by Rae Brooks
Her eyes moved to him, and she watched her brother for a long moment. She had missed Ryo, and though his absence had not scarred her life as Taeru’s had—nor would it given time—he loved her, and she loved him. “It is my fault,” she answered. “I was a fool, and Leif had to protect me.” She spoke without bothering to explain. Ryo would surely assume she meant the entire situation, rather than just the moment in the alleyway.
Perhaps the entire situation was accurate. Leif had been trying to protect Aela this entire time, of that, she was certain. Ryo’s mouth pressed into a hard line, but rather than continuing with their conversation, he remained silent. As time passed, and Aela continued to treat the wounds that she could see on Leif’s body—a body whose temperature was dropping far too quickly—she spoke. “Taeru isn’t here, in the city, I mean,” she whispered.
The rain grabbed her whisper, attempting to throw it out into the streets with those creatures. Her body quivered at the thought of them. Those monsters—created by a Magister that wanted her brother’s life. “I know,” was Ryo’s surprising reply. “I saw him.” Her eyebrows lifted, and suddenly, new thoughts entered to her mind. Taeru! Taeru had been here? That must mean that he was well.
“You saw him?” she asked incredulously. Why would Taeru have been in the city? Surely, Calis ought to be with him if he were here. And why was he no longer here? Taeru wasn’t the sort to abandon a place like this, in such peril. “Where was he—where is he?” she asked, and her voice rose in octave.
This left Ryo with a rather tentative look on his face. He was frowning, though his eyes were trying to mask what was on his lips. Surely, it would be more sensible to work the other way, but Ryo had always been a little off in that manner. “He came into the city. Those creatures were looking for him. When he realized…” There was a strained note in Ryo’s voice, as though he were being possessed by something as he spoke. “…when he realized that they were. He seemed to reach some conclusion, he told me to find you, but that he needed to go. I think he wanted to lead them away. Only some of them followed him, the others seemed to find it a fruitless endeavor, I…” His teeth gritted, and anger flashed across his face. “Why didn’t I go with him?”
Despite her misgivings, and despite the fact that she agreed with her eldest brother’s foolishness, she shook her head. Though, Ryo may not have been skilled at handling emotions, Aela had always excelled at it. “No, brother. If you had gone with Taeru, then I would be dead.” Ryo’s eyes registered this fact dismally. “But—where was he going? Was anyone with him?” From Ryo’s speech, Aela could already deduce the second question’s answer.
A shake of his head confirmed it, and Aela felt an odd knot forming in the base of her abdomen. Where was Calis then? Surely, he wouldn’t have let Taeru leave him—not such a short time after being in the state he’d been in at the failed hanging. The memory still made Aela wince. “He didn’t say. He said he had to do something—that he needed to stop the creatures.”
Aela was unsure where Taeru would have run off to, after all, the most certain place to stop the war would have been in Telandus. Why would Taeru leave? Perhaps, if Aela were to check the book... All at once, Leif’s body shook with pain, and she lowered her body to try and comfort him. Ryo continued speaking, with eyebrows furrowed in concern. “Taeru… he said not to continue with the war.” Ryo struggled with another bout of emotions. “Not that I would… I mean, the creatures are monstrous. But—he told me to stop, and I didn’t entirely understand his reasoning. You know that I trust him, and that I always have, but I find myself worried—very worried.”
Her teeth snapped over her lower lip. She had an odd feeling that Ryo would not respond to this in the appropriate manner. After all, she certainly hadn’t. Ryo had always had a misplaced need to protect Taeru, honestly, despite Taeru’s refusal to allow it. Calis seemed to be the only one to breach that barrier, but Ryo had always wanted to. Her face twisted into a grimace. “Taeru is correct, Brother. I need not explain it yet, for we are still in the middle of an entirely different war, but Telandus will no longer burden Cathalar, of that I am sure.”
“I told you that I trusted Taeru’s judgment, Sister, but he abandoned me without much explanation. He mentioned… Lavus’s death?” Ryo asked warily. He said the words as though they would bring down a wrath upon his head. Perhaps Taeru had explained the nature of Lavus’s death—though Ryo would never have to see it as Aela had. Even for a man so heartless, that death had been gruesome.
