I’m so caught up in the wonder of it all that Nero's butting in line ahead of me after abandoning his more prestigious location isn’t enough to distract me from my amazing surroundings. Yet… perhaps it should. “Why are you way back here, Nero? You belong behind Celeste.”
“I had to take a leak, and Alma’s being a bitch, she won’t let me back in front of her. I figure she won’t mind my butting in here, though, after the way you practically testified against her earlier.”
“I didn’t testify against her, I simply told the truth!
“And weakened her case against the shiftling bitch. You’re not doing a very good job of proving your blood, Shi'ahn, and you apparently still haven’t learned your place. Let me assure you, it is well behind me.”
What a jerk! Part of me would love to keep arguing with him, but it wouldn’t be proper. Instead I take comfort in the realization that everything is going quite well as my other relatives greet the Magni Dominar, each mentioning hopes of relations between our two realms improving in the future. They are ushered rather quickly off to the right afterward, but I suppose it makes sense that they wouldn’t want the Magni Dominar to have many of us on either side of him for very long, even though there is still a rather strong shielding between us and him.
My excitement returns as I try to think of something intelligent and insightful to say, something to let him know how seriously I take this meeting and the improving of our relations, without merely echoing what the others have already said.
I glance around the Magni Dominar, and notice once again the others, most particularly the one closest to him, his son I imagine. He has quite the presence. His hair is golden and long enough that his curls seem wild. His eyes, I'm sure now, are blazing amber, and wild in their own compelling way – almost predatory. It seems like he’s staring right at me and I feel penetrated by the intensity of his gaze, as though he’s looking into my soul. It seems strange to think it, but he must be the most… overwhelming man I have ever seen. I could get lost in those eyes. Almost as though something in the back of my mind kicks me, I realize - what am I thinking?! This place is dangerous!
Nero steps forward and my eyes snap back to the Magni Dominar, I’m almost there! I hope Nero doesn’t do anything to offend anyone… His voice booms out, I just know he’s going to say something stupid. “In the name of Lumina, I strike this blow!" As he says ‘strike’ he becomes a blur of motion, the shield between the Royal Family and us shatters, and he plunges a brightly glowing dagger into the Magni Dominar's chest. I can’t believe it! For a moment I just stand there gaping like an idiot; then a scream tears itself from me, half tortured music, half words; “NOOOOO! You Stupid BASTARD!”
A shimmering portal appears near those who have already greeted the Magni Dominar, Nero yells "Follow me, children of Lumina, it is the only way!" Without thinking, I scream in defiance, “I Will Not! Traitor!” The bastard smiles at me cruelly, then steps through his portal.
My eyes snap back to the Magni Dominar, the sight is both horrifying and captivating at the same time – a brilliant ultra-violet dagger lies buried in his chest; violet and near infrared fires burst from the wound. His body starts emaciating, as though the very essence of his life is jetting out with the flames… It’s terrible; the sight tears at my soul and tears begin to blur my vision of it. I manage to force my eyes away only to be caught by the burning gaze of the amazing man, his eyes riveted on me in shock and disbelief.
A voice fills my mind, calm yet resounding with authority, ‘Pull yourself together, Shi'ahn – you’re in trouble!’ I tear my eyes away from the intense being before me and see Darius urgently motioning for me to come to him. I sense many around me also forcing their attention from the horror before us, to… me. The enemy within reach. My thoughts fly like the winds of storm. Darius’s household Uisnach has sworn to protect us while we are in Chaos and in their presence; are these people truly as honorable as Cailli has told me? So many others have said only bad things about those of Chaos… Do we dare trust Uisnach now? Whose judgment should I trust? The elders all seem to hate those of Chaos, and certainly don’t trust them… and yet Cailli, the greatest of all in Lumina considers them truly honorable. She would never lie to me about such a thing, she has shown concern for me in so many ways, while others, like the cruel Lucian, have allowed…
I decide to trust Calli’s judgment, and therefore I will now trust Uisnach. I begin to head toward Darius and see Lord Ultor follow Nero through his portal wearing an expression of vengeful rage, no doubt he intends to capture the murderer and bring him back to face justice. The others, far closer to the portal, also move toward Darius. After only a few paces creatures move to bar my way, I try to cast a shield spell but I'm too distracted by fear to concentrate properly; it holds for but a moment, then flickers and dies. I throw nearly everything I can at them using my natural abilities – sonic blasts, vibration walls; I stop short of creating vibration blades – I am not a killer and I want them to understand that. I finally resort to acrobatics and unnatural speed – I launch myself well over the heads of the final beings that still stand between me and my goal.
Once I reach Darius’ side, I’m finally able to really pay attention to those around us, seeing them now as more than just dangerous obstacles. Many people had been in humanoid(ish) forms before, which I had thought then were incredibly unusual, but now we are surrounded by demons, monsters and angry beasts of all kinds. Screams rend the air, and nearly everyone/thing is closing in on us with clearly murderous intent. Celeste is choking, and since there is no one near her I can only imagine it’s from some kind of magical attack. We may be killed before they discover we are innocent, if our innocence even matters to them.
