by Rae Brooks
“Correlation does not equal causation,” Lee returned mildly. Calis let out a long breath, and he hurried his horse onwards with another snap of the reins. As they continued, Telandus came into view, and a sense of anguish shot through Calis at once.
Memories of Taeru running towards that grove flashed through his mind. The memories felt strange, as if some part of him didn’t want to think of them. He frowned, and even though his horse continued towards Telandus, his mind went elsewhere. After a long moment, he jerked his head, against every instinct that he had, towards that grove. Reaching up, pouring above the trees, there was an oddity, a black anomaly that seemed to force his eyes to it. Lightning seemed to strike from rather than toward it. “Lee! Look!”
After a few moments, seeming to endure an internal battle of his own, Lee glanced across to see the same obelisk that Calis was observing. “By the Light,” he hissed. “That’s the reason for this. She’s trying to keep us away from it. Can’t you feel it?” Lee asked.
Calis wasn’t sure what Lee meant by that, perhaps how difficult it had been to look at the obelisk. Now, though, he knew that he could not stay away from that abomination. “The Magister—she… what if she’s… I have to go there, Lee. Taeru might be there.” When Lee went to turn his horse, Calis shook his head. “No, go to Telandus. Make sure Taeru isn’t there, and make sure his sister is alright.”
For a moment, Lee looked as though he was going to protest. Letting out a breath, though, he seemed to accept the logic in the plan and nodded. “Be careful, then, Calis. She is a Magister, and a corrupt one at that. Don’t believe everything you see.” The warning was vague, but Calis decided it would be best to heed it. Lee’s advice was usually very beneficial.
With a slight nod, Calis changed his horse’s direction, lowering his body against the horse and increasing its speed as he headed towards the obelisk.
“Bravery and sacrifice were his burdens to bear, but the love of another was his gift.”
-A Hero’s Peace v.i
Chapter lxii
Aela Lassau
Leif’s swords moved in two solid lines, cutting through another of the monstrous creatures that coated the city. They had been safe in the cellar, but Leif had been unwilling to sit idly there while people were killed around them. Now, though, as they progressed, they realized that Telandan guards were not the majority of the men fighting.
No, Leif and Aela both knew some of the men that they saw fighting, and some of the ones that they saw dying. “What is going on here? What are these things?” Aela cried. Her bow was raised as she walked through the streets. Taeru pounded through her mind. These things wanted him, and she knew they did. The book had told her that. She had fastened the book to the back of her belt, and it currently felt like an awkward weight beneath her cloak.
Ryo or her father must be here, as well. If she knew her eldest brother well enough, then it would surely be him. He would never pass up the opportunity to help Taeru, despite Taeru’s general inability to accept it. Leif spoke, as though he’d heard her thoughts. “Ryo should be here somewhere. We ought to find him. Taeru isn’t in the city, as far as we know.” His blade cut through another of the creatures’ grimy flesh.
Aela pulled up her bow, with an arrow already notched, and fired between the eyes—if they could be called that—of another one. The creatures weren’t particularly adept at fighting or moving about, but they were brutal and without mercy, once they had vulnerable prey. The wings along their backs were massive, and Aela was sure they could have carried at least three men.
The creatures seemed to lack direction, as though they’d had something snatched from under their feet, and they were all adjusting. They didn’t know where to go, and they were attacking anything that got in their way. Taeru wasn’t here, and they were searching for Taeru. “They want Taeru,” Aela growled.
“Doesn’t everyone?” Leif replied sardonically. A joke that rang incredibly true over these past few phases. Everyone seemed out to either kill or protect Taeru, except Taeru, who seemed interested in anything other than himself.
Aela fitted another arrow and shot into the back of a creature that was gnawing at the innards of a woman that was already dead. She flinched away from the sight, though the time for being squeamish was past and she knew that. “This isn’t… this doesn’t make sense! There cannot be a war if Cathalari are defending Telandans! No! This isn’t right!” She stared around, watching another creature leap down towards a running child.
