by Pedro Urvi
Beside him Aliana was trying to conjure with all she had. Her Ilenian medallion shone around her neck, using the Healer’s inner energy, drawing from her Gift. She felt the presence of the gloom beside her, as if death herself were seeking the vital energy of everyone around to use it for itself. Komir was fighting with all his remaining strength. She had to help him! He was going to die! She tried to relax and breathed in deeply, trying to gain relief by sighing so as to regulate her breathing and allow herself to concentrate. It’s Death Magic… Sonea is right, I feel it clearly… death…
Komir screamed and writhed. “She’s robbing me… of life…”
The Dark Lady laughed, sure of her victory, while her evil essence slowly took over the life of the Marked.
Aliana was in such anguish that the pressure in her chest stopped her from breathing. Luckily nobody broke the circle. All of them remained united, like the Bearers they were, and this, the courage of her companions, their support, gave her the calm she needed. Closing her eyes again, using all her willpower, she focused on her inner energy. She managed to breathe regularly and used her Gift. Healing was Life, and Life was what they needed to fight that deathly Evil. She projected her Gift from her hand, as she always did with the sick and wounded. She guided it to the small sphere, where the entire power of the five medallions was waiting. On receiving the Healing energy, the sphere began to spin on itself dizzyingly. Suddenly it rose above their heads and spun still faster, all the time radiating sparks and flaring discharges.
Aliana yelled at the top of her voice:
“Life!”
At her command the sphere exploded in a burst of immaculate and blinding light.
Komir fell to the ground.
The Bearers covered their eyes with their arms to protect them from the blinding light of Life.
The blast was unimaginable. Everything ceased for an instant. Time stopped. Mother Nature herself seemed to stop to watch the greatest display of power for thousands of years across the continent of Tremia.
A demonstration of power worthy of an Ilenian god.
Time started again. The light of Life reached the dark spirit of death. On contact with the Magic of Life the gloom vanished, annihilated. The explosion of light spread, forming a great circular wave. As the wave advanced, the darkness was destroyed.
“Noooooooo!” the Dark Lady howled. It was a rending cry of the profoundest rage, as if her innards were being drawn out.
The darkness was destroyed.
The wave reached Yuzumi and Isuzeni.
It hit them with all the power of the five Ilenian medallions. Isuzeni’s defense did not hold. They tried to defend themselves, but it was too much even for them and their enormous power. They tumbled to the ground.
The wave of the explosion vanished, and with it all of Yuzumi’s power.
For a moment there was only silence.
Seeing the Dark Lady lying on the ground, Sonea saw their opportunity. “She’s wounded,” she said. “We must act now!”
“Let’s put an end to the demon!” Iruki said.
“Yes!” cried Asti.
On her knees, exhausted, Aliana turned to Komir. It was as though her heart had been torn out of her chest. Komir was lying beside her, lost to consciousness, almost consumed, his hair completely white.
“Komir!” she cried in despair, and dropped to the ground beside him. The sight of his worn-out face broke her heart. She thought he was dead. Beyond all help.
The three other Bearers looked at them and wondered.
“We can’t do anything for him,” Sonea said. “Aliana is the only one who can. Let’s finish off the Sorceress before she recovers and it’s impossible. This is our only chance.”
“Komir…” Asti whispered. Her eyes were moist.
Iruki indicated the Dark Lady, who was already getting back on her feet. “We’ll all end up like him if we don’t hurry. Mother Steppe doesn’t give second chances.”
Asti nodded. They formed themselves into a line in front of Aliana and Komir, then put their hands to their medallions to cast a spell on the Dark Lady, who was already standing. There was blood in the corner of her mouth. Isuzeni stood with difficulty and stumbled, obviously hurt. The explosion had not killed them, but it had certainly damaged them and weakened their power considerably.
“All at once,” Sonea urged. “Hit her with all you’ve got! Now! Now!”
Iruki conjured a winter blizzard of lethal winds.
