Mira's Hope (22 page)

Apparently, the only way out is with the
sword,
she thought grimly.

Turning back around, she took in the cave and
the tunnel leading forward. A bluish light came from the walls,
casting a faint glow in every direction. Instead of being
comforting, Galena found these lights ominous. Reaching out a hand,
she thought of a ball of light or fire, but nothing happened.
Panicking slightly, she thought of fire, then a small breeze,
silence surrounded her, but nothing more.

The cave stripped me of my powers,
she
thought, fighting to control the sheer mountain of fear that
suddenly came crashing down on her. Sure, she still had her sword,
but her magic had helped her out in so many instances. Still
fighting for control, she forced one foot in front of the other as
she traveled further into the cave. Maybe losing her magic was her
biggest fear and nothing more would happen.

But what if I never get my magic back?
She fought down that particular thought as soon as it crossed her
mind. Mira said the reality of the cave would only be in the cave.
Once she got out, the real world would return. Knowing this did
little to comfort her though. She spent several more minutes
fighting a battle within herself before she finally concluded; it
didn’t matter for the present, as there was nothing she could do
about it.

She went around a bend in the tunnel and came
to a large open space. It was at least a hundred feet to the
ceiling and roughly the same width. Large stalactites hung from the
ceiling, with a few of them almost touching the ground as many more
stalagmites reached up to touch the ceiling. Galena had always
wondered if these formations spent their entire lives trying to
outdo the other by becoming larger, or were just reaching out to
touch the surface they were not immediately connected to. It had
always fascinated her, that is until she stayed several weeks in an
underground world where most of these features had been removed.
Shuddering, she repressed those unpleasant thoughts as well. She
never wanted to return to that world again.

She stepped forward and started walking
around a particularly large stalagmite, but the sight that met her
eyes caused her to stop, and clamp a hand to her mouth to keep from
screaming. Tears, unbidden filled her eyes and leaked out and down
her cheeks as she looked down at the dead forms of her
sister-in-law, Venia and her tiny son. The elf’s eyes were wide
open and staring lifelessly past Galena. She lay on her back; her
head at a weird angle and one of her legs were bent strangely
behind the other. Her hands lay limply on either side of her. Her
mouth hung agape, the breath having escaped long ago judging by the
color of her skin. Next to one of her outstretched hands, lay her
infant son. Jamin, who was still swaddled in a dirty cloth, simply
appeared to be sleeping deeply with the exception of his gray
colored skin.

When she had left the village, Jamin had been
but a couple of weeks old. She could remember his pinched little
face, much like a little old elf. He didn’t appear to be much older
now. Who would do this to such a little creature, beautiful and
innocent in his own little way? She bent over the tiny little body,
thoughts of Mira and her advice fleeing from her mind with the
first touch of his chubby, cold cheek. Why? What could he have done
to deserve this? She pulled his blanket tighter around him, trying
to keep the cold from his small body even though she knew it was
too late. Tears flowed freely down her own face as she squatted
beside him, wishing she could do more, but knowing he was in the
Realm of the Gods now.

Still crying, Galena crouched over Venia and
closed her eyes with her hand. Venia’s skin was cold to her touch
and Galena flinched back, the feel of it too much. In the back of
her mind, Galena knew this had somehow been her fault. She wondered
if Venia had been forced to watch her son die even as she had been
forced to see her commitment partner taken from her.

What a cruel twist of fate that would
be,
Galena thought numbly. She didn’t deserve it. She had been
good to Melan and loved him more than anything else. Galena bent
her head and mourned the loss of these beautiful creatures.
Both
were too young to have lost so much and it was all because of
Rau,
Galena thought bitterly.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, the words
Mira spoke to her earlier, began to swirl around. It fluttered to
the front only to flitter off again. She knew it was important and
it would make this situation a great deal less painful, but she
couldn’t quite grasp it before it disappeared again. Getting to her
feet, and feeling a great weight upon her shoulders from the death
of Jamin and Venia, she turned and continued on, she had to reach
the sword.

She stumbled on, the tears making it
difficult to focus when she saw a dark mass ahead of her lying low
on the ground. Wiping the tears from her face, she squinted to make
the image come into sharper view, but it wasn’t until she had taken
several more steps that she realized what she was looking at was a
heap of bodies, piled haphazardly over one another. Taking several
more slow and blinding steps, she bent over and threw up as she
realized it was her brothers, Melan and Tark.

They had apparently died trying to protect
Taura and Silva from whatever attacked them. Dry heaves and sobs
fought to escape her lips, causing her to choke. A scream tore at
her throat and echoed through the cave, pain cleaving her heart in
two. She crawled over to them, pulling the bodies off each other
until she had them properly righted. Sobs continued to wrack her
body as she caressed each of her family members in turn.

Both Tark and Melan had suffered chest wounds
and were covered in blood. Galena was also covered with the thick,
sticky liquid from having moved them around. Anger was still etched
on the lifeless faces as were fear and doubt. She kissed both on
the forehead, before shuffling a little ways more to Taura and
Silva. Both had apparently died from a blow to the head. Galena
deduced this from the blood that encircled their heads like
grotesque halos. Smoothing their hair away from their faces, she
cried harder. Why had they all been here in the first place? Had
Rau done this to them? Taking Silva’s little form in her arms; she
pulled the little elf close to her and screamed out her anger at
this injustice while she tightly embraced her lifeless body. Both
Jamin and Silva gone. They were so young to come to such a violent
death.

“It’s your fault that your family lies in
their own blood,” a hauntingly familiar voice called out to
her.

She stilled instantly, fear gripping her as
well as her overpowering grief. “Who’s there?” she called, knowing
the answer, but still hoping that she was somehow mistaken.

