by Darren Lewis
“Don't! Stay away from me!” Isabelle hissed and she turned and rushed back into the woods. Ellie took a deep shuddering breath of the dawn air and followed. She would help Isabelle cut her mother down and then prepare a proper burial. If there were any problems from the villagers, she could handle them.
Ellie! Cole shouted. Get back to the village now! It's Isabelle!
*
Fire leapt and swirled on the huts and buildings of the village. Any villager who sought escape from the flames was hurled back towards the centre to be trapped, surrounded by a curtain of fire. Isabelle was standing outside the maelstrom circling her hands viciously to keep the flames alive and moving. A man clutching a pitchfork made a break for a temporary exit, he was almost through the massive wall of fire when Isabelle saw him. She cocked her fist and slammed it into the air, sending blood flying from her own fist and the man bent double before the fire moved in and consumed him.
“No!” Ellie screamed, emerging from the trees in time to witness the man's death. Isabelle paid no attention and continued to keep the flames moving in their mad dance. All the buildings were now ablaze and the surviving villagers were huddled together at the eye of the firestorm. A firestorm that Isabelle was gradually moving toward the centre. Through the gaps in the flame Ellie saw men, women and children weeping and those on the outer edges of the huddle were already beating at smouldering clothing. Ellie rushed over to Isabelle and faced her.
“Isabelle please stop this!” Isabelle simply shook her head and Ellie saw the ferocity in her friend's eyes.
Slap her! The orb instructed and without thinking Ellie backhanded Isabelle. Mud flew from Isabelle's face as she fell to the ground and the flames died down. The villagers wailed and prayed for mercy.
“Get out of here!” Ellie shouted at them but none moved. Isabelle pushed herself up and wiped the blood from her lip.
“I wish you hadn't done that.” She told Ellie quietly.
“Listen to me, Isabelle. Arianne wouldn't want this, not for you.”
“Get out of my way, Ellie.”
“Your mother dedicated her life to helping people. These people,” And Ellie pointed behind her, “are ignorant and stupid. The whole reason we do what we do is to educate and save those who need it!”
Isabelle scoffed.
“And what good has it done? How long have you done this now? And still persecution and subjugation continues and you've told me that it's about to get worse!” Tears tracked down the mud on Isabelle's face but her voice did not waver. “I will not allow these people to walk away unpunished or is that what you wish, for murder not to be punished?” Isabelle said in a deathly whisper. Ellie thought of Arianne and all those people she hadn't been able to save and of those responsible. “My mother and you told me once there is no justice. Well today there is! Mine!”
“I'm sorry, Isabelle. I don't have an answer. I'm one of the oldest beings to walk this earth but I don't have an answer except to take life is wrong”
Isabelle nodded and the coldness returned to her eyes.
“Oldest, yes. You're not human anymore, Ellie if you don't know that simple answer doesn't apply to people like this. Well,” Isabelle stepped up close to her friend, “I will show you what the answer is.” And Isabelle walked around Ellie muttering quietly. Ellie felt the air change, it became heavy and it took an effort to take in a breath. Ellie gasped and tried to grab at Isabelle but the world started to spin and lights sparked in her vision.
“No.” Ellie croaked. Isabelle turned her head as Ellie fell to her knees.
“Don't worry. I wouldn't hurt you unless I have to.” Ellie's chest felt like it was about to explode and she collapsed into the mud, darkness invading her sight.
Cole! Malachite! Even the voice in her mind sounded strained. Ellie closed her eyes and allowed her vision to become that of her dragons. Ellie saw the village from high above. Buildings still burnt and she saw Isabelle advancing on the terrified huddle of people. The view changed rapidly as Cole descended straight at Isabelle. He flexed his wings and landed harder than ever before, taking a guard position between the people and Isabelle. Isabelle cocked her head at Cole as if he were no more than a curiosity.
“Cole, please move. Ellie will be fine but I need you to move.” Cole had observed human behaviour for thousands and thousands of years and he now studied Isabelle's eyes. He saw nothing of the young girl he'd met many years ago in a forest when she'd been on the run with her mother and a young baby. The villagers were not only guilty of taking Arianne's life but at this moment they were also guilty of stealing Isabelle's humanity. Cole didn't move, he knew Isabelle would follow only one path this night and she had the power to overcome him but still he would not move.
Malachite. Stay away. Cole whispered to his friend. Ellie, I love you.
Malachite roared from the sky and with whatever breath Ellie could take, she screamed her defiance. Isabelle clenched her bloody fists and pushed them against her chest. Cole and Ellie saw a single tear escape from her eye and fall to rest upon one hand. Isabelle hesitated and then thrust her hands forward channelling all her magic through them. The impact on Cole's body was tremendous. Ellie heard the cracking of bones and Cole was thrown so far that when she opened her eyes he'd disappeared from view. She felt the pain coursing through his body and she screamed in pain with him. Ellie tried to drag herself forward but the pain and struggle for breath was too great.
Ellie! I'm coming! Malachite shouted.
“No, Malachite, don't.” She whispered.
