Chel looked at him, baffled, then looked to Hunter. “Would this Andreinna speak with Daegan?”
Hunter nodded slowly and said, “Yes. They have spoken before. I believe Andreinna is fond of Daegan. He may in fact be the only one she would be willing to offer assistance to. Plus, if memory serves, she may owe him a small favor.”
Chel, feeling a little out of the loop, asked Finn quietly, not wanting to disturb Hunter’s concentration, “What is this ‘In-between’ place?”
Finn looked to her, annoyed at first, but then softened to his friend. “I’m sorry, Chel, I forget that this is new to you as well. It is in between the realms. It’s a place for the souls of the fey to go while they wait to be escorted into their afterlife... kind of like, um... a purgatory or a place of limbo. But the living are not supposed to be able to get there!” Finn suddenly said with more vehemence as he glared at Hunter. Maybe to Hunter or maybe to no one in particular he said, raking his hands through his thick hair, “How did she get there? She’s not supposed to be there!” Then he started pacing again.
Hunter looked directly at Finn. “No, she is not supposed to be there!!” he shouted, expressing his own anger. “I do not understand it! Nothing went wrong with the magic...” He too started pacing back and forth in the small space used as a kitchen.
Chel, suddenly feeling claustrophobic with two angry men taking up the space in the already small cottage, decided to sit in one of the chairs in front of the fire. But suddenly even that wasn’t comforting. She had so much pent-up nervous energy and frustration, her legs were bouncing. Her skin felt like it was crawling. She felt so helpless and out of control, it was making her edgy. She scratched at her skin, rotating her shoulders and cracking her neck, and her eyes grew wild. Chel needed to do something. She bolted to her feet, shocking Hunter and Finn out of their thoughts long enough for them to stare at her. She glared at them both. “I have to do something! What can we do? There must be something!!” she shouted angrily.
Hunter’s eyes grew wide with sudden understanding. The shift was upon Chel and by her reaction, he believed this was new to her. But the timing couldn’t be worse. Stopping before Chel, he stood tall and regal. He understood the dynamics of the shifter clans somewhat, and Chel’s family specifically. His hand on her shoulder, he stared into her eyes unflinchingly. He infused her with a calm energy that he was able to impart as an Elder—filling Chel with hope and peace. Her shoulders relaxed a bit and he stepped back.
She nodded, then her eyes filled with despair as she whispered, “What can we do?”
His eyes grew sad and he sighed. “There is nothing we can do but wait and hope that Andreinna gives Daegan something useful or that Kaeleigh finds her way back to us before she is lost.”
That was unacceptable to Chel. She stomped her feet like a child throwing a tantrum and turned to storm out of the much too confining cottage. Finn started to go after her, but Hunter gripped his arm to stop him. Finn looked up at him questioningly. “Let her go. She will be all right. It has been a long time, Finnlan, I had hoped that we could talk and put some of the past behind us. There is much I wish to know about my granddaughter,” Hunter said, extending a figurative olive branch to Finn.
“Yes, there is much I would like to say.” Finn nodded respectfully but then added a bit stubbornly, “But as far as Kaeleigh goes you can ask her what you wish to know when she is awake.”
“I see. You are quite loyal to her,” Hunter added with a slight knowing twinkle in his aging eyes. “That is good, Finnlan, she will continue to need you as her future here continues to unfold.”
Finn looked suspiciously for a moment at Hunter then resigned himself to a chair in front of the fire. He was tired. He was concerned about Kaeleigh. He was concerned about being in Alandria himself and whether he would be able to be there for her when she needed him most. He was also leery and mistrusting of Daegan, which he intended to ask Hunter about.
They talked of all that had transpired in Alandria since Finn’s unfortunate departure. At some point during their discussions, Chel had returned looking flush and a little more subdued. She didn’t say much but Finn gathered that she had gone running... again. Now knowing she was beginning to transition, that made more sense to him. She eventually jumped into the conversation, asking questions and getting Hunter to talk about Alandria, the history, the people, others of her kind. Talking may have seemed a little too casual while their friend lay on the table just beyond them, but they were worried and the only way to distract from the current situation was to talk.
