We finally came to a clearing and there were three waterfalls one on each side of him and one behind him. He was sitting in a Lotus position. He was bald and his eyes came open like he knew we were there all along.
He was completely naked, except for some kind of loincloth. He motioned us with his fingers, making it appear like we were being led into a web of our own trap. “I know why you came. Speak your mind and then leave.” He was a man of few words and I could respect that. Before either Landon or I could speak on our own behalf, she stepped forward and knelt down on one knee, as a sign of respect. This was the one thing that Braden had told me and I followed suit with my armor now squeezing me in a bear hug.
“I want to know what’s happening…” She didn’t have a chance to say anything more. The cleric put up his hand up for silence. He pointed towards me.
“Silence! I don’t want to hear anything more from you, Gemini. I want to hear from that woman. If you cannot live with that, then I suggest you get up on your feet and go back the same way you came.” I had to admit that this guy did not mince words. Anything he said was with no wasted motion. I could tell that Gemini was beside herself and she wanted to say something, but something was preventing her.” I don’t want to hear anything from you, Gemini. Don’t make me do something that is against my basic beliefs.” She backed off, but I could see that she was seething.
I moved forward and I knelt down in front of him, until he took his hands and put them on my face. He whispered “I know where you come from, Shana. I know that you’re looking for the looking glass. I can tell you what you want to know, but there’s also another question that lingers in your mind. You must decide which one is more important.” I was tempted to just get the answers to the looking glass, but I also knew that it was more important to find out what was happening in the land of Markham. “I can see that you’ve made up your mind. Not a lot of people would have accepted their fate like you have. You are to be admired, but instead you are hunted and ridiculed for being different. Wait…no…that hasn’t happened yet, but it will in time.”
I didn’t like the sound of that, but it was all that I was going to get on the subject. “What’s happening with the Dragos?” His eyes rolled up into the back of his head and then his head snapped up to the sky with his hands holding onto my face. I felt this shooting pain up my arms. It went into my brain and I saw a flash of several images at the same time.
He let go of my face and then he opened his eyes “I’ve told you everything that I can. It’s time for you all to leave. Please do not return for one year.” He didn’t say anything, unless of course the images in my head were his way of telling me without saying a word. “You have a long road ahead of you, little one. Trust in your instincts and you might just survive long enough to find your way back.” He closed his eyes and he slumped forward with his chin touching his chest.
To me, it looked like he had gone into some sort of trance, leaving me to ascertain what those images in my head were all about. I could slow them down like a movie or speed them up whenever I so desired.
Chapter six
Landon and Gemini were waiting for me when I stood up. “You weren’t even with him for more than a few seconds. What could he possibly say that would make you understand what’s going on with the Dragos?” On hearing their name, a flash of them flying in unison over the area that had been decimated came into my mind. When they flew over the area, the earth had already been scorched. They had nothing to do with it, although I sensed that they couldn’t have cared less.
“I don’t think that the Dragos had any part in what happened. They don’t feel any remorse for any of it, but they were not responsible. They arrived on the scene shortly after it happened, like they were led there in hopes that they would be seen by somebody and the fault would land on their shoulders.” Once again, another flash came into my mind. It was a vision of a faceless man and he was holding the tendrils of these energy whips that were now moving back and forth in front of him like they were alive.
Slowing it down, I was able to clear up the image. This man was blind, but I think he saw more than people realized. “If they’re not responsible, then who is?” I knew that she was going to ask that, but that wasn’t an easy thing to answer.
“As you know, he only gives us one question. He did tell me through my mind that the Dragos didn’t have anything to do with it. He did however single out a man. He’s blind, but I can sense that everybody is scared of him. They want nothing to do with him, yet he has used this opportunity to bring this land to the brink of war. I think his true purpose is to pit each of the castle Lords against each other. He wants everybody’s attention to be on the Dragos.” He reminded me of a magician and if you didn’t watch what the other hand was doing, you would never know the trick and how it was performed.
“Shari.” Apparently they knew his name and I could see that their faces had gone this ghastly white.” I’ve been telling Lord Wallace that one day he’s going to want power. He told me that I was only trying to cause problems where there wasn’t any. Shari has been a recluse for as long as I can remember. He never interacts with anybody. I think he feels that people are useless. He has always wanted the power and not just with one castle.”
“Landon, I don’t know much about Shari. I’ve heard his name in passing, but mostly it’s under hushed tones. I know how he is supposed to be this huge presence. Lord Vadam talks about him like he is evil. My father told me that one day Shari would forget the pleasantries and just attack for no good reason. He’ll never take responsibility for his actions and there would be no proof to determine his guilt. We need to find him and put a stop to his machinations before they go too far.” I fell on my knees, my head splitting from a headache that was now pounding relentlessly inside my skull. I felt overwhelmed and the squeezing sensation of the armor was now getting tighter.
When Landon and Gemini tried to reach for me, they came face to face with my armor. It was acting independently and now it struck with such a force that both of them were thrown backwards 5 feet before landing heavily.
