The Fallen

by R. L. Drummond

  He wept within himself with the knowledge that he was soon to become hollowed; an immortal undeath that would deliver him helplessly into the base whims of the demon prince. Everything that he had protected the planes from for so many centuries…

  Reya…He thought with devastating sorrow, so heartfelt a whisper that Reya wept at how much emotion her name alone brought upon his tortured heart. She could hear how devastated he was with the realisation that with his hollowing, Belial would now know of Reya’s existence. That he would become a pawn of the demon prince’s inevitable retribution against Baldur and his brothers.

  Forgive me, my Lord…

  As Timran’s screams raised in pitch, there was a suddenly terrible rending of his throat that brought the bitter taste of blood and Dark, and as he fought to scream further, all his torn vocal chords could sound was a ragged hiss. It was as though he watched from outside himself as the last dregs of his Light were picked from the bones of his soul, like living carrion. And when the full, flooding force of Belial’s Dark finally devoured him whole, there was nothing left within Timran but the cold of the Abyss and the triumphant snarl of the demon prince renewed.

  Another blue light flashed briefly three feet above the ground and from its yawning mouth, Reya fell heavily with a great rushing of wind. She collided with the ground in an explosion of breath and as she choked for air, she shivered from the burning cold with which the gateway had enveloped her body.

  “Reya!!” An all–consuming scream resounded, but all she could utter in reply was a convulsive cough that wracked her chest painfully.

  There was a rapid thundering of feet upon the grass and suddenly she felt herself hauled insistently into strong arms like the ripping winds of a storm, only vaguely aware of frantic shouting from somewhere else.

  “Is she alright?!”

  “What the fuck was that?!”

  “Reya!” Tellan shouted desperately as he stared into her face and shook her with such urgency that her teeth rattled together, “Reya!”

  Reya’s eyes cracked open blearily; the sunlight was so harsh against her already sensitive vision that all she could see was blurred light. “Is he gone?” She finally mumbled through numb lips, the slightest utterance that ripped a relieved, yet joyful gasp from Tellan’s soul.

  “Tellan, is she hurt?!” Jenko shouted from somewhere afar that Reya couldn’t see.

  “She’s fine!” Tellan called to Jenko briefly before he looked adoringly upon Reya once more and touched her face as though this would prove she was real, “Yes, my love, he’s gone.”

  Tellan stared at her in overwhelming gratitude and as he gathered her tightly against his chest, he sobbed silently at the sweet agony of her voice. He rocked her protectively against the images of her plummet that still ricocheted through his mind, and whispered with an all–encompassing relief, “By the Light, girl, I thought I’d lost you.”

  “Will someone please tell me what the fuck is going on?! What the hell was that?!” Vella screamed.

  “Not now, Vella!” Jenko screamed back.

  “Are you serious?! She was there, then she was over the side, and now…and now…what the fuck is going on, Jenko?! Where did that albino archer go?!”

  “Yeah, Reya, where did he go?” Jenko asked softly as he kneeled beside her and Reya smiled at how nakedly his concern showed within the whiteness of his drawn face.

  Reya sat up in Tellan’s arms with a groan, rubbing her head as she fought against the headache that pounded blindingly before her eyes, “I don’t know…Just away.”

  “Away? Away?! Have you lot lost your fucking minds?!”

  “Yes, we get it, Vella, you’re confused!! Now please shut the fuck up for two seconds!!” Jenko roared as he whipped his head up in irritation. He then glanced down at Reya once more with wet eyes and placed a gentle hand upon her cheek, “Are you alright, my love?”

  Reya took his other hand in hers caringly and was shocked with the realisation that, in spite of how natural such an action felt, Jenko had never welcomed or invited such intimacy before now. “I’m fine.” She answered as she pressed her cheek against his tender touch, grateful for the wonderfully unveiled affection he offered her.

  Tellan nodded grimly, but his face was still grey with concern and Reya grasped his hand tightly for reassurance, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

  “You did.” Tellan breathed as he embraced her tighter and when he placed his forehead against hers with such love, she could feel how tightly his chest convulsed from the emotion that bubbled within him.

