Silent Orchids (The Age of Alandria: Book One) (24 page)

Daegan gave her one of his intense trying-to-see-into-the-depths-of-your-soul stares, then said, “
We
can ‘take them,’” he said, nodding between him and Finn and using air quotes, which surprised Kaeleigh more than anything. “
You
go to Chel. Cut the vines around her but don’t get too close. They will be ready to attack quickly, so strike as many as you can at one time. Wait for us to cut the black chains—they hold an evil all their own.”

Kaeleigh nodded and smiled. She was actually going to be able to free her friend. Adrenaline coursed through her veins; she felt confident she could take on the evil bastards that had tried to take her friend away.

Finn grabbed her hand and gave it a quick squeeze. Kaeleigh looked into his eyes. She had never seen him that serious before and wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to. She knew what he was trying to convey. “I’ll be careful, Finn, don’t worry, but I have to get Chel and you have to fight them off so I can.” He nodded as he turned away to check his knives and another weapon he happened to be hiding, which apparently was some kind of Chinese throwing star or something resembling one. 

Kaeleigh bent down to make sure her shoelaces were double knotted because wouldn’t that be the way it would go: headlines reading, “Girl trips on shoelaces and knocks herself out trying to rescue her friend. Both doomed due to klutziness.”
Not this time.
She would come through for Chel. She had to. 

As they stood side by side getting ready to engage whatever creatures lurked in the darkness, Kaeleigh, on the far end next to Daegan, took several deep breaths and confidently told her warriors, “Take ’em down, boys! Chel needs us.” 

Quirking his lips, Daegan reached to the side and gripped her forearm, then seriously added, “Remember, this is a trap. We do not know what or
who
they want so watch your back and we
will
get to you as soon as we can.” As he looked at her with an undefined expression, she suddenly felt awkward and broke his stare. She looked toward Chel and nodded.
Focus. Chel.

Finn and Daegan both took their fighting stances and crept forward, hoping to draw out the creatures in order for Kaeleigh to sneak to where Chel was bound. Kaeleigh briefly watched Finn, still baffled by this new side to him that she never knew existed. He sharpened his knives one against the other in a taunting fashion, trying to draw out something from the dark shadows of the cave. He had always been moody and a bit mysterious, but something about this new fierceness was exciting. He seemed more alive. Finn moved with skill and experience, and she got the feeling that this was not as “new” of a side to him as she would like to think. 

She was beginning to wonder how much of her friend she actually knew. Lost in thought, she missed when the first creature jumped out in front of Daegan. She almost screamed but quickly regained her composure and focus. She didn’t want to be a distraction. First the one, then two more jumped in, and both Finn and Daegan were fully engaged in fighting off the creatures. She couldn’t tell what kind of creatures they were, although they seemed to be an identical copy of one another and taller and wider than an average person despite being hunched forward. Dark-brownish cloaks billowed behind and beneath them and made it look as if the creatures were floating. Red eyes that blazed with the fires of hell, steam that snorted out from where a nose should be, and short but sharp crooked horns that jutted out the tops of their heads were their only defining features. And the smell! There was a god-awful stench that wafted away from them as they moved. Like decay. Death.

Six of seven creatures were now in the fight with Finn and Daegan, although it looked as if two had just been taken care of, already disintegrating as they hit the ground. Kaeleigh started moving toward Chel as soundlessly as she possibly could, running from one stalagmite to another, hiding in the shadows, trying to stay under the radar of the creatures engaged in the fight.
Almost there.
One more stalagmite away until she reached the open space leading to Chel. Taking a deep breath and a quick gaze around her to make sure she was still in the clear, she rushed out from behind the growth that was the last obstacle between her and her friend, making a thirty-foot dash across the open cave flooring.  

Kaeleigh! Behind you!
Daegan’s voice shouted not out loud but in her mind. Instinctively, Kaeleigh turned on a dime, thrusting her sword up and away at the same time, sinking it right into the chest of the seventh dark creature that had yet to expose itself. She heard a high-pitched wailing, and the creature imploded on itself into a crumpled heap on the ground. When she pulled her sword from the beast, a black, oozing substance seeped out and into a crack in the dirt floor as the rest of the creature began to disintegrate. Panting and scooting away from the smoking pile of ash, she shot a quick glance to where Daegan was fighting and briefly caught his eye. Quickly she ran the rest of the way to Chel.  

