by J D Dench
“I know why,” Matias said. He stood up and walked around the opposite side of the table from Kayla until they were each on one end of the table. Matias stood beside Thero, and Kayla beside Liz. “You were scared because if you were questioned, you wouldn’t be able to give us answers without admitting the truth. That you couldn’t fight with us. Because you aren’t one of us. You were working with the Demons.”
Before Golvannor could argue, Kayla cut him off. “The snake said your name. I think his name was Igrath, if I heard them correctly. He said ‘Golvannor won’t wait forever’. What are we supposed to assume?”
“She’s right,” Matias added, “I heard it too. If you were questioned, you would admit to working for the Demons. And then you would die. So you ran. Is that right?”
Kayla took a step toward Golvannor. He fell backwards, trying to put space between her and himself. She simply took another step forward. “And you know what else? I don’t know you. Matias doesn’t know you. Nobody knows you except a few Elves and Liz.” She shrugged and smiled, narrowing her eyes at him again. She knew it made him uneasy. “Where did you come from? Where were you born? Who are your parents?”
He didn’t say anything. Kayla felt her temper flaring but held it back, allowing her anger to only shine in her eyes. The glare she was giving the skinny man on the ground seemed to slice through him. “Did you know Lillian speaks to me?”
Golvannor nodded his head quickly. “’O course I know ‘hat,” he answered with a sharp nod.
“She tells me about Demons her ancestors faced, including those who faced off against a man who called himself a Demon God. And you know what she told me?”
The man shook his head. But Kayla could sense the fear rising in him as he took a hard swallow. Kayla continued, “Lillian told me there was a sneaky little Demon that nobody knew the name of that hid himself with people and planted memories in their heads to make himself seem legitimate. Does that sound familiar?”
The man froze. His blood ran cold. His eyes fixed on Kayla. “Lillian knew me?” His words were so quiet, only Kayla could hear him. “She knew what I did then?”
Kayla lowered her own voice. “She knows you were the one that had guards killed by rulers. And you were the one that left the doors unlocked when said rulers were killed by Demons. She knows your glory with the little power you have.”
Matias didn’t say anything. He knew what Kayla was doing. She was feeding the man lies that made him seem famous and powerful when he was only weak and pathetic.
A sinister, wide smile spread across his face. The light seemed to leave him. “I served Azzaan with what I had.” His accent faded, the gaze in his eyes going dark.
Thero reached for his sword and got ready to jump forward. He was held in place by Matias. “Breathe,” Matias said quietly. “We need him.”
“It would be a shame if your legacy ended here, wouldn’t it?” Kayla kneeled down under her face was level with his. His dark eyes met her own, and his smile only intensified. “Nobody would know this was all because of you. Personally, I want to hear how your story is supposed to end.”
The man cleared his throat. “What do you want?” he said. His voice was dry, almost like dust had filled his lungs. The eyeballs in his sockets vanished, leaving only the darkness of his face.
“Information,” Kayla stated. “What does Azzaan want? Where is he hiding? What happened to our companions we sent to BlueCrest?”
Before they could get a response, the man’s skin began to peel away. It was absorbed into him, along with all of his blood and organs. He kept transforming before everybody’s eyes until they saw his real form. He appeared as a skeleton, only he had six extra arms growing out of his torso. Instead of legs, a second torso grew were the man’s knees would have been, curling upward to eight more arms and a second head. He appeared as an aqrabuamelu to ancient mythologies, but to Kayla’s eyes he appeared almost like two skeletons merged together at the hip, one looking to the sky while the other stayed on the ground.
“Azzaan is the God this world needs to guide them to immortality,” the Demon said with a large smile. “He does not hide. He waits. He plans. And he wants all mortality dead, but none more than the Elves, and none more than the Queen herself and the wielder of her Sword.”
Kayla felt a shiver go down her spine. “And at BlueCrest?” The Demon’s face was impossible to read, but Kayla could only assume he was smiling at her, almost on the brink of laughter. “Galruman the Devil rules there with his hordes of minions. It’s really a shame you captured me, because this was going to be my Kingdom when the Realm has finally fallen to the power of Azzaan.”
