by C. K. Rieke
“What is it?” Lilaci asked him. Standing under the moonlight, her arms hung at her sides. Her stance was leaning on her right leg, and her tan cloak rustled in the breeze. Her black hair, pulled back neatly and tied back with the two wooden picks, glistened in the fading light.
“It’s a Lunindor,” he said in a soft voice. “I saw one once when I was just a boy.”
“A Lunindor?” Lilaci said, she was still watching as the darkness continued its path across the moon. She began to worry the moon was going to disappear, forever.
“An eclipse, Lilaci,” Roren said. “Lunindor is an old word. This is a rare moment. One I doubt we will ever forget.”
The three watched in silence as the dark circle glided slowly across the white moon, and the stars in the sky began to glow brighter as it did so. Lilaci felt a strong anticipation growing for the moment when the moon would be completely taken by the darkness. She felt worry, and excitement, but still didn’t notice that her mouth was hanging open.
“You think she’s seeing this too?” Roren asked.
Burr responded, still looking up at the moon. “I like to think so.”
As the last crescent of light clutched on dearly, Lilaci felt a surge of emotion well up in her stomach and heart, and she choked up. She fought back tears, but they came whether she wanted them or not. Her bottom lip began to quiver, and tears strolled down her cheeks. I’ve failed you. I don’t deserve another chance. I’m as worthless as the sand in the sea. I’ve nothing left to give. I’ve nothing left to live for. I’m so sorry, Kera. I just want to hold you. I’m so sorry.
As the light faded from the moon, the desert was silent. Every living thing in any direction seemed to be struck with awe at that moment. The breeze stopped. Any chirping insect quieted. Even the sands themselves were motionless and silent. Then out of the silence, a terrifying shriek. The sound of an ear piercing, bone-chilling cry of pain. It sounded as if someone was dying, and in terrible pain, and the cry wasn’t from far off.
Lilaci snapped to and didn’t even wipe the tears from her cheeks. She was off before the two men even got their bearings. She was racing in full sprint in the direction of the cry. Her feet carried her as fast as she’d ever run before, and her sword was firmly in her hand, ready to lash out at anything, at any moment. She even gathered the Sanzoral in her, ready to burn anything in her way, ready to crush anything with a dune itself if need be. She was running up a dune ten times her height. Again, she heard the scream. It was close that time, so much closer. She took long strides up the dune, her boots digging in deep as she ran. Just as she was about to summit the dune, and come over the other side, her worry it was Kera screaming was about to come true if she saw her on the other side. She was so full of dread at the thought of finding her injured or maimed, it didn’t cross her mind it might be a trap until the last second, she climbed the dune to find what was the source of the screaming.
Lilaci halted her run and stood with her feet straddling both sides. She looked down with a scorn the devil himself would fear. She didn’t run down the dune, but only let her sword sway from side to side. Down in the valley between that dune and the next, was a girl, clutching her stomach. She was rolling on her back from side to side, screaming and yelling in pain. Then her eyes met Lilaci’s, and Lilaci could see the true panic and horror on the girl’s face. Lilaci smiled.
“Help,” she cried. Then she vomited violently to her side. “Lilaci, help me. Help me please!”
“No, Fewn. No.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
“Where is she?” Lilaci yelled down at Fewn. “Where’s Kera?”
“Please, Lilaci . . . Help me. I’m dying.” Fewn vomited next to her, she coughed violently.
Lilaci didn’t approach any closer, though there was a burning desire to run down the backside of the dune and cleave Fewn’s head from her body. Then, Burr and Roren ran up from behind her, and once at the top of the dune, they each stood staring down at Fewn as she screamed and begged for help.
“By all that is holy,” Burr said in a soft voice, as if he didn’t believe his own eyes.
“Where’s Kera?” Lilaci yelled down again, she was nearly screaming.
“They . . .” Fewn said. “They took her.” She coughed again. “I tried to stop them . . .”
“They?” Burr said.
