by Morgan Wylie
“But Kae, I can’t protect you if you are out in the middle of the crossfire. We don’t know what we will be coming up against. You need to be hidden somewhere safe until it is all over, then you can step into your role as the new leader of Alandria.”
“That is why we are training her, Finnlan. We will do everything we can—and more—to keep her safe, but it is part of who she is. She is part warrior, it is in her blood—it is in her destiny.” Daegan was exasperated with Finn. He was done with it. Daegan lunged toward Kaeleigh with his sword, which she in turn blocked and parried. He nodded at her quick thought and focus.
“Well, I care about her enough to want to keep her from that life. To keep her safe from battle and the stains of death that come with it.” Finn knew he was challenging Daegan, but he had to do it. He had to know.
Seamlessly, Daegan spun Kaeleigh out away from him with a push of his sword and a little magic and engaged Finn with his sword. Without missing a beat, Finn pulled his knives to defend himself. The two warriors began battling each other with more intensity than each of them had with Kaeleigh. “That is not what I understand love to be. It is caring enough to prepare her to survive and to succeed without us there. To make her ready and to support her destiny no matter what it might be, beyond personal feelings. To believe she can do it beyond all shadow of doubt, so you can stand in confidence that she is ready.”
Kaeleigh stood by watching her sword, now dropped at her side with her mouth practically hung open. The intensity radiating off the two warriors was thick and the discussion heavy. Daegan continued to drive Finn backwards as they clashed swords and knives, thrusting and blocking, spinning and deflecting. Finn’s face had gone three shades whiter. Kaeleigh focused her magic, feeling she needed to do something to contain them and allow them to hash out their issues before there was a battle, before she needed them. She threw her fingers outward, visualizing containment. A little bit to her surprise, a thin barrier of energy surrounded Finn and Daegan as they continued to move within their circle. It was like they were in their own little bubble of war.
Feeling the containment, Finn pulled back, lowering his weapons, and scowled at her before his expression softened. He asked her seriously, “That’s why it’s him, isn’t it?”
Uncomfortable as to where the conversation had turned, Kaeleigh looked away, biting her bottom lip. Daegan had also dropped his weapon and stepped back.
“He loves you enough to let you be who you are and who you need to be, not just who you were. I loved you too tightly, trying to keep you away from all this. Kae... I’m sorry. He’s right.” Finn looked down, still breathing heavily. Then he looked over at Daegan, whose face reflected intense resentment at Finn’s blunt assessment. Finn then stepped away from Daegan and Kaeleigh, out of the circle, and pointed his finger back at him. “How does a Ferrishyn raised by that witch Maleina know such things of love, while I come across the fool? In truth, it appears that I am the one more like her. I am the fool,” he said sadly.
“Hunter taught me, he showed me. She taught me nothing,” Daegan said in hushed tones as he remembered his old friend, offering nothing more.
“It is my shame. I served under Hunter as well, for so many years, but I kept my fears in front of me when it came to matters of the heart.” Finn’s eyes exposed his complete brokenness for a brief moment. He took a deep breath and inclined his head toward Daegan. Finn then looked warmly at Kaeleigh and spoke with resignation. “Let me out, Kae.”
Kaeleigh dropped the magical boundary. She wanted to stop him. Her eyes pleaded with him as she called out, “Finn?”
With big, vulnerable hazel green eyes, Finn opened his soul to her. “I need to go for now. Please understand.” Without waiting for her to reply, he turned and started out of the hall.
Kaeleigh nodded with unshed tears in her eyes and a hitch in her chest. “Okay,” she whispered. Her tears began to roll down her cheek as she watched him leave.
After a moment of awkward silence, Daegan spoke. “Kaeleigh... what he said, I—”
Kaeleigh cut him off flatly through her emotion. “I know, I know. He was in the heat of the moment. You don’t need to explain it all away, Daegan. I know how you feel.” Then she walked away.
