by Kealohilani
“It is time to go,” the hooded being declared.
Drakne released his siblings and turned to the next oldest boy.
“Vaughn, you are the man of the house now. Take care of Jerissa, Ka‘el, and Rizena. They will need you.”
Vaughn nodded sadly, his throat constricting as he tried to choke back the tears that had been falling. He straightened himself up— picking up the mantle of fourteen-year-old head of the household with grief and determination.
Drakne turned to his new master and went to him without a word. The hooded man put his hand on the boy’s shoulder.
“You will do great things for me. I can sense it. From this day forth, you will be known as Drakne— which means ‘Born of fire’ in the language of my power. You will one day become my right-hand man. I have much to teach you.”
The hooded figure turned and Drakne followed. Lani saw the silent tears that fell freely from Drakne’s eyes.
The orb stopped vibrating and closed itself. The room was left in darkness.
Lani didn’t notice the mirror slowly turning clear again. Nor did she notice the light coming slowly back into the room. Metaphysical tears streamed down her face and she imagined she felt their warm sting on her cheeks.
That poor child. Poor, poor, Drakne! He hadn’t wanted to be evil at all. He offered to serve Vranah to save what was left of his family. He had sacrificed himself for his siblings.
The orb fell from her hands and rolled away from her. She grabbed one of her shoulders and wrapped her other arm around her stomach— feeling the pain of the emotion flow through her in a whole new way.
Drakne stood on the other side of the mirror peering at her. He knew what she had seen. She remained unaware of his presence as he watched her intently.
She’s crying… He felt something in his heart that he hadn’t felt since he was that little boy in the farmhouse. He felt love— real love. Her compassion for him, even after all he had done to her… His throat constricted and he left the room in silence.
It was the sound of the door shutting behind Drakne that made Lani realize that he had been there the whole time. She cried openly for him now— alone in her glass prison— feeling as though she were drowning in tears that didn’t actually exist.
They moved at what felt like the speed of light. As instructed by Arante, Erik was bending the speed of time around them so that they could travel so fast that they would remain unseen.
Water droplets from the light rain were suspended in mid-air around them. The seemingly-frozen drops scattered as each person brushed through them. The friends all followed closely at Erik’s heels to avoid getting caught in the normal and vastly slower time field surrounding them.
Erik’s power had grown greatly since he had first discovered it. It took a great deal out of him and so they had to strategically alternate between using his power and walking the old fashioned way.
But although they had only been traveling for a little under three weeks, they had covered a distance that would have normally taken them months— back through the tunnel, through Zenastra, through part of Lanas, and up into Trisakne.
All without so much as an incident— excepting a small encounter with a Tatzelwurm one night when they were camping in northeastern Lanas. Arante made short work of it with her arrows— in order to avoid any possible contact with its poisonous breath— and so it barely even counted as an encounter.
As they reached the rocks surrounding the Trisaknen castle and stopped to hide behind them, the time bubble collapsed. Erik staggered and fell to the ground— breathing hard and barely able to move— with one hand on his chest, pressing against his racing heart. The exertion it had taken to keep up his power for so long had drained him of all energy. He could not continue for one second longer.
“Go. Just hide me in the rocks and come back for me after you save her. I’ll be okay.”
Arante looked at him with a knit brow. She hesitated, but nodded slowly. Justin levitated Erik, and Arante helped to carefully hide him in a crevice between two large rocks. They left him his sword and put his bag by him with food and water.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can, Erik. I promise.”
“I’ll be here, sweetheart.”
Arante leaned down and kissed him passionately, gripping his collar as if she would never let go. When their lips parted, Erik smiled.
“I know I’ll be alright and all, but— just in case anything happens— you should know that I love you, Arante.”
“No ‘just in cases!’ We’ll be together again soon! I love you too, though.”
She smiled, kissed him once again, abruptly stood up, and backed up a few steps. Once she was certain that he was well hidden and would not be seen from a distance she nodded her head approvingly.
“I’ll stay here and protect him.”
“Thank you, Tierza,” Arante answered.
“Are you sure, sweetie? I could stay with you.”
“Yes, Justin— I’m sure. And you cannot stay with me. I am positive that they will need your gift. When he recovers we will catch up with you— either in the castle or running from it.”
The lines on Justin’s forehead showed how much he loathed the thought of leaving her. He held her hands in his own and rubbed his thumbs nervously over her knuckles. He finally sighed and pulled her into a tight hug.
“Be careful, Tierza.”
“Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself. Don’t forget, elves are faster than humans. I can always outrun danger.”
Justin looked as if he were being torn in two. He bent down and fervently kissed both of her hands— keeping his eyes lovingly on her face as he did so.
“We need to act quickly,” Arante whispered insistently, interrupting. “They will find out we are here soon.”
Justin straightened up, pulled Tierza close once more, and kissed her— gripping her waist as she threw her arms around his neck. The two let go and Justin kept looking back at Tierza as he left— until she was out of sight.
