by Morgan Wylie
“Thank you for freeing me from Maleina and that dungeon. There was darkness there that drove me to madness at times.” He looked to Finn, then Daegan and Chel. “I am in all of your debt.”
“We couldn’t leave you there,” Chel huffed out. “And now you are one of us.” She smiled proudly as she squeezed Kaeleigh’s arm. Kaeleigh looked to her friend with a beaming smile.
“That’s right,” she nodded.
“Is your name really Aidón?” Chel asked, suddenly looking at him strangely. She looked taken aback by a look Kaeleigh gave her. “What? Hunter wasn’t really your grandfather’s name and they were HIDING so it would make sense,” Chel stated with attitude.
“I know that, I just didn’t think of it,” Kaeleigh defended apologetically.
“Yes, it is. We decided it was unnecessary as Aidón is a common name among the Elves and I was already pronounced to be dead.” He shrugged as if no big deal.
“Now what, oh mighty warriors?” Chel asked, looking up from Daegan to Finn.
“If I may?” Aidón looked to Daegan to interject. Daegan nodded. “I have seen the way you fight,” he said, looking at Kaeleigh specifically. “While you fight with heart and powerful energy, your skills need some attention. I think it would be wise to spend some time here in training.”
“Agreed,” Daegan stated.
After silent observation Ella spoke. “You may use the training field and join with those here.” She gestured to the group of Twined beings that had joined Kaeleigh. “They would also benefit from your instruction. Then I feel that you must not tarry here longer than that. Arileas is awaiting our presence in Ehsmia.”
Finn reached down and pulled Aidón to his feet then gave him a handshake in welcome. “I did not recognize you or your energy. Forgive me if I insulted you in any way,” he said humbly with his head inclined.
Aidón placed his other hand on Finn’s shoulder. “No apologies necessary. You are a guardian and you performed your job well. I remember you in service to Ryek.” Then suddenly a strange expression quickly passed over his face before he turned a strained look back to Daegan.
With a frown, Finn’s glance found Ella watching him. Quickly, Daegan’s eyes were blazing with suspicion and shot to Finn. Finn now realized Daegan was sensing Aidón’s reaction to him.
“Come on, guys,” Kaeleigh yelled back as she and Chel were walking back the way they had come. Daegan frowned at her, suddenly distracted from the brief encounter of guilt he watched wash over Finn’s features. He still had a hard time reading Finn’s emotions even when he tried. Something strong blocked him.
✧✧✧
On their way back to the training field, Kaeleigh and those with her passed by the large main cabin in the center of camp. A slight breeze ruffled her hair, bringing within it the sweet smoky smell of campfires and a crispness in the air that reminded her of her home in Montana. It had just been the beginning of fall when they left. She didn’t know how many days they had actually been gone since Finn had tried to explain that time moved a little differently in Alandria. The smells wafting from within the meeting hall were so deliciously strong that Kaeleigh and Chel’s stomachs both grumbled at the same time, resulting in giggles from the girls.
“We need to stop to eat,” Finn spoke to those around them, but especially to Daegan as he nodded at the girls.
Nodding, Daegan turned toward the food. “I am sure Aidón could use some food as well to recover.”
Kaeleigh and Chel followed Metrí in and grabbed their food. Some of the others from the camp were sitting at a table that looked like it had been carved straight out of a huge tree. It was rough with bark on all the edges, but the top had been smoothed to near perfection and it was clean. They chatted about things of no consequence for the most part and got to know those they sat with. Peter had come from the Midwest. Silas had come from sunny Florida. Loraina was from California and there were even a few from across the great pond sporting beautiful English and Scottish accents, along with a couple from Australia. They were all from various ethnicities and backgrounds. Hearing them talk like normal—mortal—teenagers made Kaeleigh homesick. Chel was getting a rise out of several of them with something funny she had said, but Kaeleigh couldn’t help but observe them. She tried to focus on their threads of energies without being too obvious about it. It wasn’t that she wouldn’t tell them or that she was trying to be sneaky, but people were usually more relaxed and allowed their true selves to shine a little more when they don’t realize they are being examined.
