by Walls, Devri
A shadow emerged, but that was all; a useless shape to define the threat. “Curse Eleana!” he yelled. Batting the side of the basin, he sent it clattering to the floor.
My lord, we already knew that she had...
Dralazar slowly turned his head to the side, his green eyes narrowed to slits. “Enough, Raynor.”
Leaning forward he put his palms flat against the stone table. “This time Eleana, it will be different,” he breathed out. Turning his head to Raynor he growled, “I have spent the last thousand years hiding, creating the perfect storm for my return— an innocent people and untrained Solus. I will not let this slip through my fingers when we are so close!” he slammed his fist into the table. Breathing heavily, a thought occurred to him and a dangerous smile flitted across his face. “Come with me Raynor.” The two walked through the labyrinth that the cave system had naturally provided. “We need to find the Solus, and I would like to make a point while doing that.”
What point would you like to make my Lord?
Dralazar turned the corner into yet another tunnel. As he did so the sound of barking and snarling began to reverberate off the cave walls. “That when I find the Solus, I will kill him.”
The farther down the tunnel they traveled the louder and louder the sounds became. Near the end a magical barrier rippled and shimmered, keeping its prisoners quite contained. Dralazar stood before it, looking at the message he was about to send the Solus.
My lord, Raynor bowed his head in respect. The Hounds are widely unpredictable. Are you sure you want to use them already?
Dralazar’s eyes were gazing at the weapon, his eyes dancing with excitement. “Yes Raynor. I am. Last time we did not use them to their full potential. Besides, Raynor, look at them.” Dralazar turned his head to the side, a sly smile dancing upon his lips.
The Hounds were huge. At the shoulder the smallest one measured 4 ft high. The obvious leader of the pack measured more than five. They were all black and their hair was long and matted, their mouths were filled with excessively large canines, leaving their faces coated with thick white goo. Their eyes gleaming with hate. The leader of the pack strode through the rest, approaching the barrier, baring his teeth at Dralazar.
Dralazar laughed. “Speak you mutt,” he commanded. “It took me a long time to give you the gift of speech.”
Broken and garbled words came out of the Hound’s mouth. “Whaat u waaaant.” Each word was long and drawn out. It sounded like a demon was trying to speak with a mouthful of gravel.
“That’s better,” he cooed. “I assume you and your mangy friends are hungry.” The pack’s barking immediately resumed as they pushed each other closer to the barrier. Dralazar held up his hand and the barking immediately ceased. “I have a job for you.”
The Hounds, salivating in anticipation of the promised hunt exploded out from the mouth of the cave with Raynor right behind them. He took to the skies to lead the pack back towards the forest. The giant Hounds leapt over rocks and boulders with such ease they might not have been there at all.
Dralazar replaced his basin on the table, brushing his hand across the top he called the liquid back to its place. Leaning over it, he whispered his enchantment. A picture began to appear and he could see the rocks and boulders as the leader of the pack ran through the gantlet of stone that surrounded the caves. He was now looking out through the pack leader’s eyes. This way he could see the end of the Solus as if he had done it with his own hand.
***
Kiora had to know why Emane had agreed to be her Protector. He had done nothing but openly despise her from the first day. He was fast, but it didn’t matter. Using threads, Kiora had just become the best tracker in the kingdom.
Moving through the trees she focused in on Emane’s thread, feeling and following. His thread felt the same as those who had sided with good, but vibrated at a much slower frequency than those with magic. It also seemed thinner. She had followed him for sometime before the ground began to slope downward underneath her feet and she was forced back on her heels, using her hands to keep from tumbling end over end. The land was alight with sound, birds chattering, bugs humming and the sound of running water getting closer. As the sound of water increased so did the strength of the thread, and she knew she was getting close.
Thankfully the ground leveled out as the vegetation thickened and she moved her hands back to the front to protect her face and eyes. The trees grew closely together here, their branches intertwining above her head, and the bushes had no intention of letting her pass. Trying not to make too much noise she pushed and weaved, breaking through the heavier part of the tree line. Once out, she could see the outline of the Prince standing next to a shallow but fast flowing river. Startled, she quickly dropped to her knees to avoid being seen.
There from her knees, she watched him pacing back and forth in front of the river, his lips moving, muttering something underneath his breath. He picked up a rock and threw it as hard as he could into the river, then another, and another.
She settled in, watching him pace. He walked as a prince should walk: tall and straight with an air of royalty. His features were strong, unlike Kiora’s, and in the sun his blue eyes seemed even bluer, a perfect combination with his sandy blond hair. He reached back, pushing his hair off his forehead. She felt an odd thud in her chest and shook her head. It really was a shame she thought, that he was such an ass.