The group crept toward the castle— led by Jharate— keeping low behind the rocks.
“Those lightning bolts are crazy! How are we going to get past those?” Justin asked. “There must be hundreds of strikes every minute! And that’s just what we can see from this side!”
“There is a secret way into my home. Follow me.”
They followed Jharate to a small wooded area near the back of the castle. Jharate searched until he found what he was looking for. Two trees— bursting with light pink blossoms— stood reaching toward each other. They had entwined their branches, as if grasping hands. Their roots, too, had grown together.
A flurry of blossoms fluttered slowly to the ground as Jharate crept through the center of the heart-shaped archway between the two trees. He knelt down and moved vines and leaves out of the way with his hands.
He remembered how he and Keanu used to sneak in and out using this same passageway when they were children. They would run into the woods to play— conquering imaginary evil monsters and saving beautiful damsels in distress. It was not play anymore.
Jharate uncovered the trapdoor and opened it. It creaked a little as he pulled. He jumped in without another thought.
The others followed— Kendra and Arante first, then Justin and Raoul. Raoul made sure that he closed the trapdoor as he jumped in.
“Use your power to put the leaves back over the door,” Raoul ordered Justin.
“Good idea!” Justin replied, as he closed his eyes and pictured the debris going back into place.
A light scraping overhead told them it was done.
“Lani would be proud of that move,” Justin laughed. “She always hates it in movies when people are stupid enough not to try to cover their tracks or lock doors behind them in dangerous situations. She said that people would be smarter than that in real life. And look at us! We are! Ah-boo-yeah! We gonna get some light in here or what?”
Jharate grabbed an old torch off the darkened wall and
lit it. The light illuminated the area around them and revealed about twenty feet of the passageway looming in front of them. Beyond that was darkness— a long dark tunnel with no end in sight.
“Follow me,” Jharate whispered. “And keep your voices down.”
Drakne walked down through the cellars of the castle as he make his daily security rounds. Lani was on his mind. He wanted her to love him more than he had ever wanted anything in his adult life. He had done everything for her.
Can’t she see that? Together they could make things right for two entire worlds. Why does she continue to resist me? She was kind to him now that she knew his past— but it was pity, not love, that she offered him.
It had been twenty-five days since he had saved her back in the Cave of Witsan. Twenty-five days with no real progress.
Drakne had been lucky that Vranah— so far— hadn’t needed him to attend to anything far away, or she would have been left all alone. But it was only a matter of time before something like that would happen if she didn’t change her mind soon.
He had been spending time with her every day— as much as he could possibly spare without being noticed. He did everything to try to entertain her and stimulate her intellect. Reading books to her. Playing strategy games with her. Engaging her in meaningful conversation. Painting for her. Playing the violin for her. Everything. Every day!
He needed her love. What else can I do? As he thought of this, he became angry.
It was because of Jharate that Lani did not love him. She still loved Jharate. Why? Jharate had tried to kill her. How can she love someone who was willing to go that far?
The realization finally dawned. There were no two ways about it— the former prince was in the way. As long as Jharate was alive, he stood no chance.
It was at this moment that Drakne heard a noise from behind the wall. It sounded like footsteps. He listened more intently. He followed the sound for a long time. The footsteps finally stopped behind another wall. He froze and listened.
“This is the entrance,” Jharate’s voice proclaimed.
Drakne smiled maliciously. Jharate had come to him!
How fortuitous!
Drakne hid in the shadows and stayed still— hardly breathing. Suddenly, the wall across from him opened.
A secret passage?
Through the wall stepped Jharate, Kendra, Arante, Justin, and Raoul. As the wall began to close behind them, Drakne emerged dramatically from the shadows.
“Nice of you to join me.”
Raoul shot his crossbow, without hesitation, directly at Drakne’s heart. Drakne stared at the crossbow bolt and watched it slow— until it stopped an inch from his heart. He looked at it with a smile and waved it away with his hand, without touching it. It fell to the ground with a pathetic clink.
“You really thought that would be enough?”
Drakne’s grin widened. He loved this castle. The lightning strikes around it amplified his powers so that they were infinitely stronger. He could do more things simultaneously than he could ever do outside the castle.
Drakne moved his hand, casually. All of their weapons flew from their grasps and into the tunnel behind them, just as the wall closed entirely.
Drakne laughed as he watched them try to move— only to find that their feet were planted where they stood. He knew what to do in an instant.
He used his powers to open the wall again. With a simple wave of his hand, all of the stunned friends— except for Jharate— flew back through the door and inside the secret passageway. With the other hand, he snapped and created his signature energy-field cage around those in the passageway. It glowed eerily in the dark tunnel.
“She would never forgive me if I killed you,” was all he said, as he shut the wall, removing them from sight. He rounded on Jharate with a twisted grin. “You came at the perfect time.”
Drakne snapped his fingers and suddenly they were both in his quarters. He quickly phased Jharate and himself into the fifth dimension— so that no one would be able to hear Jharate scream.
