by Nichelle Rae
“No,” all three of us answered. Lisswilla and I glared at each other again.
Azrel sighed. “Am I going to have to make you kids take turns answering my questions?” All three of us chuckled. Azrel smiled. “So Acalith is not in love with me. How is she protected, then?”
I looked back at the other two. Both nodded to give me leave to answer. I turned back to Azrel. “She’s not.” Azrel’s eyes went wide. “That’s why she’s stayed away from you for the majority of this journey. She’s not protected until you officially name her the Deralilya and give her a steel weapon. Then the power of Goodness itself, your power, will envelop her and protect her. Then you personally will know if Hathum gets to her. Just as Acalith senses flaws in our shields, you will sense flaws in hers and be able to dispatch her or dismiss her as you see fit.”
Azrel rubbed a hand over her mouth and looked away in thought. “How interesting.” She looked back at me. “I’m assuming my brother’s love is just that, brotherly love.”
“Yes.”
She nodded and looked away again, this time towards the camp. I saw her eyes rest on Ortheldo, asleep in his bed roll. Her eyes flew wide and she looked back at me. “Ortheldo?”
I nodded.
“Ortheldo is in love with me?” She asked in disbelief.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Everyone, except for her, knew that he was.
“Yes,” Lisswilla piped in. “Otherwise we probably would have had to kill him by now.”
I clenched my teeth as Azrel looked at him. “You would have killed him if he didn’t love me?”
“No,” I said quickly. I shot Lisswilla a dangerous glare to silence him. “We’d just have to keep him very far away from you because it wouldn’t be safe to have someone that close to you who was not protected by the shield.”
Azrel visibly relaxed. “And Rabryn’s brotherly love is enough to keep him safe?”
I almost snorted in disbelief that she was even asking. All of us knew that Rabryn was the most powerfully protected of all of us. The love these two siblings had was a bond to be envied. “Yes.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes,” Reese chuckled, knowing how powerful Rabryn’s shield was. “He’s the very reason your father se…OW!”
His cry made me spin around. Lisswilla was holding a fistful of his hair so tight to his scalp that Reese was forced to look up into Lisswilla’s eyes. “Mind what you reveal,” Lisswilla growled down at him.
I was fast on my feet with a ball of red fire roaring in my palm. “Let him go, or I’ll be only too happy to sever your arm from your body.”
“He needs to watch it! Even you know that, Salynn!” He spat the word “Salynn,” which only made my blood burn hotter.
Azrel was suddenly on her feet, the tip of her sword so firmly against Lisswilla’s throat that I saw him stop breathing. “Don’t you ever interrupt someone again when they have something to tell me about my father. Ever!” Lisswilla didn’t have room to nod, or the air to reply. His eyes must have delivered an apology though, because Azrel’s sword came down. She squatted down in front of Reese. “What were you going to say?”
“I uh…” Reese tried to begin, shrinking under her intense gaze. “I’m actually not supposed to tell you.”
Azrel’s sword dropped to the ground. She gathered the front of Reese’s tunic in both fists, yanking him towards her. “What does my father have to do with Rabryn’s shield? Why does my father have anything to do with my brother?”
Reese’s eyes were wide with panic. “The Deralilya said—”
“I outrank her!” Azrel screamed, jerking Reese again so their noses nearly touched. Now the whole camp was stirring.
Reese swallowed. I saw his inner turmoil as he tried to think of a way to avoid telling her, but there was no way to avoid it now. He sighed in defeat. “Your father told Beldorn he wanted you to go to The Pitt.”
I started to relax, hoping she would leave it at that.
“My father told me himself that he wanted me to go to The Pitt! What does that have to do with Rabryn’s shield?”
My heart was pounding. She wasn’t going to let it go.
“Azrel?” Rabryn said carefully as he stepped slowly from his bed roll towards us. “What’s wrong?”
“Reese, what happened? What’s going on?” Acalith piped in, stepping forward.
