by Nichelle Rae
“Well,” he said, ignoring my questions, “I have a confession to make.” He grabbed my upper arms and shoved me backwards, pushing me against the rocks and making me lose my grip on the cloth covering me. I gasped, too stunned to struggle as he pushed his knee up between my legs and brought his face close to mine. “I was looking at you the same way,” he whispered in my ear. His knee came up higher and rested just against the virgin flesh of my womanhood.
I gasped and gave him a violent shove away from me, nearly sending him sprawling onto his back. “Get off me!” I screamed.
After he caught himself, he glared at me. “What?!” He screamed. He charged me, slamming me up against the rocks and pinning me again. “You’ll give it up for the human sword master and the Gold Flower, but no one else?” He wrestled me to the ground roughly. I couldn’t breathe as I looked into his brown eyes, too shocked to fight him off. “You’ll love it. I promise.”
How could he do this? He was my friend. He protected me. Something wasn’t right. Something had happened to him. Had Hathum found me and corrupted him? The thought was too terrifying.
Suddenly, I heard a female grunt followed by the familiar, but no less sickening, thunk of a human head being bashed in. Addredoc’s body slumped over me. I screamed and felt his blood dripping onto my neck. I was too shaken to move. Acalith’s bright green eyes came into view as she lifted her boot and pushed him off of me.
I lay trembling on the ground for a moment, unable to make sense of this, while she squatted down at my side. Pride be damned. I looked into her eyes and started crying. “Thank you,” I said to her in a shaky whisper.
Her eyes twinkled with mischief. “I know that leaves a bruise on your pride.”
I managed an awkward chuckle as she held out her hands to me. I took them and she pulled me into a sitting position. I glanced up at her, embarrassed, when I realized I was completely exposed. I bowed my head and reached for my cloth. I put it over my shoulders and clutched it closed at my chest.
“It’s nothing I haven’t seen before, Azrel. It is a woman hidden under these tan garments, in case you didn’t know.”
I chuckled again, still feeling self-conscious, and then I forced my eyes to the dead body behind me. My heart leapt up into my throat! I shrieked and desperately crawled backwards until a rock stopped me. It wasn’t Addredoc lying dead on the ground!
But…I’d seen him! I wasn’t mad! I wasn’t!
I brought my trembling hand to my mouth. The body I was looking at was a Salynn Humount of Rocksheloc! His long honey blonde hair was matted and sticky with blood as a pool expanded from under his head. His dead blue eyes stared blankly up at the darkening sky.
I looked up at Acalith desperately. “It…it was Addredoc! Addredoc attacked me!”
She looked at me and those insanely bright eyes went sympathetic for a moment. “In your heart do you really think Addredoc would have done that to you?”
I thought about it for a moment. I knew Addredoc. He was always gentle and soft with me. “No, I don’t.”
The corners of her eyes went up in a hidden smile and she nodded. “The special talent these Salynns have is morphing their physical appearance into that of another being. The more powerful ones can morph into animals—shape-shifters I call them.” She then got to one knee in front of me and reached to her side. “You might need this.”
She pulled forth my sword. Carefully gripping the broadsides of the blade under the hilt, she rested it on the ground before me. Another white sheer cloth, which Acalith took off after putting the blade down, was wrapped around the hilt.
My heart stopped as I stared at it. “Where did you get that?” I hadn’t even realized it was gone!
“When you fell asleep in your room, the White Warrior made it disappear in your magic force to keep it safe. Some snoops went in looking for it.”
“Dear Gods,” I breathed. Then I started frantically feeling my cloth, as if there were any pockets there that the necklace could be in.
Acalith was still smiling as she reached into her cloak. Dangling from her index finger was the necklace. Gods Almighty! Why was I forgetting about everything of such importance?
I took it from her and gripped my sword with my other hand, feeling the hard diamonds under my palm. “Thank you,” I said with no small amount of shame.
“I want to apologize to you,” she said.
