Wings of Arian

by Walls, Devri

  “What is this?” Emane whispered, his heart wrenching at the sight of her. He couldn’t even trust his eyes anymore.

  “Emane,” Kiora whispered. “It’s me.”

  “How do I know that?” he spat at the creature. “If you’re going to kill me, get on with it. At least have the decency not to toy with me.” He was tired, emotionally exhausted, and he had just watched the girl he was learning to love, be swallowed by a monster.

  “Emane, if I may,” the man spoke. “You have been through a lot.”

  Emane’s eyes narrowed and turned to the man. “Have I? HAVE I?” he yelled. “I don’t know what I have been through, I don’t know what is going on, I don’t know who to trust and I certainly don’t know if that is the girl I know!” He shoved his finger in Kiora’s direction.

  “My name is Drustan,” the man spoke, ignoring Emane’s rant. “I am a chameleon of sorts, a Shapeshifter, you might say. I apologize for my actions, but we had to test you and the Solus. The pair of you is a little unprecedented.”

  “Unprecedented?” Emane’s eyebrow rose.

  “Yes, surely they have told you how unusual this is.”

  “No, they did not.”

  Drustan looked over at Kiora who also shook her head in the negative.

  “That is surprising to me. I would like to invite you to stay with us for a time and I will explain all. But before I do, I would like to offer you a room in which to clean up and eat. That is, if you will accept our invitation.”

  “Our?”

  “Yes. I apologize, Prince, I forget that you cannot feel them.”

  “Who?” Emane was so tired of trying to understand what was going on that he couldn’t even feign politeness.

  “My friends!” the man announced as if it were a most joyous occasion. “Please come forth so we can properly introduce ourselves.”

  Emane’s eyes widened as the room began to morph around them. The boulders began to stretch and grow legs. The bats flew down from the cavernous ceiling and once their tiny feet touched the floor they began changing as well, growing, turning, changing colors. The bugs amongst the walls and floors, every ant and centipede. People were appearing throughout the cavern— at least they looked like people at the moment. Who knew what they actually looked like? Emane swallowed, his stomach rolling with an unease unlike anything he had experienced before.

  “My people and I will be on our way. We will allow you and Kiora time to decide if you would like to accept our offer.”

  Emane looked over to the body that looked like Kiora, who was, to her credit looking surprised herself. “You still have not told me how I can be sure that this is indeed Kiora and not one of you.”

  “We are masters of our own bodies,” said Drustan, “we can change into anything you can imagine. But, I am not a mind reader. If you would like to know if this Kiora is who she says she is, you only need talk to her.” He bowed and left the cavern, his people following behind him.

  Emane got to his feet as the procession left the room. As the last Shapeshifter left the cavern, she turned to him.

  “Emane, I am so sorry.”

  Turning away from her, he clenched his fists. “For what?”

  “For doing that to you, it wasn’t fair.”

  Emane didn’t want to hear anymore until he knew if this was Kiora or not. “Where were we last night?” he snapped over his shoulder.

  “In the Cave of Arian.”

  “And where did you sleep?”

  “Next to you,” she said softly. Emane’s heart contracted. “Emane, I am so… so—”

  He cut her off, breathing heavily. “Kiora, I am not ready to talk. So are we staying here or not?”

  “Yes.”

  “Fine,” he said, “then let’s go.” Stomping ahead, he left her standing there.

  ***

  Kiora’s heart ached looking at the angry set of Emane’s shoulders as he left. Sighing, she followed Emane out of the cavern and down the tunnel the Shapeshifters had followed. Kiora wanted to call out to him, but he was fuming, it was clear enough from the back. She was somewhat glad she couldn’t see Emane’s face.

  A young woman stood half way down the long passageway. She appeared to be waiting for them. As they got closer, she stood forth and bowed.

  “My Lord and Lady, Drustan has asked me to bring you to your quarters if you have decided to stay.”