“What the hell are you doing, Shana?” Gemini was trying to struggle to her feet, but I found myself standing on her chest and looking down at her. “You…can’t do this and Lord Vadam will have your head.” What they didn’t know was that I had no control and that I was basically a passenger on whatever ride this was. I couldn’t even say anything in my own defense. It was making it look like I was the danger.
“I’m going to have to report you…” Landon didn’t get a chance to say much more, when I struck with the armor side of my boot. His head snapped to the side and a couple of his teeth actually came flying out of his mouth. The helmet rolled away and he was now exposed with his face not more than a few feet from being crushed underneath my heel.
“Stop this right now, or you will pay with your life, Shana.” My armor reached down and grabbed her by the throat, lifting her into the air and then using the other hand to pummel repeatedly into her ribs. I was unaware of the fact that I was holding this entity within me. The armor was now breaking apart pieces of Gemini’s armor, so that it could get to the underbelly of something that was a lot more sensitive. “You can’t do this. I’m Lord Vadam’s representative. You’ll put me down….ahhhh….or face the consequences of your actions.” I looked towards Landon and he was bleeding and unconscious.
I tried to say something, but nothing came out. The only thing that she was seeing was that determination within my eyes through the helmet. She was hanging there in midair with her breath being slowly suffocated from her lungs. She couldn’t do anything and even as she flailed about, there was no discernible way for her to get away from whatever this was.
The armor dropped her and she was left with two distinct pieces missing from her armor. I struck out and punched her on sides, making her double over and wheeze like a little old man. Blood came out of her mouth and I had obviously caused some kind of internal injuries. “W
hy would you do this, Shana? I was the one…that told Lord Vadam that you should come along.” I suddenly found myself inundated with another flash of memory.
She was standing there with Lord Vadam and he was saying “When you get a chance to get rid of her, don’t hesitate like you did last time.” It was then that she was branded with a black V on her shoulder that burned into her very skin for all time. She screamed and I could see that Lord Vadam really didn’t care about her discomfort. “This will teach you not to go against my wishes. This is your first punishment and if you don’t kill her before the end of the third sun, then you’ll find out that my anger can be a bit overwhelming. “For her part, she was screaming, but there was no semblance of any kind of fight. She was letting it happen, when she could’ve easily turned and bit the hand that fed her.
“You were going to kill me.” This was something that the armor was allowing me to say. “When lord Vadam branded you with that V, you became obsessed with getting your hands on me.” She couldn’t stand and those broken ribs must’ve been very debilitating.
“I was only doing…what I was told to do.” I knew that it was true, but I also knew that she wanted to please him. It was like the armor was trying to take revenge for me. It must have sensed what I was feeling towards her and had decided to act on my behalf. “I think you already knew that Lord Vadam was going to do everything he could to make sure that you didn’t win.” Of course, I knew that, but I didn’t really believe that he would kill me out of spite. He had used this emergency to his advantage and had given his blessing for my assassination…again.
“I don’t care what Lord Vadam wants. I think that somebody should teach him a lesson. Then again, maybe a message is better and this will hopefully tell him in no uncertain terms that I’m not somebody that should be messed with.” I couldn’t stop the armor and it was now pummeling her. She knelt there on the ground defenseless and unable to do anything in return. By the time that the armor was done, Gemini’s armor was now ripped asunder. There was nothing left, but small pieces lying on the ground. She was bleeding profusely, but I knew instinctively that she wasn’t going to die.
“This is not like you…this is not like you at all.” She didn’t know the half of it. “I think that we should be looking at you and not at the Dragos.” I had a feeling that was going to happen. I did feel infinitely better about everything that was happening. There was this sense of elation, even though I wasn’t the one that had done the deed or was I?
I certainly felt like it was my responsibility and these were feelings that I did have that I hadn’t acted on. I couldn’t say for sure, but I believed in my heart that this armor was now acting on my own emotions. I always thought that it was alive, but I had no idea how it could possibly be.
“You’re going to pay for this, Shana.” I turned abruptly and my foot came out and contacted with her face. She reeled back on her knees. I knew that I had killed her. I should have felt some kind of remorse, or even wanted to do something to render aid, but I didn’t. It felt good and god help me; I wished that I had more time to make her suffer a little bit longer. I was planning to just send a message back to Lord Vadam, but she would’ve told him everything that happened and he would’ve sent everything against me that he could find. It was better that he didn’t know. I could probably spin something for Landon. He was already unconscious, so he didn’t witness very much of what happened.
I could only take solace with the fact that I wasn’t responsible. I guess in my head, I was justifying the actions of the armor. My main concern was if I was going to be able to get this thing off of me. It had showed a couple of times it was trying to become one and not in the way that it had done with other warriors in the past. I had to believe that this had something do with my alien DNA. It was causing an undue side effect and it was literally delving into the deepest darkest part of my mind to exact revenge on what I was thinking about.
I had to find a way out of this and make sure that my actions did not come to the light of day.
