See How She Fights

by Michelle Graves

  “You need to clean it first, then spread the salve and bandage it. Swear to me you will tell him tomorrow.”

  “I swear it.”

  “So be it.”

  I doctored my side up as best I could, wincing through the pain. It seemed that durn tattoo on my back was not good for anything. So much for protection. I finished applying the bandage and pulled my shirt back down to cover my ribs. I was exhausted and ready to be done.

  “Let me help you up to your room.” Conall offered up his arm and I took it. I could barely stand on my own accord. I wasn’t sure if it was the new mark or having left a piece of my soul behind today that had done it. Maybe after a good night’s sleep, I would feel better. “Don’t let him touch it, Izzy. If he does, things will get worse.”

  “But the bandage will protect it, right?”

  “I’m not sure, I wouldn’t take the chance if I was you,” he finished as we reached the door.

  “Well, goodnight then. And thank you for not ratting me out tonight.”

  “In the future, please don’t ask me to keep things from him, Izzy. I understand your reasoning tonight, but not again,” Conall said, moving away.

  “Alright then,” I sighed, opening the door.

  **********

  TWENTY FIVE

  “Hey, everything alright?” Kennan moved towards me, wrapping his arms around me and squeezing tightly. Conall’s warning echoed in my mind and I pulled away slowly and trying to hide my pain.

  “Everything is fine, promise. I’m just really tired. Do you think you could block me from the dreaming tonight?”

  “Are you sure?” I could tell Kennan was doing his best not to push me. He had been reigning himself in all night and I wondered if someone had said something to him.

  “I’m sure. I just need some sleep. I feel like I’ve been run over in a stampede. I love you,” I sighed, leaning into his chest. He reached his hand up and ran it through my hair.

  “I’m worried about you, Izzy. What happened today with Aberto, when you died? You were gone for like three minutes. I thought I’d lost you.” His voice caught.

  “I don’t know. He promised me answers and as soon as I find him to get them, I will tell you.”

  “Alright. For tonight, I will let it go. You ready?” He looked down into my eyes causing my resolve to waiver. I didn’t like lying to Kennan. But I wanted him to have one night where he did not worry about me.

  “Ready.”

  Kennan reached up and gripped the sides of my face, chanting the words so familiar to me.

  “I am going to change, then will you whammy me to sleep?” I grabbed some clothes and headed to the bathroom. I made sure to get long sleeves and pants to hide it all.

  “Sure.” Kennan said slowly. I was terrible at keeping secrets. He knew something was up. Even if I wanted to tell him tonight I was too tired. It had to wait.

  I changed quickly, tossing my blood soaked shirt in the trash. Even if I could get the blood out I would not want the reminder of what tonight held. My hopes of rest had been dashed and now I was left with yet another obstacle to overcome. Only this time, I had no idea what was waiting for me.

  “I’m ready.” I laid down in the bed as Kennan chanted over me. I drifted off into oblivion without a dream in sight. It was glorious.

  **********

  I woke up still feeling sore and empty. I sighed, turning over to find Kennan staring down at me. I looked at the clock and saw that it was only five in the morning.

  “Why are you up?” I asked sleepily.

  “What did you want to hide from me last night, Izzy? I know you were keeping something from me and I haven’t been able to sleep at all. So could you tell me now?” Kennan got up from the bed to pace the room. This was not exactly how I had planned to break the news to him.

  “I need you to calm down before I tell you.” I patted the bed beside me, hoping he would sit back down again.

  “What happened? What did that bastard do to you? I don’t care if he is an Old One, I will end him,” Kennan growled, coming to sit next to me.

  “This has nothing to do with him. I need to show you something, but I need you to not panic when I do. We are going to solve this and I will be okay. Alright?” I was trying to convince myself as much as I was trying to convince him.

  “Show me.” Kennan’s eyes filled with trepidation.

