The Blaze Ignites (36 page)

“The Nameless One wanted to make sure
everyone knew for centuries to come that Triple Peaks was defeated.
It’s a shame I have to bear,” Lisswilla said quietly.

“Shame?” Rabryn said softly. “It’s a mark of
the people who defended the last stronghold of Goodness to the
point where you became the greatest
enemy
of Evil. There’s
no shame in that!”

I think I saw every single pair of eyebrows
in that circle go up. Azrel’s smiled broadly.

“You and your land outlasted It long enough,
and strongly enough, to receive that mark on your
face!
”
Rabryn shook his head, “I wouldn’t cover that up.” The camp was
quiet for a long few moments, all of us looking at Rabryn,
flabbergasted and impressed. He finally started squirming.
“What?”

All of us finally smiled, even Lisswilla. “I
never
thought of it like that—and I have lived a
really
long time.”

Azrel shook her head in awe. “Leave it to my
little brother to see the bright side of
everything.
” Rabryn
just blushed and shrugged.

Lisswilla sighed heavily and shook his head
as if he still couldn’t believe those words. “I
never
thought of it that way,” he said again. “Thank you.”

Rabryn just blushed harder. “I didn’t do
anything.”

Lisswilla nodded. “Yes, you did.”

Rabryn smiled. “Well, then you’re
welcome.”

Lisswilla grinned at him and took a breath to
continue. “Shortly after Triple Peaks fell, Azrel’s father came
into existence. He allowed himself a few years beforehand to scout
people with Hope left in their hearts and turned that Hope into
Goodness in order to build up his army.

“His very first massive victory occurred when
he stormed Triple Peaks to set us free. He lost nearly his entire
army in that battle and only one of his protectors
survived—Derweldo, who became his Deralilya.”

Oh no! I thought. I looked at Azrel and
Rabryn quickly.

Too late.

They knew.

Rabryn

“Excuse me?” came the response from both
Azrel and me.

He couldn’t mean who I thought he did. There
was no possible way!

“Did you say that
Derweldo
was my
father’s Deralilya?” Azrel asked.

I saw Acalith, Ortheldo and Addredoc all slap
their hands to their foreheads and rub their faces.

“Yes,” Lisswilla said, confused by all the
responses. “You’ve heard of him, then?”

Azrel and I looked at each other. She started
breathing heavily. More secrets, more of her father’s lies, were
being revealed and she wasn’t taking it very well. Both of us
looked back at Lisswilla.

“Are you talking about a Gold Flowered Salynn
named Derweldo?” I asked.

“Yes. How do you know of him?”

My eyes went to Azrel again, but she was
still staring at Lisswilla in disbelief. “He…” I huffed, and then
blinked in disbelief. “He was my father.”

It was silent for a moment. “Truly?”
Lisswilla asked.

The next thing I knew Azrel was up on her
feet and storming away like I knew she would. I let her go for a
moment as I contemplated the thought.

My father and Azrel’s father
had known
each other? My father
knew
the White Warrior. They were
companions for thousands of years! They’d battled and bled
together, they’d served Goodness in the highest ranking positions
they could gain without being the Light Gods themselves. They’d
confronted a Shadow-ridden world with nothing more than Hope to
turn into Goodness.
Together
they’d turned that Goodness
into an army, and that army had become a worldwide force of
millions to combat The Nameless One.

My
father had done this with
Azrel’s
father!

I blew out a breath, then stood up to go
after my sister. No one followed me. She wasn’t too far off,
standing at the edge of the tree line with her arms crossed and her
back to the camp. I stepped up behind her and rested my hands on
her shoulders, then rubbed her upper arms in a weak gesture of
comfort.

“He kept
so
much from me,” she said
and shook her head. “I completely trusted him and believed in him,
and he lied to me and kept secrets from me. I feel like I didn’t
even know my father. It feels like I lived with a complete stranger
for twenty years. My roots, my entire foundation, are crumbling
into nothing.” She shook her head again. “It’s pain I’m not so sure
I can stand much more of.”

