by Kealohilani
“She sacrificed a year of her life! A YEAR! And what did he do? He was so hardheaded and weak!” Raoul spat out, choking on the words— his voice now becoming even more erratic. “He couldn’t see what was right in front of him. He killed her— He— He—”
Tears streamed down Raoul’s face, and he was unable to finish his sentence. But the crossbow remained raised and his finger was still tensed on the trigger.
“Raoul. Put the crossbow down. You think I’m not angry with him?! She was my sister! Literally. We just found out we are twins! And we didn’t even get to really talk about it yet! And now I’ll never get to because of him! But Lani wouldn’t want this, would she? She loved Jharate— and she wouldn’t want him dead. You know that.”
“She isn’t here… I have to avenge her! I loved her. She was my best friend and I loved her! You don’t understand…. He killed her!”
“I do understand… And, yes, he did kill her. But I think he is paying for that more than anyone else in this room. You saw him. He was obviously under a spell. It wasn’t all his fault.”
“He should have been STRONGER!”
“You’re right. He was weak and he succumbed to evil. But if you really love Lani, you’ll honor the sacrifice she chose to make to save his life from the siren. You’ll honor her wishes and not your own need for revenge.”
“But— I— Drop the shield, Kendra!”
“Justin, help me out here.”
“I’m having a hard time not agreeing with him,” Justin replied. “Leave me out of this.”
“Thanks a lot!”
“Raoul,” Tierza began gently.
“Shut up, Tierza! Use your special elven ability to be annoyingly neutral— and stay out of this! Everyone stay out of this!” Raoul seethed.
Tierza let the insult pass. She could hear the pain in Raoul’s voice. No one else attempted to interfere after that. Arante would normally have intervened and disarmed Raoul by now— but it was clear that Kendra would not allow him to harm Jharate.
Moreover, Arante thought it was better to let Kendra talk him down if possible to prevent further attempts on Jharate’s life when Kendra might not be so near. So she waited and watched as the two continued to argue.
“Drop it, Kendra!”
“Killing him won’t do anything but destroy a little bit of your soul. You kill him like this when he’s defenseless and that makes you a cold-blooded murderer. That doesn’t sound like you, does it, Raoul? Now put it down. Raoul! Put it down!”
Raoul stared at Jharate and— with a groan— lowered his weapon and began to sob. He turned and ran out of the cave.
“Erik, follow him,” called Arante.
Erik slipped out and followed Raoul off into the night. Tierza and Laern also left— feeling it best to give the friends some time alone to grieve. However, they stayed close in case they were needed.
Drakne’s gloves caught Rezarahn’s eye. He glared at them and they burst into flames— instantly reduced to ash. Unappeased, he wandered off into the night alone.
“I think we dropped the firewood out there,” Justin remembered, feeling a strong desire to leave like the others.
“Oh yeah… I’ll come help you,” Kendra answered, dropping her shield and quickly following Justin out of the cave.
Now that the two of them were alone, Arante turned her face back to her cousin. The tears that had been welling up now spilled over and streamed down her cheeks.
Arante opened her mouth to speak but could find no words. She simply kept Jharate’s hand in hers and watched over him protectively in case Raoul got back before Kendra.
The pressure Jharate felt both outside of his body and within it continued to take its toll. His eyes became heavy and— as the pain became too much to shoulder— they closed completely. His head fell to the side and he plummeted into a deep, death-like sleep.
Lani opened her eyes and looked around— only to discover that she was still inside the cave. Jharate was digging the pit. She jumped up and whirled around. Hadn’t she just— Was it possible she had dreamed the whole thing?
She leaned down and felt the ground. The texture of the dirt and the rocks— a mixture of roughness and smoothness. Slightly cool to the touch. She slapped the back of her left hand hard with her right. It stung.
But what did—? When had she fallen asleep? She didn’t even remember lying down. Had it been a vision? She turned and looked at Jharate with a quizzical glance.
“How long have I been sleeping?”
Jharate turned to face her with a raised eyebrow.
“I don’t know what you are referring to. You have not been asleep. You’ve been working.”
“That can’t be right… Really? The strangest thing happened just now… almost like a vision… It was so real.”
“What about, my love?”
“My love?”
“Why the surprise? I have called you that ever since I first told you how much I love you. And I’ll say it until the day I die.”
Lani’s eyes widened even more. A nagging little voice deep inside of her told her that something was wrong— very wrong. But at the same time she was so relieved to hear those words that she couldn’t help but accept them.
“I had the strangest dream… We had broken up because I didn’t know you loved me as much as you did— like what happened with me and Josiah. I found out that you wanted to marry me from Arante— but it was too late. When I tried to talk to you about it, you said…”
Lani broke off and looked around the cave. Something was wrong and she knew it. It hadn’t been a dream. It just couldn’t have been.
They had been broken up for a month. Rezarahn had courted her. Jharate had flirted with Tierza. Drakne had… She remembered Drakne had done something…
“What did I say, angel?”
Lani jumped at the sound of Jharate’s voice. She had almost forgotten he was there. Get a grip, she thought to herself. He’s right here. Maybe we never broke up. Maybe it was a dream. Be happy!
