“Aysgarth!” Elinor shouted. Light was pouring out of her, wave after wave. The woman stood outside the circle of pillars, on the other side of the body of water. Her head was tilted back while her arms reached for the heavens. Light, Elinor’s light, was flowing from her, through the pillars, and into the woman. Elinor was being drained. The sun’s rays filtering through the open roof were activating her afterglow in all its splendor. Elinor struggled to free herself. She pulled against her restraints and lashed out with her legs. The woman cackled.
“Elinor, Elinor, the best of us all. She struggles and cries, and fights at Brim Hall. Her light burns so bright that it blinds the dawn. But the poor little fawn will die a pawn.” She paused. “That’s right, Elinor. This is Brim Hall. Your wretched Ma΄Ranie friends built this place to capture light. Sky catchers will be your undoing,” she howled.
With every burst of light torn from her body, Elinor released a piercing screech. The woolȧrook lingered nearby in a dark corner, panting heavily, and longing for the moment when Elinor would be fully drained. Then she would be ready for the taking. Its brooding eyes changed from wild delight to rage when it saw Elinor’s naked body once again attired in a light-bearer’s traditional garb. An outfit that had been burned the night before. It pounded the ground with clenched fists.
The woman gazed in contempt at Elinor’s transformation. “No!” she wailed. “The ground belongs to you. The sky is mine.”
From the light surrounding Elinor the child emerged. “Sister,” she said calmly, “you’ve blocked below from above.” The pillars fell silent.
In agonizing pain, Elinor thrashed on the bed. Tears streamed down her face and blood flowed from her heavily bruised wrists and ankles as she tried to buck her restraints.
“I merely changed the rules,” the woman shot back. “How did you get up here anyway?”
On cue her question was answered by the appearance of a gargan elder that the child had summoned from underground. Large forewings and smaller hind wings moved without making a sound. Sunlight refracting off its translucent body made it appear as a giant prism moving across the sky. Light passing through its massive frame emerged on the other end in colorful rays.
The woman proclaimed in annoyance, “You summoned one of the gargan elders?” She balled her fists and stomped her foot. “What of your reluctance to not get involved?” she mocked. “Have a change of heart, sister?”
“You left me no choice.”
“Nor you me.”
Fire erupted from the woman’s outstretched hands to form a single stream of scorching death that honed on the bed. The child blurred in front to place herself between her sister’s wrath and Elinor. Streaming fire was redirected around the divan by an unseen protective shell. The woman flicked her wrist, creating a hole in the ground below the child. She fell out of sight.
“Kill her, Beast,” howled the woman. “I have what I need.”
The woolȧrook charged. It sprang off a nearby tree and lunged through the air, using serrated claws to slice branches and vines blocking its path, and landed next to Elinor. Water sloshed over the floating platform with the woolȧrook’s resounding thud against its wooden planks. The girl, the pretty one, looked up in horror. The woolȧrook’s time had come. Its bloodlust would finally be satisfied—its purpose fulfilled. Its empty eyes focused on the girl’s throat. A ruthless nature, one of death and destruction, was on full display with a crass smacking of its lips and a callous tilting of its head. For the woolȧrook, Elinor’s death was meaningless and would be carried out without a second thought. The woolȧrook tilted its head back and gave a final rumble of pleasure, then brought its hand down on the girl.
An unseen force propelled the woolȧrook backward, leaving a trail of shattered trees along its path. The woolȧrook crashed through the building’s inner wall, leaving behind a gaping hole in the outer privacy wall, and landed on top of the loggia’s covered exterior. It lay in a heap, immobile. The child easily snapped Elinor’s ropes. She swooped Elinor into her arms just as lightning struck the divan, setting it and the overhead frame ablaze. The child bound across the water and landed opposite her sister.
“Enough of this,” raged the woman. “Hand over the coruscant.”
Teary eyed, “Please, sister,” begged the child. “Join with me once more. Put an end to this senseless bloodshed.”