I sighed. “Come here,” I said and turned her
around. She turned and pressed her face into my chest. For a moment
I was stunned because I realized how much taller than her I was
now. She and I had been about the same height for the past couple
years. I might have had an inch on her at most, but now I had four.
Who grows four inches in a month?

“Listen Azrel,” I said softly. “I know you’ve
already been through a lot, and there’s still a lot you’re going to
have to face to be prepared to fight his Shadow.” I sighed. “But
don’t lose hope now.” I held her tighter. “Your father probably
kept things from you for reasons. Ortheldo said that he and Beldorn
have planned out your future beyond what any of us can fathom.
Maybe everything he told you, and didn’t tell you, was because this
bigger plan is dependent on certain things taking place and not
taking place.” I sighed again. “But I don’t think your father
keeping things from you is what’s gotten you so upset.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, her voice
muffled.

“I think what’s really got you upset is that
you don’t know how your father
felt
about keeping secrets
from you.” She sighed, which I took as confirmation. “You’re
wondering whether he cared about hurting you at all, aren’t
you?”

She was quiet a moment. “Yes,” she replied,
holding me tighter. “I keep asking myself, did he even care? Did he
even care? Did he know what this would to do me? And if he
didn’t
care, then did he care about me
at all
while I
was growing up? If not, then what did I have with him? Was I truly
just a student to him? Did he love me at all? If he
did
love
me, then why did he do this to me?” I felt her warm tears seep
through my silk tunic.

“Well,” I said, “you knew him better than I
did, so I can’t answer those questions for you. But think about
this—your father was the Warrior of Goodness. He was made and
created by the Light Gods of Goodness.” I smiled, so she could hear
it in my voice. “I’m pretty sure being secretive and devious,
especially towards his own daughter, was against his nature.” I was
rewarded with a small chuckle from her. “I know he loved you very,
very much because there’s nothing
not
to love about you. But
he had to make a choice, a tough choice—your love for him or saving
the world.

“Like any man of Goodness, he chose the
unselfish route to save the world, and he was willing to risk
sacrificing your love for him in order to do it. He set this
painful path for you to walk so you would be ready to save the
world when the time comes.” I petted the length of her hair. “I
think as the White Warrior you are going to be faced with horrible,
impossible decisions like that too.” I shrugged. “How you decide
them is what makes
you
the Warrior of Goodness.”

“But how do you know he’s got this master
plan for me? How do you
know
it hurt him to do this to
me?”

“Well, I don’t know for sure.” She shook her
head helplessly. “But that’s what Faith is all about.” She went
very still. “I trust the Light Gods, which means I trust your
father because he was created by Them. Your father was made from
the power of Goodness, and Good people don’t hurt their daughters
without a Good reason. Saving the world from an everlasting Evil is
a pretty Good reason.”

Azrel brought her face up and looked at me
like she didn’t even know me for a moment. I thought the next words
out of her mouth might be “Who
are
you?” but the strange
look disappeared a moment later. She sniffed and started wiping her
cheeks. “I suppose then that I’ve got to work on my Faith in the
Light Gods and trust in my father in order to be at peace with all
that’s happening to me.”

I nodded. “That would be a great start.”

She crossed her arms and shrugged. “I was
just never comfortable with the idea of people I can’t see being in
control of the world and my life.”

“I know, but when you
do
start to
trust and believe in Them, the peace does come. Just like your
father, They’re not devious little people out to get you.” Azrel
laughed, which made me smile. “They are Goodness personified.”

Azrel nodded, though I could tell she was far
from convinced, “I’ll work on it.”

“If you can’t yet go so far as to believe in
the Light Gods, at least believe in your father. Trust in the
belief that he loved you and that what he did was in the best
interest of helping you save the world. Trust that it was not an
attack on you.”

She nodded and wiped her sleeve under her
nose one more time. “I’ll try.” She met my eyes and smiled. “So our
fathers knew each other, huh?”

The sudden unbelievable statement made me
burst into laughter. She quickly joined in. “Isn’t that wild?” I
exclaimed. “I can’t believe that!”

