Silent Orchids (The Age of Alandria: Book One) (16 page)

Cley-una gasped, feeling an evil stir. “They are coming for her.” She looked around at the others. “We must find a way to get through to Daegan.” There was desperation in her voice.

“The time is now. He is coming to us,” the same monotone voice floated from the back of the group. “The words of the prophecy are coming to life. Let them help us break through.”

One man in particular, a large Ferrishyn dressed in warrior’s garb from an earlier time, stepped forward. His long black hair was pulled back in a knot at the nape of his neck, a torque around one bicep and his mark on the other. Broad and muscular, he stood regal and authoritative, his eyes focused.

“Together. Now. We must focus all our energies on the words of the prophecy. Our time of restlessness is almost over. Our time of being silenced is being brought to an end and our voices will once again be heard. This darkness will suffer the light.” He paused, looking at each individual, infusing them with strength and courage, willing them to remember who they were as he extended his sword outward toward his fellow captives. “We will not be stopped in death as in life. We are the Orchids. The new age of Alandria has begun. We will be silenced no more!” He struck the ground, driving his sword deep into it.

Chapter Eighteen

Daegan needed direction. He took a watchful post in the only tree he could find that gave him direct sight of Kaeleigh’s apartment. In this realm, his powers were limited, but sitting in this tree, he could feel the earth’s energy pulsing within it. He felt more himself sitting invisible to the world around him perched up in the tree. He would protect her. He knew she was the one—the Sol-lumieth—whether she believed it or not. He had now given his word—and that meant something to him. He could also not deny that he felt something shifting in the air, a slight stirring that no one but perhaps himself in this realm would even notice. The kind of stirring caused when the gates between realms were opened. There were rumored to be more gates than the one that he had entered through, it was just the only one he was aware of. He had a sense that his presence might be needed again soon, but this time he planned on being there in time to act. He tried once more to connect with the Orchids.

A storm of red stains the skies of Alandria 

The darkness brings cleansing to a world run thick 

with confusion and conspiracy. 

Behold, a union of strength rises. 

Mystery comes with strength and compassion. 

The shadow gives way as the Orchids bloom. 

Seats of power are set to the right. 

As things once held in sleep and night 

Have now crossed over.

Awake, Alandria! 

The sword is upon you. 

There is hope in the hidden, 

Destiny revealed in the unknown.

Awake. 

Daegan heard the whispered voices in unison chanting what he assumed had to be the ancient prophecy he was told about. Over and over again the whispered chants rang in his mind until Daegan, hands clutching his head to keep it from exploding, couldn’t take it anymore and yelled out loud, “Silence!” A man a block away turned to see where the shout had come. He could not see Daegan, but apparently he could hear him.

Daegan couldn’t think straight.
What is going on?
Instantly, the thought ran through his mind: The Orchids. They
were
speaking to him. The words of the prophecy cycled through his head. This time he controlled it. He paid attention to the words, tried to make sense of them. There was sadness and despair in the undertones of the voices, but as the chant went on they gained strength... and hope. As Daegan reflected upon what his part could be, for the first time in a long time, he dared to believe... and to hope.

All was silent again in his head, just in time for the whisperings of the wind to carry the last words he heard the Orchids speak, “They are coming for her.” And with it the faintest scent of something familiar danced past Daegan’s nose. He inhaled deeply then exhaled with a sigh. The smells of Alandria. Home. But also danger. Then he heard the crack of thunder from a stormless sky.

A gate had opened.

Instantly, his defenses were up. He got that prickly feeling that made the hairs on the back of his neck bristle right before danger or right before he had to carry out one of Maleina’s sentences on someone undeserving. It felt...
wrong
. Daegan jumped down out of the tree from the highest branch. It was a high jump, but not for him. No longer invisible to this realm, he startled the man on the corner that thought he was alone when Daegan landed without any effort and ran past him. Drawing a knife that was sheathed at his wrist, he ran up the stairs to Kaeleigh’s apartment and without knocking, he flung the door open.