“You wouldn’t forgive me and you said that you didn’t love me anymore again and again until the power of your words killed me.”
“Oh no, darling! I would never do anything like that. I love you too much. I would never want to speak even one harsh word to you, my angel. You deserve only love, gentleness, and kindness— forever. Come here, my love.”
He sat down on a blanket and leaned against the cave wall. He patted the spot next to him with an angelic smile on his face. With that, Lani smiled, ran to him, and threw her arms around him as a wave of relief and passion swept over her.
He returned her affection with a gentle but quite passionate kiss on her forehead. She was sitting next to him now, with her legs bent to the side, facing him so that she could look into his eyes. There was so much love within them.
She sighed as she stretched up to kiss him on his cheek and then snuggled up against his chest to enjoy this perfect moment. He wrapped his arms around her. His hands felt so good on her back.
She breathed the moment in deeply and the tension inside her heart melted away. Lani felt like she was finally home again and let herself fall asleep in Jharate’s arms.
Jharate awoke slowly and with great difficulty, as if he had taken a sleep elixir. He attempted to arise, but found himself still paralyzed— although he could now move his neck. Sunlight streamed in from behind the waterfall— casting an array of bright reflections everywhere.
He realized he was still in the cave. He wondered how long he had been here. He turned his head and found Kendra kneeling at his side taking care of him. Seeing that he was awake, she spoke in a quiet but cross tone.
“Glad you finally decided to join the living again. We were getting worried.”
Jharate answered in a raspy voice but was extremely relieved to find that his vocal chords were now functional.
“How long have I been unconscious?”
“A little over three days.”
“Three days?” he coughed over the words.
“Ugh. Don’t force yourself to talk. Here. Have some water.”
She lifted a bowl to his lips, propping him up with her knee so that he could drink it without choking on it. Once he finished, she gently set him back down on the bedroll again.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it,” Kendra mumbled.
Jharate felt his heart slowing down as he tried to think of how to phrase the question pressing on his mind— and, for a moment, it seemed as if perhaps his heart had stilled altogether.
“Kendra, did I truly… Is Lani…”
Jharate could not bring himself to finish. He shut his eyes tightly and waited with bated breath for the answer he already knew.
“I’m afraid so,” Kendra barely whispered. “That’s one of the reasons you’ve been out so long. Raoul refuses to heal you. It took Arante two days to convince him to heal your vocal chords and give the use of your neck back to you— but he said that is all he will do and that you will have to figure out the rest on your own.”
“I deserve worse. I deserve to die. I killed her. I—”
“It wasn’t entirely your fault. You were under a spell. Drakne hit you with an awful lot of magic.”
Kendra rolled her eyes away from Jharate and looked up at the ceiling. She wished he would just shut up!
Trying to make him feel better right now was making her feel awful. She didn’t want to talk about this at all— let alone to appease the conscience of the man who had just killed her sister!
“I should have been stronger! I swore to her that I would always love her and that I would always… protect her… and I failed her! No. Failure is too kind a word. I killed her myself! Why did you stop Raoul from killing me? Why?”
“Stop that talk! Killing you would have done no good for any of us— and it would have made Raoul a murderer! Plus, we still need you. Your gift of vision is irreplaceable. Especially now that Lani— God rest her soul— is gone.”
Kendra sighed in frustration and continued.
“Besides, we still love you— even if none of us are very happy with you right now.”
Jharate did not reply. Her kind and touching words were daggers to his heart. He felt lower than a snake.
“It’s odd,” Kendra mused, “but we can’t tell how you got paralyzed. We watched the entire scene Arante recreated. We saw everything. Drakne did nothing to you— and you didn’t fall in a way that would cause this. Arante thinks your mind and body just sort of shut down because of your loss. You should recover though— and Raoul might be persuaded to help eventually.”
“I wanted to die. I tried to die. I begged to die. Perhaps this is as far as my body was willing to oblige me. Only when Raoul threatened to kill me did the desire to live return to me. Instinct I suppose— self-preservation. Ironic. Had he not attempted to kill me, he may have gotten his wish.”
“Well if that’s true, I’m glad he tried. You’re our friend too, you know. Losing two of you wouldn’t help anything. Besides, isn’t there maybe a chance she isn’t dead? I mean, he took her, didn’t he? Why would he do that?”
“She is dead. Do not fantasize otherwise. I held her body. I felt the warmth drain from it. I could feel that her heart was no longer beating. Vranah’s is collecting Half-Heart bodies as trophies in a coffin room in my castle…” Jharate’s voice broke. “Drakne is the one who takes them there. And I still wish I was with her!”
“Well, you aren’t! So it’s time to get over yourself and start thinking about everyone else! We still have a war to win here. You are a great leader and a great soldier. We need you— and we need you whole. So start getting better so that we can move out! We can mourn her loss when we have time. We don’t have that luxury right now.”
“You are uncommonly strong. I heard what you said to Raoul. I killed your sister— yet you immediately protected me and here you are attending me.”
