Authors: Samantha LaFantasie
“I believe you three already know each other...” Lernn said, as we entered the room.
Then he turned and I saw the sad blue eyes that I have come to know and love as my father.
“Athair!”
I ran into his arms.
“A'lainn,” he breathed into my hair and squeezed me.
“I was so worried about you. We were chased out of towns and nearly killed. I thought I wouldn't see you again...I thought...” I started sobbing into Enid's shoulder.
“
Shh
. I'm here. It's alright. I'm alright. We are going to get through this. I promise.”
“And Raden?”
I asked.
“Raden, unfortunately, shares much of the same fate as your daughter,” Lernn replied.
I nodded into Enid's shirt then pulled away, wiping my nose on the sleeve of my robes.
“Enid,” Marren said with as much happiness he could muster into a calm conversation.
“Marren,” Enid held out his hand. They gripped each other's arms at the base of their elbows and pulled each other close, giving a couple good and sound pats on the back then releasing each other.
“Family reunions.
Beautiful events, aren't they?” Lernn said to no one in particular. “Let's arrange one final one, shall we?” He bent at the waist over the large parchment on the table. It was a map of the city and the castle. The inside workings of it and a schedule tacked to the side.
***
For the rest of the night all three of us poured over the plans. Marren and I learned the king's true identity was Jiren and had actually raised Serid on the belief that we were responsible for Okelo's death. Serid had started out his journey set on revenge. But he didn't account for the possibility of falling in love. If what Marren said was true, then it only made sense that what Lernn said was true as well.
About Serid's caring for Naloud while she was in the castle's dungeon.
And with Lernn's bit of vital information, recounting a story of how to kill ethereal beings, we made a plan of our own. It was a shaky plan at best, but it was better than nothing and anything was worth freeing the immortal races for good. But the cost seemed far too great.
“I don't like it,” I argued with Marren after we were led to a room.
“You don't have to like it. You just need to go with it. It's his choice.”
“That's not a choice. That's a sacrifice,” I countered.
Marren cupped my face in his hands and pressed his lips against mine. “He has nothing holding him here. His entire life was taken from him. This is something he wants. This is how he can feel at peace. Who are we to deny him that?”
I rolled my eyes, forced to admit there was logic in his words. But it still didn't feel good. It felt sad and empty.
“Tomorrow evening seems so far away,” I said just before the exhaustion claimed me.
“It will come quicker than you think.” Marren's words echoed through my head as sleep took over my consciousness.
***
When I woke, I was stiff. So exhausted I didn't shift once, instead lying in one position. I spent most of the afternoon and evening working on stretching my muscles and making my body more flexible so that I could fight without much resistance. I sat on the floor as Marren, Lernn and Enid poured over the plans and map of the city one last time. The way this place was built underground was so fascinating to me. It had to have taken years to do this, yet it was done so quickly.
“Does the city above know of this place?” I asked.
“They think they know,” Lernn replied. “But no one has dared to find out. Humans are more afraid of us than we are of them, and we're the ones with the bounty on our heads.” He smiled.
I became so lost in thought about all the things I would say to Naloud when we found her and all the things I would say to Jiren as the light of life faded in his eyes. However, something Lernn said caught my attention.
“They call it, A Night of Celebration.”
“Why?” I asked.
Everyone turned to face me with confused looks on their faces, almost as if they were shocked I didn't already know.
“It's celebrating the approximate anniversary of the disappearance of our kind. They will dress up and try to look like us,” Lernn offered. I realized I had known of this celebration for years but never really quite understood it. Tarn never allowed me to participate and never talked about it. “Quite hilarious, actually,” Lernn continued.
I thought of someone trying to dress up to be a half-deranged elf or werewolf and stifled a chuckle. “Oh, I bet.”
“Actually, people should be crowding the streets as we speak. It's time for battle, friends!”
We followed the crowd up the winding road to the portcullis of the castle. We slipped through unnoticed to the part of the castle wall overgrown with ivy. We crossed the courtyard to the back entrance of the dungeon, a towering turret that supposedly went as far down as it did up. Stairs, on the inside of the door, spiraled downward to the deepest darkest depths.
It seemed like an eternity descending the stairs, but we finally came to the bottom floor.
Nicknamed the Abyss, for those condemned to this level.
Solid ground, not stone, formed the floor as walls of bars lined the halls that spread out in four different directions. Torchlight gave away the cell Naloud was in, along with two guards on either side. It was expected, per the plan. I was to be the distraction.
I stepped forward, but was forced to a stop by Marren's hand gripping me under my arm.
Be careful, uwoduhi.
I peered over my shoulder at him. His black eyes and his wolf face.
I promise.
He nodded once and released me, allowing me to continue on my quest to save our daughter.
“Good evening gentlemen,” I said on my approach, hoping Naloud wouldn't give my voice away.
They startled to attention.
“What are you doing here? No one is allowed down here,” one guard spoke. His voice was gruff and sounded worn with age.
“Oh yes, I know, but as you probably haven't heard, the castle is under siege. The king wishes all his men to the gate!” I tried to put as much formality and urgency as I could to appear official.
“What do you take us for?” the other guard spoke. His voice came off grading and squeaking.
Must be just coming into manhood.
I shrugged.
“A couple of idiots that are going to lose their heads if you don't obey his majesty's orders.”
“Give it up girl. We were already warned of someone planning to try and get us to leave our guard,” the older guard spoke.