At the last second, a Cathalari soldier moved in front of the boy, cutting the creature in half before it caused damage. Aela’s eyes widened, and she shook her head further. “Leif! It makes no sense! Something is wrong!” Her voice was agonized.
As if responding to her voice, the weather seemed to worsen. The creatures around them stared up at the sky, and an odd hue of red-yellow came into their eyes as rain began to swirl around them. “There is a massive red streak in the sky, it’s storming the likes of which I’ve never seen, and the moon looks like it is trying to eat the city!” Leif responded. “I’d say there is a lot wrong!”
Trekking towards the gate, Aela found herself soaked within moments. The rain was frigid. Rain ought to never be this cold—in fact, she had never felt it so cold. In the winter phases in Cathalar, rain had not even neared this icy level, and Telandus was supposed to be warmer in all phases. This was a summer phase, which meant that cold rain shouldn’t even be a possibility. She didn’t know why her mind continued to wander towards reason when she knew that Aleia had caused this.
Leif wielded his blades with precision, spinning and slicing through creatures as though they were without motion. She worked to kill the ones in the distance, making sure to catch the ones that seemed to be winning their battles more often. As they progressed, though, she slowed her shots—after all, the quiver Leif had retrieved for her was not so full that she should be shooting constantly.
Even if these people were important to her, important despite the fact that she did not know them, Aela was sure that there was something looming on the horizon for which she would certainly need her arrows. “Where will we go once we reach the gates?” she asked over the screaming wind.
Leif thrust forward, soaked to the skin, and slammed a single sword through the face of another charging creature. “You’re the one with the magic book, princess! You tell me!” he shouted. That was right—she did have the book. Perhaps it had updated itself, but she didn’t want to pull it out in the midst of the rain.
“First, we find Ryo, and then I will look!” she promised. As another creature spilled from the alleyways, Aela slung her bow forward, slamming it into the thing’s face. Leif followed up with a lethal strike from his swords.
Still, as they continued towards the gate, Aela could feel the book burning on her hip. She began to wonder if she should have brought it at all. It seemed to be trying to detach itself from her, as if it knew that it ought not be there. Then, as the hum of the book’s energy seemed to reach an apex, all of the creatures fighting the soldiers seemed to turn on Leif and her. Her eyes twitched in realization. “I guess if they can’t have Taeru, then the book is the next best thing.” The words came from her mouth without thought.
Leif nodded, and he positioned himself in front of her at once. “Stay behind me!” he called. “And don’t worry about being conservative with the arrows.”
No matter how many arrows she used, she would likely struggle with aim in a storm so destructive. Rather than speaking her mind, though, she nodded and readied her bow with another arrow. At once, the creatures converged on them, and Leif’s blades were again impossible to see. They moved as silver streaks, and ones that Aela’s eyes could make out only part of the time.
She fired her arrows, not conservatively, but only when she knew her shots would not miss. Of all times, now was not the time to waste ammunition. The stream was endless, though, and Leif’s stamina only extended so far. His sword slammed into the head of another creature, and he u
sed the corpse to knock others backwards. He was positively stunning to watch.
At last, though, the things seemed to come to a stop. Leif staggered as Aela brought the last one down with a well-placed arrow. Leif’s body trembled from the effort, and his swords glistened with oddly colored blood that was slowly being washed away by the rain. “Hurry, Aela, I can’t do that again!” He reached back, pulling her arm and thrusting her ahead of him.
They walked a little longer, and the city seemed to become a maze. She had known the streets during the moon hours and the sun hours, and yet now it seemed as though she were walking through somewhere else. Her mind was disoriented, and the book at her back pulsed with animosity. She ought to discard it, but she would need it—and of that, she was sure.
Turning another corner, her eyes caught sight of what looked an awful lot like Taeru. But why would he be here? The book seemed to snarl into her back, screeching an awful sound, but she needed to get to Taeru. She hurried forward, even as the book thrummed against her back, pleading with her. She ran down the alleyway, drawing up her bow, in hopes that she wouldn’t be taken off guard. She still had enough arrows to defend herself.
