Taber

by K Fisher

  Taber stood slowly, turning to face Bethinium and Alni near the trees, his hair was messy and long, blowing wildly in the wind as the fire danced along his dark brown eyes. He did not appear to pay Alni any mind, instead focusing his attention on his father.

  Both of them exited the safety of the trees, approaching slowly and cautiously. Bethinium stopped when they were a good five feet away from each other, one hand on Alni’s arm as he stopped him from going any further. “Taber…” his voice was soft and loving, gentle as the one name urged patience from his long lost son.

  “I told you to not follow me,” Taber said, face void of any emotion as he kept his hands to the side, not yet giving them any reason to believe he meant to attack just yet. “I told you to stay where you belong.”

  “I had to come to you the moment I knew your general location. You’re my son and I love you more than life itself. No matter what has transpired in the past, I can explain it… There are so many things you do not yet know… Please.”

  Although Bethinium and Taber were finally speaking, Alni had other things on his mind as he frantically searched the area, every sense within him screaming that something was terribly, terribly wrong. It was a feeling that crept up his body and into his very soul like a dread that he could not place. “Where’s Eve?” he questioned softly.

  “I do not need your explanations father, it’s too late,” Taber spat out, his eyes narrowing in anger as his shoulders went rigid.

  “Where’s Eve?” Alni repeated, this time a bit louder.

  “What do you mean it’s too late? It’s never too late to explain…” But Bethinium’s voice trailed off as Taber’s eyes left his and rose to look at something over both of their shoulders.

  Bethinium and Alni whirled around just as the soft sound of footsteps reached their ears. Eve stood behind them, her small body next to the softly glowing amber wolf at her side. She appeared to be weak or sick, leaning her entire body weight against the beast as she stared at them with half-lidded eyes. The emerald green of her eyes were dull with a lack of focus as she stood there not saying a word to any of them.

  A tenebrous mist swept across the ground, chasing away the clear fog that had been there only a moment before. Another shape approached them from behind Eve, towering over the small girl. The mist rose up exposed bone of the beings legs, filling in the space with muscle and skin. The tattered dress upon the body of the woman remained, the body beneath filling out the empty space until she was nearly fully formed.

  Ravena smiled slowly, her full lips spreading into a smile that exposed the inside of her cheek as her face began to slowly repair itself from the empty skull it had been before. Beside the woman, Eve shuddered and let out a groan, leaning further onto the back of Iris as the last of her strength was stripped from her, the small girl appearing exhausted and beyond weakened.

  Alni swore under his breath, feeling the energy all around them swirling with an evil he had felt only a few times before. Even with the presence of Mallor in his past as a reminder, this was something far darker.

  Ravena spoke to Bethinium then. Her voice was a cracking, faded tone that had not spoken words in a great many years. The long black hair on her head was stringy, unhealthy and flowing in the wind behind her in the wind, eyes pitch black and empty as she spoke to all of them.

  “My son is right, it’s far too late.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Eve and her wolf slowly backed away as Ravena took several long strides forward, her bare feet on the ground gentle and without sound as though she floated through the air. Alni pulled himself closer to Bethinium, keeping an eye on Taber as he tried to rack his mind for what they would do.

  He had already known Taber would be there and had realized there was a slight possibility that things would have progressed to that point. Still, they had both prayed to whatever forces in Desin drove them forward it wasn’t the truth. Even with the Mystic Dragon’s voice in Alni’s ear, a reminder of his words that warned of evil spreading through Desin.

  Looking at the woman who approached them, Alni was certain beyond a doubt the dragon had spoken of Ravena.

  “Stop, please. I wish to speak to you… Both,” Bethinium pleaded, but his hands were already glowing a shimmering silver hue.

  It was clear he did not trust that the woman before him would see reason and Alni took the lead, summoning his own magic. The moment his own hands began to glow a soft amethyst Ravena’s head turned quickly with a crack, eyes narrowing on him as she spoke.

  “Who is this boy who possesses such great power?” she hissed, extending one, thin hand in Alni’s direction.

