Vaalbara; Visions & Shadows

by Michelle Horst

  I got up slowly, desperately trying to stretch my sore body. “The one bothering me the most is about a disaster. At least, it looked like a disaster. I was standing in a city surrounded by people panicking. Others were already dead - their faces were…burned.” I took a deep breath, trying to fight the feelings of loss that flooded my memory. How could I mourn people who weren’t even dead yet?

  “Go on.” Raighne got up, too, but kept his distance - allowing me the space I needed to recall images I’d just as soon forget.

  “It was raining ash,” I whispered. “I looked up to see where it was coming from and, I saw a cover of dark clouds; the middle was swirling, and the edges of the black cloud were dark red.” I tried really hard to keep my voice from trembling. “The clouds were on fire.” I couldn’t carry this heavy weight, and sat down quickly when my legs turned to jelly.

  “This… volcano.” I looked at Raighne, trying to separate myself from my memory. “It’d erupted. I wasn’t concerned for myself, Raighne. I just felt so empty, like a wasteland.”

  Raighne knelt down beside me; his face drained of color.

  “I only felt concern for those who were there with me. I turned around to plead with someone when something hit me in the chest. That’s when I woke up in my room. You were there. I still remember thinking that someone had shot me. Someone who was supposed to be on my side.” I was drained. Looking at Raighne’s worried face; I waited for him to say something.

  “You cannot remember seeing anybody?”

  “I only remember feeling empty, and this overwhelming need to get them or this person away from danger. It felt like there was more than one person there.” The memory grew vivid - like a Technicolor movie playing in my head. “Wait!” The vision grew. “Someone fell over me…crying my name.” I looked up at Raighne. “It was you.”

  Raighne shook his head hard. “No.” He stood up, pacing the room. “If I am there then it will not happen to you. If I am with you, no harm will ever come to you.”

  He was more than upset. Raighne’s whole body was rigid with fear. “It is only a dream,” I mumbled. “Don’t be upset. It is in the future. We know about it, so we can change it.”

  My body suddenly moved across the floor, and I was all of a sudden standing in Raighne’s arms without having taken one step. “What the hell just happened?”

  Quickly, he pushed me away, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. Without a word, he ran from the tent.

  I stared at the door until my eyes burned. He definitely had more secrets. He could move things…he could move me. What the hell kind of a planet was I on?

  Without thinking, I collected what I needed and snuck out as silently as I could. I was tired and wanted to sleep, but I also wanted to get as far away from camp as possible. I needed to really be alone.

  Walking over the hill, I saw the edge of the forest. There was a smaller camp in the distance which I prayed was Aurian’s. I walked closer, though I remained on the hill so I wouldn’t lose track of where I was in the dark. The wind was playing softly with the tops of the trees, making their shadows sway in dark.

  Coming opposite the campsite, I settled myself under a tree for the remainder of the night. It would have to do. My body ached all over but I was so tired that it didn’t take me long to fall asleep.

  ~*~

  When I woke up it felt like a bus had run over my body. Every muscle ached so badly it took me a few minutes just to get to my feet. I stretched slowly, over and over, until I was warmed up enough to move like a semi-normal human being. Or, should I say immortal? That was something else I would have to get used to.

  With my eyes on the sunrise I didn’t notice River approaching me from the campsite.

  “Please tell me you did not sleep out here?” Sitting down, he handed me the best smelling cup of coffee on the planet. Well…this planet, anyway.

  “I didn’t want to be late for my training. At least I found the right camp. I wasn’t sure it was his.”

  “So you tortured your already beaten body by sleeping on the hard ground so that you will be sore and tired for your first day of training with Aurian? That was incredibly wise. I would not have done it any differently.” He winked. “Where is the balm you need to rub into your shoulder and arm?” I handed it to him.

  His hands were cold at first and my shoulder still throbbed, but after a few seconds the medicine became a magic potion. The shoulder relaxed and the pain all but disappeared.

