Within the Cards (32 page)

“Ellie, I can take care of myself, but you’ve got to let me. I know it’ll be hard because I have to do the same for you. We can only protect the other by protecting ourselves.” I reassured Ellie.

Dee looked in my direction. We both knew we had to develop a plan to keep Ellie from sabotaging herself. There was a knock on the door. Lauren entered the hut. We knew Ellie wasn’t paying attention to our thoughts of devising a plan to protect her. Our thoughts were further protected with Lauren entering the room.

“I hope I’m not interrupting.” She begged forgiveness.

“No mother; come in please. Dee and Daught were just strengthening his abilities, and I almost got him hurt.” Ellie's head dropped. I pulled her closer to me to console her.

Lauren’s eye met mine. It was like looking into Ellie’s eyes. She could tell Dee and I were worried about Ellie. Our love was strong, but during the war, it could be our downfall.

“I was just going down to the shore. Dee would you like to walk with me. We can give Daught and Ellie a few minutes alone together.” Lauren’s tone was calm.

“Sure why not, Ellie’s not going to let me throw daggers at Daught anymore.” She winked in our direction. I smiled, but Ellie wasn’t amused.

Lauren and Dee left the small room. Ellie still had her head on my chest. She didn’t want to look at me. I pulled her chin up to look in my direction. Her eyes were full of fear and shame. I brushed the sprigs of hair away from her face. She was breathtaking. I lightly kissed her lips, but she didn’t return my kiss.

“Ellie, we need to talk.” I spoke.

“I know Daught, but.” Ellie tried to make her argument, but I stopped her in mid-comment.

“No buts Ellie, please know that you are the key.” I stopped and stared ahead. My thought ran wild through my mind. “The key, that's it, the key.” Ellie looked at me with a strange expression on her face. I had forgotten about the key to the box that we now had. I couldn’t believe I had overlooked this.

“Ellie, I have to talk to Ultress.” I headed for the door. Ellie looked at me like I was crazy. I rushed back and kissed her then started for the door.

As I was leaving the hut, Elizabeth was walking toward it. She could tell I was in a hurry. Her look was of interest.

“I’m sorry Elizabeth, but I must see Ultress. Where is he?” I asked looking at her as I passed her at the door. Not stopping to hear her answer because I knew I could focus on his location.

“He and Graylee are at the shore line with Dee and Lauren.” She shouted as I ran out of the door.

“I’m sorry I don’t mean to be rude, but I have to go.” I yelled back toward Elizabeth. I ran as fast as I could to the place where the four were standing. They saw me coming toward them. They searched my thoughts. They were in fear that something had happened that I hadn’t seen coming.

“I know what has to be done.” I shouted.

Ultress and the three others listened to my words. I could hardly get the words out of my mouth. My thoughts were passing so fast they couldn’t keep up with them. Ultress finally understood. He agreed with my plan that would keep Ellie safe and my attention on the war.

“The girls also have a suggestion, Daught.” He told me. I looked at Dee and Lauren. Dee had an evil smile on her face.

“Ok what is it?” I asked hesitantly.

Ultress told me Dee and Lauren as well as he agreed. The one in the most danger and the one that could put us all in danger was Ellie. The Lords wanted her. They knew Ellie's freedom was what kept us a force against them. He told me of a plan that she wouldn’t be happy with, but I too agree with their intentions. I didn't like what had to be done, but I knew it was the only way to keep her safe. I feared she would be listening to our thoughts. Dee assured me she wasn’t paying attention. Elizabeth had gone to keep her mind occupied while we discussed our plan. Elizabeth was in on our deceit.

“She’s going to be pissed.” I stated with a half-hearted smile. My thoughts centered on the reaction Ellie would have if I survived the war. I wasn’t sure if my annihilation by the Lords would be quicker than my annihilation by Ellie after the fact.

“Yes, she'll be upset, but it’s for her own good.” Lauren assured. She touched my arm, but it didn’t make me feel any better.

“Upset isn’t the word for it. Daught’s right; she’s going to be pissed.” Dee replied. I looked at Dee and smirked. Her comments didn’t’ make this any easier. She laughed at my reaction.