I looked at her stunned. “Apologize? For what? You’re the one who just saved me . . . again.”
She smiled and looked down for a moment. Then her eyes came up to meet mine. “I didn’t know about your past. The White Warrior just recently showed it to us. You’ve dealt with enough in your life without someone, who’s supposed to be on your side making you feel any worse than did those creatures you had to live with in The Pitt.”
I smiled at her. “There’s a bruise on your pride.”
She chuckled. “I’ll take that to mean you kindly accept my sincere apology.”
I nodded. “I do. Thank you.” I gazed around nervously. It was nearly dark out. “Acalith, would you mind staying with me? Just until I find my frie—” I looked back, but she was gone, with only a neatly folded pile of clothes left where she had been. I sighed, then got to my knees and unfolded the clothes.
It was a set of relatively fine traveling garb that included a goldish brown top that fit a little too snugly around my shape but was lovely nonetheless. Two strips of cloth made an X over my chest, revealing a little more cleavage than I was used to. There was also a cloak of the same gold brown color, a pair of snug white leggings, and black shiny boots.
I debated whether to clean the blood off me, then decided to leave it alone so I could send a loud, effective warning to anyone else who tried a stunt like this. I didn’t want to be here any more than they wanted me here, and I was going to make sure they knew it. I also wanted to make sure that they left my friends and me alone until we were gone.
A comb had been laid out with my outfit and with it I smoothed my hair, glaring at the dead body of the Salynn the entire time. It was really going to be a shame to have this creature’s blood on such a nice outfit, but it had to be done.
“Forgive me, Acalith, for not giving you credit for this kill,” I said aloud.
When I was ready, I put my sword in my belt and the necklace in my pocket, and then picked up the Salynn’s body. I looked towards the soft orange of the horizon and knew dinner would be in progress already. Good. This would work better with an audience.
Chapter Eight
Azrel
I got to the throne room and peeked through the crack between the closed double doors in front of me. The tables were set up horizontally from where I viewed the room, starting at the foot of the king’s throne and stretching out to my right. My friends sat at the head table at the foot of the throne. I spotted Addredoc and found myself smiling; he was still my friend. I couldn’t stop wondering, though, why they’d left me alone outside like that. Beldorn was standing next to Elraramir, who sat on his throne. Fali was at the second table from my friends. I expected Reese would be with him, but he was nowhere to be found. Humph! I was surprised it hadn’t been him outside trying to rape me. Everyone was looking very nervous, chatting hastily, wondering where I was.
I shook my head in disgust. “Try looking outside where you left me, you morons,” I said softly to myself.
I waited still. I wanted to make a memorable entrance, one that none of them, friend or foe, would ever forget. I waited until the dead Salynn I was holding in my arms became impossible to hold any longer. By this time, people were sweating and pulling at their collars. My party looked around, seeming ready to call for a full-fledged hunt for me.
It was time.
I took a few steps back and got a small running start. With a scream, I kicked open the doors with one foot and went into the throne room. Beings jumped up so quickly that chairs fell to the floor behind them. After a split second of silence, everyone started talking at once. Seein
g blood all over me, Rabryn and Ortheldo started forward, only to be held back by Addredoc and Thrawyn. The crowd erupted as I got closer and they realized what I was carrying. Some women even screamed.
I stopped before the line of tables and tossed the body of the Salynn on the floor. My glaring eyes panned the crowd as I waited for them to quiet down. Finally, I could speak and be heard. “This is what happens when a lesser being tries to overpower me! You end up dead!” I glared into every pair of eyes I could, daring anyone to say a word. “I want to know who he is and who sent him, right now!”
“His name was Sepp,” the king replied standing up. “What is the meaning of this outrage?”
“You tell me!” I cried, glaring at him. “One minute I’m sunbathing with my company, the next I find myself alone,” I said, directing the emphasis of the word towards my friends, “and being attacked by him!” My glared deepened at the king. “He wanted to kill me, so I killed him first.”
