“Because if the bond is gone…” Arabella started.
“You can get rid of me without hurting her.” The pieces fit together, and my entire outlook changed. “That is brilliant. Perfect.” I would sacrifice myself for Ainsley.
“No, it is not that simple I’m afraid.” Arabella pursed her lips.
“Don’t tell him,” Ainsley pled. “Please. Let him believe what he wants to believe.”
“Believe what I want to believe?” My body tensed.
“Nothing.” Arabella shook her head “She is right.”
“No.” I fought down the wave of rage building inside of me. “Someone tell me now.”
Arabella laughed. “You two are more entertaining than I imagined.”
“We are not here to be your entertainment. What does she want you to keep from me?” I kept my eyes fixed on Arabella. I refused to send any of my anger to Ainsley.
“She’s your kindred, shouldn’t you ask her?” Arabella’s eyes twinkled.
“Where’s Elron?” Ainsley changed the subject.
“He went to find Gregor,” I answered, trying to calm down momentarily before once again pushing for answers.
“Why?” Arabella asked.
“Because we need to find him. He has to be stopped.” Now I was glad he was the one to leave. Ainsley needed me. He was right.
“There is only one person who can stop him.” Arabella gazed up at the sky.
“You?”
She returned her focus to me. “I appreciate the vote of confidence, but it is not for me to do.”
“Then I must.” I already knew it was my fight.
“No.” Ainsley put her hand on my chest. “I do.”
“What?” Where would she get such an idea? As if I would allow her to fight my fight.
“It is for me to take care of.”
“No. Your fights are mine.” She kept her hand where it was, and I wished there was no fabric separating her hand from my skin.
“Only because of the bond,” Ainsley said softly. “Which is why I think this could be good for you. Freeing you from feeling something that isn’t real.”
“That is not real?” Pain shot through me. “You really believe that?”
“I don’t mean to disrespect the Source, but it is supernatural. That means it is artificial in some way.” Ainsley rested her head against my chest. She was weakening. She needed me.
“You do not believe that.” I wiped a tear off her face. “You are crying.”
“I am crying because the bond makes me.”
“No.” She was wrong. Our feelings went far beyond the kindred bond “Do you really believe you would feel nothing for me without the bond? That your feelings all stem from it?”
Ainsley closed her eyes and tears welled up, seeping out. She opened her eyes. “No. I don’t believe I would feel nothing.”
“Then do not pretend what we share is fake.”
“Then don’t doubt me and try to fight my battles.” Ainsley lifted her head and straightened her shoulders.
“I will never doubt your abilities, Ainsley. Never.” My desire to protect her had nothing to do with me doubting her strength.
“Then leave Gregor to me.” She nodded as if to convince herself.
“What about Elron?” With his form of travel, he likely was already with Gregor.
Arabella sighed. “I suppose we should find him. He may be in danger.”
“And you care about finding him?” I shot back.
“Because I have grown to like Ainsley.” She pointed at Ainsley.
“And what does Elron have to do with Ainsley?”
“Nothing.” Ainsley shook her head. And I knew for sure she was hiding something.
20
Elron
Finding Gregor was the easy part. The journey was a short one once I found a tree on neutral territory. Compared to my last few trips, this one was simple since I was traveling alone. Although my worry about Ainsley never left the back of my mind. Leaving her on Mount Majest had been anything but ideal, but nothing about our situation was ideal.
I found Gregor on my first try, in the region I knew he would be. He waited right by the lake, leading his empty, future soldiers toward the frigid water. He was shirtless, seemingly immune to the cold air as he barked orders at the men.
The soldiers stared straight ahead as they marched into the freezing water. They did not resist or show any signs of discomfort. It is hard to resist when you are soulless. Blake hurt many, but I felt worse for the soldiers. They lost everything with no hope of a real existence ever again. To be used as a tool of war without your knowledge would be one of the worst fates to endure.
