by L. P. Dover
“Me either,” he replied to my silent thought. “You make me feel complete.”
We lay there, joined as one … always as one. It wasn’t until the dream realm started to fade that I panicked. It was over, and it was too soon. With wide, tear-filled eyes, Brayden held onto me tighter, almost bruising me as he shook his head and shouted, “No, this can’t be happening. Stay with me, angel. Don’t let go!”
It didn’t matter about letting go because I had no choice. The hands I held to his face started to fade and disappear. I could no longer feel his Winter skin beneath my fingers or the beat of his heart against my chest. This was good-bye.
“I love you, Brayden,” I murmured. I didn’t know if he heard me because one minute I was staring up into brown eyes, hoping that I didn’t have to let him go, and then the next …
The ground trembled and shook, jolting me out of the dream and into the hell I had awoken to. Merrick ran to the window and I immediately scrambled to join him, gazing out at what could be the cause of the disturbance. What I saw was way worse than what I could have ever imagined.
Coming through a portal in the middle of the village were not just a few mere mortals, but hundreds; marching one after the other. When they all made it through, there was one person who had yet to enter. Alasdair stepped through with a grin on his face, but it swiftly disappeared the moment he saw his village and the destruction that lay within.
“Oh no,” I whispered, horrified at the sight before me. “How am I going to do this?”
Merrick placed a gentle hand on my shoulder and turned me to face him. “I don’t know, Ariella, but you’re smart and cunning. You’ll think of something. I have faith in you.”
I had to think of something fast because the sorcerer was furious and angry … and he was headed toward Gothin’s home. The place where I was standing.
“DAMMIT,” I HISSED quietly. “If he comes in here he might see Gothin’s ashes. I can’t let him come in here.”
Dismally, Merrick sighed and nodded. “You’re right, he can’t.”
Taking a deep breath, I knew what I had to do. Making sure my dagger was hidden at my back, I took the form of Gothin and headed for the door. Alasdair was coming closer because I could feel his anger pulsating all around him. Gripping the handle of the door with all my might, my fingers began to turn white and go numb. I could do this.
“I will be right there with you,” Merrick promised. I nodded and took another deep breath before opening the door.
“Thank you,” I whispered. I didn’t look back at him, but kept my head held high as I walked toward the sorcerer. He was dressed in all black armor with his long brown hair pulled back at the nape and his iron blade secured in his belt. I had to stay away from it.
The snarl on his face and the fury in his eyes made me want to kill him right then, but with his mortal army gathered all around I wouldn’t be able to strike. However, it didn’t stop the sorcerer from striking me. I saw his hand flying, but I knew I had to take it. The pain from the blow to my face vibrated throughout my body as I collapsed onto the ground. Merrick yelled for me to keep focus, to concentrate on what I had to do and to keep my glamour. It was so hard to get past the pain, but I couldn’t fail now.
“Ariella, what happened? I can feel your pain,” Brayden shouted in my mind. “Whatever is going on you better hold on. I am coming for you.”
I couldn’t answer him yet because Alasdair grabbed me by the neck and hauled me to my feet. “What the fuck happened here?” he hissed in my face. Brayden’s cries and shouts in my head were so loud I almost thought the sorcerer could hear him. All that came through our bond was my grunts of pain.
Gritting my teeth, I wiped the blood from my mouth and took a deep breath. Gothin wouldn’t talk back to him, which meant I couldn’t. Wincing at the pain, I held in my anger and replied, “We were attacked, Master. The dragons came in unexpectedly and destroyed everything.”
He squeezed my neck, cutting off my air, and suddenly threw me back onto the ground. “Why didn’t you summon me? I would have destroyed them all!”
Hanging my head, I pretended to be the obedient servant, but inside I was raging, ready to end his miserable existence by shoving my dagger in his chest and watching him die. “There was no time, Master. By the time we heard them coming it was too late,” I informed him.
