‘We’re safe where we are,’ Sula spoke sternly to her son. ‘When you’re old enough you can decide to move and use your abilities…wisely. But remember one thing clearly: every time you use your powers out there in the world, you risk exposure. You’ll risk more than your own life if that happens. If you are caught, men will want to know how you do it and…,’ I don’t want to frighten him… ‘If they do, you might not be able to use your powers to protect yourself! I cannot stress this enough, Aigle! You’ll be-’
‘Human.’ He finished her sentence like he always did, whilst tugging hard on the oars.
‘Yes, no, worse than that! Humans don’t feel like we do. You are not immortal. You’ll be vulnerable. Last time you were very lucky, but next time we might not be there to save you. You will be on your own. Use the Shield the way I have taught you if needed, and your powers only sparsely, when you are out of sight of people.’ she concluded.
Because of that big man, who had escaped, their fear of discovery from more hunters coming was very real. That hunter had been there when Aigle had managed to free himself by breaking the ropes that were tied around him. No normal boy could have done that. Aigle had only managed to escape his bonds the first time as he had been left alone long enough to completely tune out and focus on concentrating on the powers of an ox.
The men, who had been hiding in the bushes to capture Sula, had seen him break free and had run after him. He had quickly lost contact with the ox inside of him, and they were able to catch him. But they must have wondered how he did it, and now one of them was still out there. Worse still, was the knowing that it had been an ambush, not for him, but for Sula. Was it because she was more comyenti than Aigle? She was mixed with only one human, not a halfling and a human, as he was? Had they known she harnessed more powers, or had they had plans to keep him too? They had found out about her existence somehow and had seemed to covet both her and Aigle, never Felix. Aigle knew this much, but didn’t fully understand.
Shape-shifting lizard men who know we are comyenti? Why have they never returned since? Are we really safe, Mum? We need to prepare ourselves. I’ve made a start. I can do it again, I can use my powers to attack if needed, I know I can!
She saw her son swallow, his vivid eyes wide-open, not out of fright, but alive and fierce.
Don’t even go there, Aigle, don’t you ever!
Why not? If we practise-
Because we’re not like them! We are better than that. We are peaceful and don’t resort to violence. I’ll train you and your siblings to defend yourselves, to use any animal power to survive, thrive and be strong, but that’s all! We do not attack!
He shook his head, shrugging it off, nodding and knowing she didn’t mean it. His mother was strong and stubborn like him, and even though they were attacked and these creatures were both new and alien, she hadn’t taken the incident too seriously. She should have, he thought. She had become soft in her years, and feeble, like humans.
He kept rowing, looking at the pine trees they were passing by.
‘Don’t worry, Mum.’ But he thought, to himself, shielding his thoughts from her, What good are our powers, if we don’t use them; really use them for the greater good?
Chapter 11 Darts
As they rowed further away from the village, Sula grew cautious and glanced towards the bushes and trees. Aigle followed her eyes and picked up her sudden anxiety, as if they’d called upon something just by talking about it. Her instincts, as proven before, were always right.
‘Mum?’
As she looked back at her son, she heard a small whooshing sound, and felt a sudden sharp pain at the side of her neck. She touched her skin and found a small dart stuck in it.
‘Mum!’ Aigle shouted, seeing her pull the dart out with one tug and her face tight, he stopped rowing.
Sula’s body tensed and she looked for their attacker but couldn’t see anything. They were going too fast to go back and something inside her told not to.
‘Row back to Rosinhill, Aigle, as fast as you can! Use all the strength you’ve got!’
Just then another dart flashed, they both ducked, and it barely missed Aigle! They both stayed low with fear in their eyes. Aigle visibly struggled, remembering the last time they were attacked. He froze at the bottom of the boat, so she took the oars from him and concentrated on the strength and courage of a lioness. Breathing in and out she started the chant. A couple of heartbeats later the boat was almost lifting and hovering above the surface back to the safety of Rosinhill.
