"Well, that is not a problem. You can take my help," she says and I stare at her in confusion.
"What?" I ask after a minute has passed.
"I mean, you can reach my mind, can't you. We are connected by an empathy link. I know all the glyphs we'll need."
"How do you know?" I ask.
"Well, you never paid attention when mom taught us, did you?" She says.
"Well," I say, swimming through my memories to find one where I actually paid attention to what mom was teaching us. My mind was always distracted by the thought of going out and play with Leo. In practising sword-fighting and horse-riding and all. "No."
"There, you go."
"Alright. But what if I can't reach your mind or run out of time?" I ask.
"I think you'll know what to do," she says with confidence.
Why can't anyone talk in simple words?
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"Well, I believe you know the basic glyphs, don't you?"
I nod.
"So, if you can't reach my mind, you can use one of them."
"Alright," I say.
____
The royal family of Iréa—my family has just reached the mansion and we are greeting them.
Leo looks different. He has grown more muscular. His hair too, has grown past his ears and every minute or two, he has to sweep them off his eyes. My mom and dad are as they were when I last met them.
When Leo reaches me, I curtsy and while riding, I ask him in a whisper, "How does no one recognise you?"
He just winks and leaves, me staring after him.
"Your majesty," I curtsy as my mom and dad reach me.
They regard me with such admiration which I don't have words to describe.
"Lady Fena," they both say, patting me on the back.
After meeting all the nobles, they proceed to go back to their rooms. As soon as I am in my room, I tell Mirella to go and meet mom and dad.
____
"Drake?" I knock on his door. No reply. I knock once again. No reply. Once more. Nothing.
"Drake, I swear if you don't open the door, I'm going to burn it down," I threaten and hear him snort.
After a moment, he opens the door. "What?"
"I just wanted to say . . . I can't believe I'm saying this . . . I'm sorry," I say.
"Well, apology declined," he says and moves to shut the door but I wedge my foot between the door and the doorframe, leaving it open.
He shakes his head in irritation and walks back in.
"What do you want?"
"I want you to accept my apology," I say. This is probably the worst apology ever.
"Why does it matter so much to you?" He asks as I sit down in front of him on his bed.
"Because right now, I am feeling as guilty as a person can feel, and if you don't accept my apology, then I doubt you will help me defeat Nadora, along with the fact that I will be distracted the whole time and also because I have absolutely no I idea what I am stepping into and what I should do and—"
"Alright, alright, apology accepted," he says.
"Well, then I have a favour to ask of you—and don't say no," I say.
CHAPTER-34
The next day is a flurry of preparations and I am a bundle of nerves as, as per the prophecy, the Dark Queen will attack tomorrow, during the Moon-Lighting ceremony.
Maids and butlers hustle around with centrepieces, flowers, chandeliers, rugs, tapestries and what not.
When I walk down to the Grand Room where a Welcome feast has been arranged for all the Iréans and the nobles of Illaná.
As I walk down the staircase in my highly intricately designed and insanely heavy gown, my foot gets caught (shocker) and I hold onto a maid passing by me to gain back my balance. As soon as my skin makes contact with hers, the same burning sensation as the one I experienced yesterday and some days before that runs through my skin. I retract my hand immediately and, just for a sliver of a second, I see that her eyes have turned totally black. Not only her irises but the portion of her eyes which should have been white has turned black.
Before I can say "What?", she blinks and her eyes change into a normal colour. At least the portion which is supposed to be white turns to white, although her iris is still a strange shade of green which I have never seen in a human's eyes before.
She immediately dusts imaginary dust from her dress and hurries up the stairs, looking over her shoulder over and over again.
Then it hits me. She was one of the Nemeses. But that would mean . . .
She has arrived.
___
I walk in the huge banquet hall filled with almost a hundred people but my eyes search for only one person. Drake.
As soon as I find him, I make my way towards him and take him by his sleeves to a corner.