“What the...?” Finn shouted as he grabbed Kaeleigh and shoved her behind him. At the same time Kaeleigh shouted, “Oh my god, Daegan!”

“We don’t have time for pleasantries or explanations. Others have come. I will not let harm come to her,” Daegan said as he strode into the room extending his knife.

Finn turned toward Daegan, keeping himself between Kaeleigh and who he viewed as the potential danger:
Daegan
.

Kaeleigh gripped Finn’s arm from where she stood behind him. “Finn, stop this. Daegan has already proven he’s not here to hurt me.” She looked at Daegan. “Daegan, this is Finn.”

Finn, never taking his eyes off of Daegan, said with sarcasm, “You’re going to protect her with that little knife?”

Daegan stared intently at Finn, then with a small smirk he replied, “This knife has been through a lot, but no, not just this...” He slipped out from under his other sleeve a second knife. He twirled them both around effortlessly and fluidly in his hands almost like a choreographed performance. “If those don’t work, I also have this,” and from where it must have been sheathed under his jacket at his back, he reverently pulled out a very wickedly dangerous-looking sword with some kind of runes etched into the hilt. It was lethal and magnificent and
otherworldly
. 

There was a glint in Finn’s eyes as he took in the weaponry, nodding his approval even though he knew Daegan didn’t wait for it. He pulled out his own knife—which was really more of a short sword—that had been sheathed inconspicuously under his pant leg. Daegan nodded to Finn and took his position on the opposite side of Kaeleigh so she was in between them both. Kaeleigh stood in shock, her mouth practically on the floor.   

“Finn, why on earth have you been hiding a knife like that?” she asked, still in shock. Kaeleigh did not believe that she was truly in danger.
They are totally overreacting. They have to be. Aren’t they?
 

“And
who
is ‘coming for me’?” She shot a look at Daegan, but it was Finn who shushed her and pushed her to get behind him again. 

For the first time in a very long time, Finn could
feel
the darkness in others from the other realm. His realm. It had been too long. Drawing his knife out in front of him, Finn stiffened. “They’re here,” he whispered.

Kaeleigh was about to ask again “Who is here?” but Finn’s intense reaction silenced her.
And WHO are you?
she thought, looking at Finn. She had never seen him like this. Now she was getting scared. Suddenly there was eerie silence except for her heavy breathing. She grabbed Finn’s free arm nervously and looked around, not moving, waiting to see who would come through the door. Only they didn’t.

There was a snap and then three of the ugliest creatures Kaeleigh could ever imagine appeared out of nowhere. Kaeleigh stifled a scream, gripping onto Finn that much tighter. About four feet tall, they looked like old men with shriveled faces, big noses, and Einstein-like crazy white hair and eyebrows. They also looked part feral cat with pointy ears, long sharp claws, furry arms, and long tails. They dressed in very simple but homely robes. Each held a jagged, evil-looking dagger as though they were ready to gut open a pig. Huffing heavily and drooling, they looked around the room with wild eyes until they landed on Kaeleigh. One stepped forward from the group.

“Are you the one we search for?” he asked in a low, gruff, inhuman voice.

Kaeleigh’s guards stood poised and ready for action. They stepped together in unison, creating a shield in front of Kaeleigh. She took a deep breath, gained her composure best she could, and stood up straight, not wanting to show fear, for she had no idea what these creatures were or what they would do to her. Tending to ramble when she was nervous she spoke without thinking. “I’m really getting sick of that question,” she said, trying to put all her strength behind her voice. “How am I supposed to know who you are looking for?”

Finn released a very low growl in the back of his throat that she knew meant for her to shut up and let him handle it. She saw the tiniest twitch of the corner of Daegan’s mouth and suddenly her bravado returned. She was about to say something else to the tune of
Get the hell out of my house!
when Finn interjected, almost assuredly to keep her from saying something stupid.

“What do you want?” Finn asked. Daegan gave him a brief look of annoyance but didn’t say anything.

The one that had stepped forward came a couple steps closer, sniffing the air like some kind of animal. Which she supposed wasn’t too far off. The boys closed the gap in front of Kaeleigh. Ugly Leader got a sly grin on his face. He looked back at his groupies, who were panting in expectation, and laughed as he said, “She must be it! They guard her too well for a mere
human
.”