Squirming a little where she sat, and working to ensure that Leif possessed as much comfort as someone in his position could, she breathed. “Lavus is dead,” she confirmed. “Killed by his own son.”
Ryo’s eyes flashed, which said that Taeru had indeed mentioned this. Aela had to smile at the thought of their middle brother speaking quickly, probably hardly realizing how odd his words would sound to Ryo. He must have been desperate to stop this, though, if he had not thought about that. She stopped smiling, at once. “Yes, his son—ah, that, and well… the eldest Tsrali has developed a… closeness, ah—rather, a fondness for Taeru.” Her words were a failed attempt at nonchalance.
There was that expected neutral expression on Ryo’s face, which told of so many more emotions that were haunting beneath the surface. “Fondness?” he asked, and his words rang just a little bit hollow. Fondness was such an ambiguous word, and Aela had hoped to leave it at that. Kneeling over the injured man with whom she was in love, she had not wanted to be burdened with this task.
“Yes, he…”
Before she could be burdened to continue her explanation, there was a rustling outside. At once, Ryo picked up his sword, motioning for Aela to stay where she was. She had no qualms with that, as leaving Leif seemed painful. The intruder was likely another creature—though she had seen very few of them enter establishments, perhaps they were running out of stragglers.
Though, the form that graced the doorway instantly put Aela’s mind at ease. That was, until Ryo threw up his sword so that it was just before the man’s throat. The man’s reaction was expected, and he drew his own dagger. Aela’s composure vanished, and she shrieked her disapproval. “Stop! Ryo! Stop! It’s alright.”
The green eyes flashed with agitation as they observed Ryo, clearly considering the murder of this Lassau a possibility. Lee Keiichi stood before them, but Calis was, once again, absent. She couldn’t help being worried. “Identify yourself,” Ryo snapped.
Before Lee had the chance to respond, Aela identified him. “This is Lee Keiichi,” she answered quickly. “He is advisor to Calis Tsrali, the man who saved our brother’s life.” Her words were harsh, and she could see Ryo waver in his stance.
Lee’s face was neutral, as it always was. “It may need saving again, and your sword at my throat is quite hindering my desire to help,” he said dryly.
Ryo dropped his weapon at the words, though his anger seemed to spark from them. Lee had not meant offense, though. She had gathered in her brief time with the advisor that Lee was worse at emotions than Ryo was. “Calis Tsrali? The one with the fondness for my little brother?” Ryo asked, speaking just as dryly as Lee had.
“Yes,” Aela answered dismally, “that one.” Her eyes returned to Lee, and worry enveloped them when she saw the blood spattered across his face. Though, that ought to be expected, as he had just fought through those creatures if he had reached this point in the city. “Lee,” she spoke gingerly, wondering if he recognized her. “Where is Calis?”
As he looked at her, there was just a trace of amusement in his eyes. He seemed to regard it as annoying for the time being, as amusement had no place in this current situation. That was all she could tell from his flickering green eyes. Quite a lot—if, in fact, she was accurate. “You always were an effeminate young boy, Aela Lassau. I give you acclaim for fooling me for so long, however. Though, I do think I would have noticed had I not been so preoccupied.”
Ryo dropped his sword completely, obviously affronted at ho
w spectacularly he had been ignored, once the time had passed. Lee’s eyes dropped to Leif, and there was only a drop of sympathy before he spoke. “Where is Taeru?” he asked harshly.
“We don’t know,” Aela answered at once. Bothering with the fact that the harsh speech was unearned was not a qualm she had time to make. “I expected he would be with you or Calis, and yet, Calis is not even with you.”
There was a flash of irritation on Lee’s face, though Aela speculated it had very little to do with her or Calis. “What do you mean? He came to the city, did he not?” Lee asked, again, and his voice was a beat softer.
This time, Ryo was the one to speak—the first words that he managed to grace upon Lee since the initial identification demand. “He did,” Ryo answered flatly. “Then, he left. He said he had somewhere else to go. Somewhere that would stop these creatures.”