“They’re here,” Lilaci said, looking quickly behind her, and all around. Oh no, it can’t be. Garenond said she’d be out on the sands after us, but not now. Not when we are this close. Then her gaze caught something to their left. To the naked eye, there was nothing, save a plot of sand, just like everywhere else around them. But she noticed a small spot of green reaching out of the sand, and the green began to sway back and forth. “There. Over there.”
Burr and Roren both shot their heads over in the direction. Burr pulled back an arrow in his bow, ready to fire.
“What is it?” Roren asked. “What do you see?”
“That’s it,” Lilaci answered. “That’s the Hidden Garden, tucked away under the sand.”
“Do you think Kera is there?” Roren asked. He held his sword in his good arm, the other still hung from his sling tied at the shoulder.
“Only one way to find out,” Burr said, and began marching towards the direction they were facing.
“What about her?” Roren asked, shaking his head over at her. “She says she tried to stop them.”
Lilaci looked at the entrance to the Hidden Garden, then back at Fewn, and then back at the back entrance to the cave. Then she looked down at Roren’s arm, hanging from its sling.
“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Burr asked, while seemingly watching Lilaci’s thoughts.
Roren looked confused. “I can fight,” he said. “I need to stay and fight with you.”
“You’ll serve her better if you’re healed,” Lilaci said. Her eyes began to scan around the desert under the night sky, with the light of the bright moon fully returned. Then she spotted a light, not far off. It was a fire, just beyond the Hidden Garden. It didn’t move, but it was suspended from the ground, and a dark shadow appeared behind it.
“Is that—” Roren said. “a torch?”
“You need to get moving,” Lilaci said to him, her eyes fixed on the torchlight. “Now!”
Roren began to make his way down the dune, towards Fewn who was still coughing and screaming in pain.
Lilaci and Burr began to make their way towards the torchlight.
“Is this it?” Burr said to her. “Is this the way we die?”
“I won’t die until I have her back.”
“Easier said than done, las,” he said. “The sickness wasn’t natural. She’s here somewhere. The Witch Queen cast a spell on Fewn. There’s a chance there’s no healing her. With a single breath we could be infected with the same. I’m afraid we stand no chance against her.”
“You are right, but I didn’t tell you about the Garen Pixie’s second whisper. It told me we’d have to find another way to beat her. Swords and my Sanzoral alone won’t kill her. There’s something else at work. There’s something else that’s the key.”
“What is it?” he asked, as they continued forth cautiously towards the torchlight. “What’s the key?”
“I have no idea,” she said, then she looked over at him, into his one eye. “I was hoping you’d know.”
As they approached, Lilaci stopped talking, as it became clearer and clearer what the source of the light was. And as she began to realize what their predicament was. Her first feeling was that of fear, it was a terror that was deeply embedded in her from the time she was a little girl. She remembered what it was like to be a vulnerable little girl in Sorock, at the mercy of anyone bigger and stronger than her. Beyond the torchlight was the body of a man, a man with wide shoulders, and pale skin. A man with a low black widow’s peak, two scars that crossed his nose, and he wore an amulet that hung from his neck from thin leather. The amulet held a red gem at its center and bore three worms car
ved around it. She’d seen the amulet in her mind hundreds if not thousands of times before. Yet there was no pain from the mages’ spell then.
The second feeling she had after seeing him, was rage. Standing next to him, half his height, stood a young girl. Her hand was in his, with her fair skin glowing in the torchlight. Her gray eyes reflected with almost a metallic silver hue. Her face was wet with tears. She was afraid. Lilaci approached steadily as a disgusted feeling arose in her throat at the sight of him holding her hand, of the sight of him touching her.
Then, as they walked up closer and closer with each step, they finally reached the Hidden Garden. To their right, and hidden in a pit beneath the sand floor, was the same glimmering, clear water and lushes plants scattered all around. Flowers of red, yellow, and gold swayed in the wind. Roren stumbled down into it clumsily with Fewn, her screaming and crying as they disappeared into the cave.
“Hello, Lilaci,” Veranor said. “How long has it been?” The torchlight moved back and forth, as he appeared to be waving.