  Even Jenko’s hand that held hers so tightly quivered terribly within her grasp and as she entwined her fingers around his that opened for her with grateful need, his mouth trembled in joyful agony. “What the hell were you thinking?” He admonished softly and Reya looked into his eyes that shone with such emotion.

  Reya closed her eyes with a gentle sigh, for she could feel her consciousness slipping away; she had known the effort of opening the gateway would have been immense, but the vision of Timran’s torture was an unexpected drain upon her. But as she lay there in her uncle’s arms, she could no longer ignore the unacknowledged, silent voice that had whispered how willingly she had jumped. She had never been able to control her gateways, not once, but as she had fallen all she had thought about was keeping those she loved safe. She could have died…it was a realisation that sobered her greatly in its enormity.

  “He wouldn’t have stopped. I had to do something.” She murmured and with the significant glance that flashed uneasily between her two guardians, she knew then that her rash actions had become justified.

  Reya’s eyes then rolled in her head and Tellan gasped fearfully as he fought to keep her upright. “Reya, sweetheart, stay with us!” He cried with desperate insistence.

  But Reya shook her head blearily, for unconsciousness was drastically close upon her now and she knew that she only had moments left before it claimed her. “I know…I know what happened to Timran. He showed me…you need to see…” She murmured drunkenly.

  She then placed her trembling hands upon both her guardians’ chests, and with a searing blue light that emblazoned blindingly within their minds, their eyes unfocused with the message she needed to deliver them.

  “What…what’s happening?” Vella quavered as she helplessly watched on with her hands upon her mouth, but no answer was given from the men as they relived Reya’s terrible vision.

  It was only when the girl’s hand fell heavily to the ground that Tellan and Jenko both jolted forward with gulping gasps and as they stared at one another with heavy breath, Vella became horrified at the raw emotion that crackled from them both.

  “Oh my God.” Tellan whispered in drowning horror as he stared at his brother, stunned by the horrendous nature of Timran’s ultimate demise. His mouth trembled at the overwhelming despair that burned a bonfire within him; impotent and powerful, it rose to consume him and left him lost in a whirlpool of anguish.

  “That…that bastard…he…oh, Tellan!” Jenko blurted and he looked as though he would be sick as he trembled against the most unspeakable crime any immortal could endure, “We left him there! He…he stole his Light!”

  “We didn’t know! We didn’t know…” Tellan whispered, more to himself than to Jenko, for he had become seized by a terrible guilt at how completely he had failed Timran.

  That their greatest enemy had committed such an atrocious act on one of the Line of Baldur without retribution, that their brother had become one of the hollowed abominations they had strived to protect the planes against. He had failed in his primary duty as an Asgardian and his brother had been forced to suffer under the taint of Belial for fifteen years…Tellan’s heart shattered into mirror shards, each one razor sharp as they cut bloody gouges of guilt through his being.

  “He hollowed our brother!!” Jenko roared suddenly and as he reared onto his knees with rage filled grief, he screamed his impotent fury at the sky.

  “J
enko?” Vella called uncertainly through a trembling mouth, for she had never seen him so angry, so devastated and it sent chills of trepidation down her spine. She stepped forward anxiously and as she looked upon the two men apprehensively, she quavered, “Jenko you’re scaring me. What’s…what’s going on?”

  Tellan squeezed his eyes shut then as he fought for control over the spiralling despair that threatened to overwhelm him. Eventually, he stood with Reya still unconscious in his arm and faced Vella with grim resolution. They still had their duty, Tellan said to himself numbly…in spite of everything, they still had an oath to fulfil.

  “There will be time for that later, Vella.” He said with a voice so thick with emotion that Vella shuddered, “But right now we need to get Reya as far away from here as we can. Will you help us?”

