Mira's Hope (24 page)

A new emotion started to gnaw away at the
back of his mind, doubt and shame.
That can’t be good,
he
thought. Before these took control, he continued to focus on his
breathing, retaining his own emotions even though the ones that she
felt were growing stronger. He stood, fighting to keep his
breathing steady and under control. He felt her resolve waiver and
then shatter completely.

No, Galena. Get up. Find the sword. You
must go on.
He repeated this last part over and over, pacing in
front of the cave as he did so. Slowly, ever so slowly, he felt the
grief subsiding, the pain easing, and her mind taking hold of his
words. He still felt the pain of grief, the rawness of it, but he
also felt her fear building.

You must go on,
he told her. Numbness
was setting in and the reality of it all started to slip away. This
was good in Elenio’s opinion. Numbness allowed the mind to think
past whatever she encountered that rocked her so.

You must go on,
he repeated. He
continued his relentless pacing in front of the cave, afraid he
would go mad with Galena’s emotions if he stopped. He stared into
its black darkness, focusing on her and what she was feeling.
Almost immediately, he had to retreat back to his own mind and his
own thoughts, as hers were filled with grief. When he focused on
his own thoughts, he could keep hers to a minimum, but still know
what was going on.

He stopped when he felt her quake with fear
and lose her will to continue. “No, you must go on,” he practically
screamed aloud. A tiny spark regained its hold on her and she
continued. New emotions, fear, doubt, and dread, took root in her
mind and Elenio processed each one in turn. What did she fear that
would incapacitate her so? He hadn’t known she was afraid of
anything.

He felt flickers of new emotions, but not
very strong. Anger, confusion, and something else. They repeated in
cycles and he found himself feeling confused. What was going on? He
turned to look at Twoit as the ferret watched him, curiosity on her
tiny face again. He was about to ask her what she made of the whole
thing when he dropped to his knees. He felt his heart being ripped
from his chest and a scream of agony shattered the peaceful quiet
surrounding him. Blinded by the force of it, he dropped to his
hands and knees, throwing up as intense pain blasted through him.
Closing his eyes, he saw himself, a sword running through his
stomach and him falling to the ground and knew in that instant,
what Galena was facing.

His breathing came in ragged pants as he
struggled to take each breathe. He couldn’t stop the tears that
raced down his face. Grasping his chest with one hand, he fought,
harder than he had ever fought in his life, to regain control of
his own thoughts. Struggling to stand, he charged the cave, not
caring if it killed him, he would not lose her again. He had to get
to her and show her that he was all right.

Reaching the entrance, he felt the warm
breeze turn into a strong wind that picked him up and carried him
away, placing him back on the ground some distance.

“You don’t understand, she needs me,” he
screamed as he charged the entrance once more. The pain was still
there, blinding him from all reason, all he could feel was her
overwhelming anguish. The wind picked him up and sent him crashing
into a tree. Vines wrapped around him and the trunk, holding him
prisoner and preventing him from racing to the cave again.

“You cannot help her that way. She must do
this on her own,” the voice said, with a peacefulness that angered
Elenio to the point of rational thinking.

“Galena, I’m here my love. Come back to me.
Get the sword and come back to me,” he screamed, both mentally and
as loud as he could. He pushed his thoughts of safety and his love
to her as hard as he could, struggling to make his emotions as
strong as hers. He felt her thoughts die, her emotions grow
completely numb, oblivious to anything else around her. She was
giving up.

He fought against the vines that held him so
tightly that he could barely breathe, but his efforts were in
vain.

“Galena, please hear me. I’m here, come back
to me. I can’t lose you again,” he screamed, his own panic filling
him. “Galena, don’t believe your own mind. Come back to me.” He
continued his fruitless struggle with the vines that were now
cutting into his arms, wrists, and legs. He had to get to her, to
show her he was alive and well. He screamed his thoughts both
mentally and verbally toward her, willing her to sense him. Long
after his voice dimmed, he continued to scream with his mind, never
giving up. He couldn’t give up, they’d come too far. Tears
continued to spill over when he felt it. Her emotions were
changing.