“You’ve committed murder!” the king bellowed.
My teeth clenched. I really wanted to hit him. “I defended myself!” I screamed. I took a step forward and pointed at him menacingly. “You want to throw me in the dungeon for that? Then I wish you a lot of luck because you will die if you try.”
The room exploded in gasps and chatter and the King’s mouth dropped. “How dare you thre . . .”
“Shut up!” My head pounded with the force of my voice. My glare panned the crowd again. “Any one of you who even thinks about bringing harm to me or my company, I will destroy you in the most slow, brutal way possible,” I hissed. “If any of you try to succeed where Sepp failed, you’d better make damn sure you have enough people to overpower me because I can put up one hell of a fight!” I paused a moment to let my threat sink in. “If you think a few riffraff like yourselves will outdo me, you’ve got another thing coming! You have no idea who you’re dealing with!” I saw a few people’s throats bob in heavy swallows and watched nervous glances get exchanged. “I hope none of you try to find out again because you will regret it. This is a fair warning to all of you!” I glared at the table where all my friends stood looking stunned and ashamed, then turned and stormed towards the hallway that led back towards my cave.
I was still angry, but it felt better to get that warning out to all of them. I felt a little more secure now, but wasn’t stupid enough to think any of us were actually safe. If only we didn’t have to wait for those stupid maps! I stopped in my tracks and stared down the hallway in thought. I wondered how truly accurate the old maps were. Maybe we could just take them and use Ortheldo’s land savvy skills to determine where hostile and potentially evil territory might lay now. He’d traveled all over Casdanarus looking for me for nine years; he must have at least a pretty good idea of where we could and couldn’t go.
I turned and headed for the closest winding stairway in that hall. Using old maps would be better than staying here like sitting ducks in a pond of water dragons. I wasn’t staying another moment longer than I had to. By revealing Sepp’s body, I’d just blown a trumpet into this sleeping hornets’ nest, and the hornets were going to be pissed.
I headed toward the North side of the mountain, where the History Room was, though I had no idea how to find one room in this mammoth mountain. “Come on, White Warrior,” I pleaded. “Help me find this room so we can get out of here.” I wasn’t sure if I should be considering her another person if it was so imperative that we become “joined” like Rabryn had said, but I didn’t know how else to approach this. I sighed and tried to let my instincts take over so they might lead me to this room that I desperately needed to get too.
Suddenly an impulse told me to turn right. As it came, it felt like I was practically jerked to the right and down another hall. Then another jerking feeling took me into a door on my left. I went through that and it led me up a staircase. In the next hall I was pulled left again through another door.
At the end of this short hallway was a set of double wooden doors with a rounded, convex shape, as if a giant had pushed them outward from the inside and they’d stayed like that. Two large gold handles shone in the lamplight. I pulled open one of the doors and peeked inside. Right in front me were the narrow ends of bookshelves, with a skinny path going down between them. I smiled and slipped inside, making my way down the path in front of me.
At the end of the aisle I looked around in awe. The circular room wasn’t huge, but it was beautiful. Soft, off-white carpet covered the entire floor and lines of dark wooden bookshelves surrounded the upper part of the ring where I stood. I stopped at a gold banister that went around the edge and noticed two sets of short steps on each end that led down into the lower circle below me. The lower ring looked like a classroom. Desks were neatly lined up with papers, books, scrolls and numerous drawings all over them—left behind by the mapping team, I guessed. Large lamps mounted on the ends of each bookshelf bathed the entire room in warm golden orange light.
I dragged my fingers along the gold banister and made my way to the short flight of stairs on my left that led to the lower ring. Though there were no windows, unlike in my accommodations, it was warm and comfortable in here.
“I had nothing to do with that.”
The unexpected voice made me jump. I looked and saw Reese coming down the other set of steps, his arms loaded with books. He didn’t even look at me as he set them down at the desk in the far left corner, which was already overloaded with books and papers.