"What happened? I have a glass full of rich-people champagne waiting for me," he whines.
"Oh, shut up. This is important, alright," I say and his face turns serious.
"Okay, what happened?"
"She's arrived," I say, looking around for the face which still haunts me in my nightmares.
"Who's—oh. . . " He nods his head in understanding.
"Well . . ." I ask.
"Well, what?"
"Have you done what I asked you to do?" I ask him.
"Yeah, yeah. Your work's been done. But seriously, are you sure you want to go through with it?" He asks in worry.
"Yes, I'm hundred percent sure," I say and he walks back to the banquet.
I am kept distracted by the memory little 'run-in' I had with one of the Nemeses.
I keep looking around myself for people with the kind of eyes as the maid's, and I deduce that the Nemeses have infiltrated the palace. Try as I may, I can't keep track of even one of them. It's as if they can disappear into thin air.
"Hey," Leo props up beside me.
"Hi," I say, embracing him.
Although he is the same person as the one with whom I spent my whole childhood playing football with, there is some kind of strangeness in the hug. As if we have changed overnight.
Even his face seems different. Maybe the stress of the attack preparations.
"So, are you ready?" He asks me.
"I am," I assure him and he leaves without any further conversation, leaving me questioning myself if I said anything to offend him.
____
I am currently in the weapons' shed, along with the other members of the Hinak tribe. We've got Drake, Leo, my mom, dad, Mirella, Rafelia, Yashid and Adrian.
The Hinak tribe's head magicians are casting a protective spell to secure the borders of the mansion, even though I doubt it'll be much help. They have also done a spell which will enable us to identify a Nemeses if it comes in our vicinity. We can’t kill a Nemeses. At least not with bare hands. They are all connected to each other so they share a common source of strength. Nadora. Even if we manage to kill them, they will resurrect in minutes. We have no choice now.
It's dark when we exit the shed and I go straight to my room although I don't think I'm going to get much sleep. Even so, I pointlessly go over to my bed and close my eyes.
Every time I close my eyes, two images bounce up in my mind.
The first one is of me slaughtering a mass of people. Even though I know it's not real, but I end up feeling nauseous every time.
The second one is of Drake and Adrian fighting off each other. I am really confused as to why they might be fighting, that too, because of me.
In the end, my attempts to sleep prove useless and I put on a robe and slip on my slippers and head outside.
I wander around aimlessly and spot Altin.
He seems to be looking for something or someone and he keeps glancing over his shoulder over and over again.
When he comes a little nearer, I duck behind a pillar. I'm not sure why I did it, but I stay put as it is.
When he reaches close enough for me to see his face, I see that his irises are not the light blue I remembe
r. They are green. The same one as the maid I saw this morning.
I let out a silent gasp. He turns around as if he has sensed my presence. I stand there, barely breathing as he walks up to the pillar where I am standing but stops in his tracks and turns around, muttering something which vaguely seems as if he is saying a spell.
I push my body up against the pillar it make myself as invisible to him as possible.
I risk a peek around the pillar and find him surrounded by a green mist. He mutters something and then, suddenly, falls down on the ground, unconscious.
I quickly run to him and kneel beside him but, suddenly, his eyes shoot open. I feel something hard hit the back of my head and my vision slurs and black spots dance across my eyes.
The last thing is see is a black cape.
__
I wake up in my room, and look around frantically. Everything is normal.
Except today's the Moon-Lighting ceremony.
I have to tell Adrian and the others, I think to myself and walk out to find the others.
The preparations are nearly complete and a lot of people have arrived since yesterday.
I have a tough time trying to find Adrian. First I went up to his suite to find it devoid of him. Then, I asked a butler who was standing nearby for Adrian's whereabouts and he told me to go check in the library. By the time I reached there, he had left it too. Finally, I have found him.
I walk in his direction but not too close as I figure the Nemeses will be keeping a close watch on us.
