by Brindi Quinn
“He figured it out much in the way you did. Intuition. Isn’t that right, Elf? The only way you could’ve understood, or even witnessed, my conversation with Aura is if you’d already figured it out on your own.”
Seriously?!
“Yo-ho!” Trib saluted a found-out Nyte. “I called that one!”
“Nyte?” I searched him for elaboration. “Is that true?”
“I suspected. I did not know, but I suspected. Ever since hearing the tale.”
Scardo was nursing a broken arm. “Pardon, but would you care to explain what you’re-?”
“It’s impossible,” said Ardette. “We’ve no time, and I can’t speak it. No one can. You’ll see soon enough. Come, my pit. It’s time.”
“Okay, let me just heal the others first.”
“NO!” Finally Ardette showed a little emotion. “What don’t you understand about not having time for senseless things like that?!”
I studied him, not understanding. “Senseless? How is that-”
“Grand scheme, my pit. Grand scheme.”
I scanned the others. They were all broken. They were all in need of aid.
“He’s right, Aura!” said Trib. “If you’re going to do this, it can’t wait!”
“Just listen to ‘im. I don’t have a clue what’s goin’ on, but whatever it is, it’s more important than helpin’ us right now.”
Kantú peeked up at me. “Grottsy’s got plenty of bandages.”
They each in turn, aside from an irate, tight-lipped Rend, gave me their blessing.
Thank you, my batty squirrel. Thank all of you.
“I’m sorry, everyone.” I turned to Ardette. “Okay, what do we have to do?”
“Nyte, wake him, would you?” The Daem gestured disdainfully to his brother, who was still bound in the same place he’d been all night.
If I were Sowpa, I’d have been pissed.
Nyte nodded and began to mutter his spell-releasing incantations. A few seconds later, Sowpa let out a groan.
Lo and behold, he was pissed. He looked wrathful and crazy and like he’d been plotting out different murder methods for each of us all day – even though he’d been unconscious for most of it.
“Well, well,” he spat, “look what ad’ai dragged in.” He straightened his bowed neck. “I hoped you’d have been smote by now! No matter, Lusafael’s sure to send something for you any min-”
“Lusafael’s dead,” said Darch.
Sowpa’s jaw dropped. “What?! You actually killed an angel? Ha! That’s the first commendable thing you’ve ever done, little brother, but it’s not enough to make you more than filth in my eyes. You’re all fucking idiots for standing by her.” He scowled in my direction, and it was apparent he’d saved the most violent of his murder plottings for me.
“Shut up, would you?” Ardette nudged him with his foot.
“Does the little whore of Salvation know?” He bore his eyes into me and that murder-lust only intensified. “What do you think? Will you offer yourself to me now that you know what you did?”
“I’m so, so sor-”
“Go to hell!” He spit at me, but I was out of range. I took a step away from him. If his next attempt was backed with more force, I wanted to be out of the line of fire. “Go to hell, you fu-”
Ardette grabbed Sowpa around the neck and choked the rest of the insult away.
Sowpa was weak from the binding, and though he managed to grab Ardette’s arm, he was unable to wrench himself free.
Ardette neared his face to his brother’s. “You’re to accept the star, Sowpa,” he hissed.
“No chance.”
Ardette squeezed. “Accept it.”
“GO TO-”
Ardette brought his fist up like he was about to land a blow into Sowpa’s jaw, but at the last moment, he halted his momentum and instead flicked the Druelcan in the forehead. “You’re such an idiot. You know that, right?” He released his brother’s neck. “Trib, dear, might I ask you to give him a little push?”
“I’d be glad to help!” yelled Trib. She started to roll up her sleeves.
“What sort of push?” I asked.
“She’s enchanted,” said Ardette, “which is most likely why that plotting elder sent her to us. Can’t you tell by her . . . never mind.”
Her what? Her boyish nature? Her strange vocabulary? Or maybe that violently pink hair? But I’d never get a chance to find out which of these it was.
Wasting no time, Trib marched up to Sowpa.