Prince Emane stopped, staring absently at the river as all the natural tension he usually held dropped away, as if it had been peeled from him. His shoulders drooped, his head lowered and he looked, for the first time since she had met him, vulnerable. Kiora felt her cheeks flush, feeling as if she were intruding on some deeply personal moment that he never would have allowed himself to have had he known she were watching, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away. He just stood there, looking weighed down. The posture, although not familiar on him, was familiar to her. Feeling guilty for yelling, she closed her eyes scrunching her face up, dreading the inevitable. She had followed him all the way out here, but an apology was not her original intention. Reluctantly she stood and began walking quietly, closer to the Prince, the sandy shore padding her approaching steps.
She cleared her throat, “Prince Emane?”
The prince jumped and pulled his sword as he turned, pointing it right at her throat. Kiora took a step backwards, swallowing hard, looking at the blade.
“Kiora!” He dropped his sword back to his side. “What are you doing here?” he shouted at her.
“I’m sorry,” she blurted, her hand brushing over her nearly skewered neck, she glanced back at the blade now hanging at his side.
“I could have killed you Kiora, I can’t believe...”
Lowering her hand she repeated slowly, “I’m sorry.” She fixed her green eyes evenly on him.
He slowed as her words registered with him, “What?”
“I am sorry, Emane.”
He sheathed his sword and turned away from her with an irritated hiss. “Sorry for what? Telling me that I can’t run a kingdom or for insinuating that I would rather push you off a cliff than help you?”
She cringed. “I judged you before I knew you, I still don’t know you. Aleric has insisted, though, that you’re worth knowing,” she said with a half- hearted smile.
Emane snorted. “And when did he insist that? He has spent years telling me all the things I need to improve on.” He reached down and threw another rock into the river with a grunt.
“Do you remember when we first met?” she asked, folding her arms in front of her. “You mistook me for a servant, handed me your laundry and then was angry with me for not agreeing to do it anyway.”
He smothered a smile, “Most girls would have done the laundry.”
Her mouth twisted ruefully. Shaking her head she said, “I knew that was the problem.”
“That you wouldn’t do my laundry? Please Kiora, I have more than one...”
“No, you aren’t used to anyon
e standing up to you.”
“That’s ridiculous,” he scoffed.
“Really? You seem to still have problems with me standing up to you; or at least failing to grovel at your feet.” Like all the other girls, she thought.
He looked at her for a long while before walking past her to a fallen log by the river’s edge and very un-majestically plopping down on it. He leaned his elbows on his knees and looked back in Kiora’s direction.
“So, you’re the Solus.”
She shifted uncomfortably, “That’s what they tell me.”
“Wonderful,” he said dryly. “How long have you known?”
“I have lost track of time, the day I came to the castle. A week, maybe two.”
“A week!”
“Maybe two!” she said defensively.
He shook his head, “Look Kiora, I don’t want to fight; a week just doesn’t seem like a lot of time to fulfill your destiny.”
She dropped down cross-legged in the sand. “I know.”
His blue eyes narrowed, “What brought on the sudden change of heart?”
She shrugged. “We might be spending a lot of time together now that you have agreed to be my Protector.”
“Hmm,” he grunted. “Can you really do magic?” he asked with a strange mix of curiosity and lingering suspicion. “I mean, besides hitting yourself in the head with a rock.”
Kiora smirked. He asked, what was she suppose to do? Focusing in on a rock near his foot she willed it to move. Lifting off the ground, it hung there for a moment before flipping him in the knee.
“OW!”
“Sorry,” she said trying to suppress a giggle. “I’m still learning.”
He raised one eyebrow, leaning towards her, “I think you did that on purpose.”
She didn’t try to hide her smile, her green eyes twinkled with laughter “Of course not, Prince.”
“Lying is not becoming you know.”
“I never lie.” she said pulling on her most solemn face.
“Alright then, tell me what you were laughing about earlier,” he challenged.
She covered her mouth with her hand, trying to stifle a laugh. “Oh, Sire, I don’t think you really want to know.”
“I do.”
She turned her head to the side, evaluating him. “Alright, I had asked Arturo if I could throw a rock at you.” Emane sat straight up. “It was after some rude comment you made,” she said waving him off.
“Wait,” he held up his hands, taking a deep breath. “You asked the horse?”
“The pegasus happens to be telepathic so watch what you think. You will be pleased to know that, he told me I most certainly could not throw the rock.”
“I like this horse already. Why is that funny?”
“Pegasus,” she corrected. “Because after you insulted him he decided that perhaps one rock would have done you some good.” She started giggling. “I’m sorry, it just wasn’t like Arturo. He is normally so calm and distinguished when he talks. And you did insult him.”
She glanced up at Emane. He had a gentle smile on his face, looking out at the river again. She grinned to herself, it was a start.
“He talks to people?”
She shook her head. “No, just to me.”
“Why just you?”
“He didn’t really explain.” Well, he had tried but Kiora was still confused about it all.
Emane bent over picking up a handful of pebbles. “What’s it like when he talks to you?” he asked letting them rain down through his fingers.
“Different,” she said thoughtfully, “it’s like I can hear him, but not with my ears. It’s just inside my head.”
They sat there in awkward silence for a while.
