by Shelley Cass
“And what was that message?” I asked.
Vulcan crossed his arms. “Go to bed.”
I raised a disbelieving eyebrow at him. “Noal awoke miraculously, and his first words after rising from near death, were for me to go to bed?”
Vulcan smiled. “Actually he demanded to be fed anything but apples first. And Kiana said ‘tell Dalin to go to bed’.”
I grimaced. “Was there anything else?”
Purdor nodded. “Kiana said to hurry if you want to eat before sleeping. Noal’s devouring all the good stuff.”
“And I would get out of view quickly,” Tane added. “The Elf Ailill bumped into us on the way here. He said when he finds you he will be teaching you some nasty bicep muscle exercises.”
I raised my eyebrows. “I best leave you all then. Or I’ll have Kiana and Ailill to contend with.”
I pulled on my boots and scooped up my shirt from where it lay beside me. Then I put out an arm to push myself up and winced as hot pain shot through it.
I’d used the wrong arm.
“Are you alright?” Thorin asked with concern.
“Fine.”
“Here,” Vulcan said respectfully, giving me his hand and pulling me up with my good arm.
I nodded my thanks and pulled my shirt on delicately, not bothering to lace it back up. “I’m glad we talked,” I told them sincerely. “As you say, perhaps next time the Nymphs are having fun we can share stories.”
“Be glad to,” Phobos replied eagerly, and the others agreed.
Feeling much less tumultuous than when I had first set out, I left them to return to Kiana’s tower.
Chapter Thirty Seven
Kiana
“I feel magnificent,” Noal declared, patting his stomach comfortably. “I want to go and thank the Krall warriors for their help.”
It was dark outside, and Dalin had finally fallen asleep by the bed while I’d watched the miraculously restored Noal ravenously consuming everything in sight.
I couldn’t help but frown in consternation. “I can’t believe how completely rejuvenated you are,” I remarked helplessly. “I can’t find any excuse for you not to go.”
“I feel better than perfectly fine,” Noal shrugged in disbelief himself. “I know that the Lady hasn’t been here physically, but I swear by the Gods her magic has helped to restore me.”
“You’re also upbeat because Dalin admitted he is getting used to the soldiers now,” I commented, feeling relieved myself.
“That is definitely cause for celebration,” Noal said, peeling himself free of the bed while I turned so he could dress fully again.
“I’ll go with you to find them,” I told him as he finished dressing and happily bounced down the steps as if nothing had ever been wrong. “In case you start to feel as someone normally should in your position.”
I glanced back to Dalin’s exhausted, battered figure, resolving not to disturb him now that he had at last settled to rest. Instead I quietly pulled a spare blanket down from my cupboard and gently laid it over his sleeping form.
I stroked his forehead gently, pushing his hair away from the cuts there, and bent over him to softly kiss his cheek where the corner of his mouth was turned down.
Then I lightly kissed his lips.
He sighed in his sleep but otherwise didn’t stir, and I slowly drew away from the warmth of his face in surprise at myself.
“Kiana? You coming?” Noal whispered up the steps, and I quickly turned and followed him down.
“The men are likely still where Dalin said they found him.” I made sure my voice was level as I followed Noal out, quelling the desire to stay in the tower with Dalin now.
“They do seem content to gather and merry make wherever there is space,” Noal commented agreeably while we moved in the direction Dalin had mentioned.
“Noal!” Tane yelled joyfully when he saw us, and there were shouts of welcome and cheer as we were drawn warmly into their circle. It seemed that their group had swelled as all of the Krall soldiers now sat together by the rock pool, and they had made a bonfire.
“Thought you’d still be eating – you were that hungry when you woke up,” Wolf joked.
“I only came out here because I’d eaten everything in there,” Noal confided.
“Where’s the Raiden, as he’s called around here?” Thale asked. “Did you badger him into sleeping?”
I sat amongst them comfortably. “Now that there’s no one left to worry about he could finally shut his eyes.”
