SWNOVELS Chapter 16: Creating Chaos
“Thank you, Magna.” Sahara smiles at her excitingly before she quickly makes her way down toward the carriage that is waiting on her. “Sorry, I kept everyone waiting.” Sahara says as she jumps into the carriage and sits next to Brystol. The aran says nothing as he knocks on the top of the carriage causing the vessel to move. The tari smiles at Sahara lovingly and Brystol quickly looks away from her toward the window he is sitting by.
The ride to the tri-kingdom’s center is quiet and it gives Sahara time to think about what she will say to Tyde. Magna said all the tri-kingdom would be in attendance of the Eve’s Lighting and she felt giddy at the thought of seeing Tyde there.
Brystol holds his hand out to help her down from the carriage and she pauses looking at him. She ignores his attempt to help when she hears her name coming from Bularia. She looks over seeing Bularia, Marol, and Carol waving at her. "Hi." Sahara says excitedly running over to hug them.
"Love your dress!" Marol says running her fingers over the fabric. Everyone else is wearing normal clothing for elves but Sahara had to dress up because she was to be with the royal family on stage for the ceremony.
"Hello." Tyde's voice makes Sahara's heart jump. She turns toward his voice and cannot help but smile shyly at how handsome he looks.
"Sahara." The tari calls for her. "Come along."
"Duty calls." Sahara says sadly to her group of friends before she rushes over to Brystol's side.
Beautiful music is being played by a group of elves with unique looking instruments as the royals arrive on stage. Sahara is amazed at all the bright colors swirling around in the sky above the large crowd. Elves on flying winged horses do tricks above the crowd causing cheers to explode. "Is that a pegasus?" Sahara asks leaning over toward Brystol so he could hear her better.
Brystol sounds distant in his response. "Yes. They are my favorite creature."
"Welcome to the annual Eve's Lighting!" Aran Rayterbay announces to the large crowd, and it sounds as if his voice is in a microphone, but Sahara sees no such equipment.
The aran and tari are making a short speech, but Sahara cannot hear them because Brystol is whispering to her. "You are to light that side," he points to the left side of the street that is lined with colorful decorations and trees. "I will light the other side at the same time."
"How do I light it?" Sahara asks wondering if there is a light switch nearby.
"Use the calta spell." He says, "and aim for the trees."
"Is that all we do?" Sahara asks wondering why they were to dress so extravagantly for such a small task.
Brystol straightens his dress jacket as his tone changes, "Why? Do you have better plans with Tyde?"
Sahara wonders if Waizlynn is in the crowd waiting for Brystol. She skims the crowd as she speaks with sarcasm, “I am sure you have much better plans with Wasteland.”
Brystol does not respond to her statement as she expected. Instead, he changes the subject, “It is almost time for us to light up the decorations.” He steps up next to his parents as they introduce Sahara. She feels frozen as the large crowd glares at her. She feels Brystol pull her by the arm, causing her to move up next to him. “Wave at least.” He murmurs to her.
Sahara smiles slightly and waves for a short moment before she hears the tari say, “Let the lights be lit.” She follows Brystol’s actions as he points his hand toward the left side and says the word calta. She causes the right side to light up at the same time Brystol lights the left side and the crowd cheers. The event reminds Sahara of a carnival in the human world. There appears to be games and rides for the elves. “You two go have some fun.” The tari says to Brystol and Sahara. “The guards placed an extra shield over the area and the dragons are patrolling.” She points up toward the sky and Sahara notices six dragons circling around in the darkened sky. The tari continues, “Just be back to the carriage in an two hours.”
Sahara smiles excitedly as she turns to move down from the stage and sees Tyde is standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting on her. “Want to join me for some frozen mellow?" Tyde says flirtatiously.
Sahara nods her head and begins to take hold of his outstretched hand, but Brystol walks in between the two of them. “Rude.” Sahara says annoyed with Brystol.
“Waizlynn awaits her knight in shining armor.” Brystol says as he turns briefly back toward Sahara with a shoulder shrug.
Sahara rolls her eyes before continuing down the stairs to Tyde’s side. “Sorry. I don’t know why he is such a jerk.” She thinks back to his confessions to her earlier and their kiss, it causes her to blush.
