by Nichelle Rae
“At one point, they froze and sat in still silence for a while. It seemed like they had stopped searching for me altogether. Then suddenly they backtracked toward the stream.” He shook his head. “I was worried about them finding the necklace, but a short while later I heard them scream in frustration, which eased my worries. I guessed that the creek had disappeared to them too, so I just started walking. By the end of the day I was exhausted and in a lot of pain, until,” he smiled at me, “until you finally met me as you promised you would.”
That sounded so strange. I never said I would meet him anywhere. Nevertheless, I smiled and squeezed his hands. “I’m glad you’re safe now.”
He returned my smile then we both looked at Rabryn. His turn.
He knew what I wanted, so I sat silently, waiting. He kept a sheepish grin on his face and his eyes told me I was going to find his secret funny, in a twisted sort of way. He was enjoying this enough that was for sure.
I couldn’t take it. “Well, speak, little brother!” I cried. “Or are you trying to drive me mad?”
He chuckled, shooting a glance at Beldorn before looking back at me. “Well, big sister, it seems you and I don’t know each other as well as we thought.”
I smiled, despite the slight sting of his words. “Apparently not.”
He sighed. “Well, as it was best for you to show me your secret, it’s also best that I show you mine.” With that he stood from his chair. I waited impatiently. He closed his eyes and slowly a sparkling gold light formed around him.
My eyes got wide! He had magic! My brother had magic!
I watched in astonishment as the gold light transformed from a faint trace to deepened shade of gold, then solidified until a wall of shimmering gold light hid him from my view. After a moment, the gold wall dripped down to the floor, melting away as if water had been poured on top of it, leaving Rabryn standing there.
Stunned at what I just saw before me, I jumped up from my chair so fast that I knocked it to the floor, then nearly tripped over it as I backed away. I stared at him with my mouth about as wide as it could go. I couldn’t think! I couldn’t find my voice for what seemed like forever! Finally, I managed aloud, “You have to be kidding me!”
My brother threw his head back and laughed at my reaction. No wonder he had a smile on his face! He did enjoy this secret!
He now wore a beautiful, long-sleeved, cream-colored silk tunic and a heavy cream-colored cloak. A silver leather belt was strapped around his waist, matching his silver silk pants. The pants fit his legs snugly and tucked into very familiar yet odd looking shoes. They were of a loose brown material that extended from his feet to the middle of his shins, fastened by silver leather thongs crisscrossed up from sole to shin. He had a bow and a silver leather quiver on his back, the quiver holding a dozen masterfully cut, white wooden arrows. The bow was gorgeous and carved from the same white wood as the arrows.
Now his brown hair fell pin-straight all the way past his shoulder blades. The top section was pulled back into a braid, and the bottom half flowed loosely down his back. Two other braids were on each side of his head, starting near his temples and tucking nicely behind his ears.
Gold Sallybreath Flowers randomly dotted his hair!
My brother was a Salynn! A Salynn!!! I couldn’t move. I couldn’t think. He wasn’t just any Salynn though, he was a Salynn from White Veilvin!
He plopped back down in his chair and rested his elbows on his knees the same way he had been sitting before his unbelievable transformation. “Surprise,” he said and gave me a soft smile.
He was a Salynn! He was a Salynn of the land where I’d caused so much trouble! He knew that I didn’t care for the Salynns of White Veilvin from the stories I’d told him of my travels when he was younger. That was why he had smiled before changing. My brother, the closest thing to my heart, was kin to the people I couldn’t stand!
I drew my sword and pointed it at him, trying desperately to keep from laughing as I pretended to be angry with him. I wanted to explode with laughter from the irony. “Explain yourself, you rotten Salynn!”
He laughed loudly again and stood up. I couldn’t take my eyes off him as he walked toward me. We just stared at each other. Without warning we burst into laughter. We laughed until we were in tears from hysteria.
