The two of them plunged into the icy water, the impact separating them. The river was fast flowing and Arweyn scrambled urgently to reach the surface, but her long dress weighted her down. Kainan surfaced but could not see her; looking behind him he could see her bag hooked on a branch on the other side of the river, but she was nowhere to be seen. He dived back into the water, frantically searching for her. She had hit the water with him, so she could not be far.
Then he saw her. Her body was sinking to the bottom of the river. Diving down he grabbed her around her waist, and distraughtly began trying to pull her back up to the surface, but she was too heavy, and the weight of her dress was pulling them both back down. Pulling out his dagger from his belt he slashed frantically at the corset ties on the back of her dress. Then ripping off her dress he swam urgently to get her to the surface. As he broke the surface of the water he gasped desperate for air. Looping his arms under hers and across her chest he dragged her body to the shore line, laying her down; but she was not breathing.
“Arweyn, Arweyn!” he screamed at her lifeless body. Then pushing hard upon her chest, he tried to push the water out of her lungs.
“Don’t leave me Arweyn. Please honey, don’t die,” he whispered desperately, pawing her face with his thumb. Quickly pinching her nose, he then breathed into her mouth three times, and pushed repeatedly hard upon her chest.
“Oh please come on breathe, come on!” he cried, willing her eyes to open. Tears of desperation flooded from his eyes, but there was no response, and her body lay still. He sank forward, putting his face into his hands, shaking his head. Then throwing himself across her freezing body, holding her, he broke down. Sobbing he shook her, still trying to get her to respond. Suddenly fury overwhelmed him; he would not let her die! She had not given up on him and he was not about to give up on her. He sat up, leaning forward he pinched her nose one more time and blew into her mouth three more times.
“You will not leave me!” he yelled at her furiously, as he compressed her chest. Suddenly she coughed and then spluttered, as the water came violently out of her lungs.
“Arweyn!” he screamed with overwhelming relief. Lifting her into his arms he held her tight. “Oh honey, I thought I had lost you.” His body shook as he held her tight. He kissed the top of her head, breathing deeply. Blinking as she began to come around, she coughed and shivered. Smiling feebly she looked up to him.
“I… I am okay,” she assured him, coughing again, and shaking with the coolness of the night air on her soaking wet body. Gently he stroked her brow, his breathing slowing down as the relief that she was alive kicked in. He ran his hands through her wet hair, pulling strands off her face.
“I thought I had lost you.” he whispered quietly, shakily. “I’m so sorry I made you jump but it was our only chance.”
Arweyn leaned into him, and cupping his chin with her hand, she looked into his eyes. “It’s okay. I’m all right,” she reassured him. She blinked and smiled at the concern in his face.
“You cannot get rid of me that easily,” she joked, and he smiled his smile that made her heart melt. She leaned into his chest, comforted by his strong arms around her.
“Is it gone?” she whispered, as her eyes frantically searched the sky above her. The sun had set and darkness had begun to fall, it was the twilight hour.
“Yes. But I don’t think it will give up that easily. We had better get moving, it will be dark soon. How do you feel, do you think you can walk?” Shivering she nodded. Then she looked down at herself suddenly realising that she was only wearing her under-dress. She looked up at Kainan.
“I’m sorry I had to cut your dress off it was too heavy, it was pulling you under. You would have drowned.” Kainan explained quickly.
“It’s okay,” she smiled gratefully, she was just glad to still be alive.
“I saw your bag, further up the riverbank by the cliff face,” he informed her, pointing up the river.
“My cloak is in there, it could still be dry?” she hoped, as she was freezing and would dearly welcome the warmth her mother’s cloak would give her.
“Come on give me your hand we need to hurry and find some shelter.” Kainan stood up. Placing his knife back in his belt he held out his hand to her. She was shivering with the cold; but it was no use giving her his cloak it was soaking. Hopefully she would be right and her cloak would be still in the bag, dry. He helped her to her feet and they began to walk up edge of the riverbank. The moon was beginning to appear and it was full giving them enough light to see their way. Kainan felt uneasy, he could feel something was coming.
