Trials

by Hannah Parker

  “Alina is family,” Arden stated. “Family isn’t left behind.”

  Odaer’s confident grin shifted into a grimace, his eyes now firmly on me.

  “No. Family isn’t left behind.”

  Odaer turned from us, taking down the man from the horse attached to his own, and quickly removing the hood before throwing him down at Arden’s feet.

  “The boy,” he snarled.

  Arden paused before turning his head to the side and giving me a nod.

  I stepped forward, trying to keep my pace but hastening as I saw Kiyne’s eyes finally set upon me.

  “Kiyne,” I said lowly as I ran to his side.

  “Alina,” he whispered. “You shouldn’t be here.”

  I fell to my knees, wrapping my arms around him in a tight embrace. I felt him tremble beneath my touch, as if sore and broken. I couldn’t have imagined his pain before, but as I hugged him, I could feel every cry, every whimper, and every mark that had now been scarred across his being both physically and emotionally.

  “What have they done to you?” I said, trying my best to fight back tears.

  “Alina, you can’t be here,” he continued. “He only wants you. He’s going to destroy the Ethereal. All of it.”

  “Well?” Odaer commented, looking down at myself and Kiyne. “Take your weld-master.”

  I looked up at Odaer with a cruel stare.

  “Release his chains,” I ordered.

  “Of course, my dear,” he said calmly. “How silly of me.”

  He tossed the key to Kiyne’s restraints to me, watching as I quickly unfastened them and tossed them toward the water. Had they been lighter they would’ve sunk to the bottom but, I couldn’t throw something that heavy and seeing that they’d been strapped to Kiyne only angered me further.

  “Alina,” Kiyne begged, trying to take hold of me as his hands were freed.

  “Go,” I said to him, once more standing to face Odaer.

  “Alina,” Arden whispered.

  “Go, both of you.”

  It was as if the wind had stopped completely, and the only sound were the words that I allowed to echo out. I felt the rage in my body threaten to expose itself, the fire that wanted to flow from my hands at the ready whenever I could command it.

  Arden helped Kiyne to his feet, slowly guiding him toward the Arcanon at our backs as I remained on the field.

  “You have your granddaughter, let them leave, and I will go with you,” I stated firmly.

  “As you wish,” Odaer commented, watching as the two departed.

  “Alina... remember,” Arden whispered against the silence.

  The Arcanon had already begun their attack, pulling the water from the Bay and launching it over the Marauders before me, ensnaring them in a whirlpool and leaving them helpless. I watched as their bubbles tried to pin me but, I wouldn’t be left to be shielded. I would fight.

  “Alina!” Arden ordered as I took a stance back, taking my axe from beneath my cloak.

  The Marauders not caught up in the waves lunged forward, prepared to strike both me and the Arcanon down before the Masters began their quakes. Vicious tremors scattered beneath the ground, sending both myself and my attackers off balance. Some fell into the deep crevices that had erupted on the surface, while others managed to catch themselves and continue on. I watched Odaer move in motion with the quakes as if detecting them and adapting with ease. His hand went up once more, two fingers beginning a signal I could only believe to be ‘fire’.

  “No!” I shouted, running forward and turning myself on my own comrades. I threw down my axe, pulling my hands in toward my body before letting the orange glow within finally emit itself in the open. I balled my hands together, creating the fire once again and letting it spread wider and wider as I separated my palms against my chest. I thrust my hands into the ground once more, the same barrier of flame shooting from the deep cracks in the ground and cutting off the Arcanon from the Marauders.

  I felt the hail of arrows fly over my head, and I watched as each and every one crashed against my wall of fire, falling to the ground, useless. I could see Odaer out of my peripherals, his hand lowering and his eyes filled with surprise. He may have anticipated the Arcanons’ attack during nightfall, but he hadn’t expected my salvation.

  “Alina!” Kiyne and Arden cried out.

  I could see their faces beyond my wall of flame but this time it was me on the opposite side. The flames grew, higher and higher to combat any attacks that were flung toward it. I placed my hand against the wall, expecting heat but once more feeling nothing. I watched as both Kiyne and Arden panicked, looking for a way in to pull me through.

  I could’ve jumped through the fire with ease. I could’ve taken their outstretched hands and pulled myself to them, leaving the Marauders, and Odaer behind once more. But they wouldn’t stop. If I left with my friends, my family, they wouldn’t stop chasing us. I had to protect them. To fix things and make them right. The war would never end if we kept running. It was time to face it.

  I turned to Odaer, his eyes watching me with fascination and surprise.

  “Let’s go,” I said.

  A delightful grin danced across his thin, cracked lips, his hand outstretching to me as if calling me home. I took hold, pulling myself to his side and looking back once more to see my family; safe behind my wall of flames and protected from any further harm.

  “Welcome home, Alina.”

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