by Cara Violet
“What the holom are you talking about, bait?”
“You came after me.”
She almost chocked on her scoff. “I most certainly did not.”
He rolled his eyes. “Please … And give me some credit; they were preforms I was tackling. Even in my state I am far superior … Honestly though, I don’t even know what I was reacting to back there. I was just scared.”
“Scared … Scared of what?”
He took a moment to think but then said nothing. Instead, he keeled over and opened his mouth to let more blood drip out, and she knew they had to keep moving.
“Fine,” she said, “let’s get to this waterfall, find those seeds, and to get you back to full health since we’re here.”
“I’m fine,” he retorted, sitting up in the dirt. “Worry about yourself.”
Ignoring him, she took a rag out from the bag of supplies and went to clean his face, bending her knees down to reach him and he didn’t object. “I’ll be fine, I heal well,” she said, recollecting all the times Julius healed her. Why did he do that?
“Do you think he will come back for you?” Arlise asked while he allowed her to wipe his lips.
“What?” she asked, irritated. “Who?”
“Julius, the one you professed you would stay with on Earth? How did you say it? I’m staying with Julius.” He laughed at his impersonation. “Coming back for you, is he?”
Kaianan tried not to give away her anger. “No,” she said defiantly.
“He tried to help you, wanted to find out where I sent you to protect you. He got Rashid to send him right on back to Rivalex, didn’t he? Surely you felt something for him.”
Did she feel something for Julius? Or was it some illusion because she was left open and vulnerable on Earth? She couldn’t ignore the part of her heart that longed for him. “He tried to control me …” she mumbled out in assurance. “I think he is fighting a battle within him … wait,” she regarded Arlise’s exuberant expression, “are you mocking me?”
He ignored her. “So, you don’t think you can change him?”
“Why would I do that?”
“He wasn’t willing to grow?” he pressed again.
“I don’t know.”
“Teach him to grow.” Arlise said, moving his head left so she could wipe up the side of his face.
“That’s not up to me.”
“But you like changing people, don’t you?” he said, pushing her hand and the rag away from his face.
Kaianan froze. His golden eyes were deep chasms of wonder, inches from her own. Her neck tilted only slightly and she wasn’t sure what to say to that. Yes, she wanted to help people. Was that her changing them? Plus, what was he saying to her?
“You are your peaceful mind, right?”
She dropped her arms down and stared at him. The way Arlise said it, it was like Kaianan had heard him say it to her before. “You’re a Felrin, aren’t you?”
“Yes, once a Menial. Many years ago, when I was first born, I learnt the Kan’Ging.”
“First born?”
“I’m about thirty-eight years old now.”
Kaianan gaped, “You look no more than a few decades’ young.”
“Yes, well, being stuck in a box against my will for nineteen or twenty years stopped my slight ageing by a few. Then again, I am immortal,” Arlise’s face had suddenly faded and dropped. “Anyway, probably worked out well, because my mother is a controlling Felrin dragon and I fear I may never make my father proud,” he blurted out then stopped, a crinkled face plastered with regret forming when he spoke again. “I can’t believe I just said that.”
She paused, unsure how to take the information. “Proud about what?”
“Nothing,” he said irately.
“You just said we must attain a peaceful mind and that includes honesty.”
“I know what I have been taught, I was a Menial too,” he snapped, “and I listen; it’s a good quality.”
She straightened up, fuming. “And you think I don’t? Stop being a smart-mouthed Seevaar.”
“You’re foolish, irrational, don’t listen, and from what I am gathering in the short amount of time I’ve gotten to know you, you’re authoritative as well.”
The blood began to boil in her veins, she tried to speak calmly. “If your only blood relation was abducted and held by blade point against her will, I’m sure you would be as irrational as I am …”
“You have the ability to use the Kan’Ging, do you not?” Arlise questioned her spitefully. “I can feel you in the Siliou just as much as you can feel me. To have that great a power requires you to be rational, you can’t go around using it to get your way.”
