The Song of Eloh Saga

by Megg Jensen

  I rolled over and the smile fell from my face. Alia sat in the chair, tapping her fingernails on the wooden arm. It appeared she came for me first. I had misjudged her.

  “You’ve been lying to me Reychel. You pretended like the severing worked and you didn’t have your memory or any control over your gift.”

  “I learned from the best,” I said, never forgetting how Alia had fooled me not long ago. Once I thought I could trust her, but now I knew how deep her deceit could run. I didn’t just let her betray me; I forced myself to learn from it.

  “Don’t bother using your gift in here. It won’t work.” Her eyes moved to a spot behind me. I turned and saw Zuri, holding her hands up in the air. I tried to open a portal, but my gift didn’t work. “If your people can block us from leaving the castle, then we can block you from leaving this room. Well, at least until I’m ready for you to leave.”

  Alia stood and walked around the bed. I didn’t move. There was nowhere else I could go. I scrunched against the headboard. Not out of fear, but to ready myself to leap off the bed if I had a chance. I was done rolling over and letting others hurt me.

  “Jada and my mother have recaptured my father. Thank you for letting him go. They were on their way to see him anyway. When he came running out in the hall, they opened a portal in front of him and whisked him away. I’ll rendezvous with them after I’ve taken care of you.”

  So that’s why Mark couldn’t find him. I had a hard time believing Larnack was faster than him. We’d figure out where they went soon enough. First I had to stop Alia. I just wasn’t sure how.

  “There’s something your little force field doesn’t do, Reychel.” Alia stepped closer to me. I glanced to each side, but didn’t see a way to get away from her. Sweat pooled in my palms. All the confidence I’d gained in the last couple days drained out of me. The fear returned, the inadequacy, everything I’d felt since the day I knew I was gifted, but couldn’t use my gift.

  My chest tightened and my breath quickened as Alia inched closer, her eyes boring into mine. Then she paused and stared at me, her eyes questioning.

  “What?” I asked, pulling bravado out of a small place inside me that screamed at me to fight back. “Don’t like what you see?”

  “It’s gone. I don’t understand how this can be.” Her voice trailed off. Alia’s hands grasped the sides of my face, squeezing so hard I had to let my mouth open or risk a broken jaw. She titled my head to one side and then the other. “Where is it?”

  “Where is what?”

  “Your spark is gone, which means the severing worked. And yet you’re still able to access your gift. How is that possible?”

  “I guess you’ll never know.” I grabbed her head between my hands and kneed her in the stomach. Alia flew backward, landing on the floor with a thump. Zuri’s hands fell to her side, the force field dropped.

  “Alia, are you okay?” Zuri crouched on the floor next to Alia’s inert body, her hands running over Alia’s hair as she covered her face in kisses. I stepped back, stunned. I had often wondered why anyone would be so loyal to Alia, but it was clear now that Zuri had feelings for Alia far deeper than that of master and minion.

  I flicked my fingers open, creating a portal. Mark hadn’t arrived yet with help, so it was time to take things into my own hands. I was going to take Alia to the only place no one could get to us. I held my hand out toward Alia, levitated her body, and flung her through the portal.

  “Where are you taking her?” Zuri screamed. I blocked her with a small force field of my own.

  “I’m holding her captive until we can fix this. I swear to you, on the life of my beloved, I will not kill Alia.”

  Zuri’s eyes filled with tears and she nodded. “If what everyone says about you is true, then I can believe your promises. But if you’re lying, I will hunt you down and tear you limb from limb with my bare hands.”

  I glanced at Zuri’s meaty paws and tried not to shudder. Dying like that would be worse than anything her gift could do to me.

  “I promise,” I said. Then I stepped through the portal, coming out on the opposite end next to Alia’s body. I nudged her with my toes, but she didn’t move. Still knocked out. Good. I wanted her to stay that way until I could get someone to help me. I carefully closed the portal, making sure to leave behind a string in the room they’d held me captive in. Mark would know to look for it. They’d be here soon.