“I don’t understand,” Kaeleigh mumbled out loud.
All conversation fell as everyone near her stared with confusion.
“What don’t you understand, Kae?” Chel asked nonchalantly.
Kaeleigh looked around at each of them, suddenly realizing she had spoken out loud. A slight blush creeped up her neck. “Oh, sorry.” She cleared her throat at the awkwardness. “I was trying to get a read on each of your energy threads.” She wrung her hands and looked down at the table then took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, I should’ve asked but you were all relaxed which makes it easier for me to try. It’s just something I am starting to get a grasp on. I don’t even know how to do it right because it didn’t really work.”
One of the boys was scrunching his eyebrows at her—Silas, she thought. “So, we don’t have energy threads? Because we are different?” He sounded a bit offended.
“No! No, that’s not it. I mean I can see your general energy signature that says, you know, that you’re alive. It’s the specific energy marking you as one of those with magic from Alandria.” She took a deep breath, suddenly feeling the need to back-pedal. “I can’t sense it all the time anyway, but I just thought I’d try. I’m still trying to get the hang of it, obviously.”
“Obviously,” the same boy—Silas—responded dryly. Which earned him an elbow in his side from Metrí. She might be petite, but she was not afraid of the much bigger warriors.
“Okay, try me.” Metrí bounced with anticipation, her short white-blonde curls mimicking her enthusiasm.
“Are you sure?” At the girl’s nod, Kaeleigh readjusted her position so she could fully focus on Metrí. “Please don’t feel bad if I don’t get anything. Like I said, I don’t have a handle on it. It comes and goes, usually when I am not looking for it.” Kaeleigh knew she had gotten much better at using her magic, but for some reason it wasn’t working well with this group and she didn’t want Metrí to feel bad.
“It’s okay.”
“All right. Just relax and be yourself... I guess.” Kaeleigh took a deep breath and watched as the girl of about fifteen or sixteen did the same and closed her eyes. She then focused her inner magic, stirring up her energy. Kaeleigh was growing to love the feeling of her magic moving inside her. In her mind’s eye, she watched as it swirled then moved from her to Metrí. It gently and quietly swirled about her then returned to its owner. Kaeleigh cocked her head as she examined the thread that she saw now linking Metrí to herself. It was similar to what she saw with Chel and the others, but it also had its own uniqueness. Its texture was thicker, coarser. Possibly because of her mixed blood? The color of it was different from what she knew represented either the Elves or the Faeries or even the Shifters. Kaeleigh knew there were other races in Alandria that she had yet to discover, and Metrí’s thread definitely felt different.
Suddenly she picked up on a strong male presence coming close behind her. She was sure Daegan must have felt what she was feeling and had come to discover it himself, but she didn’t react to him. Kaeleigh wanted to re-examine the thread before she said anything to Metrí—maybe even ask Arileas about it when they went to meet him.
Kaeleigh sat back and relaxed. “You can open your eyes now, Metrí.”
Metrí slowly squinted her eyes open one at a time as if she was about to see something different. “So? Did you see it?”
Kaeleigh paused, unsure if she should tell the girl or wait until she knew something. Was it b
etter for her to think she couldn’t see it or to be honest and know that she didn’t understand it? That she would be different... once more. Kaeleigh thought if the roles were reversed how she would handle it.
“It’s not there, is it? You can tell me.”
“No, it is there.” Kaeleigh paused as the girl’s eyes grew wider. “But I’m going to be honest with you because you are strong and I would want to be told. I went my whole life with secrets that should have been told to me. I don’t know what it means. I could see your thread, but it is different from any of the other ones I have seen before.” Metrí lowered her eyes, downcast, but then suddenly shot them up so not to show her disappointment. “Don’t be discouraged. Like I said, I don’t know what it means. And I am obviously new at this. It didn’t feel negative by any means.” Kaeleigh took on a wistful expression. “In fact, I’d say it felt peaceful and full of balance. Don’t ask me what that feels like, but those are the images I get when I think of it.”