“Ariella!” Brayden called. “Answer me!” Over and over he yelled my name, but I forced myself to concentrate and block him out as best I could.
Merrick placed a calming hand on my shoulder and leaned down to whisper in my ear, “Calm down, Ariella. Patience …”
Alasdair pointed a finger at me and snarled, “Get the army prepared and ready to leave. This ends now.” He turned on his heel and stalked off toward his dwelling. When I watched him disappear behind the door, I gazed out at the army as they salivated for the taste of blood.
“Yes, Alasdair, this ends now,” I said to myself. Brayden and my people were coming; they were going to fight. I couldn’t let that happen. There was going to be no more killing, no more destroying my land, and no more of his poisonous ways. The day for his evil to be stopped was now, and I was ready.
Storming my way to Alasdair’s dwelling, I looked over at Merrick and told him, “Brayden and our people are on their way. I have to do this now or many will die. I can’t let them come in here with all these mortals and their weapons.”
He nodded solemnly and blew out a shaky breath. “I agree. Do you want me to come up there with you?”
I shook my head, trying desperately to keep the tears at bay and my voice from cracking when I said, “No, it’s okay. I need to do this alone. Thank you for being here for me. I don’t think I would have kept my sanity if it wasn’t for you.”
Sighing, he pulled me into his arms and held me tight. “You were always so brave, Ariella.”
I laughed and squeezed him tight. “I honestly think I got it from Drake. He was the one who always pushed me to do the things I did. Without him I wouldn’t have had the courage to do what I’ve done. My whole family has helped me be who I am today. They are all a part of me.”
“Yes, they are,” he stated honestly. “I can see all of them in you, or at least when you don’t look like a troll.”
I smiled and smacked him in the arm. “Leave it to you to make a joke in a time like this,” I teased. He grinned back, but I knew our time was up. “I have to go,” I said, backing away from him. “Tell them all I love them for me.”
Merrick swallowed hard and nodded. “I will, Ariella. Be careful up there.”
I opened the door to the sorcerer’s dwelling and glanced back at Merrick with a smirk on my face. “I am never careful, Merrick. That’s what makes me dangerous.” Taking a deep breath, I waved him farewell and shut the door behind me.
Once I got inside I wasn’t expecting to look up and find a mile long staircase winding its way to the top. I groaned and began climbing. One after the other I ascended the stairs, knowing I was one step closer to ending this.
“Brayden?”
“Please tell me you’re not about to do anything foolish? I know that tone, angel.”
I was up one flight of steps and had a few more to go. “If you consider killing the sorcerer foolish then yes I am.”
“We will be there soon! Don’t do this without me,” he roared.
“And that is exactly the reason I’m going to do it. He brought over the whole mortal army, Brayden. We have magic, but all it would take is one hit by their bullets and it would be over.”
“How are you even able to get around out there without someone recognizing you?” he asked.
“Because there are things about me you don’t know, Brayden, and it might be best if I show you.” I didn’t want to do this, but I sent a mental picture of Alasdair backhanding Gothin across the face, except it wasn’t Gothin … it was me. It was time I came out and showed him what I could do. “That was why you felt the pain,” I cried.
I could
feel his confusion when he said, “I don’t understand. Why did I feel the pain of that hit? It wasn’t even you.”
I walked up a few more steps. “Yes, it was, Brayden. I was the one who got hit. I am the troll in that image.”
“How is that possible?”
I shrugged my shoulders and then realized he couldn’t even see me. We were so completely and utterly connected it was as if he was right there talking to me. I explained, “I don’t know how it’s possible, but it is. On the day I turned twenty-one this ability came to me. I can shift to make myself look like anyone I please. I knew I could get close to the sorcerer if I could just shift into the one person he trusted most.”
“So that’s how,” he expressed warily. “That’s how you were able to leave the palace undetected, too, isn’t it? It all makes sense.”
