• • •
Sun kissed the treetops, showering Kaliel and Krishani in patches of sparkling light that danced along their forms. There were no nightmares last night; everything was seemingly perfect in their imperfect world. Wind rustled the leaves on the trees and Kaliel moaned as she heard birds chirping around her. She felt Krishani stir beside her and pushed herself off him. Her dress was in the grass beside her and she self-consciously grabbed it and pulled it over her head. She fumbled with the buttons in the back as she watched him, just as he began to wake up.
“Morning,” she said.
Krishani opened his eyes and shielded his face from the sun. He grabbed his garments, dressing himself. This was nothing like the waterfall. The cave was concealed; no one ever went there. The forests were so open; anyone could go for a morning walk and happen upon them.
“Morning,” he replied.
Kaliel hugged her knees and looked around the forest. She gritted her teeth as she thought about what might happen to them. She felt different, as though there was a buoy supporting her emotions, her strength. Everything was crisp and clear. She understood the songs of the birds, and sensed the presence of small game nearby. She turned to Krishani; he was even more amazing than he had been the night before. She was no longer afraid of him leaving her. That nightmare hadn’t come true. She breathed a sigh of relief as he sat beside her and pressed his head into her shoulder.
“What are you thinking?” he said, his voice gravelly and low. It was so sexy.
She smiled and placed her hand on his thigh. It still sent shivers up her spine. She smiled at the familiar feeling, but it seemed even more vibrant than before. She swallowed hard, trying to stifle her desires. There were more pressing matters at hand.
“Home,” she breathed. Not Orlondir; that had never been home to her. She wanted to return to Evennses, to live forever in the forests of her childhood. She wanted to show him the lake, and let him listen to the trees that spoke volumes to her. She wished he could meet Desaunius and the other kinfolk. They could sit in the meadow and trace the constellations. They could revel in simpler times and forget that the Lands of Men existed at all.
Krishani looked uneasy as he took her hand in his, lacing his fingers through hers. “I can’t return.”
Her eyes met his. She had something to say, but the expression on his face changed from concern to confusion.
“Your eyes are still amethyst.”
Kaliel raised her eyebrows in amusement. She felt better when her eyes switched colors, when her aura glowed and the Flame inside fought its way to the surface. “I suppose they are. Maybe they’ll stay that way.” She let out a short laugh as Krishani leaned forward to taste her lips. Shamelessly, she pressed herself into him and he pulled away.
“We have no home,” he said. He slumped into the grass as she lay down with her head in his lap.
Hope wasn’t lost on her. If anything she felt like it had been restored. There was no boat, no mists, no lake, nothing that could take him away from her. “We’ll find a home. Perhaps Desaunius—”
Krishani shook his head. “Desaunius was at the ceremony. She wills that I go.”
She pushed herself up on her elbows and looked him in the eyes. She was at a loss for words, Desaunius only wanted happiness for her. This was the opposite of that. “Atara?”
Krishani shook his head again. “It was her order that I take the path.”
Her head fell into his lap. “She knows you’re the only thing that matters to me.” Atara never confronted her about it, but she always stressed the importance of kinship. Kaliel never noticed until then how indifferent Atara was about her own relationship with Istar. Her dreamy presence was sometimes an annoyance, but it was her way of escaping the reality she lived in. She wondered what she really thought of the parable, and the potential for destruction. She rubbed her midsection while trying to find some comfort. Krishani ran his fingers through her hair idly.
“I won’t leave,” he said.
“They’ll force you to.”
She sat and tucked her knees to her chest, rocking back and forth. Krishani pulled her hair away from her neck and rubbed her shoulders. She felt his hot breath against the nape of her neck as his lips pressed against it, trying to pull her back into their reverie. He made a trail of kisses down her shoulder; the bittersweet mix of ecstasy and sorrow burned within her. She felt so different, as though she had crossed an invisible barrier and could never go back. Her thoughts drifted to the Great Oak, but with Krishani’s hands on her it seemed frivolous. Nothing was ending. This was obviously not the temptation so forewarned about. She pushed away the images of the dream, the fire in the sky. That was so unlikely too. They were safe on Avristar. As long as they didn’t leave, nothing bad could ever happen.