“I, too, felt what Kaeleigh has described,” Daegan spoke with a deep thoughtful timbre. “It is unlike what I know, but it felt strong. I think we should take you with us to Ehsmia and ask Ella’s grandfather, Arileas. He is an Elder in Alandria. Since Ella was the one who brought you here, I’m sure she won’t object.”
As if on cue, Ella stepped up beside Daegan. “She is not ready to go into Alandria, but I am afraid that might be the only option at this point to help get her in touch with who she is inside. It will be significant in the coming days.”
Peter, the young man she sparred with, shot up from the other side of the table. “Oh, no! She is not going anywhere with you all. Ella said it: she’s not ready!” It was obvious that he had affection for the girl, but there was also a spark of jealousy that he was not the one being invited to go.
Just as Daegan was about to say something to the boy, Metrí stood up and looked right into Peter’s eyes. “I go where I want to, with who I want to, when I want to. Is that clear?” Her expression softened then she looked into his eyes with big full eyes, pleading for him to understand. “I need to know, Peter.” She stared at him a moment longer, then he sighed and gave her a short nod. Metrí turned back to Ella and Daegan, who were standing behind where she and Kaeleigh sat at the picnic-style log table.
“When do we go?”
Daegan and Ella shared a brief look, and Ella nodded back at him. Kaeleigh’s eyebrows pinched at their silent communication.
“We leave at first light.” That was all Ella spoke before she turned and left the meeting hall.
Daegan turned back to Kaeleigh and Metrí. “We had better get some more training in for the both of you. Metrí, will you work with Kaeleigh when we return to the field?”
Metrí bobbed her head up and down with a smile on her face. Kaeleigh couldn’t help but smile in return. Just beyond the table, she watched as Finn walked out of the meeting hall following in Ella’s wake, wondering not for the first time what was going on with the two of them. She brought herself back to Metrí animatedly waving her hands while she demonstrated to Chel across the table a new technique she was working on. Apparently, she had talked Chel into joining their duo, now making it quite the training triangle. Kaeleigh smiled as she watched them discuss the mechanics of how it would work.
✧✧✧
On the training field, everyone was matched up with a single partner, except in the girls’ case. Aidón looked like he had miraculously regained all of his strength and even looked younger than he had originally when the glamour was broken. He was still quite old if he was Hunter’s brother, but his appearance wore youth a little better than Hunter had. Aidón was grabbing one of the practice weapons on a rack where one of the locals had shown them. They were told to take their pick. He walked toward one of the warriors already waiting on the field and bowed to him like a warrior with honor. Aidón then stretched his arms and swung his weapon around, gripping it and admiring it as if reuniting with an old friend. A moment later, he took his stance as his partner looked on with an expression of slight confusion before nodding his head and taking his own stance.
As all the partners were ready, Daegan began to call out beginning instructions, then as each was perfected he called out harder combinations of steps and swings, choreographing a dance. The girls tried several times to get some kind of syncopated movements together in their coordination. Finally, Metrí stopped them and called out her own instructions, directing it by name. She kept the order of their names the same until they had a rhythm. It worked. She would thrust to Kaeleigh, who blocked then spun to throw her arm toward Chel, who blocked, then did the same motion at Metrí. They kept it slow until they were comfortable with the motions.
Kaeleigh had practiced more than Chel, so Metrí would call out her own steps to Kaeleigh then Chel would know what was coming in order to prepare. Eventually, Metrí stopped calling them and Chel got the hang of it. Without the added energy Kaeleigh’s sword provided, the girls were almost evenly matched. Metrí had been practicing longer and had more skill, but Kaeleigh and Chel both caught on quickly. Unaware of what was going on around them and how long they had been at it, Kaeleigh finally noticed—actually felt— Daegan standing at the edge of their little group.
“You are doing well. Keep going, I am going to take over your instructions. Get ready. I am going to add in another,” Daegan said, watching them.
