“I am sorry, Elion,” Tomas said to him so tenderly that you could feel the sadness within him.
“It is not your fault, Tomas. I asked you for the information,” Elion answered.
Stephanie hugged Tomas tightly, perceiving his turmoil, and it calmed him somewhat.
“Let us keep moving,” the Queen interjected. “I will feel much better when we are all safe behind the walls of Avalain,” she said, eyeing the darkening sky.
“That sounds good to me,” Preston chimed in. “Is that lightning?” he then asked, looking over his shoulder.
“I hear no thunder,” Esta observed, whereupon a loud rumble rolled through the woods. “At least until that,” she said.
“It certainly sounds like a storm is coming,” Elion said.
“It looks like it too,” Preston said, pointing to the fast moving clouds approaching from the south.
“What is it Tomas? What is wrong?” Stephanie asked frightened, feeling Tomas’ body suddenly go rigid in the saddle.
The others looked in their direction and they too became alarmed. For the first time, Elion saw fear upon the boy’s face.
“Run,” Tomas shouted uncharacteristically. “Follow me. Quickly,” he instructed, as he hurriedly spurred his horse forward.
The thunder grew louder and louder until it reached a point when they could barely hear themselves speak. It reverberated throughout the woods, and violent flashes of lightning lit up the sky. The forest was now shrouded in darkness, the light of day extinguished by a mantle of gloom. A damp wind blew over them all, and it carried upon it a sickening odor.
The small group galloped through the trees, as close behind one another as they could stay. The sporadic flashes of light illuminated their way as they tried desperately not to crash into things. They maneuvered their mounts deftly, fearing all the while that one of the horses would stumble and upset them all. Stephanie held on tightly to Tomas and leaned her head upon his back. She could feel his body trembling as they ran, and her heart beat faster and faster as she forced herself to remain calm.
No matter how swiftly they ran, they could not escape the blackness. And, it was no ordinary storm that pursued them as they suspected from the onset. The air was heavy and rancid and it burned their mouths and lungs as they breathed it in.
“Wrap something around your faces,” Tomas yelled back to the others as he handed Stephanie a handkerchief from his pocket. “Tie this around your mouth and nose. Do not breath this in more than necessary,” he instructed.
Stephanie did as he said, while he ripped a piece off of his shirt and secured it around his own face, all the while directing his horse with his knees and the shifting of his body weight. The others followed his instructions, covering their mouths and noses with whatever they could most easily obtain.
“What is it, Tomas?” Elion yelled to him. “What are we running from?”
“He has found us,” was the boy’s reply, and those few words were all the others needed to hear to understand his fear.
Stephanie lifted her head and looked at Tomas. Tears were streaming down his pale cheeks and his eyes were soft with a terrible sorrow.
“I am not yet ready,” he said aloud, though he directed the words at no one in particular. “It is too soon. This cannot be,” he said in anguish.
They ran as rapidly as they could, but whatever they did, they could not escape the darkness. It hovered all around them like a massive swarm of insects, and their desperation grew with each passing moment. They raced through the forest wildly, searching for a means of escape or for a shelter in which they could hide temporarily from the evil that surrounded them.
Preston spotted a slight indentation in the rock formation ahead and he veered in its direction, signaling the others to follow him. He was more familiar with the language of the rocks and mountains than any of the others, and he hoped that what he saw was the opening to a cave. As he approached the rift, he jumped from his pony and ran to the wall of stone.
Sure enough, it was an aperture large enough for them to squeeze through if they left the horses behind.
“Quickly,” he said to the others as they caught up to him. “Grab what supplies you can and follow me,”
Preston threw his pack over his shoulder and disappeared behind the ledge of the boulder. Had it not been for the dwarfs keen sight and keener instinct, no one else would even have suspected that a cavern lay behind that rock surface. They followed him as quickly as they could.
Once inside, Elion struck a flint and looked around. He saw three sets of wide eyes, staring at the flame.
