My fists balled at my sides, now consumed in flames.

Zane appeared by my side. “That’s as good as it’s going to get,” he confirmed, his own hands pulsing with red energy. He got right up into Zhax’s face. “I won’t hesitate to kill you, brother,” he said on a low breath. “Blow or no blow.”

Zhax squirmed out from underneath Zane’s glare. “You two need to lighten up,” he said through a nervous chuckle.

“We will lighten up when this is over. Now join hands,” Zane commanded. 

Moments later, we found ourselves in a dry, desolate sand dune cooled by the moon’s light. A drastic change from the biting cool of fall.

“This isn’t where I thought we’d be. He must be going after the last ingredient before the dragon’s blood,” Zhax evaluated as he trudged forward through the sand.

“Just as I suspected,” I whispered to Zane. “He will save the best for last.”

“Do you feel him?” Zhax asked me over his shoulder.

I closed my eyes and reached out for his presence. I could feel him, but barely. “Yeah, but he’s nowhere near here.”

“Which way should we go?” Zane asked me encouragingly.

“Forward?” I replied, unsure. I felt a bit of panic because Fenn and Gwen were nowhere in sight. My breathing picked up. I stopped for a second, trying to steady my rapidly beating heart.
Don’t panic, not here
, I thought to myself. I tried to reach out to Fenn in my mind, hoping that our connecting would give me some sort of clue, but there was nothing there. It was like he couldn’t hear me calling him.

Zane’s hand rested on my shoulder. “They will be okay. I promise,” he whispered to me.

Zhax turned back and Zane let me go, resuming his walk forward.

“We’re looking for a piece of the sun,” Zane said. “That’s one of the ingredients. How exactly is he going to accomplish that?” He sounded lost.

Zhax chuckled. “You have to think outside the box, brother. Remember when we were little? The songs Mother used to sing to us?”

“Vaguely,” Zane replied.

“Do you remember the Song of the Sun?”

“Honestly, brother, the two things of my childhood that stands out is father’s beatings and mother’s tears.” I looked over at Zane with pity. How sad to have never known happiness. I may not have had my parents growing up, but Mily had made sure we had everything we needed and that we always went to bed with a smile.

“Let me refresh your memory,” Zhax said as we neared the top of a sand dune. I hoped that we would find something on the other side. Something that would give us an inkling as to where Fenn and Gwen might be. But those thoughts were instantly brushed aside when Zhax opened his mouth and began to belt out notes. His velvet voice was even sweeter when he sang.

Come play with me in the land of tan

Where the wings of time reflect the sand.

You’ll find me in an oasis of jade

Swimming in a pond to evade a serenade.

My wings they glow as bright as the sun

And carry me from bud to bud.

But trust in me, I can’t be had

Or you will forever be damned.

I hold the power of all our hope

And keep it until it is one day broke.

“That was beautiful,” I commented, thinking of Fenn and his love of music. “Fenn can sing and play the guitar.”

“They have our mother’s talent,” Zane said painfully. “So you think he’s after the Stella?”

“I don’t think, I know,” Zhax replied with a wry smile. “There must be an oasis around here. It was mentioned in the song. In that oasis, we will find the Stella — the star used for the creation of both our realms. That’s what he will try to take.”

“Why hasn’t he done this before?” Zane asked. “Wouldn’t they sell this kind of thing in the Undermarket? I never paid much attention to Mother’s stories.”

“No,” Zhax laughed again. “You are eternally damned if you take the Stella from the garden. Didn’t you hear the warning in the song?”

“So how is he going to get around that?” I asked, perturbed.

Zhax looked at me as if I were dumb. “He isn’t mortal right now,” he explained in a huff. “His soul is already damned. What does he have to lose? If he can pull this spell off in time, he will have the ability to restore his soul as well as fight against The Fates.”

The need to become a Dark Saar. It all made sense now. This spell was his purpose all along — to create something when he obtains the Stone. He couldn’t have taken the Stella if he wasn’t a Saar first. He was risking it all, but for what besides overthrowing The Fates and destroying both realms. What did he want to create?

Zane and I both eyed Zhax suspiciously. No one could have pieced that together so quickly without already knowing.

He stuttered as he added, “At least that’s what I believe.”

Zane ignored him and turned to face me. “Look. Let’s find the oasis and camp for the night. We need our rest if we’re going to stop him.”