“Can we think of that later?” he said as his lips found her chin. He turned her face towards his and kissed her. She gave up and sank into him, knowing there was nothing sweeter than bliss.
“Mallorn,” she murmured as his lips moved against hers. She recalled the last time she had seen him, the defense training, the word he drew from her mind. She eyed the grass. “He’ll come looking for me.”
Krishani kissed her ear. “Cross that bridge when we get there.” He wrapped his arm around her torso and pulled her closer to him.
• • •
Mallorn busted the door open and hastily descended the hill towards the stables. Part of him hoped Kaliel fell asleep in the stacks of hay, but another part of him knew that wasn’t true. His gray robes dragged along the grass, picking up the morning dew. Without thinking, he tightened the tassel-tipped cord around his waist.
He reached the stables, but there was no sign of Kaliel. The horses spoke to him with their neighs and he nodded. She looked so frightened the last time he saw her. He regretted the defense exercise. How she knew about the Ferryman was none of his business. He cared more about her carelessness, that rebellious spirit that rumbled under her fragility, it set her apart from every apprentice he had ever worked with. Unlike some of the untamable apprentices, Kaliel had a reason for everything she did, though some of those reasons were still shroud in mystery. She was ruled by passion and pressure, it seemed. And she was a Flame. That would always make her unique. Umber neighed and Mallorn turned to listen to the horse’s laments.
“Who will leave her?” Umber asked.
“What do you mean?”
“She fell asleep here. When she awoke she said he would leave her. Then she took off into the forest.”
Mallorn had only known her for three moons and she seemed melancholy the entire time. She hadn’t said a word about anyone in her life.
He shook his head. No time for that; he needed to focus on where she was. He saddled up Umber, and exited through the back of the barn. They sped into a jaunt and Mallorn scanned the forest. There was something different about the energy reflected back at him, as though something else had happened. The light in his dream, it meant something, but he wasn’t sure what.
Umber diligently weaved through the trees while Mallorn continued to scan. He felt Kaliel’s energy, but when he went to approach her, Umber doubled back over paths they had trodden several times. Mallorn glanced at the sky and noticed the sun was near its midmorning point. That wasn’t good. He needed to find her; they needed to be warned. The Valtanyana would strike without notice and they would bring the Daed and an army of creatures with them. Something Mallorn didn’t want to think about, the battles in the First Era were always with the Valtanyana’s beasts. He wondered what they could have access to now even though most of those races had been destroyed.
Umber seemed frustrated as the trees grew in uneven clusters. Mallorn pulled the reins to the right, leading the horse through a narrow pass between two maples. He scanned the path again. He needed to somehow break the pattern the horse was traveling. He made a sharp left, pulling through a gap between two clusters of trees. Umber broke through the invisible protective shield that housed Kal
iel. Mallorn felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
Umber paused and wended around a cluster of trees that concealed a small meadow in the midst of the forest. As they turned the corner, Mallorn saw a pair of bodies nestled together in the grass. His mouth dropped open with shock as Kaliel looked up from beside someone else. Her eyes met his as the heat of embarrassment and guilt colored her cheeks.
“Kaliel,” Mallorn snapped at her. He felt frozen on the horse. Love? Elvens didn’t fall in love. They were logical creatures. He closed his eyes and recalled Crestaos carrying her away in his arms. He opened his eyes, anger hitting a boiling point as Kaliel ducked her head towards the one lying next to her. He heard the mumblings of a boy.
Mallorn slipped off the horse and stalked away from the scene, unable to witness another moment of their carelessness. His hand moved from his hip to his forehead to his hip again. He couldn’t fathom this. Love wasn’t forbidden on Avristar, but why had Istar failed to mention it? It should have been impossible for an elven, but Kaliel wasn’t only elven. She was so much more—a Flame—which made it so much worse. He shook his head as he wondered what other pieces of the story he was missing.
He turned to see Kaliel standing beside Umber. She stroked the horse’s mane as she stared at it in wonder, as though she was seeing the lands for the first time.
“You’re angry.” Her voice didn’t waver as she spoke and it was directed more at the horse than at Mallorn.
He stared at her in disbelief. Something was different about her. He looked past her to see the boy standing in the grass. Mallorn couldn’t deny the boy had an extraordinary presence, but he had no idea who he was, and the fact that he, too, was elven only made the anger sharpen its blade.
Kaliel glanced at the boy with tenderness. She turned her attention back to Mallorn, locking eyes with his. Mallorn noticed her eyes were amethyst.
The boy stepped through the grass and stood by her side. He seemed careful not to touch her while Mallorn gawked at them.
Mallorn felt the land spinning around him. She was only a child, and she was in danger. How could she act so cavalier? He tried to find his tongue. Every time he looked at her he saw her listless body, her fate stretched before her. It was as though the shadow of the enemy stood at her side instead of the boy, who was obviously very in love with her. Mallorn couldn’t help it—the anger, the fear, the anguish made him lose control.
“Crestaos knows!” he hissed at her.
• • •
Kaliel recoiled, alarmed by his words. She never heard the name before, but she knew who Mallorn was talking about. She had seen his face, the sparking white eyes. Her stomach was a sea of nausea as she felt the Flame retreat.
She had never seen Mallorn like this. His eyes said it all: he was livid. He took a long stride towards her and grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her away from the horse. His gaze knifed into her, conveying the thoughts he couldn’t speak out loud without wanting to shout.
Ro tulten lle. He comes for you, he told her.
No. Kaliel stiffened. Her body flushed with heat as she began to tremble. Normally, she would try to find the Flame; that would give her strength. She reached deep down, but the Flame fled o the hidden depths of her soul, and every part of her was afraid.
Avristar will fall. Mallorn dug his nails into her skin as he shared the images of the dream.
Her mind’s eye taken over, Kaliel watched as the enemy floated through the forest, her lifeless body stretched across his arms. She gasped and tore away from Mallorn’s grip, leaving red marks on her shoulders as she stumbled in the grass. Krishani caught her. His eyes scanned hers before she buried her face in his chest and wrapped her arms around him.
“What did you see?” Krishani asked, tilting her chin up to him.
“He will take me.”
He wrapped his arms around her as his eyes shot towards Mallorn.
“Who are you?” Mallorn spat.
“Krishani of Amersil.”
“The Ferryman?”
Kaliel felt Krishani stiffen at the words. So did she, but what he was didn’t matter so much as what was coming for her.
Mallorn looked from Kaliel to Krishani and back again. “You renounced your duty?”
Kaliel heard Mallorn’s thoughts. It was absurd to him. Boys were taught to obey the land first. Love was given when it was permitted by the land. She clutched Krishani’s arm and tried to blot out the rest of Mallorn’s rapid thought process. Umber let out a short neigh that seemed to have broken the Kiirar’s concentration.
Krishani hung his head and pulled Kaliel closer to him. “You wouldn’t understand.”
She could still hear some of Mallorn’s thoughts in her head. She turned to him and Krishani loosened his embrace. She wanted to explain it to the elder, but the words got lost in her throat. “I saw him on the boat,” was all she managed to say.
Mallorn went back to pacing. She knew it was too hard for him to understand. Her heart broke a little bit. She kept her secrets from him because she didn’t want him to act like the others. She almost told him about Krishani twice, but thought better of it. The way he was acting was worse than any reaction she expected out of Desaunius, Atara, even Luenelle. It was like the conversation she had in the orchard with Pux—love wasn’t something she could explain to him. This proved that just like her best friend, he would never understand what she saw in Krishani and, worse, what Krishani saw in her.