“Get away from me, you bit-”
“Ah. Ah. Ah.” Ardette slapped his cheek lightly. “Now, now, Brother dearest. Let’s try to be a bit more polite, shall we? Grottsard, come here, would you?”
Grotts scowled at the usage of his ‘birthin’ name’. He placed a caring hand on his Squirrelean’s shoulder.
“Kantú, yer all right?”
Shaking, she nodded.
“Why don’t you come here, Kantú?” said Scardo. “I will take his place as your guard for now.” But though the hunched man had offered, I don’t think he’d anticipated how literal Kantú’s response would be. At the proposal, she immediately jumped into a squirrel crouch and scampered to him. She ended the near-tackle in a face-buried hug.
Scardo stood awkwardly and looked down at her for several seconds before finally patting her stiffly on the top of the head.
“Hold him there,” Ardette instructed Grotts. The delegating Daem next turned to Nyte, who’d just started to ready his hands. “Oh, I don’t think binding’s necessary. Right, Sowpa? You’ll be a good pet?”
Sowpa let out a blast of angry air through his nose. It was a normal response given the circumstances, but something a little weird happened in the way I responded to it. In my head I saw fire and without really meaning to, one word escaped my lips in a mutter to no one:
“Dragon.”
Ardette shot me a sly glance, and a pleased smile made its way onto his pale face. Even now, he was treating this like a game. He allowed the smile to stay even after he turned his attention back to his brother. He ripped Sowpa’s shirt open with one violent yank, revealing the star tattoo that was my first heart.
Sowpa let out another angry breath. Trib didn’t falter. She set her hands on the star, closed her eyes, and smiled.
“She’s transferring her light?” Shifting his glasses a little, Darch began to wiggle with excitement. “It’s a very ancient technique. I’ve never seen it done before! Isn’t that great, guys?!” But then, almost immediately, he remembered something, and the wiggle fell. He thought more on it, and his mouth fell too.
He was left looking kind of sad.
“I’ll share enough of my light with him to make him embrace the star,” said Trib, voice more subdued than usual. Her hands were delicately against Sowpa’s chest.
Sowpa squirmed and tried to buck her off; but Grotts had one arm, and Ardette had the other. He wasn’t going anywhere.
“Is it painful for him or something?” I asked.
Ardette raised a brow. “Well, imagine pure light entering a space that’s been filled only with darkness for years. I’d imagine it’s a bit blinding? Let’s give him time to adjust, shall we?”
“Blinding?” But blinding really didn’t cover it.
After a few moments of ‘light-transference’, Sowpa started a whimper that quickly morphed into screaming; and soon to follow, he began reeling in pain.
“What are you doing to him?!” blasted Rend.
“Silence!” ordered Nyte.
“Silence yourself, Cousin!” She stomped away.
Trib continued to kneel steadily with her hands flat against Sowpa and her eyes closed in concentration.
For several minutes, the reborn dragon swore, and flexed, and bit at nothing. And then everything stopped, and he was just a limp pile.
“Old man?!” Trib fell over him. “Are you okay?! Yo!”
Sowpa sat up, face gaunt and eyes unfocused.
Ardette caught a fake yawn
with the back of his hand. “Brother?”
“You’ve-?! You’ve forced it back into me?!” yelled Sowpa. But though he sounded mad, he didn’t sound hateful anymore. He pushed Trib from his chest, but caught her wrist before she could hit the ground.
“Compassion?” said Ardette. “Ahhh. At last.” He reached out a hand to his brother. “This would’ve all been easier if you hadn’t been so stubborn, you know.”
Sowpa brought a twitching hand to his chest. His face was softer now, and the air around him felt warmer. He didn’t have that hate in his eyes. It was weird. I was almost like a different person or something – kind of like he radiated a new aura. There was goodness in the change, but it had been sudden, and I couldn’t take it in properly.
“I hate it,” said Sowpa. “I hate the way it feels. It makes me feel . . . abandoned.”
“Abandoned?” Grotts eyed Sowpa. “Is this really the same guy?”
I also wondered how it was possible.
“Regardless of how you feel about it,” said Ardette, removing the hand that Sowpa still hadn’t taken, “don’t reject it again. You’re to consume me now.”
