Whispers of Time

by Gwendolyn Ilimaris

  “Dūkāerav!” Jake glanced back again when he heard a dark elf say a spell word. His eyes filled with fear when he saw that Sara’s force wall was gone.

  “No!” He cried when they swung a katana at his sister and Sara. A sudden clashing of the blades caused Jake to freeze for a moment. Raven was in front of Paige and Sara with his katana raised. He had managed to get between them and the dark elf before the blade could connect. Remaining close to the girls, Raven dropped dark elves all around him before one managed to get close. It stabbed at him with a dagger and sliced him across the back. He gasped as he twisted and ran the elf through with his katana. Taking an unsteady step, he dropped to one knee. Seeing him at a momentary disadvantage another dark elf rushed him and brought his sword down for a killing blow, but another sword blocked it. Raven glanced up in surprise and saw that Paige had her blade between him and the dark elf. She was shaking with fear but held her ground. She twisted the blade like Raven taught her and she stabbed the elf in the stomach. A look of shock was frozen on the dark elf’s face as he stumbled backwards. His face contorted with anger when he saw that she was human. He jabbed his katana forward and managed to stab her in the chest before she could get out of the way. Paige gasped before she crumpled to the ground.

  “Paige!” Raven cried as he scrambled back to his feet. He killed any dark elf that was close before he dropped to his knees beside her. He held his hands over the wound and closed his eyes. “Rujhāe, Rujhāe,” he repeated before his eyes flew open. The healing spell was not working. “Lady Rin, I cannot heal her!” His voice was panicked as he scanned the cavern looking for Rin. When he saw her sprinting toward them, he moved a little bit so that Rin had room. She knelt beside Paige and held her hands over the wound in her chest, but she paused before she cast the healing spell.

  Her face grew sad, “She is gone.”

  Pure disbelief froze on Raven’s face. “No, no, I was right here,” he gasped. Rin tried to put a hand on his shoulder, but he jerked away. He did not acknowledge her as he reached down and brushed Paige’s hair out of her face.

  Rin glanced up and saw Jake running toward them. When he reached them, he dropped to his knees beside his sister. Rin’s eyes clouded with more sadness and she moved to stand up when she saw an older version of herself standing beside them.

  “Ryvāind,” older Rin said. “Say it now! He is attempting to alter the past. I only have a few moments. We cannot lose her yet.” Rin just stared at her. “Now! Touch her and say it!” Older Rin reached down and touched Rin on the shoulder. Rin hesitated before she put her hand on Paige’s arm.

  “Ryvāind?” As soon as the word was out of her mouth, Rin felt an enormous amount of power being forced out of her. Her whole body began to glow with a bright white light and her insides felt like they were on fire. She let out a small cry of pain as the power continued to increase. Glancing down at Paige, her eyes widened in shock when it appeared as if time was rewinding on just her. Rin collapsed to the side when older Rin stopped forcing power out of her. She could not comprehend how time had rewound two minutes and Paige was alive again. Raven gasped in shock, but he had his hands over her wound in seconds.

  “Rujhāe,” he said as his voice cracked. When he was finished healing the wound his eyes flew open and he grabbed Paige’s face with both hands. “Are you all right?” The words sounded choked.

  She was visibly disoriented, and it took her several moments before she nodded. He pulled her onto his lap and clung to her. His eyes were filled with tears, but he wiped at them before they could fall.

  Jake had a firm grip on Paige’s hand when Sara came up and wrapped both arms around him. She could see that he was distraught over the fact that he had nearly lost his sister. Her own tears soaked into his shirt when she rested her head on his shoulder. She could not imagine life without her best friend.

  When Rin sat up with Kaedin’s help Jake glanced over at her. “How?” he asked.

  “I do not know,” she replied, her voice weak. Her entire body still felt like it was burning, and blood dripped from her fingers because of the wound in her shoulder. She frowned when she could not heal the wound. All her magic was gone after the battle with the priestess and the time magic.