Help us. Please. Ellie begged the orb.
I can't! The destruction would be too great if I fight her! The orb cried.
Help us. Help us. She repeated before the dark took her away.
Whispers
Ellie?
Ellie?
Cole? Malachite?
She's taken me. You have to wake up now.
No.
Wake up.
No.
Isabelle's at the monastery.
No!
Home?
It was with ragged clothes and sunburnt skin that Ellie returned to the monastery. From this distance she saw the main gates were open and not a sound escaped the large building. She continued the last part of her journey home and realised the main gates were not open. They had been torn off by a great force that had left them in chunks and splinters around the courtyard. The courtyard itself was unkempt with dust and dirt piled high in every corner and weeds taking a firm hold between each flagstone. The bell tower was devastated and the bell itself lay at the foot of the crumbling ruins, melted and charred into a strange contorted shape as if reaching for the sky.
Ellie stayed at the centre of the courtyard and slowly turned, her eyes darting into every dark corner for a whisper of life. Sensing none she started her search of the entire monastery but all she found was evidence of the inhabitant's hasty departure. Scattered clothes and overturned furniture, food that had been exposed to the elements for so long decay was long since over. Ellie went to her own cell, her home for the last six hundred years or so. Nothing had changed. The cell housed a simple bed and a chair, but what it contained on the many shelves represented her life here and what she'd accomplished. A great number of the people rescued and then brought to the monastery would either live within its confines or seek to find a new life. Whatever they chose to do they were taught to read and write. When they could do so Ellie asked them to write their name on a piece of parchment which she then kept on her shelf. The shelves contained hundreds of names but looking at them brought her nothing but sadness and grief. She'd failed Isabelle and Arianne.
Isabelle had departed when Ellie awoke in the mud of the destroyed village. Cole was lying nearby with Malachite asleep next to him. It was with great trepidation that Ellie approached her dragon. The mind link created between rider and dragon so many years ago was a dark place to her now. Ellie could no longer feel Cole's presence. The impact from Isabelle's magic had left a lar
ge black welt on Cole's beautiful red skin but Ellie saw the shallow rise and fall of his chest. She rushed over and stroked his large head.
“Oh, Cole. My Cole.” She wept and she fumbled with her belt to retrieve the orb. The orb had healed Cole's wing in the future when he'd been young and would be asked to mend him again. It was gone, the leather pouch was empty. Ellie then remembered her cries for help and the whispered dream. It was the orb trying to wake her. Ellie sat back in the mud feeling useless, tired and suddenly extremely old. Malachite roused and groaned as he turned to look at Ellie and Cole.
“I found him and brought him here.” Malachite whispered.
“Are you okay?” Ellie asked.
Malachite huffed an insincere laugh.
“She caught my wing as I tried to land. It'll mend. I don't know about Cole, though.”
Ellie looked around the destroyed little village keeping her eyes away from the charred bodies not too far from where she sat. She didn't want to deal with that just now and they needed to act, for Cole's sake at least.
“Malachite find us a cave to hold up in. Close by so you don't have to fly and Cole won't have to move much. We'll recuperate for a while.”
Malachite nodded and bent his head down to Ellie for comfort. She stroked his cheek.
“Thank you, my friend.” She said softly, emotion making her voice crack.
Ellie came back to the present and her room. She slowly and quietly collected all the names of the people saved and placed them gently into her pack. To her they now represented failure and it was something she would not forget for a long time. With her pack full of names Ellie headed for Isabelle's cell. The door was open and Ellie entered cautiously. The cell was similar to Ellie's except instead of shelves Isabelle was fond of a picture of the world Ellie had given her as a gift. Ellie had drawn it as best she could from memory. Luckily she also had all the memories of the dragons to call upon and they proved to have photographic memories where detail was concerned. Ellie had added a small figure labelled 'Isabelle' with a small note at the foot of the picture. Ellie walked over and read the note she'd written over one hundred years ago.
'Our purpose in life is to help others.'
Cole had been the one to remember the words that would be spoken by the Dalai Lama in a few hundred years and it was a piece of wisdom Ellie carried in her heart. Underneath the picture on the bed was a piece of parchment. Ellie picked it up. The handwriting was Isabelle's.
Eleanor,
I do not know if you shall ever set your eyes on this letter, but I shall speak to you one last time through this medium.
All these years I followed you in blind faith that what we were doing was right and that we were accomplishing something. I agree that the path was right but we accomplished nothing! People cannot be trusted. Not only would they burn those who, like my mother and I, possess magical abilities, they would now torture and execute those that are accused and found guilty who do not have a shred of power.
I will take Baiulus and make it work. I will aid my people and make them safe from the world. Your time, Venatrix Noctis, is at an end. I spared you and the lives of your dragons before, if we meet again or if you try and stop me I will end the three of you.
I, Baiulus.