Consume? That had to mean figuratively.
“Consume you?” Sowpa narrowed his eyes. “You mean . . .” He let out a long whistle. “That’s what I thought.”
“Don’t reject it, Brother. Feel the light. Feel the love you have for this girl.” Ardette stepped behind me and pushed me at his brother. “We’ve got a job to do. Let’s put an end to this.”
Sowpa’s eyes fell on me, and they grew wide. “Au . . . ra?”
What could I say to him? There was nothing TO say. Everything was complicated. Everything was a mess! Exchanged hearts and second lives and destiny’s tricks and deals with the moon and failed prophecies? There was no response I could give to convey what I was feeling, so I simply responded,
“Um . . . hi.” I gave him a wary, feeble wave.
“Eh! It’s too much,” he said, shying away and shielding his face from me. “Why are you doing this, Ardette? Do you hate me this much? You want to cause me THIS much pain?!”
“You forget, Brother. You’ve caused far more pain this life than I ever could. I’m trying to help you.”
Trib nodded. “I told you. You’ll be better. You’ll feel better this way.”
Sowpa allowed her to rest a hand on his back.
“What . . . ?” Scardo started to ask, but he gave up. There was too much to voice. All of it was too heavy. He looked to Grotts. Grotts shrugged, and they both remained silent.
“Er . . . uh . . .” I had to say something better than ‘hi’, so I tried again. “I’m sorry, Sowpa or Dragon, or whichever identity is stronger. I’m sorry for what happened.”
I couldn’t remember on my own the things that had transpired between us, but I really was remorseful for them. It had all been to fulfill my Creator-given duty, but that didn’t make any better the fact that I’d betrayed this person so badly that he’d had to reject his heart.
“Can I touch her?”
Sowpa had asked Ardette, not me.
Ardette nodded. “If that’s all right with her.”
I felt uncomfortable, but I gave my approval.
“Just refrain from going insane this time, would you?” said Ardette, chary. “Try to keep hold of your emotions.”
I held out my hand to the dragon, and he took it.
“Your heart’s within me,” he whispered without setting sight on me, “so how are you so warm?”
“That’s her angel’s heart. She still holds her Sapian heart. Remember? She once had two of them.”
One for the dragon and one for its keeper.
But now I loved Nyte, and I didn’t just love him with my recycled heart. I loved him with my soul. That was the difference. It was something more than love; it was the fact that my soul cried to be near his.
“Do you really want to do this, Brother?” asked Sowpa.
Ardette didn’t hesitate at all. He said, “I do. We must end this. It was our fault things ended up this way, and if we can right the wrongs of someone else in the process, then it’s all the better. We’ve both got a lot of sins to atone for, after all.”
“I won’t stop you,” said Sowpa. “I can’t stand feeling, so if we don’t do this, I’ll just push the warm thing from chest again. In all honesty, I’d rather not be . . . you know . . .” He gripped his chest. “Not like this.”
“Excellent.” Ardette smiled darkly. Then, in a rapid change of demeanor, he shouted, “Nyte! Bind Darch! Quickly!”
“What?!” Nyte spun his head to catch a glimpse of Magir, whose face was just starting to show dread. I didn’t understand it, but it was contagious.
“Ardetto?!” Darch took an uneasy step back. “You don’t . . . WAIT . . . IT’S NOT-!”
“Bind him, would you?! Aura will die at ad’ai’s end if we do nothing, remember? It’s no time to be tarrying.”
“YOU ARE?! BUT I THOUGHT-?! Wasn’t the plan to kill Illuma and be done with it?!”
Darch was frenzied, but Ardette remained calm.
“She can’t be killed until ad’ai’s end.”
“NO!” cried Darch. “YOU CAN’T! I MEAN, Ardetto, at least attach yourself to something!” He threw a spastic hand in Kantú’s direction. “That chimbree! Do you still have it?!”
Now I was really worried. What in Farellah was going on!? Darch’s dread was more than contagious! He was setting all of us into a panic.
“What are you-?!” I started.
“NYTE! NOW!” ordered Ardette.