  I lifted the arm of my shirt to show him the rune that still marked it. It still looked as disgusting as the day it had shown up. I moved to stand up and cringed. This last rune seemed to hurt worse than the others had. I couldn’t understand the difference.

  “I got another one last night on the way back. I was in the dreaming and there was this cloaked figure. Well, I would rather only have to explain this once so if we could just do it with everyone?”

  I felt so tired suddenly. My future spread out before me and it looked to be an endless uphill struggle.

  “Show me,” Kennan whispered.

  I lifted my shirt and peeled the bandage from my skin.

  “NO!” Kennan yelled out. He jumped towards me and grasped my face in his hands, making me look at him. “I won’t let this happen to you, do you understand? We need the others and we need to talk to Elaine. I want to know what she knows.” Kennan was frantic, rushing to make plans. I could hardly track him with my eyes as he moved around the room.

  “Kennan, stop. Please, just for a moment.” I reached my hand out to steady him. He looked back at me with glistening eyes. “I’m okay. Promise.” I reached up and brushed his lips with my own. He swallowed deeply and nodded.

  “We need to talk to the others. I need to know what Elaine knows. Does Conall know about that?” he asked, his voice filled with contempt.

  “Yes, and I made him swear not to tell you last night. I wanted to give you a break from worrying about me. Dumb, huh?” I looked down at my feet, realizing just how silly the notion had been.

  “Not dumb. I understand that you want to protect me from this. I have been doing the same thing to you. Let’s just promise one another, no more secrets.”

  “Deal. I guess I should probably put some clothes on.” I looked down at my plaid pajama pants and sighed. It was a green sweater sort of day. Thank God I’d packed it.

  We both dressed quickly and headed out the door in search of the others. We stopped by Molly’s room first and Ian answered the door. His face was still marked with concern.

  “We need to talk to both of you in the office. Get Elaine and bring her up as well. We will gather the others,” Kennan said, moving away before he even finished the sentence.

  Next, we stopped by Conall’s room and found him ready when the door opened. “So, you have kept your word then?” he asked me.

  “We will discuss this later, Brother,” Kennan said, motioning for him to follow. I pulled my green sweater around me more tightly. I wanted to disappear. I wanted to fade into the background, never to be seen again. Instead I followed along down to the office where Ian and Molly were waiting with Elaine.

  I moved inside and shut the door behind me. I walked over to Molly and grasped her hand. I wasn’t sure who was supporting whom at that moment. She looked down at our hands and back into my eyes and smiled softly. I could tell she had been crying and I wanted to take that pain away for her.

  “I’m fine, I promise. What has happened that they have dragged everyone in here now?” Molly asked in my head.

  “Me. As per usual,” I answered back, adding a shrug.

  “What did he have planned, Elaine? We need to know,” Kennan started in on her. “I want to know everything that transpired from the time you took him until we came to get you. If you don’t cooperate I will just let Izzy memory sift you and find the information.”

  “I will tell you anything you want to know. I have no intention of hiding. Even if I tell you what is coming, you won’t be able to stop it,” she said with a snicker.

  “Start talking,” Kennan said, barely an inch from her
face.

  “They are conjuring the darkness. It will be set forth on this land and bring pain and suffering to those that oppose it. She is the conduit. You remember how that works, don’t you Conall?” she asked with a sickening laugh.

  Elaine’s calm demeanor set my teeth on edge.

  Molly flew at her mother, wrapping her hand around her throat. She slammed her head against the back of the seat and got as close to her face as she could. “You listen to me, you worthless woman, we will stop this.”

  “Hardly, daughter. You won’t be able to stop anything, not with your powers fluxing. You still haven’t learned to control them. By the time you do you will be too late to help,” Elaine said with a raised brow, earning her another slam of the head. Ian moved to pull Molly away.

  “I think it would be best if you filled us in later,” Ian nodded, pulling Molly from the room as he went.

  “Why me?” I finally found my voice enough to speak.

  “She’s joking, right?” Elaine asked the room.

