Chapter 5
ARIANA
Distant sounds in the night caused me to stir in my sleep.
A peculiar scent filled the room, burning my nostrils.
The smell familiar yet odd, as if misplaced.
While I sluggishly woke, my mind was slow to think.
It took me far too long to place the scent.
In a mental loop, I just kept wondering what it was, for it did not belong.
When the door to my room flung open, my brain finally snapped awake.
I recognized the distant sounds as screams, and the smell was that of smoke.
Edda, dressed in her silver night robe, ran to me as I jumped out of bed. Her fingers wrapped around my wrist with iron strength, and she yanked me close. Her dark eyes were wild with a mixture of both excitement and fear. An odd buzzing energy surrounded her while I felt nothing but pure terror.
“Do not use your power unless it is absolutely necessary for you to protect yourself, and not for anybody else, not even me.” Her voice took a forceful tone.
It was as if the chaos bred some sort of strange dark life into her.
“They will likely take you with them. If they do, then they shouldn’t know what you are. ”
It was difficult for me to hear her over the screams outside. My breath caught at the sounds. The cries continued to come, again and again, piercing my skull like needles.
I ripped my hand from Edda’s grip and ran to the balcony. The doors crashed open with force.
The sight below choked the breath out of me.
Chaos had been unleashed, pure and terrifying.
Instantly, power ran through me, ready to pour out with a single command fueled by an incredible need to protect. My will melted into the gift stirring deep within. There was a pulsing in my veins, strengthening with each beat of my heart.
Edda’s icy fingers wrapped around my wrist once more. She yanked me to face her.
“Do not release your power, child. If you hope to live to help your people, you must refrain.” Her hold was painful enough to leave marks.
For days, this moment was all I could think of.
And now that it had finally come, I found it difficult to concentrate on anything but the chaos.
Below, Lysians and Bavadrins were running all over in an unorganized mess.
Bavadrin blades basked in red blood while Lysian teeth dripped of it.
The intruders did not even trigger the city’s alarms. As a result, the Lysians got within the walls with terrifying ease.
I found Erik without even searching for him, for he was wholly impossible to miss.
He towered above all others surrounding him.
Power dripped from him as if it were too great to ever be contained.
He moved with a lethal grace. Angry flames licked everything surrounding him, threatening the entire world, but not him.
I nearly threw up when I grasped what he was.
Fire danced across Erik’s fingers, brilliantly red and terribly violent. He was a conjuror.
A conjuror capable of wielding fire with complete control.
My mouth went dry as a tremble moved through me.
Conjurors were not common, and I certainly never suspected that he was one. The thought had not crossed my mind, not even once. What a fool I was. If anyone should have considered the possibility of it, then it should have been me.
Conjuring numbers had dwindled over the years. They were disappearing. Mostly only weak ones remained, a small remnant of the powers our ancestors once had. Yet I knew strong ones could exist, and I had not once considered the Lysian to be one.
The entire time that Erik had been in prison, he had been the one in control. The lashings he received were to ensure that the battle would break out and that his people would be on the right side of things. Fraser’s actions cursed our entire race.
My head spun, and my skin turned clammy.
Erik raised his hand, poised to strike and incinerate the person thrown to the ground before him.
With a cold shock, I recognized the Bavadrin whose knees grew wet with blood-slicked earth, the one who raised his arm in a futile effort to protect his face from the angry flames.
My heart nearly stopped in my chest. Landin.
Edda must have seen the same thing, for her hand tightened its hold on my wrist and her other gripped my shoulder.
Bony fingers dug into my flesh and threatened to dislocate my shoulder if I made any move to use my conjuring gift.
She was the only thing keeping me from diving off the balcony altogether.
With Edda shackled to me, my only potential tool was my voice.
So, without thinking it through or having a plan, I acted on instinct, hoping that it would be enough to spare the life in the Lysian’s hands.
“Erik!” His name was a roar on my lips. Though my voice was lost to most over the sound of the battle between us, his unnaturally keen hearing found it.
The Lysian conjuror stopped mid-assault, angling his head as if to better focus his hearing on me. The fire still danced in his hand.
I froze, suspended in that terrifying moment for what felt like an eternity.
