DESCENDANTS (THE DESCENDANTS SAGA) (7 page)

-14-

A
loud cracking sound resonated off the rock walls. Not knowing what had happened, Sollara looked to the guard for some sort of understanding. His eyes rolled back in his head, and a trail of blood streamed down his face. He loosened his grip and Sollara was able to wiggle free. While doing so she noticed that the top of his head was bleeding and a rock jutted out of his skull. Glancing up, she saw Lark flying above, bobbing his head and flapping his wings

“Thanks!” she whispered. It took but a moment for her to grab the guard's sword, and then she turned and ran after the Lark.

When the other guards came upon their colleague's broken body, Sollara heard shouting and the sound of many boots coming fast from behind.

All she could do was concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other. Luckily, Sollara and Lark had lost some of the guards at various turns they had passed, but from the consistent sound of boots on stone, they knew at least two were still trailing behind.

“Lark, I can't keep going, go without me
—
go tell Asima I couldn't do it,” she panted as she jerked to a stop. He came around and started flying into her back, pushing her forward one step at a time.

“Ouch, please stop. I am done. I have no strength left in me!” she wailed, no longer caring at how loudly she spoke.

Lark did not listen but continued ramming her forward
,
step after step
. One of the jolts pushed Sollara into a stream of natural light that peeked through a crack in the rock. Just touching the light caused electricity to course th
rough her body and feed her
much-needed energy. She felt the urge to run, which was matched by her body’s growing strength. She took off in a sprint with the relieved Lark leading the way.

They were getting closer to the surface. She could feel a cool breeze coming toward them. It felt wonderful dancing over her sweaty skin.

The feeling of victory and freedom caused her senses to dull and her heightened need to run to lessen. She stopped running and took in the sights around her. Reaching up, she brushed her fingers through a trickle of water that ran down the rock.

Lark flew frantically and started ramming into the front of her body, pushing her back into the cave.

“Stop that, you are hurting me. Lark stop. You are pushing us back!” Defiantly she dug her feet in, refusing to budge. That was when she heard the new sound of heavily padded feet and a deep-throated growl.

Her body was first to react; her heart beat faster, her lungs were harder to fill. Even though she was afraid of what was before her, separating her from freedom, she had to look. And when her
gaze
met the bright yellow eyes of a large Hellhound, she screamed.

Stumbling backwards, she clawed at the ground trying to find something to help her up. The hound pressed ever nearer. This was it; she was so close to freedom, and now she was going to die. Lark dove into her side, gaining her attention, and then flew out an opening in the side of the cave. She struggled to her feet and began climbing the side of the wall following after him.

There was no need to turn around to see if the hound was close. She could smell his putrid stench and hear his loud breathing. Finding the last of her courage to fuel her climb, she made it to the opening and pulled herself out. The grey claws of the beast pulled at her leg, threatening to drag her back down. She kicked at him and caught him square in the jaw. Yellow teeth snarled and snapped at her as the beast tried to shove his large muzzle through the opening.

With the guard’s sword, Sollara swung at the beast and caught his jaw. He howled in pain and pulled his head back into the cave. Sollara turned and ran, knowing she only had a few moments to gain an advance. Her best chance of freedom now was flight not fight.

Even though she had seen it before, the beauty of the sky was still so raw for her. It was how she pictured the afterlife to be
— so
full of endless possibilities and wonders that no one would ever be able to see and do everything. The splendor of it was almost enough to stop her in her tracks. But she knew she had to keep going; she needed to taste freedom before she could truly enjoy beauty.

The blur of blue skies, green trees, and large boulders swirled around her as she ran down the slopes of the mountain. They were now descending what had taken them the last few hours to climb.

She ran behind Lark until the sky started changing colors. The breathtaking beauty of it stopped her. She had read about sunsets but never had imagined them to be so alive. The thought of losing light seemed so depressing
—
like her life had been in the Deep Kingdom. But this was not at all what she had imagined it to be. She climbed up one of the nearby boulders, scouring the area to see if the guards had followed them. When she couldn't see anyone, she allowed herself to mentally relax, crouching down for extra precaution.

The sky turned from light blue to hues of pink, then exploded in an array of every color imaginable. Sollara thought whatever god was tasked to paint the evening sky was a genius. It was more beautiful than any of the original works of art adorning the walls of the Deep Kingdom.

Her senses were working overtime. Everywhere she looked she was s
urprised to see something new
—
n
ew tastes, new sounds, new smells. She wondered how people got anything done when such beauty surrounded them. The darkness overtook the light, and soon the starry sky was glistening before her very eyes. She didn't know which sky was more striking, the one of day or the one of night. As she watched she started to cry, overwhelmed by the beauty of it all. Tears came as she lay back and fell under the immensity of the sky.

