You fool! He howled with laughter. Did you really think that I would bring an heir into a world that I wish only to see the end of? I am incapable of siring a child, wench. I have been sterile since they exiled me. The world will end with me. No one of my blood will be left to perpetuate my race. It is the elf’s child you bear, woman, not mine. Now go to him. I want him removed from their grasp.
Adrianna collapsed in a heap upon the leaf strewn floor of the woods. Revulsion consumed her, and she wished now only to rid herself of this abominable thing that grew within her womb.
This cannot be, she lamented. All my plans, all my hopes. He cares nothing for me. It is the elf he wants. It is a monster that stirs within me. she thought horrified.
Make no mistakes, Adrianna. If you fail me now, you will not have another chance to redeem yourself. Go. Time is short. The city is falling, and this task will require all your ingenuity. He is bound and cannot free himself. You will find him in the Chamber of the Stars, the tallest of the towers in the city. Quickly now, before my beasts destroy what yet remains intact above, Colton’s voice resounded in her head.
She lay upon the dried leaves and shuddered and shook uncontrollably. Bereft of all her dreams, stripped of her pride and feeling discarded and forlorn, she reached into the pouch at her belt. “I thought you loved me. I thought you wanted me. What am I to do now? You are my blood and my soul. I am lost without you. What is left for me now?” she screamed.
Do not be foolish, Adrianna. I do love you, he said, his voice suddenly dripping with tenderness. Just do this one thing for me and I will be in your debt. I will grant you whatever you wish. Together we will watch the First die. We will see the Gem’s light put out forever.
She wept openly, thrashing around upon the ground and beating her chest with her fists. Then slowly, she felt herself succumbing to his words, giving in to him, hating him and loving him, reviling him and adoring everything about him. The thought of pleasing him brought her hope momentarily, but an inner voice cautioned her and she heeded it like never before. She composed herself and accepted the task but only in order to avoid his wrath.
“I will do as you ask,” she yielded. “I will rescue him.”
Go. Go to him. Bring him down safely and you shall be rewarded.
“Yes, master, thank you,” she placated him, wishing only that he would withdraw from her mind. She needed time to think, to plan and to try to understand her emotions. “Will you guide me?” she asked.
She was answered by silence, as if a door inside her head had shut and left his voice outside. He was gone.
Adrianna spat upon the ground. The instinct of a woman with child was greater than even he could comprehend. It consumed her and it caused her to feel only disgust at what he had allowed her to believe, what he had known all along and not told her. The intrusion was too much to bear.
Did he plan this too? Am I nothing more than chattel to him?
She felt desecrated and no better than a woman who had been taken forcibly against her will, raped and ridiculed. It was as if he had been the one who had violated her and she hated him for it.
He knew all along. He planned this. The renegade elf is more important to him than I am. Does he want this child for his own? He shall never have it! she screamed inside. No one shall ever have it.
For the first time, she was immune to Colton’s seductive words and coercive power. For the first time, she saw him for what he was, and the pain therefrom was almost too great for her to bear. She removed a dried sprig of loquat from her cloak with two small berries hanging off of it, and she lifted it up before her eyes. Contemplating it for a brief moment, she hastily dropped it into her mouth and closed her teeth upon it. A bitter liquid squirted out, and it burned her palate and throat as she quickly swallowed it. Within seconds, she lay upon the unforgiving earth, convulsing uncontrollably, with her features frozen into a macabre smile. She retched once and her hands went instinctively to her womb. She felt the burning sensation travel down her esophagus all the way to her stomach.
This animal will not live in me. She retched again, the bile bitter in her now parched throat.
Weakening quickly from the drug, she dragged herself to the foot of another tree, and with difficulty, she propped herself up against it, leaving a faint trail of blood behind her.