Phrixus nodded. “We found him out here mulling over deep thoughts.”
“He had the weight of the world on him,” Nikon agreed, whittling away at a piece of wood with his knife.
“If anything is not well with Dalin’s friends, Gods watch out until he makes it right,” Noal said whole heartedly.
“He did burst out of nowhere and stop my sabre before I could take your head off,” Vulcan remarked to Noal.
Phobos stretched out on the grass, rubbing at his bald head. “I would have preferred to be anywhere else in the world than standing between the Raiden and his sword last night.” Then Phobos flicked a grimacing look at me. “Except then I saw the expression on Kiana’s face, and suddenly wished I wasn’t even in this world.”
I shrugged. “It is a talent of mine.”
Noal grinned. “Dalin’s always looked out for me.”
“You know, Dalin took out Tane, Nikon, and eventually Vulcan with knocks to the head,” Thale began. “But he got me by saving my life.”
There were a few guffaws as the others regarded Thale in astonishment.
“What do you mean?” Noal asked, and I sat forward in interest.
“Well,” Thale coughed. “I saw the Raiden as an enemy trying to capture my men. I wanted his blood, but he made my blood boil as he easily fended off all of my blows without returning any. And because he wouldn’t attack in return,” Thale explained, “I was able to give him the black and blue ribs, the bruised and sliced face, and the knife in the arm.”
“But as you said you knew us as the enemy. You were justified in fighting back,” I reassured him sincerely. “Dalin understood that.”
“Yes, but he just refused to fight back, and it confused and enraged me at the time, as if he were being arrogant rather than kind. So I tried to provoke him, to hurt him and to play dirty. I became so enraged that I made a move that would have turned out to be fatal to myself. And that was when he dropped his blade and let me run straight into him with the dagger. I couldn’t understand why he had done it, and why I’d suddenly begun to change my mind about him.”
“That’s why you kept telling me not to kill him,” realised Nikon, remembering what had happened. “I thought you were insane.”
“Deep down I knew he wasn’t the enemy,” Thale shook his head. “And the wonder of it is that he risked himself despite my actions. All of you did,” he said, looking at Noal and I. “You could easily have just left us to rot in the Forest, or killed us all.”
“No,” I said grimly. “We knew, after seeing Thorin, that you were not really our foes, though you didn’t yet realise that yourselves.”
Noal rolled onto his stomach on the grass, looking enthusiastically at the men around him. “So, we know how many Dalin got. How many of you did I get?” he asked, breaking the sober mood.
Two raised their hands and Noal became crestfallen.
“Well, I don’t really count, because Dalin finished the job,” Vulcan explained pityingly.
“You’re the size of a house. I tired you out so he had an easy job,” Noal protested. “And it took me ages to do that, so I didn’t get to deal with anyone else.”
I snorted. “I’m sure that’s it.”
“We’re glad you all took a chance on us anyway,” Cadell announced, and Ferron, who was beside him, nodded.
“You would not have found such charity from us if this had all taken place in Krall under our King’s orders,” one of the quieter men, Roth, reflecte
d.
“We would have obediently been doing any slight thing that our Lord ordered,” another called Gideon said a little bitterly, looking up from where he was reading a book that Frey had given him.
“Not all of you seem like the typical soldier types though,” I remarked, eyeing two other reserved soldiers called Aiolos and Rendor, who were completely absorbed in books of their own.
“Yet that is what we’ve been made to be,” Phrixus stretched lethargically. “So honestly,” he went on. “These few days in the City, with a clear mind, and with beings who trust us – or who forgive and accept us unconditionally – have been the best of my life.”
“Even the Raiden, who clearly had misgivings, went out of his way to help us. I am grateful to have earned some respect from him now,” Cadell remarked.
“The Raiden still really doesn’t like you though,” laughed Purdor to Thorin. “You must have done something to really get on his nerves before we got here.”
