“Whatever it is, I don’t care. Your people are aware of the Zantronians existence so you are prepared to fight them. My people aren’t! They don’t know anything about them or you, only I do and if I have to listen in on every little secret meeting you hold to find out the truth then so be it. I will do whatever I can and you can’t stop me!”
With my voice still ringing in the air, I spin around, running past Zaneth and head down the hall, making several wrong turns before finally finding the dining room.
Storming in, the moment my eyes land on Karadese my lips open, spilling out the words which I’m uncertain if I actually truly mean.
“I want to go home.”
Karadese freezes, undiluted fear rising in her eyes as she searches my face, looking for what, I don’t know.
“I want to go home, right now, today,” I repeat, the words stuttering out as I finally register what it is I’m asking for.
Home, how can I ever face my own people again?
“You are not well enough to return to your home planet just yet.” Karadese steps forward, her hands fluttering out in front of her, desperate to hold me, or at least shake some sense into me. I take a step back, stopping her short.
“I feel fine, better than I ever have before.”
“Physically yes, that may be true, but can you say that is true mentally?”
I freeze, her accusation sitting heavily in the air.
Karadese’s lips part, her words whispering out, “Your body might have healed, Rayna, yet I assure you, the mind takes much longer to heal from such an ordeal.”
I don’t want to believe her, to even contemplate that my mind might have some lingering scars, yet I know deep down that what she says is true. In all honesty, I may never return to being the person I was before and that scares me more than anything else out there in all of the world’s combined.
Fire burns across my skin and within a heartbeat I feel him standing behind me.
“I have to agree with Mother,” Blay’s icy voice cools the fire eagerly consuming me. “You are certainly not yet ready to leave our sanctuary.”
Unable to keep my back to him, I turn, my chin jutting out in defiance as words flee my mouth.
“However touching your concern for me is, I doubt that I’m any safer here than I would be back home.”
Blay’s jaw muscle pulses, his eyes narrowing as they travel from my face down my body, a small amount of surprise flicking across his face before once again hardening into an emotionless mask.
“Are all humans so short sighted?”
“Are all Prytorians so egotistical?” I retort, my own arms folding across my chest, mimicking his stance.
The sound of a loud siren pierces through our standoff, and my anger is quickly forgotten when his face contorts in alarm.
The last time I heard a siren blaring it meant that allies were invading, from the way both Blay and Zaneth move, readying themselves for an impending fight; it can only mean one thing.
Dread sinks like a molten rock in my stomach, as a familiar, overwhelming fear wipes out any lingering tension inside of me.
The Zantronians are here.
Chapter Six
Blay reaches out, instinctively placing his hand on my shoulder and pulling me towards him in one quick motion before I’ve even had a chance to register what’s happening.
The bracelet reacts on cue, sending sharp barbs of pain into my flesh and I release an involuntary cry of agony. Absentmindedly my hand grips at it, trying once again to tug the innocent looking band from my skin, only to send trickles of blood down my arm. Blay’s eyes follow mine, a frown tugging at his dark brows for a fleeting moment before all hell breaks loose.
Ellestra’s panicked face fills my vision as we are propelled forward, sounds of people yelling, loud bangs and explosions ricochet throughout the clear midmorning air, never once deterring Blay from leading us down a pre-planned route that leaves me confused and utterly lost.
When we emerge into a large, windowless room that bars from the inside, I know that we have entered their version of a panic room, and instead of feeling any form of safety I feel the sickening sensation of being trapped - no matter how elegant, a cage is still a cage.
Karadese takes charge, her usual demure nature at odds with this in control, hardened woman before me.
“Zaneth, bolt the door, seal us in and allow no entry unless the signal is given.”
She turns to Blay, grabbing his hand in hers, desperation clinging to her in a way only a mother can feel.
“I beg you to stay here with us, Blay. If they break the borders we will need your protection.”
Blay’s eyes soften for the first time since I met him and I find I can’t pull my gaze away as he steps forward, pressing his soft lips to his mother’s forehead before quickly backing away.
“If they manage to reach you here then I am already too late, there will be nothing I can do to stop them.” Blay glances at me, his eyes coming to rest on my arm, the bracelet no longer visible beneath my entwined fingers.
He turns, patting Zaneth on the shoulder and is out the door before I can utter a single word. What would I say anyway? There is nothing that I can do to stop the Zantronians and like the coward I am I retreat to a corner, the cool stone wall scraping along my back as my legs give out allowing my body to sink to the floor.
“Mother? Is this actually happening? Are they really here?” Ellestra’s trembling voice barely reaches me, my mind already shutting down into protection mode.
“This is not the first time the Zantronians have attacked, nor will it be the last,” Karadese pauses, her lithe hands sweeping across Ellestra’s cheek, a soothing gesture which leaves me feeling even more alone than I already did.
“Our Realm is heavily guarded, you know this. They have never before breached our portal and I don’t believe that they will. The alarm and our hiding are purely a necessary motion.”
“What do you mean?” Her statement resonates inside my clouded mind, curiosity overshadowing my fear and I have to raise my hollowed voice to be heard over the high pitch of the continuous alarm.