CHAPTER FIVE
Kaeleigh stared into Eva’s sad eyes with confusion. Thoughts of what her mother said ran through her mind and as it suddenly dawned on her she gasped. “I’m not dead... but you are, aren’t you?” Kaeleigh finished with a strangled whisper as her head and shoulders dropped with defeat.
A single gold tear slid down Eva’s face at the sudden emotion shift rolling off Kaeleigh; elation at finding the mom she never had to the gut-wrenching tear of immediate loss once again. Eva would have spared her daughter this turmoil if she could have, but she believed it a necessary torture.
Refusing to waste her limited time with her mother grieving—she could always grieve later—Kaeleigh regained her composure, pushing her emotions back into an airtight compartment tucked away in a dark corner in the back of her heart. Taking a deep cleansing breath, she looked back to her mother’s beautiful face. “Why are you in this place—the In-between? Are you a lost soul?” Kaeleigh lowered her voice at the last part, afraid if she said it out loud it would be true.
“No, sweet child, I am not lost... but yes, I am no longer among the living. I found a way to pull us both here together when Hunter’s magic was released. I’ve been watching, anticipating a shift in your energies, looking for an opening. Being where you are at the cottage, our connection is strongest. You see, your father and I hid there when I could not keep you hidden in my womb any longer; and after you were born, for a time, that was your home. I knew he would be the one to perform the ritual needed to return you to your original state. I guess you could say I intercepted his spell.” Taking a deep breath, she admitted, “I know it was risky for both of us, but I had to take this, my one and only opportunity to see you, to hold you, and to give you what knowledge I could.”
Before Eva could continue, Kaeleigh jumped in. She had to know. “How did it happen?” At Eva’s confused face she clarified, “How did you...” Looking rather uncomfortable, she amended, “How did you end up here, well, not here, but where it is that you are? And where is that exactly?” Kaeleigh bit her lower lip and wrung her hands with the sudden nervous energy.
Eva gave a small laugh. “So many questions, dear daughter.” She paused but nodded her head at her own resolve. Eva clasped Kaeleigh’s hand between both of her own, took a deep breath as if it pained her to talk about it, then went on to share with Kaeleigh the story of how she died.
“There had been a battle,” she explained, “one of several in the history of Alandria, but this time we were outnumbered and unsuspecting. It was a time of unification among the kingdoms and peace.” Her gaze became far off as she remembered, “We had been outnumbered before, but this time was different. There was too much dissention among the territories—too many beings working for both the side of the light and the side of the dark. The king of the Faeries and the king of the Elves had been working together for unity and peace, when there was an uprising among the people who did not want to see this union come to pass.”
Eva looked down at her slender hands folded in her lap. “Sadly, the king of the Faeries—my father—was being deceived. He was impressionable and fearful for his family and his people. He planned to back out of the agreements, but unbeknownst to him...”—Eva blushed and looked away shyly—“your father and I had our own secret ceremony of union.”
Kaeleigh’s eyes were big and she looked around, slightly uncomfortable, with a blush creeping up her neck at her mother’s admi
ssion.
Looking at Kaeleigh’s awkward display, Eva suddenly realized why her daughter was uncomfortable and clarified, “I believe what we shared was what you would call a marriage ceremony.”
“Ah. Thank you for clarifying the much too intimate details that I was afraid you were sharing with me regarding you and my father.” Kaeleigh chuckled.
“I told my father of my union with an Elf of Adettlyn.” Eva looked up to the sky and shook her head with a small smile. “He was outraged, of course, but eventually came around and agreed to go forward with the agreements to preserve peace and keep his family together. I had not yet told him about you, however. What he (and we) did not know was that the uprising was growing and getting stronger. They had a plan for the night of the agreements to make a statement. The darkness got the upper hand that night.” Eva’s hands were shaking as she remembered.