  A smile tugged at Kiora’s lips, she had never been called a lady before. “Thank you, we have decided to stay.”

  “Wonderful! Come with me.”

  She escorted them through a maze of twists and turns. Rights and lefts followed by more lefts and rights. They walked until Kiora was so turned around she didn’t think she could find her way out if she wanted to.

  The guide suddenly stopped and said, “Welcome to the colony.” She swept out her arm and Kiora could not believe her eyes.

  She walked forward, Emane following hesitantly a step behind her, to an iron railing and looked over. The colony was built around a hundred and fifty foot waterfall. It had rows upon rows of doors lined upon the ridges circling downward. It resembled a sort of seashell she had seen once, spiraling in upon itself. It started where they were, and if she followed the path, level by level, it would bring her all the way to the pool at the bottom. But the most curious thing was the waterfall. It was the largest one Kiora had ever seen. It was magnificent; the speed at which it flowed over the edge and down the back wall of the colony was almost frightening. And yet despite its awesome appearance, the sound was the equivalent of a quiet babbling brook. Listening to it actually reminded her very much of the brook that ran near her old home. She used to love to sit next to, allowing the sound of water to calm her.

  “Why can’t we hear it?” Kiora asked.

  “Hear what?” her guide asked, perplexed.

  “The waterfall, it sounds different than it should.”

  “It has always been that way. When they chose this location for the colony it was decided that the sound of the falls was too great. To remedy the situation they enchanted it. Come.” She turned on her heels and started down the twisty ramp that led to the bottom.

  Emane trudged ahead, his eyes on the ground and his shoulders slumped. It broke Kiora’s heart to see him this way.

  “Where do the doors lead?” Kiora asked their guide.

  “To our homes. Each door is what a human would call a ‘residence’, I believe.”

  Kiora scanned out across this great colony noticing there were thousands of doors. These Shapeshifters had a very large family. Approaching the falls, Kiora could feel the water splashing on her face. She was walking through the mist and it felt brilliant. She was so dirty and grimy she wanted more than anything to stand in that one spot and never move. But Emane and their guide were getting ahead of her, so she picked up her speed to fall back in place behind the trudging prince. Following behind the waterfall they came out the other side barely damp. It was very disappointing that more of a drenching was not involved. A few feet later the guide stopped in front of a door.

  “My Lady, this one will be yours.”

  “Please,” Kiora was trying not to laugh, “There is no need to call me that. Kiora is fine.”

  “Very well, my Lady.”

  Great, now she was to be referred to as ‘My lady’ as well as ‘The Solus.’

  The guide opened the door with a key and handed it to Kiora. “Everything you need is inside. Eleana has sent clothes among other things and there is a hot bath waiting for you.”

  Kiora was grimy and dirty and hadn’t had a bath since before she went to Morcant’s lair. “I thought you couldn’t read minds,” Kiora challenged.

  The guide looked puzzled for a minute and then tried not to laugh. “My lady, the bath was made ready not because you were hoping for one. Rather, it is quite obvious that one is in order.”

  Kiora looked down, suddenly very embarrassed and mumbled a quick thank you as she ducked into the room. She could hear Emane
chuckling under his breath. At least something made him laugh. She left the door open just a crack to hear where Emane was going. To her relief she heard the guide stop at the next door down and open it for him. Shutting the door quietly, Kiora turned to look around the room.

  She did not know what she had been expecting, but the room was beautiful. The stone floor had been polished to a high sheen. There were candelabras hanging throughout the room, each one lit and twinkling like a collection of fallen stars. It was bright and cheery, not at all the dull dreary cave they had entered. There was a bed. A bed! A beautiful four-poster bed. She thought she would die of joy right on the spot. It was magnificent and luxurious and Kiora had never seen anything like it. Piles of linens covered the carved bed. And on the other side of the room was the tub! It was large and deep and the mere idea of it was heaven. She had used a small washbasin at home, but her few days in the castle had opened her eyes to the bliss that was a bathtub big enough to lie down in. She could see the steam coming off of the water and her body itched to get the disgusting clothes off. Walking over, she noticed a rather large leather satchel sitting at the dressing table. She opened it to find the things that Eleana had sent. A change of riding clothes, casual clothes and two of the most stunning dresses she ever had the pleasure of holding. There was also soap, salve for her cuts, and a comb. She dug around to see if there were any treasures she had neglected to find and found a few decorative hair combs at the very bottom.

