Wings of Arian (21 page)

Dralazar laughed. “As entertaining as this is… go Vitraya.” Vitraya bowed to him, offering one last sneer in Eleana’s direction before proudly flying out of the room.

“How adorable it is that!” Dralazar mocked. “She still has the ability to anger you, after all this time.”

Eleana breathed in deeply. Dralazar had always known exactly where to push. She would not let him see her anger, it was what he wanted, and she would not give it to him. “I am not here to talk about that, Dralazar.”

“Then what are you here for?” he said smirking. “To beg me to not hurt anyone else? To stop hunting the Solus?”

“I am here to tell you to stop, not ask you.”

Dralazar laughed, first just a snicker, but then it grew louder and louder as he stepped down from his throne. “Why Eleana? Are you going to join the fight this time? Is that what you have come here to tell me?”

She stared at him without answering. He laughed again walking up to her, his face inches from hers. “The past cripples you, Eleana, it will always cripple you, that will never change.” Walking past her he continued to talk. “What makes you think that you can just appear and that I will cease trying to gain what I deserve?”

Eleana moved quickly to the right, turning herself so she was leaning against the stone table that held Dralazar’s basin. Keeping her eyes on his back she put her hand behind her. Touching the base she began whispering the incantation she had come here to do.

Dralazar turned back around with his usual flourish. “You do know you could have ended this long ago?” he asked. “Saved thousands of lives?”

She stopped, narrowing her eyes. “I have heard that from you before, Dralazar.” Bowing her head she continued the incantation, her lips barely moving.

“Yes you have.” There was a pause, Eleana tensed in anticipation. “What are you doing? Eleana!” he roared, his hand flying out.

Eleana put her other hand out throwing up as much of a shield as she could. The magic it required for her incantation was staggering. Her shoulders sagged as the magic drained out of her, but it was finished. Putting up her other hand she used some of the small reserve of magic she still had left to throw Dralazar against the wall. He slammed hard, his knees buckling underneath him.

“What have you done?” he growled, trying to push himself back up before grimacing in pain.

“I have done what I will continue to do, protect the Solus from you.”

Then she vanished.

***

Dralazar struggled to his feet, staggering over to the basin. What had she done? Whatever it was, had drained her, he saw it happen as she had put up her shield.

“Show me the Solus,” he commanded.

The scene came into to focus, showing the Solus fighting Jarland, but as the scene progressed the picture went darker and darker until there was nothing in the basin at all. It was not as if they had bubbled. Whatever had transpired between then and now was gone. Eleana had erased it. Staring over the basin he questioned his own conclusion. The magic required for that… but the scene continued playing, in total blackness.

Throwing his head back he screamed, “Eleana!”

***

“Where is he going?” Emane asked watching as their ride off this barren mountain disappeared.

“I don’t know. He said he needed to take us somewhere safer, but…” Kiora turned slowly looking into the mouth of the cave.

“What’s the matter?”

“I have a bad feeling about this.”

“How bad?” Emane asked cautiously.

“Bad” She felt foolish, Arturo had told her it was safe. There was no reason she should doubt him, but something rubbed at her nerves. Staring into the void she shivered. It was dark and cold and utterly uninviting. Water dripped inside, seeming to tap out a slow and steady message. Stay out… stay out… stay out.

Kiora took a deep breath, taking her first step towards the unknown.

Emane put his hand on her elbow. “We are going to need light, Kiora,” he said, his eyes searching to make out anything past the opening.

Kiora looked around. “I think I might be able to get a light if I had something to keep it on.”

Emane walked a few paces and gathered some old dead wood from one of the few trees that had been there.

“Will this work?”

“Hopefully.” She focused a picture in her mind of fire burning at the end of the wood. “Light,” she commanded.

Emane yelped. Kiora opened her eyes just as he threw a flaming stick away from him where is sat burning in the rocks. He stuck his fingers in his mouth. “Kiora!” he shouted through them. She cringed. “Sorry,” he mumbled with a shrug of his shoulders that Kiora assumed was an apology for being an ass. “A little less next time please?”

