by Tina Silvens
“How’s your husband doing?” he asked, trying to get better with her.
“He’s fine, really fine. I think he’s even happy now. After two hours of quarrelling over who’ll stay in the mission and who’ll go speak to you, he came out victorious—again. But that’s no trouble. I have enough time to keep on trying. I don’t give up that easily.”
They laughed once again. After they calmed down, Inerishia put on an earnest face and said, “Anyway, let’s go back to what we were talking about earlier. General Waltario, this is the last time I’m asking you to bring my daughter here.”
“But why don’t you want to let her stay at the White Castle? There’s so much better there...”
“That’s not her place,” she firmly replied, avoiding getting into detail.
She strolled inside the studio, gazed at the walls, then said, “I came to you directly, without sending you any letter in advance, because I have something important to tell you. I ask you to bring Selunia here not only because that’s what I consider best for her, but also because she could help this palace. You know I’m good at visions. Recently I’ve had one. The Aridens’ Palace will come to a deadlock in the near future; it will confront something yet unseen in this kingdom. Everything might radically change, and the present ruler may perish.”
She turned to Waltario. “I know very well you don’t want this. I hope you now understand I’m talking in the most serious manner. Your decision to bring or not to bring Selunia here may have a great influence over this kingdom’s destiny.”
Waltario frowned incredulously. “Why do you think Selunia will be the one who can help us?”
“Maybe she doesn’t have even half of my powers, but her current skills are much higher than those of your army. The kind of problem that I’ve sensed is similar to those we have at the White Castle. You’ll need to collaborate with our stronghold, but that’s almost impossible. Selunia is the only person whom the White Castle will agree to let go to you.”
“Why is that?” asked Waltario curiously.
“Oh well, the circumstances are of such nature... Probably this is her destiny,” she said thoughtfully.
Waltario looked long at her, suspiciously, then said, “Have you made up this story with the vision?”
“My visions aren’t inventions, but things which will come to happen. Until present, not a single one was wrong or hadn’t at least a kernel of truth. I’ve come to tell you because, to some degree, the changes that happen here can affect the White Castle too. Waltario, I notice you doubt my words. You think I said that only to force you to bring Selunia here, because I’m aware you do nothing which isn’t of benefit to the kingdom. It’s not what you’re thinking. Normally I don’t have time to talk to you until you’re convinced. Therefore, I repeat: the kingdom will soon get into trouble. Bring Selunia here if you want to stand a chance. With this, I end the discussion. From now on, it’s up to you.”
The general went deep into thought. Inerishia made to leave; then she stopped by the couch. She lifted a tuft of short hair from a cushion. She looked at Waltario. “Got yourself a puppy?”
“No, that’s Prince Soris’ hair,” Waltario laughingly answered. “He has a habit of coming here to sleep.”
Inerishia chuckled, put back the hair, then said while leaving: “That means the prince is cute.”
Returning to the present moment, Waltario gave a long sigh. He watched the entire royal construction: how it sat ominously still, as hit by the plague. Am I really unable to do anything now? Does my hope lie only in Selunia’s actions? What’s she doing now? he asked himself worriedly.
*
Vittria, being the first to awake from the shock, ran angrily to the source of the attack. She was eager to meet the one who’d interrupted her playtime.
Selunia stood quickly out of her hiding place. She stretched her arms to the sides, pulling back the fluid threads. The streams retreated to her hands in a blink, like the ebb tide. They gathered into two unstable spheres right before her palms. They swirled into a continuous whirlwind to maintain their relative round shapes.
A few meters distance from Selunia, Vittria raised her staff, ready to attack. Selunia focused her powers on the right hand, charging up one of the globes with the crystal-gloves’ energy. Vittria’s magical stone menacingly lit up. In a moment she was going to strike. Selunia threw the energized globe over the witch.
