CHAPTER 17
Ilyana:
Before I am willing to step into the caves, I take one last thorough glance around me. I refuse to move until I am satisfied that no one is behind me. I slowly enter the cave and at first it is just the same as it was the day before. I think back to the day before – what I was doing just before the prison made itself visible to me. I remember touching the cave wall and feeling a release of power. I don’t want to waste time, but I need to think for a moment about what I need to ask Kailand. It feels absurd coming to a prison to ask an inmate for help, but that is exactly what I am about to do here. I take a few deep breaths and shut my eyes for a moment, praying that Kailand can’t see me hesitating like a fool. I am reminding myself that without my powers I can’t do anything to help Kailand or the others, so my being here is not completely unreasonable and as he said yesterday, I am the only one who hasn’t meant him harm in thousands of years. As soon as I discover myself thinking about anyone being at my mercy I almost turn around and walk away, I can’t believe that this is what I am becoming. It is bad enough that I lied to Levi to come here, now I am asking a hostage for help because I know he has no other options.
I take a deep breath and remember him yesterday, brushing the old woman’s hair – why that pulls at my heart so strongly, I have no idea. But the image of someone so clearly powerful, someone who probably had the world at his fingertips before, bowing to an old woman to brush her hair in hopes that she retains at least some shred of dignity is enough to completely break me. Regardless of who he really is, or what he has really done, I have to help him. I head to the back of the cave with my hand stretched out in front of me with every intention of illuminating the cave and making the prison visible once more. Before I ever reach the wall, I can feel the power surge through me. For a moment I just want to bask in it, I shut my eyes and feel my head fall back, the power yesterday was so new and it made me feel so raw and fragile, but this time it is so strong that I can almost taste it, it is something like honey and mango. Sweet and natural, not overpowering or hard.
I gasp when I feel a hand grabbing mine, I look in front of me and see that I have reached through the barrier, I try to push forward and step over the threshold, but I am unable to. I look up at Kailand and he stares at me in amazement. His dark eyes look hopefully at me “How did you do that? In as long as I have been here, I have never seen any being get through this barrier.” He is still holding my hand and regarding it with great reverence as if he expects I will pull it away at any moment, I squeeze his hand gently and hope it offers him some reassurance that I am not going anywhere. I am not sure how I accessed this power so easily now, but I begin to swell with pride when I realize I am finally doing something right, even if I don’t know how. When I look back down at our joined hands, I notice I can barely make out his aura for the first time – I couldn’t do that yesterday, it is like the barrier numbed my abilities. Much to my surprise it is not brown or grey or any other color you would expect to see in a place as depressing as this, it is a sheer, light yellow, it radiates hope and power, I know that whoever this man is, whatever this man has done - he is good and I need to help him.
I look back to his eyes and remember that I never answered his question “I don’t know how I am doing it, I have been training today and I couldn’t even reach my abilities until now – in fact, that is why I came back here today.” Just then I hear a growl from behind me, I turn around, not for a second letting go of Kailands hand, for fear that I will lose the moment. I expected to see a beast or maybe even Sasha, what I didn’t expect to see is an angry looking half-breed and his hurt looking Nephilim sidekick. I try to explain quickly when Ephraim sees my hand linked to Kailand and begins to charge ford. I realize that he means to hit him but before I can throw myself between the two, his hand hits the barrier, it sounds like a fist hitting stone and he cries out in pain. I let go of Kailands hand to check on him “What the hell is this, Ilyana? What are you doing here letting a filthy prisoner grope you?” I want to answer him but am absolutely stunned by his outburst.
Before I can speak, Kailand raises his voice and I know that I will have a war on my hands soon if I don’t figure out a way to shut them both up “Filthy prisoner? What about you, insolent half-breed? All muscle and rage, but absolutely no common sense! If you would look for half a moment at the light emitting from this cage they have us in, you would realize there is a barrier – so, unfortunately I am not really capable of groping anyone. But instead of assessing the situation on your own, you charge in like the ignorant bastard you are and go in to punch me, you really showed me, mutt!” just like that Ephraim starts spewing insults back and forth, I look to Levi and see that he is just as perplexed as I am, he shrugs as if all we can do is watch it play out. So I speak up.
I raise my voice louder than I believe I have ever allowed myself to before “CAN YOU TWO JUST SHUT UP FOR A MOMENT AND GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY – OR AT LEAST GET OUT OF MINE?”
I stare at Ephraim and see the face of a caged lion, he is angry and has no qualms about showing me – I will deal with him first “Ephraim, this is Kailand. I found him yesterday after you decided to act like an arrogant prick in training and knock me over. If you had slowed down for a moment to think about what you were seeing instead of acting like the jealous boyfriend you aren’t, your fist wouldn’t be throbbing right now.” I look back and forth between Ephraim and Levi for a moment and neither of them speak up, then I hear laughter coming from behind me, I turn around just in time for Kailand to begin speaking, he regards Ephraim coolly “Looks like someone has a little crush and doesn’t know how to control his hormones, isn’t that touching?” his words incite me so I realize I have to handle him now too “Really, Kailand? You are trapped in this cage where you have been abandoned to turn into dust, I really don’t see how you are doing any better than he is. Speaking of which, this is Ephraim and that is Levi.” I gesture to the angry stone walls standing behind me “They are my friends and my trainers. Oh, and the only hope either of us seem to have of me ever gaining enough power to actually help you.” Kailands smug look on his face quickly changes to one of understanding.