“What?!” Chel exclaimed.
“Just keep your focus. Loraina, step in.”
Without questioning what he was asking, Loraina, a Twined girl that sat at the table with them during lunch, fluidly inserted herself into the controlled chaos, the result causing the girls to pair off.
“No. Do not pair off, keep on guard of all those around you. You will not always have the luxury of pairing off with an enemy. Fight what comes near you. If you see an opening, switch to another opponent. Keep them guessing. Remain alert, but be the offense, be in control. Discipline your instincts.”
It took the girls a few tries before they understood what it was he asking. And once they did, he destroyed their balance.
“James, in,” Daegan commanded without averting his eyes from the fight before him. Most of the other fighters had joined him in watching the new technique.
“Daegan, are you trying to kill us?” Chel shouted out, to which he actually chuckled.
“If I had wanted to do that, I had many opportunities while you slept.”
Chel’s face paled, but she didn’t lose her focus as a sword came close to her face. “That is not funny!” she shot back.
“Good focus, Chel,” he replied.
James had just slid in with a block to a shot Kaeleigh had intended for Loraina. Loraina had circled backward and began her own dance with another partner.
“Very fluid, James. Metrí, keep on your toes. Good. Chel, do not be afraid of Loraina. You are a fighter, it is in your blood. You are a shifter, do not fight it... accept it.” Daegan continued to admonish the different fighters and added in a couple more.
“Aidón, fight Kaeleigh.” He was complete business.
Aidón was skilled beyond any in this realm, possibly even including Daegan himself. He had fought through battles and it showed. Daegan watched him carefully. Watched how he tempered his moves with each of the fighters but especially as he fought with Kaeleigh. He had a way of moving with his sword that was full of skill, but there was definitely more yet to be understood about Aidón.
“Give her more, Aidón. She will not break.”
So he did. Daegan could feel Kaeleigh’s frustration that she purposely sent his way. Daegan almost laughed out loud. Then as Aidón began pushing her more with each swing and each thrust, she began to fight back. He could feel her energy change as it united with her sword—even though it was not the ancient sword that had attached itself to her. The sword began to give off the slightest bit of a glow, and being that it was daylight, no one really noticed unless they were paying extra attention, which he was. Aidón noticed
it too as his eyes widened slightly, but he continued to fight her. Her confidence grew. Daegan could see it in her countenance and stature. She was not just training, she was fighting back and she was fierce. It was hypnotizing to watch; she was almost holding her own against Aidón.
Kaeleigh felt stronger than she had ever known was possible, and fighting Aidón had been exhilarating. She was afraid at first, but then she could feel her energy rising up to meet his and counter it. But, she also felt herself quickly tiring. Her stamina was not ready for long physical fighting along with using her magic.
“Enough.” Daegan’s voice carried across the training area. Everyone stopped where they were and lowered their weapons, the new additions panting heavily and the practiced warriors just barely winded. Daegan was rubbing the spot high on his arm that made Kaeleigh’s eyes narrow in on him.
“Well done, all of you. Be prepared. Something is coming. I must find Ella,” he said as he turned and left the field.
“Daegan, wait!” Kaeleigh yelled as she ran to catch up with him.
“Stay with the others, Kaeleigh. I will return as soon as I know what it is.”
“No. It’s your arm again. I thought she was gone.” Referring to Maleina sent chills down her spine. Kaeleigh reached out to touch his arm, but he pulled away and moved even faster.
Kaeleigh spotted Ella and Finn moving just as quickly toward them with concern written on their faces. She wondered where they had been.
“There is a unit of Ónarach not far from the entrance to our realm. They are close, but not close enough. Not yet at least.” Ella spoke calmly, but looked Daegan straight in the eyes. For the first time, Kaeleigh saw something that looked like shame or guilt in his eyes. Ella paused, but then nodded and looked to Finn. “We must get all the Twined into the caves in that mountain for their protection should the wards and the walls not hold. The warriors can stand guard on this side where the portal opens.”
