Mira's Hope (23 page)

“No,” she whispered, fearing her death
now.

“You made it,” he said calmly, still
continuing his steady pace toward her.

“What are you doing here? Why didn’t you stay
in the clearing?” she cried out.

“Don’t my love, you’re safe now.” He smiled
at her as he reached out a hand for her to grasp.

“This is a bad place. Bad things happen
here.” Her heart was in her throat, she couldn’t save him in
here.

“I think it’s an excellent place. Morgo did a
wonderful job in my opinion.” He looked around the room, before
bringing his gaze back to her.

Suspicion started to creep into Galena’s mind
as she watched his nonchalant behavior. “What you are you talking
about?” she whispered.

“Remember when I asked you to stay behind in
Morgo’s world with me?” he asked.

She nodded slowly. It had been a particularly
violent night for Elenio as he had smashed the majority of the
decorations in the lodge’s room.

“I told you I couldn’t watch you die or get
hurt anymore. Then when you sacrificed yourself on that
mountaintop,” he paused here, struggling to regain control of his
breathing and emotions. “I wanted to die. I never want to see you
that helpless again. I won’t make it. If you die, I die, don’t you
know that?” He closed the remaining gap between them and clinching
the tops of her arms tightly, shook her slightly before pulling her
close to him.

She took a shaky breath before pushing away
and looking him in the eyes. “I still don’t understand,” she said,
feeling thoroughly confused now.

“After the mountain incident, I found a way
to contact Morgo or more accurately, he found a way to contact me.
Together, we devised this place. Somewhere I could take you where
we would be safe from the world, from Rau.”

Galena shook her head in disbelief. He
couldn’t have. “This isn’t right Elenio and you know it. Both of
our families are...” but she stopped, choking on the sob that stuck
in her throat, trapping the air in her lungs. Her family was dead.
She had just passed them. “What happened to my family, Elenio?
“

He stared long and hard at her before turning
around and taking a few steps away. Turning to face her once more,
he asked calmly, “Would you have come down here without them?”

“But they’re dead!” she screamed.

Elenio walked over to her and took her face
in his hands.

Her thoughts fled and she could no longer
remember why she had been screaming at him.

“Will you stay here with me?” He bent down
and kissed her gently, reminding her of pleasanter times, times
when it had been just the two of them and they’d been happy.

But what of the sword, of Mira?
They
were all counting on her. She couldn’t be selfish anymore. Her
father had been right. Her father. Her family. They were all dead.
Pushing Elenio away, she remembered why she had been angry. “NO,”
she said with much more force than she had meant to.

His expression hardened and pain filled his
eyes. “I can’t let you leave. I’ve already told you I will not
watch you get hurt anymore. And who’s to say you’ll be able to beat
Rau once you retrieve the sword? Do you really expect me to sit
back and watch you go against him? It’s suicide Galena.” He stormed
over to her, grabbing her rather painfully around the arms. “I
can’t handle that. Never again. You will stay down here with me, I
forbid you to leave.”

“You forbid me.” Galena laughed out harshly.
“I hate to tell you this, but I am the master of my own mind and
there is nothing you can do to stop me,” she spat. Anger was
starting to replace some of the raw pain and grief that still
resided in her mind and heart, allowing her to think more clearly,
just in time to see Elenio’s face crumple and fall to the
ground.

“Please, don’t do this to me. Don’t you love
me?” he practically cried.

Galena was taken aback. She didn’t know how
to handle this sudden shift in moods, and stood watching him as he
covered his face with his hands.

“Galena, please, I’m begging you. I can’t
handle that kind of pain again. It was more than anyone should have
to handle. Being commitment partners makes it nearly impossible to
go through that kind of separation. Do you really want to do that
to me again?”

Galena knelt down on the ground in front of
him and removed his hands from his eyes. Placing a hand on either
side of his face, she studied every inch of him. Reminding herself
of happier times, she saw crinkles form at the edge of his eyes
when he laughed. She thought of the half smirk he would give her
when he had made a smart comment about something, generally about
her. She remembered the way he cocked his head when he was trying
to read her and her emotions. Memories of the way his eyes normally
twinkled when he was up to no good filled her mind. She loved
everything about him, how could she not?