Asti conjured infernal flames which burnt everything.
Sonea conjured a storm of deadly thunder and lightning.
Aliana put her hands on Komir’s cheeks. She looked into his green eyes in his gaunt face and amid tears she realized then that the sharp pang she felt in her chest was not for the loss of a friend, nor for that of a companion. It was much more intense and heartrending: it was for the loss of the one her soul loved.
“Noooooooo!” she cried in despair. “You can’t die! You can’t leave me now!”
Frantically she gave him her last drops of Healing Power. She could not let him leave, not without trying to save him. Her remaining Healing energy entered Komir’s body.
She whispered in his ear: “I won’t let you leave. You sacrificed yourself for us, and I’ll do the same for you.” Aware of what she intended to do, she prayed to Mother Helaun and began to imbue Komir with her own vital energy. For him she would cross the line, break the Healers’ prohibition on using their own vital essence. “For you,” she murmured sweetly as she kissed his cracked lips.
The defensive barrier which protected the Dark Lady shone intensely. It was repelling the attacks.
“The Sorcerer has strengthened the barrier again,” Sonea pointed out. “He’s very powerful. We must keep up the pressure. His energy must be finite. He won’t be able to keep it up forever.”
“Ours is finite too, and it’s nearly spent.” Iruki pointed out.
“He’s hurt, he won’t hold out,” Sonea said confidently.
Iruki nodded. “It’s all or nothing. Hit them with everything, right down to the last drop of power! We have to empty out our souls, now or never! Come on!”
Like vengeful goddesses, righteous daughters of Mother Nature, the three bearers kept up their devastating spells against Yuzumi and Isuzeni, releasing the elements in all their elemental power: Fire, Air and Water in their most devastating form fell on the two sorcerers.
“I shall kill you all! Insignificant worms!” the Dark Lady screamed. She tried to conjure.
Suddenly the defensive barrier shone strongly. The Dark Lady turned and looked at Isuzeni with her eyes staring from their sockets.
“Isuzeni! No! No!” she cried desperately.
Isuzeni had stepped back and drawn the barrier on himself, leaving the Dark Lady unprotected.
“Betrayal! Noooooooo!”
The spells of the medallions fell directly on her and destroyed her last defenses. The Dark Lady gave a wail of infinite rage and hurt, then fell to the ground. Defeated.
Sonea raised her arm, and the three Bearers stopped their spells.
Isuzeni hobbled up to the wounded Dark Lady and took the Skull of Destiny from her hand. He looked her in the eye and said:
“Now I shall be the owner of my own destiny. I will never fear for my life again. Nor will I ever envy anybody else’s power.”
“You… serve… me…” mumbled Yuzumi with burning eyes. One half of her body was burnt, the other frozen.
“No longer. The power of destiny is mine now.”
“I shall… take…. over… your soul…”
“Let the Premonition come to pass! Let the Destiny of Death be fulfilled!”
The Sorcerer glanced at the Bearers, bowed, turned and went into the woods without looking back.
Suddenly all the living-dead which were feeding on the Dark Lady’s Power crumpled to the ground, never to rise again.
“We… we… did it…” Iruki stammered.
“I can’t believe it�
�” Sonea whispered. “We had practically no chance of surviving…”
“We live!” Asti cried triumphantly.
Cries of joy and victory burst out among the Rogdonian soldiers and Norriel warriors behind them.
The three turned, and it was then that they noticed something was wrong, very wrong.
Komir was kneeling beside Aliana. The Healer was lying on the ground with her eyes closed and her head on one side. Komir was shaking her by the shoulders, but she was not responding.
“Come back, Aliana! You can’t leave me now!” he was telling her. “You saved me! You can’t go!”
“No wake up?” Asti cried, frightened at Aliana’s lack of response.
Iruki knelt beside them. “By the steppes! Whatever happened?”
