"Christill, are you alright?"
He opened his eyes and saw the sun shining in the cloudless sky. He turned and found Dievu kneeling next to him, with two injured beaten and bruised soldiers standing behind him. He forced himself to sit up and fell back down as a jolt of pain pulsed through his body.
"Slowly," whispered Dievu. "You will need some time to recover."
The two soldiers behind Dievu stared at Christill with a look of disbelief on their faces. "This is not possible," one commented.
Christill gradually worked his way to a sitting position and held his head to restrain the endless throbbing. "Recover?" he said in confusion. "What happened?"
Dievu briefly glanced at the two soldiers then back at Christill. In a calm voice he said, "You died." Christill's eyes shot wide. "You were on your way to the Third Plane when we found you."
"That cannot be," replied Christill. "I must have been knocked out."
Dievu shook his head. "No. I was able to contact Nyrune before you fully passed from this Plane. She was able to return you to us. Though I must say that you are extremely lucky. As only your mind was damaged and your body left whole, this was possible."
The soldiers shook their heads and Christill noticed that they continued to glare suspiciously at Dievu. "It is not possible to bring someone back from the dead," one soldier said.
"The secrets of magic are not known to commoners!" snapped Dievu quickly. Yet Christill could sense in his tone that there was something he was hiding.
He still could not believe what Dievu had told him. He remembered coming across the robed man on the road, but was having trouble recalling what had happened thereafter.
"Do you know what happened to Triel?" asked Dievu.
Christill, completely preoccupied with his own troubles realized that he had forgotten the Queen. He tried hard to recall the events. "A red robed man with Gushkall's symbol on his clothes attacked us. He sent his powers at me and I could not move. I could not stop him."
"And the Queen, Is she dead?"
He closed his eyes. He remembered seeing the man drag Queen Triel from the horse. "I saw him take her away. I believe she was still alive...At least I think so. It is so hard to remember."
Dievu stood up. "Then there is a chance that she still lives. I must follow them." He faced the two guards. "Travel with great haste to Wisthelm. The King must know of this," he ordered.
The soldiers nodded and ran off.
Christill stood up and tried to regain his balance.
Dievu stepped up and helped him. "Are you right to ride?" he asked. Christill nodded. "Then make your way slowly to Wisthelm and find some rest."
"No!" returned Christill. "I will not leave Triel to her fate. Let me go with you."
Dievu remained silent, thinking on Christill's request and finally replied, "Very well. Though if the need arises, I will go on without you. We will follow the Primals and with some luck we may catch them before they reach the Beon Ranges."
Dievu moved to the side of the road and returned with Vithanu and Polthus. Christill walked up and stroked Polthus affectionately on the neck. "He survived the fight," Christill said with a smile.
Dievu grinned. "It was Polthus who allowed me to escape from that ambush with my life. He is a fine horse and an even better friend."
Dievu helped Christill up and stepped up onto Vithanu's saddle. "There was a powerful magic user amongst those assassins. The ease with which he destroyed my barrier astonishes me. This means that their tracks will be masked...Yet we must do our best to find them before they are able to leave Feldonian soil."
"How did this happen?" asked Christill.
Dievu paused as he thought. "I cannot say. To have travelled this far into enemy land without notice is a feat unheard of. But we cannot linger on that for which we have no explanation. All that we can do is try to save Triel."
"Then let us go," said Christill.
Dievu snapped his reins and Vithanu sped of down the highway. Christill followed, his mind dwelling on the tunnel to the Third Plane and the relaxation that he had felt as he had approached the white gateway. Maybe Dievu was speaking the truth, perhaps he had died. Though deep inside he still suspected that there was something that Dievu had not mentioned. Turning his thoughts to the matter at hand, he felt better knowing that death was not as frightening as he had thought it would be.
CHAPTER TEN
THE HEAVENS ERUPT
Dawn of the Valiant (The Valerious Chronicles: Book One) Page 50