The memory of Colton’s voice raged in her head, but she could barely hear it any longer. All she could do was turn her thoughts inward and concentrate upon the poison that coursed through her veins, anxiously waiting until she knew that the venom had reached it mark, until the abomination within her was dead. She shook once more from head to toe and almost blacked out from the agony, but this time it was a pain she savored, one that she would never regret. A pool of deep red blood spread out beneath her as she lay exhausted and overwhelmed, until finally she fell weakened and wasted into a state of senseless oblivion.
Robyn shook his head and cleared his vision. To his left, he saw Filaree trying to sit up. Elsinestra was lying on her side not moving and Cairn was a few yards away, kneeling over the prone body of Davmiran.
The sky was literally filled with beasts, screeching and flying chaotically in all directions, some even crashing violently into one another and careening to the ground with their riders screaming before they collided with the hard surface. Lightning still lit up the northern sky, and for the first time since they arrived in Seramour, they could see the sun fighting to break through the canopy of obscurity.
“Is he alright?” Robyn shouted at Cairn.
“Yes, I think so. The bruise is minor. It seems his leg hit a rock and he has a nasty gash below the knee. But it will heal. I bound it to stop the bleeding. Have you an ointment to prevent infection? Who knows what filth has been cast upon us,” he asked.
“In my bag,” Filaree replied, rushing toward them. She reached into her pack and removed a small jar of pale yellow salve. “Rub this on it. Then cover it again. It will do until we have the time to attend to it properly. Are you okay?”
Davmiran looked at her wide-eyed, and nodded his head.
“Yes,” he said. “I must have hit something when I fell. It does not hurt badly. What happened?”
“I am not sure. But whatever it was, it took everyone by surprise,” she replied, realizing that their assailants were totally disorganized and still out of formation.
Robyn went to assist the Queen who had not moved since he noticed her lying there. He lifted her head carefully, and thankfully, she opened her eyes.
“Are you okay, your Highness?” he asked.
“Yes, I am fine. You do not have to worry. I must have hit my head as I fell. I will have a headache, but nothing more. Do not fear. I am a healer and I know better than to lie about injuries. It wastes precious time and we have little enough of that as it is.” Robyn assisted her to her feet, and in a moment she was herself once again.
“How are the rest of you?” she asked the group.
“The boy is hurt the worst of us and even that is minor,” Cairn replied. “But, whatever it was that caused this has created an opportunity for us. If we can move quickly enough, perhaps we can take advantage of it. At least we no longer need to separate.”
“I was just thinking the same thing,” Filaree said. “Can you walk?” she asked Dav.
“Yes, definitely. It appears worse than it is,” he said, putting his weight upon it.
Calyx bounded to the boy’s side and Davmiran gratefully leaned into the big Moulant, affectionately digging his fist into the animal’s side. Cairn placed his arm around Dav’s shoulder and steadied him.
He is so like his brother, he thought as he recalled the day he met Tomas in the woods near his uncle’s house. More cautious perhaps, and much less talkative. Cairn chuckled to himself, remembering how he first found Tomas wrestling with Calyx beneath the cover of the massive Lalas. It must be difficult having no past to gain perspective from. I must guide him well. He has not had the benefit of Trevor and Safira’s wisdom.
Are you with him still, Mira? he wondered.
“If we are going to get out of here we must do so shortly,” Robyn said, interrupting Cairn’s thoughts.
The beasts in the sky were regrouping, though they were more wary than before as they assembled overhead. Whatever it was that dispersed them initially must still have been causing them concern. The tight circle that they originally drew around the group was far wider than before. Slowly but surely though, it was constricting as the enemy grew bolder in the absence of another disturbance.
“Follow me,” Robyn shouted.
He took off at a run, weaving in and out between the stalks of wheat that swayed back and forth in the wind. Cairn, Calyx and Davmiran followed close behind him and Filaree took up the rear. In their haste they did not notice that Elsinestra had not joined them. Filaree glanced over her shoulder and saw the Queen running in the opposite direction. Before she could call to her, she turned her head and looked at Filaree. Raising her index finger to her lips and signaling farewell with her other hand, she disappeared behind the shimmering sheaves in the direction of the city.
