I am about to beg the dragon to stop when all of a sudden I go from incredibly hot to freezing cold. I open my eyes and Viktor drops my hand. We both collapse and are breathing fast and shallow. My body is so cold I feel naked in a blizzard. I know I am not really. Logically I can remember that have had been in the refining fire, everything else will seem cold for a while now until our bodies adjusted to normal temperatures once again. Sometimes logic makes no damn difference and now is one of those times.
“Destroy the orb. You have the tool to do so.”
I look up and see Viktor standing and reaching a hand down to help me. I am glad one of us can stand on our own because I sure as hell won’t be able to for a while yet.
“Thank you, Viktor.”
He nods and looks at the dragon who is putting the orb down in front of us. It is a clear affair with swirling colors. Not normal colors, they are intense, metallic and so deep I find myself lost in them with just a glance. I force my gaze away aware that the orb wants to survive and is trying to seduce me. Viktor addressing the dragon allows me to focus on his voice so I can block out the siren call it sends my way.
“What tool do we have that will destroy the orb?”
“The dagger you have my boy. If you stab the orb with it will die and the death will set me free.”
Viktor stiffens and shakes his head.
“No anything but that. I need this to protect Elainne.”
The dragon's eyes slit and I drop to the ground distracting Viktor and the dragon both. Viktor’s fear for my health spikes and he starts to lean down to check me to see if I am close to death.
I grab the dagger from Viktor’s boot, roll to the orb, draw the blade, and strike down as hard as I can. I use my newfound magic to enhance my strength. Still, I can feel the pain of the orb’s death and the backlash from the death the knife and my power deal it. The orb shatters and the light from it nearly blinds me. The shards dissipate but many land on me bruising and burning my skin wherever it touches. Viktor is at my side in an instant holding me in his arms checking me to see how bad my injuries are. I feel darkness try to claim me and try to hold onto my consciousness. At least the tug from the cavern is gone, one less thing to worry about and a good thing too as I can’t protect us from anything right now.
“It is done. The cave holds no magic now. You may leave when it pleases you.”
Viktor
He flies off and I ignore him. Elainne looks like death itself. She is too pale, too drained. Her magic has backlashed. I felt it through our connection. She hadn’t let me take any of the pain and I can’t figure out how to forcibly take it.
“Elainne are you alright?”
She nods and opens her eyes into slits. Her eyes are bloodshot and it almost look as if there is actual blood in them. That is never a good sign. I am a terrible Kemp, I hadn’t agreed to kill the orb and she’d been forced to which had led to this.
“We did it.”
I nod. I fail to see how almost paralyzing her or losing the only way I have to save her should she receive a death blow as a success but I won’t say it aloud.
“I can’t feel your emotions anymore.”
She frowns as she says it and I stop and try to guess what she is feeling. I can feel nothing. “Me either. Did you sever our connection somehow?”
I feel her panic as I ask. That is odd. “Don’t worry. I mean I feel your panic.”
The panic leaves. I guess I will only sense her negative emotions from now on. Well, at least I will know if she is in trouble. Her other thoughts and emotions are now her own.
“I wonder if it is only one way now. I hope I can feel your negative emotions as well. If you are in trouble I need to know to save you Viktor. I can’t have you dying on me. Then who would care for me?”
I smile and stand to reach down to pull her up. She needs a lot of help but after everything we have been through I am not surprised.
“You would never survive I daresay. You get into far too much trouble.”
She laughs and nods leaning on me for support as we turn to head out the now normal cave to return back to her father’s kingdom. She had taken the brunt of this trip. I am the Kemp I should be burnt, bleeding a,nd limping instead she saved us both have everything and took all the pain and injury to herself. I had to find a way to force it on myself it is not right.
“How do you think your father will take the news that the orb is destroyed and the cave of horrors is just like any other cave?”
“He will send Elves to investigate and search us thoroughly. He will think we decided not to go through with it. That I twisted an ankle or something and we returned empty-handed. That we are going back on our word.”
How can he think that with her looking so horrible I have no idea? He seems to only notice what he wants to. When Elainne’s power reservoirs had been refilled by a spirit healer they had been shocked at what she actually had access to. They don’t know anything about her capabilities. They seem to underestimate her, obviously as we are the first to successfully do this.
“Is there no way to prove we are not lying? How about the magic?”
“We don’t know if you had any, to begin with, and you haven’t been trained. You can’t use it, accidentally kill someone, and expect him to believe anything after that.”
“You are as powerful as him now.”
“He is likely to believe I used the orb for personal gain and have me locked away. I can match him now but I haven’t had as much practice with these power levels so my control will suck and he has others to back him up or feed him power. I would never win. I think it’s best if he thinks we failed. Maybe tell him we went into the cavern and woke up outside it and injured. We can say we have no memory of what happened. Maybe mention visions. Perhaps they will think we were tossed out by the cavern itself and spare us.”
“This does not seem to be the answer to our problem as the dragon seemed to think.”
“Actually this was your idea. He said we already had what we needed.”