Disastrous is an Understatement
Drakne simply looked at Jharate and Jharate was compelled to fall to his knees. An energy field formed around Jharate but with no room for him to stand.
Lani came to the mirror and gasped in horror. Jharate heard her and looked up. She was alive!
“Lani!”
“Jharate! You came for me!”
“Of course I came for you! I love y—”
Jharate cried out as an electric current struck him.
“Stop it! Don’t hurt him!”
Drakne stormed across the room to Lani’s body. He muttered quietly and her outfit began to change simultaneously on both Lani’s body and on her spirit. Lani now wore a stunning white satin wedding dress.
The bodice was studded with diamonds that radiated from the center of every white hand-embroidered flower. This elegant detail was continued in sprays of diamonds on the butterfly sleeves and on the hem of the dramatically flared skirt.
Her hair magically curled and cascaded freely down her back and past her hips. A delicate veil that matched the dress appeared and lengthened until it was slightly longer than her hair.
The sight struck Jharate to the core. His throat constricted and his heart beat wildly within him. Drakne pivoted and marched back over to Jharate— glaring at him and pointing at Lani definitively.
“You could have had her. You were a fool. How could you not see how perfect she is? How could you have even let me into your head? You are not worthy of her.”
Drakne struck Jharate with more electric currents as he spoke. He skillfully directed each miniature lightning bolt to the places that would cause the most pain. Jharate groaned and cried out in response, despite his efforts to stifle his reactions.
“Drake, stop it!” Lani begged, losing control of her voice as it went higher and higher in panic.
Drakne stopped for a moment. He hadn’t heard his name in sixteen years.
“Please… You don’t have to be who Vranah made you. You can be who you were before.”
“Not without you, I can’t,” Drakne almost whispered. His mind vacillated for a moment. But his voice regained the previous demanding-yet-desperate tone. “Lani, I know I can’t force you to love me. I’ve tried— and the closest I’ve gotten from you is pity. But I won’t lose you.”
Another bolt struck Jharate and he cried out— falling from his knees and onto his face.
“Stop it! You’re killing him!” Lani screamed, banging her hands against the glass, desperately wishing that it would shatter.
“Marry me, Lani. Marry me— or watch the one you love die in front of your eyes.”
“Do not ask that of her!”
Another bolt of electricity struck Jharate. Jharate now writhed in pain on his side and choked on his next words.
“Refuse him, Lani. Say no. You are my other half. My life does not matter to me if it means you must give up yours.”
“Silence!”
Drakne hit him with another bolt. Lani was at a loss for words. She looked from Drakne to Jharate and back again several times.
A thousand thoughts raced through her mind at once. She had been desperate to find her other half since she had been five years old. The blind drive to find her soul mate had made her go through relationship after relationship— barely stopping to breathe in-between. Finding out that she was a Half-Heart had made sense of it all.
And the Universe had brought her to Alamea of all places— the land of her birth. How many galaxies away from the world she had grown up in?
The first person she had met here had been Jharate. Of everywhere she could have landed, it had been where he was. And, against all odds, the two of them were both Half-Hearts. Jharate was her other half— of that she was sure.
But now she stood to lose him forever— one way or another. She wasn’t the kind of girl who could merely take her wedding vows and then break them. Infidelity was an abhorrent absolute non-option t
o her and breaking her word was unthinkable.
And Alamea had no such recourse as divorce. So if she did this— if she married Drakne— there would be no going back.
Furthermore, a Half-Heart union such as Drakne was planning was for more than this life alone.
Even if they weren’t able to defeat Vranah and he killed them both quickly— and thereby mercifully ended their mortal marriage— which was extremely likely since they wouldn’t be able to defeat Vranah, because she did not love Drakne— and love was required of a Half-Heart union— she may be stuck with Drakne for all eternity.
She could only hope that she was wrong about that part and that this could be sorted out in death. But still. What if she did live? Life with Drakne? Life without Jharate?
There had to be another way out of this. Some third option she wasn’t seeing. A last minute save or Hail Mary pass. But nothing was presenting itself so far.
She cringed as Drakne struck Jharate, yet again. Jharate was fighting for consciousness now. He was flat on his back and was only able to utter in a whisper.
“I love you, Lani. Refuse him!”
“The next bolt will kill him. I am growing impatient. Make your choice!”
Lani bit the inside of her cheek, and her eyes stayed wide with horror, shaking her head unconsciously. She could not be the reason that Jharate died and she could not imagine life with Drakne.
She looked into Jharate’s eyes and saw the pain and agony within them. She couldn’t stand it another second.
There is no time to discover a third way out. She had to choose now.
She closed her eyes tight, lowered her head in defeat, and spoke softly. “Alright. I will.”
Drakne sighed and a close-lipped smile crossed his face. He kept the force field up, but ceased to harm Jharate. He walked over to the mirror and stood directly in front of Lani— gazing at her intently.
“Do I have your word?”