Vittria furiously realized that she couldn’t give a blow at that time. She grabbed the mace with both of her hands, put it before her, and transformed the stone’s light into protection. She created a transparent red round shield. The watery sphere smashed itself onto the temporary shield.
Selunia wanted to throw the second globe too, in order to weaken Vittria’s powers more. Creating an energetic shield wasn’t something very hard to do, but it consumed a lot of energy. Seeing how the rest of the Bardanians, with Leido as their leader, gathered behind the witch, and how they prepared to shoot at her with their huge metallic weapons, she gave up on that idea. Weren’t they supposed to be fewer?
She moved the remaining globe to her right hand. She threw it upwards, then quickly stretched her arms to the front, letting a large gush of white energy dash from her crystal-gloves. When the falling globe got into contact with this stream, it burst into multiple needles. They rushed over the enemies like a wave of arrows.
Vittria successfully covered Leido, too, with her shield. The others tried to protect themselves in any way they could. They fell, in the end, defeated by pain. The multitude of needles had cut them on their legs, arms, and backs, causing them sharp aches like those of deep burns. They remained down on the ground, groaning over their injuries.
Selunia hesitated for a second. She had made her plan up to only that moment. From then on, she had to decide what to attack with, because she couldn’t reuse the water, which had splashed all over the place. Chain or bullets? she anxiously asked herself. This moment of indecision went to her disadvantage. The opponents got their chance to attack her.
Leido launched an explosive projectile from a big box-shaped gun. Vittria rapidly drew vertically through the air, with the stone at the top of the mace, an energetic blade, and aimed it at the girl. Selunia winced at the sight of such attacks coming toward her, as if she hadn’t expected a move from them. She didn’t waste any more time pondering if she could parry them or not, but jumped to her right side, getting out of their way.
The projectiles blew up when they hit the wall from the thrones zone, damaging it considerably. Wall pieces scattered all over. Soris and his parents shuddered, hearing the noise of the blow. What if they’d killed the general?
Selunia fell rolling on her side. She stopped, rose on a knee, and faced the enemies. In an instant, she pointed her right hand towards them, as if she held a pistol, with the other hand sustaining its wrist. She started to shoot some laser-bullets with the power of her gloves. She aimed at their feet, making them distance from each other. This didn’t hinder Leido from launching another projectile. Selunia stood and threw herself again to one side, continuing to emit energetic bullets directed, this time, at their chests.
Vittria easily protected herself, using the shield fuelled by the magical staff. Leido received the blows entirely; he lost his balance and fell on his back, pushed by Selunia’s bullets. She marked his armor’s resistance to her attack. He got an injury only on a thigh. The plate on his chest had covered him well.
She landed on her right shoulder—after the jump—and, for the first time, she felt thankful for wearing the thick soldier costume. Good as a mattress! she joyfully told herself. The impact with the ground made her stop the bullets’ flow for a couple of seconds, though. Vittria took advantage of that opportunity. She began to aggressively shoot energetic blades, one by one, ceaselessly.
Selunia, still lying on the floor, brought her forearms to her chest—one over the other —in the shape of an X. She created a bright, sheer energetic shie
ld that defended her completely. She quickly got up then, and ran from one side to another, trying to escape from Vitrria’s blades. Those didn’t stop at all, but kept on hitting her shield, pushing and even unbalancing her. Vittria confidently advanced towards her.
Selunia suddenly grasped an idea. Wait a minute! I remember that this girl is crazy about Soris. She maintained the shield and went to the stairs, where Soris was tied up. Her plan showed positive effects. Because she stood in his direction, Vittria lowered her attack; she was launching the blades cautiously now.
Selunia went by the Bardanians who’d previously been defeated with energetic water. She noticed, horrified, that they were coming to their senses. Damn! I’m out of time! I definitely must get my hands on that lunatic’s mace! I’ll just risk a little...
As she kept her forearms crossed, she grabbed the wrist of the left hand with the right one. As a result, the shield was not only maintained, but also made thicker, stronger. In that way, she was able to get close to Vittria without being pushed back by her blades.