The anger in her heart burned with a hot red fire, and she could feel the light of the Sanzoral was flowing in her veins. “Commander Veranor,” she said, her voice full of spite and hate.
“So that’s him?” Burr said. “Thought he’d be taller.”
“Lilaci!” Kera screamed, trying to break free of the commander’s grasp, but he easily pulled her back.
“Kera,” Lilaci said, stopping their march forward. “It’s going to be all right. Veranor’s going to let you go. He’s going to let you come to me.”
“Now, Lilaci,” he said. “That’s not how this works. You don’t tell me what to do. How you’ve changed since you’ve been gone from home. I suppose you just weren’t ready to leave the nest, yet.”
“Fewn,” Kera yelled. “She made Fewn sick. She’s in trouble. She needs your help.”
Lilaci had to fight back the urge to unleash the full power of the Sanzoral on him then. He had Kera, and he didn’t even have his sword out. Something wasn’t right. Where was the Witch Queen?
Then, Lilaci felt a presence. One she’d only felt once before, back in the palace in Voru. It was a feeling that made her feel small, like an insect. She turned around slowly to see standing there behind her, only twenty paces away, one of the Six. The one Lilaci feared the most.
Gorlen stood with her right hand on her hip, in a long dress that mirrored the moonlight. Her blond hair rustled in the light breeze. She had no weapon or armor. She herself was the weapon, and a smile curved across her face.
With a burst of power, Lilaci let the Sanzoral rage within her, and she unleashed it in a single assault on the Witch Queen. With a tremendous boom like thunder, the sands of the dune behind Gorlen lifted from where they lay, and rushed down onto the goddess’ head, coming down with a force that shook the ground. Lilaci’s hands and arms were completely engulfed in violet fire. With her long sword extended out towards the Witch Queen, she sent a spinning inferno at her. It surged forth with a roar as it coursed through the air, and it erupted in a great explosion as it hit the Witch Queen at the same moment as the sand fell on her. Burr let arrow after arrow fly at her. Each disappearing behind a wall of fire and sand. It was a violent barrage, one that would kill the mightiest beast in a single second.
With a heavy heart, Lilaci watched as from the inferno that raged just before them walked the same woman in an unscorched, untattered dress. Her blond locks were free of a single grain of sand. She emerged from the maelstrom, easily gliding towards them with each step. Burr held his arrow still and lowered it to his side. Lilaci’s flames extinguished and dimmed. The sand behind the goddess fell to the ground and lay still. The violent storm that was their full assault was over, and the stillness of the desert returned.
“You do remember I gave that to you, right?” The Witch Queen said with a wide smile. Her eyes shined a light blue, the color of a clear sky. “It was a mistake to give you the light of the Sanzoral. That’s a mistake I’m going to have to remedy.”
“Run!” Lilaci yelled to Burr, and then she was in full sprint towards Kera, still being held by Veranor.
“Lilaci!” Kera screamed, holding out her free hand to her.
Lilaci and Burr only made it a handful of steps before the goddess intervened. Sands crawled up both their legs like snakes. Like long fingers wrapping tightly around their legs up to the knee. They gripped onto them like vices, and as much as they struggled, they could not break free of the sand’s grip. Lilaci reached out to the Sanzoral for help, but even with its full force, it couldn’t budge the sand’s tight grip.
“Let one fly,” she said to Burr. “Right between the eyes.”
He drew back an arrow and let it zip through the air quickly, right towards the commander. Heading straight for his head, Veranor didn’t flinch or move. He simply watched as the arrow erupted in a quick blaze of fire and disintegrated into dust.
Lilaci let forth the fire of the Sanzoral then, it shot from her hand like a hole had just formed in The Eternal Fires themselves. Burr had to cover his eyes from the heat. It ripped forth towards the commander. It roared and screamed as the purple inferno blazed forth. Then, in a split second, the fires extinguished into a vapor with a dull hiss. Like the light of a candle being put out with wet fingers.
Then the terror returned. As Lilaci and Burr stood there, completely unable to move their legs. Lilaci stared in Kera’s young eyes wet with fear. Lilaci could feel Gorlen approaching from behind, and she only looked longingly into Kera’s eyes. She mouthed the words, “I’m sorry,” to the young girl.