  “Ravena…” Bethinium’s voice cracked as he pleaded with her, hoping he’d get her to focus back on his words. “Ravena I had to do what I did to you. You know I had no choice but to protect those I loved.”

  Her head snapped back to look at him, the rage clear in her twisted face as the next words were spat into the clearing. “Where is my pendant? I assume you kept it with you?”

  Pendant? Alni looked to Bethinium briefly as he tried to remember if the warlock had ever possessed something similar during their time together. The man had never uttered a word about such an artifact and Alni was certain he had not seen one. Bethinium did not even blink when the question was asked of him, silence stretched between them.

  Taber was pacing behind the two warlocks, far too angry and twitchy for Alni’s comfort. “Answer her!” Taber yelled, stopping his pacing as he clapped his hands together loudly.

  Alni assumed it was to draw their attention, but it was soon clear he was calling upon his own magic. Four warlocks and a necromancer stood in the darkness of the clearing, all waiting for who would make the first move and what would become of things.

  “I destroyed it and buried you with the remains. I could not allow your magic to continue after your body had passed. I could not allow that dark magic anywhere near myself or my son, no matter the distance he was from me,” Bethinium answered honestly.

  Alni had heard of such a thing many times. The leftover artifacts from warlocks that they held dear to them; items that were blessed with their power after their bodies passed away, the magic of Desin never truly leaving. How Bethinium had destroyed such an item, Alni could not fathom. The dark energy had to have remained in the world somehow, attaching to something or someone once the item was rendered useless.

  “You. Destroyed. It.” The words were said in bites, Ravena suddenly charging across the remaining distance between them before Alni or Bethinium had a chance to move.

  Her arm whipped out and hit Alni in the shoulder with the force of a dozen men, sending the young half-elf soaring until his back slammed against a nearby tree. “Do not let him stand,” she hissed, this time the words directed at Taber. Then, she turned to Bethinium and her hand lashed out, grasping onto his neck as she squeezed and brought him close to her face. “You truly wanted to make sure I was dead. You had no remorse for destroying me? NONE?”

  “I… Did not want to kill you,” he said softly, straining against her grasp.

  Alni did not focus on the shape of Taber approaching him, instead looking only at Bethinium in Ravena’s grasp and how easily she could harm him from so close. Without waiting to register the pain that reached every inch of his body and the ringing in his ears, Alni extended both his hands and allowed the magic within him to release, jets of power erupting and slamming into Ravena. She was thrown away from Bethinium and Alni saw the warlock’s hands raise as he prepared magic of his own. Good… Now was not the time to reason with these two, their goal becoming clearer and clearer.

  Alni didn’t get a chance to strike again, something that felt like a large rock slammed into his stomach and doubled him over. Looking up, he had just enough time to see Taber throwing another handful of yellow magic. The second throw missed Alni, sizzling into the side of the tree behind him and erupting into flames a few seconds later. But Alni didn’t have time to stop the fire, summoning his ma
gic, he focused on the heat behind his body. The fire danced along the ground, trailing away from the tree and into Alni’s hands as he ran towards Taber, hellbent on using everything he could to get the warlock incapacitated so he could help Bethinium.

  Taber ran to Alni, his hands glowing yellow as he threw a punch with all his might, missing Alni narrowly as his hand burned through the air. Alni used the throw of strength to strike low, focusing on Taber’s side as he propelled the fire against the man’s skin. Taber screamed in pain but did not stop his assault, swinging his arm up and around Alni’s neck in a hold. Alni reached out with a hand, resting it on Taber’s thigh as the flames ate through and fought to reach skin. He was yelling out in pain as he released Alni’s head briefly, but it was all Alni needed to strike again - this time aiming at Taber’s face.

  Taber had his own arm cocked back, magic launching at Alni at the same time the flames detonated from Alni’s fist. The powers collided, sending both men flying backwards several feet, sliding painfully across the ground.

  “ENOUGH OF THIS!” Ravena screamed, looking to Alni as the young man struggled to his feet.

