“Glad I could help,” she said. “You do deserve it, you know? Krista is an amazing person.”
Perri sniffed her tears away. “Yeah, apparently her brother isn’t too bad either.”
The tension broke, and they hugged each other as they laughed.
“Perri, do you realize how lucky we are? Ok, there’s a lot of other crap going on, but really, what do you think the odds are against us? I’ve got Derren, you’ve got Krista.”
Perri snorted. “Yeah, two sets of star-crossed lovers in one apartment. What are the odds on that?”
Katheryne grinned, as she took her friend’s hand, and pulled her onward down the path. Several passersby gave them an odd look, but they didn’t care. They’d just had the conversation they both needed to have. Katheryne sensed the tension in her friend dissipate, as she finally accepted her feelings for Krista were real. She couldn’t be sure, but Katheryne thought she felt a shift in her friend’s soul; a strengthening which had been chained by doubt. She stretched her awareness to make sure she wasn’t imagining it, but as she did, she halted again, stopping Perri as well.
“What’s wrong, Kat?” Perri felt the merriment they’d just felt disappear, as her friend’s brows furrowed and she closed her eyes.
“I’m not sure, something’s not right...shit!” She opened her eyes wide, grabbed Perri’s arm and dragged her along, as she broke into a run. “We need to get to the chapel, now!”
Both the girls sprinted the remaining 100 yards to the park gate, almost causing a pile up at the intersection, as they ran across to the blare of dozens of car horns.
Perri had no idea what was the initial trigger for Katheryne’s alarm, but as they ran down the side street towards the chapel, she felt the hairs at the back of her neck stand up. There was a palpable static charge in the air, but more than that, there was a presence up ahead, inside the walls of the old ruin.
Katheryne slowed as they came up to the railings, and she put her arm out to stop Perri going any further. They stood for a few seconds, breathing hard from the run.
Perri looked up at the broken windows lining the side of the building, and saw an odd light shining through the remaining fragments.
Katheryne stood, eyes shut, as she probed the interior. Her brows furrowed, and she raised her hands to her temples as the effort to see inside taxed her. Perri drew her own awareness away from the physical plane. She’d only done this once before because, frankly, it scared her. What she saw terrified her.
The chapel was surrounded in a cocoon of angry red energy. Katheryne stood outside, and as she watched, Perri saw herself , as if from above, but the interesting thing was the energy which Katheryne was feeding into field surrounding the chapel. As she watched, the red color faded to pink, and then to orange, before retreating inside the walls.
A sigh drew her back to her body, and she watched as Katheryne wiped sweat of her brow. Perri had seen it all from outside, but still didn’t know what was going on.
“We can go in now.” Katheryne turned to her friend. “Perri, I’m not sure what we’re going to see in here. You need to be ready, ok?”
Perri’s confusion was obvious. “Kat, I just saw something. Whatever’s in there, it’s not safe to be around. It’s angry, furious even. Are you sure we shouldn’t wait for the others?”
Katheryne smiled enigmatically. “You’d be angry too if you’d just been murdered, Perri.”
“What?!”
“It’s Chran, they killed him; well, not entirely.” Katheryne chuckled as Perri’s eyes widened.
“Oh my god, Chran’s dead? How can you laugh at that? He was your friend.”
Katheryne took Perri and pulled her toward the hidden break in the railings. “Come on. Like I said, this is going to be a little weird. But I think he’ll enjoy the expression on your face.”
Perri resisted the pull for half a second, before allowing her friend to lead her into the deserted chapel. Only it wasn’t deserted. A glowing figure stood by the altar. It was Chran.
Chapter Eighteen
Nowhere
So many minds fed into the being. For thousands of years, it floated in the timelessness of the Never. There should be no recognition of time here, but something within its core held a record of its passing. The core world, Sanctuary, had been the reference for everything, but a short time ago, another anchor had appeared, and the being latched onto it. The energy emanating from it was more intense than any other which had existed over its long seclusion, so it found itself drawn toward it.
