“The dark has fallen again. We’ll never make it out of here without your help. Pan’a’tua, is she still with you?”
Cl’auta hurriedly takes me by the shoulders, looks deep into my eyes and says, “Show me what you need?”
***
Adore
I stand on the surface of shimmering, clear water. It’s a tranquil sea that stretches into infinity. There are no mountains or valleys or lively forests in sight. The Scepter is still in my hands. Clarity did exactly as I asked. Lario Exgesis is here with me. Telman, Na’ta, and Chex are on Earth with her. I must do this without them. Also, Na’ta wants the Scepter of Gant for herself. Even if it does belong to the daughters of Benel, it must be given to us by the rightful owner, and that is the Mtknv.
Lario Exgesis is woozy as he rises to stand on his feet. His constricted eyes shift from the Scepter to my face. He looks as if he’s on the verge of striking me until, all of a sudden, he tenses up.
“What have you done to me?” He asks.
“I have broken our bond.”
His hands fly up and he squeezes his head and shuts his eyes tight. “Where is it?” He asks when he opens his eyes.
“I’ve taken the light away from you.”
He leaps toward me but my palm is already lifted and I douse him with the light. Lario Exgesis slumps over and drops on top of the water just as the liquid begins to stir under us. The Mtknv are rising, molding themselves into form from out of its depths.
There are an uncountable number of liquid creatures surrounding us. Ktkl has taken a position between Lario Exgesis and me.
His huge eyes fall over the Scepter in my hand. He pulls his eyebrows together while belting out a loud sound of crashing waves.
Another Mtknv creature takes form on the opposite side of him. It’s a female. Her clear bare breasts and wavy watery hair distinguish her from the male. Unlike Ktkl who is girded in a shendyt skirt that grazes his knees, her skirt is long and hides her feet. And like Ktkl, she’s peering at the Scepter of Gant in my hand.
“This is not the agreement,” Ktkl finally says to me.
“But it was stolen from you by him,” I say glancing at Lario Exgesis.
“It was,” he concurs.
“Isn’t it the reason he has to stand trial?” I ask.
The female lets out a loud sound. She’s communicating with Ktkl and he is listening. He says something back to her in their language, which appears to anger her as she sets her enraged eyes on Lario Exgesis.
“He cannot stand trial now,” Ktkl says, as if he’s accusing of me of wrongfully changing Lario Exgesis’ fate. “The elder cannot pronounce judgment on the vampire because you have atoned for his crime by returning The Scepter of Gant.”
“What if I keep it?” I ask him because my father did say that it must remain with us. Father must have known that I could never take it without permission. Na’ta may be a pilferer but I am certainly not.
The female elder, who understands what I’ve just said, bellows out another series of noises.
“You are the lifeblood,” he says, repeating her words. “Then our fates are intertwined.” He gazes at the object in my hand. “If you ask for it, then we must give it.”
“And what if I had stolen it?” I ask to satisfy my curiosity and confirm that I have done what was intended for me to do.
“May I?” Ktkl asks, holding out his open hand to receive the Scepter.
I give it to him without hesitation. He hands it to the elder.
“Open your mouth,” he says to me.
Like before, I lift my chin and open my mouth.
This time the elder puts her finger on my tongue. When she removes her finger, she displays the one tiny drop of water that Ktkl once put inside of me. She then takes it and smashes it on the end of the long plain rod that is the Scepter of Gant.
“If you had not returned it to us,” Ktkl says, “then it would have remained locked. But now…”
The metal casing falls off the Scepter and when it hits the water it disintegrates into a splash. Even Lario Exgesis’ eyes grow wide at the sight of the glass rod encased in flecks of gold, red, purple, and green, lighted and floating in clear liquid. There are also solid gold knobs at each end of it. He is surprised. It seems he didn’t know that the Scepter was locked.
As Ktkl holds it out for me to take, I’m suddenly knocked off my feet and, upon hitting the solid liquid, I see the back of a woman with long black hair streaking up and away. She snatched the Scepter out of Ktkl’s hand.
The rain is falling. The Mtknv are in an uproar. Lario Exgesis is gone. It is as if the world is spinning out of control. Then I see the back of the thief speeding toward us. My heart drops when I see that it’s Chex and he has one hand clasped around her neck. Water splashes on me as he slams her against the surface and tears the rod out of her grasp.
“Take it Ad’ru,” he says gruffly as he holds the rod up with a straight arm.
Now that I’m back standing on my feet, I rush over to take it from him. Then his free hand slips into his jacket and comes out clenching a dagger.
“Chex, no!” I shout but it’s too late. His arm swipes across his chest and he’s intending to slice her neck off. But his blade is stopped by the solid block of water that suddenly surrounds the woman.
Ktkl’s broad hands take Chex by the wrist. “Murder is not allowed in Mtknv. If you kill, you will be judged and sentenced.”
Dear God, I’m relieved that Ktkl stopped him from killing the female Selell! I am also dreading the ire behind that expression Chex is showing me. In one agile move, he leaps on his feet and glares at the petrified Selell, who I assume is Gia Scoralini.
“If you want save her life then you better make sure I don’t get hold of her outside your borders.”
I study the frozen face of Gia Scoralini. Her eyes are bulging. The sight of Chex has definitely frightened her. She is an attractive creature in the way she resembles Na’ta.
“What happens outside of Mtknv is not our concern,” Ktkl replies.
Then Chex turns his angry eyes on me. “What the hell was that Ad’ru?! Your coming here without me!”
I drop my face to look at my feet. I know I was wrong and knew he would be very upset when I saw him again. But then I feel his finger on my chin and he lifts my face.
“Don’t ever do that again?” he mutters.
“I will not,” I promise him.