I catch his eye and I beckon him to come to me. He gestures that he will be there in two minutes and closes up whatever conversation he was having with one of our ministers and reaches me.
"What happened?" He asks as I lead him to a corner so that less people can spot and eavesdrop on us.
"Lasts night . . . I saw something. It's Altin, he . . . " I try to recollect what I saw last night, but the only thing that comes to my mind is Altin on the ground and someone hitting my head.
"Altin what?" He asks impatiently.
"I . . . I can't remember," I say and run my fingers through my hair.
"I . . . Maybe you just imagined it, right. That's possible. With all the stress—"
"I KNOW WHAT I SAW! I JUST CAN'T REMEMBER IT!" I shout, although not drawing the attention of anyone.
"No, maybe—"
"I said, I know what I saw!" I exclaim and his face hardens, as if he was hit by a stone or something.
"You forget yourself, Lady Fena! I may be friendly to you, but that doesn't mean that you can talk to me any way you feel like. I will do you good to remember that no matter what happens, I am and I will remain much more powerful and authoritive than you. You are here because of me. Next time you think of shouting on your future sovereign, think twice," he says, his teeth gritted.
"You don't even know who I am—" I snap and immediately curse myself for my big mouth.
"What?" He turns around.
"Nothing," I say, trying to cover up the fact that I was just about to blow up my biggest secret
"No, you said something. You're hiding something," he says.
"I said it's nothing," I say and walk past him, my shoulder brushing against his.
Great, I wanted to have an argument with the person who I'm supposed to fight alongside with in a battle which determines the fate of not only me but the whole world.
I'm doomed.
CHAPTER-35
I walk around, looking out for any unusual occurrences. By far, I have only encountered only one. Drake smiling. I don't know why, and I don't care why.
"So, any two-faced creatures spotted?" Drake says, appearing beside me.
"You do know that's not how it works," I say, turning towards him.
"I might," he says with a smile.
"You're in a mood," I say.
"What mood?" He asks.
"You tell me," I say.
"Well, I'm happy," he says with a shrug.
"That we're most probably going to die tonight?" I ask, eyebrows raised.
"No, that I finally told Adrian the truth. It's a heavy weight off of my chest," he says, exhaling dramatically.
"Well, there's that," I say, my voice dropping.
"Why? What happened?" He walks a little closer to me and holds me by my shoulders as if to examine if I am hurt anywhere.
"I'm fine," I say, shrugging his hands down. "I had a fight with him," I admit.
"Great timing, big mouth," he says.
"I know," I say in a panicked tone.
"Well, what are you gonna do? More importantly, why did you fight?" He asks.
"Well," my voice gets all squeaky and I clear my throat. "I . . . last night, I saw something. Something's happened to Altin," I admit. I tell him about what Altin told me earlier about parts of his memory missing.
By the end, Drake's expression has gone from a playful one to his normal demeanour.
"That's gonna be a problem," he says.
"Why?" I ask.
"I don't know, but it sure does not seem as something to be happy about either," he replies.
"Well, what am I gonna do about Adrian?" I whine.
"It's a good thing you've got until evening to figure that out," he says and taps my temples, telling me to use my brain.
"Nutter," I mutter under my breath.
"I heard that," he says without turning back, shaking his head.
"Don't care," I say back.
"Hey, wait!" I call after him and he turns around, looking fake-exhausted.
"What now, big mouth?" He says.
"Is there any place where I can practice?" I ask.
"Normal one, with the punching bags and all," I clarify, sensing the question coming to his lips.
"Yeah, at the end of the right hallway," he replies.
"Thanks," I say and turn around. I turn back once again and am about to ask the most obvious question when he replies before I can even open my mouth.
"First floor."
"Yeah, thanks," I say and more or less make a mad dash for the gym.
___
"Oh, hey," I say when I enter the gym. Adrian is practising on the punching bag. Well, more like trying to tear it apart, judging by the way he hits it.