Azrel chuckled and put her arm around my
waist. “Come on,” she said, guiding me back towards the camp. “I
know Lisswilla has more to tell us and I have a few matters I need
to address as well.” I put my arm around her shoulders and we
headed back towards the firelight.

Azrel sighed as she sat back down. “Sorry
again.” She rubbed both hands over her face. “I’m not handling
these secrets my father kept from me very well. Please Lisswilla,
continue.”

“I’m sorry, Azrel. I didn’t mean to cause you
pain.”

“It’s alright. You didn’t know.”

Lisswilla smiled appreciatively. “Well, after
your father conquered Triple Peaks back from the Shadow, The
Nameless One’s first true defeat in about two thousand years, your
father gave a vast number of us an assignment ,but kept a few
hundred to replace his lost protectors and to build his army back
up. Our assignment was to scour the world for Hope hideouts,
realms, lands, and countries all over the world and bring anyone
back to Casdanarus we could. It was up to us to turn what Hope we
could find into enough Goodness to make people want to come back to
Casdanarus and be further trained by the White Warrior. I, along
with about five hundred of my kinsmen, were assigned to scour
Alkgwathien, the city of the Elves.”

My brows dropped in confusion while
Ortheldo’s smile went wide. I wanted to ask what Elves were, but I
didn’t want to look like an idiot. I’d also never heard of
Alkgwathien.

“In that time, the Shadow had reached
Alkgwathien, so scouring the land for Hope would be an
understatement. We had to work secretly too, so as not to be
discovered. Your father and his Deralilya kept in contact with us
through a mental link of his magic. My kin and I spent a lot of
time there, hundreds of years, and managed to send back a few
thousand Elves to fight for Goodness. As your father’s influence
and fame started rising over time, it became easier to find Hope in
people. Eventually, Hope was all it took to have more and more
Elves want to go fight for him and they left on their own.
Alkgwathien was soon emptied out. I, and what was left of my Triple
Peaks kin, left with the last band of Elves to come back to
Casdanarus and fight.” Lisswilla shrugged. “When the war ended I
went to live up there because I loved the land so much.”

It was quiet for a few moments as everyone
absorbed his rather incredible story, which I however, didn’t
understand much of. Finally Azrel spoke. “What happened to your
light green Sallybreath Flowers? I think Triple Peaks are light
green.”

Lisswilla nodded, and then smiled a broad,
wolfish smile. “I was a bit of a troublemaker after Triple Peaks
was overrun by the Shadow Army.” Everyone smiled except Addredoc,
who only rolled his eyes. “They decided I wasn’t worth the effort
of trying to control, so they cut off my hair to watch me die a
slow, drawn-out death.” His smile widened, “Too bad for them your
father got there before I died.”

Lisswilla’s eyes suddenly went unfocused as
he relived a memory. “He had just infiltrated the Second Mountain;
people were screaming and metal was clashing together. The noise
was so loud I wanted to die just to be rid of the headache—though I
think the headache was mostly from my magic loss.”

His voice went to just above a whisper. “He
just happened to be passing by the public platform where they were
keeping me to watch me die over weeks and months. He was walking
down one of the lanes alone, as confidently and casually as if he
were walking through a common area to meet a friend. He nearly
walked right passed me, but something made him stop in his tracks
and turned to gaze over his shoulder. He actually
looked
at
me as I was lying on the floor, nearly dead. My eyes met those
strong, defiant eyes, and I think time stopped for me in that
moment. It was as if I was looking at the Light Gods
Themselves.

“He softly glowed in his white garments and
his white hair shone like a halo. His left hand rested casually on
the magnificent diamond hilt of his sword that lay in its sheath. I
remember seeing the light from the battle fires flash off his
diamond crown too. I couldn’t believe a Godly man like that stopped
to look at
me
.” Lisswilla shook his head in awe, his eyes
still unfocused. “Then his left hand came off the hilt of his
sword. He held his palm out to me and, just like that, I felt life
return to me.” His eyes met my sister’s intensely. “The man
restored my life force without restoring my flowers or my
magic.”