  There was a knock at the door. She ran over expecting to see Emane, but it was her guide.

  “I apologize, my lady, but I forgot to tell you that it will be dinner time in a few hours and Drustan requested that you come in your finest.”

  Kiora nodded, “Of course.”

  How could Eleana know she would need those dresses? How Eleana knew any of the things she knew was a mystery to Kiora. She closed the door softly and practically ran over to the tub, peeling away the layers of grim and dirt as she went. Touching her toe into the hot bath Kiora released a sigh of utter bliss.

  She eased herself the rest of the way into the tub, letting her stiff muscles and sore back soak in the wonderful warmth. Leaning her head against the back, she decided that someday when this was all over, she was getting a tub. Not a washbasin, a full size tub. If it was the only piece of furniture in her entire home, so be it.

  Kiora closed her eyes and tried to not think about anything. But despite the warm water and her best efforts, Emane’s face would not leave her. The look in his eyes as he watched the monster come down over the top of her. He didn’t know that she had seen everything. She watched as he ran at the monster, his face contorted in rage, and then his face as he dropped his sword. He didn’t know that she had stood there with tears streaming down her own face at his pain. Her eyes started to water again, was she destined to hurt everyone in her life?

  She shook her head trying to clear the memories and grabbed the soap. Maybe scrubbing the dirt away would help scrub out the memories, at least for the moment. She scrubbed and scrubbed, she had never been so dirty in her entire life! Her hair was greasy, her elbows black and her fingernails were atrocious. The soap burned on every cut, especially the one on her head.

  She pulled herself out of the tub that was now full of very warm, very black water. She rubbed the salve on her stinging cuts and sighed as it soothed all the pain. Plopping herself at the dressing table, she looked in the mirror, she looked older. She couldn’t put her finger on why, but she looked older.

  After Kiora had combed out her hair, pulling one side up with a hairpin, she moved over to the satchel and pulled out one of the dresses Eleana had sent. It was truly beautiful. Green and gold, intricate bead work. Fingering the fabric, she was amazed at its softness; so different than the rough fabric her dresses had always been cut from. Gingerly she turned the dress over and rolled her eyes at all of the buttons running up the back. This dress was not made for one to be able to put on by oneself. She buttoned as many as she thought she could before pulling the dress over her head. It took a lot of wiggling with all of those buttons done, but she finally got it on. She tried to reach the rest of them, but no matter how much she twisted and turned she could not get those last buttons fastened.

  “Just great.” She could ask Emane for help, but she wasn’t sure if he would open his door to her. He had been so angry, and she couldn’t even argue with him as to why. Resigning herself to the fact that there was no way she was going to get those buttons done alone, she flopped onto the bed. She probably had at least another two hours before it was time for dinner. In case the test wasn’t over, she might want to learn some new tricks. She summoned the book from the cave and began flipping through it.

  Calling is the ability to speak to another person over long distances. There are some magical creatures, such as pegasus, who naturally have this ability. But there is a way to talk to those who do not naturally have this ability. You will need to know the person that you are trying to communicate with. To try this, visualize the person that you are wanting to speak with. This is a skill that does require a small incantation to begin the process. Once you have communicated with another person’s mind, the incantation may or may not be necessary the next time you try. This will depend upon the closeness of the relationship between you and the one you are communicating with. The incantation is “eh hear hena to ye la.” Focus on the person, repeat the incantation and then think the words you wish the other person to hear. Please note, this is not effective if there is a great distance between you and the person you are trying to communicate with. It will depend upon the strength of the magic as to how far one can project.

