“I am just carrying out orders,” she smiled like a girl with an ice-cream in her hands.
“Where are the weapons?”
“I don´t know.”
A second later the trainer grabbed her by the arm strongly.
“Let´s go, I am taking you to the Council and punishment will fall on you,” he said abruptly.
She said nothing. She felt no guilt or remorse. She didn´t care. They left as I observed them immersed in my thoughts. I didn´t understand neither where she had come from nor why she had stolen the weapons from the hall. They were almost all the weapons of the kingdom, so they should be in a big enough place to store them. Suddenly a light shone in my ideas; the palace. The weapons must be in the palace.
I started to leave the forest with a different focus. I had thought to go the palace this evening anyway, but as well as speaking to my mother I would also search for the weapons.
She was already out of the trees when she saw Gabriel coming towards her. I was coming down the meadow when he made me stop, standing in front of me. His face was a reflection of her emotions.
“Have you gone crazy? Do you want to get killed?”
“She wasn´t going to kill me,” I said calmly.
“What was going through your mind to go after her after very little training? You could have been hurt or lost in the middle of the forest,” he shouted furiously at me.
“Since when do you care so much about what I do?” I answered him looking at his eyes. “I cannot understand you, one day you tell me that you love me, then you excuse yourself and don´t even look at me and now you are worried about my security. The crazy one is you,” that last phrase came out without control. Seeing how his face changed, I apologized. “Gabriel, I want to understand you and help you if you tell me what is happening, but not this way. You cannot expect to include me in your plans without informing me, because it won´t work.
He turned round, thoughtful. After what seemed like him having an inner dialogue he returned and started to speak without ceasing.
“Look, I am in love with your sister, I only saw her that one night,” he said remembering, “I don´t even know her, but I love it. You escaped from your raptor or someone saved you, I don´t know, but she did not. That is why I cannot see her; she is under the orders of something evil.”
“What do I have to do with all of this?”
“I made a deal with a wizard. The immortal wizard Phoenix,” he paused. “He told me to train you and look after you if I wished to see Elizabeth again. If we all keep our part of the deal, we will all be fine.”
“All of us? Did he take Eric?”
“Yes.”
“Because of your plan,” I shouted. “You have let them take Eric for your own benefit.”
“No, that has nothing to do with our agreement. He took Eric for his own purposes. I just have to look after you this week. It seems like something will happen on Saturday. That is why he wants you to train, so that you are prepared for any battle.”
I closed my eyes and calmed myself. At that moment I couldn´t make Eric return, so I would concentrate.
“Where is Francis?”
“He went home when you started to run.”
“I have to speak to him.”
I started to go down the hill hearing Gabriel´s steps trying to catch up on me. I was tired of so much mystery about my sister. I was going to resolve everything.
Chapter 12
Eric opened his eyes quickly. He jumped up and as quickly as he had gotten up, he had to sit down on the bed in which he had woken. The room was spinning.
“Don´t try to escape warrior,” he heard. The sound came from the door of the room.
“Phoenix, what do you want from me?”
“I want you.”
“No, no, I have to go,” he tried to sit up again and fell stretched out on the bed. He was dizzy.
“I am sorry about the blow to the head; I see it was too strong. You have taken almost a day to wake up,” he moved closer and sat on an old seat in front of the bed. “Take this, you will feel better,” he gave him a bowl with a hot steaming liquid. Eric took it without complaining.
“Where is Samantha?”
“At Gabriel´s house where we left her. She is perfectly fine. Don´t worry.”
Eric started to open his eyes. He stayed very still so as not to feel giddy. The walls and the furniture no longer moved. He began to feel better.
“What can I do for you, great Phoenix?”
“I need various things from you.”
“And what do I get in exchange?”
“Liberty and life,” he said in a paused manner.
Eric looked at him without understanding anything.
“You know what the punishment is for loving the princess. The dungeons, or death. Thanks to me, you can be freed of both.”
“How?”
“I will take care of it. I just need you to trust me,” he stopped speaking and lifted his eyes to look at the beautiful view from the window. “I want you to fight against Ian.”
“Who is Ian?”
“A fallen angel.”
“Susan, why don´t you tell us who sent you to steal the weapons and where you have put them. If you cooperate you will be forgiven,” Fariel said patiently.
“There is no forgiveness for me,” the impassive girl replied. The girl would say nothing, she preferred to die. She had passed to the dark side, tired of fighting for the Kingdom without getting anything in return. She had joined Morgan and his superior. She had never seen him, but she knew that he was a fallen one. She would fight with them and destroy the Kingdom.
At that moment she remembered how Morgan had entrusted her with the arduous job of stealing all the weapons of the Kingdom. The majority of them were in the weapons hall, but she didn´t have time to steal the others.
Morgan walked from one end of the secret room of the library to the other, waiting Susan´s arrival. In his hands he had a letter, the same as the one he received that morning. He stopped in front of the window to observe how the moon came to the meeting. Susan should already be here.
His heart jumped when he saw the girl in the door, she was dirty and with her hair tangled, her fighting outfit was worn, but she was as gorgeous as ever, the empresses assistant thought.
