Bliath: Shattered (23 page)

The most regal of the four spoke, “Where is the girl?”  He accent was a bit thicker than Oren’s.

“Auta miqula orqu! She is not yours, and clearly not here Nixion.”  Oren spat at them

“Such formality with your venom Oren, don’t you remember when it was just Nix?  I know better, if she was not so close to her rightful place, you would still be a bigger horse’s ass than you are now.  So I will ask again, where is she?”  Nix’s tone matched his tone, and both were anything but noble. 

Both Vance and Oren starred down Nix and his men, daring them to prove them wrong.

Nix made a motion with his hand, “Ela sen,”

The other three elves started to surround Oren and Vance.Vance focused on creating energy spheres in the palm of his hand, he knew if they had any chance at walking out of here, or at least Fera getting out of here, he needed to control his emotion, and not lose his temper.

If possible Nix’s maniacal smile widened, “Oh, what do we have here, she found her Elemental Prince.”  Nix called out, “Oh Princess, I think you will want to show yourself.  You see, we have ways of dealing with Elementals, and though it will cause me nothing but joy, your friend here will be in pain that you cannot comprehend.” 

Fera did not move, she wanted to, she wanted to scream out, but she couldn’t move.  Vance let one of his spheres loose and aimed it at the elf on his right, the elf dropped to the ground as tremors racked his body. 

“Well looks like we will do this another way, most unfortunate.  I thought you would want to see your Grandmother, Princess, have they poisoned your mind against us?  And you Oren, I thought you would be more than happy to deliver her, so you could put this all behind you with nothing but time served. As for you Elemental, that was rude, Thornin did nothing to you. Princess, you were warned.  Templa en' tessa lova termara en' temple” Nix’s tone was scolding as if they were children that needed to learn a lesson.

Fera could tell that energy was released, and she heard something hit the ground, and heard gasping and gargling sounds, what she could not see that it was Vance, and Nix was slowly draining the life force out of him.

“Nix, enough. You are killing him.” Oren said with a more civil tone now that he was in a very bad spot.

Nix laughed, “As soon as you come out princess I will stop draining the life out of him. Oh dear Fera, he is not looking well at all.”

As tears rolled down Fera’s face, she knew she could not let Vance suffer and or die for her.  She knew she would meet her grandmother, but why would her grandmother send someone like him to collect her? She took a deep breath and stood up. 

“Fera, No!”  Oren was beside himself that she showed herself.  What was she thinking?

She took a few shaky steps forward, “Stop, stop hurting him.  Please stop.”

Nix released Vance from the spell, leaving him a shell on the floor, and walked over to Fera.  “Aw, now there’s a good girl. I see you are upset, and have been run ragged by your companions here, but I see what all the fuss is about. You are definitely lovely, and you look like the morning sun all aglow right now.” Arrogance dripping from his voice.

Fera refused to look up.   Nix reached out for her, Oren stepped between them, he did not care what happened to him but, he knew what Nix was capable of and it was anything but good.

“Lle naa haran e' nausalle! You will not touch her! She is your Princess and you are not to touch her.”  Oren spat at Nix.

Fera’s head snapped up.  Oren was not on Nix’s side if he talked to him like that.  Maybe he is part of the resistance? She knew they were in trouble and Vance did not look good, he still wasn’t moving. Oren had her sword, she couldn’t get Vance’s he was half on it. She needed to stall Nix until she could figure something out.

Fera spoke, carefully choosing her words, “Nixion, why ambush us if you just wish to take me to my Grandmother?  How do we know you have not turned on her and working for the resistance?”

“The same could be said for you Princess, why did you hide, and your guards greet us with force?”  Nix threw back at her.

Fera was beginning to understand that Nix was playing the game of evasion, and side stepped Oren.  The one thing she learned from playing cards with the staff at home was how to bluff.  “Clearly I am heading to my rightful home, I did not bring an army with me, and if you know so much you will know we are trying to outrun the resistance. My guards did not attack you, but hid me to assess the situation, and you are in no place to issue demands to me. As far as I know and am concerned, you are a nothing.  Someone sent to get information, because they are easily expendable.”  She tried to put as much superiority in her tone as she could muster.

Nix was clearly taken back, and Oren seized the opportunity and flooded Fera’s mind,

“Listen you have to cast it’s our only chance, and it has to be directed at Nix, I will take out the other guard and then we run.   Pelekta yassen I' handele  say that but focus on Nix and release a small amount of energy then stop or you will risk yourself.  Nod if you understand.”

He saw Fera nod out of the corner of his eye, as she let a hiccup slip out, she was upset, but trying to keep it contained to the best of her ability.

Fera felt the added pressure in her head, but she understood Oren, and if it helped her and Vance get out, then so be it. But she didn’t want anything to do with Oren. That cut hurt too much for her to bear, it made her feel like she had lost everything.  She readied herself, not knowing what she would do, just hoping she would not kill Nix. That Oren would not put her in the position to do so. She pushed the energy into her right hand, the one that bore the mark. 

Chapter 34

The events that occurred next will forever be a blur in Fera’s memory. She saw Nix ready himself, she could feel he was shifting power in himself, it was nowhere near as great as hers, but still she could feel its pulsing movement.