“Where is Tomas?” he said frantically, realizing that they were one person short, and he ran to the opening in the rock wall. “Stay here. I will get him,” he shouted back at the others.
Elion slipped out of the narrow aperture and saw the boy standing in the near distance with the wind blowing his blonde hair almost straight back from his face. His clothing fluttered wildly all around him and his arms hung limply at his sides. His silhouette stood out eerily against the blackened sky, illuminated by each virulent burst of dangerous lightning.
“Tomas? What are you doing?” he yelled, and walked toward him, fighting against the unremitting gusts of wind. “You have to come inside,” he pleaded. “You will be blown away,”
He struggled to catch up to him, and then he reached out his hand in order to grasp the boy’s arm. At the touch, Tomas turned to face Elion and his eyes were like he had never seen them before. Tears poured down his cheeks and he was sobbing wildly.
“What is wrong?” he shouted over the din, more alarmed than ever. “Tomas? What in the First’s name is the matter with you?” he yelled, struggling to be heard.
The boy rotated his head away from him once again and bowed it slightly, still making no attempt to escape the raging storm. They could barely stand in one spot anymore, as the winds grew stronger and stronger.
“Tomas,” Elion insisted now. “I will carry you inside if I must,” he cried, ready to lift him off of his feet and throw him over his shoulder if necessary.
Tomas did not move. He did not even acknowledge his friend’s presence. He just stood there with tears rolling down his cheeks endlessly with his entire body shaking, like a small child who lost his mother in a crowd.
“You are scaring me, Tomas,” Elion cried. “Come with me now,” he insisted, pulling on the boy’s arm.
Tomas turned slightly toward the elfin Prince, and he thought he was at last coming to his senses, but the look Elion saw in the boy’s eyes sent a shudder down his backbone. He had never seen anyone so thoroughly distraught, so bereft and forlorn, as his friend looked now. His heart and soul immediately reached out to him.
“We have been betrayed, Elion,” he finally said in a feeble voice, trembling uncontrollably all over.
“Betrayed? Who could have given us away?” the elf asked bewildered. “Was it Margot, that dreadful woman from Talamar? No one else knew where we were,” he replied, his thoughts jumping madly from one suspect to another.
“No, Elion,” Tomas said desperately, a deathly pallor now imbuing his skin.
“Who then, Tomas? Who would have done this to us?” he asked distraught.
The boy turned to face Elion once more, and the abandoned and hopeless expression that he saw upon his face said more than the words themselves.
“It was Ormachon,” he whispered, his face twisted in agony, as his knees gave way beneath him and he collapsed in a heap upon the ground.
Chapter Forty-six
“Wake up. Wake up,” she heard , as she felt two strong hands shaking her body. Arousing herself from a sound sleep, she rubbed her eyes and tried to focus her vision in the dimly lit chamber. Groggily, she sat up and oriented herself once again.
“What is it, Emmeline? What’s wrong?” Tamara asked, her mouth still dry with sleep. “It must still be the middle of the night,” she said, glancing out the small window and seeing that it was pitch dark.
“Hurry, Tam
ara. You and Angeline must leave at once,” she replied. Her voice was riddled with worry.
“Right now?” she asked, surprised. “I feel like I just went to sleep.”
“I am sorry, Tamara. I wish I did not have to rouse you so soon with this news. You are unsafe here. The air is dreadfully unnatural. Something approaches the Tower and I know that you must not be here when it arrives,” the older Sister explained.
Tamara gazed out of the small window once again, and this time she realized herself that the color of the sky was not nature’s design, as Emmeline suggested. She shuddered involuntarily, sprang out of the small bed and then hurriedly began to get dressed. She splashed some cold water on her face and tied her hair back with a silken cord. She grabbed her cloak from off of the peg that hung upon the wall and threw it over her shoulders. Emmeline helped her gather her belongings which she had set out before retiring for the evening, and together they secured the two small backpacks firmly.
