Phoenix of Hope: Complete Series — Books 1-4

by Zora Marie

  Just as they made it to the fork in the path at the edge of the lake, Alrindel's voice rang out from the forest entrance, “I leave for less than a day and you not only make friends with Princess Linithion, but you turn the place into a winter wonderland! Maybe I should leave more often?”

  Zelia and Linithion ran up and stopped in front of the path to the gazebo. “Or maybe you should leave less often so you don’t miss anything,” Zelia teased.

  “Um, hm.” Alrindel dragged his elk into the snow before untying it from his horse.

  “Gotcha!” Skylar snatched her and Linithion up, one under each arm, as they stood distracted.

  “No, I think I got you.” A clump of snow flew up and hit Skylar in the back of the head.

  Skylar dropped them and scooped up a handful of snow. “Oh, it's on now.”

  Zelia and Skylar exchanged snowballs. She was nice and didn't use her powers to deflect them.

  Linithion threw one at Alrindel dragging him into the ensuing snowball war. Even Eleanor and the stuffier of the Elves joined in.

  Skylar and Nikolas were first to wave the white flag, or rather black 'flag' covered in snow since the only thing white they had was snow.

  “Ready to give up so soon?” Linithion asked as Zelia wavered.

  Zelia nodded with a pained sigh and plopped down in the scattered snow. Snowballs continued to wiz by their heads as the other Elves continued to laugh and play.

  “You alright?” Alrindel asked.

  “Just winded.” She took a deep breath, wincing as she remembered she shouldn’t do that, and turned to Linithion. “Let's go show Eleanor and Eadon the gazebo.”

  Mocking Eadon, Linithion crossed her arms. “You wouldn't just be trying to get out of talking about yourself, would you?”

  Even though her lungs hurt, Zelia couldn't help but laugh as Eadon stood behind Linithion.

  “And just what have you two been conspiring about?” Eadon asked.

  “Nothing.” Linithion pulled her arms behind her back as she turned to face Eadon and Eleanor.

  “Linithion, you know you are terrible at lying,” Eleanor half teased, half scolded.

  “Fine, Auntie Eleanor. I'll show you.” Linithion grabbed Eleanor’s hand and skipped towards the gazebo, pulling Eleanor along behind her.

  “Well, come on.” Zelia dragged herself to her feet and ushered Eadon to follow Linithion.

  Intrigued, Alrindel and many of the others followed them.

  “This is for you and Eadon, Aunty Eleanor.” Linithion spun around the open floor of the gazebo before looking back to the two of them standing together.

  “She designed it.” Zelia leaned against Alrindel as she struggled to focus through her exhaustion. Though she needed this, the laughter and the light-hearted fun, she shouldn’t have done so much.

  “Uh, are you two insinuating something?” Eadon asked.

  Skylar leaned against a snowy column, one arm above his head. “Are you two serious?” Skylar asked Eadon. “We all know you love each other. Why not make it official already and be together?”

  Eleanor and Eadon's mouths gaped as they looked around at the other Elves who had gathered. They all beamed with approving grins. Linithion's eyes lit up as Eadon and Eleanor looked into each other's eyes.

  “I'll be right back.” Linithion ran off across the snow without leaving a trace.

  When she returned, she dropped a small silver ring in each of their hands. “There, now you can make the betrothal official.” There was a bright sparkle in her eyes as she stepped back. “Well, go on!”

  “You heard the Princess, go on Eadon.” Eleanor held out her hand, it was the first time Zelia had ever seen her smile like that.

  Eadon slipped the slender ring of silver over Eleanor's index finger and she did the same before leaning in to kiss him. All the Elves standing around the gazebo were cheering when a falcon dropped a scroll at Eleanor's feet and landed on a nearby rail.

  “Flyx, why are you here?” Zelia asked as Eleanor unrolled the scroll.

  “Kniteoff, very, very bad dragon,” Flyx screeched.

  “Of course, he is. He’s an ancient dragon, not one of the friendly ones. So, what is he doing?”

  “Eating people, lots and lots of people. And some Dwarves! My poor Prince Connan, losing more of his people.”