“Okay, I will inform his majesty of your denial.” I paused and cocked my head to the side and studied the men for a moment. “You know you're going to look rather incongruous without your heads.” I stifled a chuckle in response to the wide eyes the guards gave at my words. I walked back to Marren, hidden in the shadows with Lernn.
“Hey woman, wait!” called the squeaky voiced guard as both of them ran past us and up the stairs.
I ran to Naloud as soon as their footsteps were far enough in the distance. The floor was covered in a thick layer of hay. Naloud
laid
on top of it with a blanket barely covering her body. Her back was turned towards me with her hair stretching like thin rivers of brown water from her head, over the hay, and to the dirt floor.
“Naloud,
it’s
mom, are you all right?” My heart was beating frantically against my ribs.
No response.
“Naloud?”
Marren's voice echoed off the walls in the same tone he would use when she was younger and had done something very naughty.
She didn't even shift.
I pulled hard on the door. With a loud clank and crack, it pulled open. I rushed to her side and took her head into my hands. “She's so cold!” I lowered my cheek to her nose to feel her breath. “She's barely breathing!” Tears filled my eyes as I searched for her heartbeat. Only the faintest thump responded to my finger's pressure.
“They knew!” Lernn said. “We must leave at once!”
“What's the hurry?” A voice that had once given me nightmares pierced the air. A figure stood in the shadows and approached very slowly. He was dressed as the king but kept his own voice.
“Jiren, you sorry excuse for life, I will see you destroyed!” I promised through clenched teeth. I teetered dangerously close to losing all control and falling into a dark place of sadness.
His laugh came out dark and sinister. “I have the upper hand against you. Your daughter is dying. Your folly will be paid for and you will be forced to go back to the immortal realm and remain there peacefully... or die here painfully and very, very slowly.”
“Mighty words for a man too cowardly to face me in his true form,” I said as I stood from my dying daughter's side. “You have to hide behind a mask, a falsehood.”
A smile played on Jiren's face. It was a threatening “come and get me,” smile. I growled and started to run for him.
“No Relena!” Marren's voice echoed around me as a pair of arms stopped me from seeing Jiren bleed.
“Smart man,” Jiren said after a quick victorious chuckle.
“Am I?” Marren retorted then cocked his head to the side as if he was trying to listen to something. “Do you hear that?”
Vibrations surged through the walls, faint shouts and echoes made their way down the stairs. It was the sound of battle.
Jiren heard it as well. His expression changed from victorious to fierce. His image shifted, faltering, letting a bright purple hew line his appearance. He turned quickly and ran, like the coward he is, up the stairs.
Lernn didn't wait to run after him.
“Marren, what about Naloud?” I asked before he ran off as well.
“We will come back for her,” his response was soft and soothing, but his eyes held so much more.
A need for revenge.
I nodded, running after him up the long winding stairs to the courtyard where battle raged. A battle that quickly became an image of chaos burned into my mind as we pushed through the door. Humans and immoral races fought, swords clanking, voices shouting. Things of nightmares filled my eyes. Bodies were torn and ripped apart. Fire consumed the lush gardens. Screams of terror, pain, and war filled the air mingling with the scent of blood and steel. The fray was disorienting.
But I had a job to do.
It would be too easy to join the fight and help rid the world of those who sought to destroy what the world needed and the humans understood so little of. And fight I did, only with those who got in my way. Many of the men that fell at my hands were taken off guard by my mere appearance. A vicious animal is what their eyes said to me. And it wasn't in a hateful way. It was fearful. They feared me.
I searched the chaos for signs of Jiren, finding instead, Serid. His eyes met mine. An emotion too much for me to control took over. I knew
,
if what Marren said was right, I would kill Naloud for sure if I harmed Serid. But he didn't deserve to live after what he did to my daughter. He killed himself along with her. A fact he would become aware of when she took her final breath.
I approached him slowly. He didn't back down. When I was inches from his face he still didn't flinch. I kicked him to the ground and held my sword to his throat.
“I don't suppose you want to hear my side of the story, do you?” Serid asked with his hands in the air.
“No excuse is going to save my daughter.” I lunged at him. He swung his leg behind me, hitting me square behind my knees. I fell to the ground. He scurried to his feet then kicked my sword from my hand.
“What do you mean save her?”
For a moment, I was confused by the amount of questioning in his voice. He seemed lost and confused, as if he didn't know what he had done.
I climbed to my feet, determined to rip him to pieces if need be. “She barely clings to life because of you! She loved you! You were supposed to be her heart song!” I swung at him with so much force that I continued spinning as he dodged it.
“Wait, that wasn't the plan,” he said then stopped my next swing by catching my hand. “Jiren tricked us all,” he continued.
“Ha! And how do I know you are not him?” I retorted.
He moved my hand to his chest where I felt a pounding beneath his ribs. “I have a heart.” His words were even, but the look in his eyes was of terrible sadness. It was then I realized he loved her too. If he was Naloud's heart song, they were both going to die because of Jiren. Not him.
I pulled my hand away. “Go to her. See what you can do to bring her back.”
He didn't hesitate in running to her. I wanted to look behind me to make sure he made it there okay, but a strange sound filled my ears. It was a flapping sound. Like a flag in a raging wind. I looked around and then up in time to see a figure in a red cloak fall to the ground in front of me.
“You should have left well enough alone girl,” Jiren said as he stepped towards me with a sword in hand. I eyed mine lying on the ground still.
Behind him.
“It won't be so easy to defeat me this time!” I dodged around him, rolling on the ground to pick up my sword, and then shifting to my feet as my sword clanked against his.