“I have never,” Kaianan felt her face flush, “I would only use those abilities – my aura – for the greater good, like finding my sister, to me that is rational.”
“Rational? With a mouth like that and provoking people like Rashid, not to mention killing someone from Earth’s Underworld, if that’s rational, call me a Mugadeer and feed me to a Felrin Dragon. You are lucky enough to have a Kan’Ging aura,” he said, flexing his hand. “The Kan’Ging is a powerful tool for the Felrin, and as an outsider you should be more careful with how you use it and what you represent.”
“What are you trying to say?” Kaianan felt her gut tighten, “That I’m not a good representation of someone who can use Kan’Ging? Or are you just so upset that someone outside of the Felrin race can use the aura?”
“No,” he mused, “I’m saying the Kan’Ging is a gift, you seem thoroughly uptight and ungrateful that you have such ability. So many people would die for such power.”
“Don’t give me that,” Kaianan shook her head bewildered. “Power? Kan’Ging is a set of beliefs … like the beliefs of Giliou the Wise for the Giliou, and even the Silkri for the Necromancers. We all follow what we believe, it doesn’t mean Kan’Ging needs to be worshiped or sought after to the point of death.”
“Those beliefs are not the same as the Kan’Ging,” he said with an air of finality, “you’re in an elite group of select people that can access that strong an aura, be thankful.”
“Not the same? Why not? They all promote peace in some shape or form and no one knows what happened between Silas Silkri and Kan’Ging, why do you assume Kan’Ging is this almighty power that can somehow fix the world?”
He sniffed. “You’re not patriotic, are you?”
“At this stage, I’m not sure who I am or what I believe.” She creased her eyebrows.
“Do any of us really?”
She scrunched the rag tightly in her fingers. “Yes, we do and should make it our mission to find our purpose and beliefs—away from what has been fed to us since infancy.”
“So, you’re saying our system defines us?”
The way he said it, it was like he was informing the world she was entirely illogical to state what she did. “No,” she said resolutely, “it blankets us.”
Arlise turned away, decidedly not answering her.
Kaianan felt something crawl the surface of her skin when she studied him. Who was he and why was he scrutinising her? This so-called boy of destiny was turning out to be a callous and debating Seevaar, striking her with accountability at anything and everything that came out of her mouth. Ungrateful for using Kan’Ging? She wasn’t. But she wasn’t going to credit the ability she could bend the space around her as almighty. One, she didn’t really have control of it yet anyway, and two, she hadn’t made up her mind about the Felrin and whether she wanted to even follow Kan’Ging practices.
But the way he read her; it was like he could see inside her soul. And the knowledge about Julius? Was she really that swept up in emotions she sounded like a hapless Harpy? With an effort, she would have to rid herself of this feeling Arlise gave her. That would be difficult though; she was not exactly sure what it was.
“It’s time to go,” he said smartly and she nodded.
Kaianan kept her distance from the bandaged and coughing
Arlise when they walked through the Felrin desert dehydrated and drained. Arlise advised, the Elixir Waterfall would be a journey through the Woods Devine. Kaianan dreamed of floating in that water to cool down. She was mentally exhausted and physically worn out, and she hated the fact she was showing it.
Twilight had almost departed when they reached the edge of the woods. Tall, colourful trees greeted them. Kaianan couldn’t help but look around. This was a different type of woods. Perhaps Devine did sum it up. There were flowers and the brightest plants from fluro pink to burnt orange everywhere amongst standard green shrubbery and trees that she’d seen in the Valley Woods back home. The Woods Devine was full of life though. She thought she felt a big blue flower cross her leg when she stepped a few metres inside, like it was alive. At last instant, Arlise grasped her by the shoulder and pulled her behind a thick trunked tree. She looked up to the yellow leaves that sheltered them.
“What forest is this? What are these plants called?”
“Listen, eyes on me,” he said. She took her sight to the two big golden eyes staring down at her with a tinge of nerves. The way he addressed her made Kaianan feel submissive because she was at a point, she didn’t want to argue with him. “We can’t go too far.”
“Why?”