“I am not sure what jerk means, but I can’t blame him for being jealous.” Tyde grits his teeth, “I am kind of intruding on his territory.”
“I am not his territory!” Sahara stops walking, offended by his words. “And he is not jealous.” Sahara tries to convince herself more than she is trying to convince Tyde as she says it.
Tyde stumbles over his words, “I like you.”
Sahara says shyly as she begins to walk again, “I like you too.”
“Oh here.” Tyde runs over toward a food stand and buys two odd looking colorful cones on sticks. He hands one to Sahara, “Have you ever tried frozen mellow?”
“No.” Sahara says taking the stick from him and inspecting the color changing food.
“You will love them.” Tyde says taking a large bite of the top of the cone. Sahara watches his mouth begin to shine and change to green.
“Why is your mouth glowing green?” She asks in surprise.
He laughs and urges her to take a bite. “Try yours. They tingle.”
Sahara takes a bite of her frozen mellow and is delighted with the sweetness of the cold treat. Her mouth tingles with excitement from the variety of flavors. She looks over into a mirror that encases the food stand and sees her mouth is glowing pink. She looks over to Tyde that is happily chewing another bite and sees his mouth has now changed to a violet glow. She quickly takes another bite and watches her mouth change to a bright yellow glow. “I thought you didn’t eat sweets?”
He smiles at her with his response, “I can’t keep that going over the holiday, I would miss out on too many good things.”
“There are some excellent treats this time of year.” She says in agreement.
“Come on.” She feels Tyde pulling on her hand. “Bularia is meeting us over at the spinner.”
Sahara takes a few more bites of her frozen mellow before they arrive to a ride that looks like a large ball. The ball is filled with elves that are being bounced around on the ground and then thrown in the air in a spinning motion. Sahara throws the rest of her frozen mellow away before she holds Tyde’s hand and looks for Bularia. “You don’t get motion sick, do you?” Bularia asks pulling Sahara and Tyde in line next to her.
Sahara remembers traveling to the elf world so quickly that it made her sick after Verdiwild first found her. “Um. I am not sure.” She had never been able to ride rides at carnivals in the human world.
“How is Christmas at the castle?” Bularia whispers in Sahara’s ear, “Brystol seems to be warming up to you.” Sahara follows Bularia’s eyes and meets eyes with Brystol, who is talking to two of his ellon friends from the academy. “He sure can’t keep his eyes off of you anyway.”
“It is fine.” Sahara whispers back trying to hide her uncomfortable feeling at Brystol watching her.
“Any luck on finding a way out of the betrothal?” Bularia asks less quiet and Tyde hears.
“You are trying to break the betrothal?” Tyde asks looking hopeful. “Is there a way?”
“Not that I have found yet.” Sahara says as they move up in the line. “There has to be a way though.” She looks back over at Brystol remembering the two futures she had seen from the declure. He is now talking to Waizlynn. Waizlynn is wrapping her arms around him, but he seems reluctant toward her.
“Have you looked in the Library of the Incantations?” Tyde asks thoughtfully.
Bularia gets an expression of hope. “Why didn’t we think of that before?” She pulls Sahara by the arm, causing Sahara to also pull Tyde, since they are still holding hands.
“Wait.” Sahara says noticing they are moving towards the protective wall away from the carnival. “Where are we going?”
“The Library of the Incantations is two blocks away.” Bularia says excitedly. “No one will even miss us.”
“No.” Sahara says pulling her arm away from Bularia. “I can’t leave.” She points up towards the dragons. “I have to stay at the Eve’s Lighting.”
“We just need to find the book of blood bonds.” Tyde says pulling on Sahara’s other hand. “It won’t take long.”
“It could hold all the answers to getting rid of the horrible betrothal.” Bularia pleads. “You could be rid of Brystol being your future.”
“And then,” Tyde moves up taking hold of both of her hands, “you could have a chance at finding real love.”
Sahara would much rather be given the chance of finding love than being stuck with someone she hates, or at least someone she thought she hated. “We would have to be fast,” Sahara looks up at the clock tower and notices she just has an hour and a half left. “I have to be back to the carriage at nine.”
