Mira's Hope (5 page)

“Your quarrel is with me,” Galena said in a
steely voice. With that, every torlic burst into flames, as Galena
stood, watching them burn to the ground.

Chapter
Six

Galena calmly walked over to Tark first for
he had many more wounds to heal. Elenio followed her with his eyes,
a look of pure joy and shock on his face. She could feel the
wondering that encompassed his mind and the love he felt for her.
The connection they’d shared before her fall had apparently been
healed too.

She bent down and taking Tark’s face in her
hands, she called to him softly, “Tark, come back. It’s not your
time yet.” She placed a hand over an ugly wound on his chest and
thought of the muscle reconnecting, holes repairing themselves, of
blood replenishing, and lastly of the skin re-growing, making him
whole once more. She did this to several more places, including the
broken ribs she felt as she passed a hand over him. Each time she
felt her magic well up in her and pass through to him, easing the
look of pain she saw etched on his face.

When she saw nothing else, she called to him
once more, “Tark, open your eyes. We’re not finished here yet.” As
she instinctively knew he would, his eyelids fluttered open. They
filled with tears when he found her eyes with his own. Sitting up
quickly, he embraced her in his arms, giving her the biggest hug
she’d ever received from him. She felt the tears on her back and
heard the choking sound of him trying to stifle those tears as he
continued to embrace her.

“I truly thought you were gone. Even as we
continued on, I didn’t think it would matter in the end.” He
squeezed her tighter still until she thought her own ribs were on
the verge of cracking.

“I missed you too big brother,” she told him
quietly. Untangling his arms from around her, she stood, and strode
over to Elenio, who continued to watch her. His breathing was much
shallower and he was a deathly gray color, but he remained alert.
Waves of sickness and pain flowed over her as they must have for
him. Galena gritted her teeth in response to a particularly nasty
twinge of pain that seemed overtake her whole torso.

“You came back,” he said in a strangled sort
of voice. He began to shake uncontrollably as shock set in. He
coughed wetly, blood oozing from his mouth. Galena crouched down
beside him. She heard Tark walk up behind her and crouched down as
well, but he seemed to be giving her space for which she was
grateful.

“You didn’t think I would leave this world
without you, did you?” Galena brushed the hair from his eyes. She
tilted her head so she could see his face more clearly. “Hold still
my love while I heal you. We’ll have time for hellos in a moment.”
As she had with Tark, she placed a hand over the gaping wound in
his stomach. She found it slightly harder to concentrate on healing
him while painful waves continued to pour through her, but she
fought on. Her magic flowed through her, healing Elenio as she’d
done with Tark. She had quite a bit more blood to replenish with
him though. When she finished, she sat back on her heels and
watched him sit up.

He kept his eyes trained on her the whole
time. She could feel the uncertainty running through his mind. She
reached out a hand and stroked the side of his face, enjoying the
texture of him. She smiled at him, hoping to prove that it was
truly her. Tears filled his eyes as he continued to stare and then
he tackled her. She was on her back with Elenio’s arms wrapped
around her and laying on top. He kissed every inch of her face,
telling her how much he loved her with every kiss. Galena didn’t
know whether to cry or laugh, so she settled on a combination of
both.

Pushing on his shoulders to encourage him to
let her up as breathing was suddenly becoming an issue; she sat up
and wiped the tears from her face.

Elenio kneeled on the ground before her, a
goofy smile spreading across his face. “You came back,” he said
again.

“No, Mira sent me back. I remember
overwhelming pain and then everything went black. I felt like I was
swimming in a void, unable to catch my breath and not wanting to. I
felt my mind slipping and I no longer cared. Then, there was her
voice. She called to me and I came rushing back.”

Elenio reached out, grabbed the nape of her
neck with one hand, and hauled her to him. They had shared a couple
of kisses, but this spoke of his gladness and love. Breaking the
kiss, he leaned his forehead against her own as he’d done so many
times before. Tark came up behind her and wrapped his arms around
her too. The three of them sat that way for some time, enjoying
their triumph.