Chapter
Thirty-One

Rau tapped his fingers impatiently on the arm
of his chair. Any moment, he expected his general to walk through
the doors with news of the gathering. He’d called his dark
creatures from everywhere in Tomiro and they responded with great
enthusiasm. His own excitement had grown with each new arrival.
Soon his army would be here; ready to command and the elf nation
would be no more. Haulua and he would be safe once again.

The absence of Haulua still unnerved him, but
as there was nothing he could do, he decided to continue with his
plans. He would prove to the god, his help was unnecessary. A dark
and sinister smile spread across Rau’s face. There was nothing he
loved more than war and devastation. The screams of death and pain
made him giddy and soon, very soon, the air would be filled with
the sweet music.

Dak’s presence was announced by the opening
of the great stone doors at the end of his throne room. The general
strode across the room, his long dark hair streaming behind him as
he moved quickly to bow low in front of Rau.

“My lord, they have all gathered,” he said,
his deep voice sounding muffled by the fact he was facing the
floor.

“Every dark creature in my command?” Rau
practically purred in excitement.

“Those and those who are sympathetic to your
cause,” he replied still facing the floor.

“This I must see for myself.” Rau stood and
followed his general through the stone doors and down a hallway to
another doorway. This led to a balcony placed on the highest tower
of Blackwell. The balcony encircled the tower and gave him a full
view of the entire island his kingdom dwelled on.

“Yessss,” he hissed as he beheld the mighty
image in front of him. Indeed, it was all around him. Stretching
from his castle all the way to the edges of the sea were thousands
upon thousands of dark bodies. It appeared as if the very ground
was rolling and shifting in anticipation of the great war. There
were his torlics, earagos, narooks, the tookoos, and even his
mauks. Many more creatures dotted the landscape. Many that were
never named, for how do you name fear itself?

Rau walked slowly around the tower, the image
the same in every direction that he looked and he was pleased.

“They wait for you my lord,” Dak said,
staring out into the sea of bodies as well. The clouds thundered
and lightning struck somewhere in the distance, lighting up the
monsters all around and bringing silence from all the
creatures.

“At the end of the week, you head out to
finish what was started long ago.” Rau’s voice rang out loud and
clear for miles in every direction, capturing the attention of any
and every dark creature around. It seemed to fill their minds and
make their ears ring like the thunder that sounded in the sky
above. “We have been much too lenient with the so called favorite
race of the gods. It is time we show them who is really fit to rule
this world. It is time for us to destroy every last male, female,
and child. We will not stop until we have wiped every elf off the
face of Tomiro.”

With this last declaration every beast
roared, screamed, and bellowed its approval. The castle shook with
their celebration.

Yes,
Rau thought,
in three days’
time, I will send them out and bring the elves to their
knees.

Chapter
Thirty-Two

Nothing else mattered, but Elenio’s cold,
dead body. She’d failed him. She’d failed her family. She deserved
to die. Her throat ached, but aside from that, she felt nothing.
She was numb. She didn’t want to feel anymore. Everything that had
ever mattered to her was gone.

Galena felt it before she realized what it
was. It started as a gentle nudge somewhere deep within her mind,
buried behind the overwhelming grief that had shattered her. Her
head buried on Elenio’s chest, she felt the nudge growing stronger,
more persistent. The nudge in the back of her mind became more
forceful until her mind felt like it was ringing with the
voice.

“You must go on. You have to come back to
me.”

“But you’re gone.” Galena sobbed before
pushing herself even closer to Elenio. Even in death, he called out
to her.

“Come back to me, the world you’re in is not
real. Come back to me. Find the sword and come back to me.”

Something in the words registered with Galena
and ever so slowly, she sat up, keeping Elenio’s head on her lap.
She looked around without really seeing anything before taking in
the lifeless form of her love.