The group set out of the Palace to their next destination: BlueCrest. Lotesta and Ryo were the only ones to stay behind. Liz had Lotesta ruling the Kingdom in her absence. And Ryo had to keep an eye on the Portal with Liz’s guards. With Liz was Matias, Kayla, Thero, Ti’a, and Hanika. Ti’a, Hanika and Thero were guarding Golvannor as they ventured through the land and out of Elven territory. They were heading South-West, setting course directly toward BlueCrest castle.
The path had a strange feeling to Kayla. Just about a year ago, Rizza, Liz, Kayla and Matias had come the opposite direction to get Kayla into safe lands. They crossed through the same small town where Kayla had been brought after being poisoned by assassins. Matias had rushed her there after the attack, forced the antidote down her throat, and saved her life for the second or third time. The town was Lancington.
They also passed the body of water where Matias had saved Kayla from Amberry, the shape-shifter that had taken on the form of Tony to try and get into Kayla’s head. She had been swimming in the lake when Amberry came to her, but Matias killed him and dealt with her verbal abuse for killing “Tony”. The lake led to the OldGold River that ran alongside BlueCrest. Seeing these spots brought back bittersweet memories of when they had first met.
And the first time I ever met Matias was at BlueCrest when he saved me from the Demon Tortuine, my first even Demon that I had fought. She remembered the battle well. She had fought her best while Liz and Rizza handled the guards of BlueCrest. The Demon had been about to overpower her when an arrow struck him in the chest. She didn’t know it at the time, but the arrow had been fired by an assassin sent to protect the Sword named Matias.
The lands of BlueCrest had changed so much. The trees were thinning and dying where Kayla remembered them to be thick. The ground was covered in dead grass. A thin layer of ash sat atop the dying lands. When they reached eyesight of the Castle, Kayla had to look twice to make sure it was the same as before. The first time she had seen it, it was massive and breathtaking. They had left after killing Tortuine and had been released by the warriors of BlueCrest in gratitude. Now, from where she stood, Kayla saw a dull gray castle with stone walls that were beginning to grow moss and falling apart. The flag that hung proudly in the sky was now torn up and hung limp, despite the breeze. And the air just had a dark, evil presence to it.
“What do we do?” Kayla asked to nobody in particular. Matias looked to the sky. “It’s going to be night soon. I think we should wait until morning before looking for an opening and planning our next moves.”
“No way,” Thero argued. “We can’t guard this Demon all night.”
“Whatever the plan is,” Liz added, “we need to move fast. Being this close to the castle feels like a terrible idea.”
“It is,” Golvannor said with a smile. “But it’s too late to run. You fools walked right into a trap.” He took a deep breath. “They’re here.”
Kayla was about to demand an explanation when she heard a growling sound. The sound came from the trees around them that were dying, but they weren’t quite dead yet. She drew her Sword, but the growling only grew louder and louder. Everybody grabbed their weapons and made a circle.
The growling came from every direction. Darkness seemed to spread from the trees. Kayla stared at the darkness as eyes looked back at her. She realized the darkness spreading
from the trees was not darkness. It was dark figures, so many that they made a single solid wall that closed around them.
A wall of darkness.
“What are they?”
“Galruman’s minions,” the skeleton Demon said with a smirk. “Wolves of the night. My suggestion is to not pet them.”
A single wolf walked in front of the rest. Kayla could hardly make out its form from the darkness behind it. The wolf’s mouth opened, revealing teeth as silver as steel. When it walked, its fur did not shift.
Be careful, Lillian told Kayla. Their fur is sharper than any blade.
“Keep them away,” Kayla warned the rest. “We need to keep them back!”
“There’s so many, how are we supposed to fight them?” Hanika’s voice was filled with panic.
Matias grabbed hold of the head of the Hammer and thrust it onto his chest. In a flash, he was wearing his armor, known throughout the Elven Lands now as Hamerst’s Strength. He flashed his axes at the Demons. “I’ll give it all I’ve got.”