“I am sorry, Darch.” Without knowing why, Nyte sent a blast of red at the wide-eyed Magir that had just begun to sob.
“And the others. You can leave Trib and Aura.”
“W-what?!” stammered Scardo. “Why must we-”
“NO!” Nyte put his foot down. “Tell me first!”
Ardette shook both his head and his pointer finger. “Ah, ah, ah. The moon’s lowered a bit. Have you noticed? Best hurry, boy.”
Ardette was right. The moon had lowered. Nyte also saw it.
“ARGH!” He shot another few blasts at a very confused group of guardians. Grotts, Scardo, Kantú, and Rend all collapsed into the squishy ground. “Why is this necessary?!” spat Nyte.
“No kidding, Ardette!” I said. “What the hell’s going on?!”
“It’s so that they don’t interfere. Things are about to get . . . hm . . . never mind. My cherry pit, might I borrow some of you?”
“Uh, seriously?!” Disbelief-filled, I shook my head. “You CAN, but-”
He didn’t wait for me to finish. Pupils growing inside of his cherry irises, he grabbed my wrist, pulled me to him in a passionate embrace, and took in a large smell of my hair. Confused and worried, I didn’t fight him. I just brought my hand to his horn. It grew cold, and so did my cheek when he planted a delicate kiss on its skin.
“Ardette? What’s-?”
But he pushed me away. “Take her, Nyte!”
Nyte sprang forward to take me in his arms. I didn’t fight him either. I was too confused.
“Come, Brother!” yelled Ardette, shooting an anxious glance at the moon, which was now noticeably sliding lower.
Sowpa said nothing. He just stole one more look at me and then crawled to Ardette, who’d just fallen to his knees.
What the heck is going on? I wanted to cry out, to freak out, to get it all out, but I kept it in. I had no choice but to observe.
The two brothers touched their horns together, and before our eyes, the shadows cast by the mangrove trees’ blockage of effulgence started to crawl along the ground, slinking and lithe. They accumulated in a circle around Ardette and Sowpa, which then started to rise, forming a curtain of pure blackness.
In a matter of seconds, both of the Daems were completely blocked from view.
The only thing to escape my lips was an ‘eek’. A small, defeated eek that barely counted as a real emission. The night air was thick with tension.
Moist with apprehension. Alive with restlessness.
That eek shrank back into the pit of my throat quickly, however, for when the curtain lifted not more than ten seconds later, a dragon – a real dragon – was there in the space, and it made me speechless.
It was the same dragon from the memory. Black-scaled and beautiful. As large as the one from the tomb. Its teeth were white and pointed, and upon its back were two long-spanned wings that looked like hide. But most impressive were its eyes. They were completely black, save the slit-like pupils, which were cherry red.
Trib let out a gasp, but she didn’t show any fear. Nyte strengthened his grip around me, but he also remained composed. I was the only one afraid. I was so afraid that I was shaking.
“Hello, Angel,” said the dragon.
But I still couldn’t speak. My astonishment kept me from moving. This was impossible. All of it was too impossible, so I just stared, petrified.
The dragon said nothing else before acting.
With the moon continuing to fall at its backside, it stood on its scaly hind legs and drew in a breath. I could discern that it was a breath only because of the whooshing noise it made. As far as I could tell, it seemed to be sucking in nothing. It didn’t release any of the air it took in, either. It just continued to suck in one long breath with no sign of stopping and with no apparent aim. I didn’t get what it was trying to do, but then, eventually, a stream of white mist appeared from across the marsh and began pulling into its mouth.
“It’s . . . consuming the mist?” I managed to ask in a stumbling garble.
The stream of mist entering the dragon continued to grow. It quickly gained density and became whiter.
“That’s right,” said Trib in reverence. “The power inside of it is stronger than just an angel and a dragon alone. It possesses three hearts. One angel, one dragon, one Sapian. The perfect balance.”
“The ultimate unity,” mumbled Nyte. “The trinity.”
I didn’t understand, so I just repeated, “The trinity?”
The funneling mist was still growing. It was turning into something enormous. An enormous torrent of white vapor.
“But why’s he sucking in the mist?” I asked.