~~~
Sula pulled their boat to land and made sure her Shield Of Light was working. She felt its warmth and goodness. No harm could happen to them within the boundaries of it as long as she was alive and well. This was a unique ability, not acquired from any animal. But why had it failed to work? How had someone managed to blow a dart through the shield?
Aigle helped her with the boat and tied its rope to the usual tree. Sula picked the dart up from the bottom of the boat and examined it before smelling it… poison.
She bit her lip at that and held it in her hand, absentmindedly.
‘You think it was them again, the third man, right?’ Aigle asked with an equally concerned, pale face.
Sula couldn’t hide it from him, she sighed and nodded.
So, he has returned, she thought, but said out loud, ‘Don’t worry Aigle.’
While they were walking home she tried desperately to think of an animal that could withstand poison in its blood, but failed. If there was an animal like that, she had never come across one. She had never found herself in a situation like this, nor could she have anticipated this. She now wished she had, although she had thought her shield would have been strong enough.
She could feel herself getting dizzy and tried to focus on the strength of a big animal to slow the poison down. She concentrated on the elephant with its slow heartbeat and big body. ‘Your heart, my heart, your mind, my mind, your breath, my breath, your strength, mine…’
Pearls of sweat started to form on her forehead from the effort, coupled with the effect of the poison, and just as they reached the door of their house, she stumbled. Aigle caught her, but she pushed him gently away, grabbing his shoulder. Her young daughter Valera opened the door for her before they knocked. Sula had felt her and didn’t want her to see her like this. Valera looked just as alarmed.
‘Are you alright, Mum?’ she asked with Felix coming right behind her.
‘Sula! What happened?’ Felix asked alarmed. ‘Valera told me, she felt you were in trouble. I was about to come to the river!’
She showed him the dart and his eyes grew bigger. Felix took it from her, smelling it just as she had done, and extended his hand to her neck, noticing the tiny blood spot there.
‘Poisonous frog dart,’ she enlightened him.
Aigle slipped past them inside and put the kettle on the fire to boil it.
Sula took her boots off slowly and sat down on one of the chairs by the table. Valera stayed close and held on to her mother, followed closely by the younger twins Almaz and Jolaz. Sula stroked their hair. They could all feel her confusion, weakness and dread. Sula could postpone the effects of the poison, but she didn’t know for how long.
Felix felt it in the air too; the children radiated it and so did normally strong Sula. Something crept closer, something she had felt years before when her mother was ill: death.
He knelt down in front of her and looked her in the eye.
‘Darling, tell me that you can stop it? Tell me you know how to!’ He touched her knees.
She gave him a half smile and he noticed sweat drops on her forehead, no matter how much she exerted herself, she didn’t sweat, except when she was in danger or ill…
‘Honey, I’m trying to slow it down as it’s too late to stop it,’ she spoke calmly. ‘but I don’t know what will happen.’
She glanced at her children who were sat around her. Only her eldest child, Fay, wasn’t there, as she was travellin
g around Bhan and would normally visit for her parents’ and siblings’ birthdays. Sula only hoped Fay was safe from the lizard people wherever she was right now.
She tried hard not to think about the facts; she knew what this kind of poison could do now that it was in her bloodstream. Having crossed paths with a group of hunters in the jungles of Southland years ago, she had learned their secret. They used the poison from these frogs to tip their darts in to catch and kill their prey. She knew that a tiny amount on one dart could kill at least ten people! Sula of course had tried her best to make them change their ways by showing them edible fruit and nuts in their jungle; the same food that their prey lived on, and there had been enough to share. It was no use. This tradition had been passed on for generations. The tribe would not change their ways and continued to kill innocent monkeys and birds for their food.
However, she also knew she hadn’t made any enemies at that time. She had been brutally honest when she explained what it was like for the birds and the monkeys to live in fear and to be hunted like this, but she had never offended anyone. It was beyond her how anyone else besides the tribe would know about the poison, but then again, information such as this could easily spread and the lizard people had known about Sula.
