“Oh Kainan that will work, if you rub it over the cuts it should heal the wounds and stop any infection.” He grinned, this brought back a very happy memory; and as if she read his mind she smiled at him as she sat back down on the rock. Kainan carefully undid the vial. She lifted her skirt and looked down at the cuts and grazes on her leg, they were really sore. Taking what was left of the oil he began to rub it gently up and down her leg, she winced.
“Too much?” he asked, stopping.
“No. It’s okay it has to be done,” she took a deep breath. It was extremely painful but she knew it had to be done. She had to be fit and strong enough to fight the Gorzars.
“Okay, but just yell if you want me to stop.” Kainan carried on, and slowly the cuts began to heal, right before their eyes.
“That is truly remarkable.” Drew commented, as he watched all traces of her injury vanish.
When he had finished she stood up giving a big sigh of relief.
“Thank you,” she said, pulling her boot back on and lacing it up. Leaning forward she kissed him, and wrapping her arms around his neck she held him tight. Their powers were getting stronger hour by hour. Maybe they would have a chance against the Gorzars after all.
“Do you feel fit enough to go on honey?” Kainan asked, whispering in her ear. Her gaze wandered from his eyes to the rest of his determined face.
“Of course, let’s go and get back our Crystal,” she replied strongly. Kainan stroked the side of her face, then giving her a wink he grabbed her hand.
As they began to climb up the cliff face, Kainan noticed a small crevice, with an opening. Pointing it out to Drew and Arweyn he whispered. “Let’s take a look through there; it looks like it might be a way in.” Drew nodded his agreement. Kainan thought a moment, and then stopped, turning to him.
“Drew, you had better wait here and keep watch just in case. You will have to be our back-up if we get into trouble. Arweyn and I will go and take a closer look.”
Drew grabbed hold of his arm. “Be careful Kainan,” he warned. He didn’t like the Prince going off without him, but he knew he would be wasting valuable time if he tried to argue. Kainan nodded.
Taking hold of her hand, the two of them cautiously entered the cavern. There was a pathway of sorts although it was rocky and uneven. They followed it, creeping along low to the ground. It became suddenly dark as the entrance to the cavern was left behind them and they entered a passageway within the rocks. Kainan lit the flame on the end of his finger, holding out in front of them they continued forward. As they came around a small bend light suddenly glowed in front of them. The narrow passageway opened up into a cathedral like cavern. Kainan extinguished his finger. Crawling along on their bellies they moved to the edge, and peered over the top. Down below them was a chamber, and there in the middle they could see an altar.
All of a sudden Kainan grabbed Arweyn, pulling her back sharply behind a large rock.
“Gorzars!” he whispered, pointing down below them. They could see Hadzor and Tarpel talking. “Who is that woman?” Kainan asked, looking at Arweyn to see if she recognised her. She shook her head and whispered.
“I don’t know, can you hear what they are saying?”
“Vaguely,” he replied, raising his finger to his lips for her to be quiet as the woman spoke again. Together they peered back over the rock, trying to hear what the woman was saying.
“You fools!” Zarnora cursed, slamming the book onto the table. “This is not the Book of Chants; it is fake, rubbish!”
Hadzor growled at her. “We took it from the old man as you told us; even the Elf said it was the right one.”
“Well obviously he tricked you all, you idiots!” she screamed, slamming both her hands upon the table in fury. “Now what will we do? We will need more power to open the portal. The Faerling will not be able to do it on her own.”
“What about the girl?” Hadzor questioned.
“The girl, but you lost her too didn’t you?” she screamed angrily. “So not only do we not have the Book of Chants, we do not have the key to open it either!”
“My Lady they have been seen by our scouts, they are almost at the mountain. Your shadow demons took most of them, but she got away with Kainan.”
She rubbed her hands pacing up and down as she thought.
“She is definitely Elanor’s daughter, Faerling yes?”
“That is what my Lord said, and that she has the power.”
“Then you must find her. She is still pure yes?” Hadzor nodded.