  The wind whipped my hair, smacking my face and stinging my skin. For a brief moment, I wished I was bald again or that I had a ribbon to tie back my hair. Or a cloak. It was freezing up here. Snow flew in every direction. Perhaps the tower wasn’t the warmest place to hide Alia, but it was the only one I could think of where no one would stumble on us. I just had to wait until Mark came with reinforcements.

  Alia lay still on the stone floor of the highest tower in the castle. The stone wall rose about four feet. Six notches, like huge open windows, broke up the wall before it soared fifteen feet into a point. I shivered and pulled my hands into my sleeves. I had been traveling so much between the north and south that I hadn’t even been outside once. It was snowing, but I had no idea how cold it would be. Spring and winter in the Northern Kingdom weren’t too different. One day soon, the flowers would bloom and the snow would disappear.

  I had been here once as a small child. Kandek brought me up to show me how far his dominion spread. I’d been awed by the forest outside our town, having never seen it so clearly before. I remembered the bright, sunny day as clearly as any other day in my childhood. It was one of the few times he’d met with me without asking for a story. Maybe it was his strange way of being my father.

  A snowflake landed on my nose, ripping me back to my cold reality. I flicked my fingers toward the other end of the tower and a fire sprung to life, its warmth spreading through the whole enclosure. Alia stirred. It was time the two of us had a little talk.

  Her eyes opened and a sigh escaped her lips. Snow blew through the windows, coating her body in a light blanket. The fire melted the snow as quickly as it fell and kept us warm, despite the dropping temperatures. I let out my breath. A crystal cloud danced in the air. The sun shone bright as it peeked through the cloud-packed sky.

  “Reychel,” Alia groaned. “Where are we?”

  She lifted her head off the stone floor. Her glazed eyes swept around the tower.

  “In the highest tower. We’re going to stay here until Mark arrives with help. I started a fire to keep us warm until then.”

  Alia’s eyes narrowed. “Then you’re going to kill me?”

  “No. We aren’t going to kill you, Alia. If we did, that would make us just as evil as you.”

  “So cliché, Reychel. I was hoping you had more danger inside you, like your friend Krissin. Unfortunately you’re just as boring as I always believed. You don’t deserve to have a place as the Prophet. Some leader. When you finally capture your enemy, you don’t act on it. You hide, like the coward you are, until your friends can help you. Pathetic.”

  I stared at her, the silence as still and heavy as the stones surrounding us.

  “I care about life. If that makes me a pathetic coward, then that’s fine.” I walked over to Alia and crouched on the floor next to her. A few days ago I would have been afraid of her, but now I wasn’t. Cowardice and confidence were two different things and I’d changed. Alia had no power over me that I didn’t have over her. “There is someone who cares about you, Alia. Maybe if you’d stop being so angry and power-hungry you could see that.”

  “I don’t have time for love. Not now.” Her eyes flashed at me. “Maybe once I’ve destroyed you and taken control of Serenia, I can talk to Zuri about her feelings.”

  My eyes widened in surprise. So Alia did know.

  “I’m not blind, Reychel. Sadly, you’re the one who’s been far too trusting and blind when it comes to love.”

  I looked out the window and a passing cloud, heavy with snow, captured me. I fell to the stone floor, overcome with a
ripping headache.

  The night swirled around me, confusing my senses. I didn’t know if I was inside or outside, but the blackness weighed on my soul. Clutching the knife to my breast, I walked on silent tiptoes, dancing circles around the box before me. Whatever lie inside it made mewling noises, not quite like a kitten, but unlike anything I’d ever heard before.

  I grasped the hilt of the knife with both hands and raised it above my head. My arms shook. I debated whether or not to kill whatever was in that box. The noise annoyed me and I wanted, no needed, it to stop.

  Taking a deep breath, I plunged the knife into the blanketed bundle.

  Silence. Finally. Sweet quiet.

  I pulled the knife out, blood dripping from the blade.

  I left the vision in time to see Alia’s fingers flicking the air and a shimmering portal appeared. Ivy stepped through, her bald head glistening in the magical air surrounding her.

  “How did you do that?” I snapped my head back between Alia and Ivy. The last I’d been told, Ivy was held securely in the Southern Kingdom. There was no way she could have ported between the two while Nemison’s force field was in place. My eyes flickered to the windows. The shimmering air confirmed that Nemison’s plan was still working.