  “Thanks, that feels better. You must have magical hands.”

  “You slept here to get away from your own camp,” he stated, as he looked up at the sky to watch the sunrise.

  It was beautiful to watch. A truly awesome display of the dark blue of night becoming purple - then a soft pink melted into orange, just before the bright yellow of the sun peeked over the horizon. A master artist was certainly at work.

  “You won’t tell anyone, will you?”

  “No. Come, it is time for us to break our fast before we commence with the learning.” Just listening to him announce breakfast in that prim and proper way of theirs made me worry. I was never going to be comfortable talking like that. It would snow marshmallows before that ever happened.

  I didn’t get much food down, and luckily no one noticed. I soon headed out in the direction River told me to go. The grass field was not far from camp. Waiting under a small grove of trees were two people. I debated whether or not I should go over and introduce myself. After all, I was supposed to do this polite crap. However, when I heard the familiar male voices coming up behind me, I practically ran in the direction of the people under the tree.

  “Peace be, Princess Alchera.” Both voices piped up at the same time. It sounded like they had rehearsed their perfect greeting.

  “Morning. Please call me Alchera.” The guy smiled first - a hesitant smile, but a smile none the less. The girl was a different creature all together. She just looked at me with a gaze that reminded me of the evil eye.

  “I am Storm and this is Blair. Do not mind her, she does not speak much.”

  Just then Aurian’s voice took over the field. He didn’t shout, though I heard him as clearly as if he were standing right beside me. “Training will begin now.”

  Raighne and River stood off to the side watching us. Just what I needed - more spectators to watch me make a total ass of myself. I glanced at Raighne and saw a fleeting smile cross his face. Sending him an evil eye of my own, the grin quickly disappeared.

  “Alchera, Storm will show you how to hold and handle a blade while I finish yesterday’s practice with Blair.”

  I wanted to offer a ‘Yes Sir!’ and a strong salute, but decided against it. These people had already proven that they had absolutely no sense of humor.

  Storm was very patient and quite a good teacher. After a two hour practice of holding and stabbing, my hand still wasn’t tired. Not like yesterday, when after five minutes it felt like the weapon had weighed a ton.

  Aurian and Blair’s training session came to an end. Pairing Storm and Blair up to continue their work, Aurian then turned his gaze on me

  “The first thing you do in the event of an attack is to bend your knees slightly.” He came over to me, making sure I had the stance correct. “This is so you can move faster, jump higher, and kick harder. If the attacker kicks you now, it would not hurt as much as when your leg is straight and tense.”

  I started to like my brother a little more with every passing minute.

  “Now you will practice kicking. Stand as you are, then go down to the grass, as if you are about to do a leg press. Coming back up into your original position, you then bring your right leg up until your foot is at knee level with your left leg. Yes, like that.” I was very happy that he was pleased with what I was doing, because it was at this point where I had no balance.

  So, of course, when he said I had to kick my right leg out using only my leg muscle and keeping my upper body completely still, it was obvious what was going to hap
pen next. Leg in the air, I went down to greet Mother Earth.

  I was a bit surprised when no one made a move to help me up, and Blair wore a satisfied smirk.

  “Use your arms to balance yourself. Hold them out in front of you, guarding your body.” He adjusted my arms a little, placing my left a bit higher than my right which was holding the blade.

  “With your left arm you need to block - with your right, attack - all the while you are kicking.”

  “Oh, now I get it. That’s why my upper body needs to remain still while I use only my leg muscle to kick out.”

  Aurian smiled. “That is one of the reasons.”

  I was so impressed with myself for having a brainy moment I immediately went into action. A few seconds later I had done my first kick. Fine, it wasn’t that high, but I didn’t go down like a ton of bricks and I had only used my leg. It was a start.

  “Humpf.” I looked at him with big eyes. What was ‘humpf’?