Kera mouthed back, “It’s okay.”
“This isn’t how things were supposed to end,” Burr said. “Another Knight of the Whiteblade is going to be lost by the gods.” His head sunk into his chest.
Lilaci looked around, desperate for a clue as to what to do. She looked at Kera again as tears ran down her cheeks and she was fully weeping, and she fell to her knees. Then, Lilaci looked to Veranor. The child in her looked to him for some inkling of compassion, which he was devoid of. His face was stern. He showed no expression at all.
“You shouldn’t have killed them,” he said to Lilaci, dropping the torch to his side, and drawing his sword from his scabbard. “It’s the law. It’s our law that we created to keep order. We don’t kill our own, unless, they’ve killed one of our own.”
“We killed innocent people and took young, weak children,” she said. “What kind of world did you create with your laws?”
“It’s sad really,” he said. “You never had a chance. You may have fooled yourself into thinking you did. You may have somehow convinced these others that they could stand up to a god, but it was all the foolishness of a young, scared girl. You were destined for greatness, Lilaci, then you pissed it all away. All for a young girl who couldn’t even lift a sword in one arm. And now it all ends. Tonight, on the night of the first Lunindor in almost sixty years. You die. The Old Serpentine Prophecies die. We’re going to take her. I’m sorry it had to end this way. I truly am. You were to be my most powerful pupil, instead, you became my greatest embarrassment. Your betrayal has scarred me deeply, and for that, I’m going to watch you suffer. By my own hand, you will breathe your last breath. Enjoy the starlight, breathe in deeply the night air. Look to the light of the moon one last time, Lilaci, for death’s cold embrace is coming for you. Your master has returned to put right what wrong you’ve done. With the light of the Six in me, I sentence you to death.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
“Now—” Veranor said with his long-curved sword firmly at his side, he held Kera by her arm in the other. “Kneel.”
Lilaci wasn’t about to drop to her knees for him, but with the sands pulling her downward, she felt her legs would break if she continued to fight it. She soon found herself on both knees with Veranor standing directly in front of her, then he took a step to stand to her right. Is this it? Is this how I die? At the hands of my master? In his eyes I am probably his bigg
est failure as commander— a traitor, a deserter, and a heretic.
“Bow your head,” he said. “I’ll make this quick.”
Gorlen slunk around and stood at Veranor’s side. She looked pleased with a wide grin across her face, showing her white teeth. “You’re letting her get off too easy. I have a special poison for such treachery. Boils and warts form all over the body, especially on the genitals. She’ll be oozing blood and puss out of every nook and cranny that forms in her skin which will crack and break with every move she makes.” Gorlen let out a wretched laugh.
“No,” Veranor said. “She’s still my pupil. She’s still my responsibility.”
“I’ve told you—” She gave Veranor a wicked look. Like a long, venomous snake staring down a fat rat. “I don’t like it when you speak to me like that. I could have you spewing up blood before me on the sands with them. I don’t need any form of approval or disapproval from you.”
“Lilaci is mine. She is my greatest accomplishment, and my greatest shame. I need to be the one to do this. Lilaci betrayed me more than anyone ever has. This is my retribution to have. This is my redemption to you and the other gods. I have to be the one to do this.”
“You mortals are so pitiful,” she said. “So . . . Pathetic. So miserable. You only want to kill her because you enjoy the taste of her death. However, I want to enjoy the flavor as well. I live off such pain.”
“She’s mine. That’s final.”
“You’ve got to fight,” Burr said over to Lilaci. “We can’t let them take Kera. We’ve got to do something.”
Gorlen’s eyes darted over to Burr, and he quickly fell to his knees from the binding sand on his legs. He looked up at her with a spiteful gaze.
Lilaci looked over at him. I’m completely powerless with Gorlen here. I’m just like the others without the Sanzoral. I’m as helpless as Kera here and now. I feel so useless. “I’m sorry,” she whispered to Burr. “I can’t stop her.”