The journey might take weeks, or no time at all, such was the nature of travel here in the Never. But inside the cocoon of its shell, the dragon stirred.
Chapter Nineteen
The Forest
It grew dim under the boughs of the forest as dusk fell, but the two girls didn’t mind. They’d walked this way many times, and there was no danger to them in this part of the woods.
“Do you want to speak about it?” asked Amilee.
Gwenyth sighed. Amilee had been trying to break Gwenyth out of her dark mood since they’d met up an hour earlier.
“I’m not sure if you’d understand, Ami. I’m not sure I understand what happened last night, and to be honest, I don’t really feel like talking about it yet.”
“Ok,” Amilee replied, brightly. She really didn’t have an idea what was going on in her friend’s life at the moment. She was too innocent to get it.
Her father’s threats of punishment had been escalating lately, but nothing could have prepared her for the hatred and fury in his warnings the previous evening. He knew she planned to travel to the Tree today, to bring word of the Council’s agreement to assist them. A force of Magisters was being assembled, and would be ready to travel within the week.
She struggled to understand why he should want to prevent this from happening. Surely something which disturbed the Faer couldn’t be good.
But no, he’d refused to allow her to travel, and even though the Council approved the action, he promised to revoke the decision. When she’d announced her intention to go, whether he approved or not, he’d flown into a rage unlike anything she’d ever witnessed. In the Glade, at least.
The awareness of her past life as Alice MacNair, scientist, wife, and mother, was growing in strength within her. Memories were still a vague jumble of mists, but these were clearing, and over the last few weeks, she’d experienced flashes of her previous life. These flashes were becoming more frequent, and longer. She remembered her name, and that she’d been married and had a daughter, but she couldn’t remember them, neither their names nor what they looked like. Except for the brief vision of her past shown her by the Queen a few weeks earlier, there was nothing to remember her family with, except the certainty of their love for each other. This certainty made her heart ache to see them again, but there was too much to be done here first.
Her daydream was interrupted by a shadowy form jumping from an overhead branch and landing right in front of them. Amilee squealed in fright, as the hooded figure drew a knife from within the cloak. It was tinged with some sort of green liquid, which Gwenyth instinctively knew was poison.
“Hello, Father,” she said.
The sentence provoked a gasp of shock from Amilee, as her friend’s hands went up to catch another scream.
The figure reached its free hand to draw back the hood. “I had hoped to remain anonymous. After all, if Amilee had run away without seeing my face, I might have let her live. No, let’s face it; I never did like the little imp.” He looked at Amilee with a smile on his face, and she squeaked again. Running was out of the question, she was too terrified.
“You’ll never get away with this, Father. Mother knows about our little discussions. If anything happens to me, she’ll know who to blame.”
“Your mother, HA!” Hallor spat the last word, “She’s no more your mother, than I am your father. You wormed your way into our lives all those years ago. Oh yes, I was fooled for a long time, but slowly, I�
��ve come to realize what you are. You are a servant of darkness, brought here to destroy us all.”
Gwenyth’s eyes grew wide as she saw the madness in his expression. The man who had been her father for over sixteen years was gone. In his place was this thing of twisted anger.
“My wife, will do as I tell her, or she, too, will disappear, just as you two are about to.”
He lunged, but Gwen dodged the knife. He was enraged, and this made him clumsy. Amilee ran to the edge of the forest trail, but no further. She was terrified, but didn’t want to leave her friend.
Gwen stooped to pick up a branch as she cast a spell of shielding, just in time to deflect the blade as Hallor swung at her face. Even though the spell worked and it didn’t reach her skin, the sight of it approaching her face forced Gwen to recoil, and she tripped on a root, sprawling onto her back.
Hallor didn’t waste a second and jumped on top of her, raising the knife above his head. “Now, monster. It’s time to end this lie,” he screamed as he plunged the dagger downwards.
Everything stopped. Well, not everything, because Gwenyth found she could move normally, but Hallor, Amilee, even the wind through the trees halted, as if time was frozen. Gwen struggled out from below her father, and stood gasping with the effort, observing the scene in front of her.
