Silent Orchids (The Age of Alandria: Book One)

by Morgan Wylie

  “Daegan?” Kaeleigh asked quietly. She wasn’t sure if it was okay to be talking or not, but she needed a distraction as well as answers.

  “What, Kaeleigh?” he replied. She couldn’t help it, she smiled when he said her name. It made her feel wrapped in warmth even in this dark cold place. For the briefest moment she was grateful that it was more dark than light. She felt safe with him—well, with both Daegan and Finn—there with her. In her heart, Kaeleigh knew that she would have braved this darkness to find Chel on her own, but she was extremely grateful she didn’t have to now.

  “Who do you think took Chel?” Kaeleigh asked, trying to get him talking again.

  There was a long silence, a sigh, then, “There are evils in this land. You must understand, most are not heard from much. Recently, there was a shift in the stars and all things evil and dark began stirring in different parts of Alandria. Something is happening, but we don’t know what yet. There was a rift in the earth magic that protects our realm.”

  While Daegan paused, Kaeleigh interjected impatiently, “But what does that have to with Chel? And who are they?”

  “There are many different forms that come out of darkness. But who I think took Chel, and is holding Chel, is someone who works for or is a part of the Droch-Shúil.” Daegan stopped talking when Finn gasped and dropped his torch.

  Kaeleigh spun around. “Finn?” she asked, concerned.

  “I’m here, Kaeleigh. Just dropped my torch.”

  “Who or what is this Droch-Shúil?” After making sure Finn had his torch she looked at Finn suspiciously and questioned him before Daegan could answer her. “Do you know what it is?”

  He paused. “I was shocked to hear that name. It’s a name I haven’t heard in quite some time.” Numbly, Finn had just admitted to knowing something about this world that he shouldn’t know. He looked to Daegan expectantly, as if to say that because he hadn’t been here in quite some time, Daegan should take the lead.

  “Daegan, what do they want with her?” Kaeleigh looked at Finn for a second longer than comfortable and turned to hear Daegan’s answer. The information more pressing than Finn’s secret knowledge at the moment.

  Daegan, however, was staring back at Finn. Then he shrugged his shoulders, not caring about Finn’s issue, and answered, “I don’t know, but it’s possible we are walking into a trap and we must be prepared for anything. The Droch-Shúil is an ancient enitity of darkness that is a host for souls that went bad—thus the name—of the unforgiven dead. Some even say it is a kind of demon.” It was eerily silent for the next several minutes while Kaeleigh tried to process what Daegan had just told them.

  Dun dun dun, Kaeleigh’s inner monologue couldn’t help but insert in response to her already frayed sanity.

  “They usually employ others to do their dirty work as they reside in another realm for the exiled. Their venom is poison; you do not want to get bit or scratched by one of them,” Finn said quietly.

  Kaeleigh looked back at Finn, confused. He shrugged and replied, “I’ve read some ancient histories of Celtic myths and legends. I read about the Droch-Shúil, but apparently here myths might also be real.” Finn’s voice and tone belied truth but something in the color of his aura caused red flags for Kaeleigh.

  “It is true,” Daegan jumped in. “The Droch-Shúil have been around forever, and they are known to many different times and places as different things. Before the souls that have been taken there get consumed into the desolate land of the realm of Exhile, and if they are enslaved by the demon hosts, they become part of the Droch-Shúil. The lost souls and the souls of the damned are taken to Exhile by the Ferriers. But it is rumored that some have chosen a side and become part of the darkness.”

  Daegan paused, then continued, “The concerning part is why now and why here are they choosing to focus their efforts?” Though he spoke out loud it was clear it was talking mostly to himself, as he knew there wasn’t an answer to be found among them. “We need to seek counsel after we have found Chel, assuming she is still alive,” Daegan said matter-of-factly and without any heart at all.

  Kaeleigh inhaled at his bluntness. “She most certainly will be alive! You could try to be a little sensitive,” she stated shakily. “I can’t lose her. I won’t lose her,” Kaeleigh whispered to herself.