  “We must get inside Caradthrad,” Wren said when he, Jaeha, and Hikaru joined them. They were all exhausted. “We shall discuss what happened later.” He paused but when no one moved he frowned. “Now, we must move. There are still too many of them.”

  Raven stood with Paige in his arms, ignoring that his back was wet with blood from the large wound. Hikaru hurried over so that he was closer to them. Jake released Paige’s hand and stood with Sara’s help. He leaned on her while he held a hand against the wound in his side.

  “Which way?” Wren asked once Rin was back on her feet. She started forward while she leaned on Kaedin for support. They hurried as fast as they could manage. Wren stayed close to his sister and handled any dark elf that got too close to them while Jaeha dropped back and brought up the rear.

  They made their way into another large cavern and headed toward a path leading off to the right. Halfway across, an ice bolt suddenly appeared and flew straight at Rin. Kaedin pulled her back and stepped forward to cover her. The ice slammed into his back causing him to flinch when it connected but he made no other reaction. Being a silver dragon, he was immune to the effects of cold. Once the bolt disappeared, he turned to face where it came from while keeping Rin behind him. Another priestess stalked forward and came into full view.

  “I challenge her!” Her angry voice echoed off the stones. “She has murdered our high priestess and I shall have satisfaction!”

  Before Rin could respond, Wren stepped forward. “If you wish for an opponent it shall be me.”

  “If you wish to die sooner than the rest, I accept,” she hissed at him. “You shall all die here! Phanumura!” A large bolt of ice shot from her hands in Wren’s direction.

  “Ksāetras,” he said with a frown. He had no choice but to block it or it would have hit someone behind him. “Get them out of here!” He ordered glancing at Jaeha before he dashed forward to close the distance between himself and the priestess.

  Jaeha tried to lead them further along the path but Rin refused to leave her brother. “You must lead them out of here,” he said, his voice urgent. “I shall not leave my bonded behind.”

  “I was not left behind, and I shall not leave him. We will remain together,” she snapped, her voice defiant.

  Jaeha sighed and shook his head in frustration. He glanced at the others and could tell that none of them intended to leave either.

  The priestess sent more ice in Wren’s direction which he dodged as he continued forward. When he was within range, he brought his katana down at a sharp angle. The priestess leapt off to the side and brought her hands up for another spell. Wren spun and brought the katana down again, catching her arm with the blade.

  “Pevanas,” she gasped. A second later a strong wind pushed her backwards. Wren slid back several feet from the wind, but as soon as he stopped, he sprinted back toward the priestess. He knew he had to stay close so that she could not cast any large spells.

  “Ksāetras,” she said when she saw him getting close. A force wall cast in front of her, but Wren did not slow and raised his hand.

  “Dūkāerav,” he said, and the force wall disappeared with a quick twist of his wrist. The priestess’ face paled and she started to back up.

  “Jhyōta,” she yelped, and flames shot out of her hand. Wren leapt to the side and the flames passed him leaving him unscathed. He once again brought his katana down and she scrambled to get out of the way. “Pevanas,” she gasped. The wind pushed her away from Wren and put space between them again. Her face grew concerned. She knew that she could not compete with him in hand to hand combat and had to rely on her spells, but she needed distance to cast.

  Wren kept the pressure on as he continued to press forward. She used more ice bolts and another wind spell. They
seemed to be at a momentary stalemate as the pattern repeated several times. She cast another ice spell and Wren moved as if he would come forward but paused. This time he waited for the wind spell. As soon as she cast it, he sprinted in the direction she was going. He was fast enough that he would beat her.

  “Phanumura!” She yelled, her voice frantic when she realized her mistake. Dozens of ice bolts flew at him and he managed to dodge most of them before one caught him in the leg. He stumbled and went down to one knee. The priestess landed and took the opening to begin to cast a large spell. Wren saw her start casting and forced himself up on his injured leg. He ran toward her and brought his katana down. His blade connected with her just before she could cast the spell and she crumpled to the ground dead. Wren stumbled backward with a hand on his thigh and jumped in surprise when Jaeha grabbed his arm.