Reese’s eyes never left Azrel’s. He sighed in full defeat. “Your father wanted you sent to your brother because he knew how powerful a protector Rabryn would be.” He paused for a moment and Azrel had to jerk him again by his tunic, her teeth looking clenched hard enough to shatter. Reese swallowed heavily. “Because he knew how strong Rabryn’s love for you would be when he watched you endure inhuman cruelties and abuse at the hands of The Pitt.”
“Reese!” Acalith roared.
“Azrel…” Ortheldo tried to begin, but found no words.
Rabryn just looked at his sister in wide-eyed horror.
Azrel’s face went completely slack, as did her grip of Reese’s tunic. Reese backed away from her as she stared into nothingness with the same expression of horror Rabryn had on his face.
Ortheldo rushed forward to comfort her, but Azrel jumped to her feet too fast. “Don’t!” she cried. She started shaking. “Don’t…” Her wide eyes stayed on the ground, her arms stiff, as she slowly backed away from us. “Don’t…” She slowly shook her head. Her arms started trembling so violently it looked like she was rattling a package to try to hear what might be inside. “Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t,” she was saying.
Suddenly her eyes rolled back and her entire body went limp. Ortheldo, who was closest, dove in to catch her before she smashed her head into the ground.
Suddenly everyone was talking and yelling and moving at once.
“What happened?!”
“Next time shut up when I tell you to!”
“I didn’t mean to!”
“What does that mean? Her most powerful protector?”
“Azrel? Azrel!”
“Is she okay?”
“Was she sent to The Pitt because of me?”
“What did you tell her while I slept?”
“I thought she knew about all of it!”
Before I realized it, a ball of wizard fire was in my palm. With a growl I threw it down at the ground. It exploded in red, making everyone cry out and throw their arms over their eyes. When it cleared, they all looked at me. “Could we focus on Azrel instead of each other’s throats, please?”
“Focus on what? Her sleeping?” Acalith spat, and then took a step towards me. “I need to know what in the Nine Hells of the Shadow Gods Lair happened!”
Reese bravely stepped forward. “It was my fault Lady Acalith. I—”
“Was I speaking to you?” Acalith said coldly, looking at him with a narrow glare. Reese shrunk back. “When I speak to you, you’re going to know it. Was I speaking to you?”
“No,” Reese said in a small voice.
Acalith looked back at me and waited without another word.
I sighed. “Azrel asked how her protectors were protected from Hathum’s magic, so I explained about the shields and how they came about. She became concerned about Rabryn’s shield and asked if brotherly love was strong enough to protect him. Reese and I kind of laughed about it because we know how flawlessly protected Rabryn is.” I sighed and looked at Reese apologetically. “Reese started to tell Azrel that Rabryn’s flawless protection was the reason her father sent her to The Pitt.”
“What?” Rabryn asked confused. “What are you talking about? Azrel’s father couldn’t have sent her to The Pitt because of me! He didn’t even know I existed!”
“Beldorn did,” Ortheldo chimed in.
“But…” Rabryn was grasping at straws, desperately trying to find an excuse that he could accept for Azrel’s torture at The Pitt that didn’t involve him. “Her father and Beldorn only met once! Maybe Beldorn mentioned my existence then, but how could her
father know that if I saw my sister tortured on a daily basis I would become…whatever you said, her most flawless protector. What does that even mean?”
“Rabryn,” Ortheldo said, “Beldorn and Azrel’s father were very good friends. They met on a regular basis all through Azrel’s life. They met in secret so Azrel could stay hidden and secluded. They planned and organized and plotted steps so far into Azrel’s future that I don’t even know where they end. You were a part of their plans.”
Rabryn shook his head and I saw tears spring up into his eyes. “Please Ortheldo,” he said. “Please don’t tell me I was a part of bringing my sister to those tortures. Please. I couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t…”
“Rabryn,” Ortheldo said gently, “this was not your fault, okay? You are not to blame. It’s just…” He sighed. “It’s just something that had to happen.”
“Why?” he whispered desperately, his tears spilling over.
“Because Azrel’s father wanted her to have a flawless protector,” I said somberly.