“What happened that night?” Kaeleigh’s voice was breathless with the suspense of not wanting to know the answer, but needing to know it.
Looking straight into Kaeleigh’s eyes, Eva must have seen some resolve there because she nodded then said, “It would be better for me to show you.” She paused to see Kaeleigh’s reaction and when she gave none she added, “May I share my memory with you, Kaeleighnna? I warn you it is not something I would have you witness, except that I believe it would benefit you to see faces of those involved. I will try to alter some of the... incident I do not want you to see,” she said quietly.
Kaeleigh straightened her back and shoulders in preparation for what she was about to see and nodded. Even though she knew it would not physically pain her to receive this vision, she felt definite apprehension about witnessing the very act that took her mother from this world. Still, she had to know the truth.
“I’m ready,” Kaeleigh simply said as she held out her hands once again for her mother.
The vision blurred into focus with a slight buzz in her mind’s peripheral:
Her father and her mother stood in the center of a large crowd at a large, round, flattened and chiseled boulder that appeared to be used as a table. Also standing around the table were two additional older couples on either side of each of them. They were dressed regally and wore a cloak of confidence and authority. The man to the right of who she had recognized as her father was a man she had already met, her grandfather, Hunter. He wore simple yet elegant red velvet robes and wore a simple band of twisted metal with a deep blue stone in the center of it upon his head. They appeared to be in the middle of a discussion. There were sudden shouts and outbursts from varying members in the audience surrounding them, almost like a public debate, sometimes peaceful, but sometimes unruly that would demand a reaction from one or both of the elder men around the table. Trying to get the agreements back on track, they would bend over and talk animatedly regarding a scroll of old parchment laid out before them upon the boulder-table. Anyone paying attention could see the love between the two young diplomats amongst the older leaders even though they had done well hiding it from everyone until the time they had appointed to a make an announcement after the agreements had come to a close.
They were not prepared for a war, nor did they want one. Discussions were getting heated, blame was being shifted around, and very few seemed to be fighting for peace anymore. Suddenly, there was a disturbance among the crowd of gatherers. A scream rent the air and in a blur of what seemed to be slow motion an arrow flew through the air straight toward the heart of her father.
He was shoved out of the way, thrown to the ground, and knocked out for what must have only been a minute, maybe two. He awoke to the sounds of anguish, screams of fear and hatred. Someone was on the ground near him, surrounded by the Faeries, the royal guards, and the royalty themselves. Blood pooling next to the slender figure in a sapphire blue dress. Sudden images flashed before his eyes: the arrow flying toward him with the intent of killing him; a tall, slender, beautiful Faerie woman with long, flowing chestnut brown hair and deep blue eyes wearing a long sapphire blue gown shoving him out of the way and putting herself in the way of the arrow’s kill shot... Eva... EVA! Crawling quickly towards her body, he threw himself between the crowds of people gathering around. Hearing someone with a deep anguish-filled voice screaming Eva’s name and “No” over and over until he realized it was coming from him. He made it to her side, grabbed her, and sobbed. Her father bared his soul before the courts of Elf and Faerie alike as they all watched. He heard her gasp as she was not yet gone. He looked into her eyes as she lay still, barely breathing, and gripped her hand so tight he thought he might break it. Her eyes full of love for him as she whispered her love for him and for him to protect her. His eyes, not able to contain the moisture, broke open bearing his love for all to see as he vowed he would protect the one she spoke of. Eva breathed her last and he let her go. He looked in the eyes of her father, who also knelt at her side, and saw a question in his eyes that went unspoken and an answer that passed silently between them.