Pulling his face close to her, she kissed his
forehead lovingly. “My heart beats with your heart and my mind
lives with your mind. I will always love you. That doesn’t change
the fact that this is something I have to do and we both know it.”
She pulled back to see a frown replacing the anguished look that
had been there just moments before. Once again, she felt shocked
with the sudden shift.

“You are selfish aren’t you?” he spat.

She felt as if she had been slapped once more
as his words, which had been so similar to her father’s, cut
through her. She shook her head, keeping her eyes on him at all
times.
What had gotten into him?

“I told you I will not watch you be harmed
again. I won’t.” He stood up quickly, sending her head spinning as
she tried to keep him in focus. He strode across the room and then
back toward her as she got to her feet.

She felt the need to be on her guard now. Had
she really destroyed Elenio so much that he would act this way? If
so, was she as selfish as everyone kept telling her by encouraging
him to continue this quest?

He stopped a good ways away from her, his
breaths coming in harsh, rapid pants as he first stared at the
ground and then at her. She felt an icy sensation in the pit of her
stomach as she watched him angrily regard her. She didn’t know what
to expect next, but she didn’t think it would be good.

“I won’t, Galena.” Out of nowhere, he drew a
sword and looking once more at her, plunged it into his stomach so
that the tip of it pushed through his back.

Her heart stopped. Her breathing stopped.
Sickness spread through her in hot waves before she felt her heart
and mind shatter. She watched in horror as blood spilled from his
mouth and he struggled to take a step toward her.

“NOOOOOOOOOOO!” the scream ripped through her
and into the cave, hurting her own ears with the intensity of
it.

In slow motion, she watched Elenio began to
fall to the ground. Running to him, she caught him in her arms and
slowed his fall. Cradling him so that his head was in her lap, she
stroked the hair out of his eyes. He looked up at her, his eyes
starting to glaze over.

“Hold still, I’ll fix you. Just hang on.” She
thought of the wound healing itself from the inside out, of the
sword working its way out of his stomach, but nothing happened. The
blood remained pouring from his twitching body. Her magic was gone.
Sobbing she ripped at her tunic, removing a long strip, and
applying it around the sword. She didn’t want to remove it for fear
the bleeding would increase. She had to get him to a healer.

“Love,” he gurgled, “you.”

“No, no, no. Hang on. I’ll get help and then
we can stay here together. I promise. Just don’t leave,” she
cried.

In horror, she watched his lips twitch into a
smile once more before the life fled from his dying body and his
head slumped to one side. He was gone. Her Elenio was gone and she
could do nothing to bring him back. Scream after incomprehensible
scream left her lips, tore at her throat, and echoed off the cave
walls. Tears she thought she’d cried out flooded over his face as
she struggled to kiss every inch of it. She tried to somehow will
him back to life, but his eyes remained opened and unseeing.

She pulled him closer to her, feeling his
hot, sticky blood coat her in a film. Not her Elenio. Her body felt
numb, her mind shut off, only her heart felt now and it was in
thousands of pieces. She couldn’t go on. Her life was meaningless
without him. Moan after moan filled the cave with her despair and
grief. It weighed on her like a thick blanket, smothering her with
thoughts of death and relief. She wouldn’t leave him. She would
remain here until her own death found her. Nothing else mattered
now.

Chapter
Thirty

At first, Elenio sat back and watched
helplessly as Twoit tried and tried to follow Galena into the cave.
She attempted to walk right behind Galena, but as soon as Galena
entered the mouth of the cave, she simply vanished from view. The
tiny ferret stopped when this happened and stood looking politely
confused as she cocked her head first to one side and then the
other. Then she decided it didn’t matter and headed for the
entrance herself, only to crash into an unseen barrier. This
surprised Elenio. He watched the tiny ferret back up, shaking her
head slightly from the impact and standing on her back legs; begin
to scratch at the barrier. Elenio could see where her paws struck
the invisible wall, but nothing more. He walked over himself and
examined it. He could see nothing, but when he ran his hand over
the entrance, he came in contact with a wall as cold as stone and
seemingly as unmovable as well. This did not bode well with
Elenio.