The beasts in the sky responded to the movement. They squawked and screeched, and guided by their riders, they plunged precipitously toward the runners, one after another. Calyx stood upon his hind legs and batted the air dangerously with his tremendous paws. Filaree drew her sword from its sheath and twirled it overhead, while Robyn concentrated on guiding the four of them to the spot nearest to where Elsinestra had indicated.
As they drew closer to the cover of the woods, the enemy grew more daring realizing that its prey was dangerously near to slipping away. One after another they dove, forcing Robyn to double back and seek another path less direct. Two of the monsters attacked from opposite directions, plunging toward Filaree. The riders swung their weapons dangerously, waiting to get close enough to strike. As the first one came in, she dodged the spiked ball and pivoted quickly, thrusting upward. She struck the beast just behind its rear legs which were tucked up tightly against its body, and sent it streaking off shrieking into the sky. The other one took advantage of her maneuver and flew directly at her back. She saw the shadow descend upon her and she turned, exposing the flat of her blade in defense before her while grasping the hilt as tightly as she could with both of her hands.
The impact sent her sprawling on the ground and her sword flew from her hands. The animal’s sharp beak broke halfway down its length having deflected off of her heavy blade. Its rider tumbled to the earth beside her and they both leapt to their feet instantly, and faced one another menacingly. Three other pairs of Colton’s raiders hovered in the sky above them, realizing that they had cornered at least one of their prey.
Filaree pulled her dagger out of her belt and held it close to her chest in her right hand. The abomination before her, green skinned and practically faceless, held a barbed saber in its two skeletal hands. Its red eyes leered at her maniacally.
She crouched low and moved slowly from left to right, jostling for a better position. The three others in the sky above beat their wings rapidly, sending dust and debris into the air and making it difficult for her to see the more imminent threat before her.
A violent crash shook the ground once again. In the cloudiness of her surroundings, she vaguely saw two large objects plummet to the surface nearby and hit the soil hard. A horrifying scream pierced the momentary silence after the earth ceased to shake. It was almost impossible to see more than a foot or two in any direction. She stayed low to the ground, and slowly and quietly she turned a full circle with her ears open and her eyes focused.
A black object broke through the wall of dust as if coming from another dimension, and she dodged it deftly, watching as it disappeared into the obscurity of her surroundings. With as much speed as she could muster, she thrust upward with her dagger in the direction of the attacker’s weapon and she caught the thin appendage of the fallen rider hidden in the mist. He shrieked. Spinning around to the right, she thrust blindly once again. This time, she pierced a more vital organ, and quickly withdrew the blade. The animal collapsed almost on top of her, its lifeblood spurting from its short neck as it fell to the ground.
“Filaree? Where are you?” she heard Cairn’s voice call from somewhere nearby. “Are you all right?”
“Yes. But there may be one more of them around here somewhere. Be careful. They are quick,” she replied, pushing the dead thing a few feet away from her and wiping the sticky green blood on the ground. “Are Robyn and Davmiran with you?”
“No. I cannot see them anywhere. Maybe they made it to the safety of the woods.”
“We had better follow their lead. These are not the last of the enemy.”
Cairn helped her to her feet, and then together they started for the line of trees they knew was in the near distance. The dust was beginning to settle, making their visibility much better. A moment later, a gust of wind blew through the row of wheat and lifted the veil of obscuring powder. To their chagrin, standing before them, weapons drawn and ready, was a row of riders with their flying beasts beside them, restrained by heavy leather leashes. Their path was completely blocked.
Robyn and Dav had entered the cover of the trees before they even realized that the others were not immediately behind them.
“Stay here for a moment, Dav,” he said to the boy, and then turned and stepped cautiously out from behind their newly attained shelter.