“You took your time in getting her,” he said in an angry tone.
“I am sorry,” she smiled friendly “I have spent the whole day on the roof of the building watching the new girl train. She is quite good. She must have been training for a couple of years.” She said as she sat on her favorite sofa, beneath the window. “I am late because she has been there the whole day and has only just left. She fainted and they took her to Gabriel Shepard´s house. She must be staying there,” she concluded.
“Anything interesting that I should know about?”
“No, only that she handles the sais very well.”
“She started to train yesterday,” Morgan let out distracted, more as a thought than a commentary.
“Are you kidding? She couldn´t advance so much in two days.”
“Yes she can, she can. She is the daughter of the empress,” he said sharply leaving Susan with her mouth agape.
“But I have not asked you to come for that,” he waved the letter he had in his hands. “I have another mission for you.”
“What is it about?” answered the girl recovering her composure.
“To steal all the weapons of the kingdom, the most you can and bring them to the palace.”
“Hey, let me tell you that this Fallen One of yours is a little annoying. He means me to steal them by myself? Do you know how many weapons there are in that hall?” she had got up and stood in front of Morgan with her arms crossed.
“You can do it; furthermore, you have the whole night. Steal as much as you can and bring them here. You should put them in the basement. This will be our base when the wanderers arrive.”
Susan agreed unconvinced and left the room.
“
Be careful,” Morgan said just in time so that she could hear him without returning to answer.
She left the palace and went to the stables. She hated this dimension, disappearing was fine but having to take a wagon with you to load the weapons, there weren´t any cars in this great city, everyone walked. If the journey was long, they would vanish. Her dream had always been to unite herself with the humans and live as one of them. And soon she would see her dream come true, because after the battle she did not plan to return.
She made various trips with the old wagon that was beside the palace horses, full of swords and daggers, to the basement. There were only a few left for the last trip, so she would carry them herself, with the bad luck that she was seen and captured.
The members of the Council looked at her. They had been there all morning and hadn´t managed to get a single word of value from the girls’ mouth. Francis had vanished and there was no way of localizing him. Argi, now impatient, left the room seeing that the girl had no intention of saying anything else. They all looked with a lost expression as he left.
“You thought to leave without saying anything? That is your concept of a relationship? Well, damn you!” exclaimed Francis lifting his arms in the air.
“I am sorry,” Kenneth repented “I didn´t know what to do. We are about to enter into war and you know, I don´t want to die like that, I don´t want my final days mixed up in a battle. And I knew that you would go.”
“Of course I am going, it is our Kingdom and I will fight for it. But my strength leaves me if you are not by my side.” He fell on the sofa with an arm covering his face.
Kenneth sat by his side and took his hand.
“I know that the idea wasn´t the most intelligent, but I haven´t left yet. I couldn´t do if without you.”
Francis lowered the arm that hid his eyes and let a tear roll down his face.
“That is the nicest thing you have ever said to me.”
“I know,” Kenneth moved towards him and embraced his companion as he had so many other times. He loved him and didn´t want to leave him behind. “I love you Francis.”
“I know. Don´t worry, we will get through this,” he looked him in the eyes and kissed his lips gently. “We need to tell Samantha the whole truth,” he said decidedly.
Francis got up briskly and left in search of the princess.
“Elizabeth, Elizabeth!” shouted Ian over the relentless noise of the wanderers, speaking and laughing, moving from one side to the other, loading weapons in wagons similar to those of the eighteenth century. None had faces, just a hole where the eyes, mouth and nose should be. Their skins were olive like and even Ian, who was one of their creators, was repulsed by them at times.
The house was packed, while Ian moved from one place to another searching for Elizabeth.
“John,” he bellowed.
“Yes my master,” he said appearing like a shooting star when he heard him shouting.
“Do you know where I can find Elizabeth in such a crucial moment for our plan?” he asked pretending to be patient.
“I am sorry my lord, I haven´t seen her all day.”
“Oh, that evil child,” he shouted again.
“I am no child,” he heard from behind his back. Elizabeth was calm behind his back in a pretty red dress; so long it touched the floor. By her aspect she had been out.
“Where were you? I have wanted to give you something all day. Follow me.”
He turned and let her to his study. That day his silver body shined more than ever. You could tell he was happy. In the lower part he wore dark close-fitting jeans and walked without shoes, something unusual in him.
He opened a drawer of his desk and gave her a silver colored feather. It was one of his feathers, he himself had plucked it he told her.
“What does it mean?” Elizabeth didn´t understand the intentions of the being with an angelical face.
“As you already know, these wings are very important to me. It is very difficult for a fallen one to let you even brush against them; as well as being one of my deadly weapons, the blood that coats their roots is pure poison. You will not last two minutes standing if a drop of my blood touches your skin,” he said in a scornful tone. With it I wish to make you a promise.
Elizabeth looked at him, confused. What he was saying didn´t sound good, Ian never made presents nor promises and if he had promised something, he never pulled through or it contained some trick.