  “Great, he probably ran out of Darkans to snuff out of the lower caverns.” She heaved a sigh and spun around to face the others. “Eleanor, we might want to take this inside.”

  “Why?” Eleanor used her telepathy so the others wouldn’t hear.

  “Because we need to talk before you make a decision.”

  “You know something…”

  “I know a lot of things and yet not enough. Come.” She opened a new path off the snow gazebo with a flick of her hand as a crowd had gathered at the original opening and headed up the hill.

  “Zelia, what’s going on?” Alrindel asked.

  She stopped and turned back. “Come, it’s time I told you of my travels.”

  “What about me? What am I? Chopped liver?” Skylar asked.

  She couldn’t help but smile. “You already know most of it as the boys couldn’t keep a secret if they tried, but you may want to hear the news anyway.”

  “What is she talking about, Skylar?” Alrindel asked.

  “Dragon Island, Keller and Kafthry were eager to tell stories of her far more than of themselves.”

  Keller… they never should have come with me. Maybe he would still be alive. Her smile fell away, and she continued up the hill.

  5

  Zelia sat on the edge of the hearth, the heat and warmth of the light calling to her.

  “Zelia, would you please get away from there,” Eadon asked when he entered the room.

  “Eleanor, would you tell them why we’re here?” Zelia pulled back from the flames but didn’t turn to face them.

  “Kniteoff, he’s started eating the people of The Trading Town and any Dwarves that pass through,” Eleanor said.

  “Okay, but what does that have to do with Zelia’s travels?” Alrindel asked.

  “Kniteoff is a dragon, and before the battle at the hold, I was at Dragon Island. Not only that, but I’m pretty sure he already knows of me,” Zelia said.

  “How? And why are you just now telling us?” Eadon asked.

  “I felt his presence when I was on my way to save you.” She glanced to Alrindel, but her gaze fell just as fast. And brought others to their doom.

  “You didn’t say anything about it to the others, did you?” Skylar asked.

  “No, there were other problems at hand, it would have done them no good to know.”

  “Well, you said you wanted to tell them of your travels, so tell.” Skylar sank back into an armchair, the cushions forming around him.

  “Dragons communicate with a form of telepathy much like yours, Eleanor, only not so selectively. The dragons on the island already knew of me or at least the oldest of them, Raven, did. Their voices reverberate through your head and it took a while to figure out how to reply in the same way. Now I can feel the presence of a dragon if they’re nearby.”

  “I guess I’m lucky to have heard the stories from the boys, they made it much more interesting,” Skylar teased.

  “You’re right, they liked to tell stories about me, especially Keller. But Keller is dead and Kafthry is in the Drakeon Empire. Even if Kafthry were here, I doubt he’d speak much as Keller was all he had left.” And he’s gone because of me. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she refused to let them spill over.

  “Zelia, it is not your fault,” Eleanor’s voice was gentle. “You can’t blame yourself for everything that happens.”

  But they only came because of me.

  “You know that’s not true,” Eleanor said, the others staying quiet as Eleanor countered Zelia’s thoughts.

  “Would you please stay out of my head?”

  “Only if you stop blaming yourself for things you can’t control.�
�

  “But I could have. I should have refused to let them go or left without them. They never should have left Dragon Island and Keller is just one life of many I could have saved, could have spared.” Her ribs constricted on the metal plate and she almost welcomed the pain, as if she deserved any pain life or death could throw at her for what she had done.

  Eadon seemed to melt in front of her and pulled her into his arms. “Shh, you can’t blame yourself for lives lost, it will eat you alive.”

  She pulled closer and buried her face in his chest. “But what if I deserve it?” she mumbled through a catch in her throat.

  “You don’t deserve that, and you know it.”

  She shook her head. “You have no idea what I’ve done, and I could have stopped it. I didn’t have to do it. I should have killed myself, like I did for Koin.”

  “Koin? What do you mean?”

  Images of torturing her beloved Elven teacher filtered through her thoughts, and she shivered.