It took a while to compose ourselves. I couldn’t believe he was a Salynn! Once we calmed down, I pulled away with my hand over my mouth, still in disbelief as my eyes washed up and down him again. “How is this possible?” I breathed. I dropped my arm, suddenly worried. “Are you still even my brother?”
He smiled. “Unfortunately for you, I am still your brother.” We laughed and I thanked the Light Gods we were still related. “The explanation is easy. My father was a Salynn from White Veilvin.” Derweldo has been a Salynn from White Veilvin, too? No wonder he watched me so closely, so suspiciously. He must have gotten word somehow of the trouble I stirred up in his homeland.
“How old are you?” I asked, knowing that Salynns lived thousands of years. My mind could only comprehend the little questions at the moment. I was too stunned to think of anything better to say.
Rabryn laughed. “I’m still only seventeen years old. I’m half human, and I picked up a human lifespan from Mother.” He wrinkled his nose. “Which stinks.”
“Why?” I chuckled.
“Well, wisdom and power comes with age and experience.” He gave a careless shrug, but I could tell it hurt him. “I’m young, and I’ll die at a young age, which won’t give me much time to become wise or powerful, or allow me to experience things like regular members of my kin can.” He paused, and my expression must have looked helpless because he continued, “I’m everything you’ve known me to be all our lives, Azrel, except my race. I was born and raised here. I have lived a very simple and quiet life, just like any human born here. I’ve never gone anywhere outside of here. I barely know how to use my magic. I just happen to be a Salynn living in The Pitt.”
“So, you’ve never seen White Veilvin, your homeland?” I asked. That sentence sounded so strange I could barely get it out! This was my brother! He lived here his whole life. He didn’t seem to belong anywhere else. He shook his head sadly in reply. “So, you’re a seventeen-year-old Salynn who knows nothing of his kin, nothing of how to use magic, nothing of how to survive as others of your race do? You’re completely useless outside of The Pitt, and you don’t know how to use a weapon besides what I have taught you? Is that right?”
He grinned. “That’s sounds about right.”
“Wow,” I said in disbelief. I thought all Salynns were the same, especially the ones in White Veilvin. “What made your father come here?”
Rabryn shrugged and half sat on the table top with his arms crossed. “He never talked about that, so I don’t know. All he told me was that he disguised himself as a human and came to live here because he was needed. He met Mother, married her, and had me.” He shrugged to drive home the point that the explanation was simple. “He turned me into a human as soon as I was born because he didn’t want the people here to know what we were, for obvious reasons. My father knew about your ‘kidnapping,’” he said, doing air quotes with his fingers, “and he didn’t want to see Mother lose another child. So, he used his powers to hide my race until I was old enough to do it myself.”
“Well, how did your father die then?” I asked. “Salynns can only die if killed by another or if they will themselves to die. Derweldo and Mother fell ill.”
Rabryn sighed and glanced down at the floor. “I honestly don’t know that, either. My only guess is, because he’d been in human form for so long, he just became mortal.”
What a day! First Ortheldo came back into my life after nine years, then I used my powers for the first time in years, then I learned that my brother and stepfather were truly Salynns!
A thought suddenly came to me. “You said you don’t know how to use your magic, but you used it to hide your race.”
He grinned w
olfishly. “Actually, I’ve used it twice.”
I was confused for a second, then my eyes brightened as it dawned on me. “You put up the magic barrier around The Pitt, didn’t you?”
Rabryn’s grin widened. “The first barrier, when The Pitt came into existence, was some ancient wizard’s doing. Its purpose, as you and Ortheldo said before, was only to allow folks in dire need to find it. However, people with magic could find it whenever they wanted because they could use their own magic to see past the barrier.
“After you arrived here, Beldorn decided the barrier had to be made stronger by not allowing magical beings to find it at their will, because evil people and things can wield magic too. The barrier had to be so strong that Beldorn couldn’t do it himself. I couldn’t strengthen it alone because I was so young and my father didn’t teach me anything of how to use my magic besides transforming. Beldorn and I had no other option but to do it together.