  Vella glanced down at Reya’s senseless form and with a wordless nod that twinned with her unshed tears of frightened concern, she ushered them back over towards the wagon. Its tortured frame squealed in complaint as Tellan laid his niece down reverentially upon the wagon bed, and Vella couldn’t help but look at the girl’s innocent face with a deep sense of trepidation. But when she gazed despairingly over at Jenko, who still roared crackling oaths of violent retribution at the sky, Tellan placed a hand upon her shoulder.

  “It’s alright, Vella. I’ll get him.” He murmured.

  Tellan looked upon his brother as he screamed incoherent fury at the sky, his balled fists shaking impotently from the scorching rage that flooded his being. After the death of Baldur, Jenko’s anger had become a dormant volcano, held in check by the most frayed of threads. But the crashing fright of Reya’s near death, combined with the unforgivably horrific knowledge of what had become of Timran, pulled upon that thread like a hangman’s noose. Unadulterated wrath burned within him now, so violent in its howling rage that Jenko’s oaths made no sense. In all the centuries they had fought side by side, Tellan had never seen Jenko lose such control, even when times had become overwhelmingly dire.

  “Jenko–” Tellan began tentatively.

  But the softness of his voice was drowned by Jenko’s whipping fury as he spun suddenly and faced his commander with flashing eyes. “We need to kill him, Tellan!” He seethed in panting rage through a growling rictus of wrath, “Rip him apart for what he’s done!!”

  Tellan lifted a hand as he stepped a little closer, fearful that the strength of Jenko’s rage would set him ablaze in its ferocity. “I know, brother, I know.” He replied soothingly, “And we will–”

  Jenko’s infuriated snarl killed Tellan’s sentence short. “No!!” He screamed, red faced with spitting fury, “No more talk!! No more running!! Belial…must…die!! Now!!”

  Vella could only watch on with eyes widened in worry when Tellan rapidly approached his brother and upon the ferocious embrace he hauled him into, Vella gasped at how greatly Jenko sobbed against Tellan. The men clung onto one another desperately, such a raw display of anguished grief that she choked upon the hard ball of her own emotion that welled so tightly within her throat.

  Vella became painfully aware then that not only were the events that led up to now far beyond her comprehension, there was a significant intimacy within this moment that she knew she had no part of. She looked upon Reya’s sleeping face as though this would somehow give her answers to the questions she didn’t know how to ask. But all she could see was the young girl she had met once, from what felt like so long ago and as she slept soundly, entirely oblivious of the roaring sobs that tore from Jenko’s grief, Vella trembled with apprehension.

  When the two men eventually returned and sat disconsolately in the back of the wagon beside Reya, nothing was said as Vella led the now thoroughly distressed wagon further along the road. The clopping of hooves and metallic rattle of tortured wheels resounded steadily into the distance and eventually, the serene countryside faded into silence once more.

  Underneath the bridge, at the bottom of the canyon where the river churned inexorably in its search for the coast, a flash of searing blue light flared briefly before a dark blur splashed into the water. And with the grasping of a bloodless hand upon the slick rocks of the canyon’s steep face, Timran dragged himself from the river’s cold embrace, his eyes an ever emotionless silver mirror of his master’s Dark.

  The wagon limped clatteringly down the road, its tortured axles barely keeping the wheels on the thoroughly splintered and arrow pierced frame. In the distance there was the screaming of gulls and the hushing of the sea, but the higher the wagon clambered upon the grassy hill they travelled along, all Tellan and the others could hear was the whistling wind. Jenko watched his brother in careful silence, concerned with how fearful his expression was even now as he watched Reya still deep in slumber. She was so peaceful there…Jenko wondered if she slept happily or if more of Baldur’s past flitted through her mind, even now.

  Jenko closed his eyes with haunted terror, for he could still see the awful time–stopping moment Reya had fallen from the bridge. He never wanted to see such a thing again; the way his heart had fractured into a thousand electrified shards…Jenko wasn’t sure if he could survive another attack of that feeling. He watched on as Tellan lovingly tucked a bolt of velvet higher under Reya’s chin, wrapping her tightly against the chill of the biting wind. He doubted that Tellan would survive himself if he was to witness such a moment again.