“She saved me… she brought me back when the darkness was taking me,” Komir murmured with moist eyes and trembling voice, “and by doing that, in her effort to put life back into me, her own life, she’s gone. She opened her eyes and at the same moment she swooned. I can’t wake her… I can’t… I don’t know what to do…”
“She… alive?” Asti asked. There were tears in her eyes.
Iruki examined her body in the way she had learned from the Medicine Woman of the Blue Clouds and discovered with horror that she could find no signs of life there.
“No, no, for heaven’s sake, it can’t be…” She checked a second time and shook her head.
“No understand… what happen?”
Sonea swallowed hard and watched Komir, whose gaunt face had recovered some vitality.
“I think Aliana tried to save him with all she had… and in trying desperately to stop him dying… she crossed the line, and I very much fear she’s… she’s gone…”
“No!” Asti wailed.
At that moment Hartz and Kayti arrived at a run, with Lasgol and Lindaro close behind.
“By the three goddesses!” Hartz cried.
“Aliana, no!” Lasgol cried as he knelt beside her.
The Forest Ranger examined her again, but he too could find no sign of life in her. Downhearted, he shook his head.
A dreadful silence fell upon them all.
The final victory had turned out to be a bitter one.
Premonition and Destiny
The sun’s rays were beginning to lose strength, its gold darkening, in a sky which by now was completely clear. Soon night would fall over the battlefield where thousands lay, victims of the worst and bloodiest battle in the entire history of Tremia. One on such a scale that unless the gods themselves came back to earth to resolve their differences, it would never happen again.
The surviving Rogdonian soldiers awaited their King’s orders to leave the battlefield and return to the city. They were broken. A few were still standing, but most had dropped to the ground in utter exhaustion. But the order to return to Rilentor was not coming, since their leader, their King, was unable to give it. Gerart gazed upon Aliana’s body. His moist eyes were unable to look away from the Healer’s serene face. Anyone seeing the King’s face would have seen that a terrible pain was oppressing his heart: the pain of having lost his beloved.
Gudin and the Norriel had sat down in a circle. They sang ancient Norriel songs of courage and glory, as was the custom among them when a battle was over: of warriors who had given their lives to defend their country, of heroes who had sacrificed everything for land and family. They sang with deep voices, the voices of battle-hardened men. They sang so that the three Goddesses would bless the final journey of those who had died gloriously in the battlefield. Valor, honor and glory, those things which the Norriel honored most, those things which the Norriel were. They all sang wholeheartedly, since Norriel they were and Norriel they would die. Forever, with honor and glory.
Lindaro came up shamefacedly to Asti, Iruki, Sonea and Komir.
“It’s time to honor her and let her be one with the Light,” he said in a low voice.
Kneeling beside Aliana, he turned his face to the sky and began to pray to the Light. He placed his hands on the Healer’s chest and gave thanks to the Light for having permitted him to know such a valiant and dedicated soul, then invited the Bearers to do the same. Lindaro withdrew, and the four Bearers knelt beside Aliana. They placed their hands on her chest and closed their eyes, and each one in his or her own manner took their leave of the Healer.
And yet the farewell was not exactly that, since none of them wished to let Aliana go. Komir’s heart was broken, and his anguish at her loss filled his soul. Anguish and emptiness which Asti, Sonea and Iruki also felt. None of them wanted to say goodbye, none of them wanted her to depart. Instead they all wanted the Healer to come back to them, to stay with them.
And at that moment something happened. Something unexpected. The medallions interpreted the Bearers’ wishes, as those wishes were so strong they could not be ignored. Asti’s Medallion shone. The next instant Sonea’s did the same, and Iruki’s followed. The three exchanged looks of amazement. A moment later Komir’s shone in turn. Suddenly Aliana’s medallion burst out with an intense radiance as it responded to the plea of the other four medallions, to the will of the Bearers.
Search for life in her. If a single drop be found, bring her back!
“What’s… happening?” whispered Komir. But before he could finish, Aliana’s medallion flashed three times. Time seemed to stand still, all sounds ceased and suddenly Aliana’s eyes opened wide.
