by Morgan Wylie
“Wait. What’s going to happen? They can’t get in here, can they? It was hard enough for us to get into the realm,” Kaeleigh interjected.
“There are ways of blasting one’s way through the barriers we’ve created if they are able to find them,” Ella calmly explained.
“Let’s get a group and go out and fight them,” Kaeleigh replied with passion.
“You cannot fight them, Kaeleigh. You and this group are not ready.” Finn spoke with authority, but because Kaeleigh knew him so well, she could see the fear in his eyes.
“It is already settled,” Daegan said.
“What is settled?”
“This is not your concern, Kaeleigh. Stay with the others. Help keep them safe. Stand with Aidón, he will instruct you.” Daegan was staring straight ahead, looking at no one.
“Someone has to go out there! To distract them at the very least ...” Kaeleigh started rambling, trying to come up with some way to help.
“Someone is.”
“What? Who?”
“I am,” Daegan replied flatly.
“You think this is your fault?” She was lost. “Daegan—”
At her obvious attempt to change what he said, he put his hand out to stop her. “This is my fault. The connection I have to Maleina is regenerating. I thought it was severed before... but it has slowly been reconnecting. I do not understand why. They found this place because of me. I will lead them away.”
Kaeleigh looked to both Finn and Ella, hoping they would say something to stop him, but they didn’t. “Seriously? You both would just let him go out there alone to possibly die protecting this place and you would do nothing?” Kaeleigh was aghast.
“We do not do nothing, Kaeleighnna. This is the order of things. He offered protection. We have accepted it. There is much more at work here and this place is worth the sacrifice. Though I do not think it will come to that. Daegan has a greater purpose in all of this,” Ella explained.
“I was not saying this place, nor its people, were not worthy of a sacrifice. That wasn’t what I meant—”
“We know that’s not what you meant, Kae, but we have to protect those here,” Finn interrupted her.
“What I meant was that...” She took a deep breath. “I am going with him.”
“No,” they all said together.
Kaeleigh looked up at Daegan. “If you get to choose the sacrifices you make, then I do too. I want to help. It is as much my fault that it didn’t sever and that I didn’t make sure it was.” Daegan looked at her like she was nuts and as though she might have been reaching a bit with the explanation—and she knew she was, but she wasn’t going to let him go out there alone. At least with another he might have a chance.
“No.”
“Yes, Daegan, I am going with you.”
“Kaeleigh, please don’t do this.” Finn tried to order her, but his eyes pleaded with her.
“It’s my choice, Finn.”
Daegan stared at her, reading her soul with the intensity of his eyes.
Finn sighed. “Fine, then I am going too. We need to tell the others.” He and Ella kept moving toward the field.
Kaeleigh turned to follow them, but Daegan was rooted in his spot. She stopped, afraid he would try to leave without her. There was a sudden flare of panic in her chest.
“I will not leave without you, Kaeleigh.” He sighed with frustration and ran his fingers through his bluish-black hair. “You should not be doing this. I... I cannot...” He looked to the sky, his words stuck in his throat. I cannot lose you was the thought running through his heart, but his head was arguing the logic of that.
Kaeleigh looked into his eyes, letting her heart speak through her own eyes before she spoke with words, as if she had heard his heart’s cry. “Then don’t.” She stood tall and walked slowly back to the field with confidence that he would follow. He did.
“You do not leave my side out there, understood?” he whispered behind her.
“I will follow your lead,” she replied with her heart racing.
They walked up, hearing Ella instruct the gathered group, Kaeleigh’s old and now new friends, along with many Kaeleigh had not yet had the chance to meet. Kaeleigh’s heart hurt; this beautiful place they had called home might soon be under attack.
Ella spoke with authority. “There is an enemy close. There will be a battle. Those who fight, take your positions. Those who do not, get to safety. Elder Tillin will take you into the caves in the mountain. They will lead you to the mortal realm like you have practiced. James, you will get the warriors positioned at the entrance to that cave. You know the signal if you are to evacuate as well.” She stared at him a moment to ensure he understood. He nodded. Ella continued instructing as her people watched and listened intently, nodding at their given positions.
