Stay (16 page)

This guy’s ego was bigger than I thought.
“Okay Kailen. Whatever. I really don’t know why you would say that
I need to focus on being a queen when you have admonished
everything that I have tried to do.”

“Callie, what are you talking about?” He was
turning red in the face.

“
You got mad because I was trying to
learn to fly, then you blew up because I was using the spirits. You
said that I should have waited for you, but you have done nothing
to help me since we left Drake. I am really starting to feel like
you are just full of it. I don’t even know what else to say to
you.”

He just stood there shaking his head.

“Well, thanks for the bed. I guess I’ll see
you around.”

I tried again to walk away. This time he let
me go. I guess that I should have been hurt, but after the last
week, I was just pretty much numb. I was sick and tired of all of
the mixed signals that he was tossing at me. It just wasn’t fair
and the truth was that I didn’t really know him at all. He was
nothing like the person that I thought that he was when we first
met. I was beginning to wonder what I ever saw in him at all.

Chapter 16

“Callie!” Jenna called from across the cave.
I looked up from where I was weeding the garden to see her waiving
at me to join her.

I walked over to where Jenna was standing
with several of the people from Drake. They seemed to be having a
serious discussion about the royal guards. Apparently, the guards
had been frequently coming into Drake and causing all sorts of
problems.

“They kicked down the door and tore
everything apart inside of the house. They broke our furniture and
tore up all of our clothes. It was a mess.” I heard Dain say.

“That’s right, and they destroyed Marlan’s
workshop just the other day. He had nothing left. They even took
his tools.” Said another.

“What do they want?” I asked and they all
turned to look at me.

“It is really nothing for you to concern
yourself with princess. Everything will be fine.” Dain said with an
uneasy smile.

“Look, I am not some scared little girl that
you have to protect. You cannot keep things like this from me. Tell
me what’s going on.” I was starting to get really irritated with
this whole princess business.

“It seems as if the queen has discovered that
the outcasts have settled in Drake and now she wants to control
them as she controls Petrona.” Jenna explained. “She is demanding
that they pay her taxes and whatever they pay is never enough. She
has been sending the guard to collect more money and when the
citizens can’t pay, they start destroying things.”

“Oh no.” I could not just stand by and let
Lilith continually take advantage of these good people. “We have to
do something!”

“What can we do?” Someone asked.

“We can’t take on the royal guard.” Said
another.

“Why not?” I knew the Guard could be tough,
but I didn’t see why we couldn’t take them on.

“They out number us for one thing, and they
are better trained in fighting. We would be no match for them.”

“We could train. We could learn to fight. We
can not just sit here and let her take everything that the people
of Drake have worked so hard for.” I pleaded. “What if she finds
Maricela? Then she will want to do the same thing here. I could
never allow that.”

“She is right.” I looked to my right to find
that this time it was Kailen who had spoken. “We must do
something.”

“What do you propose?” Dain turned to
Kailen.

“We gather as many people as we can that are
able to fight. We equip them with weapons and train them to use
them. When we are ready, we could storm the city. It will not be
easy, some may get hurt. But a lot more will get hurt if we
continue to allow this to go on.” Kailen looked fierce as he
spoke.

They continued on like that for a long time.
Strategies and plans were discussed. I tried to listen, but my mind
kept wondering to my family. And to the families of my friends.
They had all lost their lives trying to battle Lilith and her Army.
An army that was most likely a lot stronger by now. I could not let
any more people die trying to fight for something that they never
should have lost.

If it weren’t for me, and what my mother did
to protect me, Lilith would never have been able to take over as
queen. The war never would have happened. There never would have
been outcasts.

No, I needed to do something. I needed to do
something on my own. I would not allow anyone else to get hurt
because of me.

“Jenna?” I asked. “Let’s train hard today. I
want you to give me all that you’ve got. I want to test all of my
limits.”

“Okay.” Jenna was eyeing me skeptically.
“Let’s go.”

We moved to the open area of the cave and
started out with a little hand to hand combat. I fought with all my
might and Jenna was a little startled, but she regrouped and came
back at me with as much ferocity as I was using to come at her.
Sweat started to bead on my brow. I looked around and realized that
we had drawn a crowd.

Tuck stepped up with that usual mischievous
glint in his eye. “My turn.”

He was definitely more of a match for me than
Jenna, but it was exactly what I needed. I fought even harder. As
he came at me, I would back flip away from his blow and come back
at him with a harder strike. We began to use our wings as we
fought. We were so high above the floor of the cavern that I was
afraid that we would bump our heads on the ceiling. I even learned
to somersault and do loop to loops in the air as we fought.

Jenna flew up to meet us and it became two
against one. I started to get a little nervous, but I knew that I
needed to learn to fight with distractions.

I watched as Jenna summoned Brenton. He
appeared beside her and smiled devilishly. I knew I was in for it.
He raised his hand out, palm up, and a ball of fire about the size
of a baseball appeared. I knew that it was destined for me so with
barely a thought I called Naida. She met his fiery orb with a cold
blast of water, and then turned to Jenna and hit her with a blast
too.

I nearly fell from my perch with laughter but
I felt a strong gust of wind push me back up. I looked around to
find Erion at my side. I hadn’t even called for him.

It didn’t take long for Demi to show up and
join in the fun. By the time that we were through, we were all
exhausted. I thanked each of the element spirits and they all bowed
to me in turn before they left.

We lowered ourselves back to the floor of the
cavern and were met with a roar of cheers. The new citizens of
Maricela loved the display of our skills. Tuck barely made it
through the crowd. He had to promise several of the men that he
would teach them to fight. Jenna also began to speak to some of the
women about what types of magic they possessed.