  “I brought Ivy back here minutes before the invasion.” Alia chuckled. “Lucky me and lucky Ivy.”

  Ivy raced over to Alia’s side and cradled her head in her hands. “Are you okay? Did Reychel hurt you?”

  I stood in stunned silence. Ivy played both sides better than anyone I’d ever known. I thought for sure she had changed, or at least awakened part of that young girl who had been my best friend. But here she was, holding Alia’s head in her lap. Bile rose in my throat. I wanted to scream at her, scratch at her with my fingernails, anything to set the rage free.

  I’d been fooled again. I swore I wouldn’t let it happen, but I did. I was so, so stupid.

  “I’ll be okay. Just a little woozy. The Prophet kneed me in the gut and I hit the back of my head on the floor when I fell.”

  Ivy glanced up at me, her eyebrows arched. She hadn’t thought I had it in me either. They were both in for a surprise if they thought I was going to sit back and take this.

  “It’s two against one now, Reychel.” Alia sat up and rubbed the back of her head.

  I held my breath and hoped another portal would open quickly. I needed Mark and his sword, anything to help me stop those two because, at the moment, I didn’t have an idea. They couldn’t take me away from here because Nemison’s force field still held, but the two of them together probably had a stronger gift than mine alone. I wasn’t eager to find out.

  Alia stood up, her hand balancing on Ivy’s arm. A smile snaked across Alia’s face as she raised her hand in the air. “Feed me your gift, Ivy.”

  Ivy closed her eyes. The pace of my breath hastened. My heart pounded in my chest, threatening to break through. I held my hand up in the air too. I didn’t know what to expect from Alia or how to counter it. Everything I’d been fighting for had come to a head and I was about to lose the war, and maybe my life.

  The sun broke through the clouds, illuminating the entire tower in an orange glow. Snowflakes swirled and danced in the sunbeams, falling delicately on the floor before melting into the stone. I wished, for a moment, that I could melt away with them. I didn’t have enough time to escape through a portal. Alia would just follow me with a blast from her fingers and I’d be dead before I hit the other side.

  I looked in her sparkless eyes, refusing to back down. The longer she stood still, the more unnerved I became. She was waiting for something, or someone.

  Alia gasped, snatching her hand away from Ivy’s arm. She clutched her stomach and fell to her knees with a loud grunt. Ivy’s eyes popped open. She reached down for Alia’s shoulders, grabbed them, and pulled Alia back to standing.

  “Do you really think I’d help you after everything you did to me?” Ivy snarled in Alia’s face, her fingernails digging into Alia’s shoulders. “You deserve to die, you know that? But Reychel won’t kill you. She doesn’t have it in her.”

  I took a step forward, my hand still in the air. I had no intention of killing Alia. I didn’t want anyone to die if they didn’t have to. Suddenly I didn’t know who to stop.

  “Ivy —” I started, but she held up a hand at me, her eyes never leaving Alia’s.

  “Don’t get involved, Reychel. Do the right thing and leave. I’ll take care of Alia for you.”

  “It doesn’t have to end this way,” I said. “Just let her go. We can subdue her together.”

  Alia shook in Ivy’s grasp. I held back a scream. What was wrong with everyone? Why did everything have to end in death?

  “This is why people fight for you, Reychel. You’re kind and generous, even to the people who would have you killed in a second. In the real world, that won’t solve your problems. Sometimes you need to take things into your own hands. Because you won’t do it for yourself, I’ll do it for you. I can prove to you that I’ve changed.”

  “Ivy, you don’t have to prove anything to me! Please, just let her go!”

  This wasn’t what I wanted. I didn’t want Alia dead. I didn’t want anyone to die. I’d resigned myself to losing people because I couldn’t make decisions for them when it came to joining the war, but I couldn’t stand by and watch Ivy kill Alia.

  I directed my fingers toward Ivy. “Let Alia go.”

  Ivy shook her head and wrapped her hands around Alia’s neck. Alia’s eyes flicked toward mine, pleading with me as she gasped for air. Her hands hung uselessly at her sides, proving that Ivy’s gift held Alia in thrall. She couldn’t save herself or fight back. It was cruel, even for Ivy.