“So, when he came and told me and Mother about you, we combined our powers that night to strengthen it. I needed Beldorn’s help to tap into my powers which, to this day, I’ve only done that once and haven’t been able to do since. I can only transform on my own.”
I was flabbergasted. I barely made myself speak the next words. “Why did the barrier have to be stronger only after I arrived?” I did not like the sound of that!
He was about to answer me, but suddenly a dark shadow that formed in my mind also seemed to pass over my brother’s face in the same instant. We both snapped our heads to the window where Beldorn stood, our eyes wide. Something was very wrong! We could both feel it.
Beldorn turned to face us, his eyes just as wide. “Time to go,” he said as he rushed past us toward the back of the house.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as Beldorn feverishly gestured us to follow him. Rabryn and Ortheldo didn’t hesitate. I sheathed my sword and went to the window instead.
“Azrel! Get away from there!” Beldorn called.
I pushed aside the curtain and looked out. Before my eyes was the terrifying sight of an angry mob outside! Every person who lived in The Pitt must have been outside of my house or pushing their way up the cobblestone stairs. Some were holding torches, pitchforks, axes—anything they could muster up to use as a weapon. And these people didn’t like weapons.
“Gods,” I whispered in a breath.
Suddenly a rock came flying through the glass window and hit me square in the cheek. Pain exploded in my face, and my neck muscles jerked unnaturally fast as I fell backward onto the floor from the blow. Little slivers of glass ripped my cheek open into small jagged cuts that burned like fire.
Insane banging filled my ears the next moment. I painfully craned my neck to look at the front door where the sound was coming from and saw the tips of axes come through the splintering wood. They were trying to get in! They were going to kill someone! Then the sound of breaking glass suddenly exploded from every side of the house as more rocks or burning torches were thrown through the windows. Was this a nightmare? Had I not woken up this morning?
Suddenly Ortheldo and Rabryn were both at my side, frantically pulling me to my feet and hurrying me to the back of the house. The entire house was a racket of noise and confusion. The mob broke windows, hacked away at my front door, and screamed curses. Small fires from the torches were now burning in various areas in the living room and kitchen. When we reached the back of the house, I pressed my back to the wall and looked around in terror. We were trapped.
My mind reeled. Why was this happening? Had they seen Rabryn transform? No, they wouldn’t have had enough time to gather the entire population in three minutes. Realization washed over me in a cold sweep from head to toe: Someone must have seen the flash of light through the kitchen windows when I made breakfast appear.
I spat a curse to the ground. I cursed myself for being so stupid, and I cursed that stupid sword for existing! Once again, I was in pain, hurt because of this sword. No, this was beyond hurt. Now I was going to die because of this sword. No, even more so, my friends were going to die because of it! This was my fault. I had just killed my only close friends and my family, all because of that blasted sword!
Before I knew it, I was falling backward as if I had been leaning against a door that just became unstuck. When I opened my eyes, I saw we were all outside the house now and Ortheldo was underneath me. I scrambled to my feet and gazed wide eyed at the gaping hole in the back wall of my house. Before I could look too long, the people finally broke down the front door and were streaming in. Others that had seen us fall through the hole in the wall were coming around the sides of the house.
Ortheldo pulled at my upper arm trying to get me to move. For a moment, I was paralyzed with shock. Was this really happening? Nothing that I’d ever seen before could compare. They were determined to kill me! The deadly look in their eyes made me believe I had no chance of surviving. Seemingly beyond any will of my own, I finally began to run.
I looked back and saw the mob was heavy on our heels. This was ridiculous! We couldn’t outrun them! Plus, where were we going? I screamed this question at Beldorn, who was in the lead of our retreating party.
“To the stables!” he replied.
“Stables?” I cried, ignoring the flaming pain in my face. “We don’t have stables! We don’t have horses to put in any stables!”
“I took the liberty,” he said.