I had about two more flights of stairs to go. “Yes, that was how I got away. I pretended to be one of the warriors.”
“What else have you done to trick me? Were there other times you did this?”
“Yes,” I confessed sheepishly. I figured I might as well be honest with him since I had nothing else to lose. “On the night you had that visit from Taryn it wasn’t exactly her coming on to you.”
“That was you?”
“Yes,” I answered. “I had to see what you would do. I heard of your reputation so I had to test you. I didn’t mean to doubt, but I had to know.”
He sighed. “And now you are in the shape of the troll to get close to the sorcerer?”
“Yes, he trusts him.”
“Where are you now?” he asked.
I had finally made it to the door of the sorcerer’s dwelling so I leaned up against the wall and let out a heavy sigh. “I am in your heart, Brayden. That’s where I will always be.”
Even though he broke down my wall, I had regained enough strength to block him out, if only for short periods of time. It hurt, but I had to let him go; it was time.
Before knocking on the door, I changed into the form that got me in this place the first time. The hair of Meliantha mixed with Calista’s golden blonde, green eyes like Sorcha’s, and the face a mixture of all of us combined. I was dressed in my black leathers without the armor and with my dagger hidden behind my back under my top. It was easier to move around in the leather so I had to be prepared. Taking a deep breath, I knocked on the door and waited.
After a few minutes of waiting there was no answer, so instead of knocking again I slowly turned the handle and pushed open the door. Everything inside was pitch black, but I knew he was in there, hiding. I could smell the dark magic permeating the air and it slithered across my skin like it wanted to latch onto me and suck my essence dry.
Quietly, I reached behind my back to grab the dagger and crept into the lightless room. I only made it two steps before I felt him behind me, hovering. Even though I couldn’t see, I knew where he would be. He grabbed me by the neck and I could feel the cold bite from the iron blade as he thrust it up against my flesh. However, much to his dismay, I wasn’t the only one in the compromising position. I held him firm in my grasp with my dagger up against the beating vein in his neck, sizzling his skin. We were at a standstill.
“You must be really stupid to come in here uninvited and with a weapon … interesting. Who are you and how the hell did you get in here?” he demanded, his voice a low growl.
Gritting my teeth, I bit back the pain from his dagger digging into my skin and snapped, “I opened the door and walked in you moron, and I happen to consider myself very smart, considering that I got in here undetected.”
“You didn’t answer my question. Who are you?”
“If you want to know who I am then turn on some damn lights,” I countered impatiently. I was ready to get his dagger away from my neck and end this once and for all.
The room slowly began to fill up with a soft light, starting from the ground up. I couldn’t see Alasdair’s face and he couldn’t see mine, but when that light rose above my head …
His eyes went wide and I could see the confusion spreading across his face as he looked down at the dagger at his throat. “It can’t be,” he said, sounding uncertain.
“Yes, it can,” I retorted, “because here I am, and with the weapon that’s going to destroy you.”
“HOW DID YOU find the scroll? There’s no way you could have found it,” he roared. “I have it hidden and only I know where it’s at.”
“We never let it go,” I told him, rolling my eyes. “If you would’ve been smart and looked at the paper Sorcha gave to you, you would see that it was a letter to Drake. So who is the foolish one now?”
Before either of us could make a move, the floor beneath us started to tremble and shake. The last time the land felt like that was when Alasdair brought over his mortal army. Not this time, though. My people were coming and they were getting close.
Alasdair laughed, still locked in my tight grasp and unmoving. “Ah, Ariella, the martyr. I bet your precious lover didn’t take too well with you coming here, did he? How does it feel to know you sentenced them all to death? I’m sure that’s why they have come … to get you. They will get a shock when they see what awaits them.”
“They already know, but this will all be over before they get here,” I spat. “It ends now.”
He chuckled. “It will never end, Your Highness. No matter if I’m here or not, there will always be a part of me that will come back. Just wait and see,” he remarked with an evil glint in his eye. “But you are more than welcome to try.”