I wished I could manipulate time to save the innocent men, but that would be impossible. Who knew how long Blake had buried the darkness inside them? It could have been as soon as they were born. I shuddered. What a horrible life to lead. Before my thoughts could turn to their mothers, I cleared my mind. I needed to stay focused.
I waited out of sight, hidden in the branches of a towering evergreen tree in the snowy woods. From my position high in the branches, I had a clear view of the lake. My hands throbbed from the cold, but I steeled myself. The cold was the least of my problems. I had one chance to get this right. Gregor had to be stopped. I would die fighting him if I had to, but I needed to be sure he was truly gone. We had all been fooled by the darkness before. Our desperation to feel safe pushed us to accept a battle victory as the end of the war.
Gregor had the upper hand on strength. The power of the Cipher was not to be underestimated. Even though we assumed James held the bulk of it, Gregor held some amount as well. Building the army took a dark power that could only come from a Cipher. How we had missed the truth before rattled me, but the answer might have been tied to my other mistakes. The kindred bond. I should have realized a bond created by the Source would have powers impossible to imagine.
Blake had been smart to use both his sons to harness the power, and we needed to be smarter. Our only chance was to play into their weakness. The Cipher believed itself invincible, but all creatures, even the Cipher, had a weakness. The trick was discovering what it was.
I watched Gregor order the last of the soldiers into the lake. I longed to jump out and stop them, but there was no saving the shells of men. My only hope was to save any other men—or women—from meeting the same fate. The only way to do that was to stop Gregor before he opened a gate and sent the darkness to a place out of reach.
I needed to determine Gregor’s weakness. He had one somewhere inside him. Unfortunately, I had no time to carefully figure it out. I would have to start with physical altercation and move on from there.
“Who is out there?” Gregor turned from the lake and gazed into the woods where I hid. “I know you are watching. Have you come to join the fun?”
The fun? I grimaced at his sick humor. Behind him the lake froze over the men, locking them in an icy cage.
“Are you going to stay out there and hide? Cower like a child?” Gregor laughed. “Such weakness disgusts me. The worlds have become full of weakness. But that will all change soon. There will be no weakness in the new order, only brutal strength.”
New order? Is that what he was calling the destruction? How had my people—and all others—sat back and allowed this to happen? The evil of the Cipher affected us all, so the task of defeating the Cipher fell to us all. Including me. In times of war, those who fail to act to protect the innocent share the guilt of the perpetrators themselves. It was time to act.
I should have planned more, but all I had been focused on was finding Gregor in time. In time for what I did not truly know. Without being able to use Ainsley, I was unsure of what exactly he would do, but listening to Gregor’s words, I believed he had far more of the Cipher than I had originally believed.
“You are Elven. You cannot hide that.” Gregor’s boots crunched on the snow-covered pine needles of the forest floor.
I froze. How did he know what I w
as? There was no possibility he could have seen me already.
As if reading my thoughts he answered, “Your Elven magic is strong enough for me to feel, but it will be no match for me. I will enjoy your death, and it will give me strength. I thank you in advance for the donation.”
He could feel the magic. That suggested a power far greater than I anticipated. Still, I was unsurprised. The Cipher was as strong as the Essence—only made of darkness instead of light. Light could always defeat darkness. It was imbued by the Source.
He moved closer, and I could already see the blackness of his eyes. I could see the sallowness of his skin. If there was anything truly living inside him, it was dying out, being replaced by the dead. And that was why he needed Ainsley. A vibrant, living girl with the blood of Belgard moving through her veins. Now imbued with James’ seed she was virtually unstoppable. A perfect vessel. But why had Ainsley and James failed to tell me about Gregor’s appearance? There was only one possibility. The kindred bond. Gregor’s condition had changed as the original time line seeped into this one. The Source’s power was far greater than my own Elven magic, and it may have even shifted the darkness shared between the sons. Forgetting the power of the bond had been the biggest mistake.