“It’s what she would want me to do.”
Kendra sighed. She didn’t want to feel the sadness within her and her frustration was hard to control. She was trapped between the two emotions. And she greatly resented the fact that Jharate would not stop talking to her.
She took in a shuddering deep breath and let it out quickly as Raoul walked into the cave to get his hunting gear. She was relieved simply to have a distraction.
Raoul looked at Jharate and saw he was awake. Kendra could tell that Raoul’s anger had subsided slightly— but that the sight of Jharate made his skin crawl.
Raoul marched over to Jharate and placed his hands on his chest. The white light came and went quickly. Raoul snatched up his crossbow bolts and stormed out again.
Kendra watched as Jharate moved his arms and pushed himself up— positioning himself against a rock.
“Arante must have bargained for the upper half of my body”
“I suppose so. Still can’t move your legs then?”
“No.”
“Hmmm. Well, Arante is very persuasive. She’ll eventually get Raoul to heal your legs too. Here. Eat this. You must be starving. You haven’t eaten in three days.”
Jharate’s stomach growled as he saw the food and he felt his mouth water. He had not noticed until this moment how very hungry he was.
He felt a certain amount of guilt that his body had apparently decided that it was time to continue on as if everything were normal— when nothing would ever be normal again. He graciously took the offered food and began to devour it like a starved animal.
Lani slowly roused from Jharate’s shoulder. She looked up at him with a smile— but her smile soon fell flat and her eyes narrowed. This could not be real…
But it feels so good, dang it! What is going on? Have I gone crazy?!
Either she had been dreaming the whole break up— or she was dreaming now. Or she was dead and this was some sort of afterlife limbo— perhaps a test of some kind.
She wanted to believe— more than anything— that this was the real reality. She looked around and saw that she and Jharate were still the only two in the cave. “Where is everyone else?”
“They’re out getting supplies and food, remember?”
“Odd… I thought they would be back by now…”
“They should be here soon. In the meantime, there’s something I need you to do for me, my darling.”
“Yes, Jharate?”
“Read this aloud for me.”
He handed her an ancient looking scroll. As she unrolled it the words looked like Latin. How is this possible? Isn’t everything automatically translated here?
Something was wrong…
It was all wrong!
But it should be right.
This is how things should be— the two of them together and in love.
Lani sighed. She wished so dearly to please Jharate— so she ignored her feelings and opened the scroll all the way.
She held it in front of her as she read it aloud— like one entranced. The cave began to spin. It got harder and harder to see and to say the words.
Still Jharate pressed her to read for him, and so she did.
The spinning increased in speed and changed directions from side to side to up and down— as if she were inside a gyroscope. The space around her turned into a revolving sphere of colors, swirling in a frenzied blur.
There was a deafening crack as she read the last word— and the cave was gone.
Lani beheld her reflection in a mirror— directly in front of her. Electricity pulsed all around her— and throughout the mirror itself. Her heart beat wildly within her chest until, suddenly, she couldn’t feel it at all! Her breath had been hard and fast and now it was gone!
A split second after proof of life vanished, she felt like she was floating— a sickening uncontrolled feeling— away— away from her body!
Jharate finished his meal and set down the bowl. He was alone in the cave now. Kendra had gone out under the pretense of finding more firewood.
Jharate knew better. He knew how angry she was with him. He k
new how angry everyone was with him. He understood because they could not be angrier with him than he was with himself.
He reached for his deerskin bag of belongings, undid the drawstring, pulled out a leather-bound book, and opened it. The book was old and worn, but well-cared-for. His mother had given it to him when he was a young boy to record his thoughts, his dreams, his hopes, his joys, his pains, and his triumphs.
He turned to the day that Lani had entered his life and read the comments he had made.
Today was the most magnificent day of my life. I met a maiden who is more beautiful than any I have ever laid eyes upon. She is the maiden who walks through my dreams— the woman of my visions.
I recently received a vision in which I discovered that I am a Half-Heart. To think that she might be a Half-Heart as well is impossible— and I dare not dream it— as she comes not from Alamea.
However, I do not care whether she is a Half-Heart or whether she is not. I love her already. It is as though fate has brought us together— and I intend to spend the rest of my life with her…
Jharate stopped reading, closed the book tight, and threw it back into his bag. He turned his head away and closed his eyes.
How could I have been so blind?!
The proof had been there in his journal all along— in a bag that never left his sight. How could he have let this end? Why had he not decided to fight for her rather than to fight with her?
His mind revisited every wasted moment— every missed opportunity. It was obvious that she had wanted to reconcile from the moment that she had pushed him away. Why had he not simply told her the words she needed to hear?
Why had he been so prideful and let his ego reign supreme? If he had only let go and put his heart on the line, they would be together now. They would be on their way to Destavnia to be married. More than that…
A sudden chill coursed through his veins and he threw his fists up to his forehead.
Oh! So much more than that!
Drakne had revealed to him that she was a Half-Heart as well!
We would have fulfilled the prophecy!
They would have had enough power to end the grip of The Evil One on the land and to save both of their worlds in the process.