Walking back to where he had been sitting
before, he continued to stare at the entrance, watching Twoit as
she tried to sneak in from first one side of the cave and then the
other without success. Finally frustrated, she came hopping over to
Elenio, scolding him in her own way for something he had no control
over.

“Peace, little one. I know you want to go
after her, but we can’t, so sit and wait patiently for her to
return.”

Cocking her head again to one side, the tiny
black eyes regarded him solemnly before she turned so she too could
watch the entrance. She lay down beside him and stared like he
was.

Elenio brought his legs up and wrapped his
arms around them so he could rest his chin on his knees. Here he
was again, waiting for Galena to save the day and he was helpless
to do anything for her. How he wished he could be by her side as
she encountered whatever was waiting on the other side of that hole
in the ground. Sighing angrily, he felt the warm breeze of the
guardian brush past his face and he felt his curiosity aroused.
Seeing how he would probably be waiting a while, he decided to make
use of his free time and ask this being a couple of questions.

At least it will take my mind off what
Galena is doing,
he thought wryly to himself. “How many elves
have attempted to retrieve the sword?” he asked, feeling a little
silly. If only the being had a body or a face. He felt like he was
talking aloud to himself.

“Many have approached, but none have been
allowed to enter,” the voice spoke softly just by his ear.

He turned quickly, but as he expected, there
was no one there. “What do you mean, no has been allowed to enter?”
The stories of old told of many elves attempting to reach the sword
and all of them dying in the process. Elenio assumed that this had
been in the cave.

“Only the one marked by Mira, was allowed to
enter,” the voice said quietly once more, this time by his other
ear.

“But the stories...”

“Not all stories contain only the truth, just
what the story teller wants conveyed.”

Elenio felt dumbstruck. “But what of the
sword?” he asked, fumbling to find a string of truth to the old
stories.

“The sword is within and I have guarded it
for thousands of years.”

“Is it truly the only means of defeating
Rau?”

“Without it, the elf would be overcome.” This
time the voice seemed to come from directly in front of Elenio and
even though he searched, he still found nothing.

“How did you know Galena was the one?” Elenio
asked starting to feel like they really were on the right path.

“Her power was evident and she lacked the
marks of Rau.”

“Will she live?” Elenio could barely get this
last question out for fear of the answer. He regretted it almost
immediately, but some part of him had to know.

“No one knows that answer to that,” the voice
said as quietly as Elenio had asked.

Elenio nodded. He wasn’t sure what he’d
expected, maybe more of a prediction. Elenio continued to stare at
the cave, willing Galena to return to him soon. He could feel her
apprehension and something more, maybe fear, but he wasn’t entirely
sure. “What will she come across in there?” he asked, feeling fear
and a stronger emotion rise up in her.

“Whatever she fears most.”

The emotion continued to rise, taking over
his rational thoughts. It was an overwhelming sadness, accompanied
by waves of grief. He fought to bring back the calmness of his own
mind and struggled. Whatever she came across in there was
threatening to take control of her.

Get up Galena. Keep going,
he thought,
pushing those thoughts toward her. He felt the sadness level off
and a resolution starting to take place. He knew she was continuing
with her journey.

It didn’t even feel like a minute later, when
the same feeling as before, crashed into him, causing him to gasp
with the force of it. The same sadness and grief took him, causing
tears to stream down his face even though he had no idea why he was
crying. His heart suddenly felt as if it was going to implode and
for a moment, he could see streams of blood before him. Bodies were
piled up, limbs entangled. He blinked his eyes and the visions
disappeared, but the pain still tore at him. He shook his head,
focusing on his breathing, on returning it back to normal. If he
was going to be any help to her, he had to focus on the reality
outside the cave. Fighting back the emotions that flowed over him
like a massive waterfall, he began to take in the scenery around
him once more. The birds in the trees, the dim light of the fading
sun, Twoit looking curiously at him. Little by little, he was able
to force back the strong emotions he knew were Galena’s. What had
she come across in there?