“Gretchen went to fetch Angeline. We will meet them downstairs,” she said, hastily lifting one of the bags and walking to the door.
Tamara looked cursorily around the small room, and then walked out behind Emmeline.
“I have to get the map,” she said, turning toward the stairway that would lead her to the Great Hall.
“I have already done that, Sister,” Emmeline replied, and she handed her a small, tubular leather case within which the scroll was kept. “Where would you like to place it?” she asked.
“I will feel better if I keep it on me, though it will be rather awkward to do so while it is in that container,” she responded.
Tamara opened the cap, slid the ancient scroll out of the hard leather, and carefully placed it in the inside pocket of her shawl. She tied the laces that kept the pocket closed and slipped the leather case into one of the backpacks.
“What do you think it is that is coming our way, Sister?” she asked.
“I cannot imagine Sister, but it makes my flesh crawl,” Emmeline responded. “I awoke only a short while ago myself and I thought that I was having a nightmare. I felt so vulnerable, as if I were standing naked before strangers. Then, I glanced out my window and I knew that something terrible was happening.”
“It cannot be a mere storm,” she said, pondering the situation. “I agree that I must leave immediately,” Tamara asserted. “If someone or something is coming for the scroll, then we must not be here when whatever it is arrives,” she said. “Perhaps it will follow me rather than come to the Tower,” she speculated.
“That is not what we want, Sister,” Emmeline replied. “We will do what we can to detain it,” she shuddered. “You must be able to discharge your duty, and I am certain that would be only more difficult with the enemy in pursuit.”
“So, you believe it to be Colton as well as I do,” she asked rhetorically.
“I merely chose not to invoke his name, Sister.”
“The name scares me no more when it is mentioned than when it is imagined,” she responded. “He comes nonetheless.”
“I am afraid so, Sister,” Emmeline said somberly, as they scurried down the stairwell. “You must know by now that Parth has its own inherent defenses.”
“Yes, and Oleander has confirmed that to me. Colton may not even know what we have concealed here for so long. Hopefully, I can escape with the scroll and he will be none the wiser,” she said optimistically.
At about the same moment that Tamara emerged from the doorway at the base of the steps, Angeline and Gretchen exited from the opposite opening and walked forward to meet them.
Lightning was streaking through the southern sky and illuminating the hills all around the Tower. The clouds, wherever visible, churned violently and they followed no discernible pattern. And although it was nearing sunrise, no hint of light could be seen on the eastern horizon. The fog, or whatever it was that hung so thickly in the sky, frustrated all the efforts of the dawn to break through.
“Are you ready to depart, Sister?” Tamara asked Angeline, who looked more wide awake than she felt.
“Yes, Sister,” she said soberly. “Although I had not expected to be leaving in such a rush, I understand the necessity and I am prepared.”
“As always, Sister,” Tamara said. “We must not waste any more time. If the Dark Lord chooses to follow us, we must at least make the chase a difficult one for him,” Tamara said heroically.
“It is not you whom he directly seeks, Sister,” Gretchen opined. “I believe that he comes, but he knows not what for yet. The power masses somewhere to the east,” she continued painstakingly, cautiously eyeing Emmeline all the while. “If you leave quickly, you can outrun it. There is another in harm’s way and Colton will surely devote his energy to that one, though that affords me little comfort,” she concluded with her eyes partially closed as if she were communicating with someone who was not present among them.
The Sisters looked at her with their mouths agape, wondering how she spoke with such surety. Gretchen looked humbly down at the ground and then lifted her eyes to meet the others whose stares had only grown wider.
“Yes, Sisters,” she said, answering their unspoken question. “It came as no surprise to me that many of us had the potential to wield the earth magic. I learned of my own power a long time ago. I have always thought it a curse though, and one that I should conceal. It grieved me to have to fight against my nature, but it also frightened me to have this ability. I have believed for tiels that my duty was to learn how to purge myself of this capacity. I feared even to discuss it with Emmeline,” she said, looking lovingly at her closest friend.