“Do you not know the voice of your own
father?” Even as he called out, he stepped out from behind another
stalagmite, bringing himself into view.

Galena’s heart caught in her throat as she
beheld the father that she thought she had lost. “Papa, is that
really you?” Hope blossomed in her chest, was he really alive? She
looked down at his belly where he had suffered a deathblow and saw
fresh blood flowing from the wound. This wasn’t right. The dead did
not dwell among the living.

“This is all your fault. Your brothers and
their families’ death, it all hangs over your head. Even my own
life was cut short by your carelessness.”

The words were harsh and Galena cringed with
each, feeling like she was being slapped with every syllable.

“If you had denied your magic like you had
been told to, none of this would have happened.”

“Father, I couldn’t. It was accident that I
even realized I could do magic,” she whispered, fear making her
quake.

“You should have stopped after the first
incident, anyone else would have. No, not you though. Have to prove
to the world that Rau doesn’t have his teeth in your hide. Now,
because of your selfishness, your whole family is gone,” he spat.
“You even destroyed your own mother’s life before you had really
gotten started. Was it not enough that you took her away from me!”
he screamed, his eyes wild with rage.

“No, Father you don’t mean it.” Galena shook
her head in denial, trying to remember what Mira told her before.
The lifeless body of Silva weighed down on her, blood soaked
through her clothes, chilling her skin.

“I do. My whole life wasted in training you
when I should have worked harder to teach you to control your own
selfish desires.” He was so close now; Galena could see the pain
and anger etched in every line of his face. Bringing a hand up, he
swung out and slapped Galena with a cruelty she’d never experienced
before from him. Her face stung and the tears fell faster.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Father. Please
forgive me. I wanted none this,” she sobbed, the words hollow in
her own ears.

The life seemed to be draining from Gorman as
he fell crashing to a heap on the ground. Blood trickled from the
corner of his mouth while he regarded Galena. Hatred filled his
eyes. “How could I ever forgive you for the pain you have caused an
entire elf nation?” he choked out. His breaths came in raspy pants
now, getting faster and faster as she stared at him while the life
drained from his eyes.

Her moans intensified while she watched her
father die in front of her for the second time. Reaching out, she
held his face with her hand while she continued to cling to Silva.
How could she have failed them so?
She knew better than to
use her magic and this was her punishment. She knew she deserved
it, but her family hadn’t. New sobs wracked her body. The pain
threatened to claw its way out of her chest.

Amidst her grief, her senses started slowly
returning. She had to go on, to make sure her families’ deaths were
not in vain. She had to retrieve the sword, although she wasn’t
entirely sure why, it was simply a thought or feeling that came
tearing its way from the back of her mind. Taking a deep breath,
she placed Silva’s limp body on the ground and shakily rose,
obeying the voice calling to her in her mind. She had to go on. She
staggered past the bodies of her family, tripping over Tark in her
raw, grief induced state.

“You have to go on,” the voice kept telling
her.

She stumbled along, falling into the
formation rising from the ground and using others to steady
herself. With each step, her resolve grew, even though the pain of
her dead family still threatened to overtake her with every step.
The tears continued to stream down her face, a single thought
returning to her, bringing some comfort. It’s only real in the
cave. Where had she heard that? Could it possibly be true? She
tripped over a rock sticking up from the ground, scrapping her
hands on the rough surface as she landed heavily on all fours. She
cried out once more, her heart heavy with the ache of death. How
had Melan gotten here? The thought ran from her mind as she tried
to grasp it, tried to make sense of it.

Standing once more, she continued, her steps
becoming more automatic and less of an effort. She tried to stop
the images from displaying themselves over and over in her mind,
bringing renewed grief with each one, but she was unsuccessful. Her
eyes stung, the tears having dried up a while back, leaving her
eyes dry and irritated.

“You have to go on,” the voice continued to
encourage her.

Noticing her surroundings for the first time
in quite a while, she realized she had somehow managed to find her
way into another tunnel. Where she entered it, she was unsure, but
she followed it blindly. The light continued to pour from the
walls, but even it seemed overly bright to Galena’s tired eyes.

“You must go on,” the voice told her.

No, I want to lie down and sleep,
she
thought wearily.

She continued, weariness growing with every
step. The urge to lie down and sleep growing stronger. Her father’s
word ringing in her ears. She knew he was right, she had thought
that for a very long time. Even now, she wondered if she was doing
the right thing. Her guilt was almost as bad as the grief now.
How could she have let this happen
? Looking ahead, she saw
another open area a little way off in the distance. She stopped,
fear causing her to shake, doubt making her want to crawl into a
small ball and never leave this tunnel. What would she have to face
in this area? She couldn’t handle anything more could she?

She inched her way toward the opening, the
voice in her mind more persistent now. What she really wanted to do
was tell the voice to shut up and run in the opposite direction.
What did it know about what she had to do? Not following her own
advice as it seemed a little eschewed even to her grief-ridden
mind, she continued to inch her way forward. The voice was right.
She had to retrieve the sword.

Coming to the edge of the entrance of the
opening, she stopped, took a deep breath to prepare herself, and
stepped into the large room.

Chapter
Twenty-Nine

Unlike the previous cave she’d been in, this
one reminded her more of the underground world. The ceiling must
have been far above the darkness for she could not see it. Where
the other room had hundreds of stalagmites, this floor was
relatively flat and devoid of features. It allowed her to see the
entire expanse of the room, including the tunnel at the far end of
it. Seeing nothing at first, she stepped into the room and feeling
a little more confident when zilch happened, she took another step
followed by another until she made it to the center of the large
area. A figure stepped out from the entranceway of the tunnel that
Galena was heading toward, causing her to freeze where she stood.
She knew that gait, the sway of those arms. She knew them better
than anyone else’s. It was Elenio.