by Brindi Quinn
He clapped me on the shoulders and asked,
“Did ya run into any troubles?”
“No, not at all! How about you guys?”
He shook his head. “We were all right, but apparently, Rend and Ardette had a bit of a struggle.”
“A struggle?” asked Scardo.
I trudged past Grotts, deeper into the pipe, to where Ardette was leaning against the wall. My eyes adjusted, and I could see a piece of black-stained cloth tied around his arm.
“Oh! What happened?” I reached out to inspect it closer. From the stained line of shadow discharge, I could see that the wound was a long slice running down Ardette’s arm from elbow to wrist.
“They ran into a smaller group,” explained Grotts. “They beat ‘em, ‘o course, but with just the two of ‘em, Ardette got a little ganged up on.”
I readied myself to whisper the song of healing, but before I could begin, Ardette yanked his arm away.
“Don’t bother. It’s fine. Wouldn’t want to draw unwanted attention, now would we?”
“But I can sing quiet-”
“Don’t.” His voice was stern.
Why doesn’t he want me to fix it?
He looked away. “As I said, unwanted attention.”
“Leave the fool! If he wishes to enter enemy territory wounded, so be it! Can we not move this forward?”
Rend’s sense of urgency was right. We had to keep going.
Illuma.
“Alright,” I said, still eyeing him suspiciously. “But as soon as this is over, I’m fixing it.”
Ardette said nothing.
“Have you heard from Darch?” I asked.
“Of course I have. The idiot’s having a heyday with his little stakeout mission. You wouldn’t believe how annoying it is to have to listen to him of all people. I suppose the only thing more unbearable would be listening to your little Elf.”
“I am standing right here.”
In the midst of their drivel, Scardo, with tux tails submerged, slithered up to me.
“Miss Heart, if you would? I fear that the longer we stay here, the more chance there is that we will be discovered. It is best that we move quickly.” He shot a paranoid glance at Grotts, who nodded in returned agreement.
“Yeah, okay.” I took a deep breath. “Ready everyone?”
“Wait!” interjected Ardette, straightening up suddenly. “There’s been a slight change.”
“A change?” said Nyte. “What sort of change?”
“Relax. Just a trifle detail, really.”
Scardo let out a hiccup and slumped against the wall. “Well, what is it?”
“Once the song starts, I’m going to need Aura to come with me. There’re some bars blocking the way in through here – safety issue, I’m sure you understand – that’ll need to be sliced before I can enter the camp.” He brushed his hair back lazily. “That’s all.”
Grotts and Nyte looked ready to murder Ardette for leaving out the ‘trifle detail’. Scardo looked dead.
“Oh, and the bars are located fairly close to the exit, so it’s best that the rest of you stay here to avoid making a clamor.”
“And ‘unwanted attention’?’ I asked. What is this? Why not just tell us before?
Ardette ignored both the internal and external questions.
He grabbed my wrist. “So then, come along, my cherry pi-”
“I will go as well.” Nyte was over us in a flash. He’d glided through the water silently, as fluid as the rancid liquid itself, thus invalidating any future arguments on Ardette’s part that he’d be too ‘clamorous’ to accompany us.
Ardette scowled. “I hardly think there is a need for you to come along.”
“No!” Scardo’s corpse was at once reanimated. “Join them, Nyte. Please do!”
“Yeah, it’s a good idea. Jus’ in case.”
“Oh?” snapped Ardette. “And what happens when she feels the urge to feed? Bringing him will only be a distraction!”
“True, but if trouble arises, she can sing a must stronger song with him around. Sorry, Ardette. I’m not lettin’ ya take ‘er without him.”
“Ugh. Fine. Come along then, cherry pit and boy of cherry pit.” He gave my wrist another pull. “Go ahead and start your song.”
“Take caution! Take cau-uh-ihh . . .” I’m not sure if Scardo actually broke out into sobs, but if he didn’t, he was definitely on the verge when we disappeared into the darkness beyond.
“The sky’s tears come . . .”