“There, there it is Kainan,” Arweyn cried letting go of his hand and running on ahead. There hanging on a branch near where they had jumped was her bag.
“Arweyn wait, do not run off,” Kainan called to her as he ran to catch her up, he didn’t like her getting too far ahead him. His eyes scanned all around him, the hairs on his arms were beginning to stand up.
Arweyn jumped up a couple of times until she finally grabbed it of the protruding branch. Opening up the bag she pulled out her cloak, quickly wrapping it around her. She shivered with relief at its warmth and then pulled her bag over her shoulder.
“There you go, it is dry,” she shouted, turning towards him and hugging herself warmly.
“Arweyn!” Kainan screamed at her, as overwhelming fear shot through his entire body. She spun around to see what Kainan was looking at. The dragonere had appeared from the darkness and was swooping down straight towards her, her huge piercing teeth bearing down upon her. She screamed, and desperately began scrambling backwards up the rock face. Looking to the side of her she could see her escape, there was a small hole in the rock, leading she hoped into a cavern big enough for her to scramble into. Kainan too had seen it. As fast as he could he jumped up and down waving his arms, screaming at the dragonere, trying to get her attention. He picked up a few rocks lying by the edge of the water and threw them at her.
“Hey over here, come on!” It worked; the dragonere stopped in her tracks, and hovered. Cocking her head to one side she turned slowly towards him.
“Come on! It is me you want you ugly bitch!” Kainan screamed, waving his arms crisscross at her. She let out an angry roar, the sound coming from deep within her throat. Seeing the beast momentarily distracted she took her chance and dived into the small hole in the rock face. The dragonere inhaled, and from between her teeth Kainan saw a ball of flame building up inside. He hesitated, he knew he was not fast enough to reach the hole in the rock and if he did, it would put Arweyn in danger. Suddenly a huge flame shot out of the dragonere’s mouth. Having nowhere to go Kainan raised the Deragan sword and in a trance-like state he cast a spell….
“Castar illumanartre reflectara!” he cried, and the sword emanated a fantastic force-field all around him. The fireball hit the force-field and rebounded back towards the dragonere. With an agonizing scream the dragonere tried desperately to shake the flames off of herself as smoke began bellowing from her burning body. All of a sudden she beat her massive wings and leaped high into the air, and then swiftly fell down upon Kainan, shrieking and striking with her claws. Defiantly Kainan raised his sword, the steel blade glinting as moonlight fell upon it. The dragonere, blinded for a moment, gave Kainan his chance. With a backhanded swing of his sword Kainan slashed, and dealt a skilled and deadly blow to her chest, slicing her open, and with her wings still outstretched the huge beast crashed to the ground, dead.
The young Prince stood for a moment shocked, waiting for the dust to settle, making sure it was not about to rise again. Cautiously he then approached the smouldering body of the dead dragonere. Raising his sword he bore down upon the beast’s neck severing her head away from her body. The only way to be sure she was dead. He drove his sword into the earth and then picking up the massive head in his arms he threw it as far away from the body as he could. He was not taking any chances. Taking up his sword he wiped it on the grass, cleaning the black blood off the blade.
He pulled his sleeve to his face; the smell of the dragonere burning was horrendous. Black tarry smoke poured from her body and stuck to his face like glue. He tried to wipe it off with his sleeve but only made it worse. Placing his sword back into its sheath he hurriedly climbed back towards Arweyn’s hiding place.
He leant into the hole. “Arweyn, it is me, are you okay?” She popped her head through the hole.
“Kainan!” she cried with relief. “Come inside. It is large enough for the both of us.” Nodding he crawled through the tiny space into the dark cavern. There was barely any light, and on the floor he could see a few dried sticks. Looking at her he smiled. “This is a little trick I learned from my father.” She had no idea what he was doing and watched him curiously as he piled up the sticks and pointed his finger at them.