“I’m sorry,” she slumped, moving to get some more wood. Holding onto it herself she tried again, with a little less force. This time it lit only the tip, she handed it over to Emane.

“Much better, I am liking this magic.” he nodded looking at the torch. “And I will like it even more when my fingers stop burning.”

“Do we need anything else before we go in there?” Kiora asked.

“We have wood, you can summon food. I brought my sword,” he listed off thoughtfully. “I can’t think of anything else.”

“Alright,” she said. “Let’s go.”

Emane held the light out before them as they entered the cave. The light was helpful but only showed so far. The darkness was thick and almost palatable, swallowing up any light that tried to force its way through. The limited range forced them to walk slowly, picking their way amongst the rocks. The further away they got from the entrance the thicker the black became, and the lighted circle of safety pulled in tighter around them.

She walked closely next to Emane grabbing onto the side of his shirt occasionally, less for balance than for comfort. She was trying to withhold her fear from Emane. It had worked so far, but every step required great effort on her part to hide the terror brewing within her. It wasn’t just the darkness, something kept poking at her consciousness, warning her.

She had no idea how long they had been walking but her ankles and the sides of her feet were throbbing from the uneven terrain. Her back was throbbing from all the bending and crouching they had done and her head still hurt from the overhanging rock that the torch had failed to illuminate.

“How long do you think we have been in here?” she finally asked.

“Two hours, maybe more.”

“It feels like ten. Do you think Arturo wanted us to go this far in?”

“Maybe we should stop and rest. You can summon something to eat and drink and then we can keep going.” Emane held the torch out to see as much as he could. “Come.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her over to an area that looked as flat as any they had seen. “Here, sit down.”

She eased herself down, groaning as her tired body protested.

“I can’t imagine he intended for us to just sit in a dark cave, surely there is something back here,” he said peering into the dark.

“This adventure just keeps getting better.”

Emane laughed as he sat beside her. “You never planned to be in a cave looking for who knows what with me?”

“Nope, can’t say that I had.”

“What had you planned?”

Kiora stared into the darkness wondering whose idea it was to get to know each other anyway. “I’m not sure.’ She hesitated. “I had two sets of plans I suppose.”

“Go on.”

“One was to run away to a place nobody knew me, where I could start over. Where I wouldn’t have to see my sister look at me as the one that had killed our parents.”

“Run away? That doesn’t sound like you. What about the other one?”

She sighed. “It does sound like me, or at least it used to.”

They were interrupted by a blood-curdling scream coming from down the cavern. Emane leaped up, the scream echoed and bounced around the rocks. Placing himself in front of Kiora, Emane stood with his sword at the ready, alert for any movement. Kiora felt a thread inch its way through her heart. It was, different— magical, and yet, not good, or bad. Decidedly neutral.

“Help me, somebody help me!’ The cries sounded like that of a child. “Please please help me,” the voice sobbed.

Emane looked to Kiora, “How does it feel?” he asked holding the torch out in front of him, swinging it back and forth, searching for anything.

Kiora focused on the thread running through her. “Fine.” she said getting to her feet. There was no evil attached to it at all. “We have to help them.”

They moved as fast as they could through the cavern towards the source of the sound. The ceiling of the cavern varied in height from about three feet, forcing them to crawl, to soaring ceilings that the light could not touch and seemed endless. They stumbled over the rocks that were scattered all over the floor trying to reach the sound of the child.

“Help me, help me please! Don’t let him hurt me!” The voice cried out again and again.

“I think we are getting close,” Emane panted.

They entered into a large cavern within the cave. It was much larger than the light would illuminate. But the child’s voice echoed around far above them giving them a hint as to the sheer enormity of it.

“Please, help me!”

“Where are you?” Emane shouted waving the torch around, trying to find him.

“Over here.”

Emane turned to face the direction the voice was coming from. “Come on, Kiora, I think he’s over here.” They walked towards the voice still swinging the torch back and forth trying to locate the child. And then they saw him, a small boy in rags huddling against a rock. He was filthy, covered in dirt and mud. The only clean parts on his body were the lines on his face where his tears had washed the dirt away. Kiora ran over to him.