  “Alright, let’s try it,” she said, pulling herself up on the bed and closing her eyes. At least he couldn’t slam the door in her face this way. Imaging Emane, she repeated the incantation aloud, “eh hear henna to ye la.”

  Pushing her thoughts into the room next door, she thought as hard as she could, I’m sorry, Emane.

  She waited for a minute, holding her breath before slamming the book shut. There was really no way to know if that had worked or not. Crossing her arms she stared at the wall wondering if she should go over and try to talk to him anyway.

  The loud banging on her bedroom door scared her half to death. She jumped so high she nearly knocked the book to the floor. The banging began again. Scrambling off the bed, she ran over to open the door.

  Emane came storming into the room. “What was that?” he demanded.

  Kiora shut the door behind him. “You don’t need to yell.”

  “Why not? One minute I am getting dressed, trying to get this ridiculous brooch pinned onto my lapel,” he yelled, waving a very royal looking piece of jewelry in the air, “and the next I am hearing your voice inside of my head. I almost stuck this thing right through my heart!” He pulled his lapel back to show the bloodstain on his white shirt.

  She covered her mouth with a little gasp, “Oh Emane, I am so sorry!”

  “Yes,” he said dryly, dropping his arms back to his side. “So you said.”

  Moving over to him, Kiora reached out, stopping midway. ‘Does it hurt?”

  “Well yes, Kiora it…” he deflated. “No, not anymore. It’s just bleeding that’s all.”

  “Here,” she said scrambling over to the pile of things Eleana had sent. “Eleana sent me some salve, open your shirt.”

  Taking the jar out of her hand, Emane set it back down. “I’m fine Kiora, it just scared me that’s all.” Raising an eyebrow he asked, “How did you do that?”

  “It worked?”

  Closing his eyes, Emane shook his head like she was the most exasperating creature he had ever met. “Yes it worked. Why else would I be over here yelling about hearing voices in my head! When will you stop being surprised when things work?”

  Blinking, she decided to brush off his sarcasm. “It’s known as calling.” She ran over to the bed to get the book “Look, it says that I can communicate with people telepathically, like Art
uro.”

  Emane was scanning what she had shown him over her shoulder. “It says you might be able to do it without the incantation if the relationship is close enough.”

  “Yes.””Try,” his voice came, soft and hesitant near her ear.

  Kiora thought the same thought, the one she really wanted him to understand. Emane, I am truly sorry.

  “Wow.”

  “It worked?” She spun around putting herself almost nose to nose with him. Swallowing, she asked quieter, “Without the incantation?”

  “Yes, that is if you were still apologizing.”

  “I was.”

  Stepping back, he looked at her, his eyes traveling from her hair, to her lips and down to her feet before trailing back up. She swallowed again, suddenly aware of how much lower this dress was than anything she had ever worn. Her fingers moved nervously to her neck, looking away. She heard his breath catch.

  “You look… very nice, Kiora.”

  Unable to look at him, she blushed before stammering, “I can’t get my dress buttoned.” “Turn around,” he murmured.

  Kiora turned, pulling her hair away from her back so Emane could reach the buttons more easily. Her dress was open to her shoulder blades and his fingers brushed against her skin as he fastened the last few buttons. She shivered underneath his touch.

  “There,” he said, “that was the last one.”

  Kiora turned shyly back around, dropping her hair. “Thank you,” she said quietly.

  Emane put his hand behind her neck and pulled her into him. He kissed her, hard. It was desperate and strong and so much different than the first time he had kissed her. He softened his grip on her neck and kissed her again.

  “Emane,” she whispered, “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “You won’t hurt me, Kiora.”

  “I already have,” she said between his kisses, trying to stop the tears. “I saw your face today, earlier in the cave. I watched everything happen.”