Kaeleigh inhaled deeply as Daegan took a step forward to address Ugly Leader. “What is your purpose with the girl?” He stood casually, yet there was absolutely nothing casual about the way that he asked or the intensity in his eyes. The leader of the uglies seemed to notice and backed up. 

Ugly Leader replied with his eyes lowered enough to still see Daegan, but not look directly in his eyes. “We are to take her to
her
alive... or not,” he said with a bit of a snicker, pointing at Kaeleigh. She gasped.

With that Finn started to rush the uglies but Daegan jerked him back with a glare and whispered out of the corer of his mouth, “Not yet.” The uglies snickered again, making Finn furious.

Daegan spoke again. “Who is this
her
? Who sent you?” The uglies snickered again, reminding Kaeleigh of a pack of hyenas. In a flash, Daegan rushed Ugly Leader and had one hand pulling his hair back forcing his head up and the other pointing his extremely sharp knife into his throat, drawing a bead of blackish liquid. Kaeleigh gasped again and tried to keep down the bile that threatened at the back of her throat.

“Try again,” Daegan growled out. “Who is
she
? Did Maleina send you?” Daegan spoke with a deadly power in his voice that was not there before. Ugly Leader cowered and said, “No, no, no. Not her, the other one, the other
her
. I do not know what she is called, only that she is not good, she is EEEVI...” The word was cut off as he tilted his head back and started to scream and choke all at the same time. Daegan took a step back, confused. Finn had come up beside him, knife drawn, ready to assist if needed. Daegan had not even scratched much more than a surface wound, but the Ugly dropped to his knees, starting to disintegrate, then vanished. The other Uglies gasped in terror. “It’s
her
.” They too vanished.  

Finn, Daegan, and Kaeleigh stood still, not saying anything. Neither of the boys lowered their weapons... just in case. Once Kaeleigh saw Finn drop his soldier stature and Daegan subtly relax his shoulders, she started in on them. But what she intended to be an angry interrogation came out more like a breathy, shaky stammer. “What...? What...were those
things
? What...? Who...
are
you?” She spun, speaking directly to Daegan, but then looked at Finn with utter confusion and betrayal. “And you!
Who
are you?” Kaeleigh had composed herself pretty well, but now that the immediate threat had subsided she felt herself start to crumble. As she pointed at Finn she realized her hand was shaking. She yanked her hand down trying to hide it. Taking in a deep breath, she took note that both the boys were staring at her, sure she was going to lose it, but she wasn’t about to fall apart again today. She was fine. “I’m fine.” 

Turning around, she walked into the kitchen. She was controlled. She was fine. Kaeleigh washed her hands over and over. She splashed her face with water, trying to contain her emotions. Fine. She was fine. Hands still shaking, she filled a glass with water but suddenly dropped it, shattering it all over the floor. She was not fine. Nothing about this was fine. Too much had happened in too short a period of time. Sobbing uncontrollably, she fell to her knees. She was not fine.

Kaeleigh felt strong arms pick her up off the floor and out of the shards of scattered glass. Finn cradled her close to his chest. She felt comforted by his closeness and breathed in the smell that was signature to him—spring and mowed grass after a fresh rain. He laid her on her bed and she curled on her side. Gently he brushed the hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. She looked at him but all he could see was hurt and fear and it broke his heart. Tucking her in, he murmured that he would be in the other room and left her to herself. 

✾✾✾

After what must have been longer than she realized, Kaeleigh walked into the living room. She must have fallen asleep. Her emotions were reined back in for the time being. She was embarrassed by her breakdown, but her emotions couldn’t be contained any longer. Finn’s back was to her as he looked out the slider door to the balcony, his hands clasped behind his back. She knew he was aware of her; he always was. Without even looking at her he sighed then said, “I know you have questions and no idea what is going on. There is little I’m able to say, but first...” Then he turned around to look at Kaeleigh with soft eyes. “Are you all right?”