“I promise,” he continued, “that after the battle you may leave. I will free you and give you permission to take your beloved with you.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“Don´t you trust me? Have I not taken care of you all this time and only want to compensate you for your faithfulness, I know how important that boy is to you, so I offer you freedom to enjoy it with him.”
He extended the feather to her and she took it almost fearfully. She didn´t want anything belonging to Ian and much less his permission. Anyway, she would leave without looking back and she would take Gabriel with her when there was no longer danger. Phoenix would protect them, she was sure.
“If you need something you know where I am.”
Ian walked away leaving Elizabeth alone in the cold room. She had spent the morning in Gabriel´s house after seeing him leave with her sister. She wanted to spend the afternoon in the wizards company. She felt secure in his castle and needed to know the details of the plan. She didn´t want to leave anything to chance. She held the feather tightly and vanished.
“We will attack in the central square, in front of the Council. The ground is more even and there is more space to fight than in any other place.”
“How do you propose we start the fight there? We don´t know in what moment they will appear.”
“Then we will have to lead them there and corner them, it is the only option.”
“Yes, I agree,” determined Phoenix “it is the ideal place to put traps and perform my spells.”
Eric continued looking at the map of the city as the wizard searched amongst his shelves full of potions and jars with strange things, in one of the rooms of the great castle.
“And if they don´t turn out well I have no way of assuring myself that Samantha will be alright. That she is not harmed. Let me see her again.”
The wizard, tired, put his crystal ball on the table so that Eric could see what Samantha was doing. It was the third time that day and he was beginning to think it wouldn´t be the last.
“She is heading towards Kenneth´s house. Why? She should be training.”
“Don´t ask the ball, it just shows you. It won´t answer you.”
Eric, tired, sat down and rested his head in his hands as he watched his beloved disappear.
“Elizabeth my dear, what are you doing here?”
“I have brought something for you,” she continued without looking at Eric.
Phoenix observed the silver feather in the white hands of the girl and dared to take it.
“Did you take it from him?”
“He gave it to me, as a promise, but I don´t believe him. What I do believe is that he is losing it.”
“Oh, thank you so much, I can do a thousand things with this, I will be right back.”
He continued muttering in the corridors as he went off. He was more than happy. Elizabeth turned her back to Eric, she didn´t want to look him in the eyes. She was ashamed of all that she had done to make her sister and him suffer.
“How can it be possible that you are here, helping us? Was it not your intention to destroy us?” Erick said angrily, getting up from his chair as he saw how Elizabeth bowed her head. “Why have you punished her in this way? She has suffered greatly because of you. You have made her have more questions than answers with your little numbers and mental games. You have harmed her.” With every word he got closer to her without seeing the minimum movement from her. “Look at me,” he said upset.
After a few seconds, Elizabeth turned round letting him see he
r face full of tears of repentance.
Eric, confused, relaxed and backed off so that the girl could sit on one of the chairs in the room.
“I am so sorry,” she said with a weak voice, “I don´t even know how to apologize.”
She broke down into tears and threw herself on the table full of plans. Her sobs broke Eric’s state of paralysis and he sat beside her to console her. He did not know what to do. She calmed down little by little until she could speak again.
“To begin with I did it happily. The first times I got into her dreams and into her mind. I was wrong. Ian has been with me since I was little; he brought me up and educated me to hate everyone who was not like him or his followers. But I was wrong. The night I met Gabriel I knew I should have stopped but didn´t know how to. I decided to distance myself from all good people; I thought that if I obeyed Ian then nothing would happen, until I decided to follow my instinct and flee from him. However, I cannot do it until the battle. That is why I came here, in search of help. I want to help you,” for the first time she looked at Eric in the eyes and he could see the broken heart of a girl in her eyes. He saw her thoughts, everything was true.
“If you want to flee, why have you continued to get into Samantha´s mind?”
“Ian makes me, that´s why. I cannot trick him. He knows when I lie to him.”
Eric stroked her hazel brown hair. He got up again, but this time to look for the wizard. He moved towards the corridor, he looked up and down slowly without getting any clues as to the whereabouts of Phoenix. He entered the room again and sat beside a calmer Elizabeth.
“Well, what is the plan?”
“Great question my dear and adorable Elizabeth,” exclaimed Phoenix appearing from nowhere. “I have the answer here,” he smiled pointing towards a small bottle he held in his hands. “This is the elixir of death.”
“What have you made now?” Eric asked curiously yet fearfully.
“This is the culmination of all my work, of all my life. I could die right now in the sea of contentment,” he determined smiling from ear to ear. His outfit was dirty and his hair messy, but such was his joy that he didn´t care. “Thanks to Ian´s feather I have been able to prepare the deathly elixir for the wanderers and the Fallen Ones. You see, having a feather of his, I have been able to separate his DNA from the blood that was still fresh on it. In his blood his badness is concentrated, it is his essence.” He was so excited that he couldn´t stop moving around the room. “Thanks to a very powerful spell that I have been formulating for many years now, I have managed to magnify the evil in this drop of blood and that way, anyone who touches the liquid or drinks it will die in the act.”
Darkness The Diary of Samantha Owen Page 13