  “She had a dream, a foresight, that they would force her to torture and kill Koin. She killed herself instead of hurting him,” Eleanor spoke for her in an almost broken tone. “How many secrets are you keeping? I’m sorry Zelia, but I have to know...”

  “Please, no.” If Eadon hadn’t held her, she would have bolted away.

  “Eleanor, what about her pain? You’ll feel all of it.” Eadon turned her away from Eleanor the slightest bit, putting himself between the two of them.

  “I know, but the past will eat her alive and I need to know what they did to her. What they are planning to do to her. Please, hold her still.”

  “Eleanor, no!” Alrindel and Skylar moved to grab her but were too late.

  They both withered in pain, but Eleanor didn’t let go.

  “Please, stop,” Zelia cried through the spasms and thrashing as memories of being tortured, torturing others, and chants ran through her mind. The pieces of her mind shattered and swirled through her like shards of glass in a tornado. Each piece reflected some part of her past as it whipped by, reflecting other parts of herself as it cut her. She fought to keep her powers from lashing out and hurting Eadon or any of the others. She could feel the flames drawing towards her as her fingers cracked.

  “P… please stop,” she sobbed as she held a single memory in her hands, the one that let her leash her powers, as her past played out and she lay bare beneath Eleanor’s hand. The last of the memories filtered through her mind. The taste of iron nipped the tip of her tongue as she bit her lip and her nose bled.

  Eadon found himself torn between the daughter he’d raised and the women he loved as Eleanor fell away. Eleanor’s skin was ashen, and tears stained her cheeks, even as she clasped her chest, where Zelia’s own pain lingered.

  Alrindel snatched Zelia away from Eadon and rocked her. “Shh, it’s okay. I’ve got you.”

  “Are you okay my love?” Eadon asked Eleanor.

  “She is in a lot more pain than she lets on, but yes, I will be fine,” Eleanor forced the words.

  “Zelia, are you okay?” Skylar wiped the hair from her face. The fury in his eyes told her enough of what he thought of Eleanor in that moment.

  I’ve been through worse. She reminded herself through the tears and gave a slight nod.

  “Do not let her fool you, she cracked some of her ribs thrashing around.” There was a slight strain in Eleanor’s voice as the pain still lingered. “Go get her cleaned up and in bed.”

  “Not going to tell us what you saw?” Skylar snarled. Zelia flinched at Skylar’s tone. She had fought beside him and not once had she heard such hate in his tone before now.

  “Take care of her first. I need to process it all and she just relived it.”

  “I... I’m alright,” her voice cracked as she lied, her shudder at the thought of what had happened barely contained. “At least Rogath didn’t have to go through that. Enough has happened to him because of me.” She wiped her eyes with a shaky hand.

  “Always worrying about others, at least some things haven’t changed.” Alrindel helped her to her feet from where he sat on the floor and started to follow her, but she pushed his hand away.

  “I can clean myself up.”

  Zelia wasn’t sure why she did it, but she lingered outside the door for a moment, listening.

  “Do not let her be alone after that, no matter what she says,” Eleanor said.

  “What if she doesn’t want me there?” Alrindel asked, his tone laced with concern.

  “Alrindel, she went back to the cave where they held her on the way to save you. She was willing to go back to her own hell just for a chance to save you. Trust me, she will want you there more than us.”

  “Eleanor is right, though I don’t think it was even a choice in her mind.” Skylar paused, then continued, “Eragon told me once, and I think he was right, that she feels she owes you a great deal for what good lies in her heart, but it also hurts her to know that she tried to forget you, all of you.”

  A pang of guilt twisted in the pit of Zelia’s stomach and bid her listen no more. She shuffled down the hall and into her room, where she fell to her knees in front of the hearth that sat cold. Why did Eleanor have to do that? I... I didn’t want them to know. Tears brimmed to the surface, but she refused to let them flow as she found herself once again bound to the shadows of the past.

  “Zelia?”

  She shrank away almost in fear until the broken tone of Alrindel’s voice registered.

  For a moment, it was Asenten’s robes bathed in the light of his staff that stood beside her instead of Alrindel with a blanket bathed in starlight from her open door.

