by Adria Eustis
“I know,” he said, “I know all too well. Come on, I think we're close now. I recognise that skyline.”
But she didn't see it, really everything looked the same, she couldn't tell one grassy bank from the other, one cliff from the next, distinctive landmarks were rare, though she had seen that castle before, though from much, much farther away.
“Glad you do. Hope we haven't got to go down any cliffs, not like the one we climbed up. I don't fancy a broken neck, not after all we've survived, can't go out so stupidly.”
“There shouldn't be. We're already low down, we've gone right around the cliffs,” he pointed far to the west were she could just about make out the soaring brown rocks of the mountains, nestled behind a thick row of evergreen trees.
Nina had an inkling of a feeling that Cain had somehow studied maps before coming here. Ever since meeting up with him he'd seemed to know exactly where to go. But she did not want to believe it possible, that would mean he planned on coming here, and he was a psycho after all.
On through the fields they struggled. Weeds swayed high, all different shapes and sizes. Yellows, purples, whites and an annoying mass of dandelions that adhered to her clothing as she went. Please tell me there's a nice hot shower at the end of this.
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
ADMIRAL ADAM
January, Year of the Pearl Acacia
...Adam's gut heated, the druid had been a waste of time after all. Some crazy woman hell bent on fancy trinkets.
As he ushered his men out of the cave entrance, almost fuming at the ears, he really didn't know where his life was going to take him next.
“Wait.”
He stopped still at the echo of a boy's voice. Craning his head back to the druid, he watched in confusion as she wrapped the spare black coat around a naked teen. The polar bear was gone. It was unmistakable who he was, they all looked so alike, those fortunate looks, with their gray eyes and auburn ringlets. With his strong aquiline nose and low set eyebrows, he was the spitting image of his older brother.
“Your highness,” Adam said, bending his knee.
Five years of course it took them so long to find him, they weren't looking for an animal – if only they'd known he was a shifter. Did anyone know? It was never documented. The area was filled with hopeful gasps from his men, this was it. This was the moment they had been waiting for. Find prince Bryce, Melanie had said, find Prince Bryce. Now he would find out why. Finally, after so long. He raised his hand to his heart, giving warmth to the photograph of his beloved underneath. I made it Melanie, I made it, I hope your soul rests peacefully now, my love. He'd shed a tear for her later, when he got a minute alone.
“Thank you for coming Admiral. First let me say that though royal blood runs through my veins, I was eleven years when I escaped the clutches of my corrupt brother, I know not much of ruling a kingdom, but with your help I hope to succeed.”
“Of course, it would be an honour”
“Perrie has been told of an ancient artifact. And I have no reason not to believe her. The Nymph Esmina told her also where to find me, she has travelled just as far as you. Forgive the surroundings, but the south is the only place that my brother will not find me.”
“Of course.”
“Esmina was not able to pinpoint the exact location, it resides in a rather inhabitable area.”
The prince retrieved a map from his pocket and unfolded it on the ice. Adam crouched beside him – it reminded him of his glory days.
“Here.” Bryce pointed out an area...
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
JANINA
October, Year of the Pearl Acacia
An hour must have gone by, maybe longer, the dark clouds had retreated and made way for a meagre attempt at a sunny day. They'd crossed streams, found a rotting corpse in a pond and navigated carefully around a huge fen. Nina was just glad that they'd not been followed or bumped in to anyone new, since she'd had more than enough scares for the day. Coming face to face with a gigantic wolf was going to give her nightmares for the rest of her days. Now her backpack was lost back out there in the lace-flower field, she had no idea if Zane had succumbed to his injuries, or if Opal was still alive. Getting home was really looking unlikely now, she tried to tally her points. There had been Astra, Sheeba, the two arsonists, Armand on the cliff and Regulus. 4.5 she thought, since most had been only worth half a point. She grimaced and shuddered, hating having to put numbers on people's lives. 4.5 was already enough, she ached all over and tried hard not to vomit as all the faces of death hit her in a flashback as they approached the village. She could almost hear the gunshots from yesterday ringing out, and the fact that it was only yesterday made her face scrunch up in disbelief. It had felt like months.
The familiar smashed and decayed stone walls of the village were coming up fast. Her eyes darted all around, intent on spotting danger before it spotted them. So what was it that he had remembered that was so important they had to come back for?
~
The lonely willow tree seemed to whisper secrets into the wind as it creaked and swayed eerily. The ridged, light-brown, bark bore a circular crack, and it's fuzzy yellow flowers made a carpet beneath it.
“A willow tree, is this why we came back?”
“Yes.”
“Because of my dream? Why?”
Cain knelt in under the willow's umbrella canopy, shifting years worth of leaves and flowers away. Beneath the fresh ones were layers upon layers of long fallen foliage.
It all confused her, but she was getting used to that. Cain never made any sense, but she liked this puzzling trait. Although she could not understand the meaning of this particular willow tree, since it wasn't even in a graveyard. Or was it?