  “You need to loosen your muscles before we can practice any further moves.” Aurian turned to Blair. “Could you spend the day with Alchera showing her the stretching exercises?”

  Blair didn’t hesitate in answering. “Yes, Aurian.” She turned to me; her expression was completely closed off. “Follow me.”

  I followed along quietly until the silence became absolutely irritating. “Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to stretching we go, da ra, da ta da—”

  Blair gazed over her shoulder. “What is that supposed to be?”

  I sighed. “Sorry, I forgot I was on another planet.” She rolled her eyes. “So, Blair, why don’t you like to talk?” I figured if I was going to spend the day with her I might as well get to know her.

  “I only speak if I have something of worth to say. Other words would be time wasted. Precious time in which you might have learned something.” She stopped on the far side of the field. “A perfect example would be - if you hadn‘t been humming that silly song, you’d have noticed Luna watching you from the trees. I would find that unusual as most guardians in training should be in class right now. Just an observation, of course.”

  Sitting down on the grass, Blair began contorting her body into a pretzel.

  I could already feel the pain. “Yeah, sure, I’m gonna’ do that. You want me to tear something?”

  “Get down.” She didn’t even look up.

  I got down. My body looked more like a broken ‘S’ than her perfect lines.

  “You need to push your legs as straight as possible and then hold them there for twenty seconds. I will count, and then we rest for ten seconds. We will repeat this five times.” And away we went. She just started counting, one… two… bloody three. Damn, it began to burn in places I didn’t even know I had. She was like a drill sergeant, yet, purposely counting slowly just to watch me squirm.

  “Can’t we count to ten to start with? Like a beginner’s class?”

  “We don’t have a month to do stretching exercises. Ten seconds has passed. Push down harder.”

  Ouch, ouch, bloody ouch! Oh, screw what Fleur had said. There shall be profanity today and a lot of it! Starting with my favorite. “Damn, it’s burning the crap out of me!” If I’d known that’s all it would take to get Blair to stop counting, I would’ve cussed like a sailor a long time ago.

  Her face registered shock. “Alchera!”

  “What’s your problem?”

  Blair‘s face grew red. “You are. Alandra was right. You have come back with all your human habits and sinful ways. You are disrespectful and indecent. And YOU are the soiled soul with whom the fate of all mankind lays. You do not deserve such a privilege.” Reaching for her toes, she started counting again.

  “I’m sorry my language offended you. But I did NOT ask for this so-called privilege! And YOU should remember that!”

  For the rest of the day I paid attention to what she said and did my best, enduring the pinch, the burn, and the muscle tearing just to please her.

  The sun hung low in the sky when I started getting my things together. And when I saw Fleur running towards me, I was elated to see a friendly face.

  “Where were you? You were not in class. Alandra is furious with you for training with Aurian.” She was bouncing. “I have so much news.” Stopping, she wrinkled her nose. “You look horrible…and you smell funny.”

  “Thanks a lot. I hate this.” I had a smile on my face that told her a different story. I actually felt good with the progress I was making.

  “It serves you right after the heart attack you gave me this morning. How dare you just up and disappear without telling me? Do you know how worried I was? I thought Adeth had taken you.” She stood with her hands on her hips, with the most adorable angry expression on her face.

  I hugged her to hide the smile on mine. “I’m so sorry. I won’t do it again.”

  “Why did River move all your belongings here? Raighne was very displeased.”

  “He did? Oh, he is a darling! I could just kiss him.” Her face fell. “I mean out of thanks. You like him a lot, don’t you?” I nudged her arm.

  “Is it that obvious?” She seemed sad all of a sudden. I didn’t like it.

  “You would make a perfect couple. Besides, there is nothing wrong with you. You are the nicest person I know, and he would be blind not to notice you.” That put a smile back on her face. “Let’s go look for my things and then you can tell me all the news you are so excited about.”

  The days turned into weeks and I got better and better. I was definitely not the best, but at least I could fight. Raighne kept his distance even though he was always there like a shadow, hovering around me, keeping me on my toes.