As she walked down the alley, she realized that her eyes must have been playing with her mind. There was no one in the alleyway, save a few corpses of people who had been unable to escape the monsters inhabiting the city. She let out a breath. Why would her eyes choose now to betray her? Unless… it hadn’t been her eyes at all. No—no, it wasn’t her eyes that had drawn her to this alleyway.
A shriek exploded across her ears, and her eyes flashed up to a creature, wings spread wide, glaring down at her with red eyes. Her hands trembled, pulling the bow up to face it as a whimper escaped her lips. The thing leapt down towards her, and she released the arrow that whizzed just by the thing’s head.
“Aela!” Leif’s voice cut into her thoughts, and something hard slammed into her from the side. For a moment, they stumbled, and Aela could feel Leif’s damp arms wrapped around her, protecting her. He seemed to have gotten her out of the way of the attack.
Her eyes widened, and she could see the creature landing on the ground behind Leif. “Leif!” But Leif was staring forward, behind Aela, and she knew that there were more creatures in this alley than the one. Rather than bothering with his swords, Leif flung Aela to the ground, covering her with his body.
Then, a moment later, he let out a choked cry, and then another one. His eyes widened, and they stared at her, worried and afraid. She whispered his name, and her heart shattered in her chest. Her entire body ached, and she had not been touched physically. His lips trembled for a moment, as the first bit of blood pooled and spilled over them. “Leif, Leif… no.”
Aela scrambled, seeing the creatures behind Leif, one with its talons still dug into his shoulder and the other having drawn back. Leif was blinking, as if trying to see, but his consciousness began to fade while his eyelids fluttered. “Leave him alone!” she cried. Using his sword, she beheaded the first creature and then used an arrow to catch the second in the chest. She had never known her body to move so quickly, but the moment the arrow hit its mark, she’d already notched another, and she fired.
With a groan, the creature fell, and she turned back to Leif. She could see the deep holes in his shoulder, three of them, and another set in his abdomen. She placed a hand over her mouth, letting out a shocked cry as she knelt beside him, twisting him so that his head was in her lap. “Leif, Leif—oh, oh, I’m so sorry, Leif. Don’t leave me.”
Her words were a pathetic whimper, and she knew that she would be useless against the next set of creatures. Her eyes squeezed in pain as she waited for Leif to respond. He coughed up another spray of blood, and somehow, his eyes managed to find her. “C-Come on, princess…” He spoke with much effort, and even more pain. “You… you need to find Ryo or T-Taeru…” He hissed through his teeth, and more blood surfaced on his lips.
“No!” she screamed the words at him. Her eyes filled with tears, and those tears intermingled with the rain on her face. “I’m not leaving you! Stay with me, Leif. It’s going to be alright…”
Closing his eyes, there was a flash of irritation on his soaked face. “I… princess…” His words were gentle, but he was trying to be firm. The coughing in between them hurt his attempts. “I… am going to be so angry… if I just took those hits, and you… aren’t even going to… try.” He groaned, and a spasm ran through his body.
“I am trying!” she growled back at him. Her vision blurred with tears, and pain enveloped her form so that nothing mattered but the blood seeping from Leif’s body and the blue eyes that she didn’t want to close. “I am going to defend you. You are going to be alright, Leif. Please, please, don’t do this.”
Oddly enough, a hand touched her cheek, and it took her a moment to realize that he had reached up to her. Blood had gotten on his hands, and it smeared along her face. “You… are a fool. And… I did tell you not to come.”
“Stop talking!” she demanded.
He whimpered, and the sound broke her heart unlike any other she had ever heard. She had hurt when Taeru had left her, but this pain—this pain was all-encompassing. To know that she had fallen in love with this man, and to see him dying before her eyes. No—no, he wasn’t dying! “Ae…la…” He spoke, and his voice was weakening. “Please, go. I… I love you. Don’t… I can’t… you have to be alright. Find… Ryo. Taeru. Someone. They… need you.”
Tears poured down her face, and words that should have had her dancing with glee broke her heart even further. As if Leif had found a hammer and was striking at her chest with incalculable precision. “I need you!” she shouted. She touched his hand, and he stared up at her with anguish in his eyes. Somehow, the pain worsened. The pain that she had thought absolute worsened. She blinked her eyes, and her jaw clenched. “Leif…” she whimpered.