He continues to punch the bag.
"Are you really going to give me the "silent" treatment?" I ask him. When he doesn't reply, I go over to him and take hold of his punching bag, pausing him in mid-punch.
"What?" He asks.
"I'm sorry, alright. I got worked up . . ." I say, raising my hands up in surrender.
"It's . . . alright," he says finally.
"And . . ." I say.
"I'm sorry too," he adds.
"That's like a good boy," I say and ruffle his hair.
"Hey, just because I apologized to you doesn't mean you can go all 'mommy' on me," he says, irritated.
"Okay." I walk over to the archery section and position myself in front of the target and shoot. Three shots. Back-to-back.
Each arrow goes straight through the middle of the dummy, piercing it where a normal human's heart would've been.
"Nice work," Adrian says.
"Well, I am in best shape when I am nervous," I explain.
"So . . . were you nervous when you took on Drake and me?"
"No. I was looking for a challenge that time. You see, most of the time, I used to practice with Aviva and well, she's not the best warrior, so . . ." I say.
"Well, it was worth a try," he says with a shrug.
"Wow, all of the people which I need, all in one place," a lady, dressed in all black enters the room. Even though it's daytime, we are unable to see her face from the angle she is standing in.
"I'm . . . I'm sorry, should we know you?" I ask.
"Oh, dear. I'm sorry, there should be one more of you, shouldn't it?" She says in a perky voice, completely ignoring my question.
I take a step towards her but stop dead in my tracks once I see the two figures standing in the doorway
. Altin hauling Mirella by her hair into the room.
Altin's eyes are completely black, with hints of green in them. His movements seem stiff, as if he's being controlled by someone else. As if he's a puppet.
"Well, what are you waiting for, get her in," The lady says and I instantly know who she is.
"Nadora," I say.
"What?" Adrian exclaims.
"Ding-ding-ding. You're not as dumb as I thought," Nadora says.
My eyes move over to the blood stricken Mirella. Literally. Her whole face is lined with blood slowly tricking out from her head. She tries to say something but Altin kicks her in the gut and she stops there and I then, clutching her stomach in pain.
"No," the word escapes as a gasp out of me.
She turns around and looks at Mirella. "Oh, my poor little girl. My least favourite niece," she says, nudging her chin up with her hand so that she can see directly in her eyes.
A look of pure disgust passes over Mirella's face as she spits on Nadora's face. I'll have to remind myself to give her a pat on the back for this, assuming we get out of here alive.
"Niece?" I ask, although I don't know why I ask that question instead of a thousand ones I could've asked.
"Yes, she is my niece. You both are," she says as if it is common knowledge.
"What have you done to Altin?" Adrian asks, reaching towards Altin.
"Yes, I was wondering when we'll get to the point. So, the thing is, I wanted to know the strengths and weakness of the Heirs, that is you all," she points towards me, Adrian and Mirella. "So, I recruited someone on the inside."
"What—but—how?" The words seem to just tumble out of me.
"Well, let's all settle down if I'm telling you the whole story, shall we?" She says.
CHAPTER-36
I keep my hand on the bow and arrow which I was using just seconds ago. I doubt she knows about it.
"So, let's start," Nadora says.
Adrian and I wear the same expressions of torture, dismay and hatred.
"Just tell us what have you done to Altin," I say through gritted teeth, casting a quick glance in Mirella's direction.
"Alright. So, the first attack—"
"When we were camping out," I deduce.
"Yes. The night of the campfire. You would think that the royals would be more protected, but no. Drake, is it? He went out to protect you and sealed you off in that cave. When he came back to look for Adrian and the others, I got to him which resulted in the link," she gestures to me. "After I took care of him, I went off to find a candidate, host or spy, to be exact. And, I ran into him. Literally," she laughs and looks at us as if we too, should find it funny while we find it anything but.
IGNITE (The Heir Chronicles Book 1) Page 13