“Break the border – what does that mean?”
I look up, taking in Karadese’s hardened façade. She may be holding herself together for Ellestra’s sake but I can see straight through her, she’s scared, and that chills me to the core.
Zaneth answers for her, his deep voice showing none of the fear which resides in the rest of us.
“Each world, each planet has a protective border surrounding it. Ours has been intensified to allow us to govern entry onto Prytora through one portal only. However large this portal is, we protect it with our lives, to not do so would be handing over the planet to the Zantronians or any other species which wishes to threaten us. The current attack is on this portal, they are trying to destroy it, to blow open our defences so they can gain entry at any location, and we will, therefore, be unprepared.”
Zaneth draws his sword from its sheath, the steel reflecting light around the room like prisms in the sunshine.
“Any attempts they make will be futile, they may be physically stronger than we are, but they lack our intelligence.”
I doubt what he says. I’ve been with these creatures, what they lack in intelligence they make up with in pure deviousness. Garvien alone could take down worlds and if it came down to it, then his hatred alone would blast through the Prytorians borders effortlessly.
The entire castle shakes as a thunderbolt of sound vibrates above the land as the attack on the Prytorian Realm continues. The magnitude of the noise impels Karadese to spin on her heels, marching to the far wall of the well-stocked room, pausing for just a moment before she selects a small, steel dagger from a line of far more deadly weapons.
I have no idea what good a weapon that tiny will be against an attack from beasts that could probably crush the blade in their colossal hands, still she clutches it in her palm like it holds great importance.
My eyes tr
ail after her, brows tugging together in utter confusion as she returns to the centre of the room, glancing at Zaneth long enough to give him a command with a single nod.
Without a word being spoken, he presses a seemingly plain square block in the middle of the wall; it’s characteristically so similar to its smooth, grey surroundings that I would never have known it hides a secret all of its own if I had not been watching him.
When he releases the stone, he steps to the centre of the room, taking his place beside Karadese, their eyes trained in the same direction, looking at the ground and waiting for something of importance to happen.
My skin begins to crawl as the ground tremors at the same time as a gritty, scratching sound, much like nails scraping down a chalkboard, penetrates the room.
Right at Karadese’s feet the stone flooring pulls back, almost dropping down on itself in segments, to reveal a perfectly circular gaping hole in the floor.
From my seated angle I can see nothing more than a dark shadow lurking beneath the hole and suddenly a new fear springs to life. I don’t need any more surprises and I find myself shutting down even further. My lips glue shut, unwilling to utter any noise as I continue to watch this oddity, unsure of what is happening, and almost not wanting to know.
Karadese’s eyes tighten, her impatience shining through as she grips the dagger tighter in her small hand, her shoulders rising with each heavy breath and I find my own breath matching hers, unwittingly copying her in a senseless attempt to summon some of her inner strength.
My eyes dart back to the missing floor when a slight rumbling noise begins to emit from the hole, followed quickly by a smooth, carved pillar osculating from the ground, popping up to rest in the very place where only a moment ago had been a plain floor.
The pillar clicks into position, settling in front of Karadese as if it belongs there and I guess it does, after all, this world too holds many secrets I’m sure.
On top of the pillar rests a large glass bowl, which encases a white liquid that reminds me of fresh milk, lapping at its edges.
Karadese moves swiftly, holding out her left hand to hover over the bowl, and without hesitating, she drags the blade across her palm, deep enough to draw blood. I wince as she turns her hand to the liquid, feeling her pain even though she doesn’t appear to feel anything as she lets the blood run free from her skin to fall into the unknown liquid, the drops disappearing as if being drawn deep down and swallowed whole.
My confusion deepens and I blink rapidly, trying to dispel the fog dancing in my vision, only it’s not my eyes playing tricks, instead the misty fog swirling throughout the air is coming from the pillared bowl, blanketing the room until all I can see is the others, still standing there, looking at the fog like all of this makes sense.
“What is going on?” I huff, trying to blow the mist away, not wanting to breathe it into my body when I don’t know what it is.
“Just wait,” Ellestra is the only one to respond as Karadese squeezes another drop of blood into the churning bowl.
Suddenly the fog retreats, drawing back to hover just above the basin, twirling in a slow vortex until it is no longer just fog.
“What the hell is that?” I don’t know exactly what it is I’m looking at but I know one thing for sure, that’s Blay’s face and he’s not alone.
“This is our Eidolon Eye, Rayna.” Karadese glances at me, her lips turned down, tendrils of worry slipping through her resilient facade.
“It allows me to watch as the proceedings progress - since I cannot be there in person.”
“You mean like an apparition?”
Karadese merely nods, not having the patience to enlighten me right at this point, though I’m not that easily persuaded.
“You can see anywhere around Prytora at any time?” The thought is a little unnerving to me, even in my distanced state.
“No,” she sighs. “By using several drops of blood I can see any who share my bloodline, that is all. It allows me to see what they see, as well as what’s occurring around them.” Karadese’s words trail off as Calasis stands beside Blay, their swords drawn.