  “Answer her, woman, before I change my mind about sparing your life,” Kennan growled.

  “You are the one the prophecies have been written about. It has always been you. They thought Cait might have been the one, but she wasn’t strong enough. Well, not strong enough to form a sustainable bridge at any rate. She did throw a wrench in their plans with that self-sacrifice bit she did,” Elaine giggled to herself.

  “We are not going to get anywhere with her,” I said, moving toward the windows. I stared out at the garden and listened as Conall and Kennan broke into a heated argument. A Guardian stepped in to remove Elaine and take her away. I listened for a moment longer as Kennan and Conall bickered before I’d had enough.

  “I’m going to go out there for a little while,” I nodded towards the garden and Conall and Kennan both moved towards me.

  “I’ll go with you,” they simultaneously said.

  “Alone. I’m going to go out there alone.” I reached up and patted the side of Kennan’s face before moving toward the door. I was bone tired and all I could think about was getting away from their fighting. “You can watch me from the window. While I’m gone, you guys can try and figure out what we can do to stop this. You beat them once, we can do it again.”

  I walked toward the French Doors that led out into the garden. I reached for the handle only to be stopped by Kennan’s hand.

  “Don’t leave the garden,” Kennan’s voice was a plea. I knew it took a great deal for him to let me go out there alone at all.

  “I promise I won’t. I just need some air. I’m not feeling well.” I smiled wanly before opening the door and heading out into the early morning chill. I wrapped my sweater more tightly around me as I moved into the hedge maze.

  **********

  TWENTY SIX

  I moved into the dark green walls trying to calm my breathing. The sounds of Conall and Kennan arguing could be heard even at the center of the maze. I kept walking, in search of the bench I had occupied the day Kennan and I had fought. I needed to sit down and soon. I turned the corner and caught sight of the bench just as I felt my knees begin to buckle. My vision blurred and as I started to fall, I saw a flash of a person. I was suddenly airborne, trapped in someone’s arms. I looked up to find Aberto looking ahead toward the bench.

  “Why are you alone?” he asked, sitting me on the bench.

  “I needed some air and I’m tired of listening to them argue. It isn’t helping.” I was so tired. I wanted to close my eyes and drift away.

  “Izzy. Izzy, open your eyes and look at me. What happened after we parted last night?” his voice edged on panicked.

  “Hmmmm? Oh, another rune. Man in red robe. Warning,” I mumbled, closing my eyes again.

  “Izzy, stay awake. Do not sleep.”

  “So tired. Just for a while.” I closed my eyes, only to open them wide once more when I felt his mouth brush mine. The same warmth flooded me as it had when I died the day before. I no longer felt the pull of sleep trying to drag me under. I moved away from Aberto quickly. “What did you just do?”

  “I stopped them from pulling you into the dreaming.”

  Aberto looked out at the hedges refusing to meet my eyes.

  “Aberto,” I barely uttered his name. “I need to know what is happening to me. You promised me answers.”

  “Once you know, there is no going back, Izzy. Are you sure this is the course you wish to follow?” he asked with such hesitation my resolve almost faltered.

  “I’m sure.”

  “What would you like to know first?” His calm seemed to have been restored. He no longer held the rage he had the night before.

  “What did you do to me yesterday when you saved me? I don’t feel like myself anymore.” I looked down at my hands and noticed they were shaking.

  “I saved you,” Aberto said.

  “You know I need more.”

  “I breathed my life into you. Part of my soul now lives in yours. It was the only way I could keep you alive. I didn’t have another option.”

  “But what does that mean? Am I like you now, whatever you are?”

  “I don’t know what will happen to you now. What I did is meant to be forbidden.”

  “Why did you do it?” I asked slowly, looking up to meet his eyes.

  “Because you were not meant to die yesterday.” Aberto’s eyes shown with endless knowledge and for a moment I felt the pull to him once more. “That is not entirely true,” he finished.