The pain welled up inside her once more, but
the voice screamed in her mind, “That world is not real. Find the
sword and come back to me.”

But it looks and feels real,
Galena
thought numbly to herself. How could something that she could touch
and feel, not be real?

“Find the sword and come back to me.
Everything will be alright, just come back to me,” the voice called
to her more gently, but still with an air of command.

Galena took a deep breath and gently laying
Elenio’s head on the stone floor of the cave, she stood. This
proved to be an incredibly difficult task, more so than it had ever
been before. She felt completely and utterly drained of life.

She stood looking around for a moment before
the voice spoke yet again, “Find the sword, and come back to
me.”

Galena nodded wearily. She was broken
mentally and emotionally. There was nothing left, but that voice.
Feet shuffling, head down, she left Elenio lying in a pool of
blood, the sword still sticking up from his stomach in a grotesque
manner. She headed toward the tunnel entrance, collapsing when she
reached the opening. If she could just lie down and sleep. All she
wanted to do was sleep and never wake. She curled up in a ball,
head resting on the cold ground and closed her eyes.
I just want
to sleep and never wake up,
she thought blearily.

“GET UP,” the voice shouted, making her ears
ring with the sound. “Find the sword and come back to me.”

“Elenio, just let me sleep and join you. I
don’t want to go on, I want to sleep,” she cried out, covering her
ears from the shouting that seemed to surround her.

“NO. Get up, find the sword, and come back to
me. I am not in that cave.”

Tears streaming down her face, she got up,
each movement took a huge amount of will power. She shuffled her
way down the long tunnel, no longer caring what lie before her,
only what she had seen in the past. She saw body after body pass
before her in her mind, making the tears flow fast and hot down her
cheeks. She wiped her nose on her sleeve and thought about
stopping, only to be shouted at by the voice again.

“Please, just let me die!” she wailed as the
image of Elenio floated around in her mind. “I just want to die. I
can’t live without him.”

“No, find the sword and come back to me,” the
voice said patiently.

Galena continued to cry and she faltered many
times, but she kept heading toward the light at the end of the
tunnel. She found herself approaching the end, no longer fearing
what was in the opening. She hoped it would be something that would
finish her off.
Please be quick,
she thought numbly. She was
so tired and she didn’t want to do this anymore. How could she have
thought that she would be the one to defeat Rau? She truly was a
selfish creature.

Stepping into a somewhat smaller area than
she had yet been in, she fell to her knees, willing the secrets of
the room to finish her off. She prayed to Mira for a quick release.
However, nothing happened. The room remained quiet, waiting for her
to discover what it held.

“Galena love, look around the room. The sword
has to be there. Find it and come back to me,” the voice spoke
gently to her, making her cry harder.

She stood, and looking all around, she saw
it. It was lying across a giant bolder at the end of the room.
Walking across the room seemed to take a lifetime, but finally, she
arrived in front of it. Something in her mind registered the
plainness of the sword. It looked dull and scratched up, not a
worthy blade at all. There were no jewels to adorn the hilt,
nothing but black leather wrapped tightly around the handle. The
actual blade was the length of Galena’s arm and twice as wide. The
metal did not shine in the slightest, but sat there soaking in the
darkness of the cave.

Galena reached for the hilt and picked the
blade up easily. The sword barely seemed to weigh anything at all,
but the instant she touched it, she felt a bolt of energy course
through her, making her limbs and body tingle and her mind clear.
Holding the sword up so she could examine it better, she realized
that although it did not look like much, this blade contained a
great deal of power.

This is not the Sword of Lumina I
expected,
she thought to herself as she continued to gaze at
it. Glancing back at the boulder, she noticed a scabbard lying
there and removing her own blade and scabbard, she placed it where
the famous sword has once laid. She took care to make sure the new
sword was strapped securely to her belt. As soon as the blade was
safely strapped to her, she noticed the cave seemed lighter, almost
as if the sword really was lighting it up even though it was
sheathed.
Interesting,
she thought.