  “I told you to go,” Wren said as Jaeha put Wren’s arm over his own shoulder. The dragon helped him walk toward the others.

  “Your sister refused to leave,” Jaeha said with a frown.

  Wren shook his head in exasperation. “We must get out of here. If there is another priestess we are finished. There is no one left in any condition to fight one.”

  Jaeha tilted his head before he nodded, he knew only Hikaru, Kaedin, Sara, and himself were uninjured. As soon as they joined the others, they continued along the path while Hikaru moved around them keeping any of the straggling dark elves that approached them away. When they reached the other side of the cavern, they took the path that led to the right. They hurried until they reached another cavern. This one was smaller than the others and on the far side, they could see a crafted stone wall. Hurrying as best they could they crossed the room. Hikaru fell back and brought up the rear.

  Rin moved to the wall and felt along a row of stones near the middle. She found the small carving she was looking for and pressed on it causing a large stone door to swing open. They all rushed through the door and Hikaru pulled it closed behind him with a loud thud.

  Ronin stretched as he stood up from behind a large black solid wood desk. He ran a hand through his silver and red hair while he headed toward a balcony off his study. The study was a large room that had numerous books lining most of the walls. The far wall was open to the outside. It had great white pillars evenly spaced across the opening. The grey stone floors were covered with hand-woven dark brown and red rugs. There were several finely made chairs that were upholstered with black and gold fabrics.

  When Ronin reached the edge of the balcony he sighed and rested his hands on the white stone railing. He looked down over the front of the city of Caradthrad. The great city was cut deep into the mountain below his feet. Caradthrad was situated thousands of feet above the surrounding forest in the front of Mt. Carad. It had been built millenniums ago and had never been taken in war. The part of the city that could be seen from the front was a large stone archway carved into the mountain above the massive stone gates. The gates were several feet thick and stood thirty feet tall. They were very similar to the gates on a dwarven city since they had assisted in their construction.

  A large fully-grown silver dragon poised to strike was intricately carved into each side of the gate. The open area above the gates was large enough that a fully-grown dragon could fly through without being forced to transform. Just in front of the gate was a large landing where the steep narrow road leading up to the city ended. It ran up the mountain at a steep angle and could barely be seen when you looked at the front of the mountain. The balcony where Ronin stood was cleverly concealed in the face of the mountain, so unless you knew it was there it was nearly invisible. The rest of the city was buried deep inside the mountain. It ran for many miles with multiple levels.

  Ronin turned and headed back into his study when he heard a loud knock on the door. “You may enter,” he called.

  A soldier opened the door and hurried into the room. He was dressed in dark brown leather armor and had a katana strapped at his waist. “Your majesty, another fifty thousand of Lord Wren’s troops and another hundred riders have just arrived.”

  Ronin kept the surprise off his face when he faced the soldier, “See to it that they are housed.”

  The soldier bowed and left just as quickly as he arrived. Ronin watched him leave before his brows furrowed in thought. He still did not know what was causing Wren to send his troops to his city, but he knew something was amiss. It was almost six months ago when Wren asked if he could house some of his troops but did not explain why. Ronin agreed without question. He had known Wren his entire life and he was like an older brother to him. There was no reason not to trust him.

  With a heavy sigh, Ronin was about to sit back down at his desk when a loud commotion on the other side of the room caused him to spin around. His hand went for his katana until he saw it was Hikaru that slammed the wall of his study closed. He stared at the group who had just appeared in his room in confusion until he caught sight of Wren. Jaeha was helping him into the closest chair. Ronin hurried to his study door and jerked it open.

  “I need a healer at once,” he ordered. One of the guards beside the door ran down the hall and Ronin stepped back into the room. He walked over to Wren.

  “What has happened?” He asked when he noticed Wren was pressing both hands down hard on a large wound in his thigh.

  “Dark elves,” Wren said with a grimace. “They are in the tunnel behind us. I am uncertain how many are left.”

  Ronin’s eyes widened before he looked over his shoulder at the other guards who were now standing in his study.