I look around to all of the faces in the room and see that there is a new somber appearance to all of them. Thankfully, Levi is the first to speak up “So, Little Princess. Now that we have seen your dirty little secret, do you care to explain to us what exactly he is doing here and why we should help free him?” I see the hurt on his face and I walk over to him and gently stretch up to kiss him on the cheek. “Levi, I am sorry I lied to you about what I was doing. I didn’t intend to for long, I just needed some more answers before I felt alright about dragging you into this – honest.” I stare at his eyes for a moment and see that he is still listening “I only found this cave yesterday when the rain started after my fight with Ephraim.” His face softens further and he looks like the Levi I know, I won’t hold anything back from my closest ally here “I came in to hide from the rain and started clearing the wall when this appeared. You can’t see it when my power isn’t working.”
I think for a moment before I continue speaking, I realize I need to tread lightly now, if not for Levi’s sake than at least for Ephraim. “When you were talking about anchors today and power, it made me think about the power I experienced here last night. There are a lot of really old Nephilim here and I think maybe the relic is on the other side of that barrier, because my power here is almost effortless. Today it is so strong I could actually reach through the barrier – I couldn’t do that yesterday!” I give an excited smile and am happy to see that Levi is completely on my side – I already knew I could count on him to have my back. I take mental note of his openness and determine I will never leave him in the dark or deceive him again.
I move back in an attempt to shut off the power surge temporarily to display what happens. The moment I think it, the prison disappears and is replaced by a cave wall. Levi gasps and Ephraim looks worried “Whatever is caging
them is powerful and dark… I’m not sure it is a good idea to even be here.” I let out a frustrated sigh and let my powers seep back out and illuminate the cave, for the first time I notice my hands when I do it and I realize my veins are all glowing beneath my skin when I first release the power. It is intoxicating. Levi and Ephraim caught it as well, Ephraim reaches for my hand but catches himself and steps away before he ever makes contact. A part of me feels disappointed – but mostly I feel relieved. I acknowledge his statement “Ephraim, if whatever is caging them is powerful and dark, but I have the power to unmask it like this. I think I might be the bigger bad. You don’t have to help, but please rest assured that you will either help me with this or you can sit back and watch while I figure it out on my own – because one way or another, we are getting them out.”
Ephraim lets out an exasperated sigh before nodding his head in understanding, he wisely allows Levi to take over the conversation from here. He speaks softly as if he is afraid of breaking a trance “So, why should we get Kailand out of here?” I turn to Kailand and ask him to tell his story. He explains who everyone is and that they were locked up when they refused to relinquish control to a few of the elders and sacrifice that majority of Nephilim. Ephraim rolls his head as if he doesn’t believe him. He points out that the counsel has never spoke of anything like that occurring and describes the three standing elders – Guinevere, Juilian and Marcus, clearly thinking that this will punch a hole in his story, but instead of surprise on Kailands face, there is a look of sadness “That is what I was afraid of. They separated us from the original elders before bringing us here. We all expected our fathers to turn up eventually, but as time wore on, we realized we had probably already seen their face for the last time. They were a casualty in an unjust war and we were the liabilities they all froze in this cage to keep us from looking for our family members.” Ephraim still looks mostly unconvinced, but fortunately he is perceptive enough to refrain from kicking Kailand while he is down.
Levi looks a little more sympathetic and understanding, but is clearly trying to put together all the puzzle pieces in his head “Ay, we have all lost family in the counsels greedy spats. But, for your story to have any validity to it, you had to have been held here for thousands of years. The elders are misguided and insensitive at times – I should know that better than anyone, but they have always placed a priority on keeping the citizens safe.” He is clearly trying to work out all the details in his mind and figure out if he has given the elders too much credit “When I went against them, they banished be, but I was never for even a moment their prisoner.”
Kailand nods with understanding “The original Counsel housed 9 members of the original Nephilim families. Of course there were more original families than that, but initially our settlement began with only 9. It was the responsibility of the oldest living member of each bloodline to sit in the seat of elder and help make decisions and pass judgment when necessary. At the end of the day, two of the least prominent bloodlines were caught waging war for money and goods and safe passage for their own families, they wanted the ability to make all the decisions on their own without any opposition – no matter what the cost.” Realization finally reaches Levi and Ephraim and I know that they understand and believe him too so I speak up “Now that you know the story, I think we all know what needs to be done. But how are going to do it? We have to get them all out of here and so far all that has crossed the barrier is my hand.”
They all look bothered by the weight of the problem and then Ephraim clears his throat and begins to provide his opinion “I don’t like it and I don’t trust him. But I have seen the elders do some atrocious things in my time. - Enough to believe that at least some of what he is saying must be true. Unfortunately, If this is where your powers seem to open up, this is where we need to come for training each day, we don’t need to waste any more time at the old ruins. Levi and I can trade days coming here with you training and going to the library studying, we need some answers and as much as the filthy prisoner would like to think he has all the answers – being locked up for thousands of years has to have some side-effects on a creatures mental state, even a distinguished purebred such as him.” He gestures to the barrier and Kailand wisely chooses to ignore Ephraims obvious contempt, much to my relief.
It is beginning to grow dark out and Levi points out that we need to leave soon if we have any plans to make it home tonight. I promise Kailand I will try to bring him some things, I am hoping I can push objects through the barrier like I could my hand. He requests a razor, food and something to play music with. I mention an iPod and he looks at me confused, I realize I would be better off bringing him a harmonica and realize I may have some trouble locating a harmonica on this island. My mind turns to thoughts of what foods I should bring him and as I am looking at him I realize how gaunt he is. I can feel my heart breaking at the site. Humans would die after only a few weeks of starvation, and in front of me is this Powerful Nephilim, who has been barely existing for centuries. I pull myself together before anyone can detect the pity I am feeling and we all say our goodbyes and promise to keep quiet until we know what to do next. Ephraim is reluctant but still agrees to our request – probably just to appease me. But I don’t have the willpower to argue with him right now, I just decide to take him at his word and make a mental note to speak with Levi about it privately.
The Fallen Ones Page 18