  A beautiful friendship blossomed between Fleur and me, and the six weeks of training with Aurian was actually pleasant. It gave me a chance to get to know my brother, not that we ever spoke in private. It was what I learned from how he trained me that told me who he was.

  Aurian taught me how to be patient and not to fight in anger. He taught me to stay calm and not panic when all seemed lost. I knew there was still so much more to learn from him. Time, however, was no longer on our side.

  Chapter Five

  Charges and Guardians

  A good friend is a connection to life - a tie to the past, a road to the future,

  the key to sanity in a totally insane world. ~Lois Wyse

  If you had to look up the word stupefy, you would’ve found a picture of me printed next to it.

  “You’re kidding, right?” I only realized Raighne was being serious when he walked into my bedroom with a backpack in his hands. Placing it on my bed, he walked over to my closet and started removing clothes.

  “You have ten minutes to pack. Bring only the essentials. You will carry that bag and you need to fit a sleeping bag into it as well.”

  He left me alone to pack, which I did. My sweats and jacket I had on when I first arrived went in first. I could use them as pj’s instead of the white gown, which was way too girlie for this combat thingy I was about to go on. I tossed in a few other items of clothing and then my toothbrush, facecloth, soap and, oh, yes, my pillow. I squeezed it in on my way out, thinking there was little space left for the sleeping bag.

  I was surprised to see a group of people forming outside. It wasn’t just Raighne and I going on this boot camp thing. I recognized a few faces, but there were two new ones looking just as nervous as I felt.

  My guts literally sank to my feet when I spotted Blair and Alandra standing in the group, talking to each other. That was all I needed, them coming along to sour things even more.

  “Alchera, are you ready for this?” It was Fleur’s magical voice. Relief flooded me. I knew I could face them with her on my side.

  “You’re here! Great.” I didn’t see her backpack, only a small brown vial in her hand. “Where’s your stuff?”

  She gave me a sad face and an apologetic tone. “I am not joining the group. Do you not remember what I had told you? Only guardians, guardians in training, and charges get t
o go on a combat practice. I only came to wish you luck and to give you this.” She held the vial out to me.

  “What is it?”

  “I made you a potion. It will give you clarity of mind when you are tired and despondent, and give you strength to carry on when you feel like giving up.”

  Taking it from her, I hugged her to me as tightly as I could. “I wish you could come so I could see your face every time I feel like that. I can’t think of a better potion than your friendship.” I held her at arm’s length so I could look into her tear-filled eyes. “You mean the world to me Fleur…I’m going to miss you so much.”

  “Alchera! Come, we must go!” Raighne shouted from his perch on the regal horse’s back.

  “Peace be, Alchera. May Awo guide and protect you.” With that Fleur ran away and left me staring in shock at Raighne’s gigantic mount.

  “Alchera, now!”

  “Huh-uh.” I was still shaking my head in denial when he rode over and literally pulled me up to sit behind him. That left me with two options: Hold on for dear life; or, fall off the other side and get trampled under the beast’s massive hooves. Not a surprise that I chose to stay locked to my guardian.

  “Why…why did you do that?” It took me a while to get my breath back, though once I had it I was planning to really let him have it. “I could’ve fallen off!”

  “It was the best way to get you on the horse. I could see that your fear was going to present a problem and I did not have time to talk you through it. The others have already left and we need to catch up.”

  I was going to leave an imprint of myself on Raighne’s back if I held on any tighter. Still, I had no intention of slackening the grip I had on him.

  We rode in silence; only the sound of the horse’s hooves slamming down on the ground could be heard as he left a trail of sand floating through the air. Oh, and my butt coming down hard to meet the horse’s ass was igniting the pain in my back. I glared at the back of Raighne’s head.

  Hey, Sid! Get it? A bruised ass; a horse’s ass; a real ass - there are asses all over the place in my world.