“Where will you be?” Finn questioned her.
Ella paused, then looked back to Kaeleigh and Daegan before she answered his question. “I am going with you,” she said saucily with a wink. “Someone needs to distract the enemy.”
Kaeleigh could hear Finn growl under his breath. She had to remember to find time to ask him about who Ella was to him.
“Well, I am going wherever Kaeleigh goes,” Chel blurted out irreverently.
“No, Chel, stay here and help protect this place,” Kaeleigh asked.
“Hell, no. I go where you go. We are in this together, remember?”
Kaeleigh’s eyes filled, but didn’t spill over as she gave her friend a grateful nod.
“Well, I already had decided I was going with you, so I guess this is as good of a time as any,” shot Metrí. She linked arms with Chel, who was right beside her.
Kaeleigh could hear Daegan sigh quietly behind her. He was not happy.
CHAPTER TEN
The way out of Tylínyth was not nearly as elaborate as the way they had entered. It was actually quite simple. As the small group slid behind the large rock covering the entrance, they walked back through what seemed like a cave that went on for a while. At one point Ella stopped and spoke words in a language that none of them understood and waved her hand. There was nothing to be seen, but as they walked through, Kaeleigh could feel a tingle of the residue of magic as it washed over her skin. It must have been the portal. She wanted to ask but no one spoke, afraid to alert the enemy with any sounds. There was the soft, smooth sound of liquid—probably water—sliding down the wall of rock just before it dripped onto the floor of the tunnel. The noise echoed as it hit the ground with a splash. It was dark but there was just enough light from the marking—shaped like a vertical eight-pointed star—on the back of Ella’s neck. The tunnel smelled of must and the air was thick with dampness. As they walked, there was only the slightest sound of shoes connecting with water. As they approached the entrance to the tunnel—or their exit—a breeze flowed toward them, carrying with it the freshness of the outside air.
Kaeleigh inhaled deeply, relishing the cleanliness of that air. She hadn’t realized how stifling the air in the tunnel had been until it couldn’t compare. She could hear both Chel and Metrí taking deep breaths as well. They were just behind her in the narrow cave.
Suddenly, the broad, muscled back that she had been following stopped abruptly causing her to hold her hand out to brace herself from falling completely into him. Daegan. Kaeleigh still couldn’t believe he was going to go out to face who knows what alone... well, she could but she still didn’t think he should have thought that way. Although, situation reversed... yeah, she probably would have too. She left her hand on his back for what was probably an inappropriate length of time needed to gain her balance, but she couldn’t help it. Even though it was warm in the cave, the warmth that came from touching him soothed something deep inside her. Feeling the ridges of his muscles bunch under her hand simply made her feel like a teenage girl giddy with hormones instead of a lost princess trying to fight for the lives of her friends and of her own as they attempted to regain freedom for an entire realm. No pressure. So,
yeah, she took a second or two longer for a self-indulgent moment before she removed her hand. He didn’t flinch this time when she touched him; maybe she was making progress. Although the brief head turn toward his shoulder without actually looking back at her suggested maybe not.
Ella’s whispered voice floated on a breeze to the back of the line. “This is the gateway to Alandria. If they are not right outside this entrance, how do you want to proceed, Daegan?”
“Quietly and quickly make our way in the opposite direction. Lead them away from this entrance. If they are there, then fight like nothing else exists but getting through alive because you must.”
“Great pep talk, D,” Chel snorted.
A giggle from Metrí earned her another point in Chel’s book as they bumped fists in the dark.
“Together or split up?” Kaeleigh asked.
“Together, until the situation is assessed.”
Daegan then looked back at Kaeleigh, caught her eye, and spoke into her mind. “Always together... out there.” She nodded. It had been some time since he last spoke into her mind, and she realized she had missed it. It made her feel special and safe.