“That is plenty of time.” Bularia says taking her arm again as the three walk quickly toward the protective wall.
“Is that a double protection wall?” Bularia asks as they draw closer to the clear sparkling wall.
“I can get us through.” Tyde says surprising Bularia and Sahara. “If one of you help.”
“How do we do it?” Sahara asks, knowing she could teleport through the walls, but she knows she should not let them know of her ability.
“It will require one of us to stay behind, or we will not be able to get back through.” Tyde says as he pulls Bularia next to him and moves her hands to an odd flower shaped position, “hold your hands just like that. You will need to keep this wall open while I open the other.”
“How do I do that?” Bularia asks following his directions.
“Use your hands to pull the protective wall apart while saying raclehta min.” Tyde takes Sahara’s hand, “Sahara you have to go through after I open the second wall and hold it open so I can follow.” Sahara looks behind them to make sure the crowd of elves are not watching. “Can you do that?” Tyde asks. Sahara nods her head feeling nervous. She knew what they were doing was wrong, but she did not want to miss the chance to figure out how to break the betrothal. “Come on, we don’t have much time.” Tyde says as he raises his hands toward the wall. “Are you both ready?”
Bularia and Sahara look at each other and nod. “I will be waiting here when you get back.” Bularia smiles at Sahara. “The book should be in the B section and be called Blood Bonding.”
“I can find it.” Sahara says confidently to Bularia.
“Now, Bularia.” Tyde says as he prepares his own hands to open the second wall. Bularia finds herself having a hard time opening the first wall, so Tyde expand it open further using the same spell for Sahara to squeeze through.
“How will we open the second wall?” Bularia asks as her knees collapse to the ground while she struggles to hold the wall open.
“Maybe this is a bad idea?” Sahara says looking behind her again toward the crowd.
“No!” Tyde says with a tinge of anger, “We can do this.”
“Yacsule.” Tyde says as he struggles to push his hands away from each other opening the second wall. Bularia looks surprised by Tyde’s spell, but Sahara takes the chance to leap through the dual opening. Tyde quickly follows before Bularia falls, catching herself with her hands and the two protective walls close. “Hurry.” Tyde says taking Sahara by the hand to pull her with him down the darkened street. “Before someone sees us.”
Sahara looks back at Bularia, who smiles toward them but then, Sahara sees Brystol running toward Bularia. She rolls her eyes as she runs faster with Tyde. She hopes Brystol will not tell on her, but if he does, she knows she needs to hurry. Sahara tries to keep up with Tyde as the glow of the event grows smaller. “Here it is.” Tyde says stopping in front of a large cream colored rock building.
“It definitely looks like a library.” Sahara laughs noticing how similar to human libraries it appears.
“Over here.” Tyde calls to her from a side window that he already has opened. “It seems they left a window unlocked.”
“That seems convenient.” Sahara says glancing back down toward where Bularia and Brystol are standing and talking. She realizes Brystol looks mad.
“Are you coming or not?” Tyde says still holding the window open waiting for Sahara to climb through. Sahara feels a sudden uneasy feeling about what they are doing. She takes a few steps backward. “If you would rather wait out here, I can go find the book and bring it out?” Tyde asks, and Sahara is not sure why, but his question eases her mind.
“No.” She quickly moves towards the window. “I want to come.” She climbs in through the window and looks around as Tyde too climbs inside. “Over there!” She says as she runs toward the sign that reads B. “Look for Blood Bonding.” She says to Tyde but she notices he is just standing still a few feet from her. “Tyde?”
Tyde’s expression changes suddenly and Sahara realizes something is drastically wrong. She hears Tyde shout, “Loethamba!” And her hands suddenly yank upwards over her head as her body rises from the ground dangling below her hands that feel tied.