  “So, I was supposed to die yesterday?” I was beginning to get confused.

  “No, I mean to say that my reasoning was not entirely to uphold your future. My reasoning was partially selfish. I could not let you go,” he said, getting up from the bench.

  “Aberto…” I began only to have him put his hand out to stop me. He turned toward me, his eyes gleaming with pain.

  “I do not expect anything from you, Izzy. I know you have your home. I will never try to interfere there. I will never push myself on you. All that you must know is that I am at your service, always. So let us put an end to this, brush it from your mind, and move forward.”

  “But, you can’t just say something like that and say it doesn’t matter.” My voice was frantic. How had I been so blind? He moved toward me quickly and squatted down in front of me. He grasped my face in his hands and looked at me for a moment.

  “I never said it did not matter, Izzy. What I said was to turn your mind from it. It is not something which requires any attention. I understand your love for him. I understand his love for you. It is a love that only comes along once in a millennium. I will not ever do anything to jeopardize that. My affections matter not. I will do my duty by you. I will protect you and keep you from harm, but I expect nothing in return and I never shall.” He stood and moved away facing toward the hedges. I swallowed deeply trying to let his words sink in.

  “Okay, so what about the prophecy?” I asked, hoping to change the subject. He turned towards me with his crooked smile and walked back toward the bench.

  “Are you sure you wish to hear more today?” he asked steadily.

  “I am.” I wanted as much information as I could gather. If he was willing to talk, I would listen.

  “So be it.” His eyes looked as if he were seeing something far away. “Thousands of years ago, around 3000 B.C. your time, soul walkers began to disappear. The heavens decided it was too much power to bestow upon Seers and slowly took the power away over time. The few soul walkers that remained began to talk of a Seer that would come to walk the earth. This Seer would hold not only the powers of a Seer, but also the powers of Guardians. More importantly, she would be able to soul walk. Something that was all but gone by the time the prophecy came about.”

  “I don’t understand, none of this sounds bad. Why has everyone been keeping this from me?” I looked at him steadily as he leaned down, putting his elbows on his knees. He bent his head down, staring at the ground as if trying to avoid my gaze. He stayed that w
ay for what felt like an eternity before shaking his head and sitting up once more.

  “You have a right to know what is coming for you. I won’t keep things from you anymore. You ask it, and I will tell you, Izzy. No more half-truths.” He lifted his hand up to brush my cheek but hesitated and dropped his hand back to his side. His eyes were filled with a pain unlike any I had ever seen.

  “Tell me what the prophecy says, Aberto. Don’t leave anything out.” I grabbed his hand and entwined my fingers with his. I hated to see him hurt. Something in me called out to soothe his pain. For all I knew, it was the part of his soul now resting inside my own.

  “Pain. Ultimately that is what the prophecy predicts for the Seer to come.” He squeezed my hand once before releasing it and moving to stand by the hedgerow once more. “The Seer shall face much adversity and overcome great obstacles. Her gifts will manifest themselves in wondrous ways. She will do the will of the heavens and bring about justice on a world that is unjust. She will be the great protector and binder of man. The people will look to her for strength and direction.” He paused, looking back at me. I could see that he did not want to tell me what was about to come. His blue eyes burned with a rage I had only seen once before on him. He looked away, clenching his jaw.

  I stood and moved toward him. I put my hand on his shoulder, turning him to face me.

  “Tell me,” I uttered, nothing more than a whisper.

  “The Seer will face a great darkness. In the quest to end the reign of terror brought forth upon the earth, the Seer will fall.” He swallowed hard, looking at me. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into his chest. “I will not let that happen, Izzy. I will not let you fall,” he swore.

  “If I must fall to protect the world from a great evil, then I will. I’m not afraid to die Aberto. I never have been. I know that there are people I love waiting on the other side. So, in this, I will do what must be done. If I end up like Cait, then so be it. I can’t live forever.” I smiled up at him and stood on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek.