by Wendy Owens
Normally when Raimie slept he looked peaceful, this was different. It was like a part of him was missing, the warmth that made him who he was. She looked forward to restoring that.
From behind her, in the corner of the room, a soft voice caused her stomach to sink. “We have to talk, Dina.”
It was Michael; he had been waiting for her. Dina forced herself to smile as she turned around casually. “Sir, you frightened me. You shouldn’t sneak up on people like that.”
“That was not my intention,” Michael replied flatly.
“I was just checking in on him, he seems good though, so I’ll go and—” Dina attempted to think of an explanation quickly. “See if I’m needed anywhere else.”
Dina turned and prepared to take her leave, holding her breath in anticipation as she did so. She hoped and prayed he would not ask her any questions.
“Wait! Stop right there!” Michael commanded. Dina did as she was told, a slight ache in her chest.
“Sir?” Dina bluffed, as if ignorant of what might be bothering him.
“What were you thinking?” Michael asked sternly, not hiding his disappointment.
“I’m sorry, I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re referring to,” Dina answered, furrowing her brow and giving her best attempt at an award winning performance.
“I can’t believe you would put all of your friends in danger like that, it’s not like you,” Michael ignored her claims to ignorance.
Dina realized that no matter how coy she played it, he was not going to relent. She wondered how long it was after she left before Sophie had spilled her guts. “I don’t feel I put anyone here in danger, sir. I was very careful.”
“Careful? You can’t honestly say that with a straight face, can you? Calysta came strolling in here with a couple of clerics, some story about how you freed her and sent her here.”
Perhaps Sophie hadn’t blabbed. Dina assumed that if Michael knew anything about the witch, he would have led with that.
“Not only did I tell you to leave it alone and stay away from her, you helped her to escape using a sacred stone, and then you jeopardize us all further by not making sure she’s brought here safely. What was so important that you couldn’t escort her yourself?”
He didn’t know about the witch, this was her chance to steer him in a different direction. “I’m sorry, I know I should not have disobeyed you, but I didn’t feel right just leaving her down there. When I arrived at Rampart, the demons were trying to figure a way around the security. I knew the priority was to get her out of there, so I gave her the stone that would take her to the cleric’s outpost.”
“That doesn’t explain why you didn’t follow and accompany her.”
“I knew the clerics would bring her to you, sir. I had to buy time in hopes no trackers would be able to follow. I led the demons away, distracting them long enough to ensure she escaped safely. I couldn’t risk any of us being followed, so I waited until I was some distance away from Rampart before transporting myself. I was simply trying to be cautious, sir.”
“I see,” Michael said, squinting at her in doubt. He mistrusted the young girl’s words, but wasn’t sure which part he found to be unbelievable. “Do you know how lucky you are that she agreed to come with the clerics? Chances were much higher that she would have used the opportunity to escape and likely be captured by demon soldiers. The information she carries about us would have been detrimental to the Guardians.”
“Escape, sir? I thought she wasn’t a prisoner.”
“She’s not— I mean, you just better be glad things turned out the way they did. It could have gone in a very different direction.”
“I know, sir,” Dina replied, not taking her eyes off Raimie.
“I know you meant well,” Michael added before a silence consumed the room, dancing around them for several moments. Dina hoped her leader would slip out, giving her the opportunity to be alone with her beloved.
“There’s something else we need to talk about,” he added.
“Yes, sir?”
“It’s Raimie.”
“He looks better, doesn’t he?” Dina replied confidently.
“It’s time, sweetheart,” Michael answered.
“Time?” Dina questioned, confused by his words.
“The clerics have done everything they can and there’s nothing else we can do for him as guardians. Our healing abilities are just not working. He’s gone, Dina.”
“He’s right here!” Dina shouted, outraged by the words coming out of his mouth. “Look at him! How can you say those things? He would have given his life for you, and now that he’s hurt you want to toss him away like some piece of garbage.
“It’s not like that and you know it.”
“Then what is it like? You tell me.”
“It’s time for you to say goodbye to him.”
“No! I won’t, everyone else may have given up on him, but I won’t.”
“We’re not giving up on him, Dina. I loved Raimie, too, but there’s nothing else we can do for him. They tell me it could be anytime now. It’s actually why I’m here; I wanted to be here for him,” Michael explained.
“Be here for him? That’s such a joke.”
“I know you’re upset, but—”
“Upset? I don’t think that exactly describes what I am, Michael. I am pissed off.”
“And it’s understandable you feel that way.”
“Quit trying to talk me down like I’m going to lose it or something. It’s very patronizing and I’m not crazy. You all treat me like I’m delusional just because I’m not willing to give up on Raimie so easily.
“None of us think that.”
“Whatever you say. Please, get out!” Dina snapped.
“Don’t do this. You’re only making it harder on yourself.”
“I said get out. If this is the end for Raimie like you say it is, I want to spend some time alone with him,” Dina explained, her adrenaline pumping heavily throughout her body.
“All right, I’ll be right outside,” Michael answered calmly, walking to the doorway.
“No!” Dina gasped. “I mean, just let me have this last night alone with him. We can do what you want in the morning.”
“It’s not what I want, Dina, it’s what is going to happen. The clerics have stopped all potions. Without assistance, Raimie could easily pass this very night.”
“Fine, I get it. I’m just asking, let me have this time alone with him—” Dina paused, staring up at Michael who seemed to be examining, looking for some sort of motive behind her request. Thinking quickly, Dina added in a much more tender tone, “I know I have to say goodbye, I just need a little more time.”
“Alright, if you need me, have one of the nurses come and get me. By the way, your hair looks nice short,” Michael relented.
“I will, and thank you,” Dina replied, following him to the hall and pushing the heavy wooden door closed after him. The last thing she needed was him asking what prompted the new hairdo. She would wait a bit longer until the coast was clear and then seize her moment, transporting her and Raimie somewhere she could perform the spell safely.
But where? Dina thought. It’s too dangerous to remove him from Iron Gate. That was when she remembered the tombs along the edge of the property. On one of her missions to retrieve artifacts from Iron Gate, she had discovered the tombs; they went deep into the hillside along the estates property line and were creepy enough that nobody would consider looking for them there.
Dina rummaged through the satchel on her hip, pulling out several potions and guzzling them down. Her energy was so wiped that the only chance she had of making this work was with the help of a few strength potions. Tossing the glass vials back into the bag, she took a deep breath. It was time.
She closed her eyes and grabbed hold of her beloved Raimie, tightening her fingers around his arm. Dina pictured the tombs in her mind. The place was beginning to slip from her memory after all this time, but she still remembered just enough to t
ransport Raimie and herself safely. The two faded in and out for a moment, until at last she managed to concentrate her focus enough to complete the spell.
She looked down at Raimie, whose eyes were still closed. His body sat on the dirt floor while she held his upper body in her arms. Carefully she shifted him, allowing the rest of his body to lay flat before she released her grip. The tombs were darker than she remembered and then she realized that when she had last explored them, it was during the day. Now in the evening, not a shred of light found its way into the dark halls of the forgotten tomb. Dina made quick work of casting a fire spell on the torches that were mounted along the stone walls throughout the maze of rooms.
The old tombs would have been fascinating any other time, but not now. Now she had a mission that needed carrying out and time was of the essence. Dina ripped open the backpack Madame Laveau had stuffed full of essentials for the spell. She felt her stomach twist, her palms dripping with sweat, all of her guardian senses were telling her to stop and turn back. Dina refused to listen, this was her only chance to save Ramie and she wasn’t about to give up.
One by one she pulled out the thirteen candles the witch had tucked into the bag, placing them in a circle around Raimie. She then pulled out the small silver dish from the bag and placed it in front of him. Leaning forward, she pulled her dagger from her waist and without hesitation, cut away a small piece of Ramie’s flesh from his arm. He didn’t flinch or cry out; he gave no indication of life. Placing the flesh into the dish, Dina continued with great intensity.
She opened a small velvet pouch that had been concealed in the backpack, shaking the contents out into her open palm. Out rolled a snake’s fang and a small vial of what the witch referred to as unholy ground. Dumping the contents into the dish, Dina prepared to add the last ingredient.
As if it was nothing, she ran the blade of one of her daggers across the palm of her hand. Without fear, she boldly squeezed the warm, red liquid rushing from her palm into the dish. This is it, I’m almost done, she thought.
Frantically, she slipped off her jacket, tearing away a sleeve from the body. She wrapped and secured it around her injured hand. Raising her hands high into the air, Dina shut out everything her mind was telling her, pushing forward with what her heart was saying. She had convinced herself that she could not go on without Raimie.
Hear me, keeper of the gate, master of fate.
Accept my offering, as it is a part of me.
I give it to you freely, release him.
Dina repeated the words over and over; she wished she had written them down, as she feared that perhaps she was remembering them incorrectly. This had to work, she had no other options. She began to shout the words, as if perhaps the granter of the magic was too far away to hear her cries.
But he wasn’t, and as she finished saying those words for the last time, she was blinded by a bright orange spark, the explosion sending her backwards against the stone wall. Hitting her head, she slipped into unconsciousness.
Dina’s head was spinning. Through the throbbing she could feel a wetness dripping down her cheek. Reaching up to her forehead, she rubbed two fingers into the liquid and attempted to examine it. Through blurred vision, she saw red. The spell must have knocked me unconscious, she thought, and when it did, I must have hit my head.
“Hey, babe,” she heard the familiar voice from across the stone tomb.
“Raimie?” Dina called out, “Is that you?”
“Who else would it be?” Raimie answered.
Dina rubbed her eyes before shaking her head, trying to get the fog to dissolve.
“Looks like a nasty gash, you okay?” Raimie asked as he approached her. Dina held her breath; she couldn’t believe it as he walked towards her.
“It worked?”
“What worked?” Raimie asked, dropping to his knees and touching her face with his hand. His hand was as cold as ice and she couldn’t help but shudder as a chill ran through her.
“Baby, do you feel all right?” Dina asked concerned.
“I guess,” he began, then paused for a long moment with a perplexing stare on his face before adding, “I’m really hungry.”