Assessing Chel and reassuring herself that she was indeed breathing—although a bit slowly and shallowly—she examined the vines to see where to place the freeing blow without hurting her friend. These vines were much thicker and stronger looking than the ones that had captured Kaeleigh outside the cave. It would take a slice with a lot of strength behind it and she wasn’t sure she had what it would take. Maybe she should wait for one of her strong warriors to help her. At what point she had started referring to them as “her warriors” she couldn’t remember, but that’s what they were. 

There was a flash of light and a faint buzzing behind her eyes that infused her with strength. She realized that she had felt cloudy and doubtful and wasn’t sure why.
This isn’t me. Screw that! Chel needs me,
Kaeleigh thought, then made her resolve to get her friend out.

“Chel. Chel!” Kaeleigh whispered, trying to wake her. “We’re here. I’m going to get you out of here, hold on!” Kaeleigh raised her sword, gripping the hilt tighter than she had before, and brought it down with a force great enough to slice straight through the many layers of vines at one side of Chel’s torso. These vines let out a high-pitched wail as they lost their grip on their prey. Where the thorns still stuck into Chel, Kaeleigh had to pry those vines off and out of her friend’s body. She winced every time one tore at Chel’s body as its grip was released and her blood freely followed it out. When she finished pulling away the final vines, Chel, though still unconscious, released an audible sigh of relief. 

Chel’s body swung away from the wall, but not far as the black chains still held her wrists in place over her head. Kaeleigh dropped her sword and rushed to her, frantically assessing Chel, trying to get her to wake up. Chel moaned and fluttered her eyes but that was about all she managed. Kaeleigh kept whispering reassuring words to Chel, letting her know they were there and were going to free her.  

Too late, Kaeleigh realized that she left her sword out of reach just as one of the creatures, who had slipped out of the fray with her warriors, was silently almost upon them. Not having the time or distance to reach her sword and not knowing what else to do, she jumped in front of Chel protectively and shouted “STOP!”  with her palm out in the creature’s face.

Confused and startled for the briefest second, the black creature did indeed stop. But only for a moment, and then it continued moving toward her and Chel in that creepy floating way that they moved. It was only feet away and seemed to get bigger as it straightened from its hunched stature, preparing to unleash whatever kind of evil it had at Kaeleigh. 

It didn’t exactly have solid arms but more like wisps of smoke that snaked out from its body while at the same time unveiling a black and red sword that was hidden under its cloak. If there was ever an “evil”-looking weapon, his was it. Darkness literally radiated from it. Great terror and anger simultaneously welled up within Kaeleigh as she refused to let this creature of the dark have her friend. Refusing to give in to the fear and close her eyes, she stared this evil in the eyes and screamed “NO!” as it was about to bear down on her and cleave her in two.  

Instead, a blindingly white sword tip speared through the heart of this creature from behind, stopping mere inches away from her own heart. The creature stopped dead in his tracks, literally, but before he fell to his death, becoming ashes and fleeing once more into the ground from whence it came, Kaeleigh saw her reflection in its eyes. Eyes that once had fire in them now showed a reflective onyx black. But what she saw was not how she stood now, but rather falling to her own death, pierced through by another’s sword. Then it was gone; the reflection and then the creature. Standing where the creature once stood was Daegan. Fierce, intense Daegan. 

He looked at her with a pained expression. “I thought it—” But before he was able to finish, shock hit Kaeleigh fast, knocking her off her feet as she began to crumple to the ground. Daegan caught her and seemed to just hold her in an awkward embrace for a brief moment while he righted her to her feet. 

She looked up at him. “I did too. It would have without you. Thank you.”  

Finn rushed to her side. “Are you okay?” Once he was satisfied that she was, he yelled at her, “Are you crazy? What were you doing? It would have killed you! They wanted
you
! If they were going to kill Chel they would have already done it.”  

