"Bellator! NO!" I screamed. I was running towards Bellator and Valandria, Kai was in front of them about to blast them both with a dragon fire attack.
I stopped, throwing my arms out in front of me casting a protection barrier around Bellator and Valandria as the flames erupted from Kai's hands. The flames smashing against the invisible wall, Valandria realizing she was not encased in flames ensnared Kai's lower half of his body in roots to stop him from running, Bellator stabbed his blade into Kai's heart as soon as the flames stopped. Kai raised his own sword and pushed it into Bellator's chest in an upwards motion.
"NO!" I screamed running towards Bellator as he fell to the ground. I dropped to my knees beside him, my mind blank with what I should do. I couldn't let him die. The sword through his torso and blood flowing from his body, he reached for my hand, coughing blood. Valandria coming up behind us, she swung her thin bladed sword, separating Kai's head from the rest of his body ensuring his death.
Bellator looked at me, unable to speak, choking on the blood, he stopped breathing, his eyes went blank, his body going limp. No...
I sat up startled from my dream. Sweat dripping from behind my ears and hairline, I was breathing heavy with adrenaline. Bellator sat up slowly beside me placing his hand on my back.
"Are you alright?" He asked me.
"I'm fine." I breathed out. "Just a bad dream." I stood up and walked over to the water barrel on deck, splashing my face, the early morning air making the water colder against my skin.
Placing my hands against the barrel's edges and closing my eyes, dealing with the emotions still running through me, gaining control of myself. Bellator came up behind me and embraced me.
"I'm fine, really." I was lying of course, how could I be fine? Turning around I returned his embrace. We walked to the railing of the ship and watched the coast come into view as we sailed inland.
Realizing how close we actually were to Duskenhills harbor I grew anxious to see its shores. Until this moment, I thought I was going to be fine with staying on the ship. But now, there was not a chance in hell I was staying here. Even if Kai's men were there, I would make sure they couldn't report back.
"I'm going into the harbor village with you. And don't tell me I can't." I said to Bellator.
"Alright then, I won't." He said half amused. "Wait, what is that?" He started to say.
"Smoke, On the coast, Captain!" A sailor in the mast's lookout called out. Looking up to see what he was talking about I saw smoke streaming into the dark sky almost like a forest fire coming from along the coast just. Except, that would be Duskenhill Harbor docks.
"That's Duskenhills Harbor, Bellator." I said, he looked down at me and pulled me nearer to him.
"Captain, Is that Duskenhills?" Bellator called out to Ketil.
Mabe clambered from the lantern he had commandeered for his home on the ship, and started to panic. "Oh no, not again!" He cried out as he dove back inside.
Bells started to ring on the deck signaling the crew to be ready for trouble. Valandria climbed up the mast to look out with the sailor, confirming it was indeed Duskenhills harbor.
"No Fire! Just smoke!" She called down as she scaled the ropes back down to the deck. "No Fire, It looks like it's burnt itself out. I don't see the docks, we will have to anchor here and row in." She said to the Captain as he came down from the wheel deck.
"Best not to get too close, we don't have enough room for survivors on this ship. Take a group of men with you, check out the shore." He ordered.
"I'm coming." I stated. "These are my people."
"No problem." Said Valandria.
Rowing to shore a short while later, the sun was starting to rise over the east of the harbor starting to show more destruction of the village. No docking left and debris filling the shore on the village's edge we pulled in farther down. The village must have been burning for days, and I didn't see anything that was salvageable as we moved through what used to be pathways, and homes. It was almost like whoever attacked planned to simply wipe this place off the map. Kai. I turned and looked at Bellator, then ran towards the northeast, my family's farm.
I ran as fast as I could. I was hours from my home on foot, I needed to get there as quickly as I could. I could hear Bellator and Valandria yelling at me as I ran, I had to trust that they understood where I was going, and who I was going to. My heart pounding in my chest, my breath catching in my throat as the adrenaline took over.
I had to slow down to catch my breath, I could hear my two companions coming up behind me, clutching my right rib from a cramp that I was going to ignore.
"My Mother and Aimee, Bellator. If Kai destroyed the village, he knew they were here. If he has harmed them..." I shook off the thought and started to run again.
"I'm coming with you." He said and he jogged up beside me.
As Valandria came up beside us, not as out of breath as Bellator or myself, she pulled her horn from her side and blew into it two short blows and a long third. Then looked at us and gave me a half smile, "If my guild members are in the area, they will find us."
We continued towards the farm.
As we finally neared the farm, I could see smoke in the air. "NO!" I yelled running. "Aimee! Mother!" I called their names as I ran. If they were in the trees, they would hear me.
Jumping over a fence and running the path towards the burned houses, I tripped on something sending me to the ground rolling in the cold mud. Turning over I saw a man's body burnt and covered in mud and frost. I crawled backwards and got to my feet, running again towards my own home, that I could see destroyed, the front side of our home completely gone, crumbled to the ground and burned.
"Mother? Aimee?" I called for them, even though I knew they weren't here.