Rabryn swallowed heavily. “How am I a…flawless protector? And why did Azrel have to go to that Light Gods forsaken place to make me one?”
Ortheldo sighed, glancing at me then back at Rabryn. “Let’s make a fire so Azrel can warm up, then we’ll talk.” He picked up Azrel’s limp body and brought her to her bed roll. He laid her down gently and covered her up while I lit a fire. When it was roaring, all of us sat facing it.
“First of all,” Ortheldo began, “Azrel’s father knew a lot of things. He’d lived for a total of about 13,000 years, so he should have known a thing or two.” All of us smiled a little. “He knew the people of The Pitt very well. He knew they hated outsiders, he knew they hated weapons other than working tools, but more importantly he knew they hated him for what they believed he did to your mother. He also knew your mother very well. He knew your mother would raise you to be a wonderful, loving boy. After Beldorn told Azrel’s father about you, he knew that you would be Azrel’s flawless protector.”
“What does that even mean?”
Ortheldo then looked at me and I went into the explanation again about the shield from Hathum’s mind magic and how it was formed by loving the White Warrior. “The stronger and more devoted that love is, the stronger the shield,” I said. “Among all of Azrel’s protectors you are the only one whose shield is flawless. There’s not a single dent or ding or crack in the shield that protects you from Hathum’s magic.” I smiled at him. “Even Azrel’s father never had a completely flawless protector. You are the first.”
“So,” Rabryn looked around the camp, “does that mean the rest of you have…flaws in your love, in your shields, that Hathum could exploit?”
I shook my head. “None that Hathum could exploit right now, but flaws that, if we’re not careful, could turn into cracks big enough for him to get into eventually.”
Rabryn’s brows drew together. “And I got this way because Azrel came to The Pitt?”
“Not because Azrel came into The Pitt, but because of the way you saw her treated in The Pitt,” Ortheldo said. “Azrel’s father knew that she would be hated and treated badly because he knew the people of The Pitt so well. They hated outsiders, they hated weapons, and they hated him. All of that combined created such a strong hatred for Azrel that the only result could have been absolute cruelty towards her.
“He knew what Azrel was like and he knew what you would be like being raised by his beloved Priweth,” Ortheldo continued. “He knew that when you witnessed your good-hearted, loving sister handling her torments bravely and gracefully, your love would only grow stronger—to the point of what it is now. This beautiful, perfect love you have towards her translates into your flawless shield of protection.”
I pointed to Rabryn. “You are her most powerful protector because your shield is so strong. You are so absolutely unsusceptible to Hathum’s magic that the man probably wouldn’t even bother trying to penetrate your shield. Even if he did decide to try, he would fail because there are absolutely no flaws he could hammer at.”
Rabryn now looked pointedly at Ortheldo. “How come I’m the only one with a flawless shield?”
Ortheldo surprised me by smiling, but it was a sad smile. “Generally speaking, no love is perfect. Yours is a very, very rare thing.”
Rabryn sighed and shook his head in disbelief, then looked around the camp. “So, as a flawless protector, do I get any super-duper power or something that I can use to defend Azrel with?”
All of us laughed, but a quiet “No” silenced us quickly. All of us looked at Azrel as she sat up, drawing her knees into her chest and resting her elbows on them. She looked at Rabryn and surprised me by smiling slightly. “It just means that Hathum is able to get to every single one of these clowns.” We all smiled. “If that happens, you’re all I’ve got to protect me.” She patted Rabryn’s knee. “I can’t think of anyone better to be stuck with.” All of us laughed a little, but I saw the pain of her statement flash in Ortheldo’s eyes.
“Are you okay?” Rabryn asked.
“I’m not sure.” She leaned over and rested her head on Rabryn’s shoulder and Rabryn put his arm around her shoulders. She sighed. “I’m sorry everyone,” she said softly, shaking her head. “I just couldn’t handle the thought of my father sending me there, knowing what was going to happen to me.” She closed her eyes and shook her head again a little more firmly, as if shaking away the thought. “I just…I couldn’t handle it and…fainted. It was too overwhelming.”