I try to use my crystal to transport us away, but it doesn’t work. It would make sense for this place to be shielded against such a thing, I suppose. I feel so helpless – William, Gwenllian, Casanova and Darius are caught up in an impossible seeming battle of swords and an astounding variety of weapons of opportunity, keeping the nearest creatures from striking us down where we stand. Darius even picks up an attacker and swings him/it around, using it as a weapon against those assailing us. Alma strains in concentration over a device in her hand, but then she begins choking like Celeste. I suppose my own efforts were entirely pointless. As an afterthought I shift my scarf so that it covers my entire head – there isn’t much use keeping my neck safe if my head gets split. William stops fighting, steps back and begins concentrating. A great dome of Spire light forms around us, creating an effective barrier between our attackers and us. He looks to be having a difficult time, though; he cannot maintain it for long.
“William, can you use your new skills to keep them from disrupting my transport crystal?”
He shakes his head, “I don’t think so, Sis; just keeping this shield up is pretty hard. Splitting my concentration like that could make me lose control of what I already have.”
A cold feeling spreads out from my heart, engulfing me; traitor though he is, Nero’s escape route is all we have. I look at the others, recovering from attacks of uncertain origin, then meet Darius’, Cas’ and Gwenllian’s gazes, and regretfully nod – we have all come to the same conclusion. Darius steps toward the portal as Gwenllian reaches for Celeste and Cas for Alma. They pass through as I touch William’s arm.
“William, it’s time to go, the others have already gone.”
“You go, I’ll keep this shield up behind you.”
I use every shred of authority I can summon to strengthen my voice, “No, William, you go now. I’m right behind you.” It works; he steps through. I still intend to hold true to my word, I may be behind him, but I will not use the traitor’s portal. I begin turning to face my fate, but for some reason I don't understand, I stumble, almost as though I am pushed back. William grabs my wrist and pulls me through behind him.
“NO!!!!” We’re engulfed by fire.
Chapter 17
Out of the Frying Pan…
“Ow! Hey, settle down Sis – Ow! Listen, they would have killed you. Ow!”
“Perhaps, but now they are certain to think Lumina was involved in their Magni Dominar’s murder!”
“Ow! Stop it Sis, my flames are out! Look, Gwenllian needs help.”
I pause and look over at her, she lies unconscious while her clothes burn. All others are tending to their own flames, I continue our conversation as we move to help her, slapping her flames out at a less frantic pace. “Don’t try to change the subject, William – you should have left me. Someone needed to stay behind to show them that this was not planned – not by Lumina, at least. That stupid bastard! I knew he was a jerk, but I never imagined he could do such a terrible thing!”
“Shi'ahn, they really would have killed you.”
“Maybe, but my staying would have been symbolic – now it looks like we are all guilty of his atrocity, they will blame our entire realm.”
“You can stop now, Gwenllian’s flames are all out.” Oh, I focus my attention on Gwenllian and see he is right; I’m lucky she’s unconscious.
Yet, why is she unconscious? “Gwenllian? Gwenllian!” She remains unresponsive.
Celeste addresses my concerns, “After coming through the portal, Gwenllian was closely watching your actions back in the throne room and when the fire burst upon us, she tripped over a rock as she backed away. Her head hit another rock fairly hard, but she will be fine soon. Just let her rest.”
Alma's annoyed/annoying voice cuts in over our conversation, “Well, this is just great – thanks for your help and concern, everyone.” We look over, she’s smoldering – literally, this time. She continues, “What was that? My clothes should have been indestructible”
I reply, “A fire spell, a really good one, by the strength and speed of it. Someone must have cast it at us just after William passed through the portal – his Spire light shield dropped just before he pulled me through.”
Alma turns to William, “Well why did you drop your shield – did you think we would be safe just because we had passed into another place? Do you think portals only transport physical objects? They pass spells just as well, idiot.”
William somehow manages to sound patient, “I didn’t purposely drop the shield, the forces of Enlightenment cannot be wielded here.”
“Are you sure?”
Annoyance creeps into his tone, “Yes, Alma, I’m quite sure. Frankly I'm surprised you haven't noticed.” There is a pause as each of those capable of it tests William’s claim.
Alma offers, “We have all been somewhat distracted.”
Darius adds, “The forces of Chaos are also unavailable.”
Moving beyond the uncomfortable moment, Alma continues in an accusing tone. “All right then, explain this – why is it that our clothes caught fire, while your sister’s clothes are un-singed? Only her hair was affected – how could that be when she is unenlightened? She should be in far worse condition than us!”
“She would have been, yes, if it weren’t for her dragon heart-scale dress and scarf.”
“Yes, we all heard it called that, but what does it mean?”
Don’t these people know their dragon-lore? I explain, “It means that the material was spun from the scales that had lain over my Dragon-friend’s heart. She willingly made herself vulnerable to give that protection to me. A gift of love from such an intensely magical creature is a very powerful thing. I did lose my shoes, if you will notice – they were of Lumina make, like your clothes.”
