Chapter 13
Eliane
I blink, blurry trees swaying above me. My hand goes to my head, which pounds like a hammer striking iron.
I shield my eyes and open them slowly, trying to adjust to the sharp light.
Sitting up, I grab my knees to steady myself and keep from falling.
I lift my tank top to check the bruise throbbing along my ribs.
How the hell did that happen?
I stand up and look around.
Shit, where is my dagger? I reach for my leg and as the point makes a cut, letting a blood drop fall, I finally take a shuddered breath, repeating my mantra out loud.
“You are safe.”
“You got this.”
“You will survive this and will be free after.”
My face feels sore, and I reach the place that hurts, just next to my eye.
It is swollen and I am glad I don’t have a mirror to look in.
My head bangs loudly and my stomach takes a turn.
I feel out of balance as I wiggle on my legs.
I look around to make something out of where I am.
Around me are trees. And I mean a lot. It looks like I am dropped in the middle of a forest. The sun shines bright, but the grass around me is still damp so it must be early.
What does he want us to do? As I try to think clearly, I reach for my bond with Braxton.
I close my eyes and try to find the dark cloud hovering over my sun.
I can’t find it.
“Where are you, Brax?” I whimper. I wait a few minutes, but he doesn’t react.
Even though it feels like he can handle me sometimes, he did ask if he could kill me.
Well, not in those words maybe, but it was almost the same.
I close my eyes again and try to hear something.
I can hear a light stream of water. A river maybe?
My feet drag me towards the sound. Streams of light shine through the branches that are covered in leaves.
The ground is filled with grass and moss and it doesn’t look like a path that is being walked on a lot.
Is it even a path? I am not sure. Besides the light streaks and the damp grass that tells me it is morning—this forest is dark.
It won’t kill my mood, though. I have finally calmed down and feel light.
I stroll deeper in the forest. Something isn’t budging as I walk. Something is stuck in my shoe.
I didn’t wear shoes to bed last night, did I? How come I wear those? I shove fingers into the side of my boots. Something hard is sticking in it. I take it out. I can see a reflection of myself in the metal cylinder as I roll it between my fingers.
I gasp, dropping it on the ground when I see the image of myself.
I look more death than alive.
I freeze for a few seconds before shaking myself out of it, picking up the little cylinder.
It is as long as my pinkie and as thin as a small earring.
It reflects like a mirror. It has a small ring on top, that makes it look like you can attach it to something.
It has a little cap on top. It is finicky work, and I am lucky I have small hands.
I can’t imagine how Braxton would get it off.
His hands are huge. A blush rises on my cheeks as I think of the image of his enormous hands.
I hold the cap firmly and I look inside the cylinder.
A piece of paper is inside, rolled up very small so it could fit.
I unfold it and the message on it makes it clear for me that the trials have definitely begun.
Race through Fosia’s forest and her shadowed trees,
find your bond with subtle ease.
Let your signet’s power shine,
and leave the rest to fall behind.
Climb the heights, the clock won’t wait,
grasp your chance, and seal your fate.
Show your pride, strike bold and true,
the path ahead belongs to you.
It appears that I am in Fosia forest. I have only read stories about this place.
It is really as beautiful as the books describe.
It has something magical over it, but also something scary.
I have learned from historical books that there is a big mountain hiding behind this forest and that there appears to be a beautiful big waterfall somewhere.
Stories described that there should be a lot of weeping willows.
Right now, I only see the less special kind of trees.
Birch, oaks, and pine trees. Some must reach over 20 feet.
It feels a bit more like a scary movie than the fairytale they write books about.
I start to walk again, still looking at the piece of paper in my hand.
I take the ring on top of the cylinder and attach it to the belt on my leg that is meant for my dagger.
I can feel that Braxton is still far away, his cloud appearing in the back of my mind, but being still too far to reach.
There it is. A stuttering brook. My feet stop. I hear some bushes cracking further away. Has another candidate been dropped this close to me? A deer appears behind a bush, pinning his ears straight, looking at me.
“Hi, little girl.” I smile politely. “You scared me. I thought you were going to attack me. Well not you, but I thought that you were someone else.” She takes a few steps towards me as I squat to the ground and reach my hand forward.
Her wet nose gently brushes the palm of my hand.
Until her head pears up and she sprints away as fast as she can. Huh?
That is weird. I jump up and wipe my hand clean on my shorts.
“Finally, I have the privacy and honor to kill you, little sunshine.” Someone snorts.