I did not yell again, for Erik likely could hear what was spoken. They were treacherous words, but to save the lives of those I loved, I would become whatever I needed to be. I would be a traitor to the Bavadrin laws.
“Spare him, and I will give you Fraser.” Another tremble moved through me as I found myself completely at his mercy. “Please. I beg you.”
The fire dancing over Erik’s fingers receded, and he turned his attention to me fully then, his eyes a dark, threatening storm.
An icy touch traveled down my spine as he pinned me so completely with a look that I found it difficult to draw in air.
This was his true predatory form. A lion dropped into a pasture of sheep.
Never had I seen the Bavadrins as sheep, but he made them seem as such.
We stood no chance, especially if Edda’s warnings were true and I was not to use my own powers or risk a much worse outcome.
The Lysians were to take control. That was inevitable, and the sooner it was to happen, the quicker innocent lives could be spared.
On the ground, Landin followed Erik’s gaze till it led to me.
Fear crossed his features, and he jumped to his feet, preparing to protect me from the animal who now watched me.
A raise of my hand and a slight shake of my head was enough to still Landin before he did something that would give Erik no choice but to take his life.
Relief flooded through me when Landin did not move another muscle towards the Lysian with the power to command fire.
I then spoke to Erik. The only other hearing my words was Edda, who still held me in an iron grip.
“Enter the building to your left through the red door. Go left, take the first right, third door on the right. Fraser will likely be there.” And just like that, by our Bavadrin laws, I became a traitor to my people and the things we held sacred.
Erik gave a command to those around him and was gone in moments, leaving Landin freely staring at me.
An expression of shock at being spared splayed across his handsome face.
He turned, glancing at Erik, who was heading in the direction I had set him on.
Landin was likely putting together what I had just done, connecting the dots.
Whether he judged me or not did not matter, for he would at least live to make that decision for himself.
I fell to my knees then, struggling to breathe, my chest aching.
The Bavadrins, including myself, followed a set of rules, one of which was to never stand against our Leader Superior in a way that might bring them harm.
Our words and that sacred promise were something that breathed life into the Bavadrin ways.
Never did anyone act against that rule. Until now.
Generations of leaders and never had they been betrayed in such a way.
Edda always said that I was the next to lead the Bavadrin people, that she saw it to be true. But how could the Spirit choose me after what I had done? I broke a promise to shield the Superior until the end. It was an unforgivable act.
“You did what you must to protect them,” Edda said, and I realized I had no idea when she released her hold on me.
I nodded numbly while the sounds of screams died down.
Either the battle was slowing, Bavadrins realizing their loss, or so many had been slaughtered that there were simply fewer people to cry out.
Fear wrapped its talons around my neck as I tried to look back over the balcony.
With great effort and dread, I forced my head to turn, to view the world below.
Some were throwing down their swords, and the Lysians were shoving them against walls, but not killing them. I couldn’t find Landin.
Edda left me on the balcony floor while going to retrieve something from within. When she re-emerged, she wrapped a hooded cloak around me and handed me a burlap sack. Thin fingers gripped my chin, forcing me to turn away from the destruction.
“You will be leaving us for some time,” she said, touching the sack.
She had packed me a bag to take on my trip into a prison of my own.
Wrinkled hands took mine, and I met Edda’s dark eyes.
“I am certain that you will be fine. You will soon return here. You will free the Bavadrins of so much more than your father’s horrid rule. ”
When I nodded, she stood, pulling me with her and taking me inside.
“Someone is coming for you now. It is a Lysian, but he will not harm you.” She brought an icy hand to my cheek, and I welcomed the cooling touch.
“I must go.” Edda glanced over her shoulder at the door.
“Collect as much information as you can while you are there and then return home to me. Get them to bring you back to perform the ceremony that seals your fate as the leader of our people. We will figure out a way to free you after you take control. I will call upon the Sparrow Archers when the time is right. They will return to the city and help you.”
“You should take the passage,” I mumbled. There was a way through the wall of my room, which led to another empty room. She could have gone unseen if she took it.
“No, I will be fine.” Edda offered a quick hug. She released me and turned towards the exit to my bedroom, but she never got the chance to make her escape before the door opened.
A Lysian stood on the other side.