She started to run confidently to her target. Vittria was taken by surprise by this move. She didn’t expect the shield to become so strong. She saw her red waves splashing on her protection as rain drops on stone.
Soris, the king, and the queen watched the entire fantastic battle, amazed. Only now they came to doubt that the person who came to their rescue would be Waltario. He was shorter, and the way he moved and fought was definitely not like the general’s. But who was he, then? Could they have had such a skilled soldier without them knowing? Judging by the costume, he didn’t have a high rank.
Seeing her opponent coming her way so rapidly, Vittria stopped the blades attack. She hit the floor with the bottom of the mace. The stone emitted an intense airwave. Selunia didn’t back off. She jumped firmly through it, crushing it. Then she dashed with the shield onto Vittria.
The witch lifted her scepter horizontally, creating a shield as well, one that blocked Selunia’s. They pushed each other a few times.
The wind wave, drastically diminished by Selunia’s move, passed through the place where the royal family and the recovering Bardanians were. They were all pushed by it a little. The king and the queen almost got into a nearby wall. Soris was well kept in place by the ties. He wanted to be pulled off them, but the airwave didn’t have that strength. Even in that weakling state, he still wished to be released to try to help that brave soldier.
Vittria saw that the energetic armor of the mysterious soldier was close to breaking hers. He could defeat her immediately if that happened. She focused more on the stone. It threw a blinding light. Red radiation extended all over the scepter. Then, to Selunia’s great surprise, she managed to rapidly rotate the mace five times. This made Selunia turn unwillingly in the air, horizontally, about ten times. She then fell on the marble, rolling continuously. Stunned by this action, she lost her shield. Soris tried again to get out of the tight ropes. Was the soldier going to lose the battle?
Vittria wobbled. She was glorious, but she had consumed a bit too much from her energetic resources. The witch regained her powers quite soon, though. She had to finish the battle while she had the upper hand. She didn’t give Selunia a chance to get back on her feet. She rushed over her with her mace. She was going to give the final blow.
Despite all this, Selunia found the strength to rise, propping on one knee, and to observe how the mace—which was lit up surrounded by a storm of lightnings—menacingly rose over her. In less than a second it would hit her. She instinctively lifted her hands to parry. She wanted to generate a shield, but then quickly changed her mind. There’s no time to waste. I’ll take the risk! she told herself, obstinately grabbing the mace in her radiant hands.
The cloudy aura around the scepter blew on contact with her gloves’ energy. Sparks poured over her, sparks that her hands felt like a rain of boiling water. The soldier costume became ragged. Selunia shut her eyes for a moment and shrieked out of pain. I mustn’t let go of it. It’s my last chance! No matter how painful it is, I’ve got to lay my hand on the stone! she firmly told herself.
Vittria looked confused at the soldier’s maneuver. How did he put his hands on her magical scepter? What kind of gloves were those? A normal human couldn’t have done that. Just by getting close to it while activated, any man would have been sent back, mortally injured. It was the first time she saw such an opponent. She was surprised, and enraged at the same time, by his unpredictable appearance. But, no matter what, she didn’t want to lose. Therefore, she desperately tried to pull back her mace. Selunia was somewhat helped by this move of hers. She managed to get on her feet and to continue the fight over the scepter. Soris and his parents gave a sigh of relief. There was still hope.
The girls jolted each other, without showing a sign of giving up even the tiniest bit. They both were determined to win. Selunia, with a glimpse, noticed some Bardanians were ready to rise back on their feet. I’ve no time! I must put my hand on that stone at the top by all means! But I can’t do that when she’s in full power. I have to detach this mad woman from the scepter, even if just for a second!
She tried to push her with the right foot. Vittria clenched on the mace even harder. She activated the scepter with all of her power. Selunia’s hands started to get numb. Even the crystal-gloves couldn’t protect her completely anymore. Out of despair, she flung her right foot into Vittria’s inferior ribs, while with the other one, she hit her hard.