Valandria and Bellator standing on either side of me, Bellator grabbed my arm.
"They aren't here, Kaida. No one is." He said to me,
Shaking my head. I was angry. How dare Kai. How dare he take my fathers life, and then come for the rest of us.
"Here," Valandria said as she stepped over a burned and fallen support log to the fireplace on the east wall. "What is this?" She pointed to a rune that was carved deep in the wooden log across the top. It was a straight line, with two more from the middle pointing towards the sky. Meaning Safe.
I dropped to my knees, relieved by frustration, out of breath, and angry.
"It means, safe." Bellator explained it to me.
"Good, because We need to get the hell out of here and back to the coast and leave. We should not have come here!" Valandria scolded me, taking my arm and pulling me to my feet. "I understand your worry, Kaida. You have to be stronger than this, you need to be a warrior right now!" She said,
I looked at her, not sure how I felt at that moment. She was right.
I gripped both my companions arms and readied myself. "Hang on" I told them, closing my eyes and thinking of Kai, Amaia, where they were. I could feel a pulling in my torso, like I was being picked up and moved. When I opened my eyes, we were standing in front of a mountain of ice.
Valandria leaned over and vomited beside her. Bellator steadied himself on the ice wall in front of us. I could hear a small vomiting sound coming from Bellator's hip, looking up to see Mabe puking over the side of Bellator's side satchel.
"What the hell was that?" Valandria asked as she stood up wiping her mouth. "Where are we?"
"I will have to be known as Mabe, the relocator!" He said with pride, then leaned over and vomited again.
"Where we need to be to finish this." I told her watching Mabe, put off by his vomiting.
"What? I thought you were unable to do magic like that?" She asked us.
"Seers can. The magic does exist. It's simply about using it." I said to her, "Right?"
She gave me a half smile, shaking her head, "Next time just let me know first, that was completely unpleasant for me." She said,
"Agreed!" Said Mabe.
"Come on, it wasn't that bad for my first time." I said laughing, then leaned over and heaved myself placing my hands on my knees.
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Turning our attention to the ice wall I said, "They must be here. I took us Kai and Amaia." I said as I shivered from the cold wind.
The three of us started to examine the wall, looking for anything that stood out. Bellator came across a rune. Just one carved into the ice. The rune meant 'open'. He pushed against it, tried to use magic to open the doors, nothing worked. I took a chance and placed my hand against the rune. I thought if this place was meant for the gods, maybe it took the power of a god to open it. The rune gave off a blue hued light as I touched it, followed by a cracking sound as the ice started to melt and split revealing two doors that bore two giant axes crossing the doors, locking them shut. I stepped forward placing my hands against each hilt and pushed. The door gave a low creaking sound as it opened, splitting the two axes. It led into a tall hallway like cave where stalactites were hanging from the roof, and the floor uneven with the ones that had fallen over the years, and then frozen in place.
"Stick to the walls and stay quiet." I said, my companions in a whisper. They nodded in agreement and we filed down the side of the hall. With no falling threats we reached the end of the cave way to find another door. This one was identical to the last door, placing my hand on the axe handles it opened just the same. As the door opened a soft golden glow poured from the crack, filling the cave way with its light as the door opened further.
Pulling the door open wider, Bellator equipped with his brownie protector, Valandria and I stepped through into a room that was grand, the very same room my vision of Amaia and Aadi was in. The braziers lining the silver rune patterned walls, the hanging vines. There were no pixies here, thank Ota. The table in the middle looked as if it was completely untouched. And the thrones where Aadi was killed. I stepped into the room and the braziers lit up.
"This is it. I've seen this before." I told my friends.
"Okay, so where are they?" Valandria asked me. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we didn't just walk into a cult meeting, but why is this room, you know, not full of ice?"
Shrugging I started towards two thrones at the front of the room opposite from where we were.
"I don't know, let's look around." I said.
Crossing the room on the right side, Bellator and I were looking for anything of interest, Valandria the same on the left. As we worked our way down, I was reading the runes that were patterned on the wall. I stopped and studied the wall for a second.
"These runes are not just of awakened culture." I said.
"No, I have seen many dryadalis runes here as well as runes that belong to no culture I know of." Valandria told me from across the room. "It is definitely the temple of the gods."
We continued to the front of the room to the thrones, on either side of the thrones were two doors.
"Left or right?" I asked Bellator and Valandria.
"Right! It always seemed like the better choice for me." Valandria said.
The right door led to a spiral stairway going up, Bellator took the lead and started up, holding his shield and sword battle ready, slowly making sure there were no surprises as we climbed. Mabe was hiding in his satchel staying out of sight. I took out my blood stone blade making sure I was ready, I could feel we were close to them. I could feel Amaia, which means, she must be able to feel me as well.
"We are close. Prepare yourselves." I said.
Valandria pulled out her two daggers, "We will distract Kai, you go after the god." She said,
After what seemed to be at least fifty steps we reached yet another door. This one with no axes, instead it was crossed with two spears. I pushed against the door, we stepped into the room holding our weapons.