  I took a deep breath and let my gift go. A wave of air blasted toward Ivy, taking crystals from the falling snow with it. My gifted wind turned into daggers of ice, racing through the air toward Ivy. Tiny points ravaged Ivy’s body, attacking her shoulders and face. Blood dripped from her chin and her grasp on Alia relaxed. Ivy’s hands ran over her face, smearing the red droplets. Her eyes narrowed and turned a darker shade of blue.

  “I never wanted anything more than to make up for the evil things I did. I guess you’ve proven one thing to me today. No matter what I do, it will never be good enough for you.”

  Ivy ran over to me and whispered in my ear. I looked at her, stunned at her words. Then she ran toward the stone windows, and threw herself over the edge.

  “No!” I screamed, charging after her. But it was too late. My fingers gripped the cold stone and my tears followed Ivy over the edge. I reached out to her, feeling nothing but the biting air. Ivy’s dress flapped in the wind. She flung her arms out to the side and smiled. I turned away just as a thud on the ground echoed in the air.

  “This is what happens when you take away someone’s choices, Reychel.” Alia sneered. “You’re just as bad as I am. Have you ever thought it about it? Who makes the rules? Who makes the decisions about how other people should behave? What makes you so sure you’re right and everyone else is wrong?”

  I sank to the stone floor, still and silent. I didn’t want to answer her because I knew she was right. I’d been fighting so hard for what I believed was right that I’d forced everyone to follow my path instead of their own. Ivy was broken inside, I knew that. But if I hadn’t made her do things my way, maybe I would have had a chance to help her. Instead I took away her chance at redemption. I’d taken away her choice to live on her own terms.

  A light shimmered in the air and a portal opened. Mark led with his sword and Ace followed quickly behind. Krissin stepped through and shivered.

  “For Eloh’s sake, Reychel, couldn’t you have chosen someplace a little warmer than this?” she asked.

  Mark and Ace took Alia by the arms, holding her hands behind her back.

  “Are you okay?” Mark asked, glancing in my direction. “Did she hurt you?”

  Alia laughed. “Did I hurt her? What a joke. Ask her what she did to her friend
Ivy.”

  Mark’s eyes bored into mine, but I couldn’t speak yet. All I could do was point over the side of the castle wall. Krissin raced over, while rubbing her hands up and down her arms to keep warm, and peeked over the edge.

  She turned back, her eyes wide. “Is that Ivy down there?”

  I nodded.

  “And you did that?” Krissin stared at me, incredulous. “I can’t believe it.”

  I didn’t answer her question. I’d tell them soon enough and nothing I could say at the moment would bring Ivy back.

  “We’re not severing anyone unless they ask us to,” I said. “Plans changed.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  With Alia and her people safely locked away in the dungeon and ten of our people shielding them, not to mention the twenty men Ace pulled from the Sons to guard them, I was finally able to take a breather.

  We sat around a huge table in my father’s old war room. Nemison, Krissin, Johna, Ace, Mark, and me. We’d become the leaders of the resistance, and probably the leaders of whatever new order would rule the land of Serenia.

  Unfortunately, at the moment, we were just as divided as the rest of the country.

  “We will go ahead with the plan we set out before coming here. All of the gifted army will be severed,” Krissin yelled. She smacked the heavy oak table with the palm of her hand. The water in my glass shook, but it didn’t tip over. That’s exactly how I felt now. I wouldn’t budge.

  “No,” I said calmly. “We can’t take that choice away from them. It’s cruel.”

  “Then what are we supposed to do? Leave them to rot in the dungeon until they all die, wasting the time of hundreds of gifted people and the Sons? I don’t think so!”

  I glared at Krissin. She didn’t understand. No matter how many times I told her about Ivy, she shut me out, refusing to even acknowledge that I might be right. Unlike all the other times, I refused to give up. For once I would make sure the right thing would happen. Some of those people had been told since birth that they needed to behave this way. To blame them just because they were lied to as children wasn’t right. Nor was it right to force someone like Alia to become a different person.