SWNOVELS Chapter 22: What have you done to me?
“Should we wake her?” Celeste asked tentatively.
“I am not sure,” Baellnar said quietly. His eyes never leaving Alyenna’s sleeping face as he laid her gently on the bed in her room.
“What just ’appened to ’er?” Aagi asked. All eyes on Baellnar as he tucked Alyenna in tightly.
“I do not know. I have never seen anything like that.” He tucked a curl away from her eyes. “We should go. We have a lot of work to do.”
“Someone shoul’ stay wit’ ’er.” Aagi said gently tapping Baellnar on the shoulder as he pulled Celeste from the room. “I’ll make all de preparations.” With that Aagi shut the door gently behind him.
Baellnar hardly noticed them leave. All he could do was watch as Alyenna’s body still pulsed with ethereal magic. Her hair lightly floated around her almost as if she was submerged in water. Baellnar paced the room. His hands balling in and out of tight fists. He hated this feeling. He was so helpless.
Hours passed with no change. The moon had nearly finished its trip across the sky and the sun was peaking up through the trees.
“Baellnar?” He heard a familiar voice call out sleepily. He turned to Aly not quite sure what he was expecting to see but it certainly was not that. He stared at her his mouth agape. What had changed was without precedent or explanation.
“What?” She asked stretching shaking out her long brown hair. She jumped off the bed and walked up to him and poked him on the nose.
“BOOP!” She said jovially.
Baellnar shook himself back to reality. He stared deeply into her eyes. He did not know what to say or even if he should.
“What’s wrong ’nar?” She asked then distracted by her own enthusiasm.“Last night was amazing! I remember going up to that big beautiful tree and...” SHe trailed off searching hard into her memory. He knew she would not know. There was no way she would know.
“Aly,” he asked gently. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine.” She thought for a moment. “Great actually! How are you feeling? You are acting really weird.”
“I am fine just tired.” he lied. “We have to get going today.”
“Seriously? We just got here... I was hoping to see the tree again.”
“No,” He said firmly grabbing her clothes and passing them to her. “We have been told to leave. We have been here too long.”
“What are you talking about? We have been here for only a couple of days. Isn’t this place supposed to be some sort of haven? What’s the rush?” She hid behind a dressing screen throwing her nightgown across the room. She had become comfortable with dressing around him after several weeks of traveling.
“It is a haven, but not as long as we are here.” He said matter of factly as she stepped out from behind the dressing screen. Her eyes were haunting him. He looked away. He was afraid to look at her. He had no Idea what to do or what to say. He always had the answer, but not this time. No, he had nothing this time.
She was tying up her hair in her normal ponytail. A couple small strands of brown hair framing her face. The effect was enchanting and terrifying.
“How much of last night do you remember.” He said as he opened the door for her.
She bounded past him. “Not much honestly. I just remember the big beautiful tree and then this beautiful song and then the forest lit up. It was gorgeous. You are so lucky to have grown up in a world like this. Why would you ever leave?” Her excitement was infectious and he smiled. “I did not grow up here Aly.”
She stopped. “What do you mean? Aren’t you an elf?”
“Yes,” He sighed not wanting to go into the story of his past but it was a delightful distraction from the conversation that he knew was inevitable.
“Hey! Aly, you’re awake!” Celeste bounded down the hallway excited to see her friend. She picked Aly up and squeezed her tightly. When she put her down she met Aly’s eyes and became instantly silent. Celeste looked to Baellnar for answers, he simply shrugged and shook his head.
“Um, darling have you looked in a mirror yet?” Celeste asked delicately.
“No? do I have something on my face?” Aly asked curiously. She started rubbing her cheeks trying to get the mysterious dirt out.
Celeste looked at Baellnar angrily. “Coward,” she whispered as she passed him. She grabbed Aly’s hand and lead her away to the closest mirror.
Baellnar looked out the window. Celeste was not wrong. He was a coward. He should have told Aly, but what could he possibly say? As if to answer him a hand slapped him hard across the face.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Aly asked exasperated, her rainbow eyes flashing dangerously in anger. Baellnar said nothing. He just stared at her sheepishly.