She feels her heart pounding in fear when she sees a creature stepping out from behind a bookcase. She first sees a large dragon foot followed by a dragon body, but the top of the dragon appears to be an ellon. She remembers Carol describing a similar creature from when she accidentally made her disappear. Sahara tries to wiggle free from the tightness she feels around her wrists but fails to break free. “We meet at last.” The creature grumbles as his hand makes a motion, causing Sahara’s body to fly toward him quickly. She suddenly stops if front of him, and she can smell his bad breath and notices how evil his twisted face truly appears. Sahara wishes she could speak but she cannot seem to find any words. “The famous Aranel.” The creature scrapes his long dragon-like fingernail across her cheek causing her to feel slight pain.
“Who are you?” Sahara manages to ask trying to avoid the putrid smell of the beast.
“How disappointing.” He says as he waves his hand causing her body to rotate so that it is now laying down vertically in the air with her head tilted back so that she can still see him. Her arms are now standing straight up above her chest and she feels her ankles suddenly snap together as if they are now tied too. “You have not heard of me?”
“Patreek?” Sahara asks feeling some pain from the invisible binding wrapping around her feet.
The creature laughs, “Do you hear that Frazor? She thinks I am Patreek.” Tyde stays silent and Sahara notices he seems to be who the creature is speaking to. Sahara suddenly realizes she has been deceived.
“Who are you then?” Sahara asks curiously. “And what do you want with me?”
“I am Themonus.” He says with a fake forced smile. “I want nothing from you.” He looks behind him and Sahara begins to struggle to break free from her invisible binding. “I cannot promise my friend has the same intentions.” She realizes he is referring to Tyde.
Sahara looks over at Tyde as she continues to try and escape. “Tyde?”
“My name is Frazor!” Tyde says angrily toward her. “I stole this useless body two years ago so that when you arrived to the academy, I would be there waiting for you.”
“Why?” She stops trying to break free as she asks. “What did I do to you?”
She hears Themonus giggle as he jumps about like an excited child. “Oh, let me tell her!”
“Silence!” Frazor yells as he throws his hand up causing Themonus to be pushed backward. “You ruined my best friend’s life.” He says as he throws his arm up toward her before her body suddenly slams up against the ceiling and she feels pain. She feels her body begin to free fall toward the hard floor and she decides to try to teleport. She manages to teleport down to Frazor but her hands and feet are still bound, so she falls to the ground. Themonus claps mockingly, “Very good Aranel!”
“But not good enough.” Frazor says with the wave of his hand causing Sahara’s body to fly through the air. Sahara again teleports back to in front of Frazor, falling to the ground again still bound by her hands and feet. Frazor begins to sound agitated, “Is that all you can do?”
Sahara again teleports but to the top of a bookcase this time, where they cannot see her and she tries to break free from the invisible binding on her hands. “She has tricks, my friends.” Themonus sounds as though he is humming a playful tune. “Oh, Sahara? We know you are here somewhere.”
Sahara finally is able to break her ankle binding with a spell but is still unable to free her hands. She suddenly sees a demon-like creature crawl into her view on the bookcase and it lets out a death curling scream. She tries to move backward in fear of the creature but runs into something and realizes there are two other identical creatures behind her. She screams as she falls off the top of the bookshelf. Her body slams against the hard floor and she cries out in pain.
Themonus laughs in excitement as he moves toward her. “Frazor is coming to get you!” He sings in a teasing tune.
She suddenly feels her body fly back up into the air toward the ceiling as Frazor’s words hit her ear. “Patreek was my best friend.” Sahara realizes she needs to teleport to safety, back to the carnival. If she did that everyone would know she could teleport so she decides to teleport to just outside the library. She feels her body suddenly fall to the floor and realizes she only teleported to just inside the library doors. She quickly stands up confused about how she didn’t make it outside.
“Got ya!” Themonus says playfully. “You are a feisty thing.”
Sahara manages to cause a few of the books from the shelves to fly off toward Themonus, but he throws his hand up in the air causing the books to fall to the ground before they touch him. She suddenly feels Frazor’s hand grab hold of her arm tightly. “I was hoping for a worthy opponent, but you are a mere baby.” Frazor says toward her.
“Let me go!” Sahara says with authority.
“Or what?” Frazor asks as he tightens his grip on her. “Will you throw books at me?”
Sahara feels herself begin to get angry. “What do you want?”