Eyeing up the ruins around her, they seemed familiar yet different. What was left of a dry stone wall ran along the back of the tree, turning at right angles, at each end, running off away from them and then breaking off after a meter or two. She stepped over the wall easily, her hand unknowingly clutching her pendant. It did not look at all the same, the graves were gone, tall tombstones no where to be seen. Instead, nature had savaged the ground around her, like an angry storm. Long dead trees, sprawled, scattered, skeletal, ripped from their soils and strewn across the area. Thorn bushes and weeds clashed with rose bushes in an everlasting battle. She would have needed a sword to get through. Instead, she stepped back over the wall and went around the outsides. The ruins of the dry stone wall were still there in places, but mostly missing.
Her pace picked up, she ran along the old wall, it grew taller and taller until she reach the corner. She turned it, searching for the iron gate, the bearded face carved in the stone. But it was no longer there. Replaced now with a pile of rubble. No! It can't be gone! It was here just minutes ago when I dropped it, I left it here. I need it! Ekrath betrayed him! I must have it, without it I can't see him. I.. I.. what is that noise?
“Nina?” Cain said, reaching his hand out to her shoulder.
She gasped, spun around, taking a moment to register who he was.
“I was her again, for a minute there. The girl...” Still clutching the pendant, she let go quickly. “You were right, this thing is cursed.”
“What did you see?”
“Nothing, I only felt her feelings, she was a bit panicky because the graveyard was gone, but she was certain she was in the right place. I heard water again.” She looked around, breathing heavily.
“There's no water. It's safe okay.”
“I know, wow, this thing is unreal. I'm seeing the history of one of the ancient islander, it's amazing.”
“Nina, listen carefully. Can you tell me where you were stood in your dream?” There was a strange look in his eyes that she'd never seen before. One that reminded her of how Rohn looked when he was about to take part in a Chen Ninzi competition. It said, 'I'm going to win, this is it.'
But win what? Was he about to defeat every one and score his 300 points? Now?
“Near the
willow tree.”
“Can you show me?”
She headed back around the outside of the walls, back towards the lonely willow.
The bow.. did he want that bow? Imperia's bow. Imperia.. she was sure that the islanders name was Imperia, as sure of her name as she was sure of her own. It was all adding up now. The constant search for a weapon, he hadn't been trying to amass a stash of guns and dynamite to obliterate the contenders at all. He wanted only one weapon. But just like she knew of Imperia's name and of her deal with the god for immortality, she too held blurry memories of the origin of the weapon, and now she understand a part of Cain's secrecy. Finding an ancient artifact of the god's wasn't an everyday thing, and if he'd announced it out loud, the referees would have intervened and stopped him finding it and taken it for themselves. But how did he even know of its existence? Was he a druid as well? Did a Nymph speak to him after he got here? No that wasn't possible, he didn't seem like one of those crazy tree-huggers at all.
“I understand now,” she said.
He nodded, smiled a smile that gave her butterflies. “Do you remember?” He stood on the old wall, peering out over the graveyard of wild thorns.
Nina squeezed the thorn-heart pendant, willing Imperia back. She felt faint, hands steadied her from behind. The before and now images stood side by side, floating and fighting each other for prominence. She saw the headstone at which she had stood hiding, pale, speckled grey with a peak. But now it was gone and in its place a rose bush, with the most unusual jet-black roses, caged inside twisting grey thorns.
“What does this mean for me after this?” She asked.
“It means you'll finally be able to trust me.”
“The black roses,” she said.
“Stay close.”
With his longest blade in hand he chopped at the cruel vines that entangled their legs, sliced in half the briers that ripped through their thin shirts. Nina followed close behind him, catching brambles in her hair. Heart racing. Imperia seemed to be there with her, she could feel her seething hatred for Ekrath, though Nina could have sworn Cain said the shadow-lord’s name was Cevrasil only yesterday. Together they waded through a sea of thistles, until eventually, battered and scratched they stopped at the black roses. Cain's hand reached backwards and took ahold of her arm, in a tight grip.
“Cain?” She said startled.
“Nina, whatever you do, don't let go of me, I need you to promise you won't let go, cause if you do, I'll never forgive myself for bringing you along.”
“Promise,” she said.
He tugged her downwards to a crouching position, their knee's clashing together. There seemed to be nothing here, had she made a mistake? She saw no bow, and from what she remembered, it's beautiful red gem encrusted grip would be unmissable against the washed out colours here.
Cain's face was closer now that it had ever been. Lost in his beaming stare, she marvelled at his perfect beauty. From the sparkle in his eyes, she guessed he saw the same in her. The breeze romanced his chocolate waves. Yesterday's uncertain emotions lost all uncertainty. The past seemed forgotten and only the future remained. Passion for him burned within, scorching embers filling her lungs, stealing her breath. If he really was sneaky and corrupt, then she was but his latest victim - a victim of his charms. Forgive me, for I have sinned, of the seven sins, I am full of lust. His gazed traced her lips.
Still clutching her arm tight, his other hand caressed her cheek, tender and gentle. That hand she knew could snap her neck with ease, but it thrilled her to believe he would not. Time became extinct. The dangers of the island replaced by the battle between heart and mind. But her heart won.