For just a fleeting moment Blay tilts his head up, his face directed towards the very viewpoint that we are seeing from. The rising sun catches in his amber eyes and I swear, however absurd it is, that he looks directly at me, as if he can see me watching him from wherever he is and I turn away, not wanting to be seen, not by him, not now when I’m cowering on the ground, barely holding myself together.
“They are well prepared, My Queen,” Zaneth’s deep voice draws me back to the vision unfolding in a misty picture before us.
I don’t know what I expected to see, but what’s lingering in the air certainly isn’t it.
Blay, Calasis and Araton all stand at the ready, surrounded by over a dozen guards, all of whom have so many weapons flanked to their bodies it’s surprising they can even move underneath all of that weight.
Only Calasis shows any expression of enthusiasm, as if he’s eager for the Zantronians to storm through and start a fight which he has been fervent for this whole time.
The rest stand together, swords in their hands, shoulders tense, while their concentrating gazes stay glued to something just beyond our vision.
Suddenly our vantage point changes and we are now looking down on the waiting army. Seeing them standing at the ready, their backs to the forest, while they face a hardened wall of white stone, towering well above them and just as long.
In the centre, shimmering like a full moon reflecting off of water, is a ghostly mirage, wavy at its edges as it melts into its stone border.
The rippling molten metal appearance bulges out at the exact same time as another explosion rumbles throughout the Realm.
The men tighten their forces and I know without a doubt that this is the sacred portal which the Zantronians now attack.
Karadese’s face tightens as attack after attack bulges across the portal, testing its strength, trying to break through the border so the Zantronians can storm through and kill us all.
I can’t watch anymore, hating how with each thunderclap of sound I retreat even further as we wait for the end to come, so instead I keep my eyes trained on Karadese, needing some of her strength now more than ever.
Only now her squared shoulders and stoic expression draws me deeper into a numb despair. It’s not a good sign when the Queen of Prytora is obviously worried, and it makes me wonder why she is so rattled if their portal is as protected as they say it is.
I don’t have time to give it thought as Ellestra slides down to sit next to me, drawing her legs to her chest and resting her cheek on her knees so she can look at me, her closeness warming my chilled skin and reminding me that I’m not quite as alone as I feel I am.
“Are you alright?” her childlike voice slips between my barricade, pulling at parts of my soul that refuse to relinquish any control to the monsters who continue to haunt me.
She slips her hand into mine; this girl who is no more than a child herself, trying to comfort me when her own fear leaves her trembling.
My hardened heart fractures and I can’t sit here any longer in my self-pity. Drawing my arm around her, I pull her close, smiling with lips unused to the gesture.
“I’m fine. As Zaneth said, this is all just protocol and your people know what they are doing. We just get to sit here and wait to be rescued. It all seems a bit unfair really, why do your brothers get to go have all the fun while we hide out?”
My joke is lame, even to me, but it has the desired effect, making Ellestra laugh, the tension in her shoulders easing until she is sitting back, trading insults about her siblings effortlessly.
Karadese catches my eye, her lips parting to whisper a silent thank-you. Our mutual fear not diminishing in any way, only concealed for the sake of a young girl.
***
Over an hour of sitting, locked in a cold stone room with an edgy fourteen-year-old, has wreaked havoc on my already frayed nerves.
&nbs
p; With each thunderclap of noise pulsating the Realm, my own fear has increased, being masked by the pure willpower of not wanting to come undone in front of others who need what little strength I contain.
One thing I have become talented at is condensing my emotions, burying them deep within me and letting nothing show through. It’s a skill I’m heavily relying on now.
The walls around us shake, dust floating down upon the immaculate room in a reminder that we are still not yet safe. With each whimper from Ellestra and every knowing glance between Karadese and Zaneth my own weak trust in the Prytorians protection diminishes even further.
Karadese shut the Eidolon Eye down long ago, letting it recede back into its hidden location, taking with it any forewarning we might have had if the Zantronians did, in fact, break through. The images had only made Ellestra more panicked and in truth I couldn’t stand having Blay’s ashen face playing on a constant reel in front of me, taunting me with unresolved anger from our previous argument, yet also jarring something else within me that I have no energy to decipher.
My body is drained from being on high alert for so long and I can no longer provide Ellestra with the distraction she so desperately needs. My skin continues to burn, scalding my rattled nerves and reaching deep inside my flesh until I feel as though I’m being cooked alive.
Each bump from Ellestra’s shoulder is like a lightning strike, growing in strength, damaging every part of me until I don’t know how much more I can take. Relief enables me to breathe fully once Ellestra finally pulls away to sit next to Karadese, who comforts her with funny stories from her childhood, something I would have liked to hear if only I could focus through the agony which consumes me.
One thing is for certain, the pain is radiating from the stolen bracelet in waves. Nausea grips my stomach, making my head swim and lining my skin with sweat.
When they are deep in conversation, paying no attention to me, I discreetly draw back my sleeve and glare daggers at the bracelet I now wish I had never taken. Garvien is punishing me from a different Realm, I’m sure of it.
Paladin Rising (The Paladin's Curse Book 1) Page 7