“To take you to Patreek.” Themonus says excitedly.
“Silence!” Frazor yells as Sahara feels his body shake in rage. “Do your job and go ready the glorman.”
“Yes, master.” Themonus whimpers as he scurries toward the back of the library.
“You were behind the glorman that attacked me?” Sahara asks looking at Frazor.
“We would have had you then too had you not teleported.” He yanks her by the arm as he drags her behind him following Themonus. She knows if she tries to teleport now he will go with her since he is touching her. “But thank you for that, because we knew how to prevent you from teleporting out of a building, if we could just get out of the protective areas in to a building.”
Sahara feels disappointed in herself for not realizing the whole thing was a trick to begin with, but then she remembers Bularia helped. “Was Bularia in on it too?”
A sudden loud bang on the doors behind them surprises all of them. “Hurry!” Frazor yells toward Themonus as he continues to drag Sahara with him. Sahara sees the doors to the library suddenly fly open when she looks back behind them. She sees the aran standing with multiple guardian elves behind him. She suddenly feels her body begin to rise from the floor and she realizes Frazor is using magic to move her body toward Themonus. She knows if she cannot teleport out of the library that she should be able to make it to the door just in front of the aran. She quickly teleports when she is free from Frazors grasp and falls to the ground in front of the aran.
The aran looks at her briefly, before calling toward the guards to attack Frazor. As the aran helps Sahara to her feet she quickly tries to warn him, “They have a herd of glorman they are controlling.”
Just as Sahara tells him, a large burst of flames lights up the sky just out side of the library. Sahara sees the guardian dragons and the green glowing glorman begin to fight. Sahara quickly moves outside and begins to cast the Heli spell on the glorman as the aran helps. “The glorman begin to spring back to action after a moment and Sahara realizes that Themonus is standing on the edge of the building countering their spells. “Is there a prison near here?” Sahara asks the king as she shouts over the loud roars of the beasts fighting. “Or some cages or something to trap the beasts in?”
The aran gives her a strange look as he responds, “The prison is in the dark regions. There are a few beast cages in the dungeon of Holestroy but nothing here.”
“I need to see them!” Sahara says after she causes another glorman to fall to the ground.
“What?” The aran seems confused.
“Now!” She grabs hold of his shoulder and teleports them to Holestroy.
The aran looks surprised, “What are you doing?”
“Please?” She asks, “Show them to me. I can’t teleport something to somewhere I have not seen.”
The aran suddenly seems to understand what she is planning to do and turns to exit the castle. “Wait.” Sahara says running behind him. “Where are we going?”
“The dungeon is not actually in the castle.” He says as they exit the castle. As they move across the court yard he points to a building that is just outside the village that Sahara sees glowing in the distance. She squints trying to see the front of the building but it is too dark for her to see so she can teleport. She runs as fast as she can getting closer to the building. When she finally sees the building more clearly, she looks to take hold of the aran but he is too far behind her for her to reach. She teleports herself to the front of the building and then focusses her mind on the aran. “I thought you left me!” The aran says sounding relieved. “Here.” He says taking a key from around his neck. He uses it to unlock the door. Sahara quickly runs in and begins to look in the windows of the rooms. She finds a large one and knows she needs to get Themonus in it first. Is this door locked?” She asks.
“Yes.” He replies. Sahara closes her eyes and focuses on Themonus, she imagines him being in the cell as she tries to teleport him. She opens her eyes and sees Themonus looking around the room in shock. She feels the aran touching her as he tries to look through the small window of the cell door. “You did it.”
He sounds surprised tinged with a bit of fear, Sahara notes. She quickly moves to the next cell and looks inside, “Frazor.” She says and without closing her eyes Frazor appears inside the cell.
Without looking around Frazor looks up right into Sahara’s eyes just before he grows a disturbing smile, as if she had done exactly as he had planned for her to do.
She turns toward the aran, who is staring at her in amazement. “Can they get out?”
He shakes his head as he looks away from Frazor to Sahara with a worried appearance. “This building was built with westrohen, to weaken the magic of those in it. Including you.”
“We have to go help with the glorman.” She says reaching for his hand so she can teleport him with her.