His tender lips kiss mine. It’s a very quick kiss. He wraps an arm around my waist and asks Ktkl. “Can we leave?”
“You are free to go,” Ktkl answers.
I bow my head to my Mtknv friend and he touches my forehead with one of his enormous fingers. A cool liquid sensation trickles down my throat.
“When you call, the Mtknv will come,” he declares.
And the water creatures remain true to form. They are the first to make an exit - with a thunderous splashing sound they melt into the sea, taking Gia Scoralini the Selell with them.
Chex and I are alone, and for a moment I’m able to consider the beautiful sun that hangs above Mtknv and the soft breeze that flows up my nostrils. I hope it will stop my head from spinning and my legs from dropping out from under me. All around me has just turned…
Chapter 13
The Denouement
…black.
I open my eyes. My lids and my limbs are heavy. I’m lying on my side and my head is resting on something familiar. I gaze up, blinking my eyes to focus. Chex plants a soft kiss on my lips.
“You woke up?” His gentle whisper soothes me.
I cannot ignore Na’ta, Cl’auta, Falu, Pan’a’tua, and two others, Glo and Zillael, - whom I’ve never laid eyes on - hovering around my bed.
“Alright, you can leave now,” Na’ta says snobbishly to Chex.
He sniffs hard and kisses me on the forehead. “I’ll be back,” he mutters and gives Na’ta the evil eyes before strolling gracefully out of an opening.
Now it dawns on me why
I lost consciousness: Pan’a’tua used the power of matter on me. My sisters and I have adverse reactions to it. It takes more time for our bodies to reconstruct after they have been deconstructed.
“Oh my God, Ad’ru,” Fawn nearly cries as she hurries over to squeeze me tight. “We’ve been looking for you. Hoping to find you!”
She is holding on to me as if her life depends on it. “I’m fine,” I assure her as I rake my fingers through her soft hair.
Once she lets go of me, Cl’auta comes to hug me. “It’s been a nightmare,” she says, shuddering as she recalls what she has experienced.
I look up at Pan’a’tua who’s standing at the foot of the bed. She smiles at me which for her is equivalent to a hug. I smile back.
“How are you Pan’a’tua?” I ask.
“Tek sek’ a,” she says, still grinning. I’m in hell.
She’s told me this many times before regarding the Earth. I smile back at her and extend my arms toward her. She takes my hand and, after I inject her with the i’lek’u, the light of home, she lets out an indulgent sigh.
“You put one over on me,” Na’ta says, smirking. Her arms are crossed over her chest and she looks as brash as ever.
“I had to Na’ta. I knew you had your own ambitions.”
“Damn right.” She winks at me. “Score one for you Adore. You’re good at this shit.”
Cl’auta throws a quick glance at her. I can see that she’s become a little acquainted with Na’ta and is bothered by her insolence. One of my sisters chuckles quietly at Cl’auta’s reaction.
“Zillael,” I say, identifying her by the yellow eyes and dark hair. She had these traits as an infant.
Suddenly she turns silent and her eyes nervously expand. “Yes?” she says anxiously.
Those eyes; I thought I’d never see them again. When she was first born I thought she was the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen because of her eyes. They are the color of diamonds and the rusek’nelek leaf.
“Glo…” there’s a harmonic ring in my voice.
I can see her throat gulp. “That’s me,” she blurts out.
“Your eyes are still beautiful,” I whisper.
“So are yours,” she swiftly replies.
We smile at each other.
Cl’auta and Falu sit on the bed and rub my bare legs. It’s their turn to comfort me in this manner. The first time we sat like this, Cl’auta had been wounded by a Selell. The second time, Falu had been poisoned by Lario Exgesis. And that’s when I remember…
“I was bonded to the Selell Exgesis,” I tell Falu.
“I know, we figured it out,” she says.
“We have a lot of work ahead of us Ad’ru,” Cl’auta says. “Are you staying here with us? Are we now seven sisters?” The glint of hope makes her eyes sparkle.
“I have to, I’m in love,” I confess unable to restrain my sheepish grin.
Of course Na’ta sniffs loudly, and then follows with a forceful sigh.
“You don’t approve?” My ever-so-serious Cl’auta asks, turning to her.
Na’ta furrows her eyebrows, looking at her as if she didn’t expect such a question. “He’s okay,” she says with a shrug. “He likes to fight, but so do I.”
Cl’auta squints at her, assessing her before turning back to face me. “He’s waiting for you,” she says, smiling. “He’s very impatient.”
“That’s because he wants to fuck her into oblivion,” Na’ta mutters under her breath.
This time both Cl’auta and Falu shoot her a look. Then they look at each other. Cl’auta smiles weakly. I’m sure Falu just told her something about Na’ta, as Falu and Na’ta are acquainted but have never been very close.
“We should leave him to you,” Cl’auta says with an exaggerated whisper, remaining calm even though I can tell she has been flustered by Na’ta.
And Na’ta glares at Cl’auta because she realizes that, unlike herself, Cl’auta was born to lead, and lead she will.
One by one my sisters file out of the room. Na’ta is the last; but before she goes, she rushes back to me and throws her arms around me. We squeeze each other tightly.
“We made it out of there,” she whispers in my ear.
“We did,” I remind her.
“We couldn’t hold them off any longer.”
“I’m so sorry, Na’ta.”
“No, don’t be. We’re safe now. I love you Sister.” She kisses my cheek.
“I love you too, Na’ta.” I kiss hers.
She sniffs and wipes the wetness from her cheeks. She was crying. Na’ta has always been Enuian in the way that she never cries.
As soon as she’s gone, Chex rushes into the room. Na’ta was right. Without saying a word, he ceremoniously unwraps the clothes from my body, and commences to - as she said - fuck me into oblivion.
THE END
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