  Finn’s hand found her shoulder and squeezed. “We’ll find her in time,” he said, trying to reassure her. Not saying anything else, she reached up and squeezed his hand.

  Daegan lowered his head and stopped. He looked Kaeleigh straight in the eye with awkward, but genuine humbleness. “I am sorry, do forgive me.”

  Taken aback by his quick vulnerability toward her, she gave a brief nod.

  “Listen,” Daegan cautioned. They all stopped and listened intently.

  “It’s the slithering. We must be getting close,” Kaeleigh whispered, knowing he could hear her.

  “That—or it’s getting closer to us... Have your swords ready,” Daegan said as he drew his weapon out in front of him. “Kaeleigh, can you wield that weapon?”

  She glared at him, but nodded. “Well enough,” she replied, remembering how she could feel something within her directing her movements outside of the cave. It gave her strength.

  Suddenly, slithering noises seemed to be on all sides of them in the dark tunnel. The same snakelike vines that were outside the cave were now burrowing their way out of the walls, flailing about as they broke from the dirt seeking purchase on their victims. Kaeleigh inhaled a screech as one grabbed at her ankle and then again at her arms. All three of them sliced and hacked away at any that got close to them as they kept trying to push forward through the tunnel. The walls began to shake as vines kept breaking through. Dirt was falling in their hair and their eyes. They had to get to Chel at all costs. This would definitely slow them down, but they were determined and continued on, hoping it wasn’t much further.

  ✾✾✾

  In a cavern, at the end of the tunnel not far from where Daegan, Finn, and Kaeleigh battled the unrelenting vines, Chel was chained to the only part of the wall that had stone. Not only was she chained by the black metal shackled about her wrists and ankles, but she was also held captive by thick, thorny vines jutting out from holes in the stone and wrapped around her torso. Weak from having struggled with the vines and those vile creatures, she let the vines hold her weight as she tried to regain some strength.

  On the ground and on her skin were trails of dried blood where the thorns had originally pricked her flesh, joined by fresh blood tracks from wounds that kept reopening when she moved and kept her weak. Her flesh would heal then start the process over again each time she wiggled too much. Best not to move, Chel, she chided herself. Welts and bruises had formed in multiple places, but overall she had not been injured too badly, considering she had been kidnapped.

  Chel thought that perhaps one of her wrists had broken when they tried to wrench her into the black cuffs that burned her skin, but she couldn’t feel it anymore. She was, however, pretty sure that the thorns had some kind of poison or drug in them as she felt strangely delirious when she was coherent. Other times, she would wake up groggy, not knowing where she was, how long she had been there, or how she had even gotten there. A couple times she opened her eyes to see a large, ugly, beastly face inches away simply staring at her. She would scream until she passed out again. They never said anything to her. Trying to figure out why she was here, she would yell and scream at them hoping for something—anything—until she finally realized it was a futile attempt.

  In a rare moment of clarity, she tried to listen to her captors. They must have thought she was unconscious because they were mumbling amongst themselves not only in a foreign tongue but also without words. Chel thought that they must have been some kind of animal, or at least part animal, as she was able to pick up their thoughts or mental images with her newfound gift. Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to be able control it and it only seemed to work when they were communicating, which was h
ardly ever. What she did picked up, though, was disturbing, evil, and dark. It included a girl that they were supposed to capture, and at first Chel figured they’d accomplished that part of the plan. The image was blurry, but right before they stopped “talking” she saw the image. Hanging her head, she realized this was a trap and she was the bait. She didn’t know why, but she knew who they wanted.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Daegan, quickly scanning the two-story-high cavern filled with stalagmites and crystals as he slashed through his last vine obstacles, spotted Chel chained to the back stone wall. She struggled profusely against the vines when she saw him enter the cavern. Her eyes were big and frightened, but determined. She looked weak, but not damaged too much from what he could see. There was hope and relief in her eyes as well as fear as she looked at Kaeleigh. Chel was trying to say something. Just as she slipped into unconsciousness, he heard her barely audible whisper warning them of a trap, as he had expected.