“Quinthius.” The aran says turning toward an elf standing at the end of the hallway. “You have new prisoners to watch.” He turns back toward her and takes her hand. She nods at the king before she teleports them back to just outside the library.
She sees most of the glorman laying on the ground and notices they are no longer glowing green. The few remaining in the sky, she and the aran helps stop.
After all the glorman are laying frozen on the ground surrounding them, Sahara glances over toward the aran feeling the need to apologize. “I..” Her words are stopped by the aran’s hand flying up into the air telling her to stop.
“Kretho, Destroy them all.” The aran instructs the head guard as another group of guards approach him.
“Your majesty!” The guard in front of the group says, “We have lost the ellon that we had cornered. He just seems to have vanished.”
“I know Hodreg. He has been captured.” The aran glances over toward Sahara and she knows he is angry with her. “Come Sahara. We need to get you home.”
She follows the aran in silence as they approach the protective dome, where all the thousands of elves are crowded at the edge watching. The aran speaks as soon as they are out of earshot of the guards and half way back to the dome. “You are to tell everyone we rescued you and captured those responsible, nothing more. Do you understand?”
“Yes.” She says.
“Go straight to the carriage when we get back in the protective dome.” He tells her as she sees him motion toward some elves standing just outside the dome. Sahara keeps her head down as she follows the aran through the wall. She hears the crowd of elves whispering and speculating. They hush as soon as the aran begins to speak, again sounding as though he is using a microphone when he is not. “Everything is alright!” He sounds triumphant. She continues toward the carriage as he instructed while he continues speaking. “The creatures who attacked the aranel have been captured.” She hears the crowd begin to cheer.
“Sahara!” She hears Bularia yelling her name and she turns to see her running toward the carriage too. Sahara shakes her head at Bularia as she waves her hand at her to go away. Bularia ignores her and gets closer. “Are you alright? I am so sorry! I had no idea what Tyde was up to!”
Sahara keeps walking as she looks back toward the aran who is also coming their direction. “It is fine. Just go away.” She says trying to avoid getting in more trouble. She notices Bularia stop walking with her and she lets out a small sigh of relief. She is not sure if she should believe Bularia or not, Frazor made her think Bularia was in on the scheme.
She climbs into the carriage and quietly sits next to Brystol, who glances at her before turning his attention to the window he is seated next to.. She looks at the tari, who lets out a sigh of relief, “We are glad to see you are alright.”
Sahara remains silent not sure what to say, she knows all of this was her fault for not staying in the protective dome. A moment later the aran joins them in the carriage and taps on the roof. The carriage begins to move and Sahara finds the silence is crushing her insides. “I’m sorry.” She says keeping her eyes toward the floor. She only hears Brystol scuff in annoyance in reply to her apology. The remainder of the ride back to Holestroy is silent.
“Into the study.” The aran says to her as they enter the castle. She complies silently. “You too, Brystol.” Sahara moves toward the center of the room before she turns to see Brystol, the tari, and the aran enter after her. The aran shuts the door before raising his hand toward the ceiling. “Dinputtakist.” From his word a golden sparkling tint flows down from the ceiling covering the room. Sahara catches eye contact with Brystol and she can tell he is mad at her. “Sit.” The aran says pointing to the couch. Sahara and Brystol obey his order. Sahara keeps her eyes away from the arans as the room stays silent for a moment. “Well?” The aran sounds agitated.
Sahara finally works up the nerve to look up toward the aran as she speaks. “I am sorry I crossed the protective wall. I should have never done it.”
“Why did you do it?” Tari Nathila sounds more consoling and loving than the aran had.
She glances over toward Brystol before she speaks. “I was looking for a book.” No one speaks so she stays silent debating on continuing or not.
“Well, do not leave us all in such suspense.” The aran sounds sarcastic but angry at the same time, “Tell us which book was so important that you risked everything to find it.”
Sahara slumps down in her seat feeling embarrassed. “Blood Bonding.” She glances up toward the tari, who gives her a compassionate gaze. She looks back toward the aran who looks angered and she decides to explain. “Tyde told me about it.” She decides to leave Bularia out of it. “I didn’t realize he was Frazor until we were already in the library.”