She laughed as she wondered what someone would think if they saw her sprawled on the top of a boulder crying.

Lark rested next to her on the branch of a tree that hung over a portion of the rock. He twitched his head from side to side as he watched the vast collection of her expressions.

“Isn't it just so beautiful?” she asked.

The Lark didn’t budge at the question but stayed nestled into the nook of a branch and stared down at her.

“I can’t wait to see Asima.”

He perked up his head and tilted it toward her, as if the mention of Asima had upset him. She was going to ask him what happened between them, but a question that had been at the forefront of her mind interrupted her train of thought.

“Do you have a name? Or should I keep calling you Lark?”

In a flash he flew off the branch. She was concerned at first and thought about going after him. Almost as quickly as he left he returned holding small twigs in his beak. With a focused concentration he meticulously set them down and arranged them on the rock. When he was finished with his work, he looked to her and then looked to his masterpiece as if to tell her something. He nudged his head in the direction of his twigs. She moved closer so she could get a better look at what he had made. There before her on the boulder was the word Kai.

“Your name is Kai?”

He chirped and flapped his wings as if to say ‘Finally!’

“What a beautiful name! I’ll try my best to remember to call you that, although it will be hard to train myself not to call you Lark,” she teased. “Where to now?  Sleeping on a rock is
n’t really a good option for me.
I like to toss and turn.”

He motioned with his head to the area behind her. And when she turned, she saw the dim lights of small buildings dotting the hills not too far from where they were.

“This is so exciting! I’ll get to see real people and a real city. Oh, how romantic. I’ve dreamed of going somewhere like this for so long.”

She quickly climbed down the boulder and headed in the direction of the lights. The closer they got, the louder a strange sound became. Sollara glanced around her, worried about what could be causing the noise. They passed through the last of the trees and into an open clearing. There they saw the creators of the mysterious sound.

“Sheep!” she yelled, giddy with excitement as she clumsily climbed a fence to go pet them. Kai fluttered behind. The clanging bells on the collars of the sheep had caused her mystery sound. She was excited for two reasons: one, to have cracked the mystery and two, she wanted so desperately to run her fingers through their woolly coats. She tried frantically to catch one so she could do just that, but they kept running away.

After several failed attempts, Sollara flopped to the ground exhausted, crossed her arms and legs and pouted in foolish frustration. Kai was obnoxiously chirping and hopping on the ground. It sounded to her like a hysterical fit of bird laughter, taunting her failed attempt.

             
A gentle nudge distracted her from her inner turmoil, and she looked down to see a little ewe nuzzle into the nook of her arm. She shot an “I told you so” look at Kai before turning back to the baby ewe. Her fingers made their way to its head and rubbed down the neck of the lamb. Its coat was surprisingly coarse. With a sense of peace and great contentment, Sollara played with the lamb until Kai once again started flying into her back, pressing them to keep moving. She reluctantly said goodbye and followed after him.

It wasn’t long before they came to a large wooden sign that had the painted word, Atxondo.

Atxondo was picturesque. From what she could see in the twilight, it had rolling, tree-covered hills, and every now and then there would be a quaint little home or farm outbuilding. Sheep were scattered across the fields, and other than the sound of their bells, it was quiet. Almost every building they passed was adorned with beautiful scalloped woodwork and paintings of flowers.

They soon came upon a large stone building by the side of the road. The surface of the old building was covered in warm, earth-toned stones that had been washed smooth by time. A large, arched double door was centered perfectly at the building’s front. The brown wooden windows were accented with dark brown painted shutters and a clay-tiled roof. To Sollara it was perfect, what she had always imagined a home should look like.

The large sign on the front said, “Goikoa Inn.”

“Please Lark. Err, uh, Kai, please can we stay here?” He answered her by flying towards the door. She was so happy that she skipped after him.

-15-

K
ai waited outside while Sollara ventured into the Inn. The excitement over staying in such a quaint place took away any fear she had about her first human interaction since leaving the Deep Kingdom. On top of that, the inside was even better than the charming exterior. It had been renovated, but they had left some of the original country details like raised ceilings and exposed wooden beams.

She looked up in awe at the large lanterns hanging from the ceiling. She wondered why they had candle flames that did not flicker.

“Can I help you?” asked a tall, handsome gentleman, his dark curly hair and rich brown eyes distracting her from looking around at all the new sights. He was speaking a strange dialect of Spanish. Sollara thanked the Fates that she had excelled in her studies of languages.

