Bliath: Shattered

by Theresa Caligiuri

  Nix glared at Fera he was losing his patience with her, “Not until you come with me. I give him less than a day there pet, and the pain will only get worse.”

  As if Nix planned it, Vance let out a low moan that clearly noted to something being wrong. In that moment Fera lost it, she lost her temper, her control, before she even knew what she was doing her hand went up, “Pelekta yassen I' handele!” The effect was immediate, Nix dropped to his knees, his hands griped his head, and he was turning bright red. His screams finally escaped his mouth, they jolted Oren out of his shock, and knocked out the remaining guard, who was still immobilized in bewilderment.

  Fera was still locked in the spell, Oren said her name a few times, than yelled it, she was going to kill herself and Nix if she did not stop. He grabbed her shoulder nothing, then without thinking, he wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her close, invading her mind, “Fera, stop, you have to let go, you don’t want him to die, that is not who you are, just let go.” His thoughts were frantic hoping they would sink in.

  Fera shut it down and shoved Oren away as she crumpled to the ground, blood flowing from her nose, and desperately trying to remain coherent. “You don’t get to touch me, you are worse than a stranger!” She panted through strained breaths. Her hands clawed the ground in frustration. “What now, are you going to drag me to my grandmother to get some kind of validation? Was this all it was- a job? You know what I don’t want to know.” She spat the words out at Oren, they sounded as bitter as they tasted. “How do I help Vance? I can’t lose him!” She shuttered the words out, more to herself.

  Her words pained Oren like no other, how could he ever make her understand. He was forming a plan, one that he hoped would buy her time. She was walking into something she could possibly not understand. “I know it is impossible for you to trust me, but there is another side to what you perceive, I am going to take you across the veil into the Elven realm, we will find him a healer and before you argue, the more time you waste the worse he gets, and you are too weak to fight me, I am going to put both of you on his horse and we are going to go.”

  Fera could no longer prop herself up, her arms betrayed her and gave way, she sunk to the ground, helplessly watching as Oren gathered everything together. Vance let out a low moan as he was placed on his horse. Fera tried to push herself up, but could not gather the strength. Oren was at her side, and picked her up before she could even process what was going on. She let out a long sigh, snuggled against him, she felt safe. Then it clicked in her brain that Oren had her in his arms, “I told you not to touch me!” she whispered.

  “How do you plan on getting on the horse and getting out of here, if you can’t even sit up? This will be easy, just lean forward on Vance and hold the reins, she knows to follow me, so just stay low, and you will keep your balance. When we get to a safe point, I will stop and fill you in, and reassess the situation.” Oren releasing a pent up sigh of his own, his frustration over flowing, “Fera, pretend all you want, but you feel it too.”

  Fera ignoring his last statement nodded, as he lifted her on the horse as if she weighed nothing, then settling a pack behind her. He had two other packs on his back and her sword in his hand. It made Fera wonder what they were leaving behind, and what they were heading into. “Will Nix be ok?” She weakly asked as the left the huge tree.

  “Yes, he will be out for a few hours just enough to give us a good head start. Ok, we are going to move faster now, so head down and just rest. You need it.” Oren was sure she didn’t cause any real damage to Nix. After all, the training Elite Elves went through was far worse, and prepared them for such mental attacks - a shiver went up his spine thinking about his past. It was still dark out, but between the glow Fera was giving off and the moonlight, he knew they could be spotted easy enough and needed to pick up the pace.

  As Oren broke into a light jog, he felt Fera brush against his mind, “Oren, will it be safe for us, to go there, I mean to cross the veil, into the Elven realm, will we be ok, I just, it is just, my grandmother is going to help right?” Even her thoughts were shaky and unsure.

  “Help A’mael comes in many forms for many reasons, it is more about seeing things for what they are, and not how you think they should be. Going into the realm will be as natural as breathing for you. A guardian will appear and ask about Vance, for he has no Elven blood in him, but I know what to say. Please rest.” Oren sounded tired but tried to keep a light tone so not to worry her any more than he could feel she was already.

  Blood dripped from Fera’s nose again, she felt a dizzying pull of sleep tugging at her, and gave in to a semi-comatose state, leaning against Vance.

  Chapter 35

  Fera didn’t realize they had stopped moving until Oren touched her arm, saying her name, but she was having a hard time centering on his voice. The air around her was cold, she could see her breath, and snowflakes were falling softly around her. Again, Oren said her name, and she turned to him with a slightly vacant expression on her face.

  “Fera, you need to put a coat on, and maybe gloves, we have about another hour from the safest spot to enter for us. It is getting colder.” Oren’s face was full of worry

  She reached her hand out and touched Oren’s face, his cheek was cold, “What about you, you’re so cold.”

  Oren was half waiting for her to slap him, but it worried him even more when she didn’t. Her glow was fading as it should, he reached up and touched her forehead, but she was not warm. Dark circles rounded her honey colored eyes, he knew she needed sleep, good sleep, she needed to feel safe. “A’mael, how is Vance?”

  “He is breathing.” She half smiled like it was a twisted joke, as Vance gave a moan, if to prove her point. She could feel the anger she felt toward Oren still in the pit of her stomach, but she was too mentally exhausted to act on it, at some point she knew it would bubble out of her. “Give me the blanket, it should be in the bigger bag unless you took it out please, I will cover Vance, and you can put his coat on. It will be small, but you won’t freeze.”

  Oren obliged, and dug out the blanket and the coat, he handed the cover to Fera, and she went about draping the cover over Vance, as Oren struggled into the small coat. Fera looked down at Oren, “He is burning up! Oren what do we do?” Fear and pleading graced across her face.

