SWNOVELS Chapter HIS HOPE, HER HOPE
CH HIS HOPE, HER HOPE
Rieth called on all his magic and the remnant of Fleur’s soul, as he tightened his grip on his sword.
“She belongs to the Light, Dark One,” he snarled. He had never battled one of the creatures alone. A tentacle of shadow twitched, and the Huntsman reacted, striking at the creature Corbin had become before it could move toward Karstien and Fleur.
Karstien had carefully lowered Fleur or Daisy to a sitting position and splashed her with a potion of healing. He wanted to weep or rage at the cuts on her arms and the blood that leaked from them. His mind reached into the swirling maelstrom of her re-emerging memories. The rapidly coalescing images, flashing like strobes, and made him feel dizzy. He sought through the chaos, following the musical lilt of her voice sobbing and singing.
‘Daisy, it’s Karstien, Come back.’ He looked for a reaction, but her eyes are blank, over his shoulder he could hear his uncle fighting Corbin and his Shadow. ‘Daisy... Fleur... please, wake up.’
‘You can’t trick me, Damien.’ Her voice came from behind him, but he turned and couldn’t find her.
‘No, It’s Kars, the real Karstien, wake up.’ Images of her time as his brother’s prisoner appeared and disappeared around them like a dozen projections. Karstien choked on his horror at witnessing Damien’s magically glamoured body in his image attacking Daisy. He had watched her talk about what Damien did with Ezra, but to see it through her memories made it worse. ‘Please believe me. We need you.’
‘You’re a liar, Damien. Just like your father and his father. Just like your uncle and your brother!’
Something violent shoved him from her awareness and he turned. Rieth had collided with the wall next to them and rolled onto his back, unconscious. Karstien rose quickly to face Corbin. The strange black smoke that had always appeared around the indwelled ones was coming from Corbin in weird tendrils. It had covered the wall behind them in a strange bubbling mass of dark energy. Shadz, Abe, and Regis were held on the opposite side and couldn’t aid them.
Karstien pulled his Calibris sword and the Flame of Aetheria glowed along its blade. He needed to use both his swords but he couldn’t summon lightning in this ancient wooden structure or it would burn to the ground in minutes. Karstien kicked Corbin back as he rotated and slashed one of the tentacles that struck at him. Without Daisy’s light to turn it to dust, the shadow tentacles reattached in a matter of moments. As he continued to strike and block, he wondered how Daisy, with his father or uncle, had managed to kill so many of these things, it was repairing itself as fast as he wounded it.
Suddenly, there was a building shaking boom and a hole appeared in the wall of dark writhing smoke. Kalen sprung through the hole and rolled to his feet. As the hole filled in, Karstien could feel Shadz dropping to his knees, exhausted from over-extending his magic.
“Hello, brother.” The Young Guardian held a sword almost identical to the Calibris that glowed with oracle light, it was their father’s Luminos sword, that carried part of Daisy’s oracle light infused into the metal and had been fired with the Flame of Aetheria. It was the sword they had made by mistake. The tentacles Kalen cut wouldn’t just reattach, the shadow would have to make new ones.
“Brother...” Karstien greeted Kalen, then warned, “Mind the tentacles.”
Together they attacked almost as one. The shadow was whipping at them like flags in a gale as Corbin retreated from the onslaught of the two warriors. They began to gain headway against the creature.
Rieth recovered enough to wake, he rolled onto his side and grabbed Fleur’s limp hand. His aching mind cried out to hers. ’Fleur, wake up. We need you. Karstien needs you to help him.”
She shuddered, ‘No, it’s Damien, it’s a trick. He can have my blood, but he can’t have my mind.’
‘It isn’t Damien, Damien is dead. Please, Fleur! Karstien and Kalen are getting hurt.’
‘Who are you? Are you Yurieth, or Yuri, or Rieth?’ She fought the images of the three versions of him she knew.
‘I’m all of them, and I love you.’ He was getting desperate.
‘You’re a liar.’ She hissed. ‘I heard Adamos. Duty isn’t love. You’re free now, leave me alone.’