“Now Fera, I can feel what you are doing.   Here I thought you were untrained, your magic kept from you.  Think through what you are doing - I would hate to see you get hurt, or one of your friends here.”  Nix was addressing her much like you would an insolent child.

“If you use magic on the Princess, Nixion, you would be tried for treason, and held accountable for your actions, no matter your rank, even if she attacked you. What game are you playing Nix?”  Oren interrupted. 

A cold smile graced Nix’s face, “You make an excellent point Oren, why cause her physical damage, when emotional works so much better.”  With that he turned his palm to Vance, who was still in a ball on the ground.  “Quanta yassen 'kshapsa.”

Vance’s body tensed then shuttered, Fera didn’t know what he did or what to do, but she knew it could not be good, “What did you do to him?”  She demanded.

“He poisoned him, it will spread slowly until he dies.”  Oren was horrified that Nix did that, but he knew his ruthlessness all too well.

“Take it back now!” Fera shouted, she didn’t realize how much energy she had built up, she was quivering with fear, angry, and some many things at once.  Nix was right - emotional attacks were worse, but what he had not considered the repercussions of it could be much worse.

Nix glared at Fera he was losing his patience with her, “Not until you come with me.  I give him less than a day there pet, and the pain will only get worse.”

As if Nix planned it, Vance let out a low moan that clearly noted to something being wrong.  In that moment Fera lost it, she lost her temper, her control, before she even knew what she was doing her hand went up, “Pelekta yassen I' handele!” The effect was immediate, Nix dropped to his knees, his hands griped his head, and he was turning bright red.  His screams finally escaped his mouth, they jolted Oren out of his shock, and knocked out the remaining guard, who was still immobilized in bewilderment. 

Fera was still locked in the spell, Oren said her name a few times, than yelled it, she was going to kill herself and Nix if she did not stop.  He grabbed her shoulder nothing, then without thinking, he wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her close, invading her mind, “
Fera, stop, you have to let go, you don’t want him to die, that is not who you are, just let go
.”  His thoughts were frantic hoping they would sink in.

Fera shut it down and shoved Oren away as she crumpled to the ground, blood flowing from her nose, and desperately trying to remain coherent.  “You don’t get to touch me, you are worse than a stranger!”  She panted through strained breaths. Her hands clawed the ground in frustration.  “What now, are you going to drag me to my grandmother to get some kind of validation?  Was this all it was- a job?  You know what I don’t want to know.” She spat the words out at Oren, they sounded as bitter as they tasted. “How do I help Vance? I can’t lose him!” She shuttered the words out, more to herself.

Her words pained Oren like no other, how could he ever make her understand.  He was forming a plan, one that he hoped would buy her time.  She was walking into something she could possibly not understand.  “I know it is impossible for you to trust me, but there is another side to what you perceive, I am going to take you across the veil into the Elven realm, we will find him a healer and before you argue, the more time you waste the worse he gets, and you are too weak to fight me, I am going to put both of you on his horse and we are going to go.” 

Fera could no longer prop herself up, her arms betrayed her and gave way, she sunk to the ground, helplessly watching as Oren gathered everything together. Vance let out a low moan as he was placed on his horse.  Fera tried to push herself up, but could not gather the strength. Oren was at her side, and picked her up before she could even process what was going on.  She let out a long sigh, snuggled against him, she felt safe.  Then it clicked in her brain that Oren had her in his arms, “I told you not to touch me!” she whispered.

“How do you plan on getting on the horse and getting out of here, if you can’t even sit up?  This will be easy, just lean forward on Vance and hold the reins, she knows to follow me, so just stay low, and you will keep your balance.  When we get to a safe point, I will stop and fill you in, and reassess the situation.”  Oren releasing a pent up sigh of his own, his frustration over flowing, “Fera, pretend all you want, but you feel it too.”

Fera ignoring his last statement nodded, as he lifted her on the horse as if she weighed nothing, then settling a pack behind her.  He had two other packs on his back and her sword in his hand.  It made Fera wonder what they were leaving behind, and what they were heading into.  “Will Nix be ok?”  She weakly asked as the left the huge tree.

“Yes, he will be out for a few hours just enough to give us a good head start.  Ok, we are going to move faster now, so head down and just rest. You need it.”  Oren was sure she didn’t cause any real damage to Nix. After all, the training Elite Elves went through was far worse, and prepared them for such mental attacks - a shiver went up his spine thinking about his past.  It was still dark out, but between the glow Fera was giving off and the moonlight, he knew they could be spotted easy enough and needed to pick up the pace.

As Oren broke into a light jog, he felt Fera brush against his mind,
“Oren, will it be safe for us, to go there, I mean to cross the veil, into the Elven realm, will we be ok, I just, it is just, my grandmother is going to help right?” 
Even her thoughts were shaky and unsure.

“Help A’mael comes in many forms for many reasons, it is more about seeing things for what they are, and not how you think they should be.  Going into the realm will be as natural as breathing for you.  A guardian will appear and ask about Vance, for he has no Elven blood in him, but I know what to say. Please rest.”
  Oren sounded tired but tried to keep a light tone so not to worry her any more than he could feel she was already. 

Blood dripped from Fera’s nose again, she felt a dizzying pull of sleep tugging at her, and gave in to a semi-comatose state, leaning against Vance.