  Her hand extended to point at something over Alni’s shoulder, a strong wind slamming into Alni as her magic was summoned. Behind him, a deep groaning caught his attention but Alni’s body refused to move, locked in space as he watched the flaming tree split and break, the dark branches reaching for him as it fell.

  Alni screamed out in pain as the tree landed upon him, knocking him to the ground as the weight of the trunk settled on his torso, crushing him into the ground below him. It was about the width of his body, forcing all the air from his lungs as he struggled and fought to lift it from him. There was just enough space for Alni to breathe, but not enough strength to move the burning, dying tree. He summoned the fire with the last of his strength, forcing it away from the tree and in Taber and Ravena’s direction. The flames stopped in the air before they made their contact, Ravena’s hand in the air as she threw the magic to the side and focused back on Bethinium.

  The old warlock’s body was aglow as he faced Ravena and Taber alone, looking to Alni before focusing back on the fight at hand. “Ravena stop! He has nothing to do with this. Speak to me!”

  “You thought you could be rid of me and take me from my son. You thought you would make a decision only the Creator should have… Now you will pay for what you did to me.” For the first time, Alni noticed emotions in Ravena’s voice aside from rage. There was a deep sadness, a deep emotional connection that was becoming more and more apparent as the fight continued.

  “You were going to kill our son and take his magic, just as you did the others. I stopped you to save him!” Bethinium yelled, his control lost as the shiver magic danced out like sparks against the ground around him.

  Taber’s eyes widened, darting between the two of them before they narrowed. He was holding his arm closely, wounded from the fight he had endured with Alni, but still he was dangerous. “Liar,” he spat at his father, hand extending as several large pieces of driftwood nearest him rose into the air, hovering before they flew at Bethinium. The warlock was quick enough to explode them with his own magic, debris falling to the ground like rain where the driftwood had once been.

  Ravena chose that moment to strike in kind, her hands reaching for the ground as she crouched. There was a darkness in the energy around them that surged the moment she did so, the ground crawling with her power as they tangled around Bethinium’s ankles, taking him by surprise.

  He yelled out as the magic jumped up around him, wrapping around his ankles and inching up his body no matter his attempts to rid himself of it. Alni was yelling and struggling, head light and vision fuzzy as he tried to summon the magic within himself to get the log off his body. But with weakness from the fall into the ocean, the exhaustion and beating he had taken, nothing but emotion remained, hindering him from accessing what he needed. “Let him go! Fight me you disgusting excuses for warlocks! I will knock that undead head off your body!” Alni swore, throwing as many insults as he could in their direction as he desperately tried to pull them away from Bethinium.

  Neither of them paid Alni any mind as they approached Bethinium, the warlock trapped by the magic Ravena had summoned, his hands tightly wound as the magic he held within them was slowly snuffed out. Alni felt his body tighten with rage, pushing with all his might as the large log moved a small bit. Taking a deep breath, he kicked against the ground and tried again, eyes wide and desperate as he struggled to calm the voices in his mind.

  “I do not lie,” Bethinium struggled to say, his body no longer moving in the grasp of Ravena’s magic as he looked at the two of them before him.

  Taber appeared stunned, looking to Ravena for answers but the woman did not deny it and did not respond. “Hold him,” she demanded.

  “Wait… Mother… You didn’t…” Taber inquired, his glowing hands lowering as he took another step closer to Bethinium, body moving slowly as his face suddenly shone in horror and for a brief moment, regret.

  “I said hold him.”

  “ANSWER ME!” Taber yelled, this time at Ravena as he struggled to understand what he was hearing and what his father was telling him.

  “Stupid child,” Ravena growled out, her eyes blackening so deeply it consumed the sclera as she looked to Taber and flicked her hand out as if to bid him away.

  Taber’s body was thrown away from them all, slamming into the tree upon Alni. Taber’s head smacked backward and hit the side of the tree, his body slumping over instantly as he lost consciousness. The impact moved the tree ever so slightly, Alni groaning as he pushed with all his might. His hands were glowing softly, his emotions both hindering him from possessing the entirety of the magic within him, but still rising to the surface during his time of need as it had so many times before.