I wanted to go over and knock his teeth in. He did. I crossed my arms over my chest. “Had nothing to do with what, Reese?”
He looked up at me as if I were an idiot. “The fiasco that got you covered in blood.” I looked down at myself and turned red; I’d forgotten I hadn’t cleaned up yet. He sat down at the desk with his back to me. “Besides, I happened to be on the balcony when you stormed in with your ranting and little spree of threats.”
“You think my threats were little?”
He looked at me over his shoulder and something odd passed over his eyes before he looked down at his work again. “Yes, as a matter of fact I do.”
Shaking with anger, I yanked my Salynn blade from my thigh, tossed it into my right hand, and stormed towards him. I snatched his hair and jerked his head back, putting the tip of my knife against his throat. “How’s this for a ‘little’ threat?”
His nostrils flared with each breath, but his composure and placid expression never wavered. His eyes, however, darted around a little bit as if he was avoiding looking into mine, focusing instead on any other part of my face. “You won’t do it.”
I yanked his hair, forcing his head back farther, and pressed my knife harder into his skin. “Oh yeah? What makes you think that?”
“Because you would have done it already.”
I added more pressure and took satisfaction in the little gasp of pain he let out as I drew some blood. “It’s not too late.”
He sat silent a moment before he spoke again. “Fine, do it. But you’ll never get those maps done. With my team believing you killed Sepp, you just lost the researchers who were working on them.”
“I’ll take my chances with the old maps.”
“Fine.”
Then he allowed his eyes to finally meet mine. I instantly got a queer feeling, like a cold breeze was sweeping through my insides. It felt like his eyes were reaching through me. His eyes then took on a look I didn’t think I’d ever see again in anyone. It was such a bottomless pit of agony and sadness that I was reminded what it was like to look into Norka’s eyes. Reese wanted to die. I couldn’t believe it was even possible that Reese could have endured the same amount of pain Norka had been through. He had no right to look so suicidal!
I withdrew my knife and released his hair. He slowly lifted his head and watched over his shoulder as I retreated. I put my Salynn blade away. “I see you want death for some reason. But I’m not about to do you any favors.” Without a word he turned around and went back to work. I swallowed hard and
looked away. “Where are the old maps?” He looked over his shoulder and our eyes met again. I glared at him. “I wouldn’t want you bothering yourself with drawing new ones. This way I’ll be out of your way faster.”
“I thought you weren’t about to do me any favors?”
My glared deepened. “I’ll be doing myself the favor.”
Reese stood up and went from desk to desk in an organized fashion, piling papers on top of papers until he’d amassed a stack about three inches thick. He handed it to me and went back to his desk. I noticed the paper was indeed ancient and discolored and the drawings were so faded that they were nearly impossible to make out. “They’re from your father’s time. You’ll need Salynn eyes to see anything.”
I scowled. “In case you didn’t notice, I have four Salynns with me.”
“Then you should have no problem. I trust you’ll be leaving tonight.”
His sudden dismissal stung for some reason, but I held my chin high. “Yes, I will.”
“Have a nice life, then.”
He didn’t even glance at me. I narrowed my eyes, then turned and left without a word. I walked countless halls until I found my room. I removed my cloak and lit the lamp on the bedside table. I sat against the stone headboard and drew my knees up, resting the pile of papers on my legs. I was starving. Trying to ignore my hunger, I went through the papers and found them to be in decent enough order. I moved some pages about putting them in the proper order of where my father taught me the lands of Casdanarus lay. I was pretty sure that was how it went, but I’d have Ortheldo double check.
I sighed and ran my hand gingerly over the paper. These were from the time when my father was well loved and respected as a great warrior and hero. For all I knew, he could have touched these very maps. My eyes flooded with tears. I kissed the top page and clutched the pile to my chest, holding them tightly as if I were holding my father. My throat burned and emotions choked me as I cried silently.