  Kaeleigh had immediately seen Chel when she came around the corner and started to run toward her friend. Daegan grabbed her and shoved her behind him. Struggling, she frustratingly ground out through her teeth, “What are you doing? It’s Chel!”

  “It’s a trap,” he said.

  “I don’t care! I have to get her. Make sure she’s okay,” Kaeleigh practically hiccupped out, swallowing the despair that threatened to take over as she still struggled with Daegan. Finn came up beside her and grabbed her arm. She relaxed, glad to have him on her side, just to be held back again.

  “He’s right on this one. Just wait and listen,” Finn whispered.

  Kaeleigh gasped in horror. Outraged that Finn was siding with Daegan, she shrugged them both off, squared her shoulders, and started scanning the cave for would-be attackers.

  “She’s alive. She warned me about the trap before she passed out,” Daegan said, then paused briefly before saying, “I can feel them in here.”

  “What are they waiting for?” Finn mused.

  Daegan replied, looking around the room, mentally strategizing, “They are waiting for us to make a move.”

  Swords drawn and eyes constantly scanning the room, they waited. Impatiently, Kaeleigh mumbled, “Then let’s make one.”

  “How many, can you tell?” Finn asked.

  “Seven,” both Daegan and Kaeleigh answered to everyone’s surprise, even herself. “I don’t know, it just came out,” Kaeleigh said in response to their questioning expressions.

  “It must be your instincts. Don’t ever doubt your instincts, Kaeleigh. Trust yourself,” Daegan instructed.

  “Okay, Obi Wan,” Kaeleigh said. Although the sarcasm was lost on Daegan, Finn snorted.

  “Now can we take ’em so we can get Chel and get out of here?” she said, anxiety getting the best of her while she watched her best friend hanging unconscious and trapped by those vines injecting God knows what kind of evil into her system.

  Daegan gave her one of his intense trying-to-see-into-the-depths-of-your-soul stares, then said, “We can ‘take them,’” he said, nodding between him and Finn and using air quotes, which surprised Kaeleigh more than anything. “You go to Chel. Cut the vines around her but don’t get too close. They will be ready to attack quickly, so strike as many as you can at one time. Wait for us to cut the black chains—they hold an evil all their own.”

  Kaeleigh nodded and smiled. She was actually going to be able to free her friend. Adrenaline coursed through her veins; she felt confident she could take on the evil bastards that had tried to take her friend away.

  Finn grabbed her hand and gave it a quick squeeze. Kaeleigh looked into his eyes. She had never seen him that serious before and wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to. She knew what he was trying to convey. “I’ll be careful, Finn, don’t worry, but I have to get Chel and you have to fight them off so I can.” He nodded as he turned away to check his knives and another weapon he happened to be hiding, which apparently was some kind of Chinese throwing star or something resembling one.

  Kaeleigh bent down to make sure her shoelaces were double knotted because wouldn’t that be the way it would go: headlines reading, “Girl trips on shoelaces and knocks herself out trying to rescue her friend. Both doomed due to klutziness.” Not this time. She would come through for Chel. She had to.

  As they stood side by side getting ready to engage whatever creatures lurked in the darkness, Kaeleigh, on the far end next to Daegan, took several deep breaths and confidently told her warriors, “Take ’em down, boys! Chel needs us.”

  Quirking his lips, Daegan reached to the side and gripped her forearm, then seriously added, “Remember, this is a trap. We do not know what or who they want so watch your back and we will get to you as soon as we can.” As he looked at her with an undefined expression, she suddenly felt awkward and broke his stare. She looked toward Chel and nodded. Focus. Chel.

  Finn and Daegan both took their fighting stances and crept forward, hoping to draw out the creatures in order for Kaeleigh to sneak to where Chel was bound. Kaeleigh briefly watched Finn, still baffled by this new side to him that she never knew existed. He sharpened his knives one against the other in a taunting fashion, trying to draw out something from the dark shadows of the cave. He had always been moody and a bit mysterious, but something about this new fierceness was exciting. He seemed more alive. Finn moved with skill and experience, and she got the feeling that this was not as “new” of a side to him as she would like to think.