“Okay, weapons and magic at the ready,” Finn instructed as he led Ella out of the cave entrance, sliding behind another huge boulder mirroring the one in the other realm. They moved with grace and stealth. First Finn, then Ella, followed by Chel and Metrí, then Kaeleigh and Daegan bringing up the rear along with Aidón, who had quietly joined them. Kaeleigh gave a confused look at him as he came up beside them and then focused. All eyes roaming, seeking, searching for any movement behind rocks or in the trees or even in the sky above. Nothing. It was silent and eerie. They moved further away from the entrance and even faced opposite directions to look like they came from another direction.
After several minutes of finding nothing and hearing nothing, Chel held her hand up to stop everyone. She gave a finger asking for a moment and cocked her head to the side, listening intently with her eyes focused on the ground.
“What do you hear?” Finn came up and whispered close to her head.
“Nothing.”
With a look of frustration, Finn started to move back to his position.
“No. I mean I literally hear nothing.” Chel was shaking her head in frustration. On guard even more than he first was, if possible, Daegan began to move forward and circle them together with his short sword in one hand while he pulled out his long sword from the holster at his back. “I always hear something. It’s almost like everything has been silenced,” she continued to whisper as she looked around. “Every living thing has a vibration of energy. Kaeleigh, you can see it sometimes, but I can hear it. I hear nothing.”
“It’s been silenced by magic, dampened by darkness.” Ella looked around in frightening wonder. “They are here somewhere. Be ready.”
From behind one tree, not even a whole clearing away, stepped a lone figure clothed in black and shrouded in darkness. It had the form of a physical being with an appearance similar to the Elves. Where an Elf’s skin radiated light in its very skin, this creature, sickly pale and sullen, was void of any light at all. Its hair was stripped of vibrancy, now greasy and the color of ash. It walked slowly and limped with one leg as if it dragged something. Golden eyes pierced through the shadows of its hood; its arms were raised at its sides as if in welcome. It emanated evil.
“Is it the Droch-Shúil?” Chel stammered out.
Kaeleigh gripped Chel’s hand, but it was Ella who answered.
“No, it is one of the Ónarach. Do not misunderstand, they are just as dark, but if they get you, they will strip your magical essence from you simply to make them stronger.”
“They once used to be from the race of Elves,” Finn said with disgust and anger. “They turned from their true nature and went against all they were created to be, choosing instead to be... this,” he spat out, pointing at the creature before them. It moved no closer, but stared into them with hatred and hunger.
“Well, he is just one, can we take him?” Metrí asked, speaking up for the first time in a while.
“Am I?” the creature spoke with a deep but smooth and sensuous voice. It made them all cringe, even the warriors among them.
“That is just wrong on so many levels,” Chel stated. Kaeleigh and Metrí nodded their agreement with scrunched-up faces.
“I have never fought one before so I’m not sure their tactics.” Finn looked to Daegan.
“Nor have I, I have only heard they are ruthless to encounter so do not underestimate it in any way.”
“This one is cunning, I can feel it. It has a massive volume to its darkness, I can’t read much more than that from it.” Ella spoke as if she had studied it thoroughly. Perhaps she had.
Just when they all held up their weapons to advance together, the strangeness increased. The creature took one more step toward them, but stopped. Another creature—a duplicate—stepped out from behind it. Then another and another until the one at the front created the triangle tip of a small army.
Gasps came from the girls as both Finn and Daegan’s eyes had widened in surprise. But what was almost more surprising was that the army of Ónarach simply stood there as if they awaited a command.
Daegan looked past the creatures, and all around, but did not see anyone else around. “Steady, there is something...someone else here. I can feel it, but cannot see it.”
“Is it... her?” Kaeleigh whispered.
“Maleina! Show yourself,” Daegan commanded.