Rieth managed to push himself up to his knees, he clutched her hand to his heart with his uninjured arm. ‘You don’t have to be alone! Do you remember what I told you in your Room of Light? The one who hurt you died before he became a ghost and the ghost who revived only remembered that he loved you. That part of me died because it couldn’t live without your love. You’re my hope. Yes, my father told me loving you was my duty, but I would have loved you for all time without being told to. Please, we can talk about this later, I will do any penitence for the way I treated you, but right now Karstien and Kalen are trying to kill a shadow without your light. Your light is their last hope.’
The Shadow Corbin was shocked that one as young as Kalen was as skilled as his late father and growled at them in an unearthly tone, “You cannot defeat me. She is our queen. We will take her back and she is the mother of the child that will bring our master to this realm.”
The shadow’s words caused Karstien to hesitate for a horrified second and a tentacle struck him, knocking him across the room and into the kneeling Yurieth. The force rolled them away from Fleur and they collapsed in a heap. Kalen scooped up his brother’s sword, cutting and slashing as fast as his magic would allow. Corbin stabbed and slashed at him with inhuman speed. They dueled and Kalen felt himself losing the advantage just as the tentacles seized him.
‘Mom, help me!’ He cried out to her mind as time seemed to slow while Corbin’s cursed blade rushed through the air at his throat. Rieth tried to rise up and help his nephew.
Suddenly, there was a brilliant flash of Light and everything froze. Fleur tipped Rieth’s battered face to look at her, her eyes were glowing white. She wiped the blood from his split lip with such sad sympathy.
“You can see me?” His voice was stronger than it had been since his throat was cut and he realized that they were beyond reality in that moment. Her skin was glowing so brightly.
“I’m sorry you had to hide who you were from me, Yuri,” She caressed his cheek and he leaned into her hand.
“Who I was before needed to go away, so that I could just love you as I wanted. I waited too long to tell you the truth. I’m sorry.” He asked the question he feared most. “Can you forgive me for my dishonor and deceit?”
Fleur smiled at him. “You have been more truthful to yourself in the last several months than you have been in all your life, and through your pretense you have found peace, hope, and happiness.” She pressed her lips against his. “And for a time, love. It was everything, I hoped for you.” She rose and stepped away from him.
“Don’t leave me, Fleur, not again,” he begged.
“We shall see, Huntsman. The Shadows want my son, I can’t let them have him. I can’t reach Shadz through the barrier. Warn Abe, I am going to make it rain lightning.”
Fleur picked up Karstien’s lightning sword from the floor. She walked over and took Kaleth’s Luminos sword from Kalen’s frozen hand. Time began to accelerate around them and to Rieth, it felt like falling. In two fluid movement, she sliced through the tentacles of shadow holding Kalen and cut off Corbin’s sword hand. She twirled and shoved the Luminos through Corbin’s chest as she hooked the ancient lightning sword around his neck.
“It’s time to die again, Damien.”
Corbin gaped at her in shock as over her shoulder she said, “Kalen, take your brother and uncle outside now.”
Kalen stumbled backward against the wall next to the wounded Rieth and dazed Karstien. Letting go of the Luminos, Fleur held out her hand and the darkness curled around it as she drew the dark energy into herself. “So, you want power? Corbin, you showed me yours, now I’ll show you mine.”
Rieth’s mind shouted to his brother, ‘Flee now!’
‘What comes?’ Abe demanded but Yurieth could feel him already retreating cautiously with Shadz and Regis.
‘Remember what Fleur did at the Winter Castle and Dauntless 6? She means to do it here to kill the shadow.’ Rieth warned then he shielded his face with his good arm.
Kalen crouched over he and Karstien as the wall beside them exploded at a flick of Fleur’s hand. Splintered wood hurled outward and covered them all. Looking like the Dark Oracle again, she reached down with a blood dripping hand and pulled the Guardian’s sword from Corbin’s chest. The Lightning sword crackled to life with dark and white sparks; a single white bolt removed Corbin’s head and set his body on fire. The shadow reared back and separated itself from its burning host body. Kalen hauled his brother and uncle to their feet, supporting one on each side of himself. Rieth twisted to look at her as the dark shadow seemed to hesitate unsure whether to attack her or bow to her.