Her father crouched over where she’d just been. Amilee was about five feet behind him, seeming to be in the process of jumping onto his back. Gwenyth smiled in affection for her friend, and vowed to give her more credit from now on. Even when scared out of her wits, she was brave enough to try and save her friend.
But what had happened? Gwen knew several spells, but nothing that could do this. She looked around but there was no one else. Had she done this? Somehow, when she was about to die, had she tapped some unknown knowledge within?
“Not unknown knowledge, my dear. Just buried deep enough you wouldn’t discover it until it was needed.”
Gwenyth swung round toward the voice. Standing a few feet away was an old man in a brown robe. This was impossible. He hadn’t been there a second ago.
“No, I wasn’t here when you looked, and no you’re not dead, or going mad. Not yet, at least.” The old man chuckled. It was a lyrical sound. She couldn’t help but feel lifted by it.
“Please, Gwenyth, sit down. We don’t have a lot of time, but we may as well make ourselves comfortable. These old bones get stiff if I remain standing for too long.” With a wave of his hand, the old man caused a tree trunk to swing down to ground level. He sat down at one end, beckoning her to take a seat beside him.
“Who are you?” she asked.
The old man raised his palm to his face and chuckled again. “There I go again. Sorry, I really need to improve on my introductions.” He got up and bowed deeply before her. “My name is Olumé.”
Gwen sat down before she collapsed. “Olumé. The Olumé?”
Olumé sat back down and smiled across at her. “More a part of me than the whole thing, I’m afraid to say. I’ve had to spread myself thinner and thinner over the centuries, and there isn’t much left. But then, we’re near the end of the journey now, aren’t we?”
Gwen stared open mouthed. How was this possible? How could she be sitting here, talking to a being who died thousands of years ago?
“Oh, I didn’t really die, my dear.” He smiled at her shock as she realized he could hear her thoughts, “My physical body perished at my own hand, as I’m sure you’re aware of, but because I took my own life, my soul was freed into the Never.”
“But, if it was, then how are you even here? Isn’t the soul supposed to join its energies to the Never and be reborn?”
“Normally, yes. But I had planned for just such an eventuality. I had too much to do for my soul to leave. Maybe when this is all over, I can finally rest, but for now, we have things to do.”
“So, you’ve been alive all this time? What have you been doing? Why are you here now?”
Olumé raised his hand to silence her. “I don’t have the time now to explain everything. I’m sorry, but all will become clear in time. Yes, I’ve been alive all this time, working and meddling in things behind the scenes, if you like. But I’m here now to help you.”
Gwen looked at the frozen figures in front of them. “And not a moment too soon.”
“Oh, that wasn’t me. I can assure you, what I said about your emerging powers was true. This is but a taste of what you carry within you, Gwen. And you have to learn to wield it, and choose the correct side, when the time is right.”
“I don’t understand. How will I know when the time is right? What will I have to do?”
Olumé stood up and turned to look down on her. “You will know. But now, I must go. I have a few more tasks to carry out before the end.”
Gwen wanted to ask what he meant by, ‘the end’, but he’d gone.
As she looked around, she felt a breeze on her cheek. Two screams split the air, as Hallor lunged into empty space, and Amilee overshot him to land in a heap. Hallor jumped upwards. He had his back to Gwenyth, but Amilee was at his feet. He raised the dagger to strike.
Gwenyth felt the power erupt within. She used her concern for her friend to channel it. She raised her hands, palms outward. Hallor rose into the air and flew into the trunk of a tree, knocking him unconscious. He fell ten feet to land in a heap at the base of it.
Gwenyth looked down at her hands. Amilee sat on the ground with wide eyes staring at her, before grinning widely.
“Wow, can you show me how to do that?”
Any response was cut off, as over a dozen figures in robes appeared all around them. A cry made Gwenyth turn as she was enveloped in her mother’s arms. She was sobbing.