“We tried it your way, remember? Now it’s my turn.” She seethed between gritted teeth, “Give me the coruscant, or I’ll lay waste to what remains.” When the child remained unyielding in her own conviction, the woman replied, “Fine. Have it your way. Oh…Zi…” she purred.
Zi, the gargan the woman kept as one of the many tokens of her victory, descended from one of the openings in the roof, slithering her way through the dense forest canopy. Rows of dermal plates cut through vegetation like blades of a saw. Scales layered across her underbelly pulverized the ground, leaving behind a winding trail. The scent of honey wafted through the air. Zi’s eyes appeared hazy.
“Oh, sister of mine, with your purist ways and forgotten praise. We shall be one again. I’ll rule as you once did, without all the craze, and broken promises of yesterdays.” She released a vehement screech. “You brought your gargan, I brought mine. Let’s see which one wins. The dead one, or the living one. I choose the living.” Fulguration shot from her hands.
Again, the child created a protective shield around Elinor. Intense flashes of white light were scattered by the see-through barrier. Bolts struck trees and seared patches of grass. Flowers wilted and water boiled. Like a mother, the child gazed at the last light-bearer who lay in her arms, writhing in pain. Last of the tree-dwellers and the last hope for Kalloire.
Elinor seemed to have read the child’s mind because in that instant she pointed to the tower and murmured, “They’re in there.”
“Who?” asked the child.
“Survivors.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
As foreseen, the girl had come. The light-bearer from the south. An innocent tree-dweller that had unknowingly been bonded with a coruscant at birth. Her coruscant that represented the only remaining option to countering the great imbalance. A coruscant capable of banishing the blinding darkness by freeing him. Aysgarth. Her Aysgarth. Even in death their bond was unbreakable. She felt his presence, always. He was a part of her. No different from any other necessity of survival. But for her, the need to love and in-kind be loved was the most overwhelming of all. Aysgarth imprisoned above. Her continued presence in shadow. Separated by darkness, but bound forever in light. A tortured existence where neither could be free.
Haunted by thoughts of betrayal, consumed by endless loneliness, she existed in a state of terror. She felt left behind by her family. Youthful dreams fueled by hope had been destroyed in the fire, forever smothered by the ensuing smoke and ash. Her ignorance of the extent of cruelty, the power of hate, had left her utterly exposed. Until her death she had never fully grasped the extent to which tribes would go in order to maintain the status quo. That oversight had cost her everything. And in turn her savage murderers had inadvertently caused the downfall of Kalloire, that which they had feared the most by her union with Aysgarth.
She braced herself as the ground trembled and the walls moved. The maze, her prison, once more shifted. She had become accustomed to the sporadic changes, often wondering if her confinement was meant to protect her from the outside, or to prevent her from seeking vengeance on the kin of those that had killed her. Her only solace was knowing that Aysgarth lived.
Encased within the chamber she had created for him, protected from the slow rot of mortality, she knew he was lying in wait. Aysgarth would be the protector Kalloire so desperately needed. His warrior prowess would reign supreme. And her greatest gift to him, a sword forged to be the ultimate instrument of war, would lead the charge. Light and darkness would again exist in harmony, with neither capable of prevailing over the other.
With the walls of her enclosure coming to a st
andstill, she knew the light emanating from the crystals would soon fade. She didn’t fear the darkness. Rather, she felt at home within its infinite embrace. After all, she was a creature of the night. A shadow raven. The only one in existence. There was a time when she had taken great pride in being the only one. Though those days had long passed with her extended stay in confinement. Self-worth emboldened by her uniqueness was instead replaced by a longing to be the same. If she had been created normal, like other legatius, she would have never been separated from Aysgarth. A man who had been kind since their first encounter, and who had never looked at her as being different, or a threat, or something to be suspicious of. He had eagerly embraced her like the coming of a new dawn. And she loved him for it.