As I watched Gregor stalk toward the tree in which I hid, I wondered how Blake first discovered Ainsley. Had he known for years and hid it? But then why did he have James retrieve Charlotte instead of Ainsley all those years ago? Despite my precarious situation, I needed to find logic in the Cipher’s actions. Arrogance. He assumed he could handle Charlotte and never imagined a future where he did not win. Confidence. It all went back to over confidence.
And that meant Gregor would assume he could handle any of my attacks. He would be reckless. It was the only idea I could think of, and I was running out of time. Who could have imagined that time, once a gift, could become my biggest adversary?
I watched him move closer. I could not wait much longer. If Gregor found me first, I would be at even more of a disadvantage. My magic was not instantaneous. It took time to use, especially with all the energy expended on time travel. I lost more than time on the journey, and I knew there were more losses yet to come. But it would all be worth it in the end. I could save so much if I could only muster the strength.
“Come out, come out wherever you are. I do not like being made to wait.” He gazed around, and I bid my time. I wanted an element of surprise, and I could make the forest work for me.
He took another few steps, and I knew it was time to act. I willed my power toward the towering evergreen directly behind him. It was old and near its last leg, but it was still full of life. If I combined my magic with the tree’s strength it would work. I said a small apology to nature before reaching deep inside myself, gripping the magic, and pushing it to the surface. I felt the tree and begged it to do my will. Although it would die, its life force would live on in a new tree. Another gift of the Source. I pushed harder as Gregor closed in on me.
The wood fibers of the tree started to crack, and the noise echoed through the woods. Gregor turned around just as the trunk snapped and the tree fell down in a swift motion, knocking him to the ground and pinning him in place.
I climbed down from the tree and took several steps toward his unmoving form. I readied my magic.
Gregor laughed, and I only had a second to react before the tree flew right at me. It smashed into a tree next to me, knocking it to the ground with a loud thud. The tree trunk turned black and shriveled up.
Gregor jumped to his feet in a swift move. “Did you think that was going to work? A tree? A simple tree could keep me down?” He laughed. “Stupid Elf. Stupid, worthless Elf. Nothing can stop me.”
I backed up. “I am not alone. Do not forget that.” I eyed what was left of the tree—small black pieces. He had sucked the remaining life from the tree.
“Yes you are. I can feel everything. The only ones here are you, me, and my army. How do those odds sound to you?” He cackled, and his already black eyes deepened into holes that turned like cyclones.
I shook off the fear. It would do nothing to help me. “You are wrong.” I did the only thing I could do, as much as I did not want to put another living being in harm’s way. I sent my magic straight into a giant horned sheep—the first dangerous animal I could find in the forest. The sheep accepted my magic and came out in a run, lowering its horn as it charged at Gregor at high speed.
I expected Gregor to run, to try to avoid him, but he stood in place. The horned sheep reached him, ramming his horns through Gregor’s flesh.
Gregor winced and closed his eyes.
The sheep pulled out his horns from Gregor’s abdomen, and I waited for Gregor to fall, but he didn’t.
His eyes flew open, and he grabbed the sheep, twisting the animal’s neck before throwing the corpse across the forest. “Any more animals you wish to sacrifice?” Gregor’s angry voice echoed through the empty forest.
I no longer heard a single bird, or the scurry of animals. I reached out and felt nothing but death. The trunks of the trees were slowly turning black, and I eyed them warily, knowing once all of their life was gone, they would fall. The once vibrant forest would be nothing in the matter of hours—and Gregor would be stronger.
The sky darkened, and Gregor sneered. “I am done playing, Elf.” He lunged for me. I stepped to the side, but he adjusted. In a whirl he grabbed me and slammed me against a tree. He pinned me with one hand while the other moved to my neck. “I will enjoy this.” He squeezed my neck while his dark eyes stared into mine. I was powerless. No matter how hard I tried, I could not shake him off.