“By all the knowledge in the universe!” Sonea exclaimed in amazement.
Aliana filled her lungs with a deep and terrible gasp. She sat up with her legs stretched out in front of her.
Komir was unable to repress his joy. “Alive! You’re alive!” he shouted.
“The Medallion… found one last drop…”
The Healer tried to speak, but was unable. She fell on her side, exhausted.
The next moment everyone clustered round the Healer, and her companions’ cheers of victory and joy burst out on every side.
Some hours later, with Hartz’s help, Komir got to his feet. Aliana, supported by Asti and Sonea, did the same a moment later.
“You scared the living daylights out of me!” said Hartz.
“We didn’t mean to, I swear.”
“Wait, lean on me, you don’t look very good.”
Komir looked down at his own body and discovered he was very much weakened. He nodded at the big Norriel.
Aliana breathed in and exhaled deeply. She looked like a walking corpse. Asti and Sonea were holding her up.
“Don’t worry, Komir,” the Healer assured him. “Given time I’ll heal you so you’ll be back to yourself again.”
Hartz indicated Komir’s head. “His hair too?”
Aliana sighed. “No, I’m afraid I can’t do anything about that.”
Komir was puzzled by this. “What’s with my hair?” he asked.
“It’s all white, you look like an old man,” Hartz said with his usual bluntness. Kayti elbowed him to shut him up.
“Your body will get its vitality back, I’ll see to that,” the Healer said, “but there’ll be side effects. Your hair is one of them.”
Komir looked at Aliana and nodded. “It’s a small price, and I’ll gladly pay it.”
At that moment a warning reached them.
They all turned to where the Dark Lady had fallen. Iruki was watching her from a few steps away without coming too close, as if this were a pestilence she did not want to contaminate her.
“It’s unbelievable, but she’s still alive,” Iruki said. “The creature won’t give up!”
They exchanged tense glances.
“I’ll deal with it,” Komir said.
“Are you sure?” Hartz asked him.
“It’s my destiny, it’s my responsibility.”
With Hartz’s help Komir went across to the fallen Sorceress. When he reached Iruki he left Hartz behind and went to the Dark Lady’s side, taking the last few steps alone. Yuzumi lay surrounded by her dead guards of honor. A m
ist had begun to form around her. He crouched beside her and looked into her eyes. Pitiless eyes, which even in that moment of defeat and suffering gleamed with pure hatred. Her mouth and ears were bleeding. He put his hand on her chest; she was still breathing. As he touched her all her evil contaminated him, so that he had to withdraw his hand quickly. He closed his eyes. He felt only evil, suffering and perversity emanating from her: not a wisp of goodness, no matter how remote. He shook his head. This creature was evil personified. He felt it. He knew it.
He sighed deeply, knowing what he must do. He took out his hunting knife and placed it on the throat of the one who had caused so much pain and suffering, not only in his own life but in those of thousands upon thousands of innocent people. He could not let her live: not for the sake of revenge, but for the evil which consumed her. If he let her live, that evil would create new suffering and pain in the lives of innocents. They would never be safe. She would find some way to return, and kill them all. He pressed the knife against her pale skin. He knew what he had to do, even though he did not wish to. Something inside him held out against it. He still had some humanity left in him after so much blood and death, and for that he thanked the three Norriel goddesses. I can’t do it. I know I have to but I can’t.
“Come on… you coward… what are you waiting for…” Yuzumi’s voice was barely audible, but the scorn in her eyes was clear.
Komir swallowed hard. He did not want to execute her in cold blood. He was neither a murderer nor a hangman. He had never wished to kill; it had always been something forced on him, and every death weighed on his soul.
“I… would not… hesitate…”
“You and I are different.”
“Coward… you do not have… the guts…”
“It’s not a question of guts, it’s about having a soul or not.”
“If… you do not… kill me… I shall come back for you… for everyone… my destiny will come to pass…”
“I know.”
“I shall attain… my Destiny… of Glory…”