“Are you ok?” she asked. Kneeling in front of him she ignored the pain of the rocks in her knees as she searched him for any injuries.

The little boy was trembling and shook his head no.

“What is it, what’s wrong?” she asked, reaching out to put her hand on his. The thread was still confusing her. It was different— not human, but magical. And the
neutrality
of it confused her. But the sight of the child was breaking her heart and she pushed the thread aside to deal with the task at hand.

“Please,” he whispered, “don’t let him hurt me anymore.”

“Who?” Emane demanded. “Who is hurting you?”

The child’s arm raised and he pointed into the darkness behind him. Emane spun around sword raised to meet whatever the child was pointing at. Moving the torch back and forth in front of his face he searched for the perpetrator. At first there was nothing, but then a shadow stepped into the circle of light. He was tall and was wearing a long dark cloak.

“Hello, Kiora. Hello, Emane.”

Kiora froze, she knew that face.

“Who are you?” Emane demanded.

“Dralazar,” Kiora said, the color draining out of her face.

The hooded man drew closer. “Very good, Kiora.” His voice oozed out like poison.

Kiora reached over to grab the child’s hand again, to give him comfort. But her hand fell empty. Looking over to find him, the child had vanished. She spun around, frantically looking for him, but he was not there.

“What have you done to him!?” Kiora yelled.

“Temper, temper” the hooded man chided. “I have not done anything with him.”

Kiora ran to stand beside Emane. “He’s just a child!” she screamed at Dralazar.

“Yes, as are you,” Dralazar retorted.

Kiora struggled with what to do, her training had included bubbling, shields and lighting a fire. She was not equipped to deal with Dralazar, and she knew it. Remembering her gift from the Guardians she went to grab it, but the thread nudged her again, and again it was off. Something was wrong, very wrong. She leaned into Emane and whispered, “Something is not right.”

“Emane!” Dralazar yelled. “Why do you travel with this child, she is nothing but an impostor and a fraud.”

Kiora could feel Emane bristle at the words. He took a fighting stance. “And you are a coward who preys upon children.”

Kiora’s mind was racing, something was wrong here, so very wrong. The confusion drowned the anger back out of her as she grappled for the answer. What was it? She could hear Dralazar and Emane yelling at each other but was too deep in her own world to make out the words. She had felt something about the child, something magical. She had felt threads since they had entered the cave, not good or evil, they felt neutral. She turned her attention to Dralazar’s thread, it was magical and very… very… neutral.
Neutral?
She was trying to make sense of it but could not do it. She ran through what she had been taught in her mind. Threads were either good or evil depending on what one chose. The Fallen Ones had once been Guardians, with threads of good. After they chose, their treads turned. Dralazar was not neutral, how could he be? He could not have changed that much since her vision earlier. She looked up as Emane shoved the torch into her hand and began to circle Dralazar. Something is wrong the voice inside her head was screaming. Why isn’t he attacking, he could have taken out Emane already. This is not… Dralazar. This is not…

“EMANE!” she screamed, “STOP!”

Dralazar took advantage of the distraction and threw Emane across the room. Emane slammed into the cave wall and slid to the floor.

Kiora ran to him, dropping the torch on the ground as she knelt down. “Emane, are you ok? I am so sorry, Emane! Emane!”

Emane was gasping for air. “Look… out,” he coughed pointing.

Kiora turned to see this neutral Dralazar descending upon them again. She threw up a shield to protect the both of them. The shot intended for Kiora bounced off and slammed into him, throwing him across the room.

“Emane are you ok? Please talk to me.”

“Kiora,” he croaked, “what is wrong with you? I had him, why did you stop me?”

Kiora’s shoulders relaxed, he was ok. ‘If that was really Dralazar, you would not have had him. That is not Dralazar.”

“What are you talking about?” he coughed. “You were right. That is the same man we saw the other night, I would remember that face anywhere.” He struggled to sit up, his face twisting as he did.