It won’t be enough, Kayla thought. Lillian, Hamerst had more power. Do you have any? Because if you do, I think we are going to need it.
Lillian said nothing. Kayla could feel Lillian looking at the situation through her eyes. She stared at the wolf, who tilted its head to the sky and howled. Soon, the night was full of howling. And the wolves lunged as one, the walls of darkness closing in around them.
I give myself to your will, Lillian.
Chapter Eleven
Kayla was in a small cabin surrounded by darkness. Not shifting darkness like that of the wolves. This was a still darkness. Kayla took a deep breath through her nostrils and caught two smells: smoke and dust. Her eyes fixated on the only source of light in the room. A fire burned in the center of darkness. On the other side of the fire was a familiar figure in a chair. The figure faced Kayla, her silver hair draping along the sides of her angelic face. Her perfect lips were turned into a sad smile. In the center of the room was Lillian. She was sitting in a chair and facing Kayla, a sad smile on her face.
“Have a seat,” Lillian requested. Her legs were crossed, and her hands sat neatly on her lap. “We need to talk.”
A second chair stood on the other side of the flames. Kayla crossed to the chair and sat. The room was chilly, yet Kayla felt no cold air in the room. Nor did any heat radiate from the flames as they licked away at the logs beneath them. Where are we?
“How do we have time to talk? We were just under attack.” Kayla could feel every muscle in her body tensing as she remembered the wolves lunging at her, their teeth shining white among the bass of black. “Where are we?”
“No, when we are in here no time passes out there. Where we are is the inside of the Sword, where time cannot pass. So you can relax for the moment.” Lillian glanced around at her surroundings. “This place has been my home for many, many years Kayla.” “Home? But it’s so empty.”
Lillian didn’t answer Kayla. She sat in silence until she finally broke it. “I need to ask you something.” Her gaze shifted to her folded hands on her lap. “It’s so difficult to ask. It’s such an important task, and yet it’s so impossible to ask of a single person. But yet, I don’t have any choice.”
“Lillian, I’m ready.” Kayla’s voice said it all. She sounded nothing but certain that she could handle whatever Lillian asked of her. “Matias told me about his promise. If you need me to protect the Elves for the rest of my days I’m ready to do that. I don’t want to leave this world, Lillian.”
In a flash, her eyes shot back up. “You don’t want to leave? You don’t want to go back to your world and have a normal life? You seemed so happy there, especially with your friend. I could feel your joy, Kayla.” Her voice lowered. “Some would even call what you feel toward your friend ‘love’.”
Kayla imagined Zae and her hand shot to the necklace around her neck. “Of course I love and miss Zae. And of course I love and miss my world, but this world is something else Lillian.” Kayla stood up and walked to the window. “Where in my world could you find a freezing cabin in the middle of darkness that doesn’t make you cold? It doesn’t even make sense, and yet here I am.
“Lillian, the Elves have saved my life and given me more than I could ask for in my entire life. Not just you and the amazing power of the Sword. Not just Liz and her company and friendship. But all the Elves I have met have been amazing, wonderful people.
“There were the Elves that went in search of Olap’s companions in the ancient Elven city in the Demon Lands.” Images of Aega crossed her mind. With Aega had been Hanika and Thero, as well as two other Elves Kayla hadn’t seen since.
“There were the Elves that fought alongside the Dwarves during the final battle, a vision that I know you and Hamerst never thought you would be able to see.” And again Kayla remembered what she had been told. How Nate and Olap had fought side by side, Olap saving Nate’s life until the end. How Rizza had led both races into battle, a human commanding both Elf and Dwarf to sacrifice everything to defeat the darkness before them.
“I have seen amazing things, Lillian. Impossible things. And I am prepared to see many, many more. I will not let myself die in the hands of Azzaan or any of his men. I will not let him take the Elven lands or the Palace away. I will fight and defend these lands, not just for the Elves but for all that live here. I will live and witness the scenes you always wanted to gaze upon but never lived to see, and you will envision them through my eyes.”