“Yay, I get to see her get mad again.” Graylee clapped her hands. We laughed at her statements, but we all knew the truth. Ellie wasn’t going to like us after this war. It was a chance I knew I had to take. We made our final plans. I needed Dee to help me, so Lauren was going to have to keep Ellie busy while we worked. Ultress would go with Elizabeth to see the witches to finalize our intended plan.

“I pity you after this is over.” Dee spoke as she hit my arm. I looked at her, and my thoughts sounded loud to her. “Me too.”

“This has to work.” I thought. Dee touched my shoulder.

“Well if it doesn’t Ellie will never know, and you won’t have to worry about her being mad at you.” Dee’s words were not settling. Her look turned seriously. We all knew what the outcome would be if our plan didn’t work.

“It’ll be alright. She likes you too much to kill you.” The tiny voice of Graylee spoke as she giggled.

I looked down at the child and smiled at her innocents. I knew if it didn’t work, this little girl would not be so innocent after the war. Everyone would be dead. Ellie would be made to extinguish me, and she would live a life of never remembering what happen on these grounds. These thoughts were ones I wanted to push from my mind. I couldn’t think of Ellie alone again nor could I think of her in the arms of another.

Ellie was waiting on me when I returned to the hut. She knew I was up to something, but she was unable to hear my thoughts because Elizabeth continued to talk to her about her worries that Ultress would not be able to remove his sons. When I entered the hut, Elizabeth excused herself to find Ultress. Ellie looked in my eyes searching for my thoughts, but I tried to think of all the love I felt for her. Once she realized I wasn’t up to anything she told me about her conversation with Elizabeth.

She told me Elizabeth had asked the witches to create a spell to subdue Ultress until we needed him to act. This spell wouldn’t render him unconscious, but he wouldn’t be able to break its bonds unless the witches allowed it to be broken. I knew Elizabeth was keeping Ellie’s mind busy so she wouldn’t hear the thought and plan we were making to keep her safe.

“Ellie, if you were Ultress would this make you mad?” I asked as I looked at her and caught her eyes.

“Of course it would, but Daught don’t you think he’ll understand after it was over? If we don’t have him to remove the Lords, our fight will be for nothing. They will use his compassion against us.” She reminded me.

“I hope you remember this,” my thoughts conveyed.

“What did you say?” She asked. I knew she heard my thoughts.

“I didn’t say anything.” I responded. I wasn’t lying. I didn’t say anything; I thought it. Ellie looked at me and rolled her eyes. I changed the subject back to our conversation of Elizabeth’s plans for Ultress.

“I just don’t think he will go for this plan.” I told her.

“If he knew what was going to happen he wouldn’t, but if he doesn’t know it’s going to happen.” Ellie stopped and looked at me as if she were questioning my loyalty. I raised the brow of one eye and looked at her. She hesitated, but continued on with her story.

“Elizabeth asked me to take him to the large water fall before the war begins. The water will hide his thoughts from our enemy. The witches will meet us there and cast the spell,” she told me. She was proud Elizabeth asked her to help.

“What reason will you use to get him there?” I asked looking in her direction. She walked over to me and touched my nose.

“I have my ways of convincing him,” she said proudly.

I kept my thoughts from her only thinking of the spell the witches would cast on Ultress, and my attempts to retrieve the key from the Lords.

When Dee arrived at the hut to help me, Ellie told her of Elizabeth’s plan. Dee looked at me, and I confirmed this was true. She shook her head not sure of what to believe anymore, but she knew we must start working on the key.

I told Ellie of the plan to get the key from the Lords. Dee and I needed to work hard on my ability to concentrate on retrieving the key. Ellie looked at me and shook her head. She stopped me from talking because she wanted to know what Dee thought of her plan for Ultress.

“What do you think Dee?”

“I think he’s going to be pissed.” Dee said as she looked in my direction and grinned. Ellie again shook her head and rolled her eyes.

“Well he’ll just have to get over it.” Ellie proclaimed. She placed her hands on her hips. “Remember what you told me to put my big girl panties on, well he’s going to have to get his boxers out of his crack.” Dee and I started laughing at the thought of Ultress’s underwear. Ellie didn’t see the humor. She threw her hands up and rolled her eyes once more. Dee and I tried to stop snickering, but the sounds of withheld laugher broke through our tightly held lips.