Realizing immediately that his friends were in mortal danger, he began to concentrate on the soil beneath his feet, searching for something he could ally himself with. The elves had cultivated their fields on top of the broad branches of the Nobans, but in order not to have the roots of their planting undermine the integrity of the heavy structural branches beneath them, they had covered the surface with a thick layer of powder, that they had ground from an absorbent cellulose-like substance, but more like pulverized rock than an organic material. There was little he could do to invoke the weary power within it.
He saw the enemy facing his allies, and it was poised for an imminent attack. Just as Robyn raised his arm to at least create a diversion, hoping to distract at least one or more of the aggressors, a blinding light appeared in the sky above them. When he looked up, he realized that it was the sun streaking down through a tunnel-like opening. But the sunlight was being refracted by something that hovered above them, and it sent a myriad of colors dancing upon the ground. As he watched, it started to descend to the surface nearby.
“Premoran,” he exclaimed in total surprise and jubilation, as he joyously looked upward. “And Teetoo!”
Both Cairn and Filaree heard Robyn call out, but they did not recognize the words he shouted. Before they even had a chance to move an inch, a rainbow-colored light blanketed the area, diffused by a translucent canopy of some sort that looked like a gossamer cloud, concave and floating slowly downward.
Those of the enemy who remained until this time attempted to flee quickly as it came, but they were cut down by bolts of white light that severed their very bones. By the time they hit the ground, they were nothing more than masses of charred carcasses, unrecognizable but for the green liquid that oozed from the remains and the occasional black studded ball with its long chain that lay useless upon the fields of Seramour.
Cairn and Filaree wasted no time in jumping over the vestiges of their dead assailants in order to join Robyn, Dav and Calyx ahead. As they reached the tree line, they could barely make out what was hovering above them because the light was so bright and colorful and it was blinding them temporarily. Within moments though, two extraordinary figures stood beside them amidst the carnage and the trees.
Robyn ran to the grey robed elder man and embraced him tenderly. He then bowed to the other, even more uncommon looking creature, and then they too hugged each other as only old friends would, setting Filaree and Cairn immediately at ease.
“You arrived just in time it seems,” Robyn said gratefully.
“The fabric weaves of its own will.
We have been traveling for quite a while. I had not expected my brother to have found the heir so soon.”
“We were betrayed by one of Seramour’s own, a most unusual and unexpected development. He has attacked the city in force, and he apparently knows its vulnerabilities. Seramour is being threatened more seriously than ever before. We were able to do only a little to assist the brave elves of the city before we had to flee ourselves.”
“Wisely, my son. Wisely. It would serve no one other than Colton if the boy were to perish or be captured here. I am certain that Teetoo and I can offer some assistance to these beleaguered warriors after you are all safely away.”
“How did you know to come here?” Robyn asked while the others still stood by quietly.
“We were advised by noble Acire before he left us,” Premoran said, his brow furrowed. “He told us to seek the twins in Seramour.”
Premoran looked at the boy standing calmly with the big Moulant, the yellow-eyed scholar and the beautiful warrior woman.
“Where is the other one?” he asked.
“Tomas? He and two of our other former companions left us just as we set out for Lormarion from Pardatha. We do not know to whence they traveled, and it was clearly their plan not to inform us. Elion, Queen Elsinestra and King Treestar’s son is with Tomas, as is Preston, a young dwarf who befriended the heir’s twin on his way to Pardatha.”
“One from each of the races. Curious,” he said to himself, nodding his head.
Premoran pondered this turn of events for a while with his eyes closed and in total silence, and then as if waking from a pleasant dream, he turned to Davmiran and slowly examined him from head to foot.
“Just as I expected,” he proclaimed. “He looks much like his mother.”
Meanwhile, Filaree had been eyeing Teetoo curiously herself, fascinated by the beauty of his physical appearance. His wings had practically disappeared beneath his arms and back, but his body still shimmered in an otherworldly way.
The Awakening Page 51