While I sang, I mouthed the words, but it didn’t hinder the strength of the song at all. Wind whooshed through the pipe, splattering us with green water, and howling like a lament through a beast’s throat.
I finished and closed my eyes – holding the monstrous song high above me and enjoying the rumbling waves of thunder that penetrated our armor of drainage pipe. Thunder that I controlled and rain below it that I commanded. Together they covered the entirety of the fortress and stretched far beyond – the greatest, most expansive rainsong I’d ever sung.
Nyte was behind me, Ardette to the front. Both of them close enough for me to feel their breath.
And Illuma was so close. So close. I was at her doorstep, undergoing a rescue mission that I’d only dreamed of. Phase two was underway.
This moment is a victory.
Ardette squeezed my wrist.
We traveled through the pipe for several minutes, and I held the song strong, keeping my breaths even, conserving my strength, until at once, Ardette stopped.
He turned around, locked eyes with me, and put a finger to his lips. He pointed above us.
Nyte nodded.
Ardette bent down and brought his mouth to my ear. “Mist splice ahead, twenty paces.”
I nodded, but he didn’t remove his mouth. He was about to say something. I knew him well enough to know that much. But he failed to relay whatever it was because just then, he stiffened and pulled away.
With alertly concerned eyes, he held his hand to his temple. It was almost like he was listening for something.
What is . . . But then I realized the only thing it could be. Darch!!!
He gave me a concentrated nod.
My heart started racing faster than it had through our entire pipe-trek. Nyte read my energy and understood. He slid forward, pushed Ardette’s shoulder back, and looked into his eyes, as if trying to read Darch through him.
Ardette didn’t shrug him away.
The air was tense. Still, I held the song.
Please be okay. Please be okay. Please be okay. Oh! I suppose you can’t hear very well if I think like that!
Ardette flared his nostrils.
Right! Sorry. Mind go blank!
It was too much. I struggled to keep my thoughts at bay.
But then relief came suddenly, almost heart-attacking suddenly. Without warning, Ardette let out a breath, dropped his mouth in annoyed relief, and shook his head. That was when he finally pushed Nyte away.
“False alarm,” he mouthed.
Oh Creator! What the hell was that?!
“Later.”
For the second time that night, Nyte looked ready to murder Ardette.
Ardette once again took my wrist. I closed my eyes and prepared myself to cast a second song.
“Sword-like edge of matter deep . . .”
From the first few words, I could already feel the strain. The thunder was still above us, the pelting rain surely drenching all of Druelca, but the mist splice was meager, simpering out of me like a wounded animal.
I pushed for more.
“Splitting towers, cutting stone . . .”
I couldn’t let the rain falter. Turning my hand over, I grabbed Ardette’s wrist.
I’m stronger than this! Come on!
Use him.
No!
Use him.
Nyte was behind me, rapidly scanning me with worried eyes. He reached for me, but Ardette slapped his hand away.
I finished the song, b
ut nothing happened. Without delay, I started again.
“Sword-like edge of matter deep . . .”
Why is this so difficult for me right now? I think I have to let go of some of the rain’s power. It’s the only way.
Use him.
No!
But I didn’t have a choice. At my mention of letting go of some of the rain, Ardette’s eyes grew wide. He understood better than any of us that we needed the rain’s veil. He wouldn’t let me drop it.
Our hands were still around each other’s wrists. Still holding me, he pushed our arms into the side of Nyte’s neck.
But Nyte would do us one better. He grabbed my arm and pulled me into him, enveloping me in sweet warmth. He then placed his hands beneath my bistre cloak and against the skin of my waist.
Ah! I nearly choked on the words of mouthed song that were escaping me.
Ardette didn’t release his grip, and his limb stuck out of us awkwardly. On his face was the foulest of expressions.
Nyte’s arms were around me, and it was distracting, but so, so powerful. The thunder above us shook in reply and the mist sword immediately began to form out my hand.
“Shatter breaks of marrow bone!”