Inevitably, Vittria lost her balance, unable to face Selunia’s hits and weight. She fell over her. During the fall, although Vittria didn’t take her hands off the mace, the shock made her lose control over it. Selunia, noticing how the stone’s light went flickering, a sign that it was deactivating, released a hand from the scepter and firmly grabbed the gem at the top.
Hitting the ground with her back, she clenched onto the stone as hard as her muscles could, and let go of an intense stream of energy.
Vittria widened her eyes; she realized that now she had no escape. A strong blow like thunder resonated throughout the room. The stone’s energy had exploded under the pressure of that of the crystal-gloves. Vittria was thrown away into the air by the explosion’s shock wave. She fell somewhere far behind.
Selunia, in exchange, felt how the wave got through her, pressing all her bones and organs, and then passing through them. Her heart stopped at once. She closed her eyes. Her hands dropped lifelessly by her sides on the cold marble. She had lost her life.
The scepter, with the magical stone left intact, rose in the air, at over three meters height from the ground. Radiating irregularly, it began to twirl by itself, creating a scarlet whirlwind that drew a current of black dust from all over the place.
The prince, the king, and the queen, with eyes fixed like they were hypnotized onto the flying scepter, started to feel how the heaviness and strain dwindled away. They regained their forces. Released from the numbing haze, they turned their eyes to their savior, who now sat slumped onto the floor, breathlessly.
“Hey, boy! Are you all right?” shouted the king at him.
But Selunia didn’t move.
The three of them exchanged worried glances and tried to get out of the ties. They couldn’t depend on him. Now they weren’t powerless any more, but they were still heavily tied up, and the Bardanians were recovering. Although the spell had been broken, they couldn’t consider themselves free. The Bardanians’ powers were unknown to them. They were afraid of them, after seeing what sort of weapons they possessed, and they couldn’t rely on their workers either. The palace people could have easily been blackmailed not to interfere. They were in need of help.
***
Bonus chapters
The Arid Kingdom
The Mysterious Soldier – Part II
Chapter 1
Outside, General Waltario was watching how his soldiers—previously put down by an invisible force—were lifting back to their exact positions before they’d faint
ed. They were now on their feet normally, as if nothing had happened, like puppets moved by invisible strings. All the guards, soldiers, and palace servants returned to normal and, in a couple of seconds, regained consciousness. They were in the same place as before their fainting; but not everything remained the same, starting with the time the clocks were showing.
Waltario and his three loyal fellows sat puzzled, with their jaws dropped. When those who had investigated the gates returned to them, confused, the general woke up from his numbness, and urgently beckoned the others to follow him into the palace.
In the main hall, the magical mace blew a last resonating noise; then it turned off and fell flat on the floor, like a mere iron stick.
Selunia opened her eyes. She breathed in deeply, as if she had surfaced from a long dive into water. She unconsciously brought her hand to her chest to verify that her heart was beating.
The Bardanians came to their senses as well. They foolishly looked around, as if they had fallen from a tree. Leido, with one hand propped on the golden banister of the central stairs while he sustained his injured leg with the other, shouted, “Quick! Get the king and the queen!”
The Bardanians didn’t seem to understand what he was telling them. They spun in place and looked bewildered at the broken wall, Vittria, some comrades of theirs sprawled on the floor, and the soldier with the weird gloves. They found it hard to make a logical connection between these elements.
Selunia, breathing jerkily, gazed at the grand high ceiling of the room. For a moment, she didn’t know anything about herself. Recovering, she shut her eyes tight and told herself, shivering: My heart stopped. My heart stopped beating for a while! I swear my heart stopped beating!! Goodness, what a stupid thing I’ve done. I was about to die! I can’t believe it! That’s never happened to me before. I mean... She realized that the danger wasn’t over yet. Oh, there’s no time for lamentation.