“Frazor?” The tari quickly looks toward aran Rayterbay. “He was there?”
“I did not see him.” The aran looks toward Sahara.
“He said something about taking Tyde’s body a few years ago so he could be at the academy when I arrived.” She feels stupid about how she liked Tyde and thought he liked her.
“Vessel swapping.” Tari says sounding surprised. “Patreek’s followers are vessel swapping?”
“That means they could be anyone.” Aran Rayterbay says sitting down in a large grey arm chair.
“Did you capture him?” The tari asks looking at the aran.
“Sahara did.” The aran responds. “He and Themonus are currently in our dungeon. She teleported them into cells.”
“Teleported them?” The tari sounds concerned, “What do you mean?”
“I was standing in the dungeon with her when she did it.” The aran says never taking his eyes from Sahara.
From the corner of her eye, Sahara sees Brystol look towards her. She glances over and he looks confused. “The westrohen though.”
“Does not seem to have an affect on the aranel.” The aran says blandly.
“Something has an affect on my magic.” Sahara says sitting up remembering how she tried to teleport from the library. “At the library, I could not teleport out. Every time I tried I would just wind-up somewhere else in the library. They said they had seen me teleport when the glorman attacked after the binding. They just needed me in a building to stop me from teleporting.”
“Would that not be westrohen?” The tari turns asking the aran. “What else would they use?”
The aran shakes his head as if he does not know. “And how would they know westrohen would not work?”
Sahara looks down at the bracelet she is wearing, it is the one Frazor had given her. She slides it off her wrist wondering if it perhaps had something to do with her powers being weak in the library. “Tyde gave me this when we were leaving the academy for the break.” She hands it to the aran, who inspects the red jewels.
“We will have to have it inspected.” The aran says handing it to the tari. “Though you redeemed yourself and ended the battle fairly quickly, I am afraid you have lost the trust we had in you.” Sahara nods in understanding as the aran continues. “You will be required to have a guard or companion with you at all outings from hence forth.”
Brystol suddenly rises from the couch as he speaks, “Redeemed herself? Are you joking?”
“Now, Brystol…” Tari Nathila says trying to sooth his anger.
He interrupts his mother, turning toward Sahara with his angry words. “Good for you, for fixing the battle you caused by being selfish.”
“I wasn’t.” She shakes her head realizing that she is lying.
“The Blood Bonding book?” He sounds more angry now, “Come on, Sahara. No one here is that stupid. You were after the book to try and figure out how to break the betrothal for yourself. Don’t pretend that was in an effort to save me or fix the future. Because we both no that is a lie.” He turns away from looking at her for a moment and she feels embarrassment creep up on her face.
“I have no idea what the two of you are fighting over, but we need to...” The tari calmly tries to speak but Brystol interrupts her again.
“What if they had succeeded and gotten you to Patreek?” He still seems to be yelling at her and it makes her feel two inches tall. “Why do you not get that this is not just about you? Or what you want? They could end all of us if they get you.”
Sahara glances over toward the aran and the tari who are avoiding looking at her. “I know. I said I was sorry.”
“Sorry doesn’t bring elves back to life.” Brystol says sitting back down keeping his eyes away from her.
“No one was killed.” She says meekly.
“Oh, well in that case, thank you for saving the day!” He says sarcastically.
The room stays silent for a few moments and it gives Sahara time to think about Brystol’s words. She realizes he is right. She needs to be more careful. She is not sure why him being mad at her hurts her insides so badly.
“I think we have had enough discussion on the topic for now.” The aran says before he lifts the golden covering from the room. “Brystol, off to bed. I would like a word alone with Sahara.”
Brystol quickly stands and exits the room. Tari Nathila follows him after giving Sahara a consoling smile. The aran waits until the door closes to speak. “I, of all elves, know the ins and outs of your betrothal contract. And I can assure you, there is no way out of it.” He sounds caring as he sits down next to her and continues to speak. “But, I also know what it is like to be stuck in a betrothal you do not want. For that reason, I may be acting a bit more lenient on you than you deserve. From Brystol’s words, I take it you figured out how to use the declure. And though I am not sure what it is you saw in the future, I ask you to put aside your personal desires for the good of the kingdoms and accept your betrothal. Because if you continue down this dangerous path of seeking to break it, you will destroy our world and what all your parents set out to achieve.”