She touched her children’s hands and spoke to Aigle, her eldest child present, Maintain the Shield Of Light, like I taught you. If…I pass out, you’re the only one who can keep us safe.
I will, Mum. I will! He looked uneasy and nervous but there was a determined look in his eyes, which she had not seen in him before.
‘Is there a herb we can use to stop it, anything?’ Felix asked.
Sula’s eyes shot from left to right, thinking fast, but she shook her head. Garlic might purify the blood, but to get rid of poison? She mentioned it but before she could express her doubts Felix ran to the kitchen to get some. The room was dancing in front of her; she saw stars and had to lie down. Aigle caught her before she hit the floor and carried her over to the bed. Felix came running back with a damp cloth and fresh garlic. Aigle made her chamomile tea.
‘Mum, it’s your favourite, you told me chamomile is good for everything.’
Sula smiled. Yes, the nerves. She felt everything tingling, slowly becoming numb. Her fingers and toes started to feel strange and then the numbness crept up until she couldn’t feel her legs anymore. Soon it would become worse…
She ate raw garlic and drank the tea. Her favourite tea used to be Redbush tea with honey, but she couldn’t drink it anymore without being reminded of Feline and breaking out in tears…
Her dark brows knotted as she concentrated on the elephant for strength. Your mind, my mind, your heart, my heart…
When she opened her eyes she thought she saw Feline, instead of Felix, sitting by the bed and called her by her name.
‘Feline! I’m… so sorry for everything.’
The blond woman appeared just as she remembered her, and she noticed how very similar her features were to Fay; being about the same age when Sula had first met Feline. Reaching over Feline pressed her lips on Sula’s damp brow. Her smile warmed Sula’s heart.
‘I’ve missed you so much,’ Sula whispered. Beads of sweat glistened on her forehead like diamonds; her normally bronze skin seemed greenish yellow. Feline looked worried and the next thing she knew it was Felix again, with the same eyes, but she couldn’t hear what he was saying. All she saw was his mouth moving, then her ears were ringing with a high pitched sound like an alarm and everything went black…
Chapter 12 The Ypaka
Big lizard-like people with scaly skin and yellow eyes spat at her and their saliva burned her skin. Their forked tongues flickered in and out of their mouths. Laughing and lisping, their daggers flashed. They took away her children! One of them held Valera by her ankles and swallowed her whole!
Ypaka, she heard over and over. Ypaka!
Sula started screaming but her screams were soundless; they had ripped her tongue out and all she could do was cough up blood, so much blood…
The hallucinations grew worse and she realised on and off that it wasn’t real. She tried to focus and clear her head, but it was becoming increasingly harder to do so. She felt a damp, cool cloth on her forehead and heard whispering, but that only brought her back to the lizard people and their hissing. Voices, more voices in her head. A blazing fire surrounded her now and after that, deep dark waters. Faces appeared, and animals, so many… too many! When she did a Mindmerge she broke their necks and changed into them! She was a shape shifter instead of a comyenti! It gave her chills down her spine but at the same time she felt complete in her skin, being totally one with the animal. She was a horse now, galloping through a field. She felt the wind through her mane, and when she looked down she saw her elegant legs and hooves, so clearly that it put her own ability of pretence to shame.
~~~
‘I remember everything about that day,’ she heard Felix’ voice faltering with tears. She recognised the emotion in it. He was trying so hard not to break.
‘When you came into my life, my world forever changed for the better. I remember what you said, what you wore, how you looked. Your eyes were the greenest I had ever seen! I remember it all. Your rudeness, your kindness… your desire to remain free, your decision to stay. It must have been so hard for you, I realise that. Don’t leave me now, don’t leave me ever!’ He started sobbing, no longer able to hold back when she didn’t respond. She felt his warm trembling hand on hers, and tried hard to move her fingers for him, so that he could feel she was still in there to give him some hope. Yet she couldn’t move or open her eyes. If only he could hear her thoughts…
Her heart cramped up then and her body started to spasm. She heard Felix cry out her name in fear and she sensed Aigle by her side too. Then the hallucinations returned.