“Yes please, I would like a room for the evening,” she replied. Her Spanish was rusty and her accent horrible, but he understood.

“You're not from around here are you?” he questioned,
replying to her in English and
his eyes never leaving her face.

“What gives you that idea? Was
it my bad accent or my dazed and confused expression?” she laughed, wondering if her sense of humor would translate through the language barrier.

He chuckled and went behind the desk.
Smiling at her before grabbing
a key
off a wall and leaving
to prepare her a room. As he left, he shouted something she did not understand, and an older gentleman sauntered out of the back room and up to the desk.

“It will be thirty Euros for the night, miss,” the older man said. He was obviously drunk as his words were slurred together. It reminded her of Sugoi and how he got after a few too many drinks; she did not miss that man. The older gentleman eyed her expectantly. Had he asked for something? She couldn’t quite remember and felt silly for letting her imagination distract her.

Replaying his words she realized why he waited and had a brief anxiety attack. It frustrated her that she hadn’t even thought of money. She had read somewhere that the Surface countries use currency to get things, and she didn’t have any. Then she remembered the Spanish coins that were in the pile she had pulled off the library table.

Opening her bag, she reached into the bottom and retrieved a handful of the treasures. His eyes went wide when he saw her searching through the gold and silver coins in her hand. When she had found the two 1350 Pedro silver Spanish reales that she was looking for, she tossed the others back into the bag.

“Sir, I do not have any Euros on me at the moment, but would you takes these coins in their place?” Struggling through her Spanish she slid her hand up to the counter and plopped down the two coins.

He grabbed the coins, flipping them over in his hands and examining them. Bringing one to his mouth, he bit the sides of it and looked at her curiously. “This is not enough. But I will be nice and take these as well as a few others you have,” he slurred. Sollara was about to get him more coins when the handsome gentleman returned. He took the two silver reales out of the other man’s hand, meriting him a glare, looked them over, and then turned to her.

“Where did you get these?” he asked.

“Oh… my mother has many of them; she gave me a few for my holidays,” she stuttered through her lie.

“She just gave them to you?” His mouth dropped and his eyes were fixated on the coins.

“I'm sorry I don't have any Euros, and I really need a place to stay. I can give you something else. Please I....”

“No, you misunderstand me; you cannot give us these coins. These are invaluable. They should be in a museum. They are worth a small fortune.”

The older man glar
ed at him and stomped to the back room.

“I don't understand,” she mumbled
.

“I’m sorry about that. It seems my uncle finds it appropriate to steal from young women in order to gain his early retirement,” he joked, as he handed her back the reales.

“But, if you will not accept them, then how will I pay you?” Sollara asked.

He could see the fear on her face and smiled. She was beautiful, unlike any girl he had ever seen, but her fashion was dated. She wore a dress that looked like it had been made in the fifties. But for some reason, on her the dress was very attractive.

“Nonsense, you can stay the night for free, and I would be honored to have you join me for dinner. I will have to tell you what to do with these coins before you go around town making everyone rich with your unknowing generosity.” He hoped his words would buy him more time with the beautiful creature that had entered his inn.

They both laughed,
the stranger out of finding her delightfully entertaining and Sollara out of relief. S
he followed him up to the room. When she opened the door, she stumbled and took a step back.

He reached around her and flipped something on the wall that made the room light up.

“What did you do?” she asked in awe as she stared at the lantern on the ceiling and the one next to the bed.

“I turned the lights on,” he said quizzically, studying her face.

Her cheeks blushed as she realized that this might be normal on the Surface, yet she had never seen anything like it. Hesitantly, she let her curiosity take over and explained what was on her mind. “Where I am from we do not have such things; we have lanterns with fire that light up our rooms.”

“Ah
, well here we use electricity. You must be from a small town,” he said as he tried to piece together understanding. She seemed to walk out of the past and into his world. “Let me show you,” he said as he walked over to a lamp and unscrewed a light bulb, causing the room to darken. She stared wide-eyed at the magical light source in his hand. “This is a light bulb, and with electricity it makes light,” he explained as he screwed it back in, and once again the room lit up.

She smiled and went over to the switch, turning it up and down, making the lights flicker on and off. “So this makes the electricity go to the bulb?” she asked.

“Yes,” he smiled at her childlike pleasure for something so simple as a light switch. “Do you like your room?” he asked changing the subject.

“It’s… it's just… like out of a dream. I’ve never seen a room that suits me better,” she admitted.