I was surprised to learn that Tanya could
summon fire. She said that she had never really practiced using her
magic before. She had only used it a few times to light a cooking
fire.

Jenna and I would definitely have to make a
note of who possessed the spirits and make sure that they knew how
to use them properly. You just never know when you may need
them.

We took a break from our training and went to
find something cool drink. The ladies from Drake had prepared a
delicious smelling lunch of roasted vegetables and fish. I had
really worked up an appetite and I ate heartily. The fish was
succulent and had just the right amount of spices and the
vegetables were roasted perfectly. It was nice to have something to
go along with the fish for a change.

I overheard some of the people talking about
how bad things had gotten in Drake since I left. I couldn’t help
but feel a little guilty. This whole mess was because of me. I just
wished that my mother would have stayed. She could still be queen
and everybody would still be happy.

A deep sadness filled me once again as I
thought of my mother. I still couldn’t believe that she was gone. I
knew that I had to push it from my mind, but sometimes it was just
so hard. I resigned that the only way to honor her and my dad was
to keep fighting for what was right. I knew then that I would have
to work even harder to put a stop to Lilith.

After lunch, Tuck and I were back at it. We
drew our swords and went at it like a couple of swashbuckling
pirates. It was a little tricky because I didn’t really want to
hurt him. We battled ruthlessly as our swords clanked repeatedly
sending loud echoes throughout the cave.

Tuck smiled at me during a brief pause in our
battle. “You have really been practicing.”

“I want to be ready for the fight.” I raised
my sword into an attack stance.

“It looks like you will be.” He answered as
he rounded me with his own blade.

Later that evening after everyone had gone to
bed, I snuck out into the cave and stretched out my wings. I still
needed to be sure that I had the whole flying thing down. It always
made me very nervous. I started to think that my fear was stemming
from Kailen’s repeated scolding whenever I tried to use them and I
definitely couldn’t have that.

I propelled myself to the roof of the cavern
and carried myself up to the large holes that opened just enough to
let sunlight shine onto our garden. From there I found that I could
stay very still while remaining in the air. I peered out into the
night.

The sky was lit in a beautiful array of
starlight. I tried to pick out the constellations and I thought
that I saw a shooting star. It was absolutely amazing and I tried
to remember the last time that I had actually saw the night
sky.

“Callie.” Someone whispered. I nearly fell to
the ground but I caught myself immediately. I was quite proud of
that.

I looked to find Kailen once again beside me.
His glorious blue and green wings were spread wide as he looked
into my face. I didn’t know what to say. I thought that he made it
very clear that he did not want to be with me.

“What is it Kailen?” I asked quietly.

“I am going to be leaving in the morning,
Callie. I am going back to Drake to prepare the others. Plus, I
really want to be there to help protect them when the Guard comes
back.” He was looking a little nervous.

I looked at him for a moment, but I didn’t
say a word. What did he want me to say?

“I just wanted to say goodbye and that I am
sorry that I hurt you.” He looked to the ground in an attempt to
hide the sadness in his eyes.

“It doesn’t have to be this way.” I had let
his eyes get the better of me. “If you truly cared about me, we
would find a way to make this work.”

I looked at him for a while but his eyes
would not meet mine.

Finally he spoke. “This could never work
Callie. You are who you are, and I am just me. I am truly sorry.”
He started to descend. “I need to start preparing to go.”

“Wait!” I called.

He held one hand up to me and I took it, but
slowly he continued to move away. My hand glided from his and then
he was gone.

“Please, stay.” I whispered into the
dark.

I did not sleep any that night. I stayed
gazing out at the stars for a long time. I watched Kailen as he
loaded his pack onto his back and headed out into the tunnels. He
only glanced back once, but I could still see the sorrow in his
eyes.

Why did he have to be so stubborn?

I lowered myself onto the ground. I didn’t
know what else to do so I started pulling weeds from the garden as
I waited on everyone else to stir. The quiet and the repetitiveness
of pulling weeds left me a lot of time to think.

I decided that I could not just stand by and
let another war happen. I needed to go and take care of Lilith
myself. I wasn’t sure what I would do about the guard, but I would
cross that bridge later.

I spent the day stocking up on a few things
that I would need for my journey. I had to do it a little at a time
so that no one would notice.

I packed away several days worth of jerky, a
few pieces of fruit, and a couple of bottles of water. I added my
comb and an extra hair tie, just in case. One extra set of clothes
and a small blanket went into the pack, although I had no intention
of sleeping for very long.

I set my stuff under my bed hoping that no
one would notice it there. I needed to try to get out with as
little fuss as possible.

I went out to join the others and ate a good
supper. The last thing that I needed was to be hungry when I
started out. I needed to get as far as I could before anyone
noticed that I was missing.

I waited until everyone had gone to bed and I
could hear their soft snores. Once everything got still, I slipped
into my most comfortable pair of blue jeans, a t-shirt, and thick
black hooded sweatshirt. It can get pretty chilly in the tunnels at
night. I slid into a pair of comfy sneakers, thanks to Kailen. He
brought them back with him the last time that he had gone to
Drake.

I just need one last thing. I slid the long
wooden box that contained my sword from under my bed. I admired its
beauty as I pulled it from its velvety bed and slipped it into its
sheath. I wrapped the leather strap across my chest and I liked the
way that it felt as hung on my back. It made me feel like some sort
of samurai warrior or something.

I pulled my pack onto my shoulders. It rested
against the sword but I would just have to deal with it. I needed
to be able to move freely.

I crept through the cavern to the entrance
and turned back one last time to look at all that I would miss so
dearly. Then I stepped into the dark passage.

I felt my way along the wall and soon I was
hearing the loud roar of the waterfall. As I exited the passage and
started to head to the path that would lead me up to the tunnel, I
saw two dark figures lurking in the corner.