Ellie sat down on Isabelle's bed and cried for a long time and it was dark when she left the monastery for the long walk to her new home, where Cole and Malachite would be waiting. Cole was still in poor condition and Malachite had yet to take to the air. He'd wanted to join Ellie at the monastery but she wouldn't risk him and besides she wanted someone with Cole night and day. To heal Cole she would have to find the orb. She had no fears of taking Isabelle on but Ellie knew it wasn't something she could do alone. Ellie would require assistance, new friends and a place to live to do so. Ellie briefly thought back to a time which in her reckoning happened about eight hundred years ago when she'd tried to save a girl from being killed. She had failed and that night the orb had promised to help. It had also told Ellie about the source of magic on this world and now Ellie was thinking how to use that against Isabelle.
“No.” She said firmly. This wasn't the right time for that. Ellie didn't have the means or the will to follow that path but as for the future they would have to see. For now the three of them, Ellie, Cole and Malachite, started their journeys with each other so long ago in this world Ellie couldn't even guess the number of years but they were still together and would continue the journey together again. Ellie stared at the ground as she walked and then a faint whisper came to her from far away.
I'm still alive you know. Cole said. Ellie smiled at her old friend's resilience and with a deep sigh and new resolve, she marched off down the road.
A radical plan
“Team one and two close on position Bird.”
The moment Ellie feared the most for the last four hundred years was happening now. Assault teams were converging on the safe house Cole was resting in and she couldn't stop it now. His health hadn't improved since Isabelle had attacked him all those years ago and ten years ago he declined further, and Ellie feared for his life. A radical plan was needed.
Over the years with Cole and Malachite in hiding and with the dawn of the technical age Ellie started to investigate what was now known as The Baiulus Institute, a defence contractor for those with appropriate funds. Specifically ex-employees who were in retirement. As she always had Ellie became the person appropriate to the task and befriended these old men and women who invested Ellie with a wealth of information on Baiulus. One of the urban legends within the Institute was known as the Elixir. Allegedly developed in Italy some three hundred years ago it was used to stop the ageing process and was a product not available to any of their clients irrespective of their wealth or power. Ellie continued to search and investigate and again and again this legend was repeated to her over a cup of tea, a beer, a stroll through the city park or a friendly chat with these rather special retirees. With Cole's health deteriorating, Ellie decided the next operation was worth the risk and on one fine day Ellie enlisted with The Baiulus Institute.
“Charges in place for breach awaiting order.”
Ellie's main task was to inveigle herself in Operations which was simply the code name for the division that dealt with the supernatural she therefore concentrated on field work. Her role was eerily similar to when she'd been known as Venatrix, a hunter of witches only this time there was no deception, no rescue. Practitioners of magic or those of magical ability were to be captured and quarantined. Ellie would occasionally wonder if after all this time Isabelle was still alive and in charge of Baiulus.
“Proceed.”
The years passed and Ellie worked her way through the organisation. Her talent for hunting was second to none and she became a legend once again though the taste was bitter. Eventually the position she'd strived for became hers. Chief of Operations. The risk had paid off.
The video monitors showed the feed from the field agents' shoulder cameras as they burst through a fake wall in the basement of an abandoned school. Shouts and orders came through the headsets.
“Position one clear.”
“South exit clear.”
“Check those corners!”
“Contact!”
The atmosphere inside the operations room was still and tense. All the intel provided pointed to a find of significant importance. The dust from the camera lenses cleared and the field agents and operatives at base gasped, shook their heads or shed a few tears as the image resolved to show the capture of a live dragon.
Ellie swallowed hard against a dry throat, and a shaky hand repositioned her headset.
“Field teams well done. Good capture. Please arrange for transport.” Ellie squinted at the screen and tapped a finger against it. “Capture seems to be injured. Evaluation.”
The communication lines were quiet for a few minutes as the field teams assessed the dragon.
“I concur, Chief. Recommend on-site quarantine before transport.”
“Copy that. On-site quarantine protocol initiated.”
Ellie removed her headset and placed it down slowly. Her hands shook but no one in the room paid any attention as they were equally in a state of shock though for different reasons. Ellie left the room and made her way to her private office. She locked the door and sat down heavily.
Cole?
Yes, Ellie?
Are you okay? Are they treating you okay?
Oh yes. You'd think they'd found the world's greatest treasure the way they're acting!
They have, my love. They've never seen anything like you. You'll be safe now inside this 'elixir' they developed until we can find the orb.
I know. Have you had any luck locating Isabelle?
Nothing. My security clearance is high but there are still secrets I'm not privileged enough to know. Maybe that's one of them.
Malachite said you were looking tired. You have to rest.
I know. But there's still so much to do.
You'll find her, Ellie.
Or she'll find me.
Ellie Redux
Ellie opened her eyes and stared at a very bright and very loud humming light on the ceiling. She frowned and made a small squeak of pain as her skin felt tight as a pair of spandex on an elephant. Have I been eating too much dark chocolate again? Ellie asked herself as she now had the image of an elephant in cycling shorts imprinted in her imagination. She sighed and rubbed her eyes. The first dream she remembered was awful. Being swallowed alive by the earth but the second dream was quite amazing and incredibly detailed. As she often thought of what happened to that other Ellie, she did occasionally dream about her, but this had been so real!