After she was almost out of sight, he took a deep breath watching her walk away. “No, you do not.”
✧✧✧
“How long have we been training? Has it been days or years?” Chel said, exasperated.
Halister let out a huff of annoyance. “It has only been a few hours. Has your sense of time not adjusted since being here?” he asked seriously.
Chel squished up her face at him. “How would I know?” she replied sarcastically as she lowered the spear that she had been sparring with and breathed heavier than she would have liked.
In that moment of brief distraction, Hal moved with amazing speed. He grabbed her spear, twisting her arm around with it, bringing it up behind her back and effectively pinning her in front of him, his other arm in front of her neck preventing any upper body moves. She sagged defeated in his arms.
“Why do you always...” Her sentence broke off with her elbow ramming up and into his ribs, catching him off guard. His grip on her loosened. She spun around then hooked her leg behind one of his, yanking him to the ground. However, she did not fully adjust her movement and overshot, causing her to tumble to the ground with him landing partially on the hard dirt floor and partially draped across Hal. “Gotcha!”
Hal laughed. “Yes, you did.”
“You let me do that, didn’t you?” Chel sighed in irritation.
“Let you do what?” Hal winked at her. “No, you bested me fair and square. I was caught off guard by your intoxicating scent and your breasts heaving against my arm, which was, of course, my purpose from the very beginning.”
“You are a... a... a very bad word. In Missoula, Montana, we have names for guys like you,” Chel finally resolved, crossing her arms over her chest.
Kaeleigh laughed from the sidelines. “Is that the best you could come up with?”
“Yes. I vowed not to actually curse in this realm and I couldn’t come up with—JACKELOPE! That’s what you are,” she accused him with her finger.
Hal just looked at her like she was crazy or he was intently trying to remember what that word meant in the mortal realm. Apparently it wasn’t a creature they had in Alandria.
Kaeleigh laughed even harder. Finn came up beside her and she quickly summarized the story while still trying to actually breathe. Finn laughed more at Kaeleigh trying to tell the story than at the actual story itself.
“Fine. Laugh it up, you two, I’ve got both your numbers too, you know.” Chel pointed directly at Kaeleigh.
The other warriors had now all stopped what they were doing and gathered around with curiosity.
“Oh! I apologize, I did not mean to interrupt your sessions,” Kaeleigh said, bowing her head reverently.
“Do not apologize, Kaeleighnna. Laughter is an important part of training,” Líyl said with a small smile.
“How so?” Metrí asked, standing there with her sword still ready in her hand.
“It brings light to your soul and clears the darkness which brings heaviness, confusion, and fear,” she stated as a matter of fact.
They nodded and all got to their feet. “Should we begin again?” Kaeleigh asked.
“It is time to break for the day. We will continue more tomorrow,” Ella spoke as she set the weapon she used back on the racks. However, she kept her personal weapon strapped to her body.
The girls left the hall while Finn and Hal began gathering the weapons they had strewn about the floor as they tried out different ones. “I still don’t understand what a jackelope is,” he muttered as he shook his head.
“It’s a type of rabbit with horns like an antelope. It is rumored to be a myth, I believe,” Finn replied like he was reading from a dictionary. “I think it was meant to be an insult.”
“I’m sure it wa
s, but I am not sure how it applies and why it would be so bad. She must not know we have such an animal here, the Lielmär, an extraordinary animal. Either way I do enjoy that Shifter’s insults,” he mused quietly to himself with a smile.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Exhile
The Land of the Unforgiven Dead
“Hello, my pets.” She sauntered in through a black tunnel doorway and into the cave. It had not been there before, but what had been rock wall a moment before stretched tall revealing an opening then closed just as she stepped through. She trailed a hand along the rough reformed wall. Eyes of red glinting in the rising darkness—the Droch-Shúil—followed closely behind her, wrapping its smoky tendrils around her body as she moved. “You have been quite busy during your stay here with me. Contacting whoever you can reach out to, making new friends. Tell me, have you found the Sol-lumieth? And that Ferrishyn warrior, isn’t he one of your kin?” She crooned then moved closer to the Orchids that stood together. “That was not wise. Or was it? Perhaps your cunning will be the end of me.” Slowly, She walked in front of each of them as they approached in an informal line. She continued to trail her delicate and thin fingers along the shield of energy that contained them. “Perhaps it will all work out perfectly.” She laughed with disdain. Her eyes were wide and knowing, the blacks of her pupils swallowing any color remaining in her irises. She could cross the barrier if she chose to, but there were other plans taking shape in her mind.