Alma remains skeptical, “And our 'friend' here?” She looks pointedly at Darius, who replies with a smile.
“The people of my realm are accustomed to our atmosphere changing rapidly – 'Adapt or die' they always say.'” I remember then, when I first came through, he looked oddly gray – stone like?
Celeste, also smoldering, never says a word – she just watches us with a slightly amused expression.
After a moment of uncomfortable silence a powerful lightening bolt strikes the ground fairly nearby, shocking me into taking in our surroundings. It is a very strange place, a gray geometric plane with odd-looking mountains in the distance. Lightning bolts begin to fall fairly regularly from eerie clouds that roam the sky. I cast my eyes skyward and see the strangest thing – a black sun that radiates tremendous waves of mystical energy. Almost without thought I launch a power tendril from my ring to connect with it. It is very far away, but shouldn’t require much concentration, it being all that lies in that direction.
I return my attention to the land and notice what all the others already have, our erstwhile Chaosian host is a short distance away. Dominar Ultor remains in his Chaos form, and he looks quite angry as he heads our way. I look around him quickly, hoping to see Nero’s body lying nearby, or at least some blood, but I see no trace of him. The area does seem torn up, though.
Even at a distance, his anger is palpable, I look again at the torn up stone and fear the worst. I call out, “Are you alright? Did you see where the traitor went?” Dominar Ultor begins to change form, becoming once again humanoid by the time he reaches us, but he remains terribly angry. I look more closely at him and feel a rush of concern. He no longer looks like a handsome elderly gentleman, he has become an old man. I suddenly realize that those of Uisnach may well be held accountable for Nero’s act, it makes me feel horrible. We must make Nero pay, and prove to all that he acted alone, that no one else under the protection of House Uisnach had anything to do with his act.
But before we can make Nero pay, we have to find him. I ask, “I assume you didn’t catch him; I don’t see a body…” I allow hopefulness to show in my voice, “Unless you utterly destroyed him?”
He answers, “No, he was gone before I arrived. What happened back there after I left?”
“Everything happened so quickly. As soon as I realized my danger, I ran to Darius. We tried to get away by other means…”
Alma jumps in, “We were trapped – our transport crystals did not work, and then we were attacked! Is that all your kind do, attack people?”
Ultor explodes, “How dare you accuse us of attacking after you killed our Magni Dominar!”
He looks as though he is about to tear Alma apart, but Celeste steps between them and… changes. Not like a shape changer per say, but she becomes… deeper, greater, as though what we see every day is really only a small part of her true being. Her voice rings out, shaking us to our cores, “Enough!” A lightening bolt strikes very nearby. Celeste looks up in annoyance and waves her hand as though to whisk away the pesky cloud, and it moves away. They all do! She seemingly diminishes then, and continues in a normal voice, “There isn't much else to tell, we each tried to escape by other means, and we each failed. It couldn't have been more than a minute after you left that we followed you.”
Cas Ultor glances toward Darius, who nods almost imperceptibly.
“I had been here for about four hours before Darius stepped through, and the rest of you were rather slow in following.”
Alma, somewhat calmed, replies, “Damn, this place is fast. Nero must have had plenty of time to get away before you followed him. Damn. Well, It looks like we have some time to figure things out before our absence becomes conspicuous. Does anyone have a clue how this happened?”
Dominar Ultor almost explodes, “I’ll tell you what happened – your Nero stabbed the Magni Dominar! I can’t believe we brought such filth among us… that we swore to keep you safe in our realm!”
Celeste shoots him a warnin
g look, then passes it over the rest of us as well.
Casanova tries to redirect the conversation, “Though he has never seemed particularly wise, I have never known him to act against the best interests of Lumina; he is too interested in his position as the son of the heir apparent to do anything to jeopardize his standing. This came out of nowhere, I had no idea he would even dream of doing such a thing.”
Alma speaks up, this time in a contemplative voice, “I find myself even more surprised that he could create a transport portal, and so quickly! He isn’t particularly skilled with crystals, you know.”
William offers, “Maybe it was a spell?”
I can’t help the air that forcibly escapes my lips. “Have you ever witnessed one of his spells work correctly on the first try? I haven’t, and he always speaks his spells in that odd language of his. He did not speak to create that portal.”
Celeste offers, returning to her light, lilting manner, “Perhaps it was stored on a ring or other item of power?”
William answers, “I didn’t sense any such thing on him earlier.”
Alma disparagingly adds, “Of course, you missed the dagger as well…”
William almost explodes, “He didn’t have any items of power earlier - not until the moment he lunged at the Magni Dominar!”
“Maybe you’ve overestimated your understanding of true power, you are, after all, quite new at this.”
“You are far more experienced than I, did you detect any means for him to create that transport portal?”
Her voice loses its mocking tone, becoming as ice, “No.”
I speak up before their argument can escalate, “This isn’t doing us any good. Let’s quit accusing each other for what we didn’t do or notice, and focus on what we did do and observe.”
Between Darkness and Light Trilogy Page 23
