Belvedor and the Four Corners (Belvedor Saga Book 1) (45 page)

Arianna sat back on her knees and placed her head in her hands. “It’s no use,” she said. “The only one who can fix her is… her.”

She felt a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Sure about that?” said Demetrius with a confused look on his face.

Arianna looked up, praying he knew a quick fix for their friend. Glancing at Lessa’s limp figure, she jumped to her feet. “How could I forget?” she said, grinning from ear to ear.

Lessa’s small, yet loyal, companion positioned himself at her feet. Placing his silver-lined paws on her injured skin, a familiar glow emanated as Sano’s tail twitched behind him. The light became brighter and brighter as the opened flesh began to stitch back together. After a moment, he dropped his paws and curled into Lessa’s lap, the powerful glow vanishing. An iridescent scar replaced the gash at her ankle, and Arianna watched as the color of health returned to her skin.

Lessa fluttered her eyelids open, groaning as her hand came to rest on Sano. “Thanks buddy,” she said before her eyes drooped close once more.

Arianna smiled. Lessa was in good hands.

“How can—” said Jeom. “Did the monkey just heal her? The wound is completely gone!” Jeom’s eyes bulged from his head.

“Sano is an avatar,” said Arianna, repeating the words Talis had once spoken. She pulled off her cloak and balled it into a plush pillow for Lessa.

Jeom’s brow furrowed, not sure if he really wanted to know. “What’s an avatar?” he asked slowly.

Arianna shrugged as she positioned her friend on the makeshift pillow. She had no idea how to answer, and even if she did, she knew Jeom wouldn’t believe her. Her mind flashed to her last moments with Liam and the shock of Sano’s astounding talent. So many questions ran through her mind then, but now she had learned to restrain herself from demanding too many answers at once. She accepted the odd realities as they were and would figure out the why later on. “Everything’s a riddle now, and they’re impossible to solve all at once. Just leave it for now,” she said with pleading eyes.

Jeom looked ready to go on another tangent. He closed his eyes and balled his fists as he let a big puff of air escape his lips. “You know something?” he said. “I don’t even want to know. Will she be alright?” He bent down to examine Lessa’s new, iridescent scar.

“She’ll be fine,” said Arianna, smoothing out Lessa’s hair as she slept. “I’ve seen this happen before.”

Jeom came to sit by their side, and Demetrius plopped down by Lessa’s feet to lean again the door.

The mood began to lift then as the three replayed the day’s events, each one made a hero with their boastful words. Too tired to eat or drink, one by one, they drifted into a much needed sleep, huddled around the comforting protection of each other.

“Freedom must be earned,” Arianna whispered before her mind thrust into darkness.

The ashen face of the mountain blocks out the night sky as I stand staring at the face in the mirror. This is my face, but I am not her. The woman from the mirror laughs a sweet laugh as she steps forth from the frame. I stumble backwards, falling to the ground as she glides across the snow, seeming to never touch the ground. Looking up into her face, I see my own.

A cloak of crimson silk drapes around her shoulders, and tendrils of long hair hang past her chest. She’s holding a dagger in one hand. I know this dagger, my dagger. I stand to face her… to face me.

She looks so strong, stronger than I, and I know I cannot defeat her if I must. As she smiles a soft smile, I relax a bit. My smile… her smile is reassuring.

I open my mouth to speak, and she steps forward as if to welcome my questions, but my words become lost as I feel something burning in my stomach. The dagger, my dagger is buried there. The girl from the mirror pulls it from my flesh, and I fall forward towards her outstretched arms. I think
she will catch me, but I go through her. Into the mirror, I fall.

My body is numbed again from the cold, the icy floor keeping me frozen in place. Blood pours from all around, painting the white floor a muddied red. I want to scream, but my voice is hiding, always hiding.

The shadows roll and thicken as if a dark cloud of smoke has emerged from the ground. Then I hear a hiss echoing throughout the air. I watch as silky black cobras slither through the new fallen snow. They come in a wave out of the shadows as if beseeched by Blancoren itself. I want to laugh, knowing they probably were.

The smoky shadow becomes denser now, bowling across the ground. It moves towards me, and wavy black lines dot the white snow behind it, the snakes racing after the shadow. The procession comes to
a halt only a few feet away, and long velvet robes melt out of the smoke. Someone is here. Something…

An ominous figure stands before me.

It’s all I can muster to tilt my head upwards to see as black robes skim the snow in a train behind a hooded man. Monster? He is covered from head to toe, his face in the shadows. Does he have a face at all? Suddenly, he steps forward. His boot collides with my chin. It’s agonizing, but still I cannot move. The man sighs as my howl fills the silence. He likes this I think. He steps across me, and I want to look away. I see only this monster.

The hiss is louder now. The snakes are by my ears, and they circle me like prey.