Thorin seemed to physically deflate. “I know. All of you may have gained his trust, but I don’t think I ever will.”
“What’d you do?” Phobos asked.
Thorin sighed, “I was part of the ambush that first caught you both,” he answered, turning to Noal.
“Can’t remember,” Noal shrugged. “I was busy getting knocked out at the time.”
“And when the Raiden was trying to carry Kiana away from us that night, I was the first to charge and continued to charge while trying every foul trick I knew to get around his sword,” Thorin admitted, eyes on me now. “I wanted to kill to get to you, to keep the purest thing I’d ever discovered all for myself. So at one point, when he drove me down again, I pretended to be badly hurt, and he relented. When he was back to facing everyone else, I sat up and aimed at a gash that was on his leg, seeking to widen that gash and saw his leg right off to be rid of him.” Thorin appeared deeply upset as he concluded. “He has seen me at my darkest, and is justified in his distrust of me. I would never trust a former enemy either, especially one who has proven himself to be so crazed.”
“No, I know Dalin,” Noal cut in then. “He doesn’t hate you. He just hates what you seem emblematic of: the ferocious threat Krall poses against Awyalkna and the world. He’ll come to see you as who you really are, and you’ll gain his respect.”
Thorin shook his head. “I wish I could believe it. But I have come to suspect why Dalin has earned such a title and such regard amongst the Forest dwellers. And I have come to suspect why he has the best reason of all to condemn someone that he sees as an emblem of Darziates’ control.”
“What do you mean?” I asked him, sharing a look with Noal.
“While we held the three of you in our camp all that time ago,” Thorin said slowly, “a great friend and mentor of mine, a much older soldier, began to speculate on why two lads of Awyalkna would be wanted by our King. And he remembered the names of Awyalkna’s Princes.”
The group had become completely silent, and even the quieter soldiers had broken from their reading.
I slowly took in a deep breath and let it out. “Yes. Accepting people usually comes easier to Dalin,” I said. “But it is hard for him to accept people from Krall … when he is Prince of Awyalkna, the first place Krall threatens to destroy.”
“He’s royalty?” Vulcan gasped.
Thale slapped his palm across his forehead. “I stabbed royalty.”
“He doesn’t seem cold enough to be royal,” Purdor commented.
“What does that make the both of you?” Tane asked.
“I am his cousin. His family officially adopted me when my parents were killed by Trunes,” Noal answered.
“And I have been a hunter and healer by trade, and saved these two when Darziates sent his beasts after them.”
“Is that why the King was after you?” Phrixus asked in awe – despite only knowing the half of it. “Did the Sorcerer mean to capture the future heir of Awyalkna?”
Noal and I resigned ourselves to patiently outlining our histories and Quest to get to Jenra.
I found it surprisingly easier to briefly recount my own past, and what was expected of me according to the prophecies. I also found the Krall warriors to be surprisingly accepting of every unbelievable detail, but I guessed that in Krall they were more readily exposed to magic and strange happenings.
“And when Kiana was stronger once more, we found you lot,” Noal concluded at last.
Thale’s eyes were wide as he stared at us. “You are showing us incredible trust right now,” he said. “You have shared critical plans and personal information of great threat and value to Darziates.”
“Somehow Darziates seems to have already been quite aware of many of our plans,” I grimaced.
“We’re still honoured,” Wolf said seriously.
“I can’t believe we have been made part of prophecies that originated from the dawn of time!” Tane clapped his hands together excitedly. “I mean, we’ve been saved by two different ancient races, we’ve met the Lady of the Forest, and now we are going to fight for the Three. A Fairy, a King of Kings … and a Noal.”
Noal laughed.
“Fight for?” I raised an eyebrow.
“We have seen the wrath of the Sorcerer and what he can do to the world,” Vulcan said. “We have never had any cause to believe that there was any way to stop him, and just assumed that eventually he would have everything, and everything would die. But now we will fight for you, to save the biggest source of hope for our world that we have ever known.”