Kaeleigh flinched. Finn had never yelled at her before, but she knew he was reacting out of fear because he cared. She reached out and touched him on the arm. “I’m okay, Finn. Chel. We have to help Chel.”

Finn grabbed her and pulled her to him in a crushing embrace, kissed her on the head, then let her go, making sure she was steady before releasing her completely. She grabbed his arm and pulled him over to Chel. Daegan stiffened, closing off any vulnerability she had just witnessed, and began to inspect the black chain. 

“Daegan, what kind of chain is this? How do we get her out?” Kaeleigh asked him.  

He studied the chains for a moment. “Stand back.” He raised his sword and swung up above Chel’s head—which wasn’t too hard as she was slumped over—hitting the chain dead on, expecting it to break. Except it didn’t. Daegan’s sword actually bounced off of it, not affecting the black chain at all.

“Well, I did not expect that,” Daegan said, frowning. He then looked from Kaeleigh to her sword that was still on the ground and then back to her. “Kaeleigh, give it a try,” he said as he nodded toward her weapon.  

Kaeleigh reached for her sword, still shaking from the shock of her near death experience only moments ago and not understanding how Daegan and Finn could remain so calm after such an intense fight, like flipping a switch on and off.

Finn jumped to her side. “No, Daegan. She doesn’t have the strength for it, especially if you can’t do it.” 

Sighing, Daegan shrugged his shoulders. “Then Finn, you try it using Kaeleigh’s sword. Let’s see what happens.”

Kaeleigh interrupted. “Give it to me, Finn, I’ll do it. We don’t have time to play games.” But Finn was already raising her sword to the chains and following through, only to reach the same end as Daegan.

“Her sword didn’t work either. We’ll have to figure out some other way,” Finn said as he looked around. He then began to study the chains where they latched onto Chel at her wrists and ankles and then again where they attached above her head and at the base of the stone wall, trying to find a weak spot.  

“Kaeleigh...” Chel whispered as she began to gain a bit of lucidity. Both Daegan and Finn looked to Chel just as Kaeleigh gripped her sword in both hands and raised it above her head with her eyes closed, steadying her breath.  

Kaeleigh visualized herself with strength enough to slice through the darkness of the black chain and the chains breaking, bending to the will of her blade. As she did her sword began to softly illuminate with a pure white light. She felt the warmth of it flowing from her sword into her body. She felt strong. 

Opening her eyes as she didn’t want to miss and hit Chel, she let out a fierce cry, bringing her sword down onto the black chain. It sliced through the chain effortlessly like cutting through water. Daegan caught Chel just as she was cut loose from the chains so she wouldn’t hit the ground. Kaeleigh cut each of the chains that held Chel’s legs too then very carefully cut the cuffs off that were around her wrists without cutting Chel in the slightest. When Kaeleigh was satisfied that Chel was free, her sword released the light it held and Kaeleigh collapsed, having lost all strength.  

An almost invisible black smoke began to hiss out of the black chains that had fallen to the ground. Finn sensed it, cautioning Daegan, “We can’t fight this one, especially not with these two.” 

Daegan agreed, looking down at both girls. “We need to get out of here.”  

Finn bristled as Daegan reached for Kaeleigh, but he was closest and the most important thing at the moment was to get out. He picked up Chel carefully, not sure of her injuries and trying not to jostle her.

Daegan followed suit and picked Kaeleigh up, cradling her to his chest. He didn’t have time to acknowledge the warmth of her body against his or how fragile and innocent she looked being held in his arms. He had vowed to protect her and he would. 

They both moved quickly, more than humanly possible even with their new burdens. They had to get to the opening that led back to the tunnel. Daegan kept looking back over his shoulder at the rising black smoke that seemed to still be rising and forming some kind of shape. A driving need to get out into the light, or at least as much light as the old forest would give them, pushed him to go beyond what he thought his limits were.

Reaching the end of the tunnel, Daegan could almost
feel
the light. It was there, waiting for them, offering safety in its embrace. They just had to make it a bit further. Kaeleigh began to stir in his arms, but he just hushed her with a low calming tone, knowing she would put up a fight. They didn’t have time for that right now. Daegan focused his mind and yelled for Finn to keep up. Finn was just fine, but Daegan needed something to say.