The sphere of energy shot from my arm and projected down the pipe. I felt it cut through a dozen firm bars before, satisfied, I let it fall from control.
TAKE IT NOW!
Yes. I wanted it more than ever. Even if I had to suck him dry. Even if we both died. I needed it.
You need it, so take it. He’s your emulator! That’s what he’s there for!
It was the mist talking, driving me to crazed obsession, but I didn’t realize it in the moment.
I don’t want to. That steadfast part of me was meeker than ever, barely even there. It was being smothered by the overpowering influences of warmth and mist and fate.
WARM.
Nyte’s hands were solidly rooted, but there was also another hand. Was it . . . pulling? Like a zebron to a pestering fly, I couldn’t really tell.
This is it. This is the last time.
I’d resolved to take it all, to blast the Druelcans away with a fury of lightning, to spout out more mist splicing spears until the whole place collapsed.
I grabbed onto Nyte even harder and took the largest dose of all.
YOU’RE MINE!
It felt so good. It felt so good, and my eyes were rolling back.
MINE!
. . .
And then it all stopped, and there was nothing. No warmth. No hunger. Just the goodness that comes from feeling the touch of the person you love.
Huh?
Above us, the thunder quieted, but only slightly.
Feeling lightheaded, I opened my eyes.
Nyte’s hands were definitely still on me, but they were different now. How could that be? That all of a sudden they felt different? Still warm, but a normal level of warm. Still extremely tempting, but in a way that I could manage without going mad.
I took in a breath of cherry tree, and my blood started to pump. It was still there. I still wanted him as badly as ever, but for some reason, I lacked the desire to consume him.
What is this? How is it that we’ve been freed?
I allowed the reality of it to settle.
And then I got my answer. My terrifying answer.
Just to my left, Ardette was panting, angry and scornful. In one shaking hand was my wrist. In the other, a green-black stone upon a woven rope . . .
A broken woven rope.
It took me a dumbfounded moment to realize what had transpired.
It . . . broke? It was a hard concept to grasp. I stared at the pendant for several sluggish seconds and tried to process.
Ardette broke the familiar pendant? He ripped it right off?
And then panic set in. Am I going to . . . ?
My throat started to close from apprehension. Was what the Spirit of In-between said true? That if the pendant was removed, I’d . . .
Am I going to die? Before seeing Illuma?! When I’m this close?!
Inside, I was on fire, but outside, Ardette’s eyes were ablaze. There were so many scolding words he wanted to lash at us, but we were at the mercy of the circumstances. With Druelcans possibly within earshot, he couldn’t utter a word, only mouth foaming insults at Nyte.
But Nyte wasn’t paying attention. With an expression of curious wonder, he removed one of his hands from my waist, brought it to his chest, and felt the absence of pendant. He looked confused and astonished for but a moment. For when a moment had passed, he too realized the consequences of Ardette’s action.
That was when he gripped my shoulders with unwary, free hands and bore his quickly-becoming-distressed forest eyes deep into mine. His spirit was melting before me, utter shock settling upon his brow. He was searching me for a sign of my status.
Also worried, and unable to give him what he sought, I only winced and shrugged.
I’m sorry, but I don’t know.
It wasn’t the answer Nyte had been hoping for. Fearing not the drenched Druelcans above us, he turned from me, grabbed Ardette’s collar, and mouthed in an angry breath of hatred,
“What have you done, foolish, foolish Daem?! Now she might die!”
You will die.
The last echoes of the addiction drifted from my mind.
Chapter 19: The Infiltration
Nyte and Ardette were both furious, and I was trying to hold the rainsong while anticipating the onslaught of death.
If I am to die, please let me see Illuma again. Let me finish this rescue first. Please, Creator. Please.
Ardette heard my prayer and responded in a fit of anger. Pushing Nyte off of himself, he threw the familiar pendant into the slurping water, which was now rising from the rainsong’s drainage. Nyte reached in and grabbed the treasure before it could drift away, but Ardette took the opportunity to take a cheap jab at Nyte’s side. Nyte lashed back with a lunge, which Ardette barely dodged before shooting forward and pinning me against the wall via a stern palm on my shoulder. Then, while I watched in shock, Ardette flickered his other hand to shadow and plunged it deep into my chest.