There were cheers of approval and agreement, and I realised that once again I was far from being the proficient lone hunter anymore. Now I was a member of a rapidly swelling band of friends.
And I was glad.
Because it felt like this had been meant to happen all along.
As if everything was at last coming together.
Chapter Thirty Eight
Dalin
Feeling stiff and unforgiving, I stood beside Kiana, Noal and Thale as the Lady took a seat across from Agrudek.
We had all been led to his tower to be present when she questioned him, and his skin was ashen and his frame was visibly shaking as he stared miserably at the floor.
He was a piteous creature, reduced with shame as he huddled beneath our gaze.
“Agrudek, you have told us that Darziates drew you into what you did,” the Lady began.
“Yes,” Agrudek whispered, but continued to hang his head and look wretchedly at the floor. “He was driving me … insane.”
Noal watched his face intently, seeming determined to believe that Agrudek hadn't wanted to hurt him. In contrast, the Granx sat stiffly on Noal’s shoulder, and appeared decidedly hostile as they faced the inventor.
Agrudek tugged at his scraggly orange hair in agitation. “I felt I had no choice but to obey Darziates … just as it was during my days of helping the Sorcerer as his scientist.”
Kiana crossed her arms, her face blank.
“Tell us more,” the Lady said.
Agrudek shifted nervously in his chair. “I … I had to do experiments for him … make things, back in Krall …”
“We know,” Thale growled, and then restrained his own suspicion, remembering that he too had been ruled by Darziates. Doing all the Sorcerer bade.
Agrudek flinched and darted a desperate glance at Noal. “You know … those beasts … the ones that chased you?”
“Yes,” Kiana interjected rigidly.
“I … he made me make them … their bodies …”
“What are they, and how did you make them?” Kiana questioned.
Agrudek shuffled his feet sadly. “I made all of his experiments – their casings – and he would bring them to life … Then they would become something more. Take on their own appearance and behaviour. But those beasts he sent after you … they were different … more sinister … smarter. He would fill them with real spirits … icy shadow beings from the Other Realm …” Agrudek whispered the last words
and a chill rippled through the room. “And they would come to life, the shells that I had made suddenly becoming like skin, the sockets of their eyes filling with the frost of their presence.”
Every face, even the Lady’s, showed dread.
“He is trying to remake the Evexus of old then,” the Lady stated, closing her eyes and sitting back. “Deimos made these things too. Though making them came at a terrible price. The power it took to bring spirits from the Other Realm into ours and into the bodies he had made for them drained him terribly. He aged and weakened every time he did it. But their power was great – for he gave them parts of his soul to anchor them to this world.”
Kiana had grown pale. “There were five of them chasing us. But I don’t think they were finished.”
The Lady looked to Agrudek to explain.
“It is why my hand was cut off and why my family was taken,” he said quietly. “I-I couldn’t perfect them. It seemed that the process of … taking the spirit from its realm into this one left it reduced. Though I am sure … the Sorcerer has been working to fix that. To find them that … ‘anchor’.”
The Lady was aghast, and for all of her glorious brilliance, she appeared weary.
The little man seemed to be withdrawing further into himself. He was shuddering and looked to be getting even smaller under our scrutiny.
“They are the purest of evil and completely unnatural,” Agrudek whispered at last. “I believe that the darkness and ice that would make up a perfected Evexus … could only be destroyed by the warmth of the purest of magic.”
The Lady stirred after a moment. “It is helpful for us to know these things.”
When she rose to lead us from his tower, Agrudek searched Noal’s face anxiously, but the Granx reared back threateningly and I stepped in front of Noal to cut him off from view, and we left without looking back.
“I feel that he speaks truthfully of the Evexus,” the Lady said as Agrudek’s tower door closed heavily and unmovably behind her, sealed by magic. “But it is impossible to know if he really was under the power of Darziates. I will not enter his mind to find out, as I fear that would break it.”