The Orchids remained still and quiet, watching her, awaiting her next move. Except for the two women with the most to lose—Eva and Cley-una. Each of them started forward, but caught themselves. She waved her finger in the air. “Tsk tsk, don’t dare to hope, ladies,” She sneered. As if hearing their unasked questions, She smirked in their direction. Closing her eyes, she breathed deep, absorbing their barely contained fear as it leaked out of them little by little. Her eyes flashed open as she reveled in what she was about to do.
“What do you want with us?” Cley’s husband, Dy’lánd, once a fierce warrior, now captive in Exhile, stepped forward with his arms crossed over his chest.
She studied him. “You are a brave and delicious one, aren’t you?” Moving in his direction, “Because you asked so nicely, I will tell you.” Her smile grew feral and her eyes narrowed, removing the whites of her eyes and leaving only the black. Her voice turned grave and held an edge that evil balanced precariously upon. “My plan for you is simple: I had you killed and brought here to my domain. I contained your souls and gathered you so that you would not pass on to the In-between. That part was all really too easy. Now...” She looked them over hungrily, licking her bottom lip. “Now, the time is almost precise to glean your magical essence straight from your souls.”
Many of the Orchids inhaled sharply. “It is not possible!” Tylna the elderly Faerie with the blue tinted hair hissed as she made her way to the front.
She laughed. “Oh, I assure you it is.”
“Why? Why would you do this?” Cley-una cried out.
Eva gasped. “To enter Alandria,” she strained out a whisper.
“Very good, Highness. You are more than just a pretty face,” She mocked with a hint of jealousy.
“But you are dark. How can you sustain the light that make up our souls?” one of the Shifters asked from the side.
She glared in his direction. “I no longer want to share with you. Perhaps I will simply show you,” she snarled.
Closing her eyes, She placed her palms flat against the energy barrier separating her from the Orchids. She took three deep breaths and began to chant. Her voice was guttural and deep. The words were foreign to the Alandrians and sounded ancient. Where she stood it was calm, but within the containment the air grew thick. Wind thrashed around the enclosed area, throwing their hair and clothing all about. It began with low moans and whines, but soon several of the Orchids were screaming. Dark energy swirled around each member. Red eyes pierced that darkness as the Droch-Shúil gave it direction. As it touched them, it leached out and stole remnants of their souls, the very essences of their current presence. If it continued, however long it would take, the Orchids would cease to exist—their souls disseminated.
To their surprised relief, She spoke a word and everything immediately ceased. The darkness stopped moving. The Droch-Shúil retreated, their souls still intact, the Orchids stunned with shock and fear.
She soaked up the bit of energy she had taken from them. Her body was aglow from ingesting the purity of its life for a brief moment, before the darkness within her digested and tainted it, giving her evil a deeper shine as if kissed by hell itself. She laughed loud and deep from her core, her head thrown back, power flooding her with a temporary burst of strength. “I must test the limits of this.” She looked back to the Orchids. “You know what is coming. There is no escape. I will return and then I will finish this.” Without another word, she turned back to the part of the cave wall she had entered through, now closed again. She placed her hand barely even upon it, flicked her wrist, and a doorway yawned effortlessly open for her. The Droch-Shúil trailed behind her, a train of creeping darkness with eyes burning red.