“Kainan what are you doing?” she asked, somewhat bemused.
“Watch,” he said before taking a breath. Then as he thought, a flame appeared on the end of his finger. She gasped as he casually lit the broken sticks, creating a small fire which illuminated the small cavern with a dull fiery glow all around them. He stood back up and grinned. “That is better, now I can see you.”
“How… how did you do that?” She asked, completely amazed by what he had just done. She had no idea that he could do magic.
Kainan shrugged his shoulders. “Well that’s the thing, I do not know really. My father gave me the flame. He said a great wizard hundreds of years ago gave it to my ancestors as a gift and it is passed down each generation to the first born son. I just have to think of these different words and it appears and disappears.”
Arweyn shook her head at him. “And what about what you just did with that dragonere, how did you do that?” Arweyn asked. “Your sword emanated some kind of magic.”
He took her hand and squeezed it. Gently, with his other hand, he pulled her hair away from her eyes. His face, blackened from the smoke of the burning dragonere made his dark eyes even more intense.
“I don’t know. It was strange. It was like I had no control over what I was doing, yet at the same time I knew exactly what I was doing.” He placed his hand onto his sword, “I think it is the sword. My father told me it was magical. He said I would know how to use it when the time was right. Well I guess that time was now.”
Arweyn smiled as she looked at his blackened face. “I guess we have both got a little bit of magic in us!” She tilted her head at him. He laughed and gently stroked the side of her face; and for a few moments they were lost in each other eyes.
“Arweyn, I am sorry if I did anything to hurt you today. I don’t know how she managed to trick me, she meant nothing you do know that?”
She folded her arms, half turning away from him. “Well I’m not sure, you were pretty horrible.” Kainan’s face looked dismayed. He really could not remember any of it. “And if you ever call me ‘woman’ like that again, well, I will thump you.” She promised, looking back at him hard, and then there was a gleam in her eye and she winked.
“Got you!” she whispered giggling. Kainan screwed his nose up at her.
“Ahh, I don’t believe it,” he chuckled, and then reaching forward he tickled her.
“Kainan stop it!” she squealed, writhing as his hands wandered all over her, tickling her until she could take no more.
“Kainan please!” she cried, laughing till tears streamed from her eyes, as she tried to fight him off.
Stopping, he pulled his hands off her, his brows drew together and his voice grew serious. “Really Arweyn, I am sorry if I hurt you. I would never have done it knowingly.”
“It’s okay, you were not yourself.” she smiled catching her breath. “I knew that.” She could not tell him it nearly killed her seeing him with another woman. She was just glad it was all over and he was back.
“You know your face is filthy,” she commented, screwing up her nose at him.
“Yes, but so is yours.” he replied, with a sly grin.
She touched the side of her face. “No it’s not.” Grabbing hold of her he rubbed his dirty cheek against her face. Then raising his eyebrows at her disgruntled face, he laughed. “It is now!” She stood with her hands on her hips.
“Kainan Dermock what are you like. I will get you back for that you see if I don’t!” she cried, pretending to be annoyed at him. He lifted his hands defensively.
“We will see,” he laughed grinning back at her. Suddenly he looked towards the entrance. The hairs on the back of his neck were prickling him.
“What is wrong?” Arweyn asked, as she noticed the sudden change in him.
“I’m not sure. Let me take a look, you wait here.” Seeing the fear spread across her face he kissed her on her brow.
“It is all right, we will make it. I promise,” he smiled reassuringly. She smiled back nervously at him, hoping he was right.
“Take care Kainan,” she called after him as he crawled through the tiny opening of the cavern. “And please be quick,” she added. This was turning out to be the most terrifying day she had ever been through in her entire life. One thing she knew for sure was, she didn’t want to be on her own. In a moment his head re-appeared.
“I cannot see anything but something still does not feel right. I don’t want to stay in this cavern Arweyn it is too dangerous. Come on we must try and find the others.” He held out his hand towards her, grasping it he pulled her out of the hole. She looked at his face, he was really concerned, and worry wrinkled his brow.