The room was empty except for a bed in the middle. Kai and Amaia were naked embracing each other, when they turned their heads to see who it was that ruined their intimate moment.
"Kaida?" Kai asked in disbelief, rolling to the side, getting to his feet with an annoyed huff. "How could you have gotten here?" He asked me as he dressed himself. "How dare you come here."
He said turning towards us, "And you brought the traitor Bellator with you. Convenient."
Amaia appeared behind me, I could feel her breathing in my ear as she stood behind me. She breathed in deeply through her nose.
"So, it was you who my brother chose to protect him" She said as I turned to face her. Her face was flawless, and beautiful. Her eyes were cold though and her voice made my skin crawl.
She was wearing the armor she wore the day she killed Aadi, her hair pulled back into a long braid. Like she was not lying in a bed naked only a second ago.
Bellator and Valandria stepping away from Amaia, I could feel the anticipation in the air.
"You can not hope to fight me, Child." She said to me,
"Maybe not, but I can try." I Stepped back, readying my blade, only for Amaia to laugh, flicking her hand in the air, Valandria and Bellator were sent backwards into the walls of the room, falling to the floor unconscious. Mabe rolled out for his satchel hiding spot onto the floor, and scrambled off to the side of the room.
I swung my sword for Amaia's throat, missing as she moved backwards. Spinning around, pulling a dagger from my side I slashed it at her chest as I turned, She dodged that as well jumping back. I moved towards her, swinging my blade left and right, trying to connect with her. She was impossible to hit as she dodged and parried every time I was close to her. She jumped over me landing behind me, as I spun around readying for her to hit me, I found her holding her arm out beside her where a Damascus steel tipped spear appeared in her hand. She stepped back, placing one foot in front of her, she pointed her spear at me, ready to start again.
I growled with anger releasing all of my rage, Eldrekki's fire bursting from my back, and my blood stone blade lighting up in flames, I stepped into the fight, swinging my sword with the rush of the wind, slamming it into the side of her spear, deflecting my strikes with her spear. She was surprised only for a second, She stepped back trying to avoid my blade. I brought it down over my shoulder, slicing into her arm, burning her flesh as it sliced through.
Amaia stepped back screaming shocked that my blade was able to harm her. Realizing that I was not just a mere human girl given an impossible task, that Aadi was more than just guarded by me she stepped back.
"Aadi gave himself to you?" She screamed at me in anger. "How dare you use the power of gods against me! The power of my own brother!" She dashed towards me swinging at me with her spear, bringing my sword across my chest blocking her from cutting me open, she had backed me against the wall trying to defend her advance. Amaia sent her spear into my leg just above my knee, I screamed in pain as the blade was ripped out of my leg, the blood warming my leg as it poured out.
She leaned into my face with a grin.
"Tough little bitch, but just not enough to defeat me." She whispered in my face.
She stepped back pushing off the wall laughing, leaving me standing there bleeding like an animal. She turned her back on me and started to walk over to Kai, who was standing there watching us battle it out amused. He pulled her into him and gave her a kiss, making my stomach turn. I ripped a leather strap from my armor and tied it tight above my wound on my leg.
"Maybe I will kill your boyfriend before Amaia finishes you off. Would you like that, Kaida? To die together?" Kai said to me without looking at me, kissing Amaia.
I leaned down, picking up my stone sword from my feet, holding the wall for balance. I stood straight again breathing heavily leaning against the wall. I looked at Bellator and Valandria who were not moving, I was unsure if they were even alive now. Kai and Amaia smiling and whispering to each other like infatuated birds, I took a few steps forwards.
"Kai!" I called his name and they turned towards me, still holding each other. He sighed and moved away from Amaia.
I lifted them both in the air, Amaia yelling in objection to not being able to escape my grasp. I reached out for as much magic as Aadi was going to give me, I turned them towards me and chucked my sword through the air, towards Kai guiding it into his chest with a wet thud as it sliced through him. I dropped them both to the ground, Kai landing on his knees, sputtering blood as he looked down shocked at my blade buried in his chest.
He turned and looked at Amaia and fell to the ground, landing on his side with blood dripping from his mouth, dead.
Amaia rose to her feet and with a pouting tone said, "And to think I was just starting to enjoy him..." She stopped talking as she watched pick up her own spear.
"Someone told me once, that only a god could kill another god. He also told me that you and Aadi live and die together. Is that true?" I asked Amaia.
"That's right girl, if you kill me, your friend Aadi, and all those godly powers die with me." She confirmed.
I nodded and held the spear out in front of me, the tip pointing to my heart. I plunged the spear into my chest straight through Aadi's gemmed heart and into my own. I fell to my knees holding the spear still.
Amaia grabbed her own chest in shock, gasping. "What have you done?" She screamed at me as she fell to the ground. I was trying to stay awake long enough to know she was gone, that I did what I was meant to do. I fell to the side, my body crashing into the floor feeling my last breath pass my lips.
Amaia screamed clutching her chest, throwing her head back in pain, as her body exploded into a red flash, blasting the room apart.