“Two separate races, two separate destinies. Never have they loved, never have they been together. It is unheard of. It is an abomination.” Anger punctuated every syllable. He was obviously referring to the Ferrymen and the Flames. They were solitary beings, ones that lived and worked alone, the Ferryman especially.
“The lake, the merfolk,” Kaliel said. She moved from Krishani, giving him a look that said it was okay. She touched Mallorn’s shoulder and the elder whipped around to face her. She took his hand in hers. His eyes were a cloud of confusion, his thoughts indecipherable. He nodded for her to continue. “I only went there to remember him.”
She closed her eyes, trying to convey what she felt. Maybe since he could read her mind he would feel it and would understand. Along with her body gliding through the cool waters, she showed him the images she saw on the parchment, the headdress of the Ferryman and the Flame, the chalice she held in her hand. She was desperate to prove to him they were meant to be together, that somewhere in their past they had already been together.
Mallorn sunk to the grass. Kaliel knelt in front of him and stopped projecting her thoughts. She pulled her hands from his and watched his memories come back to him. She followed along as fuzzy images of the past whipped by her, a kind of large scroll rushing past that only she could see. Mallorn was stunned. Kaliel hung her head as she let the weight of the revelation hit her. The Valtanyana wreaked havoc in the First Era; they almost destroyed everything that was good about the lands. They were relentless and unstoppable. Her confidence began fading. She kept her eyes locked to his, but the nausea increased and she filled with an equal amount of fear.
Mallorn wiped his eyes and broke out of the reverie. “What happened last night?”
Kaliel felt Krishani’s hand on her shoulder. He was only trying to protect her, but he hadn’t seen what she had seen. He didn’t know what she knew.
Mallorn slowly rose to his feet. “What happened?”
“I awakened,” she whispered. The rest was self-explanatory. She hoped.
Krishani cleared his throat. “She’s everything to me.”
Mallorn glared at him and turned his attention back to Kaliel. “Don’t you see what you’ve caused? Crestaos won’t stop until every last living creature on Avristar is dead!”
The words sank into her bones, forcing every part of her to shake. There was nothing worse than that. She had seen it in Mallorn’s memories. She knew it from the way the enemy had stared at her in her dreams, the way he took the other Flames like he was plucking flowers
from a field. It was enough to make her faint. She felt the warmth of Krishani’s arms around her shoulders, but she pushed him away. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she tried to fight the vertigo. She sunk to the ground and hugged her knees to her body as she rocked back and forth. “All he wants is me.”
Krishani knelt beside her. He kissed her ear. “I’ll die before he has that chance.”
“Don’t say that,” Kaliel said.
“Avristar is so unprepared,” Mallorn stated. He sighed and turned to the forest. Even the trees seemed fearful.
“How do we stop this?” Krishani asked.
Mallorn met his gaze. “Stop Crestaos?” He blinked. “I don’t even know how he was stopped the first time.”
Kaliel coughed. She stopped rocking back and forth. A calm came over her. She reached for Krishani and let him help her up. She was contemplating the same things Mallorn was, hearing his thoughts in the back of her mind. His thought process was incoherent, but clear enough she could pick out details here and there and compare them to stories Desaunius had told her as a child.
There was one story that came readily to mind. It was about Avred, another voice of the land. Her stomach curled in knots as her thoughts were interrupted by the vision of Crestaos carrying her listless body through the trees, to the boats. She never knew that would—or even could—be the alternative: if Krishani didn’t go, she would be taken. She tried not to let guilt overcome her, but it was already there, nestling itself against her heart. She had been so selfish, allowing herself to feel something for him when it was obvious it would always come to this. She lost the train of thought with Mallorn, but she glanced at him and he gave a slight nod of his head.
“Awaken Avred,” she said. Desaunius told her once about a time when Avristar fought against the Valtanyana, a time when Avristar wasn’t the only voice of the land. When she saw Mallorn’s mangled expression she knew she had it right. His expression was a cross of wonder and anguish, as though Avred was ominous all on his own.
He nodded slowly. “Aye,” he whispered. “Aye, we can ask.”
Surrender Page 25