“Do you remember anything that happened to you?” Dina pushed for a clearer picture of his state. As she stared at him, she could see the paleness still loomed on his skin and his eyes contained an off putting hollowness as he stared back at her.
“The last thing I remember is going to tell Bishop that we were under attack,” Raimie explained before looking around the room and realizing their foreign surroundings. “Where are we? What happened?”
Dina noticed how as he spoke, his voice was very flat and calm. It was not the way she was used to him sounding. “There was an explosion at Rampart, Bishop was killed and you were injured.”
“I see,” Raimie answered, tilting his head as if he were a robot processing her response.
Dina thought it was odd that he wouldn’t probe further about the state of Rampart or the status of their friends. She expanded without his prompting, “We’re at Iron Gate.”
“This is not how I remember Iron Gate,” Raimie said, looking around once again.
Dina smiled at his response, the unfamiliar simplicity of his words had her envisioning a much younger and simpler Raimie than the one she had fallen in love with. “We’re in the tombs.”
“Why?” he questioned, again reminding Dina of a child. She wondered if perhaps there were lingering brain injuries from the explosion.
“Raimie, this is going to be hard to understand, but I need you to listen carefully. You were injured very badly. Everything we tried didn’t help you. Michael and the others, they tried everything they could think of to save you, but none of it worked.”
“But I’m right here.”
“I know, that’s the part that is hard to understand. I found a spell, one we’re not allowed to use, and it gave me the ability to fix you.”
“Is that why your hair is white?” Raimie asked.
Dina laughed. Not only did he have zero emotional outbursts about all of the information she was relaying to him, but now he was suggesting something ludicrous.
“Sweetheart, my hair isn’t white, I just cut it.”
“No, it’s white, too.”
Dina searched through the nearby bag frantically. Finding a metal container, she lifted it and examined her reflection on the side. There, glaring back at her was the image just as Raimie had described. Her now chin length hair, a stark white color.
“The spell!” she exclaimed. “It must have been from the spell.”
Raimie didn’t seem to care about her cosmetic dilemma. Turning his head wildly, searching the room, he reminded her, “I’m hungry.”
“Right, sorry. My hair doesn’t matter if you’re all right, that’s all that matters,” Dina added. Though disturbed by her appearance, she was more concerned with the odd behavior of her beloved.
“I am absolutely starving,” Ramie said again.
“Ok, baby,” Dina chimed, exasperated by the constant reminders.
“Can I go eat?” Raimie asked, requesting permission as if he were Dina’s slave.
Dina tried to ignore the oddities, focusing instead on the immediate challenge which faced her. “Let me go and get some food and I will bring it back to you.”
“I’ll go with you,” Raimie said.
“No!” Dina exclaimed. “I’m sorry, baby. It’s not you, it’s Michael, he’s going to flip out when he sees what I’ve done. I need some time to explain things. Do you understand?” As Dina explained their situation, Raimie struggled to listen as began to search the room for a meal of some kind.
She felt uneasy leaving him, clearly he was not himself. “Raimie, are you listening? I’m going to go and bring you food. Can you stay here?”
He didn’t answer. Grabbing his hands and forcing eye contact, she asked the question again.
“Yes. If my Dina wants me to stay here, then that’s what I’ll do.”
“That’s right, baby, I’m your Dina and I’m going to take care of you. Can you promise me you will stay here?” She repeated, still uneasy about him obeying her request.
“Yes, I’ll stay here, but I’m really hungry,” he answered.
Dina tried to convince herself that this was just the residual effects of his recent medical state. After he had some time to recover, he would return to the Raimie she knew.
“All right, I’ll go and get you something to eat; I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Dina added before turning to exit, giving him one last lingering look. Wrapping a scarf around her head to hide her new hair color, Dina slipped out into the night.
“Dina? Is that you?” She had only made it a few steps from the tombs when the voice called out to her.
Dina held her breath, turning hesitantly to see who it was. She did not recognize the girl with raven hair and dark skin. “I’m sorry— you must have me confused with someone else.”
Leaning forward, she pulled the scarf up to better conceal her face as she attempted to escape the unwanted company.
“Dina, it’s me. Don’t you recognize me?”
Dina paused, staring again at the young face before her, plagued by the fact she did not remember the girl. “Huh? Oh— of course.”
“Neru.”
The memory of where she knew her from came rushing back. It was one of her classmates. The girl had shared a couple of classes with Gabe, Raimie, and herself. She also recalled the trouble the girl had caused between Sophie and Gabe. Though the issues had not been any fault of the girl, it caused a feeling of annoyance to resurface in her. “I know who you are. What do you need?”
“What happened to your hair?” Neru asked, leaning forward.
“Nothing, don’t worry about it!” Dina snapped.
“I really like it.” She reminded Dina of a puppy, desperately seeking approval of its master.
“Great,” Dina replied while rolling her eyes. “I’m busy, do you need something?”
Neru looked over Dina’s shoulder, staring at the entrance to the tombs. “Nothing. I just saw you and wanted to know if you needed help with anything.”