“The deeper in we go the more creatures we have to defend ourselves against, especially by night fall,” he said and dropped the hold he had of her, and began walking again.
Kaianan let out the air that she’d blown up in her cheeks, and followed him. “How many moons does this planet have and how many sun stars?”
“Did you forget?”
“Actually, I did.” Kaianan felt embarrassed, how could she forget about the Felrin planet structure?
“One moon in Felrin’s orbit, one purple sun star, and time is lengthier here than on Rivalex.”
“How so?”
“Kaianan,” Arlise said disbelievingly, “every person in the homo galaxies gets taught about the Felrin System.”
She said nothing. Her brain was twanging trying to remember half her childhood.
“One year here is similar to say, Rivalex …” he went on, “… five hundred and eight days is a year on Felrin whereas Rivalex’s year is three hundred and two. The days are all relatively similar though. Hours, minutes, seasons. Even though you have two sun stars and we have one, we still use the twelve day by twelve-night hours as Rivalex do.”
“It’s thirteen hours a day in winter,” she said, remembering that one lesson with Xandou.
“Yes, but never forget universal time is relative only to Felrin.”
“That is something I recollect.” Kaianan said, recalling the lesson about the time differences on planets and why, “On Rivalex its year 168 221, but we don’t write that date down in homework or books. We have to write the After-Aura date down, AA 100-16.”
“That’s the Universal Order for you. They streamline everything.”
She nodded.
“I’ve always enjoyed clocks and time, since I was a kid,” Arlise admitted.
Kaianan grinned and took that piece of information and hid it in her brain. If she ever needed to win him over for something, she’d buy him a clock. Not that he’d probably be swayed but it was a start. “So, what are we supposed to do about the animals eating us during the twelve hours of darkness?”
Arlise tried not to laugh. “I’m going to need a minute,” he breathed out holding his stomach, “and I’m thinking we should camp here for a few hours. We are on the outskirts and aren’t as susceptible to danger.”
“Are you okay to stop?”
“I’ve no choice, do I? It probably didn’t help that I’ve been using my aura so much.”
“What aura do you actually have?” Kaianan said abruptly. “I know we both can use Kan’Ging, but your aura is white, and I’ve never seen a Conductor use an aura at all to create Euclidean Vectors.”
Arlise dropped the supply bag and sat down against a tree, a few metres inside the Woods, slowly exhaling.
“You don’t want to tell me who you are?” Kaianan said, staring directly into his eyes. “So you want me to trust you but you don’t trust me?” She knew she was pushing it but she didn’t care.
He kept staring at her; Kaianan didn’t break from him.
“I’m a hybrid,” he finally said.
“And what does that mean?”
“It means I was born a Menial, with the tattoo already on my left wrist, to match my fathers, but when I grew up and trained in Kan’Ging, I began not only being able to enhance the Siliou around me and other objects but occasionally I could spread my hands and open up time holes … I don’t think the Felrin appreciated my talent either.”
Kaianan sat down, a few metres away from him.
“You’re gifted,” she said.
“My parents are two Felrin Liege. I was born privileged… but I must admit, I am grateful.”
“Yet you sound as if you aren’t happy about it?”
He didn’t answer her. There was a line he was forming about what he was going to tell her and what he wasn’t. She needed to get better at working out where that line sat because after that heated conversation today, she didn’t want to have another one where she felt so vindicated and stupid at the same time.
Kaianan glanced up. Night had taken over and the weather had fallen in temperature. She clasped her hands together and stuck her lips inside them and blew. It wasn’t that cold, as Felrin had a warmer climate than Rivalex, but it was cold enough to still need a blanket or quilt.
Arlise, with a pained face, lifted his hand up. She stared at his fingers outstretching. The air changed; several objects around Kaianan moved; colourful leaves, soft bark… it was intertwining all together and then it stopped. It had formed into a type of blanket.
“It will keep you warm,” Arlise said breathing out. “I need to rest.”
Kaianan couldn’t take her eyes off him. A hybrid had just built a blanket for her. “Are you not cold too?”