  “Please, not now,” she murmured at the memories that leached past the ruins of her inner walls. Those memories had been crashing at her walls for months now, and Eleanor had shattered and scattered them among the memories of dancing and laughter for her to piece back together.

  Alrindel fell to his knees and wrapped her in the blanket. “Shh, Asenten is gone, he can’t hurt you anymore.”

  “Maybe, but the others can make me hurt you and he still haunts me.”

  “I know he does, and how you’ve managed to go on like this I will never know.”

  Skylar’s even step stopped behind her and a few thuds and strikes of flint on steel later, a fire crackled to life beside her.

  “Skylar.”

  “Yes?” There was a long silence, and he heaved a sigh. “You heard me earlier, didn’t you?” She gave a slight nod, and he continued, “I’m sorry, Zelia, but you can’t keep secrets here. Not among those who care about you most. Those who care about you for more than just your power and what you can do for them.”

  “I know,” her voice cracked. “I just didn’t want to hurt any of you. I’ve seen what it does to others when they learn of my past. Those who have but a shred of a reason to blame themselves tear themselves apart for what they could have, should have done. I can’t bear to see anyone go through that, not again.”

  “But in saving us from that pain, you’ve made us suffer in a different way. None here can bear to see you struggle on this path alone. It’s been destroying you, maybe more than the past itself did,” Alrindel spoke in a soothing whisper, but the truth in his words cut deep in her heart.

  She had no words, and they sat in silence with the warmth of the fire at her side for some time. Alrindel shifted a bit, and she cringed as her broken ribs moved against him.

  “Skylar, would you help me wrap her up?” Alrindel asked.

  “Yeah, I’ll go get the stuff.” A few minutes later, Skylar returned and pulled the blanket from her. “Can you stand? It would be easier.”

  She gave a nod and forced herself to her feet.

  “I’m fine.”

  Alrindel glared at her, and she shrugged.

  “It hurts, but I’m fine.”

  It wasn’t the pain that bogged her down, but the past and how the others would react when Eleanor told them what preyed on her mind.

  She used
a dampened cloth to clean the dried blood from her nose, then tossed it in the fire.

  “Why did you just do that?” Alrindel asked.

  “My blood can be used to bind me. The more blood, the more hold the spell has. That’s how they held me so well for so long. And probably how they controlled me on Hyperia.” She took a breath and froze. “How do I know that? I didn’t know that’s how they bound me, or did I?”

  Alrindel and Skylar exchanged a worried glance, but something told her it wasn’t because she was remembering new things.

  “Let me guess, Vainoff took everything that had my blood on it?”

  Both boys seemed to deflate at the thought.

  “Well, there’s his chance to prove his loyalties then. Though even if he is one of them, I doubt he’ll do anything until he has more.” She heaved a sigh and gripped her chest as soon as she did. “Okay, can we wrap me up now?” she wheezed.

  “Of course.” Skylar stepped forward and ran a snug wrap around her chest. “There, now try not to get hurt again.”

  “Aw, but then you guys wouldn’t get to practice your first aid.” She let out a long yawn and both their stomachs growled.

  “Sounds like the two of you could use something to eat. Come on.” Alrindel ushered them towards the door.

  “And then we all need some rest before we leave,” Zelia said.

  “Leave?” Alrindel asked.

  “Kniteoff, the dragon.”

  “What makes you think you’re going?”

  “Well, can either of you converse with a dragon? No? Didn’t think so.” She turned and headed down the hallway.

  “You just got hurt again, Eleanor just ripped through your memories, and you think you are going?”

  She spun to face them and for a moment, blinded by her inner agony, she forgot who she spoke to.

  “Bar killing me and using my blood to bind me as I once was, you can’t stop me. Plenty of people from The Trading Town have died by my hand over the years and it is time I repaid them.” Alrindel stiffened with shock at her sharpness, and she fell back a pace. “I... I’m sorry. But I owe it to them and to myself to try to save them. Besides, I need to understand how all of this is connected and I couldn’t live with myself if something happened because I didn’t try. Not now that I’m free.”