“What the hell… happened?” I lay down beside Gemini and waited patiently for Landon to wake up from his own unscheduled nap. “My nose is bleeding. Did you just attack me and Gemini?” I stayed silent, acting like just another victim. He crawled over towards me and looked into my eyes. He shook me and I pretended to flutter my eyes open in his direction.
“Who was that? A saw this blur of a red armor and then there was nothing but black.” I could’ve told him the truth, but I had this funny feeling that the armor wasn’t going to allow me to do that. It wanted this to stay a secret and if I were to try to say anything, I believed in my own mind that Landon would be dead before he knew it. “It moved with a speed that I didn’t even know was possible. Perhaps Shari found out that we were coming for him and decided to make a preemptive strike.” This sounded better than the alternative. This way, I could turn Landon’s attention towards something that wasn’t me.
He was now kneeling over Gemini “She’s not dead.” This was a bit of a shock. She’s not opening her eyes. I think that we’re going to have to get her some kind of help.” I could feel the armor wanting to act on my behalf again. It took everything I had to stop it from killing Gemini. On one side, I was glad that she wasn’t dead, but on the other, I really wanted to see her pay for her attempts at killing me.
Chapter seven
We brought her back to the Black castle and I could see that Lord Baden was a bit suspicious. He questioned us vigorously, but we both had the same exact story about somebody in a red armor attacking the both of us. I pointed in the direction of Shari. I wasn’t quite sure that he believed me, but he didn’t try to detain me for the attack on Gemini.
Landon and I were on our way out to find Shari and he stopped and looked at me sternly “I really did think that it was you that attacked us. I could swear that I said something to you.” I had to get his mind off of reliving the ordeal. If he had time, he might see something and that would be the last thing that he ever saw in his life.
“I can see the reason why you would think that, but it wasn’t me. I think somebody was making it look like the Red castle was trying to make a play for the power. If I were to guess, I think that Lord Vadam has everything to gain. If the Red castle became something of a threat, then he could easily have them all disqualified from the rest of the tournament. That would mean that myself, Braden and even Nicholas would be out of the competition. Essentially, it would come down to the white and black castle dueling it out to the end. That would mean that it would be you against his prize creation, Gemini.”
“I just can’t believe the condition that we found Gemini in. Her armor was completely destroyed and she was left a broken doll. They found that she had several cracked bones and her cranium had almost been caved in. They don’t even know that she’s going to survive the night. Even if she does, they doubt that she’ll be able to continue in the competition. This will mean that the White castle or the Red castle will finally be able to have a chance at that power. We’ve all known for some time that Gemini was the major stumbling block. With her out of the way, things can become more equal in competition.”
I was secretly happy that he was not trying to question me further on the fact that it was me. I think that deep down he probably knew, but he wasn’t willing to voice his concerns. “I think that we should concentrate our efforts on finding Shari.” Suddenly, an image of a brick building with smoke coming out of the roof came into my mind.
“I saw what you did to Gemini. I actually enjoyed seeing her get her just desserts. I just didn’t think that you were capable of something like that, Shana. You seemed like the kind of person that would turn the other cheek. You not only attacked her, but you left her for dead. You are dangerous and I think that I did the right thing by throwing in with you. I really did think that it was going to take more time for you to get that killer instinct. After all, she was the one that was going to kill you first. You just acted quicker than she did
.”
Falla didn’t even know what had happened. She really did believe that it was my doing and had nothing to do with the armor itself. Whatever magic she was, she didn’t have enough of it to fully absorb what had transpired. I was still trying to piece these things together myself. I just knew that the armor was acting on my best interest. It had found a way to take control of my body and use the images and secret fantasies in my mind to make them become reality.
I really didn’t think that I had that much animosity toward Gemini, but apparently it was deeper than I thought. I guess I could feel it seething in the corner of my consciousness, but I never allowed it to get much further than that.
I had no idea how I was going to tell Landon what I knew of Shari’s whereabouts. I soon found out that I didn’t have to. This old man hunched over and walking slowly was now saying something underneath his breath.
“Shari is there… Shari is everywhere… Shari is nowhere. He hides in plain sight…he hides from your eyes…he knows where you are. He works at the bend where no one will find him. He works tirelessly to destroy everything that we hold dear. He feels slighted…he feels power…he feels that he has been overlooked.” Landon grabbed him and shook him, so violently that his head was now bouncing back and forth independently of his own body.
“How the hell do you know this?” He had just the whites of his eyes showing and then they became a liquid blue.
“Unhand me young man. I don’t need this.” His voice was not the same, but he did tell us what we needed to know. I already knew it, but now Landon was finding out that what the old man had said was basically a road map to where Shari was now hiding out. “I don’t know what you want. Take whatever I have.” The old man was feeling victimized. You could tell that he was scared out of his mind. His hand was shaking, so badly that it looked like he was going to have some sort of attack. “I just want to be left alone. Please, just take this and leave me alone.” He had a gold coin, something that he had probably hidden for his golden days.
Alien Romance Box Set: Uoria Mates Complete Series (Books 1 - 10): A Sci-fi Alien Warrior Invasion Abduction Romance Page 60