Tilting his head low, the man, this devil, wants me to see his eyes, black eyes on pale skin. They are all I can see… soulless and dark. He is still just a shadow, a monster of the shadows straddling me.

His voice fills my ears, and the sound is nauseating. Then the snakes attack.

My nerves scream in pain as they burrow inside of me with their fangs. The pain starts to sear, my skin melting with the snow as the snakes cling like leeches to my skin. 

The mountains blur in and out, and the figure melts back into the smoky shadows leaving me to fade away too.

He is gone, but I still feel him here. His laughter echoes everywhere.

Arianna’s eyes flew open, and she pushed herself to a seated position as her chest heaved up and down. Everyone else still slept, and she felt groggy and sore. The dream lingered in her mind and grew more blurred with the passing seconds. She tried to cling on to the face of her nightmare, but as usual, the detail faded.

She shook her head and wrapped her arms around her body, cold without her cloak. “How long have we been sleeping?” she murmured to herself.

“Too long,” said Jeom, startling her with a growling yawn.

Lessa and Demetrius stirred as the noise broke the silence, and they all sat up from their make-shift beds.

“How do you feel?” asked Demetrius to Lessa.

She rubbed at her ankle with a quizzical expression etched across her face.

“I feel… fine.” She unfurled Arianna’s robes and handed them back to her. “A little sore I suppose. What has happened?” she said cautiously.

“Sano happened,” said Arianna, glancing at the moon-eyed monkey in Lessa’s lap.

Lessa’s lips formed an ‘O
’
and spoke nothing more on the subject. She pulled Sano close, rocking him at her chest.

Everyone tried to put off their next adventure a little longer. Lessa started tending to the minor wounds they had all received, and Arianna opened their bags, arranging the rest of their provisions out on the ground before them. She uncorked a water jug and passed it around, not bothering with glasses. Everyone took a long drink and began to eat in silence, passing Sano scraps of leftovers. Feeling rejuvenated after being fed and watered, they stood to stretch their legs.

“Now, how do we get out of here?” said Jeom, breaking the momentary peace. “Any thoughts?”

Lessa pouted and Arianna’s eyes shifted away as the boys looked at the girls for answers. “How should we know?” said Lessa.

Frustrated, Arianna picked up a large black pebble from the few that lay scattered on the ground. She skimmed it across the still waters as she used to in her secluded hot springs. The pebble hopped across the water, but, on the third jump, it landed with a thud. She moved to the edge of the lake to see what could have made such a noise.

Arianna gaped, staring at the smooth, black pebble sitting on top of the clear water as if it sat upon a mirror.

“How in the world?” said Lessa.

Jeom scooped up three more rocks and tossed them far across the lake. Two landed with a splash as expected, but the other collided with something invisible like before. The four looked at each other, nodding. One by one, they began chucking stones all over the lake. Water splashed and sprayed all around, but many of the stones remained visible on some unseen surface.

Lessa picked up one more rock and tossed it to the water, as close to the edge as possible. The sound ricocheted as it hit another solid surface. The four kneeled down to examine this one, but they could only see the reflection of the jade ceiling encircling the stone.

“Look,” said Lessa. “The water is moving here.” She pointed away from the pebble.

“And?” said Arianna, trying to figure out the riddle of the pebbles.

“And it’s not here,” said Lessa, pursing her lips. “We disturbed the water with the rocks, but the ones that are still visible are sitting on top of clear, still water. I think they are invisible stepping stones or something of the sort.” She ran a hand through her hair, unsure of her conclusion.  

Arianna had the decency to look apologetic. “I see now,” she said as she stared harder. Each invisible surface where a pebble could be seen never moved, but the water rippled everywhere else. “You must be right!”

“No, no, no!” said Jeom. “I know what you girls are getting at. Every time you get that look on your face, we end up risking our lives. I’m not going out there on the basis of the
invisible stepping stones
.” He waved his hands in the air.

“What else do we do?” said Demetrius, surveying the lake.

“We go back!” Jeom turned to the door behind them, trying to yank it open. Of course, it didn’t budge, and a low grumble rolled out of his mouth in a string of curses.

“Onward then!” said Lessa, patting him on the back. She couldn’t help but feel happy after surviving another close-call. She stepped off the platform into the water with Sano on her shoulder, and everyone ran forward to try and catch her as a reflex.

Two feet in the lake, she stood above the water. When she looked down, she could see her reflection in the mirrored surface, and she gave it a light tap with her foot. The sound reverberated through the jade cavern, and her face lit up in wonderment.

The four peered over the edge to see Lessa safe and sound.

“What has the world come to,” said Jeom as he tightened his robes around him.

Demetrius looked quite worried too, and he gripped his scythe as if it could provide safety from the watery depths. “After you,” he said, ushering Arianna forward.

With the girls leading the way, they all began to walk on water, onward towards their goal.