His mysterious blue eyes and masculine jaw closed in, soft full lips met with hers. Her entire body sparked with desire as they kissed. Eyes lulled closed. Resting her hand on his knee, she wanted to feel every inch of him close to her. She wanted to fall asleep every night with him, and wake every morning with their limbs entwined. Mouths pressed hard, tongues swiping lustfully, she dreamt of the kiss never ending, never parting and returning to the reality in which they might be forced apart eternally. Mentally planning a future that might never exist, she squeezed his leg harder. Every embrace of his lips against hers, sent fear and love ripping through her heart, racing together in a maddening chase. Flaws and all, she would make him hers, for however little time they had left in this broken world.
One long kiss and she was completely lost, after they slowly parted, the midday sun was gone and there they knelt looming in the shadows. No one else on Etath had ever made her feel like that. Their yin and yang complete. The lava in her veins receded as he pulled her to his feet.
The violet night sky washed over them. Silence so silent, that the silence was afraid of it's own thoughts. One solitary prismatic moon shone. Where the other four were she couldn't fathom, there had always been five of them. The longbow was taller than in her dreams, or perhaps Imperia had dwarfed her own small stature. Cain's fingerless black gloves rubbed against the brilliant shine of the adamantine gems in it's grip. A gem like that was found maybe once a century and never of that size. The limb of the bow, black, she could have sworn that it's grains shimmered and moved as he lifted it up. The great thing was as tall as Cain, D-shaped and it's string was no ordinary silk. Iridescent, it's colours danced from ebony, through to blues and purples. The thing was oddly beautiful, and mesmerising, just as much as the man who held it. The air around Cain seemed to mist up. The whole area was covered with a misty grey fog. The black rose bush and the thorns that snatched at her clothes were all she could see.
“We need to move from this spot,” Cain said, still gripping her arm tightly.
He led her back towards the willow tree, he seemed un-phased that the daylight had suddenly vanished, but then she figured he was used to it. If this was where she thought it was, where were the ghosts?
“You've brought me to the shadow-realm?”
“We've gone much farther than that.”
“Where are we?”
“That up there is the fifth moon, and this place belongs to her. Don't worry though, her keeper is long gone.”
As he guided her through the mist, she notice both their watchers, the Oculi, hovering by the black roses. They weren't following. She'd become so used to them that she'd forgotten they were there. Every step she'd taken the creepy thing had taken with her since stepping foot through the portal. Now it floating aimlessly, disappearing, swallowed up by the fog.
“They can't see us?”
“They cannot. They can't hear us either.”
“We're safe here,” she said, remembering what safety felt like.
“As long as you don't let go of me.”
“Never. That thing, it's an ancient isn't it?”
“Yes, and shes going to bring us all our freedom.”
Beneath the weeping willow tree they stood, shivering in the cold. Looking out, the green horizon that had been there before was gone, the land was hidden by haze and darkness.
“What do we do now?”
“We wait.”
“For what?”
“Remember back at the prison, the big guy who gave us our backpacks, his name is Brume, he's the referee, we wait for him.”
“To come here?”
“Yes, he's a control freak, any time some one evades the eyes, down he comes to sort it out.”
“Then what?”
“Get your blade ready, you'll need to use it.”
“On him? But he has the king's aura, he won't even feel it, then he'll just heal up and laugh at me.”
“You won't be using it on him.”
“Confusing, but then I'm used to that with you.”
“Well I can talk now. I hopefully won't confuse you anymore.”
“How did you know there was an ancient artifact on the island? Can you sense them or something?”
“I wish.”
“Huh, so how?”
“I'll tell you later, we have to get
the plan right, before they come.”
“What if he doesn't come? The referee?”
“He will. I studied the show... for educational purposes... Brume revels in the excuse to jump into the battle and show just how much of a beast he thinks he is.”
“Wait, you studied the show?”
Before he could answer, they were interrupted by the distinctive thumping of helicopter blades tearing the sky asunder.
“They're here, quicker than I thought. There's not much time, just try to stay calm.”
“Calm, calm okay, I think I can do that.”
Brume's helicopter hovered above, blowing the willow tree open like curtains. In the moonlit sky she could only just make out it's army colours, viridian and gold. As it descended, near-by, in the nearest open space, Cain started to pulling her towards it. They stepped slowly, barely able to see where they were going through the vaporous air.
“Get low, we're going in soon,” he said.
Brume wore a face like thunder as he leapt out, his combat belt loaded with knives, pistols and grenades. He cocked his rifle and spat a mouthful of goo onto the ground as he made his way towards the ruins of the graveyard. He walked right by them, inches away, she sucked in her breath just in case he could feel it. Following Cain's lead they crouched low as they went under the spinning rotors. Climbed through the open door and into the back seats. The pilot lifted the helicopter from the ground just as she stepped her last foot off the floor. Cain hoisted her in, and held the ancient bow across their laps.
“When I say now, I need you to jab your blade hard into the back of his neck, he's just a pilot, he's not in the army, he's unprotected. Make him tell Brume he has to go back. But the ref can't get suspicious. Got it?”
“I think so.”
High up in the air, the pilot started from forwards at speed, the night consumed land below them was more visible now, it seemed the haze was set low. Tops of trees flew by and her foot began to tap uncontrollably from nerves.