  Ravena turned to Bethinium, stopping when she was right in front of his body. Leaning in close, she did not stop until she was right next to his ear, eyes on Alni as she spoke soft words no one but Bethinium could hear. She gave Alni a soft wink, pulling away from Bethinium’s ear as she leaned up and planted a soft kiss on the old man’s cheek, hand trailing down to his beard and the red bead wound into one of the strands tenderly.

  Alni was stunned, watching in horror as the entire interaction changed so drastically. It was all the time Ravena needed to strike.

  Without warning, her hand withdrew behind her and slammed forward into Bethinium’s chest. Alni screamed out in horror as he watched Bethinium slump forward, the shimmering silver of his remaining magic erupting from his chest and crawling up Ravena’s arm. She threw her head back, a laugh bubbling out of her lips as she drained the power from her past lover’s body.

  Alni’s screaming stopped when her fist withdrew, and blood dripped onto the ground around Bethinium. He watched in slow motion as Bethinium fell to his knees, looking up at Ravena as she towered above, the silver of his magic surrounding her haunting body. Without a word, Bethinium fell forward and hit the ground.

  There was a whimper from the trees and Ravena turned to face the small girl that watched her. The large wolf at her side was growling fiercely but took a step back when Ravena rushed to Eve’s side and grabbed the girl’s arm, yanking her against her body.

  Looking back to Alni one more time, the evil woman gave him a small nod and smile. “Wish I had time to taste your magic, too bad you’re a loose end and I have things to do,” she said coldly, extending a hand as another large tree groaned aside Alni, splitting and breaking off as it fell toward his body.

  Iris, Eve, and Ravena disappeared from the clearing, a black mist surrounding them before dissipating and leaving nothing behind.

  No sounds came from Alni, only the heavy beating of his heart as he yelled out in rage and extended both hands above him, his power exploding at the tree that threatened to fall upon his head, the magic hitting it and throwing it away as his body pushed upward and free from his captured position. He scrambled and crawled fro
m the tree’s final embrace, kicking off from the ground as he threw himself forward and ran, suddenly aware that he was leaving his prison beneath the tree and approaching Bethinium. He didn’t remember throwing the log, hardly remembered kicking Taber’s body out of the way as he broke free, but his power radiated through every inch of Alni as he focused on the unmoving body upon the ground. There was an unknown strength that consumed him, one that had not been there when he was trapped before.

  The moment he reached Bethinium everything came back into focus and Alni fell to his knees, grabbing for his friend as he tried to shake him awake. “Bethinum… Bethinium!” he yelled, suddenly aware of the tears falling down his face as he looked upon the wound on the old man’s chest.

  It was deep… Too deep. Grabbing for his cloak, Alni ripped it off and wrapped it around his hand, pressing the fabric against Bethinium’s chest as he tried to apply pressure and stop the bleeding. “I think… Can I heal? Bethinium? Can I heal you? Please!” He didn’t know how, couldn’t even fathom how such a wound would be eliminated and his friend safe from harm.

  A warm hand reached out slowly and grabbed onto Alni’s on his chest. One of Alni’s hands abandoned its mission, grasping onto Bethinium firmly as he looked to the old man’s brown eyes.

  Bethinium was looking to Alni with a soft, unfocused gaze as his ragged breathing gasped out. Each breath sounded like a bubble within his throat, a strangling sound that forced a groan of despair from Alni’s mouth as he tried to remember anything that could help.

  Bethinium’s finger was rubbing back and forth on Alni’s hand slowly, unfocused and repetitive as his eyes continued to watch the young man. Finally, his voice spoke softly through the gasps of breath. “I’m not scared,” he said simply, and the words only made Alni press harder upon the wound, his head shaking back and forth wildly as he refused to hear what was being said to him.

  “You don’t have to be scared. We are going to get you back to the boat and get those medics on you. Come on, I’ll carry you.”