Gladly, I thought to myself.
I jammed my knee into his groin, and when he bent over in pain I backhanded him the way he did to me out in the middle of the village. “That’s payback,” I hissed. “It wasn’t your troll you hit out there in front of everyone, it was me. You should thank me for putting him out of his misery.”
Alasdair got to his feet and his chest heaved up and down with his rage. His eyes were no longer gray, but almost midnight black as he glared at me, ready to strike. His power magnified and pulsated throughout the room, and almost immediately I was thrust against the wall by an invisible force. I screamed as the dagger dropped out of my hand and I had to face the realization that I was trapped.
I tried to fight against the restraints but I couldn’t. Alasdair chuckled and pointed the iron blade at my chest as he stalked closer. “Oh, what should I do first?” he wondered, tapping the iron blade against his palm. “Maybe I should take you outside and gut you in front of your people when they come. I think that would make an excellent show. The look on your lover’s face would be priceless.”
“You’re a sick, pathetic bastard,” I hissed. “When you die, this land will be rid of your filth. You’re not going to win this.”
Alasdair smirked and narrowed his eyes menacingly. Taking his iron dagger, he grazed it across my neck all the way down to the tops of my breasts. I gritted my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut against the pain. I would not scream … I refused to scream. My cold Winter blood oozed down my chest and dropped on the floor, staining the wood where it landed. My dagger glistened in the light, and as soon as my blood dripped onto its blade it lit up the room like a thousand suns.
Alasdair shied away from the light and covered his face with his arm. The beams coming from the dagger were beautiful, in all shades of color, and they didn’t affect me at all. The invisible force holding me to the wall broke and I was free. Immediately, I bent down to grab the dagger and held it in my hands as the glow traveled across my body and surrounded me. It wasn’t my magic doing this, but someone else’s. There was someone else here helping me.
Who could it be?
The time had come to end it all. It was over and I knew it. I could feel the poison of the iron spreading through my body from the gash across my chest. When he cut me I didn’t realize how deep it was. I didn’t have long now. I opened up my mind and found Brayden right there, just behind the surface.
“Good-bye, my love,” I whispered quickly
in his mind. “I love you. You will all be safe now.”
Alasdair pulled his arm away, and as he did he saw the exact moment I smiled and raised my dagger. “It’s over,” I growled. “I hope you rot in Hell.”
The talisman gleamed around his neck so I took the dagger and plunged it into the bloodstone straight down through his heart. I had only one second to see the terror in his eyes and to know that I succeeded to end his evil existence when the end finally came. In a rush of light, it was over.
The blast from the power surge felt like a thousand sharp knives penetrating every surface of my skin as I was thrown into the sky. It almost felt like I was flying, but all too quickly I landed and tumbled on the ground below, breaking every single bone in my body.
I couldn’t move and I could barely breathe. I did, however, know that I succeeded. Before I fell into darkness and away from everyone I loved, I got to at least see what my bravery and courage did for the land. Instead of being surrounded by inky black trees, it was instead open meadows of nothing except green grass. There was no trace of the Black Forest, Alasdair, or anyone in his army. It had all vanished.
“I did it,” I whispered to myself. Tears fell down my cheeks, except I was too weak to wipe them away.
“Yes, you did,” a voice called out, soft and angelic. It was a voice I didn’t recognize. “And now it’s time to take you home.”
Yes … home.
The land started to fade away, and instead of the darkness one would see when they fell asleep, I was seeing the brilliant shades of a light from a new land. It was beautiful, but it wasn’t the bright shades of the snow or the icy court I belonged to. This was somewhere different. I had never seen this place before, but there was no mistaking where I was. From the glowing bright sun above to the ethereal glow of the land, there was no denying that I had crossed over to another realm, one that had always and forever been known as the heaven for my kind … the Hereafter.