“Thank the Maker you’re safe.” She grabbed her daughters face and looked into her eyes. “Did he hurt you, Gwen?” She glanced around the area, seeing her husband slumped unconscious on the ground. “No, it looks like you managed this rather more efficiently than I could ever have imagined.”
Kon came over and embraced them both. “Gwen, we need to speak, but for now, we have to get your father back to the Citadel. Something caused him to do this and we must find out what.” He stopped as Gwen abruptly turned away, looking into the trees. He looked, but nothing was there.
“It’s in there. In the deep forest, the thing that did this, Kon. The darkness the Faer Folk have sensed did this to my father.”
Kon looked at his sister with a worried expression. “How do you know this, Gwen?” her mother asked. “I can see, nor sense, nothing untoward.”
“It was there, just for a second.” Gwenyth pointed to a space between the trees, in the direction of the heart of the forest. “I shocked it when I sensed its presence, and it disappeared instantly, but it was definitely there.”
“What was it?” asked Kon, as he stared at the place she indicated.
“I don’t know, Uncle, but it was angry. In fact, it was furious I survived the attack.”
Kon looked at her with wide eyes. “But why? Why should it want you dead?”
Gwenyth walked a short way, across the path to where she’d sensed the presence. Her senses threatened to overwhelm her. The presence was gone, but the ghost of its essence robbed the air of heat and light. She stood in a shrinking pocket of darkness, but she saw the path it used to flee. Gwenyth closed her eyes, stretching her perception further than she could ever have imagined. She was suddenly outside her body, watching from above, as her mother and Kon observed her. Time stood still once more as she flew upward.
Not since the days of the dragons had anyone flown on this world, but Gwenyth soared skyward, like she was born to it. She didn’t know how, but she felt the air flowing around her body, even though she wasn’t actually in it. She hovered a mile in the air, taking in the vista below. The mountains to the east looked much closer than the hundreds of miles away they were, and as she turned, she saw the Citadel, its lights sparkling like tiny candles in the wind.
Her attention was drawn
to a darkness at the centre of the huge expanse of forest below her. It swallowed up any dwindling remnants of sunlight, and the whole area was steeped in gloom. Gwenyth flew toward it. Seconds later, she hovered above a pit of blackness so deep she couldn’t see the bottom. This wasn’t her main concern, however, as something arose toward her. She could barely see it. It was blacker than the darkness of the pit below as it approached her. She felt the hatred emanating from it, and was afraid. She stood her ground, however, because she knew if she showed any vulnerability to this thing, it would give it an opening to exploit the fear.
As it grew close enough to be seen clearly against the brighter colors of the forest, Gwenyth could make out a vaguely humanoid shape, surrounded by a roiling mist of dark energy. Her face blanched when she sensed life trapped within it.
‘What are you? What have you done to my father?’
The voice that answered was colder than the heart of a glacier. ‘Who are you to ask questions of me, outsider? You, who are not of this place. Be gone now, and leave these people to their destiny. There is nothing you, or anyone, can do to stop me now.”
Gwen didn’t know how, but the last sentence dripped of deceit.
‘What is it you want from them? These are beings of light. What could you hope to achieve by harming them?’
The voice made a sound like wind blowing through a mountain pass, and she realized it was laughing.
‘Your father was a being of light once, and look how far he has fallen. None can resist the draw of the darkness, once the seed has been planted.’
‘What seed? Hallor was the best father I could have wished for.’
The laugh again, ‘Everyone has a weakness, his was ambition. Your uncle’s is pride, pride for you. Your mother’s is fear, fear for you. You will be their downfall, outsider. Unless you leave I will destroy everything you hold dear.’
It was lying again, she was certain of it. But better than that, it was afraid, afraid of her. She had no idea why, but she was willing to accept any advantage she could get.
Worlds of the Never: A book with Dragons, Faeries and Elves, mixed with Science Fiction and Time Travel, for Young Adults and Teens. (Tales of the Neverwar 2) Page 7