~~~
There was a tiny knock on the door.
A slight crease appeared between Aigle’s brows at the sound. He was in a meditative state, concentrating on the protective Shield Of Light around their home. Cross-legged on a cushion in front of the fireplace, his eyes were closed. He had been sitting like this all night, not allowing himself to fall asleep, for if he did, the Shield would falter. Only his mother could maintain this normally without much effort, even in her sleep, but Aigle wasn’t old and strong enough to do so.
Valera was feeding the little ones their breakfast and Felix sat on a chair by their bed, holding his wife’s hand, mumbling softly to her. He had remained there all night; making sure her head was kept cool to keep the fever down, allowing himself no sleep. She was stirring occasionally in her dream-like state, her face screwed up in horror, but she was holding on.
There was another knock, this time more persistent. Valera looked at Aigle who was nodding off, and then she glanced in alarm at Felix who peeked over his shoulder at his son.
‘Let him sleep a little, this could be grandma.’ Felix got up, grabbing his staff on the way him just in case, and opened the door.
He saw no one at first, but then just when he was about to close the door again, frowning, he noticed a tiny black boot preventing him; the same size as his youngest children’s boots. He recognised the little man it belonged to immediately.
‘Prince Oro! What brings you here?’ Felix called out confused, as the dwarf had never visited his home before. Nor had he ever seen him since Felix received his magic hammer from him, all those years ago.
‘Greetings, King Salt,’ the dwarf said in a croaky nasal voice, avoiding eye contact, looking in, ‘Can I come in? Invite me in and I’ll explain.’ He spoke rapidly as if in a hurry.
‘Of course, but…now is not a good time, really,’ Felix glimpsed at the bed and then at Aigle who sat with his head slumped forward, sleeping. Valera gazed at the dwarf with suspicious eyes and even though she resembled her mother with her dark hair and high bronze cheekbones, her head tilted in the same way Felix’ head would.
The dwarf’s red hat was pulled over his forehead and brow
s so that Valera struggled to see his eyes. She stepped closer. His green jacket had golden buttons. He looked the same as how Felix had described him to her, and similar to the last time Felix had seen him.
‘My wife is very ill.’ Felix’ voice sounded hoarse and wistful as he lowered his red- rimmed eyes.
‘Perhaps I can help?’ Oro offered.
‘Can you?’ Felix’ eyes grew bigger in hope, remembering the magic of the mountain and the hammer. Perhaps he knew a way to heal her?
‘Will you invite me in and I’ll try?’
‘Sure, sure. Come in.’
‘Boots off, please!’ Valera spoke harshly and the dwarf looked in alarm at the girl who openly stared at him. He gazed long at her ears. Was she mistaken, or did she see him grin?
‘Excuse my daughter.’
‘No, no that’s fine. A clean, tidy house is a sign of a pure soul.’
Oro pulled his boots off one by one. He did not take off his hat. In his socks he tip-toed to the bed; Felix had an urge to stop him, as did Valera who had a foreboding feeling about him. It was as if she had seen him before, somewhere, somehow and she dug into her memory but couldn’t seem to recall.
Their biggest cat, Humphrey, who had been lying on Sula’s feet, suddenly hissed which was not like him, and his back arched. Felix came over and stroked the cat and tried to calm him down, but Humphrey jumped off the bed. Felix started to feel uneasy as well.
‘Ah, your wife. You never mentioned her beauty!’
Felix whispered sadly, ‘Both within and without. She is the most precious gem on Bhan. Your silver or gold can’t match this, Oro.’
‘Indeed,’ the dwarf licked his lips and gave Felix a quick look. ‘Do you still have my hammer?’
The Comyenti Series Book Bundle, Volume 1 and 2 (Epic Romantic Supernatural Fantasy) Page 36