Elenio grabbed her hands and really looking
at them for the first time since he’d placed her in the pool, he
exclaimed loudly, “Your marks are gone.”

Galena smiled at him while Tark looked over
her shoulders so he could see as well. “Mira took them away,” she
said shyly.

“If we step in the pool, will the same happen
to us?” Tark asked grabbing her hand so he could get a better look
at her clean skin. “Amazing,” he remarked, his voice filled with
awe.

“No, I asked.”

Tark released her hand as she stood up.
Elenio, however, kept a hold of her other hand, and stood with her,
his eyes trained on her through the whole process.

“I know roughly where we’re headed. And if we
want to get some distance between us and Rau, we need to get going
now.”

“You don’t think he can sense you still?”
Elenio asked as they headed to where Tark dropped their packs.

“No, but I’m sure he’ll hear of this
soon.”

“How?” Elenio asked, smugness filling his
voice as he swept an arm in the direction of all the dead torlic
bodies.

“I imagine he’ll piece it together when his
minions don’t return with their reports,” Tark said, falling in
stride with Galena.

“Either way, I have had my fill of mountain
top brawls.” Elenio reached down to grab his own pack and swinging
it onto his back exclaimed, “It’ll be nice to have only a single
pack to carry this time around. I don’t know if you realize this,
but you’re heavy when you’re not conscious.” He grinned
mischievously at Galena, taking in her murderous stare.

She glared at him for a moment and then
grinned. Elenio began to rise in the air, lifted by the wind as
Galena raised her hand, looking extremely alarmed. His cocky
expression turned into one of shock as she turned him upside down,
no less than ten feet above the ground. His pack came sliding down
and crashed into the back of his head with a resounding thump and
he had to grab his sword before it went racing to the ground
too.

“Sorry, sorry I didn’t mean it!” he cried
out.

Looking up at Elenio floating upside down,
Tark burst out laughing, practically falling over himself.

“I like this way of revenge so much better,”
Galena said, smugness radiating through her. Lowering her hand
slowly, she brought Elenio down and righted him before placing him
gently on the ground.

“I say you should learn to bite your tongue
until we’ve finished this or the next time she might send you into
a tree just to prove a point.” Tark chuckled as he wiped a tear
from his eye.

Elenio made a point of ignoring Tark while he
continued to laugh at him. “You might want to show your furry
friend that you survived. She’s been a bit off ever since
your...accident,” Elenio finished lamely. A haunted look crept over
his face with these words.

Galena felt a sadness sweep over her. She
reached for his hand and taking it in her own, squeezed it in a
reassuring way. Letting go, she bent down and opened the flap of
her pack. There, curled up in a tight ball was Twoit. She wasn’t
moving except for her rapid breaths. Galena reached in and gently
stroked the tiny creatures head. Twoit’s tiny noise began to
twitch, slowly at first and then more quickly as she recognized
Galena’s scent. She lifted her tiny head, eyes wide open, and
regarded Galena for all of a second before racing up her arm.
Galena fell back in surprise as the ferret raced around and around
her neck. She nipped Galena’s ears as she passed them, too excited
to stop for more than a quick bite. She raced down her other arm
and continued her frenzied movements while she ran circles around
Galena.

Galena laughed, finally reaching out and
grabbing her around the middle and bringing her up to her face. She
nuzzled Twoit’s head against her cheek, mumbling reassuringly to
her friend. Twoit calmed down and nibbled at Galena’s fingers
indicating that she was ready to be put down, to which Galena
complied with her unspoken request. The happy ferret scampered
away, in search of a meal.

“She’s probably hungry,” Elenio said quietly
while Tark and Galena gathered their belongings.

Tark started toward the edge of the mountain,
giving Galena and Elenio a bit of privacy.

“She just gave up. We couldn’t get her to eat
anything, but we were able to force some water down.”

Galena looked at Elenio when she felt the
heart breaking sadness wash through him once more. He had the same
haunted look on his face as he had when he first told her to check
on her pet.