All was lost. I had failed everyone—and I would die knowing all of my effort had been wasted. My vision tunneled, and I prepared for the end I knew would come.
Out of the tiny amount of vision I had left I saw the flap of bright red feathers.
Suddenly I could breathe. Gregor had released me. I was alive. Several feet away, the Pelegorn grasped Gregor in his talons.
I was relieved to be saved, but not if it meant such a noble creature died.
I tried to speak, but nothing came out. My throat burned from Gregor’s clutch.
A beautiful blonde in a dress jumped off the pelagorn, and a golden rope materialized from her hand. She launched it at Gregor, and it wrapped around his hands, body, and feet, materializing into a golden straight jacket and handcuffs. A golden cloth covered his mouth, and another covered his eyes. The only evidence of his life came from the rise and fall of his shrouded chest.
The blonde grinned and turned to the bird. “You can let him go now.”
The pelagorn released Gregor, sending him rolling across the forest floor. The pelagorn lowered his head so James and Ainsley could get off.
Ainsley ran over to me. “Are you okay?”
“I am fine.” I tried to push away her worry. My condition was far from the most important issue at hand. I turned to the blonde, marveling at the way she had taken down Gregor when my magic did nothing. “Who are you?”
“You know who I am or rather what I am.” She smiled at me, and her eyes twinkled.
"An Elder." Of course. No one else could have wielded gold that way, but an Elder leaving Mount Majest to accompany lesser beings on a journey? It made little sense. Still, I owed her my life. “Thank you, you saved my life.”
“Yes, I did. You were crazy for thinking you could take him on alone.” She rolled her eyes in a very human way. “But Elves are known to do crazy things.”
“It was not crazy. It was desperate.” Never in my life had I felt such desperation before.
“And those are different things?” She stepped toward me.
“Mostly.”
“I suppose it is of no concern now.” She turned back toward Gregor. She flicked her hand, and he disappeared. “I will let my peers get any information out of him before he is extinguished.” A slow smile crossed her face as if she enjoyed picturing exactly how they would extract information from him, a
nd how he would be extinguished.
I wanted Gregor dead as well, but it was impossible for me to get glee out of another’s suffering.
A frightening reality set in. I was grateful to be alive, but at what price? An Elder always demanded something in exchange for a service, and the debt was never an easy one to pay. None of the possibilities I contemplated were good. “What kind of debt do I owe you?”
"No debt this time, well maybe a little debt that we will get to later.” She flicked her hand in the direction of her high heel shoes, and they turned into thigh high boots. “That’s better, isn’t it?”
"Surely you could tell me now.” I preferred to know my fate rather than to have it weigh on me for the rest of our journey.
"A little surprise never hurt anyone.” She licked her lips like a predator preparing to eat its prey.
"I know many who disagree with you there." Surprises could hurt in a multitude of ways.
"True." She nodded "I am Arabella. Now you have a name when you are ready to thank me properly." She gestured to her feet.
I swallowed hard. Bowing at someone’s feet went against me as an Elf, but I had no choice. I fell to my knees before her. "Thank you, Arabella.” I knew the words would do nothing to assuage the debt, but refusing them would only make my situation worse.
“This is great and all, but we need to go.” Ainsley stood at Pelagorn’s side. “Wasting time is bad for all of us.”
“That it is.” I returned to my feet, hoping Arabella would accept that small offering for the time being.
“Is everyone ready?” Arabella looked at James who had his eyes fixed on Ainsley.
“What about those men?” Ainsley pointed to the lake. “Obviously I can’t release them this time, but do we really just leave them?”
“We have no choice,” I admitted. I wished I had a better suggestion.
“Oh.” Her shoulders slumped.
“But maybe if we defeat the darkness they will be freed.” I doubted it, but I hated to see her look so down.
Forged in Light (The Forged Chronicles Book 4) Page 14