“What more secrets shall we learn in the days to come,” Emmeline said, still shocked by Gretchen’s revelation, though certainly not angry with her because of it. “By the First, I hope we can control what has been unleashed.”
“As far as I am concerned Sister, I have been controlling this for so long, that I am anxious now to learn how to use it for our betterment. The path of denial is such a hard one to walk upon. One rarely arrives at the desired destination. Since you revealed the Lalas’ words to us, I have allowed my sight to extend beyond the Tower,” she said to Tamara. “It works, Sisters,” she said calmly, though with conviction. “And, it has already served us well. You will have the time you require to escape. A power that bestows that kind of knowledge is worth a lot to the Sisters.”
“Yet, it has not corrupted you Sister, and that bodes well for us all. You will perhaps be able to assist me and the others then, as we confront our destiny. I could think of no other I would feel more comfortable entrusting my fate to,” Emmeline responded.
Gretchen simply bowed her head and blushed a deep crimson.
“I am so pleased that you have come into your own, so to speak,” Tamara said, smiling at Gretchen. “I feel much better knowing that after I am gone, there is another who can lead the Sisters, as Emmeline said. But I am not as confident as you are that the Dark One will allow the map to slip from his grasp so easily. The sooner we are gone from here, the better,” she said only moments before an earsplitting clap of thunder boomed in the heavens.
“Well then, what is stopping us?” Angeline said with her head held high and her chest out, though she was warily looking over her shoulder at the menacing sky.
“Let us be off— “ Tamara said, and she swung her leg over Hector’s broad back.
Gretchen and Emmeline fastened the packs securely onto the saddles, along with some additional straw bags of food and provisions that they would need.
“Have you filled the water flasks?” Emmeline asked, as if the others were simply going off to school for the day.
“Yes, Sister,” they both answered simultaneously, as another crash of thunder echoed across the plain.
“Is there anything you can think of that you may need, before you leave?” she questioned, still a bit reluctant to let them depart.
Gretchen walked over to Emmeline and put her arm around her shoulders.
“C
ome Sister. Let us go to the Great Hall. We have so much to discuss and so much to plan. We should not delay them any further,” she said, trying to make the leave-taking easier for them all.
The air was heavy with moisture, and an ominous mist began to slowly blanket the area. Tendrils of vapor curled and twisted their way around the walls of the Tower and across the courtyard. They seeped into the buildings, under the doorways and through the cracks in the stones of the ancient building. The fog grew thicker by the minute, obscuring even the closest of objects from sight.
“You are right of course, Sister,” Emmeline replied, realizing that she needed to be strong for them all right at this moment. Her feet were by now shrouded in mist up to her ankles. “You must leave before we are totally blinded by this onerous weather,” she said looking all around.
“Farewell, Emmeline. Farewell, Gretchen,” Tamara said, and she reached out her hand to bid them adieu. “Wish the others a fond farewell for us.”
“Firstspeed, my friends,” Emmeline said to them both. “May the Gem of Eternity illuminate your path always.”
“Yea, and may it guide you safely home when you have completed your charge,” Gretchen declared. “Be strong, Sisters,” she encouraged them.
“We have a long journey ahead of us. It may be a while before we see you again,” Tamara said to the two women. “Embrace your new roles, Sisters. You protect and defend still. Nothing has really changed,” she said, and she felt the scroll rubbing against her as she adjusted her cloak.
Emmeline scowled. “Nothing and everything,” she replied.
A crack of thunder pierced the silence of the sky, and it rumbled and rumbled as if it was never going to stop.
“We must go,” Tamara stated, though no one was holding her back.
“Yes, you must,” Emmeline repeated.
Angeline turned the head of her dapple pony around and clicked at her. She walked slowly down the cobblestone path that led to the outer courtyard, though she could barely see it any longer. Without looking back, she raised her right hand and wiggled her fingers at her friends.
The Awakening Page 45