“I’ll remember you said that.” Dee replied to Ellie and looked in my direction. Again, we began to laugh. Ellie stood looking at us with her hands on her hips.

“Ok Daught, we need to work on your powers.” Dee stated as she tried to clear her throat and remove the smirk from her face.

Dee and I worked on my concentration. Ellie knew she needed to leave us alone to give us time to work. She knew I couldn’t concentrate on anything but her when she was around.

“I’ll see you two later. Dee, you better leave him the way you found him.” She said playfully.

“Little sister you’re the only one that can stand the smell of a rat, besides I wasn’t going to hurt him. At least not fatally,” Dee laughed an evil laugh. Ellie rolled her eyes at her and then kissed me.

Ellie left the hut. Dee looked at me with questions. I winked at her so she would know I was referring to Ellie when I was talking about Ultress.

“Yes, they’re going to put a spell on him to keep him restrained.” I winked again.

“Oh, I bet he’s going to be mad.” She smiled almost laughing. We both knew Ellie was listening to our thoughts. She hadn’t gone far. I knew she was still wondering what I was doing.

“Ok Daught, think about the key.” Dee ordered. All Ellie could see in both of our minds was a key. She got tired of ease dropping, so she went to find her mother.

We worked for many hours. The moon reached its highest point in the sky before starting its descent and replacement by the sun. My efforts were worthless. I couldn’t make the key appear. It was as if it were behind a shield that wouldn’t let my mind entice it into my hand.

“Dee it’s not going to work. I can’t get it to move. I see it, but it won’t move from its resting place.” I was beat. I ran my fingers through my hair. Dee sat in the chair near the window. She slapped her thighs with her hands.

“I guess we’ll have to hope our other plan works. We’ll have to fight hard to keep our freedom,” she replied.

“I don’t understand. Why can’t I make the damn key move?” I asked. I walked to the door and looked out at the water. Dee got up from the chair and joined me at the door.

“Maybe, you’re not supposed to move it.” Dee replied. I turned to look at Dee with question in my eyes. What did she mean by I wasn’t supposed to move it. Of course, I'm supposed to move the damn thing. It had to move. There was no other way. Ellie could never be in harm’s way. I wouldn’t allow this to happen. I pulled at my hair as I dropped my head in my hands. Dee came over to me and touched my shoulder. Her touch was gentle. It shocked me that she could be consoling. I looked at her.

“Listen Daught, that’s not what I meant. Maybe it’s not supposed to be that easy. Maybe you must learn something before you can harness this power. Don’t worry about it. It’ll come to you,” she said as she slapped me on the back.

I listened to her words, but I could not understand what I needed to learn. What else was this immortality going
to
throw in my direction?

“I must go and talk with mother. I’ll send Ellie back to you.” Dee said as she walked out of the hut.

My thoughts were alone. I knew I had to find a way to move the key, and I knew I had to keep my thoughts of our other plan to myself. Ellie wouldn’t understand my secret. She would be furious, but I had to keep her safe. Even if she hated me, I wouldn’t spend eternity knowing another male enslaved her. I loved her too much to allow this.

My thoughts kept returning to what Dee said. What else could I need to learn? I decided to go down to the water to swim while I waited for Ellie to return. I knew she would find me. She would always find me.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

ONE LAST NIGHT

It was the Eve of the Great War. Ellie and I were together for what could be the last day of our existence, and the last peaceful night on earth together. The next moon to rise would be the new moon. Its black face would show no mercy. It was clear that neither side would see the other coming. We would only know of their arrival through our thoughts. They would come to take what was mine and to remove the rest of my newly formed family. This wasn’t acceptable to me.

My thoughts were heavy. Ellie lay in my arms. It reminded me of the abandoned building we shared over one hundred years ago where we hid our immortality from humans, as well as other immortals. We only came out at night to hunt. Ellie protected me as a new immortal, and now I would protect her with all my might. The night was silent. The only sounds were the mortal creatures that naturally wondered the thick jungle. They were the ones that would witness the annihilation of one side or the other in the immortal war. They would witness the annihilation of the old world thinkers of the witchyre clan or the new world thinkers of this same clan. This clan began from the love of two hybrids of different races, but ended by holding hostages with hatred. Tomorrow night the world we have come to know would change for the good or the bad.