Lee’s eyes widened in disbelief. His jaw clenched, and his eyes moved to Aela without a proper response to Ryo. Once again, Aela’s eldest brother looked indignant. The situation should have been comical, but as it was, comedy could not enter it. “Imbecile!” Lee snapped, clearly not referring to either present. “Your brother is a fool and may well get himself killed. Aela, you have a book, don’t you? A scroll, or something, that addresses this situation? May I see it?”
The book—Aela remembered that she had failed to look at it once Leif had shown signs of discomfort. Now, though, she reached behind her and yanked the book from its perch. She did not oblige Lee, however, in giving it over. Rather, she turned to the final pages and was not surprised to find the words that dotted them. She narrowed her eyes, trying to focus despite the panic that was beginning to tear at her.
But it only built. The panic worsened, tightening in her chest as the words escaped her again and again. Her hands shook as she stared at the odd manuscript, the printed words that ought to be understandable. But her anguish, her desperation, seemed to be keeping her from reading it. It was slowly and slowly building until every piece of her body felt as though it were burning. No, that wasn’t preventing her from reading the book.
She was reading the book. The book had caused her the panic. She dropped it, and her mouth dropped open. Her eyes stared at the book for a long moment before her mind slowly began spinning, and denial crept up her spine as she turned to Lee. “We have to go there, now!” she shouted.
He seemed taken aback at her sudden fury, but she didn’t have time to worry about his thoughts—or anything. Her mind was pounding with unrelenting agony, and she had to get to her brother—now. “Lee!” she cried, when he didn’t respond immediately.
His jaw was working, and Ryo was asking a question. But she couldn’t hear any of it. She didn’t have time to hear any of it. Finally, Lee nodded his head and started towards his horse without a word. “Aela!” Ryo’s words finally pierced into her unending anguish, though they reached her for only one reason. Her eyes tore down to Leif, still broken and dying on the ground. Her lips pressed into a line, and tears stabbed into her eyes.
Slowly, she turned to face her eldest brother. Throwing her arms around him, she spoke quickly and assuredly. “I have to go. I have to stop this. Please, please, take care of Leif,” she begged. Her voice wavered. Leaving Leif was not anything she could have imagined doing a few moments before she’d read those words. Leif had a chance, though… and…
At once, Ryo pushed her back and glared into her eyes with insistent fury. “No! I’m going with you! He’s my brother, too, Aela!” Ryo reminded her. She knew that Ryo’s pain must be nearly as great as her own, even though he had not read the words. Her behavior left little to be discerned.
“I know,” she choked. “But Leif… I can’t abandon him. And… you don’t understand what… I have to go to Taeru. But, you… your men need you. Leif needs you. Please, please, don’t let him die, Ryo. I love him.”
“You what?” Ryo was staggered, and his body swayed as though he’d just been struck by some mighty blow.
There was certainly no time to explain this, and Aela shook her head to indicate to Ryo this fact. Lee called from the outside, signaling that he’d mounted his horse and was waiting on her. That meant he knew where to go. “Please, Ryo… do this for me.” Her words were sincere, and her eyes continued to blur with tears.
At last, Ryo offered a slight nod, and he glanced warily back to Leif. Her brother was in pain, and he wanted to go, but he loved Aela too. And to leave Leif would be to kill Aela indirectly. “Be careful. Bring him back.” Ryo said softly. “I’ll do my best here.”
“Thank you, Ryo. Stay safe.” Ryo walked her out to the front of the building with a wary expression on his face.
When they reached the door, Ryo glanced up towards Lee—Aela was just about to reassure her brother when Ryo reached towards his back and removed his metal shield. “Here,” he snapped. “Protect them.”
With a flourish of motion, Lee caught the shield and eased it onto his own back. “As you say,” he said, and there was genuine respect lingering somewhere in his neutral voice.
Lee extended his hand down to Aela, and then he pulled her onto the horse in front of him. Apparently, he didn’t trust her to hang on at the back. She didn’t have time to be bothered by it. “Hurry, Lee!”