“We could do more for her than we could you.”
Crossing the few remaining steps that kept them apart, he grabbed
her face in his hands, bringing her within an inch of his own. “I
never gave up. I knew you would come back to me.”

“I never doubted you would,” Galena
whispered, placing her own hands over the tops of his.

“You were dead when I put you in the pool. I
checked. I think that’s when I finally thought it was all over.”
His voice sounded hollow and Galena felt as if her own heart was
breaking with his. “I was ready to join you then, even in death.”
He stared into her eyes, willing her to understand, almost as if he
was trying to apologize for even thinking about stopping.

She reached up and very lightly kissed him.
Pulling back after a moment, she caressed his face, taking in every
minute detail and smiled. “Elenio, I could never hope to do this
without you by my side. I’m sorry for what I did to you back on the
other mountain, but I felt it was necessary.”

“Why did you have to do something that used
so much magic though?” he practically yelled, which caught Tark’s
attention.

He turned back to check on them and seeing
Elenio was still firmly on the ground, resumed his trek down the
mountain.

“Peace, my love. It wouldn’t have matter what
I did. I was so tired and hungry already. Even a slight breeze
would have pushed me too far. I knew I would have to do something
to assure that you and Tark could make it to safety with or without
me. No matter what I did, I knew I would be crossing a line and
looking at you and Tark, I was willing to do just that.”

Understanding and acceptance crossed Elenio’s
face and he mulled over what she had told him. “I blame myself. I
was too weak to do you any good and they overwhelmed us.”

“No. Don’t. There was too many altogether. No
one is to blame.” Galena felt a rush of gratitude race through her
and Elenio pulled her in for a hug.

Wrapping his arms around her shoulders, he
placed his cheek on the top of her head as he had done so many
times before. “I love you and I’m so glad you’re back.”

Smiling again, Galena wrapped her arms around
his torso and returned the hug in full force. “I’m sorry I scared
you. Again.”

Chuckling slightly, Elenio stepped back and
reaching out, he proceeded to mess her hair up as he use to in the
past. Growling, Galena kicked out at him, missing by several
feet.

“Yeah, one of these days, you’re going to
cause my heart to stop all together.” He grabbed her hand and
together, they followed Tark.

Chapter
Seven

The journey down the mountain went much
smoother with Galena able to produce water and food whenever it was
needed. She produced campfires with little effort and even cooled
them off with the occasional breeze. At one point, she decided to
fly them down the last hundred yards, saving them a day of
traveling down the mountain. This worried Elenio to the point that
Galena agreed to slow down with the magic. However, she only did so
after he threw a giant fit, demanding she be careful. He stated
they had just gotten her back and she needed to think about what
they went through during that time. She felt he was being overly
cautious though as nothing she’d done yet, caused her to break a
sweat. However, sensing now would not be the time to argue with
either of her companions; she stuck to providing food and
water.

They headed west as Mira instructed, talking
about different types of magic she might have use in the cave as
they traveled. Elenio and Tark couldn’t imagine what would be
harder than what they’d already been through, and Galena really
didn’t want to consider it at all. She would cross that bridge when
she came to it. Elenio continually asked if Galena was sure she
hadn’t misunderstood Mira, when she stated only Galena would be
able to enter the cave. He’d even gone as far as restating the
question several different ways to make sure he couldn’t catch
Galena in a lie. She seemed to think he believed she was just
trying to shield Tark and himself from harm. However, this wasn’t
true. If anything, Galena was terrified of what was to come.
Leaving behind the security she felt when she was with Tark and
Elenio made the whole thing seem ten times worse in her mind.

That night, they decided to make camp under
the cover of the trees. Galena offered to grow them a shelter, but
the other two would hear nothing of it.

“We just got you back today. Please, give us
some time to get used to you being alive and healthy. Once we see
you’re not going randomly fall over and die, or try to kill
yourself again.” Elenio scooted out of the way at this point when
Galena tried to kick him before continuing on, “Then we’ll be okay
with you using more magic.”