UCH!
For a moment it was hard to breathe.
And then I felt him. At his shadow’s touch, my blood flowed cool.
His fingers were around my heart, feeling its beating patter.
It made me feel helpless to be seized that way. It wasn’t that I feared him; I didn’t believe that his shadow could harm me, and I’d experienced his weird Daem powers enough to trust that I’d make it through all right. It was just that having someone feel the most delicate part of me – that part most dangerous – was weakening.
What are you doing? What . . .?
He closed his lids and lingered his hand there for a moment while my life-force pulsed evenly beneath his probing fingers. When he opened his eyes again, they were like beetles, black and shining – glinting mysteriously in the wet darkness. He removed the hand that was on my shoulder and brought it to my jaw.
“Open!” he said in a rapid hush.
What? Why?
He shook my jaw. “Open.”
I obeyed, pulling my lips apart just a bit. Nyte looked on with clenched fists and seething breaths.
I’m dying, aren’t I? This is it. This is my last . . .
Ardette brought his face close to mine. He had to have felt the way my heart’s patter quickened just a bit in his hand, but if his face contained a look of gloating, I’d never know. I had closed my eyes, certain that he was about to kiss me.
I was going to die. The pendant had been removed and I was going to die, and though it wasn’t right, I waited for him without struggle.
But his lips didn’t make contact with mine. Instead, they lingered just beyond my reach.
The water was still rising, and I was still dying, and Illuma was still waiting, and therefore, it seemed like an incredibly long time that we stayed that way – just lingering – but really, it must’ve been a v
ery short while before things started to move forward again.
When things did start in motion, Ardette’s shadow poured into me in a large funnel of tingly smoke. Down my throat and through my whole body – to each and every part. Taken aback, I snapped open my eyes and saw that Ardette’s expression had become twisted in concentration. It was then that I understood.
He was inspecting me. Checking my vitals. Reading my organs for abnormality. Searching my body for disease and failing.
Still unsure of my own fate, I stood motionless like a good patient, ever holding the ariando high above us.
Ardette continued to move through me while Nyte watched, looking ill. That sort of expression filled me with guilt, especially considering that I’d been so ready to let Ardette kiss me. This just proved that I was a sinful creature, even in my last moments, allowing pain to be brought to the ones I loved.
I’m sorry, Nyte. I’m sorry to leave you this way.
After another minute or so, Ardette pulled his shadow back out by sucking it into his mouth in a large swallowing inhale. At the same time, he slipped his other hand out of me, and let out a large, heaving breath. On his handsome face was stillness of the purest kind. I read it optimistically.
Wait – does that mean . . . ? Am I . . . okay? I bit my lip and waited for the verdict to be delivered.
In a drastic change of manner, Ardette grabbed my shoulders and pulled me into him in a large embrace. His body relaxed, and I felt him nod.
REALLY?! Are you sure?
He nodded again and held me there.
But why did the feather man lie about it? Why did Nyte put up such a fight whenever anyone tried to remove it? I’d been so convinced that-
But Nyte grabbed Ardette’s shoulder and tried to pull him away. Ardette gave my back a squeeze before reluctantly releasing me.
Nyte had been enduring the hug impatiently. He too had been able to decipher Ardette’s strange examination, and he now studied the Daem with eagerness . . . or maybe it was something more like perturbedness. He was trying to figure out if the hug had been something of parting or something of celebration.
“Well?” he mouthed.
“She – is – fine,” heaved Ardette.
At the diagnosis, Nyte’s relief response surpassed even that of Ardette’s. Throwing his head back and releasing all of his breath, he fell limp and sank to his knees – so low that his lower half was completely submerged in water. From there, he bent his shoulders forward in what appeared to be thanksgiving or maybe avid prayer. Either way, it was a sight that was out of place coming from the non-traditionalist Elf.