Kayla turned back around. Lillian was still looking at Kayla, but tears filled her eyes and dripped down her cheeks. She had never seen Lillian cry, but the smile on the elf’s lips make Kayla believe they were happy tears. “That’s exactly what I needed to hear,” she said quietly. “Then you truly are related to me in some way. And I can trust you with everything I have.”
Kayla walked over to her and leaned down, hugging the Elf tight. She never realized how thin the woman was. She felt almost fragile in Kayla’s arms. Kayla always thought of Lillian as incredibly powerful like the Sword, but really the woman was just another mortal trapped in an immortal Sword. “You can trust me,” Kayla said to Lillian, “because I trust you just as much, if not even more.”
And with a flash, Kayla was back in her body. She was staring at the leading wolf of darkness charging at her, teeth standing bare and eyes darting straight through her. But it wasn’t moving. Nobody was moving. The wind blew hard around her, and the spiked fur on the the wolves’ bodies shifted in the breeze. The trees rustled around her, but nothing moved. It was as if life itself were holding its breath, waiting for Kayla’s next move.
The Sword lifted out of Kayla’s palm. She tried to reach out and grab it, but she was frozen in place. She was forced to watch the Sword rise in the darkness. The dark weapon radiated a breathtaking golden light from within, and in an instant the blade shattered into tiny shards.
The light clung to one piece, larger than the rest, and the one piece floated down to Kayla. It pushed into her midsection. Kayla felt the warmth of the light within her. She closed her eyes and let it soak through her. It went through her skin and flowed with her blood, wrapping around all of her muscles and digging into each of her bones. When she opened her eyes again, the shards began moving toward her. They clung to the larger piece and wrapped around her.
The pieces covered her legs, only leaving space around her ankles and knees for mobility. The shards were not sharp. In fact, they seemed to melt into a liquid and harden around her into a smooth, light armor that fit her like a new layer of flesh. The shards crawled up her chest and hugged around her arms. They curved around her hips leaving them exposed. Her elbows and wrists were left exposed as well for extra mobility with her weapons. The final shards wrapped around the back of her head, stopping in the middle of her forehead. They also reached around both sides of her head, stopping halfway past her cheeks. The helmet was there to provide some protection while ensuring she had full mobility and visibility.
Th
e hilt for the Sword still stood in the air. It broke apart into ten pieces. Each of these pieces fell down to Kayla and wrapped themselves around her fingers, giving her blades for fingers. They reminded Kayla of claws and smiled at the genius design of the armor.
Lillian’s Claws, Lillian whispered into Kayla’s ear.
I can see everything. Nothing can hit me from behind and cause damage. I can move fast, and my weapons are connected to me to make me even faster. My armor is made for speed, while Matias’ is made for strength. The perfect combination. Just like Hamerst and Lillian. Kayla smiled a little. Just like Matias and I.
Time unfroze slightly, moving ever so slowly. Kayla saw the look in the head wolf’s eyes. It knew she had changed. It saw the new armor. But it showed no signs of retreat or fear. In fact, Kayla read those eyes and saw the wolf challenging her. Its lips curled back to expose more of its fangs, the eyes burning into Kayla’s. The message to Kayla was clear. It said you have a new form, but you are still outnumbered.
“Lillian guide me,” Kayla said quietly to herself. Then, time started again, though Kayla still felt like everything was slowed down. She ran forward to meet the head wolf and instantly sliced into him with the finger blades on her right hand. Without thinking, she spun around and slashed out with her left hand, cutting down two more. One lunged toward Liz. Without even thinking about it, Kayla kicked it back and spun in a full circle with her hands spread to slice through the wolves pushing their way through the trees.
Kayla followed Lillian’s lead. She knelt down and pushed off. The height she reached amazed her, because she could look down and see all the wolves charging forward. She also spotted her allies fighting, Matias slashing away at the wolves as fast as he could with the axes on his arms.
Liz was using the Eternal Flame. Every wolf she wounded burned to death, burning the allies around it. Frostbite bounced against her back with every stroke, the brilliant bright blue shining through the shadows around them.