With a sultry, evil cackle Maleina appeared off to the side of her little evil army. “Very good, Daegan, my boy. Are you surprised to see me?” She must not have intended to get her hands dirty this day. She was dressed in one of her finest gowns for court. Maleina wore blue tinted with purple—the color of the Alandrian night sky. Her thick red hair was braided down to her back but slung forward over one shoulder. She sneered in Kaeleigh’s direction, but Kaeleigh only stood taller and more confident. Maleina took in the others among their group with barely a care.
“This is quite the band of misfits you have with you, Daegan. Train them yourself?” Daegan didn’t give her an answer, nor did she wait for one. “Are you not the least bit curious how I came to find you here”—she waved her arm around in the air—“in this place? Where are we anyway? There is a strong concentration of magic in that general direction.” She pointed toward the hill covered in rocks that was beyond the tree line just behind where they stood. Exactly where they had come from.
They had circled away from the entrance, hoping to detract from the portal entrance, but someone trained to look and feel out magic would be able to decipher it if they were looking specifically for something hidden. Metrí, being young and unfamiliar with an actual encounter with Maleina, stiffened at the mention of her home. Unfortunately, it didn’t go unnoticed by Maleina. She raised an eyebrow in Metrí’s direction.
“I do not believe I have seen you before. Who are you?”
“She is of no concern to you,” Ella spoke out.
“Foolish girl, just by saying that, she has suddenly become a ‘concern to me.’” Maleina walked a few steps closer to Metrí then returned her focus to Daegan. “Did Halister not find you? He was so worried for your well-being that he set off to find you in this very direction.” Maleina blanched innocently as if she had just revealed something top secret... then she leered at them.
“You used your son to find us?” Daegan’s hatred for Maleina rose to a new level. He knew there was great potential within her for selfish gain, but had been blinded to the depths she would go to.
She feigned innocence. “We all are concerned for you, Daegan, traipsing around Alandria with these”—she waved her hand in the air as she searched for the right word—“lower-class citizens.” Gesturing toward Finn and Ella then to Kaeleigh, Chel, and Metrí, she said, “And these that do not even belong here!” Her voice raised, adopting a hint of anger.
“You used your own son as bait! To find u
s! For what... to gain power? To take out potential threats to your power?” Daegan’s voice was now raised in anger.
“No, dear boy,” she began with a slippery smoothness to her words. Then she spoke words laced with her own brand of dark power. “The ultimate power.” A flame flickered in her eyes as said power began to surge underneath her skin.
“Of course I used him! I am no fool and I use whatever tools are available to me. Obviously, he did not find you as he is not here, is he?”
“Am I not, Mother?” Halister spoke as he walked out from around a large tree with a quiet casualness off to the other side of where Daegan faced off with Maleina.
If Daegan was surprised to find his friend there, his expression gave nothing away. However, Maleina’s did. Her eyes, wide with surprise, quickly narrowed, taking in the situation.
“Son.” She raised her chin to him in challenge. “It is time for you both to come back to Elnye with me.” Daegan stayed in his place as Halister moved closer to him. “I see.” The same flames flickered in her eyes, brighter than the first time Daegan had seen it.
“Whoa, did you see her eyes?” Hal pretended to whisper.
Daegan knew Hal was afraid, he could feel it coming off him in waves, but they all were. “Enough of this, Maleina. Leave it and go back to your throne.”
“I do not think you understand what my little friends here”—she waved over to the small army of Ónarach still waiting her command—“are actually capable of. You are no match for them.”
“Do not do this here, Maleina. You will only call further retribution down upon yourself,” Ella spoke out without a trace of fear in her voice.
“We are not alone,” Halister said, straightforward, as the bushes behind him rustled and a numerous amount of beings stepped out of the shadows armed with bows and arrows notched at the ready. Ella gasped with a twinkle in her eye. The Faeries of Ehsmia had come to assist in their escape. There were not enough of them to fully take on the battle and win completely, but it would be enough to stir things up and get them out of there, most likely alive.