“No.”
Kaianan felt the guilt all over her when she picked the soft leafy and barky sheet up and got herself underneath it. Arlise’s bandage was still full of blood around his torso and he didn’t have a shirt on at all. She cringed at the sight.
What was it about him that got under her skin? Could she just stop caring for one second! After a few minutes of staring at him falling asleep, she got up and leant next to him, using the blanket to cover them both. He didn’t wake. Kaianan, ridding her brain of thought, closed her eyes and listened to his long heavy breathing, and finally, she fell asleep.
Kaianan heard the birds screeching. She opened her eyes to the purple rays of light coming in from the east through the trees. She looked down. Arlise’s arms were wrapped around her and she had somehow managed to get her body under his shoulder pressed against his chest. It was warm, she couldn’t complain. She used her fingers to look over his bloodied torso. How was he going to survive this?
“Woah,” Arlise said in a startle, “what are you doing?” He removed his hands from her body and immediately tried to move her away.
“Nothing,” Kaianan said sitting up, “I think you were using me for warmth.”
Arlise, coughing, lifted himself up and grabbed the bag. “We need to move.”
Kaianan felt her face go red. She moved the hand-made sheet aside and stood. “Well, okay, if you’re in such a rush.”
“We need to get those seeds,” he said, holding his stomach.
“Okay, let’s go, I’m sure you’re going to lead the way.”
Arlise turned and headed deeper into the Woods Devine, Kaianan followed him, this time staying right beside him.
Chapter Ten: A Sprite’s Fury
Half-consciously squinting at the Daem-Raal leading his case away from the city, Dersji Brikin felt a throbbing pain through his head.
Cuki knocked on the glass amplifying this pain and frantically the Daem-Raal waved and smiled at him.
“Dammit, Cuki. Ar
e you kidding me? Does it look like I am in the mood for hospitality? Where’s my onion already?! And find some rum.” Dersji whispered aggressively, rolling his eyes and pretending to go back to sleep.
Cuki sunk back down. Well, maybe he wasn’t as caring as Cuki would like to think. But he did talk to him and that was enough to crave to be around, and do anything for, the Felrin. Besides, the Felrin didn’t look at him any differently to the other Daem-Raal. He said they were all stupid little minions to him and that made Cuki feel a whole lot better about himself.
After a long and gruelling march, they finally reached Rook Mountain. Cuki wiped the sweat from his eyes and turned to Humkar. He ordered and directed them up Rook Mountain, onto a platform of rock midway up the peak.
“Get the case. Tie him up.” Humkar pointed at Dersji.
Cuki watched them disperse quickly. Thin maroon limbs crawled the surface of the rocky mountain face, cautiously pulling the levitating case up with them. His eyes remained fixed on Dersji. They placed the box in a vertical position and carefully began unlocking the captive—arranging the half-conscious Felrin against an upright timber post. They lashed his limbs tight to the cross-like post, leaving his body dangling.
“You’ve bought some garbage with you?” The creature said, emerging from the cave within the mountain, behind Humkar. Cuki could see black eyes and twitching pointy ears. He was dressed like a grim reaper, in dark tunic, slacks and robe. The man whisked his long blonde hair behind his ear and Cuki got mad when the man shot Dersji a threatening gaze.
“He needs to lure our Relic, Levon.” Humkar replied, staring upward.
“Yes, I’m here for that.” Brikin said. Cuki beamed, knowing Dersji was still awake and went in search of the things his friend had requested.
“Halt your tongue or I’ll remove it, fool.” Levon said, making his way back inside the cave, dragging another body behind him.
Dersji’s already terrible sight wandered to the scarily thin and battered body in tattered robes. Beneath her mangy long, light brown hair, Dersji tried to get a good look at her face, then inhaled – no, it couldn’t be – Chituma? Here? On Croone? Dersji shook his head. Was this his sobriety providing him with hallucinations? Or the fact his stomach was holding some fresh Mercury from Humkar’s stabbing, which the minions tried to patch up with herbs? Can’t be her. Absolutely not.