We are limping along; well I am walking and supporting her as she limps. There are bruises covering her everywhere I can see. Her face, arms, neck, and everywhere there is a hole in her clothes there is a bruise. That exploding orb took its death out on her.
“What do you suppose he meant?”
She smiles and shakes her head at me.
“Viktor don’t be dense. We have each other. That’s all we need to do anything. Magic or no.”
Elainne
We get outside and it is dark. I don’t know how long we have until morning. There is no moon no stars just empty black sky. It is a bad omen. War is coming. We will do what we can to prevent it.
Viktor starts a fire while I sit thinking of a battle plan. I will have to train him. I know how to perform a lot of spells, even some I’ve never had the power for before. But not all. My father is unlikely to give us a teacher and the mage’s magic I cannot teach him at all. I have no idea how to make sure he uses only what I can teach him or how to find him a teacher for the other so he can control it.
“Viktor do not use your magic until you have training. It does what you ask but not always how you want it to. You could ask for fire and it could light you or me on fire. Even wording it as specific as you can with no loopholes if you don’t know the spells it won’t obey once it’s out. So you could set an enemy on fire and then it would jump to us all because you wouldn’t have control of the power once it is out of you.”
“I don’t think I will use fire ever. I can make one by normal means and I don’t think I could see that again.”
I wait for him to elaborate and when he doesn’t I can’t help but wonder. To keep from asking such a personal question I figure I will change the subject.
“So. The dragon said in your dream you were all powerful. And you killed me. Was I really that annoying?”
He smiles and shakes his head before looking at me and grimacing. He feels guilt and hurt. I guess I can still feel his
negative emotions. I put a hand on his arm for comfort but I don’t ask exactly what happened. If he wishes to speak of it he will.
“Was it bad Viktor?”
He nods but is silent for a while. I don’t move my hand or make any move to rush him.
“I walked into a dungeon. Tall, fairly cold and dark. Circular.”
“My father’s dungeon. What were you doing there?”
“I was interrogating a prisoner. I was pure Elf. My sister had run off I guess. With a man. I was interrogating the person that helped them get away.”
I nod. “The Elves still allow their parents to have a say in their children’s marriage. Usually only if they are to inherit if the child in question is male but they make the decision in all cases involving a female child as they connect your family to another. It is not shocking that such a thing took place in your dream. Your family is old and powerful and very distinguished.”
He nods and sighs.
“You were the one to help her escape.”
“Oh. I see where this is going.”
He looks up obviously tortured by it and is shocked at the smile on my face. I shrug.
“It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that your family had you torturing me for information. A half Elvin bastard helping their daughter escape with a man, not her betrothed. My father wouldn’t have cared about damage to me and to keep the favor of your family he would have agreed. Elves are very loyal to their families as a whole. You being the interrogator is not that far outside the realm of imagination.”
“I burnt you to death. Not on purpose. I tried to use fire magic to burn your cuffs and set you free. I couldn’t put it out no matter what I tried.”
I nod and hug his shoulder with one arm.
“Magic used in the dungeons doesn’t stop until it’s destroyed everything it touches. The walls are infused with magic so it isn’t destroyed by magic. People may try to cast in there to escape so you can’t use magic to do so. It’s why almost no one has escaped and no one knows how your mother and grandfather did.”
“I couldn’t help you. I tried they held me back.”
“You didn’t know. It was just a vision. What do you suppose caused it? My first one was my wish for father’s approval, my second to be human so my mother would still be alive. If I were born human to a human father she would never have been killed. For a bit, I blamed myself for being half Elvin. Then I blamed my father. Now I know these things happen. I can do nothing but honor her memory.”
“I wanted to be strong enough to protect you. Elves are superior to people in every way. Instead, me being born that way killed you.”
I hug him again before reaching out to warm my hands over the fire.
“Humans have one thing over Elves Viktor. They feel. Elves can love but their emotions, everything is muted. My father is so ashamed of me because I am emotional like a human. It’s a weakness there. Elves have been born entirely without power and still accepted. It’s rare but it happens. I was too human for him.”
“We hate more.”
I shake my head.
“That’s the one emotion Elves feel just as strongly as humans Viktor. They don’t let the good ones in thinking it makes them weak. They hold onto the bad ones thinking it makes them safer.”
“It seems like a terrible way to live.”
I nod. “It is.”
I lie down and close my eyes hoping for sleep that will make me forget everything that happened today. We have suffered and still have merpeople to defeat, my father to disappoint, and a spell to reverse. Our bad day is not nearly close enough to being over.
Chapter Sixteen
When we get back to my father’s palace he has us brought before him. Viktor has his swords drawn; he is not sheathing them on my orders so I don’t bother giving them. We look around as everyone sneers at us. I know Madeline and Mason have already left with Elvin enchanters to break the bond the mermen has on the humans. I have failed, father will likely kill us and blame aunt for sending me here with promises I couldn’t deliver.
“Where is my orb Elainne?”