  She was beginning to wonder how much of her friend she actually knew. Lost in thought, she missed when the first creature jumped out in front of Daegan. She almost screamed but quickly regained her composure and focus. She didn’t want to be a distraction. First the one, then two more jumped in, and both Finn and Daegan were fully engaged in fighting off the creatures. She couldn’t tell what kind of creatures they were, although they seemed to be an identical copy of one another and taller and wider than an average person despite being hunched forward. Dark-brownish cloaks billowed behind and beneath them and made it look as if the creatures were floating. Red eyes that blazed with the fires of hell, steam that snorted out from where a nose should be, and short but sharp crooked horns that jutted out the tops of their heads were their only defining features. And the smell! There was a god-awful stench that wafted away from them as they moved. Like decay. Death.

  Six of seven creatures were now in the fight with Finn and Daegan, although it looked as if two had just been taken care of, already disintegrating as they hit the ground. Kaeleigh started moving toward Chel as soundlessly as she possibly could, running from one stalagmite to another, hiding in the shadows, trying to stay under the radar of the creatures engaged in the fight. Almost there. One more stalagmite away until she reached the open space leading to Chel. Taking a deep breath and a quick gaze around her to make sure she was still in the clear, she rushed out from behind the growth that was the last obstacle between her and her friend, making a thirty-foot dash across the open cave flooring.

  Kaeleigh! Behind you! Daegan’s voice shouted not out loud but in her mind. Instinctively, Kaeleigh turned on a dime, thrusting her sword up and away at the same time, sinking it right into the chest of the seventh dark creature that had yet to expose itself. She heard a high-pitched wailing, and the creature imploded on itself into a crumpled heap on the ground. When she pulled her sword from the beast, a black, oozing substance seeped out and into a crack in the dirt floor as the rest of the creature began to disintegrate. Panting and scooting away from the smoking pile of ash, she shot a quick glance to where Daegan was fighting and briefly caught his eye. Quickly she ran the rest of the way to Chel.

  Assessing Chel and reassuring herself that she was indeed breathing—although a bit slowly and shallowly—she examined the vines to see where to place the freeing blow without hurting her friend. These vines were much thicker and stronger looking than the ones that had captured Kaeleigh outside the cave. It would take a
slice with a lot of strength behind it and she wasn’t sure she had what it would take. Maybe she should wait for one of her strong warriors to help her. At what point she had started referring to them as “her warriors” she couldn’t remember, but that’s what they were.

  There was a flash of light and a faint buzzing behind her eyes that infused her with strength. She realized that she had felt cloudy and doubtful and wasn’t sure why. This isn’t me. Screw that! Chel needs me, Kaeleigh thought, then made her resolve to get her friend out.

  “Chel. Chel!” Kaeleigh whispered, trying to wake her. “We’re here. I’m going to get you out of here, hold on!” Kaeleigh raised her sword, gripping the hilt tighter than she had before, and brought it down with a force great enough to slice straight through the many layers of vines at one side of Chel’s torso. These vines let out a high-pitched wail as they lost their grip on their prey. Where the thorns still stuck into Chel, Kaeleigh had to pry those vines off and out of her friend’s body. She winced every time one tore at Chel’s body as its grip was released and her blood freely followed it out. When she finished pulling away the final vines, Chel, though still unconscious, released an audible sigh of relief.

  Chel’s body swung away from the wall, but not far as the black chains still held her wrists in place over her head. Kaeleigh dropped her sword and rushed to her, frantically assessing Chel, trying to get her to wake up. Chel moaned and fluttered her eyes but that was about all she managed. Kaeleigh kept whispering reassuring words to Chel, letting her know they were there and were going to free her.

  Too late, Kaeleigh realized that she left her sword out of reach just as one of the creatures, who had slipped out of the fray with her warriors, was silently almost upon them. Not having the time or distance to reach her sword and not knowing what else to do, she jumped in front of Chel protectively and shouted “STOP!” with her palm out in the creature’s face.