The Orchids stood stunned, their faces revealing their despair. However, there were two mothers whose eyes gave no quarter to despair. There was still hope.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Everyone was gathered in the Ehsmian Great Hall. As Kaeleigh walked in, she surveyed what appeared to be a full house. It looked like part of the mountain was carved out to fit a cathedral-style building smack in the middle of it. It was cavernous, similar to the other rooms that they had been in, but this one was spectacular. Yes, the walls were still sealed packed dirt the color of dirty rust, but there was something sparkling all the way up to where the pinnacle of the room met. When the firelight from the many wall sconces on each side of the room flickered, the diamonds in the walls would sing the chorus of their song and shine in magnificent unity. There was a heavy reverence, thick with sacred tradition and magic that rested, but it wasn’t judgmental or pompous. Instead, it felt welcoming and peaceful. The way tradition full of history should feel—inviting, asking, welcoming you to be a part of it.
“Is this like a church?” Chel whispered to Kaeleigh, who only shrugged with her mouth open and eyes wide with wonder.
“This is the Great Hall,” Ella began, “where most of our traditions and sacred gatherings that involve everyone in Ehsmia happen. It is also used for banquet meals when we are celebrating or having honored guests.”
“Who are you welcoming, Cinderella?” Metrí asked, her face wearing a mask of pure enchantment.
Ella scrunched up her nose in confusion. “I am not sure who Cinderella is, but tonight we are welcoming you,” she said with a smile as she gestured around to all them.
“Oh wow,” Metrí and Chel spoke at the same time. Kaeleigh looked down with a slight blush creeping up her neck and squeezed her hands nervously, not wanting to be in the spotlight. She sensed him before she looked his way. His presence was soothing; she could almost feel his hand on her wrist sending waves of peace through their connection. In reality, he was at the other end of their small entourage, too far to touch. When she did turn to casually look his direction, she couldn’t help but be snared in his deliciously warm eyes. Her breath hitched and she turned back to the room. She would rather face a crowd of strangers at that moment than face what she was seeing in Daegan’s eyes. The crowd was staring at her with curiosity, but the other... he was staring with an intensity that only continued to add confusion and stir chaos within her soul—not too mention those pesky butterflies in her stomach.
“Follow me.” Ella waved at them as she walked toward the other end of the room which had a window-type opening in the wall. It opened up to look out at the entry that they had walked in upon when they entered Ehsmia. It was a gorgeous view. She could sit and stare for hours and never get bored admiring it.
“Please take your seats here at this table.” Ella gestured
at the table now in front of them. “Our meal will be served shortly.” She sat at a seat next to the head of the table. There were a few others already seated, scattered amidst the settings along the table. It was not a formal event, but it looked lovely and planned out just the same. Kaeleigh walked past the table right up to the hole in the cave wall to admire the view. When she looked out she realized that they were actually higher up than she had been before. She had noted on their way to the Great Hall that it seemed they were walking uphill, but she didn’t think it had been that high. They were easily three stories off the ground. Looking out over the grounds below, it looked like the Garden of Eden.
“It’s amazing,” Kaeleigh said with awe as she turned back to Ella and everyone still standing behind their chairs, obviously waiting for her.
“Thank you,” the Elder Arileas said as he came walking up behind the other tables, making his way to what must have been his place at their table. “It is what home should be... to me. I am glad you appreciate it.” He nodded his head toward her. Kaeleigh smiled at him then returned her gaze out the window. She extended her hand up and through the window. Through? With confusion etched on her face, she reached her hand once more tentatively where she had assumed glass was.
“What?” she asked out loud as she continued to feel through—not through, but into. “I can put my hand through it, but it doesn’t actually go through it. It’s like there is still something there as a barrier, but it’s not liquid. What is it?” She turned to Arileas.
“There is no name for it in the modern language of the mortal realm, but it is essentially an energy that is made viscous—not liquid nor solid—infused with magic, of course,” he said with a wink.