I don’t have a chance to turn around. A small, but sharp knife is being pressed against my throat.
It isn’t a dagger. It is too short. It feels more like a pocketknife.
I don’t have to look behind me to see who is pushing a knife against my throat.
The tattoos on Delilah’s hands betray her.
Think, Eliane.
Think fast.
She is using her left hand. I move fast, grabbing her left arm with my right hand, I turn myself around.
I stand eye in eye with the punkie, black haired girl.
My head makes me see her double and holding her tightly keeps me in balance.
Tattoos cover her arm, and her septum nose piercing catches my attention.
She is a bit taller than me, but she acts tougher than I believe she is.
I heard she is a shadow wielder, but apparently she decided to attack this ‘little sunshine’ with my own move.
“Wrong move, you bitch,” I sneer at her.
I kick my knee into her groin, causing her to cramp together.
A huff leaves her throat. Adrenaline rushes through me and the sun burns in my neck.
The pain of earlier is nowhere to be found at this moment.
Shadow appears from around the tree, moving towards us.
I throw her own knife towards her, landing next to her head.
Delilah stands up straight again, and because I was distracted by the shadows crawling up my shoulders, she punches straight into my nose.
Something warm and liquid drips down into my mouth, tasting like iron.
Blood.
The shadows cover her as I duck to avoid her next punch.
Darkness surrounds us and I can’t see a thing.
Luckily I am a light wielder. A ball of light floats above my hand as I step deeper into the shadows.
My blood boils and my heartbeat pounds in my ears.
I can’t hear clearly anymore. My hands grab my dagger, and I wrap my fist around it, dragging it out.
I can feel the blood trickle down as I hold the knife of my dagger too tight.
I probably made a cut, but I don’t care.
It hurts, but it is the good type of pain, the type of pain that makes me forget.
I hold the dagger by its handle and hold in front of me as the other hand leads me into the shadows.
A shadow runs towards me and Delilah throws out a kick.
She kicks hard, but I defend myself. I block her kick with my chin.
And fuck that hurts.
Our chins bump together in a chin lock. I trust forward, slice with my dagger towards her arm.
She reaches for her back, taking a sword out of the darkness.
How did she get a sword? She doesn’t sleep with that, right?
She makes a sidestep and stabs forwards.
My dagger isn’t as strong as a sword, but I push back.
I block her. I grab the sword with my right hand that is already bleeding and push it away.
Streaks of red blood drip down the sword as I push it away.
I stand very close to her, and I give her face an elbow jab.
Her face shoots in the other direction and I take the arm with the sword and cross it to her back.
She drops the sword in impotence. A twig breaks and Delilah and I turn our heads in surprise.
The shadows disappear as fast as they appeared. My mouth drops.
“Kailey?” Delilah reacts, faster than I can realize who is standing in front of us. I don’t lose my grip, and I push my dagger to Delilah’s throat as she is distracted.
“Don’t kill her,” Kailey squeaks.
I don’t loosen the pressure on the dagger.
“Please,” Kailey whimpers.
“I am not the one who attacked first, Kailey.”
Her soft smile disappears and so does the hope in her eyes.
I swallow, deciding if letting her live will do any better than killing her.
“But I don’t kill people. Not even if they deserve it,” I whisper.
I can’t kill them. I let go of the grip and Delilah breaks loose.
She bolts away as she grabs her throat. Shadows surround her as she blurs in the distance.
Kailey runs towards me and she hugs me tightly.
“Thank you,” she whispers with tears in her eyes. It takes her a few moments before she continues talking. “She was my first love.” I let out a sigh and try to smile.
“I didn’t know,” I answer, my mouth hanging open as blood rushes out all kinds of parts of my body.
Blood still rustles in my ear, and I doubt whether I did good by fighting her, by letting her go, by hurting her and not killing her afterwards.
Conflicting thoughts run through my mind.
I need to calm myself. The throbbing pulse in my head continues and I feel the swelling on my face grow.
Kailey pushes me a few inches away to look at me.
“Now tell me what the fuck happened to your face,” she demands. I shrug my shoulders, and I try to distract myself from the pain rumbling through me.
Think of good memories, Eliane.
I can hear Da talking to me as I close my eyes and try to steady my breathing. ‘You’re a lover who is born to fight. It is the most beautiful thing about you. It makes you human and special.’ Even though Kailey is my friend, I don’t want to show her my weaknesses. Not yet at least.