“Yes, Tolwein the Elf made sure of that. He was told to kill Kainan if he got too close to her.”
“Hmm.” Zarnora thought rubbing her chin. “In the worst instance I can still sacrifice the key. It may work. Although my grandson will not be pleased about doing it that way, get her and bring her to me unharmed. If she has great power as you say, between them they may still be able to create a spell strong enough, and my grandson can still have her for himself. Find her, but bind her with carpelweed and get her to me now!”
“Shall we kill Kainan?”
“No. Not if you can help it. Not just yet, we may need him. Having the First son of the King of Malgar may be useful. Bind him too, just to be on the safe side.” Hadzor nodded, turned and began to walk away.
“Hadzor!” Zarnora called after him. Stopping, Hadzor turned back around. Walking over to him she whispered quietly. “She may be closer than you think, look into my eyes.”
Hadzor looked at the reflection in her dark black eyes. He could see two people hovering over the top of the rocks behind him. Grinning at her, he nodded before storming off quickly.
Kainan sat back behind the rock and frowned.
“Oh no they know about the book.” he whispered. Then looking at Arweyn his eyes widened with sudden realisation and banging the top of his head hard with his hand, he cursed to himself as it struck him like a bolt of lightning.
“Oh what have I done? It is you, you are the key, they need you! You have the spell from the Book of Chants in your memory, and I have brought you straight here to them. We need to get you out….” Kainan stopped. He could smell them. He spun round pulling his sword from its sheath, but it was too late, and the flat end of a sword slashed crookedly across his forehead and the bridge of his nose. His sword flinging out of his hand, clattered away from him as it hit the floor of the cavern. The shock and the pain as much as the impact sent him toppling backwards and the cavern around him spun like some crazy whirlpool. He rolled and scrambled across the ground, stunned, grasping for his sword, his vision blurred by the dripping blood on his forehead. Then one almighty blow hit him hard across the face and the last thing he heard was Arweyn’s desperate cry. His eyes rolled, his head spun, and he was out cold.
Arweyn let out a scream as the Gorzar bore her to the ground. She fought him desperately but his sheer size had her pinned to the floor.
“Hello pretty,” he sneered. “Remember me?” Seizing her arms, he bound her tight with carpelweed so she could not use her powers against him.
Twenty Four - Brother
Kainan awoke, his head was throbbing. He took a second or two to come around. Arweyn, where was she? He jumped up off a rickety old wooden bed. He was locked in a cell, in what appeared to be a dungeon. His hands were tied and although he pulled at them he could not get them undone. He shook his head, then raising his hand to his face; he winced at the bruise across his cheek. What a fool he had been, he had led her straight into a trap, straight back to the Gorzars. Suddenly he remembered, and he looked at the palm of his hand. The Unicorn was still glowing, she was still alive, but he already knew that. He could feel she was close. He banged his hands against the bars in anger.
“Stupid!” he yelled at himself.
“Who… who are you?” A nervous voice came from the back of the cell. Kainan spun around, his eyes searching the darkest corner of the cell. A man who had been sitting on a wooden bench stood up and began walking towards him. He was slim and d
ressed finely, in a rich silk blue coat and leather boots. As he came into the light he stopped and starred hard at the man in front of him. Kainan stared back it was like looking at himself.
“Gareion?” Kainan whispered, his eyes widening as he stared.
“Yes…” The man replied slowly. “I am Prince Gareion of Malgar, but who are you? You look just like me,” his voice was strained. He edged cautiously towards him.
“I am Kainan. I am your twin brother Gareion,” he rushed with excitement, reaching his bound hands out towards him. He could not believe that Gareion was here, he had found his brother.
“No! That is impossible! My brother is dead. You are a changeling or something, sent by one of those monsters.” Gareion stopped, and then began edging back towards the wall.
Kainan continued stepping towards him, offering him his bound hands.
