by Laura R Cole
*
“We have to get you out of here,” Gareth’s whispered voice woke Katya out of her uneasy sleep. When he saw that she was awake, he continued, “The strangers told a story about how a mysterious woman went with Layna and Gryffon into Fire Mountain and battled with the evil one, Nuko. The fact that you had the Bloodstone is enough evidence for them that you are this woman, which means they know you bear the mark. Kali has convinced the rest of the Elders that you had planned on using the Bloodstone and you need to be stopped…they plan to kill you.”
“What? Use it? It was just a reminder…” Katya cringed at the painful memory that it was a reminder of.
“We have to get you out now,” he cut her off, “Lorcan is standing guard outside, but I do not want to see him get caught.”
“Lorcan is helping you?” she asked, touched at the boy’s loyalty despite what she had put him through.
“He is a smart lad and knows a good heart when he sees one,” Gareth smiled at her, “and he is youthfully innocent and a strong enough personality not to be jaded by the discriminations of his wayward elders.”
He sprang to motion, working on weakening the spells that held the wooden bars in place and magically made them impenetrable. He handed her a saw which she dropped to the nearest bar, sawing frantically as he added magic to the spell. Her own magic was blocked by the cell itself, so the physical help was all she could offer.
“There’s something else you have to know,” he said between panting breaths. “The Elders just announced to the tribe that they have returned the baby to its parents – with no mention of it having been stolen by the strangers. I also figured out why the people were so excited about stealing a baby, I hadn’t thought them that far gone, but apparently Kali has been telling the tribe that they took the baby in order to heal it of some ailment, and that’s why everyone was so excited for the Arrival.”
“Do you believe that?” Katya asked, still sawing at the bar.
“Not for a second,” he growled. “But after they supposedly made it better, it was the plan all along to return it. Even the rest of the tribe was aware of this fact before the strangers stole it, so it’s not just a cover-up for having lost it.”
Katya swore. She knew it had been much too easy for two non-talented individuals to steal a baby from a village of mages. “Were they finished whatever they had done to her?”
“I don’t know.”
Katya remembered Kali saying something about being able to perform the final spell now that they had the Bloodstone. And the fact that they didn’t seem at all concerned about getting it back…
The blade made it through the other side forcibly, sending the teeth deeply into the next bar, and as the vine bar broke, so did the enchantment on her. She added her talent to Gareth’s and opened the door.
She rushed out and grabbed hold of him, embracing him spontaneously. He looked rather taken aback at her sudden affection, but returned the hug. Finding out that she had been tossed out by her own people had welled up the most uncomfortable emotions within her, and it meant the world to her that her friends would risk so much to help her. Together they raced outside.
Lorcan spotted them and held up a hand.
They paused.
He waited a moment before looking back at them and beckoning them to him hurriedly.
They ran across the unshielded platform and ducked behind the building on the other side. Katya held her breath for a moment, listening intently for signs that someone had seen them, but there were none.
“Go,” whispered Lorcan urgently, “They just went around the corner so you’ll have about a minute, I’ll try and distract them from checking on you so you’ll have more time to get away from here.”
She gave him a quick hug and on impulse kissed him lightly on the cheek. His face turned beet-red and he smiled shyly. “Thanks,” she told him sincerely. He waved for her to go, now grinning fully at her.
They slipped down into the passageway that led below and took the steps as quickly as they could. Slamming the door open at the bottom, Katya prayed that no one would be below. Luck was with them, and the ground encampment was empty.
“Stop!” someone yelled from above and Katya pumped her legs faster, pulling Gareth along behind her into the safety of the forest. He was gasping for breath, the years he spent sitting in the old home regretting his life having caught up with his health. She turned to help him when he suddenly went rigid. She caught his falling body and dragged him behind the shelter of a huge tree.
“Gareth!” she exclaimed, searching for the source of his attack. An arrow shaft was sticking out of his back, directly behind his heart. “Oh no…”
He coughed, “I can feel it working magic on me, I’ll be gone before they get down here. You need to go. But Katya,” he gasped and writhed in pain a moment. “Promise me, promise me you’ll go to a cave near the edge of the hunting grounds. The one I told you about that my wife and I used to go to?”
Katya nodded, tears springing to her eyes.
“I left something there that I want you to have,” he squeezed her shoulder tightly, “Please find it.”
Katya watched him, the life fading from his eyes, and knew this would be her last chance. “Gareth,” she whispered, “are you my father?”
He looked startled, and the wheezing intake of breath it caused made him cough. When he found his voice again, he looked down, ashamed. “Yes.” Looking back up into her eyes, he entreated her, “Please can you forgive me? I was young and let the Elders convince me it was the right thing to do…by the time I came to my senses and followed, your mother was dead and I couldn’t find you…I’m so sorry, Katya.”
She kissed his forehead lightly, “Of course I forgive you,” she said, wiping a tear from her eye. “What was my mother like?” she asked in a soft voice.