“What is it Kainan?” she whispered, her eyes following his gaze as he searched the forest in front of them. He shook his head.
“I’m not sure, but I can sense something and I don’t like it.” He turned and looked at her. “I have noticed recently that I seem more sensitive to things. I do not know if it is to do with taking the Crown of Knowledge or not. My father did say that I would get some kind of powers or special abilities.” He felt a sudden chill in the air that made him shudder and gasp, placing his hand nervously on the hilt of his sword he felt it tingle. “It is almost like I can sense the evil out there. It feels like someone or something is watching us.” Arweyn grabbed hold of his arm tightly. He patted her arm reassuringly, and smiled.
“Sorry I didn’t mean to frighten you.” He knew he was right, something was different, he could feel himself changing. Not by way of his personality, no he was still Kainan, but his senses were definitely heightened and all his senses were telling him he had to get her out of these woods fast.
Fifteen - Traveller’s Rest
The night air was crisp and fresh and Arweyn could see her own breath. Still damp from the river, she shivered pulling her cloak tighter around herself trying to keep warm. She looked at Kainan. He must be freezing, at least her cloak had been dry, but his, even as she hung onto his arm she could still feel the dampness in it. A flicker of light suddenly caught her eye. She squinted through the darkness and beyond the trees ahead of them.
“Kainan what is that up ahead, I can see a light?”
“Yes I see it too.” Up ahead they could see a group of white lights flickering through the trees. Kainan inhaled deeply, he could smell wood smoke, and it was a comforting smell.
“It might be the village Pernash told me about.” Arweyn informed him.
“Let us hope so, come on we will go and see maybe there is an inn where we can warm up.” He grabbed her hand and squeezed it reassuringly as they quickened their pace in the anticipation of a welcoming fire.
Cautiously they emerged out of the forest; they had been right it was a village, it was only small but they could see a traveller’s inn up ahead. A few houses were scattered about here and there, their chimneys were bellowing the smoke that Kainan had found so comforting.
“Come on we will try the inn, maybe they have seen the others.” Kainan said, taking her hand. Together they began climbing the steps up to the large oak doors of the tavern. A sudden blast of heat hit them as they opened the door and stepped inside. A roaring fire was burning welco
mingly in the corner of the room; it was all but empty baring the two middle aged men who were sat at the bar. They turned sharply, having been disturbed from their drinking, looking them up and down with suspicion. When they were satisfied that they didn’t look like trouble, both men turned back to their tankards of beer.
Kainan walked over to the inn keeper. He was a large man with a belly to match, nodding he pointed them to a table in the corner by the fire. Turning around he then walked through a double swinging door, which Arweyn noticed led to the kitchen. The young Prince took hold of her around the waist and walked her over to the table.
“Sit by the fire honey and warm yourself,” he offered, and sat her down on the bench like chair. Shivering, she didn’t argue but warmed her hands gratefully. The fire was a welcomed relief, as her fingers and toes were now numb from the cold. Kainan undid his cloak, placing it front of the fire, hoping that it would dry out.
“Are you okay?” he asked. She smiled at him and nodded.
“I am now, nothing like the warmth of a roaring fire is there?”
“I still cannot quite believe what that woman turned into. I mean how is it possible for someone’s body to grow like that?” his brow drew down in displeasure as he thought about it. Shaking her head she then shrugged. “It must have been some incredibly powerful magic that created that creature. I didn’t think the Gorzars were supposed to be skilled in the art of magic.”
Kainan looked at her. “They are not as far as I have been told. It may well be that they have some other kind of help; someone with magical abilities.”
“Who though? I know of no other race on Zyon with magical abilities apart from the Faerlings, Marton of course and some of the Groundling Elders, but even then the Groundling Elder’s only have healing powers.”
“Perhaps it is a descendant from a great wizard of the past that we do not know off,” he suggested. Arweyn considered this and then looked him in the eyes.
Deragan Sword Prophecy: Book 01 - Kainan Page 34