Reinvigorated by the girl’s presence, she slowly rose. The fire had burned deep, leaving a damaged body that was slowly failing. She pushed aside excruciating pain and focused her energy. Uniting Aysgarth with the coruscant, her coruscant, and its bearer from the south was all that mattered. Only by acting together could they change the course of a perverted destiny set in motion by her creator. Her eyes closed as she connected from the void, across time and reality, by using eternal love as her steadfast guide.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
With Elinor held tightly in her arms the child blurred away from the gargan bearing down on them, and her sister’s wrath. She carried Elinor from the woodland sanctuary back inside, through Brim Hall’s bathing chamber, and into the tower of light. Elinor’s afterglow was barely visible under the sun’s basking rays that streamed through the glass ceiling and parted drapery and firelight reflecting off waxed floors and polished furniture. The immaculate living space flooded in natural light was an unexpected, but pleasant wonder for the child. She gazed at the many faces gathering overhead, looking down wide-eyed, and appearing just as surprised to see her as she was to see them.
Her sister’s darkness had blinded the child from Brim Hall’s greatest treasure, its most guarded secret—a preserve dedicated to the survival of Kalloire’s tribes. After many moon frosts and countless days spent raging a merciless war against Kalloire’s children, her sister had managed to retain some resemblance of her former self. All was not lost as the child had feared.
She laid Elinor on a floor radiating with heat and sped up a centralized staircase, moving from one level to the next. She paused periodically, not saying a word, only staring at the starry eyes of her observers while she herself looked on with a radiant smile. Warmth and unconditional love surged from her tiny frame. When she reached the top level, the child hovered at the railing, opening her mind to thoughts streaming from the tower’s many occupants.
A cascade of voices allowed her to grasp the full extent of her sister’s deception. The child never spoke. She responded to the deluge of questions coming from confused minds by the simple act of being present. A calmness descended over the room while an earthly aroma drifted aloft. The serene scene was reminiscent of parishioners that had been led home after a life spent adrift, finally having the opportunity to stand before their creator in ultimate bliss. The child’s attention turned to Elinor when she stirred. She sped to her side.
“Ellie,” she said softly, “your light isn’t bound to one existence. It is sourced by many. From a banished child that exists between this realm and what lies beyond, to a man trapped in lands across the sea. That’s right, Ellie,” said the child as the effects of her sister’s poison began to wear off and Elinor’s clarity returned. “You have felt his presence from the beginning. Lord Aysgarth calls to you. You must go to him. Your destinies are entwined. I can but show you the way. The journey is up to you.” Sensing her sister approaching, the child’s voice turned urgent. “We shall not meet again. Always remember our first encounter. Let go of your guilt. It has no place in the heart of one so young.” Elinor’s pendant appeared in the child’s hand. “Take it. It’s yours again. Listen to its voice to guide you.” The child stroked Elinor’s cheek and then she stood with a determined look. Her eyes focused on the archway she and Elinor had entered the tower from. “It’s best for you to leave now,” she said in parting. And then without another word Elinor was propelled across the floor, through the opposing archway, and away from danger.
What sounded like rolling thunder reverberated down the corridors of Brim Hall. Elinor ran from the horrific sounds of chaos, away from the uncanny flashes of light and disturbing thuds of shattering rock. The child and woman, supposed sisters, were engaged in an epic battle. As she broke free from the confines of darkened corridors into the throne room, Elinor pondered what could have caused a blood feud between such majestic forces. What recourse had been so terrible as to cause Light Fall? She had come to understand the woman was responsible for it, but the child’s role was still unknown.
Elinor’s thoughts shifted from the child to Brim Hall’s refugees as she heard their terrified screams over the explosions. Torn between her compassion to help and her fear of the woman, Elinor kept moving away from the battle. She tried to convince herself she wasn’t a coward for running away by reinforcing a mantra that she had played her part and it was now the child’s responsibility to bring light back. Silent words circled her thoughts. You’ve done enough. You’ve done enough. All Elinor could think of was getting as far away as possible. She didn’t care about fighting the war, making fire, being a light-bearer, or even finding Aysgarth and the Lancians. None of it mattered anymore.