“No truly brother it’s me. I know it is difficult to contemplate, and believe me it has taken me a while to accept who I am, but it’s true. I have been to see our parents and I have had the all the tests done. I am their son, your brother. When we were born I was swapped with a dead baby and stolen by our nurse. She took me away Gareion, took me to Zyon.” Kainan’s voice was pleading, he was overwhelmed at seeing Gareion, and he had to convince him.
“You expect me to believe that?” he retorted.
“Please Gareion you must. Look I will show you my markings. We are true brothers. Please, roll up my sleeve.” Kainan offered his brother his arm. Gareion walked forward hesitatingly and stared. Then reaching forward he slowly began to roll back Kainan’s sleeve. He stood staring at Kainan’s upper arm; he didn’t believe what his own eyes were telling him.
“How can this be, my brother. It’s trickery!” he cried sharply, backing away.
“Gareion I know it is hard to believe, but please look into your heart. You know it’s me. Don’t tell me all these years you have not felt incomplete, like someone was missing from your life. I knew nothing of you, yet I missed you. You are my brother.” Gareion stood silent, his heart was pounding, he was trying to fight it but he just couldn’t. Finally stepping to Kainan, he relaxed giving in to his senses. Senses that were telling him this was indeed his brother.
“You are right; I have always known in my heart that you were still alive.” Gareion stood firm.
“How?” Kainan asked.
He thought for a moment before continuing. “I don’t know really. I have never felt that it was just me. My parents told me of you, of how my twin had died at birth, but I didn’t feel that you were dead. I used to tell them over and over again that I could feel your presence, even sometimes your pain.” He shook his head. “Mother would not contemplate it. Each time she would tell me how she had held you when you were first born and that there was no way you had survived. Then she would take me to your grave, and place flowers upon it, trying to convince me that you were indeed dead. She believed that even though I never knew you in the physical world, subconsciously I missed my twin and it was my mind’s way of coping, but I knew it was more than that,” he smiled. “I knew you were still alive, somewhere.”
Kainan smiled. He knew exactly how Gareion felt; it had been how he had felt all his life. Like a part of him was missing, and now they had found each other.
“Gareion, even though I didn’t know you existed I always felt something was wrong with me. Like I was only half a person, part of me was missing.”
“This is incredible, can this really be true?” Gareion stopped and looked at his brother. There was no denying it he was almost his double. He smiled, “You are bigger than me.” He looked Kainan up and down, at his strong muscular physique. Kainan nodded. Gareion’s hair was longer than his and not quite as dark, and he had a full beard. “Not as good looking though!” he added with a grin and Kainan laughed. Stepping forward he firmly clasped his hands on to Kainan’s shoulders, grinning.
“There is one way, to be sure.” He pulled back his hair, and behind his ear was a small mark in the shape of a crescent moon. Kainan grinning turned his neck towards his brother. Leaning forward, Gareion looked behind his ear, and then smiled.
“My brother, it’s true, you have the same mark. You really are my brother.” he cried, suddenly throwing his arms around Kainan and hugging him. The connection they had could not have been more real.
Gareion stood back staring at him, hardly daring to believe.
“After all this time, here you are it is unbelievable. I suppose that will mean you will be heir to the throne, you were the first born you know.” Kainan nodding replied.
“Yes I know Gareion, but I didn’t come back to take away your crown.
I will gladly abdicate my right to be King if it is what you wish. I just want to be your brother,” he offered sincerely. Reaching forward Gareion placed both his hands on Kainan’s shoulders shook his head.
“Oh no! You are not getting off that easy my big brother. Nothing would please me more than for you to be King when the time comes. I have never wanted to take father’s throne. I have told him this many, many times, but I knew I would have no choice, but now,” he smiled, releasing him. “You are much stronger than me Kainan this I can already feel. You will make a great King and be a strong leader.”
Kainan smiled. “Only if you are sure?” He nodded.
“I have never been surer of anything in my entire life. I am a teacher it’s what I love, it’s where my future lies; I am neither a fighter, nor a leader of men.”