Sahara feels a tear break from her eye. She despises the idea that her future is already set for her but she knows the aran is right. “I was not married to Brystol in either of the futures I saw.”
The aran does not even seem to think about what she has said as he replies, “Your father and I had many discussions of the futures he had seen from the declure. He told me of how there were only snippets of time shown. And when those futures came to be, some of the visions had been deceiving in what the actual future held.” He stands and removes his dress jacket. “He once told me that he learned quickly to be sure not to guess at what the visions had shown him because when he misinterpreted them, he caused more chaos than good.”
“Did he see the same set of futures each time he used it?” She asks hoping for a better understanding of how the declure works.
“I am sorry, but I do not know that answer.” The aran replies. “That specific declure only works for your father’s blood line. I had been in the same room with him many times when he used it and never saw anything that he saw. He would relay to me what he saw sometimes but not every time.”
“So now, I am the only one that can use it?” Sahara asks.
“Not exactly.” The aran says clearing his throat. “Your father had a brother.”
Sahara sits up wiping the last of her tears away at this new piece of informations. “I have family?”
The aran quietly thinks to himself for a moment before he speaks, “Patreek Ashdell is your uncle.”
“I’m sorry.” Sahara shakes her head in disbelief. “What? The Patreek? I thought he was a drow elf.”
“That is what the records show him as.” The aran explains, “But, he was born a minder elf and the true eire to your throne. Before he became of age, he grew power hungry and discovered a way to steal other elf’s power. When your grandparents found out what he was doing, they captured and disowned him. He had grown so powerful that he escaped and was believed to be living with the drow elves. Your grandfather established a treaty with the surrounding kingdoms and was able to create a protective shield to prevent Patreek from entering the kingdoms. Your grandparents thought it best to wipe all history of him as a minder elf for the protection of the future generations. But as time went on and your father took the throne, Patreek grew angry and sought more power so he could break through the protective shield and overthrow all of the elven kingdoms.”
“He killed his own brother.” She says not believing what she is hearing.
“It is important for you to be protected.” The aran says, “Your uncle knows more about your powers than any of us. He grew up with your mother and father, so he knew both their powers well. I assume your mother was not affected by westrohen, which he most likely knew passed to you. That is how he was prepared for tonight. What he learned of you tonight, he now will know what to prepare for the next attack and he will be more prepared.”
“How would he know what happened tonight?” Sahara straightens her posture in surprise.
“He was watching somehow, from somewhere.” The aran responds confidently.”Tonight was just your second test. The first was the glorman attack. Like you said, they saw you teleport that night. He is evaluating your powers, so that he can learn how to trap and destroy you. He will never stop until you or he are dead.” The aran pauses for a moment and looks sorrowful. “There are rules and boundaries set up for that very reason. From what we have learned tonight, I am starting to realize he will eventually succeed and you will come face to face with him.”
Sahara feels her nerves pounding insider her. She had not realized her enemy already knows her better than she knows her self. “I won’t leave the protective walls again to find answers. I promise.” She shakes her head toward the aran.
“I would appreciate that.” The aran smiles at her with his response. “And be cautious with your friends. Try to let them know as little about you as possible. We don’t know who might be watching you for him.”
Sahara remembers Bularia helping break through the protective walls. She is not sure if Bularia knew what Tyde was up to or not. ‘I will.”
“Alright then, You may go.” The aran waves towards the door.
She gives him a quick curtsy before she leaves the room.
Brystol shoves a book into her arms as she moves up the staircase. “We have a library. All you had to do was ask.” He sounds annoyed and Sahara feels her heart jump as she reads the title of the book, Blood Bonding. Just when she thought she could not feel any stupider and remorseful, he has proved her wrong. She looks up toward Brystol to apologize, but he has already turned around is quickly moving up the stairs. She sighs in regret as she hugs the book and progresses toward her bedroom.