“She was the most kind-hearted, selfless woman that ever lived,” Gareth responded affectionately, “she deserved better. I loved you both more than anything. I’ll never forgive myself for letting you go…”
“I forgive you,” she repeated firmly.
Marak slithered down her arm and Katya watched the tiny snake, surprised by his motion. He slid off her hand and onto Gareth’s shoulder. There, he laid his head against Gareth’s cheek and the old man sighed contentedly, closing his eyes. Katya could sense a tiny thread of magic between them and she sensed that it was a moment she shouldn’t interrupt so she waited patiently while whatever was going on finished.
Gareth finally opened his eyes and smiled, reaching up to kiss the tiny snake before setting him back on Katya where he resumed his former position. “Even from the grave she comforts me,” he shook his head, a small glittering tear forming at the corner of his eye but offering no other explanation. He coughed again. “Promise me you’ll go to the cave.”
She nodded mutely and watched as the light faded from Gareth’s eyes, rocking him back and forth against her.
Another arrow plunged into the earth mere inches from her leg and she sprung to her feet. She raced away from his body, refusing to look back. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her, deeper and deeper into the forest.
When she couldn’t run any more she paused, leaning up against a tree and sobbing into its trunk. How could life be so cruel? To give her the thing she cherished most – which she realized now was her family – only to then take it away from her again? All that time worrying about Slade when the real person she loved was right under her nose.
She sniffed and rubbed her eyes, looking around with blurry vision at the forest around her. She was close to the hunting area. Gareth had told her about it one afternoon when she had asked him to tell her about himself. Though he wouldn’t explain what had happened to his wife – and Katya now understood why – he seemed to find joy in talking about her. Katya got her bearings quickly and headed for the cave she had promised Gareth – her father – she would find.
She entered the dark recess in the stone hurriedly, running her hand along the wall to find the hole that led to the back of the cave. Once she was far enough in that the light wouldn’t be noticed from outside, she lit a magelight and sent it out in front of her.
It cast an eerie glow on the rock walls, its bluish light bouncing off the crags and crevices. In the center of the cave was an old fire-pit, where Gareth had told her that he used to meet his love – her mother – when they were younger. She passed a hand over the long-dead coals, wishing she could picture what they must have looked like. She longed for the memories she knew to be in her head, but remained locked away. She tried dredging up the image of her mother’s face once more, but it was gone.
She searched the cave for whatever it was that Gareth had said he left for her, finally finding a bundle wrapped carefully in deer hide in small indent in the wall. She pulled this out and slowly unwrapped it. Inside was a beautiful stone. What was this?
She carried the stone to the cave entrance where she could look at it better. She reached into the cloth and held it up in front of her. As her hand touched the stone, it suddenly burst to life, sending out a spark of light. Images swirled within its depths and Katya gasped as she realized what they were.
She could see her mother and father – Gareth looking much younger and without the lines of regret that now etched themselves across his face. With them was a little girl – herself – who Gareth was twirling around in a circle. She saw her mother opening a gift from her father: Marak’s tiny form slithering out of the box and circling around her slender arm. As she watched the recorded moments, frozen within the stone forever, her own memories slowly resurfaced. She could picture her mother’s face smiling down at her as she kissed her goodnight. She could see her father as he proudly held her hand showing her how to use magic.
Gareth had given her the most precious gift in the world: Her memories back. She no longer had only the memories of the dark times in her life, she now could hold onto those she loved. There was another memory too, that of the little boy she’d seen earlier in her vision. As she focused on him, more images floated to the surface. She saw them playing together, laughing together, doing everything together, even performing a blood-bonded promise that someday they would be married. She could almost remember his name -
A twig snapped and she held her breath, whipping around to search for the source. The forest vegetation grew thick around the trunks, and it was difficult to see very far. She readied herself for a fight.
A man came into view, holding out his hands in front of him in a gesture of peace.
She was bombarded by more memories flooding into her head of the little boy with brown hair, playing in the woods. She had lived with him and his family as a child. When her mother had died they had taken her in and she and the little boy had been inseparable. Until the priests had come. He had tried to attack them, stop them from taking her, but he was no match. His youthful face grew older in her mind’s eye, losing its childhood chubbiness, maturing and becoming more defined, and eventually ending as the man who stood before her.
“Hunter?” she gasped.
The man stopped short, surprised that she knew his name. “Who are you?” he asked.
“It’s Katya, from when we were little.”
He looked closer and his face broke into a wide grin as he whooped for joy. “Katya! It is you! You’re alive!” He swept her up into a bear hug and swung her around in a circle. “I thought I’d lost you forever.”
“No such luck,” Katya joked, feeling as though they had never been apart for a second.
Shouts rang out from behind them and Hunter looked up in alarm. “Come on,” he said, grabbing her hand, “Let’s get out of here.”