“Well, this is nice.” Emane said, clearing his throat as he shifted on the old log “I think we have gone five whole minutes without biting each other’s heads off.”
“It’s a start.” Tucking her hair behind her ears, she said, “I have a question for you as well.”
“Go ahead,” he said.
“You didn’t seem surprised about all of this. Aside from the fact that the Solus was me,” she amended.
“I wasn’t.” He rubbed his knees, evaluating her. “I grew up with Aleric shoving history lessons down my throat.”
“You knew about...”
“About all of it, yes. Evil, the Solus. Aleric lived in the castle to watch for the fulfillment of the prophecy and to teach the royals what to be expecting. I have trained in combat since I was a little boy with nowhere to use it.” He shrugged. “To be honest I never thought any of this would matter. Now here I am talking to the Solus and have been assigned to one more thing.”
“I don’t understand. Why didn’t they tell us?” Her pulse rose as she realized the implications. “You should have told us!”
“Knowing something and believing something are two different things. I don’t think anyone fully believed it would happen again. I know I didn’t. Aleric had his hands full trying to teach me. I thought it was an enormous waste of time,” he said with a groan, pushing himself back to his feet.
Before she could stand a handful of threads slipped through her. At first it was just uncomfortable but within seconds their full force hit. She slumped over, her hands at her chest. They were dark and cold and struck through her heart with needles of ice.
“They’re coming!” she gasped, clawing at her chest.
Emane ran over to her side. “Kiora what is it? What’s wrong?”
“Evil, evil is coming. A lot of them.” Her voice was raspy as she tried to speak through the pain.
“Are you sure?”
She nodded.
He grabbed both her arms, “Do you know who it is?”
She shook her head no, “It’s different than I have felt before. It is magical but it doesn’t feel human.” She looked up into his eyes, her heart pounding. “They are coming, really fast.”
“Come on, we have to get you out of here.”
He put his arm under her and lifted her to her feet. She stumbled along the sand underneath the Prince’s support.
“Kiora!” he yelled at her. “You have to control this!”
“You don’t understand,” she gasped her legs dragging like noodles beneath her.
“Your right,” he grunted trying to pull her forward. “I don’t. I have no idea what you’re feeling right now. But if what you are telling me is true, then we have to leave, now! And if I have to carry you the whole way we won’t be moving very fast!”
Kiora took a deep breath and nodded trying to clear her head and take control of her frozen heart. The threads were getting stronger and stronger as whatever it was kept getting closer.
“Come on Kiora, get a hold of yourself,” he repeated, jerking her forward again.
Setting her jaw, she willed herself to put her weight on her legs and began stumbling forward. It was only a few steps before she froze again.
“They’re here” she whispered in horror.
Chapter Three
THE PROTECTOR
THE PRINCE TURNED HIS head, scanning the area. Kiora could feel the corded muscles in his arms as he continued to hold her up. “Can you stand if I let go of you?” he asked.
She nodded, reluctantly pulling back from him.
“Good.” Pulling his sword, he turned to face the wood, whispering to her over his shoulder. “Listen carefully and do what I tell you.”
His eyes scanned, looking for any sign of their attackers. A long low growl came from his left. Kiora froze, following Emane’s gaze as he slowly turned to face it. Two sparkling black eyes shown out from the branches, intently fixed on him.
“There it is,” he hissed.
Growls and snarls begin erupting from every side. Kiora whimpered, taking a step backwards. Emane reached back, grabbing her hand and pulled her tight in behind him. Holding his sword out on front, they watched as set after set of eyes began emerging from the shadows of the trees.
“What
are they?” he whispered, his hand tightening around her wrist.
The first set of eyes to appear stepped fully out from the trees and into the sun. Kiora’s heart sunk as the gigantic black creature came into view. It was a hound of nightmarish proportions, taller, wider. Its face was sharp with a longer snout and enormous ears. But what was most frightening was the evil intelligence that glittered behind those black eyes.
Emane’s sword swung towards it. “Why does it look like its thinking?” he muttered. “I don’t like it, dogs don’t look like that.”
“That is no dog.” Kiora whispered, her eyes wide. Their threads were plunging through her heart, icy cold and dark. She could not ignore them
Drool dripped from the beast’s wide, fang filled mouth, as it gave another long growl. The rest of the pack emerged from the tree line, following command.
Emane crouched lower, swinging his sword back and forth in front of them, trying to keep an eye on all of them.
There were probably fifteen hounds, growling and snapping their jaws, but not one attacked.
“What is going on?” Kiora whispered, her frozen heart still managing to beat madly. “Why are they just standing there?”
The predators had boxed them in nicely against the river, but the pack kept its distance, each glancing periodically over at the largest of the pack. Almost as if they were.... waiting for permission, Kiora realized, sickly. Emane began slowly backing up, pushing Kiora closer to the river. It was the only way left to go.
The Prince whispered over his shoulder, not taking his eyes off the hounds. “Any ideas?”