He hasn’t said daughter so he is not feeling kindly. Too bad it would have made things easier for me.
“The dragon guardian refused to let any remove it. He offered to grant us a wish in exchange for destroying it so he could go free.”
“And did you wish for my rule to only end by natural means?”
No, but I suddenly wish I had. Would he feel the difference if I had or would he have had to take my word for it? How would I have proven it anyway? Oh well, no use worrying since I hadn’t asked for that. In fact, I hadn’t really asked for anything but if I said nothing hopefully he will let Viktor live.
“No.”
“So you renegade on our deal!”
“I didn’t…I didn’t mean for that to happen. I wasn’t trying to…”
Nothing I say will make a difference. Viktor steps in front of me and glares my father down. If he can sense danger from that area it is not a good sign.
“She didn’t make a wish I did!”
Oh, shut up Viktor. I want him to live at least.
“So Kemp what did you wish for?”
“Full rights to my blood power from both sides.”
The gasps that fill the hall. He glares at everyone but their shock is so intense they don’t look away from even that. Full rights to both magics. The only half-breed they knew had been at half power for both magic’s and that scared them. He is more dangerous before factoring in his Kemp tie to me. The Kemp bond allows him to have my strength, speed, and reflexes in battle. He will fight as well as most Elves, he has military training and he has power from two different parts of himself. He is a force to be reckoned with.
“Well, I hope you know how to use it, boy, because the two of you are dead.”
“Your daughter has all the power your family carries as well. That was included in my wish. That she be as powerful as a full-blooded Elf. Can your heir claim that?”
If Viktor doesn’t shut up he will ensure both our deaths. No one speaks to my father like that.
“Perhaps I shall see if you speak the truth.”
He nods and four men rush at us. I immediately pick out the mages and let the air pour from me. I would have used fire but I am hoping to prove our strength without killing anyone. Viktor nods and takes on the remaining two of the men with his twin blades using my Elvin reflexes. It means I can’t but I don’t need to in a battle of magic.
The tornado in the room is large with winds that tear at the ceiling causing collapses. I don’t have full control yet so I can’t tone it down. All I know is that we fight for our lives and I am not going down easily. I raise the stone floor in front of me to take on the impact of the fire sent to me. Viktor grows angry but manages to hold in his power, for which I am grateful. I has no idea what battle magic will spill forth and destroy everything in its path.
Rock go flying in most directions and I send some of the wind to make sure it doesn’t impact Viktor. He is fighting through the wind, it is not affecting us. That is part of the magic, it won’t affect us negatively.
The mages are now in the center of the tornado. One Elvin soldier i on the floor bleeding and the other has his head between the two blades of Viktor’s swords. I wave my arm and they both are sucked into the air funnel. One more swipe and all four are swept out of a hole in the wall and dropped to the ground. I don’t let the wind go but thin it out so it works as armor around us hoping it will stop any magic thrown at us. I turn my glare to my father, I coan’t stop his magic. So hopefully he doesn’t attack.
“May we go home and save our kingdom now your majesty?”
“You will be my….guests…until I can figure out our new agreement since you got rid of our old deal.”
I put my hands on Viktor and he sheaths his swords. We are taken to the dungeon and left there. At least we are not chained.
“I don’t like this.”
I remember Viktor�
�s vision of me burning alive in here. Hopefully, it won’t come to that. I sit down and pat the floor next to me.
“If we get out we will need our strength and energy. Sit down before you wear yourself out.”
He sits but he doesn’t look happy about it. It is like seeing a wild animal in a cage.
Viktor
I sit next to her knowing she will continue to tell me what to do until I do. She smiles a sassy smile at me. Why does she always look sassy when she gets her way?
She leans against me and looks at her hands turning them over and over.
“What are you doing?”
“Wondering if they would let us out if I start a fire.”
I jump up and punch the wall. I can’t think about it. I refuse to ever use or even learn to use fire. I couldn’t take it if something happened and I am so angry I ended up hurting instead of helping.
“Don’t. I don’t ever want to see fire again.”
I lean forward and hit my head on the wall letting the cold stone cool me off. I hear her stand. She rests a hand on my shoulder.
“I’m sorry Viktor I didn’t think before I spoke. I’m so sorry.”
I turn and hug her. She is whole and here and safe. I will keep it that way. Always.
“It’s fine. I just… I can’t think about it.”
She nods and hugs me back. I don’t have to worry about if they come in and see us. Whatever we do, it is normal to them. We are a pair. Back in the human lands, we won’t be able to do this; I won’t be able to reassure myself by hugging her and holding her close. To be relaxed by her smell and seeing her sleep peacefully. It will seem so odd to them.
“Viktor let’s get some sleep. When they want us they will wake us.”
She pulls back and sits down. She shivers a bit. It is a bit cool in here. I sit next to her and pull her to my side to warm her up. I wish we were outside on our way home so I could build a fire. But here I can’t even have one in my hand for her to hold her hands next to. It will consume us and we will be burnt to a crisp. I can never chance that.
Elvin Princess Page 17