His fingers trembled against her cheek, and she shuddered at his touch. She couldn’t lose this—she couldn’t lose him like this. “Katt can heal you. I’ll stop this war, if you just hold on. Please, please… there’s way too much I need to say to you. And…”
Leif winced, and he did his best at a grin. A grin that reminded her of times when he hadn’t been bleeding in her arms. “You just… want to… beat me at another race,” he murmured. She smiled at the memory.
“That, too,” she whispered. “Don’t leave me.”
“Aela…” he spoke her name with an undeniable longing. Her lips pressed together, but his eyelids fluttered again, and she felt his hand go limp in hers.
Her eyes widened, and she yanked his hand, touching his face desperately. “NO! Leif! Leif, please!” She didn’t know whether to shake him or not.
Her thoughts were cut short, though, as she looked up to see one of the creatures over her. She stared up at it, entirely unsure what to do. Her body didn’t move, shielding Leif with every part of her that was able. Then, though, a sword stabbed through the front of the thing and it toppled to the ground. Her tear-filled eyes waited to see her savior, and she was not surprised to see him.
Ryo Lassau sat atop his horse, staring down at her with worried eyes. As her voice seemed to have deserted her, he spoke first. “Aela,” he said weakly. His eyes slipped down to Leif’s stilled form. “Is he…?”
Insensitive, as always. Aela’s mind exploded with pain at the possibility, at the casual way with which Ryo pronounced the words. “NO!” She didn’t know, but she shouted the answer. She couldn’t bear to check Leif’s breathing—if he was dead, no. No.
Abandoning his insensitivity, Ryo leapt off his horse and placed his head against Leif’s bloody chest. After a moment, Ryo’s head moved up to just a hairsbreadth from Leif’s lips. Aela’s heart twitched, shuddering in her chest as though it were going to shatter. Her teeth gritted, and eventually, her head began to ache. “Ryo! Ryo! Say something! Tell me! Ryo!” Her mind finally snapped and she began to shout.
The brown eyes of her brother were sympathetic, a
nd Aela’s entire form began to tremble for a long moment. “He is breathing, Aela, but…”
Her hand instinctively moved to grab her brother by the shirt underneath his metal armor. “No! Help him!”
The dismayed expression in Ryo’s eyes made Aela’s heart sink lower. Still, if Leif was still alive now, then surely they could save him. Ryo’s eyes softened at her outburst, which proved that he had enough to worry him. He glanced down warily at Leif. “Alright, help me get him into shelter.”
With some effort, they were able to lift Leif’s body and pull him into one of the now-abandoned shacks. Most of the residents had retreated to the taverns of the city, and Aela knew they dare not risk hauling Leif there in his current state. Once they were inside, Ryo began the work of tearing off Leif’s armor. Aela tore scraps from her underclothes to press and hold against Leif’s still bleeding wounds.
They worked in silence, and she could see from the paleness of Leif’s face that Ryo’s dismay had been merited. But no, she couldn’t think like that! She would not think like that. Leif would live through this. At last, once Leif’s injuries had all been tended the best they could be, Ryo spoke. “Aela, you should not have come here.”
An inclination to disagree flitted across her mind, until she realized that had she not been here—Leif may well have not had to endure the blow from that monster. Her body shook, and she nodded her head in agreement. Falling in love with Leif was certainly not worth his life, after all, she’d always been in love with him—even back in Cathalar. She merely needed to allow herself to believe it. “I know,” she whispered to her brother.
This seemed to surprise her eldest brother. His brown eyes widened with uncertainty, but he nodded his head, as if to confirm what he’d said. “This isn’t your fault, though,” he finally said. Oh, Ryo. He had always been rather bad at emotions. The exact opposite of his younger brother. He was able to hold a political debate like no other, but when it came to reassuring his little sister, he was like a lost child. “I… I will do what I can to help him, but it isn’t…” His words were unsure.