Before she’d finished speaking, Lee’s heels had dug into the horse, and her body was jolted to attention as the horse galloped along the wet street.
“The courage to step forward and fight for what they knew was right was a trait shared throughout every hero.”
-A Hero’s Peace v.ii
Chapter lxiii
Taeru Lassau
Taeru had slowed the horse to a canter by the time he reached the grove. The walk that had felt so short when he had been with Calis felt as though it lasted an eternity on the back of the cream-colored horse. The rain had soaked him to the bone, and his body trembled at the dropping temperature. He was sure that he had never faced weather so cold, or so destructive. He had to pause numerous times throughout the journey to steady the horse. The creature was positively distraught by the time they reached the grove.
Once he had made the turn towards the forest, he had known that going to this obelisk was his only option, despite the overwhelming sense of dread that filled his system the moment he came into direct view of the obelisk. However, the anomaly now towered towards the sky, overtaking the entire forest with its frightening vision. Now, only a few paces from it, Taeru’s body shook without his volition.
Whether the cold or the sight of the thing was to blame, he wasn’t sure. In fact, he assumed that it was a terrible mix of both. Allowing the horse to stay a ways behind, he started forward. The obelisk was opened like a peeled fruit. Two sides of the violet crystal sat opened, to the side, revealing the black crucifix that he had seen in his dreams. The tendrils moved about the structure like snakes moving along the surface. A surface that wasn’t quite solid.
Drawing both blades, Taeru stepped forward, into the field, with narrowed eyes. After the first step, a distinct sound, one that seemed to be a voice speaking to him from far away, distracted him. “You came,” it whispered. Taeru’s ankle was suddenly twisted, and as he looked down, the very creatures that had been inhabiting the city began to spring from the ground.
They sprang up, and as in his dream, there seemed to be an endless amount. All the ones that he had seen in Telandus could not have compared to the ones before him now. Holding his swords forward, Taeru narrowed his eyes, teeth grinding together. “So be it,” he snarled. With a long, menacing screech, that seemed to be the sound of every monster in the clearing calling at once, they charged him.
His sword moved without thought. The pain of his lingering injuries vanished into a far off distance as he swung his sword into the flesh of the creatures surrounding him. And surround him they did, they converged at his back so that he was forced to spin, constantly, to ensure that he was not destroyed. His first sword moved up, then down, then across, while his other complemented it, p
arrying the blows that he could not dodge. His body had recovered nicely, and he found that stepping out of the cumbersome creature’s path of destruction was fairly easy. He pushed onwards, knowing that to remain where he was would be suicide. If he was going to put an end to this, then he would have to reach that obelisk. Cutting right, he sliced a fine line across one of the creatures’ necks, and then he pulled the sword back to stick into another’s chest. His second-hand sword cut next, finding the next target with deadly precision.
All the practice he’d had with Aitken flashed before his eyes, and anger flared up in him like never before. A little boy—just a little boy—and Aitken had been hanged because of Taeru’s failures, and because of a deal that had been made centuries ago. Why ought Aitken be held accountable? If anyone had been hanged, it ought to have been Taeru—not Juliet and her little boy. Another growl crossed his lips as his sword hit hard into the head of another creature. They were endless—he could have swung blindly and struck something with each blow, but he did not swing blindly, for that would have surely meant his death.
And he had not come so far only to be murdered by creatures only paces before his destination. “Aleia!” he shouted, though all he could see were the creatures coming at him. His sword cut through them in an infinite loop of motion. A claw would strike along his side, and his sword would move up to meet the chin of the monster that had performed the injury. His body would run out of stamina eventually, and he knew that, but he kept going. “Aleia! There is no war! You are going back on your word, which is to defy your right as a Magister!” he cried.
Once more, a creature ran a talon along his back, and once more he ran the creature through a moment later. Noticing a tree near enough to run to, he did. Hoisting himself upwards, he could see the monsters spreading their wings, attempting to reach him. The first one rose up initially, and he caught its wing with a dual strike that landed the creature back atop its comrades. Rather than worrying with the ones directly below him, Taeru sprung outwards, deeper into the crowd of monsters.