“Why did you not tell me?” She paused and glared at him for several seconds. “What have you done to me?” Aly pushed.
“I have done nothing to you. It was Mother Gaia,” He said plainly wincing at the second burning sensation in his cheek.
“You are saying a tree magically changed my eye color to RAINBOW!?” Her eyes were absolutely glowing and swirling with color now. “Of all the magic powers in this world I have RAINBOW eyes! What am I supposed to do to Scelestra? Stare at her to death?”
“That is not all of it.” He said hoping to be helpful. “Honestly, I am not sure what the rainbow is from. The Dyrklo have fairly standard eye colors. Rainbow was not in any of the legends about them.” He realized as the words left his mouth his mistake.
“What the heck is a Dyrklo?” Aly was struggling to bring her emotions back in.
“Oh, I have this one you Elven coward,” Celeste said pushing him aside. “Sweetie, um you are not human.” Alyenna nodded and waited for her to continue arms crossed her chest defiantly. “Well at a minimum you are the last of the legendary race of the Dyrklo. That is why we have to leave.”
“The What?” Alyenna asked.
“The Dyrklo, you are a shapeshifter sweetie. The last one known to all kind. That makes you rare and special, and also a big problem.” Celeste paused for effect. “Your kind is easily tracked by Scelestra due to their magical nature. Also the fact that your species is the one prophesized to bring her reign to an end adds a couple problems. It was Scelestra who eliminated your race. She developed special ways of tracking your kind.”
“Well, that explains a lot. I was able to do that a little bit before but nothing reliable. But what about the rainbow eyes. This is honestly my biggest concern right now. If it was not from the Dyrklo where are they from?”
Alyenna was sufficiently calm now. Baellnar could see she was working on sorting everything out. She was remarkably accepting of everything. It had been mere minutes since she found out her eyes were multicolored and she was already trying to simply figure out what it meant. She was not upset he told himself gratefully.
“I am still mad at you!” Alyenna pointed to Baellnar.
“Why?” He asked plaintively.
Celeste glared at him echoing Aly’s emotions. ugh, women, he thought to himself and followed them out of the infirmary.
Aagi was waiting for them outside.
“Aly!” He jumped excitedly away from his task of saddling Roxanne. The enormous saddle falling uselessly to the ground in his enthusiasm. As he came close to Aly he skidded dramatically to a halt and just stared.
Celeste bonked him on the head. “Quit that! It’s rude!”
“Sorry Aly,” he said rubbing the growing lump on his head and wincing. “How’d you sleep?”
“Just say it,” Aly said.
“Aly yur eyes they’re um .... different.” He said.
“Aren’t you a poet.” Celeste murmured.
Aly sighed. “Okay, now that we are done with that. Where are we going?”
It’s time we go to Cornulasserti, the city of dragons. It was Roxanne’s voice ringing in Aly’s mind.
Aly turned to Baellnar “What is Cornulasserti?”
He stared at her shocked as she mounted Sadie. “How do you know that name.”
“Roxanne told me the name just now,” Aly said quizzically.
“It is the city of Dragons. It is not friendly to outsiders.”
You are not an outsider. Roxanne purred into her mind.
“I trust her,” Was all Aly said.
Baellnar clicked at his horse and all four of them went forward. Celeste invited herself but no one objected. There were never too many swords fighting for their side. The group traveled for several miles before they saw the edge of the shimmering veil that protected this sacred forest. What was beyond the veil was absolutely terrifying. While they were invisible where they stood they knew it was not for long. There was no safety for them forward or back.
Celeste picked up her sword and sharpened it in excitement. Aagi pulled out a terrifying looking battle-ax. Baellnar drew his bow uncorking a smile vial and spilling it over his arrows. Their horses danced uneasily catching the rotten smell of what had gathered on the other side of the veil. Aly gripped her sword tightly. She realized now that the first part of this trip was the easy one.
Aly leveled her gaze at the mob that waited for them. Their sharpened weapons gleamed threateningly back at them. A small army had gathered on the other side of the golden veil. An army of night mares. It featured an alarming collection of fangs, claws, and demons unlike any they had seen before, and it was only the beginning.
(for reference)