At that very moment of grief, the torrents of darkness were unleashed and there was mass chaos along with hysteria. Those who could fight, did, as the sounds of battle rang out with the clash of metal against metal. There were those aligned with anarchy amongst those gathered for peace. Others fighting on behalf of the darkness stormed through the doors of the royal court room; sacred tradition destroyed in mere moments. Hunter along with Kaeleigh’s father raised their swords and jumped into the fray. The king of Feraánmar gathered his queen behind him, sheltering her at the back wall, his sword drawn. Others of the royal guard, elite members of the Ferrishyn, moved as swiftly as they could to get to their king and queen, to make their stand. Only to be too late. A flurry of arrows unleashed from the opposite corner of the court room volleyed straight into the king and queen, the royal guardians, the protectors of the Faeries. Both slain—blood staining the smooth stone floor, seeping into the very pores of their foundation, becoming one with what they lived for.
A primal cry of outrage erupted from the side of the room where the young Elf warrior guarded his lost love. One last look at Eva—he knew her people would provide a proper burial. Then another look spared towards his father fighting against his own combatants but clearly holding his own. At Hunter’s pained expression when he returned the glance, he said he understood, before his son raised his sword and began to fight his way out the front of the court room, swarmed, and never to be seen again.
Kaeleigh came out of the vision dripping with sweat and breathing heavily as if she had actually been there. Tears of great loss for those she never knew, as well as instant love for just the same, were streaming down her face. She was overcome with the burden of their grief as she doubled over, feeling the weight and pain in the center of her being. How did one process watching not only her mother die, but also grandparents, and many others in the crowd—a crowd of her people. This is wrong. This should not have happened. It can’t happen again. I can’t let it. I won’t let it.
Eva hugged Kaeleigh tightly as tears fell from her eyes as well. Still crying, Kaeleigh held on to her mother like a small child, unable to let her go. Both just needed to hold onto each other to cherish a moment that held the whisper of the moments that they had never shared and would never get to again. Eva rocked her and pet her head, apologizing for showing her the vision.
“No, don’t apologize,” Kaeleigh stumbled out. “I needed to see. I wanted to know the truth. It’s painful but I need to know in order to find out who I am.”
With a determination rising up within her core, and an energy with a life of its own growing stronger and stronger inside her, Kaeleigh took deep breaths to calm her body’s physical reaction to what she saw. She raised her head to look into the heartbroken eyes of her mother. She knew her mother hadn’t wanted to show her that scene, but she knew she needed it to go forward, to understand.
Eva smiled at her. “You are strong, Kaeleighnna. It is very courageous of you to look into the past.” She hesitated before what she said next. “
It will make you even stronger for what is to come in the future.”
Kaeleigh perked up and looked intently into her mother’s eyes. She saw grief and pain and something else... fear? Fear for the future? Fear for her? “What do you mean, Mother?” Kaeleigh liked the way that rolled off her tongue so easily. She thought that once she found her family, if she ever did, that it would be an awkward adjustment that would take place over time. She was grateful for the instant love and connection she felt with Eva.
Eva hung her head with what appeared to be regret. “I do not see into the future as I suspect you are wondering, but I do get flashes from The Orchids when we are focused as a unit... The war has been quiet for several years, but something is stirring; a great darkness. There is fear as they cannot see what it is, the darkness is hiding from our sight and it is causing great uneasiness.”
Confused, Kaeleigh warily asked, “I’m confused... The Orchids? I’ve heard of them before, but what does this have to do with me? Wait, are you one of these Orchids?”
Staring with great depth into Kaeleigh, Eva took a deep breath and averted her eyes before bringing her gaze back to Kaeleigh with a new determination. “Kaeleighnna, my wish for you my daughter is to keep you safe and to shelter you from the evil wickedness that is in this world and the next, but time for that has run out.” She took a deep breath and steeled herself at all she needed to reveal to Kaeleigh before their time ran out. “There is an ancient prophecy and the time for its fulfillment has come. It is believed... they believe... that you are the one to bring this prophecy to fulfillment.” Relieved to have just said it, but still anticipating Kaeleigh’s reaction, Eva sat back and waited for her daughter to say something.
Veiled Shadows (The Age of Alandria: Book Two) Page 5