‘Fleur, look at me!’ Rieth’s mind demanded and glowing white eyes shined below ebony black hair as she glanced at him. ‘I love you, come back to me. Come back to Yuli, Kalen, and Jenna. We need you.’ He pleaded.
Karstien added, ‘Daisy, don’t die. You promised.’
‘I won’t yet.’
She smiled wanly at them as the shadow tentacles struck at the protection glyphs hovering between them and the Shadow. Then Kalen jumped down the three stories, and they were forced to use fall magic to not be further hurt when they landed. They staggered away from the building as it exploded with black and white lightning. The wooden mill was consumed in an inferno. The final barrage is so great, they stumbled and fell while the thunder boomed around them in deafening cacophony. It had taken less than a minute for the giant mill to be reduced to smoldering rubble in the pouring rain. Abe, Regis, and Shadz rushed toward them. Shadz splashed the three of them with healing potions. As he looked around at the devastation, Rieth wondered how they survived and feared for Fleur.
As if reading his mind, Shadz answered, “Soul Shield magic saved you and the King’s Blessing save Karstien and Kalen.”
“Not exactly, my lord mage.” A glowing Daisy walked down through the smoke from where the third floor had been. She was wearing a gray oracle gown; her hair was pale again and the cuts on her arms were healed. Shadz walked toward her and held up his hand as if to help her step down the last three steps. The sun broke through the clouds and the rain stopped as her foot touched the ground.
She put her cheek against his and whispered, “A mother’s love saved Kalen, just as your great-grandmother Naphtala’s love saved you. She was the white oracle, not I, I was just a vessel. But I will always love you as my son too.”
He nodded tearfully. “I’m so sorry for your suffering, we just couldn’t let you die.”
“I know. Thank you for saving me.” She whispered then kissed him on the forehead before turning to walk toward the others.
She offered Karstien back his lightning sword, grinning, “Thanks for the loan.”
He grinned back, “Well, at least, you didn’t crack it this time.”
She made a sheepish expression, “Weeellll.” As she held out his lightning sword, it was still glowing red hot and had an obvious crack in it.
Karstien chuckled, then hugged her, emotionally he whispered into her hair, “I thought we had forever lost you.”
Her chin trembled and a tear leaked from her glowing white eyes. “You did. I can’t go back to who I was, I had no hope left. The time of the War Oracle is over. It ended the day SHE died. I am Vinterfleur of the House of Valent now, but I will always be your friend, my king. I’ve missed you, even when I couldn’t remember who you were or who I was, I missed you.” Her glow faded slowly as she talked until she looked like normal Fleur again.
Turning, she patted Kalen on the cheek even though he was much taller than her now and handed him his father’s sword. “I love you, my fish.”
Kalen choked out a laugh and hugged her tightly, “I’ve missed you so much, Mom. I knew you weren’t dead. I never gave up my hope and neither did Jenna. She’s with Yuli at your lighthouse. Auntie Pha says she can cure your soul sickness.”
Fleur was starting to tremor and twitch like she was about to have a seizure. “Then let her try, I will fight to stay with you.” She looked at Rieth and smiled, “With all of you.”
Rieth reached out and hugged her, he could feel her strength failing rapidly so he kissed her, fearing it might be the last time, and praying it wouldn’t be. Fleur blinked up at him as she swayed, her voice was faint. “Have hope, my huntsman.”
He held her tighter, whispering harshly, “If you’re not an oracle anymore, then I’m not a huntsman.”
She blinked at him once and he realized she was blind again, “I love you, Yuri. I always have but you’re free now.” Then she fainted in his arms. Her nightslip had been burned off in the fire and the projection of her oracle gown vanished as she lost consciousness. Karstien wrapped his cloak around her nakedness. Painfully, Yuri lifted Fleur the rest of the way into his embrace. His arm was only partially healed, but he was determined to carry her.
Abe insisted, “Let us go quickly, it’s time for Serapha to comb her hair.”
The rain began again, but it was warm and gentle, the tempest had been changed into pleasant showers.