Kainan grinned at his brother. “Arweyn tells me you are indeed a great teacher.” Gareion returned the grin.
“Yes I am.” Then he added. “But I would make a terrible King. I am so glad you have come home, but I still cannot quite believe you are here. Look at you! How did you find your way back home? Where have you been all this time and what on earth are you doing here at the mountain?” The questions flew at him.
Kainan sighed. In the excitement of meeting his brother he had momentarily forgotten about Arweyn and why they were here.
“It is a long story.”
“Well I am not going anywhere,” he replied, nodding to the cell door.
The two men sat themselves down on a bench. Kainan leaned towards Gareion and raised his hands. “Can you untie me?”
He shook his head. “No, not because I don’t want to Kainan; but it is something they call carpelweed. It holds anyone who has magical abilities. You will need a special knife or sword to undo that. Why did they bind you with carpelweed?”
“Well, where do I start,” he sighed despondently, shuffling on the seat to face him. “Gareion, I am the reason you are in here.” His brother’s eyebrow rose in question.
“You see, I was taken for a reason.”
“What reason?”
Kainan hesitated then took a deep breath. “Well, I was taken by Gorzars.”
Gareion sat up straight. “What!” he exclaimed.
“Yes I know it sounds crazy but it’s true. Our mother’s nurse stole me after I was born. The baby our mother was given was not me. Mother’s nurse, Marianna brought me up as her own, here on Zyon, along with two of her own sons, who I believed to be my brothers. A week or so ago we were attacked by the Gorzars.” Kainan bit his lip angrily. “They killed my brothers and took me alive. Then they used me to go to Malgar and steal the Ardor Crystal.”
“You are the one that took it!”
“Yes. I’m sorry Gareion but I had no choice. You see they held the woman I had thought to be my mother captive, and said that if I didn’t do as they asked they would kill her. I didn’t know about you, our family or our people.” He shook his head dismayed. “I didn’t realise the devastation that I would cause by taking it.”
Gareion softened. “I understand Kainan. At least now I realise why the woman and her child thought they saw me.” His brother nodded.
“Yes, it’s all my fault brother. I stopped to pick up the boys ball and he recognised me, you.”
Then resting his elbows on his kn
ees he lowered head and continued.
“Anyway to cut a long story short, I brought them the Ardor Crystal but they had already killed her.”
“I am sorry,” Gareion sympathised. Kainan nodded and smiled grimily.
“They attacked me and left me for dead, but Arweyn had followed me from Malgar. She saved my life and brought me back to the City, where the full story came out.”
“Arweyn followed you. Why did she do that?”
“She said she had felt a strange connection to me and just had to follow me. It’s true and I am afraid I have led you all into great danger. Arweyn is in trouble. She came with me to get back the Ardor Crystal but we were both captured. She is here somewhere within this mountain.” Kainan tried not to look as worried as he was.
“Arweyn is here with these monsters?”
Kainan nodded. “Gareion, there is something you should know about me and Arweyn. We have become very close, and ....”
“Right you two time to meet the master,” interrupted a voice. Kainan and Gareion looked up, it was a Dark Elf. Kainan sighed, not them again, he thought they had killed them all.
The Elf jangled through his bunch of keys, and then finding the right key he unlocked the cell door and opened it.
“Hello boys,” growled a familiar voice.
“Detaine!” Kainan exclaimed, jumping up from the bench sharply. As the man approached them Kainan frowned at him. “I knew something was not right about you. Why are you helping these Gorzars?”
“He is an evil bastard Kainan.” Gareion interrupted, giving Detaine a sour glare. The elf grabbed him and began binding his hands with ordinary rope. Gareion scowled angrily at him, and then looking back at Kainan he continued. “Lothar is in on it too. They had the Elves kill all the soldiers at the portal and then they both brought me here on some kind of a dragon. Kainan, they are planning to attack the castle at daybreak.” Sudden fear enveloped Kainan’s body, Lothar was here.
Deragan Sword Prophecy: Book 01 - Kainan Page 50