She emerged from the banquet hall into the manicured garden and came to an abrupt stop at seeing Ma΄Ranie warriors configured in various poses. Some stood in fighting stances while displaying crossbows or daggers. Others were mounted with their arms crossed to appear authoritative or menacing. It took a moment for Elinor to realize the inanimate statues presented no threat. She gazed around the garden looking for an escape route. She froze when from behind she sensed a presence. Hair on her neck stood on end. The feeling of being watched surged through her body. Elinor smelled the sweet aroma of honey wafting from behind. In desperation she sprinted ahead.
Zi crashed through the banquet hall’s formal entrance. The wall, along with the door’s wood planks and copper plating exploded from the enlarged hole, creating a debris field that covered the garden’s bluestone footpaths and low-cut box hedges and various flower beds. Elinor covered her head as stone fragments rained down like shrapnel. Zi left a path of destruction through the picturesque landscape. Her superior size and speed allowed her to cover a large swath of ground in no time at all. Elinor was swept off her feet by a glancing blow from Zi’s massive head, striking the stone basin of an ornamental fountain headfirst.
By extending her arms and tucking her head Elinor was able to cushion the impact. From a prone position she turned in horror to gaze into the eyes of the irate gargan hovering above her. Zi was in a striking position with her head tilted down and her back arched. Her spiked tail was coiled around her. The horn extending from her head was releasing silver light as her mouth opened. Elinor watched molten tar drip from her extended jaw, scorching the grass as it landed. Their eyes locked.
The black slits of Zi’s eyes widened. She looked confused, out of sorts. Her head violently shook side to side. Zi unfurled her front wings in agitation. Their massive span blocked the sun giving her prey a clear picture of her menacing frame. Her attention was drawn to the girl’s pendant. Its radiance was on full display within the shadow that covered the cringing tree-dweller. Zi felt its presence reaching out to her in harmonic song. It was calling to her in Gargan. The distinct clicks and whistles brought Zi clarity. She tried to focus.
Yes, she recalled, the girl appeared to be dressed as a light-bearer. But where was her afterglow? An underground chamber took shape in her mind. At its center was a U-shaped table built around the symbol of a cluster of arrows burned in the floor. Another memory surfaced. The Circle of Six. Zi recalled the ancient alliance. She had a faint memory of being at the table, in the company of colleagues. A fierce jolt rattled the gargan. Her for
giving eyes hardened again. Zi’s attempts to recall her past dwindled as the poison flowing through her regained control. Kill the girl. Destroy the light-bearer.
Elinor wondered what the gargan was waiting for. She had become so accustomed to facing certain death that a part of her had gone completely numb to it. The prospect no longer carried the same uncertainty as it had prior to her leaving the south. Elinor’s appearance may have remained youthful, but her soul had aged well beyond her moon frosts. The prospect of reaching for her weapon seemed futile. It would be no match against a gargan. Her will to fight had been fully drained. Elinor had finally given up. The anticipation boiled over into a manic scream. “Do it!” she bellowed. The gargan flared its nostrils and widened its jaw. Saliva spilled over its lower lip as throat glands swelled in preparation to release a jet of boiling tar. Elinor curled in a ball as her fear returned.
Then from behind, Zi was bundled over. Her head and neck were propelled toward the ground. The sudden impact caused her wings to catapult above her. She was sprawled out, helpless. The gargan elder had conducted a nosedive to merge its essence with Zi. Its translucent body mirrored hers. They appeared as one, but blurry. Zi regained her composure and fought against the elder’s control. She slithered and rolled. Fore and hind wings beat chaotically, crushing trees and pummeling marble statues. The struggled continued.
Water spilled from fountain bowls, and box hedges were shredded. The garden was obliterated. Wood frames supporting climbing plants collapsed. Walls built to delineate one section from another disappeared. A stone gazebo constructed as a focal point was dismantled by a single strike from Zi’s tail fluke. Then as suddenly as it had begun, Zi’s resistance ended. Her hazy eyes returned to their striking color, crisp as a cloudless sky. Water poured from her nostrils and she heaved, releasing toxic bile that spilled from her mouth, flowed across a central promenade in disarray, and pooled in a depression where a footpath had previously existed; bluestone pavers, torn up and caked with dirt, were scattered about. Zi lifted her head in search of the girl. The light-bearer was gone.
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