  He reached up touching Vance’s cheek, she was right his skin was on fire to touch, they were running out of time, and he hoped they would make it to the safe house in time, and then they would help, given who she was and what they had forced Oren to become.

  “He has a fever that might be a good thing thought, it means his body is trying to fight the toxic curse that Nix put into it. From here we go to veil, we will cross into it close to where I was born. There is a safe house of sorts there, they will have a healer close by that will know how to draw it out of him. You can rest there, clean up, then you will have to go to your grandmother.” Oren ran his fingers through his hair, he want to try to comfort her more, but he also knew not to push her. Shock settled on his face when her hand fell on his shoulder.

  “We better get going, I think this storm is going to pick up, and we don’t need to add freezing to death to our list of concerns, but maybe it will buy us more time.” Fera was eerily calm and that seemed to worry her more at this point than most things. Maybe she had finally cracked and lost her mind. “Oren, are you tired? You have been running for hours, I am sure we can rest a little longer, maybe eat something?”

  Oren tried to suppress the smile he felt she was concerned about him, that should signs of promise, maybe at some point she would listen. “I do not know how much time we can really afford. I am well trained to go for days at a quick pace, and we ran harder, longer before... well I ran.” He half laughed as realization crossed Fera’s face, he hoped that would not spark her anger again. He quickly added, “A quick bite might be good though.” He dug granola out of a pack, popped some in his mouth and offered a handful to Fera, she shook her head, but kept staring at him
, he could see the gears turning behind her eyes.

  “That is why you never ate like a normal horse” she half laughed it out, then the hurt returned to her eyes.

  Oren shook his head, as his heart broke, he vowed to himself he would spend every day trying to make up for the pain he caused her. He patted her leg, then thought twice about his action, “Let’s get going, you're right, the storm is picking up.” He gave Aloine the last bit of granola and took off, the horse followed as Fera leaned back down on Vance.

  Fera’s eyes were heavy, she felt like she was slowly drowning into herself, images swirled around her closed eyes, she saw her father’s face, herd whispers of his voice, followed by Markus’s. She wished and hoped against hope, that she was not dreaming but knew somewhere deep inside her mind she was. Or there was an even stranger magic at work here, bringing them to her in the only way the universe could allow. She closed her eyes tighter, and imagined herself standing in a room with them. Markus took her hand as her father paced around the room as he often did when he was deep in thought, then he soon faded leaving just Markus. She gave Markus a sad smile, tears rimming her eyes, and his expression mirrored hers. “Do you remember your lesson on trust?” He asked her, Fera nodded, Markus went on, “Not leaving is a great act of trust and love, he could have walked away when he was able to, he could have handed you over, we are all mistaken sometimes; sometimes we do wrong things, things that have bad consequences, but it does not mean we are evil, or that we cannot be trusted ever afterward, he did not leave, and I believe he would gladly suffer through any punishment you dole out. You will need him more than you think, just because your head is mad does not mean your heart is.” Markus squeezed her hand.

  Fera, looked across the space to where her father had been, “Yes Markus, I am mad at him but he is my father I will always love him.”

  Markus shook his head, “No my dear girl, I am not talking about your father, I mean him.” He pointed, Fera opened her eyes confused and blinked several times in the direction Markus pointed, and she was gazing upon Oren running ahead of them, the snow coming down harder. Could he really have meant Oren? Fera felt she was losing it, she whispered “Markus” and tried to close her eyes, frantically trying to see him or her father, but to no avail, they were gone. She whispered “I miss you” into the darkness behind her eyes. She felt Vance tense under her, she could tell the fever was getting worse. Time was never on their side. She puffed out a frustrated breath, and watched it dance out against the cold, as if escaping her made it carefree.

  “Melamin, we’re here.” Was all Oren said as they came to a stop, those words hung heavy around them.

  Fera took in a unfathomable breath, “Into the thick of it with you I always seem to go.”

  Taking that finial step into the veil neither Fera or Oren dared to take a breath, fearing it might be their last. A current surged through them and the words “STOP!” blasted in their minds.

  Elven Guide

  Devendra = the forest nearing the elven/dwarven divide

  A'mael = beloved

  Quel (re/amrun/undome) = Good (day/morning/evening)

  Amin mela lle = I love you

  Cormamin lindua ele lle = My heart sings to see thee

  Oio naa elealla alasse' = You are a joy to see

  Lle naa vanima = You are beautiful

  Manke (naa/nae) lle? = Where (are/were) you?

  Mela en' coiamin = Love of my life

  Melamin = My love

  Amin khiluva lle a' gurtha ar' thar = I will follow you to death and beyond

  Uuma ma' ten' rashwe, ta tuluva a' lle = Don't look for trouble, it will come to you..

  Dina = Be silent

  Amin feuya ten' lle = You disgust me

  Auta miqula orqu = Go kiss an orc

  Ela sen = Flank them

  Mana Drain = Lova termara en' templa

  Templa en' tessa = Paralyze

  Lle naa haran e' nausalle = You are king in your imagination

  Pelekta yassen I' handele = Mind Blast

  Quanta yassen 'kshapsa = Poison

  About the Author

  Theresa Caligiuri, is a devoted and committed book addict and self-proclaimed compulsive skittles fanatic, she lives in the beautiful small town of Winterset, Iowa with her wonderful, chaotic family that includes an anxiety ridden rat terrier named Maximus Barkthelaimu. When she is not engaged in book writing or reading, she is sure to be toying with one of her many hobbies; such as drawing, painting, felting, sculpting, cooking, baking, singing off key, and plotting to take over the world with her bestie Nicole.