I turned back just in time to see one man lunge at me and take hold of one of my sleeves. It was Bloters, the land's butcher. My body jerked and halted as all his body weight fell to the grass. I desperately tried to jerk my arm free or pull away, but he had a death grip on it. I clawed at his hand and pulled as hard as I could to no avail. The mob was drawing closer. They’d all have me to the ground in no time. I screamed.
“Time’s up, witch,” Bloters growled.
Suddenly I saw Ortheldo. With all his strength and brawny body weight behind his left arm, he threw such a hard punch into Bloters’ mouth that I heard the butcher’s facial bones break. Bloters went flying face down into the ground, blood exploding from his nose and lip. Ortheldo grabbed my arm and pulled me along with him, keeping me next to him at his fast pace. My lungs felt like they were going to explode from fear and the strain of running for my life. A sharp pain formed in my right side, cutting my air intake to a minimum. Ortheldo ran at my side the entire way until we neared the bottom of the eastern cliffs. There, standing a short sprint away, was a stable house.
“Azrel, Forfirith is yours. Ortheldo, Urylia. And Rabryn, you have Eleclya.”
Sure! That would be easy! We would have no problem picking out which strange horse that we’d never seen before was ours.
We ran into the stables and found four gorgeous horses waiting, three with nametags hanging from their necks. I would have laughed had the absence of air in my lungs allowed it. I should have known better than to underestimate Beldorn. Forfirith was a tan stallion with black mane and a small white diamond in the middle of his forehead. Eleclya was the white and dark-gray–spotted stallion with a black mane. Urylia was a dark-brown-and-white stallion with a white mane. Beldorn’s horse was the same one he’d always had, Lómarandil. All the horses were stocked to the brim with traveling supplies and weapons.
We mounted our assigned horses, and Beldorn turned to us. “Hold on tightly now,” he said. Not daring to disobey him, Ortheldo, Rabryn, and I gripped the reins hard.
In a flash, all four horses bolted from the stable heading straight for the mob since there was no way around them. We rode through the people as if they weren’t even there, traveling at unnatural speed. Beldorn must have cast a time spell of some sort. I turned and gazed back at the people and got confirmation: All of them turned their heads slower than they should have, and when they took steps, their feet hovered in mid-air for a few seconds before touching the ground again. They quickly shrunk in the distance.
My heart sank when I caught sight of my mother’s house burning to the ground. Guilt and helple
ssness rippled through me. I wanted to cry out in agony for her, but numbness set in, denying me the chance. What had I done?
Faster than the wind could blow we were up the west cliffs and waiting at the edge of the woods. The world slowly became clearer as time caught up to us and was returned to normal.
“That was amazing!” Rabryn was the first to cry out.
I sat in silence. My face still burned and throbbed and I could feel little drops of blood snaking their way down my jaw and neck. I was only vaguely aware that Ortheldo was looking at me. I was too busy inhaling the stench of the smoke and fire that burned my mother’s house to the ground.
“Beldorn, Azrel’s bleeding,” Ortheldo said.
“I’m fine.” My voice surprised me by coming out in a low, raspy whisper. I wasn’t fine, but the pain I felt wasn’t anything I didn’t deserve.
“Come here,” Beldorn said.
Without any direction from me, Forfirith walked to him. I didn’t care. I felt so lost and empty I couldn’t care. What was going to happen now? Where was I going to go? Why did everyone I love have to suffer because of me and this stupid sword? The feeling of guilt filled most of the void inside, and that was all I had now. My mind was blank except for the image of fire consuming the place that had been home to me and Rabryn—the safest place I’d known since I had lived in the cave. The only place I could call home since leaving the cave.
I barely felt Beldorn’s velvet hands cup my face. Slowly, the burning pain in my cheek and neck faded. I felt the jagged cuts close. The sticky blood disappeared. He removed his hands and only the tingling sensation from his magic lingered on the surface of my skin. I didn’t deserve to be healed, but I thanked him anyway.