  Tellan looked up then and as his gaze swept the landscape, his brief flicker of disorientation became replaced with a squint of foreboding recognition. “I never thought we’d see this place again.” He murmured softly and as Jenko lifted his gaze in question, Tellan indicated the imposing bulk in the distance with a grave hitch of his head.

  Jenko followed his commander’s gaze and as his eyes settled on the thoroughly dilapidated and sprawling stonework that was scattered across the ground beyond like the crumbs of the gods, his face solidified with ominous recognition.

  Vella looked ahead at the ruin that lay in terrible disrepair, its collection of broken walls, fallen pillars and ragged arches a poor indicator of whatever its function had been when it had been built. But even though moss and grass covered the stones like an ill healed wound, the structure’s bare bones still cut an imposing figure against the stark grey of the late afternoon clouds above.

  She glanced behind herself briefly and at the palpable darkening of her companions’ moods, she asked, “What’s wrong?”

  Jenko placed a hand upon Tellan’s shoulder as he negotiated himself into the driver’s bench beside her. “We’ve been here before.” He answered darkly.

  “So? We’ve been to lots of places.” She answered back with forced dismissiveness, but she could see the glower of distaste the ruin’s structure elicited from Jenko’s face.

  “This place…” Tellan began carefully and as Vella glanced back at him, she could see how forebodingly he stared at the mossy battlements in the distance, “It holds a great significance for us.”

  “Oh?” Vella asked, but when no reason followed, she shook her head in frustration and muttered moodily under her breath, “Very good, Vella, just you talk to yourself.”

  Jenko stood silently as he assembled his telescope, all the while staring at the ruin with a piercing glare. He looked out upon the plains beyond and when he finally brought the telescope back down with a grim nod, he pointed at the darkening skies above.

  “The clouds are looking fit to burst soon and judging by the colour of them, I doubt we want to be caught in the middle of it.” He said decisively. He then closed his telescope with a firm click and looked upon Tellan with an almost apologetic grimace, “As much as I hate to say it, my Lord, I think the ruin is our best avenue for shelter.”

  “‘My Lord’,” Vella mumbled with an unbelieving shake of her head, “Seriously, Jenko, what is that all about?”

  “Soon, Vella, soon.” Jenko reassured as he crouched with a gentle pat upon her shoulder and as Vella gloomily snapped the reins to change the horses’ course, she mutter
ed sullen curses under her breath.

  Jenko joined his commander in the back of the wagon once more and nodded in concern at how gingerly Tellan rubbed his chest around the broken arrow shaft still embedded within him. “Are you alright, Tellan?” He murmured.

  “Aye.” Tellan replied through a grimace and as he dropped his hand with a sigh, he glared at the ruin’s mossy frame, “We need to take time to see to our wounds in any case. It’s not ideal, but we don’t have much of a choice.”

  “No.” Jenko answered grudgingly. He then experimentally prodded the arrow still within his own leg and added with dark truth, “We got lucky.”

  Tellan looked upon his lieutenant and nodded grimly in acknowledgement. Timran’s exceptional proficiency with the bow had been the reason for his recruitment into the Line of Baldur and many a battle had been won through the silent death he had rained upon the enemies of Asgard. Tellan could still remember the thrill of running into the roar of ferocious battle, haloed by the whistling slipstream of Timran’s ripping arrows. Safe in the knowledge that any enemy his bastard sword missed would have become claimed by the fearsome archer’s incredible skill. Tellan frowned with a swallowing of anguish and thought sorrowfully, Baldur would weep if he knew what had happened to you, brother.

  “Shit…” Jenko whispered painfully then and with snatching fingers upon his squeezed shut eyes, his mouth trembled with sudden, agonising grief.

  Tellan said nothing, but his hand placed gently upon his brother’s back was as loud as any sentiment he could have spoken and Jenko’s shoulders shuddered in silent woe. Jenko straightened up suddenly with a loud sniff that forced a renewed command of his sensibilities and as he cast his shining eyes out at the approaching ruin, he shook his head at his own lack of strength.