“But you’re okay now?” Ortheldo asked.
She sat up and rested her chin on her arms. “I’m not sure how I feel. While I can understand why he”—she squeezed her eyes shut—“why he did it, at the same time I wonder if he worried about his decision at all. Did he care about what I was going to go through? Or was he just blindly convinced it was the right thing, that it didn’t matter what I’d have to endure to make Rabryn what he is?” She shook her head. “I don’t know how I would feel if that was the case.”
“Well,” I said, hating to see the pain in her beautiful eyes, “since you don’t know for sure how he felt about it, just assume that it broke his heart to make the decision to send you there.”
She smiled gratefully but her eyes were still sad. “I’ll try.”
Ortheldo clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “Since we’re all here and we’re all awake, I suggest we start catching up with each other about the week we’ve been apart.”
Azrel nodded. “Good idea.” She looked across the campfire. “Lisswilla, would you care to begin?”
“I will if you wish,” he responded.
Though I didn’t have much of a temper, there was just something about that guy’s voice that made my skin crawl. It was probably just the fact that we hated each other. I couldn’t stand it.
“I’ll begin by saying—”
“Oh for the Sky Sanctuary’s sake,” I cried, “take your mask off! You’re not Lady Acalith, and it’s muffling your voice in the most annoying way.”
His eyes narrowed. “Muffling, huh? I thought Salynns were keen of hearing.”
I glared back. “I also said it was annoying.”
“Then by all means, I’ll make sure to keep it on just for you.”
I could tell everyone wanted to laugh at our banter, but they didn’t dare because they could see Lisswilla and I really hated each other. The animosity between us was probably the biggest flaw in both our shields. I worried that when Acalith was officially named the Deralilya and became able to sense our shields, our hatred for each other would be severe enough to have her dismiss us. I tried really hard to focus on good things about Lisswilla, but it was nearly impossible.
When the silence between us had stretched long enough to be uncomfortable, Lisswilla looked at the group again. “I’ll just tell you about myself.”
“Oh please,” I said under my breath, earning me a satisfying glare from the tall Northerner.
“As you can probably gu
ess from the way I speak, I’m not from around here. I’m not even from Casdanarus, but I used to live here many centuries ago.”
“Centuries?” Rabryn asked. “So you’re a Salynn?”
“I was a Salynn.”
“Was?”
“I’ll get to that,” Lisswilla replied. “I left my homeland, Alkgwathien, nine years ago when I got the mental call from the Deralilya for protectors to mobilize.”
“Alkgwathien?” Ortheldo said, his face brightening. Azrel looked at him with a soft, knowing smile.
“Nine years ago?” Rabryn chimed in. I could see a flash of concern go through his eyes before he forced a smile at Acalith. “Are we going to see some silver hair under that tan hood of yours?”
I thought Acalith would get upset about the joke, but instead I was shocked to see the corners of her eyes go up in a smile. “I was only eleven when I was chosen as the White Warrior’s new Deralilya.”
Acalith was twenty years old. Still older than Rabryn, but there would be no silver hairs on her head.
Lisswilla continued. “When Acalith called us to Casdanarus I had to set out immediately because it’s a really long way from Alkgwathien. It took me about four years to even set foot on Casdanarus’ soil; two years of that was spent at sea.”
“Why didn’t you just magically teleport here?” Rabryn asked. “Why walk?”
Lisswilla smiled again. “I saw how young the Deralilya was when she called me to mobilize. I knew there was no hurry. The White Warrior would not call an eleven-year-old to serve her in battle. I like to travel anyway, so I took my time.
“After I got here, I kind of became a nomad. I just started wandering around, getting used to the old familiar sights and smells of this land. I went to visit my father for a time, and saw some very, very old friends. I just waited until the White Warrior crossed my path, or I hers, or I got clear direction from her or Acalith on where to go. Finally the White Warrior herself came to me while I slept and told me to head south of Rocksheloc.” The corners of his eyes went up in a smile. “Where is the first place I find her, but in the midst of a battle with Gorkors.”