  “Get our men into that tunnel and clear out the dark elves,” he ordered. “Once you are finished, seal it closed.”

  Two of the guards dashed out of the room and sprinted down the hallway to get reinforcements before heading into the tunnel.

  While Wren spoke with Ronin, the others in the group made their way further into the room. Raven sat down on the floor and laid Paige next to him. She reached up and pressed her hand against the wound on his back. Her hand only covered a small portion of it, but she wanted to help him. It was still bleeding, and he flinched when she touched it, but did not make a sound.

  Jake and Sara tried to move toward a couch, but Jake fell forward. Hikaru grabbed him and helped ease him to the floor. He was pale and sweating from the freely bleeding wound in his side. Hikaru pushed both hands down hard on the gash causing Jake to gasp in pain.

  “I am sorry,” Hikaru said with a frown. “I have no spells left.”

  Jake only nodded in response as he closed his eyes. The room was trying to spin, and he did not wish to vomit. Sara took hold of his hand and bit her lip while she watched him.

  It was not long before a healer rushed into the room. As soon as Wren saw her, he indicated that Jake and Raven needed to be tended first. She nodded and made her way over to Jake.

  “I do not know how they would have known about that tunnel,” Ronin said breaking the silence. “Only Rin, Riku, Baldrim, and I knew of its existence.”

  “Rest assured I told no one,” Rin said. She and Kaedin had moved closer to her brother and Ronin in an attempt to get out of the healer’s way.

  Ronin spun in place his face filled with disbelief. “You have returned,” he gasped after a moment. She gave him a weak smile and he stepped toward her. Grabbing her, he jerked her toward him and enveloped her in a crushing hug. She took a sharp breath at the sudden pain and he glanced down at her. His brows furrowed when he could see the pain on her face, and he loosened his grip. He frowned when he moved one of his hands and saw it was covered in blood.

  “You are injured as well?” he asked. She gave him a half-hearted shrug and his frown deepened. “Rujhāe,” he said while he held his hand over the wound. It took longer to heal than if one of the elves had cast the spell, but he was able to heal it. “It is rare that you are injured. What managed to harm you?”

  Rin stepped back, and Ronin released her to Kaedin. “A high priestess of Lady Avdotyae was with the tr
oops.”

  Ronin’s expression changed in an instant. “A high priestess was with them?” His voice was shocked. “They do not venture from their temples unless it is a matter of great importance.” He paused and glanced toward the hidden door into his study. “I owe all of you much, if they had breached the city here, I would be dead.” His attention shifted for a moment to a chair near where they were speaking. He watched as Hikaru helped Jake into that chair before looking back at Rin.

  Jake grimaced as he leaned back in the chair and looked over at Ronin and Rin while they continued to talk. An incredulous look crossed his face as he observed them. How could anyone not realize that they were related? Ronin was much taller than Rin but they both shared the same silver and red hair, and their eyes were the same shade of brilliant green. They even shared similar facial features, though Rin’s were much more delicate.

  “How in the world didn’t you figure out that they were related?” He blurted before he could stop himself. Rin, Ronin, and Wren all looked in his direction and he shifted in the chair. He had not intended to say that out loud. Rin gave him a dirty look but did not say anything. Her gaze lifted so that she was looking up at Ronin and her shoulders dropped, dejected. She could see the turmoil on his face.

  “It is all true?” He asked, his voice quiet.

  She looked down at the floor before she nodded. Feelings of guilt and sadness coursed through her. It was her fault that Ronin and Riku lost their father.

  Ronin noticed the change in her demeanor, and he pulled her into another embrace. “It is not your doing,” he whispered to her. “Neither of us shall ever blame you for the actions of others.” He paused until she peeked up at him. “Welcome home, sister.” Her eyes widened in disbelief and a sad smile crossed his face. “Do not think on it too much. You have always been like a sister to me, so nothing has changed.” Rin tightened her grip on him, and he held onto her until he noticed the healer was standing close to them. He helped Rin back over to Kaedin before he turned to face her. “Are you finished?”