The Legacy

Kain walked down the path towards the riverbed. It was so peaceful in the woods. A complete change from the deafening silence a few nights ago. Kain hadn’t told anyone about the face in the flames and she felt like maybe it was best to keep quiet about it. The face had said not to trust…someone. She needed to know who she wasn’t supposed to trust. The strange thing is that the face looked so familiar to her. Like something from a distant dream. the familiarity was so compelling that it made her heart hurt with longing.

Kain listened to the birds sing and now and then she could hear an elk scream, it was calming. The babbling of water told her that she had reached the river, and soon enough she saw the water that reflected the surrounding trees in it. She sat down on the riverbed, dipping her hands in the cold water and spilling it on her face. The coolness of the water made her gasp with surprise. She dipped her hands once more and spilled it onto her face again. Kain tried to wash away the worries, but it was no use. Knowing that she only had a while before she had to go back, Kain relaxed on the riverbank, letting her feet float in the stream. She wasn’t ready to face reality yet.

“Are you okay?” a small voice asked her. Kain’s eyes flew open and her head snapped up, looking frantically around until she found a little girl sitting on a large rock, situated just a little into the river. So much for being alone, Kain thought, pressing her lips into a thin line. She watched as the little girl dipped her tiny hand into the water and slowly dragged it out, a string of water followed her hand. When her hand came parallel with her shoulder, the string of water drifted up to her palm and formed a large ball of moving liquid. She turned her head and smiled at Kain sheepishly. Kain stared down at her own hands, “I’m fine,” she answered quietly. It was a lie of course but no one else needed to know that.

“Clearly that’s not true,” the little girl said, looking straight through Kain’s walls, “you are bothered by things and you have many questions that needs answers, not true?” the little girl asked. She bounced the ball of liquid between her palms in pretty much the same way you’d bounce an ordinary ball. Kain stared at the girl taken aback. The girl smiled at Kain again, this time the smile reached the little girl’s bright eyes, “so what is it you want to know?” the girl offered, the smile still curled on her face.

“If you could tell me why someone needs a liver then I would feel better, but I doubt even a little girl would know,” Kain said with a tired sigh. She pulled her knees up towards her chest and rested her chin on top of them, staring up at the girl who had begun to form ringlets with the water. The girls dark blue skin glimmered like a sapphire in the sunlight. Short seaweed leaves, that grew all over the girl’s body, moved slightly in the calm breeze. Her dark green eyes looking like bubbles as they focused on the water floating in front of them. “Our liver is the source of our blood isn’t it?” she asked. Kain frowned at the girl. It was a rhetorical question. One she didn’t think a little girl should answer. Kain listened as the girl continued, “think about it this way,” she said manoeuvring the water until it took on a different shape. “Our blood is like water. It flows through our veins and we need it to survive, and like the rocks in the river, our liver purifies our blood, cleaning it from all debris. Our liver is basically our pure life force just like the mountain is to the river,” the girl explained her statement, constantly manoeuvring the water to take on different shapes. Then she shrugged, “at least that’s what I think,” she added before shutting her fingers into a fist which caused the water to burst into mist that fell back into the river like a misty rain. She turned her attention back to Kain, “think about it.” she suggested. Kain watched the girl jump into the river and swim away with blinding speed. Kain wouldn’t have thought it possible for a fae child to exhibit such strengths.

Kain thought about the girl’s words. At first, she thought that it was just ramblings of a young child but then the words started to paint a bigger picture. “That’s it!” Kain exclaimed excitedly, jumping up from the ground and running back towards the camp. “Wison!” she called, “call on the meeting! I think I have something!” she yelled towards him before heading down to the mini farm to call Burbor and Ciara, who was busy harvesting potatoes.

Everyone gathered inside the main tent, looking curiously at Kain. “So? Are you just going to let us wait? Or should we guess what it is you have in that pretty little head?” Burbor asked impatiently. Alocius punched him on the arm, “have some respect you great oaf! She is our Bleeder for magic’s sake!” he proclaimed dutifully.

“It’s alright, Alocius,” Kain said quickly before they decided to start up a brawl. “I was down at the river when a little girl spoke to me. She said something that made me wonder about Zorzia’s plans.”

“Wait,” Ciara interrupted, her hand held up for Kain to pause, “what little girl?” she asked confused. Kain frowned at Ciara, “well, how many little girls are here at camp?” she asked bewildered. Ciara stretched her eyes as she answered confused. “None! We don’t take children into the human world,” she said, “it’s forbidden!”

“My mother did,” Kain corrected, staring at Ciara intently. Ciara sighed, “that’s not the point. What little girl?” Ciara asked a little too loudly. Wison placed a hand on Ciara’s shoulder, indicating to her that she was stepping out of line. Ciara bowed her head slightly, mumbling an apology but kept her questioning eyes on Kain.

“She was a water fae. I could tell by the way she looked but also because she was playing with water using her magic,” Kain watched as everyone’s eyes grew wide. “Impossible!” Wison murmured.

Kain stared at him with disbelief, “I know what I saw! I’m not making this up!” she said, defending herself. “By the goddess Kain, I didn’t say you did! I simply stated that it is impossible,” Wison said.

“Wison! You’re a genius!” Alocius exclaimed, clapping his hands together. Both Wison and Kain stared at him confused. Alocius rolled his eyes at their obvious stupidity. “Kain didn’t truly see a fae child. She saw a goddess,” Alocius explained. He laughed as the confusion cleared from their faces.

“What?” Kain asked. “Kain, that wasn’t just any fae child you saw. You saw the water deity Siqua,” Wison exclaimed excitedly. He understood where Alocius was going with this.

“How do you know?” Kain asked. Wison laughed while shaking his head, “because there isn’t a fae child alive who can wield magic yet. They have magic in their system, but none can use it until they have reached their age of adolescence,” Wison explained slowly. Kain sat back in her chair as she tried to think of the woman she saw on the night of the funeral and the child she saw a few hours ago.

Thinking about it, she noticed that they did look similar, “but how could it have been Siqua?” Kain whispered confused. “Siqua is known for her many forms. She can change her body just like water can change its shape. She can come forth as a woman or a teenager. An old woman or any form of water animal or a child,” he said the last, looking at Kain.

“It is possible that the deity spoke to you,” he added with envy. Ciara folded her arms, “so what did the deity of water say to you?” she asked curiously.

“She used a metaphor to explain the importance of the liver. Explaining that the liver is our purifying organ and that it is one of our few organs that is needed for our life-force. This got me wondering. What do you need to have to use the power of the deities, to be a Bleeder?” Kain asked with raised eyebrows, waiting for them to click. Burbor was the first to stop frowning. “The Blood circle was created out of pure blood. The blood of those chosen by the deities. In order to become a Bleeder, there was a ceremony held to purify the next chosen Bleeder before the new Blood circle was formed,” he answered slowly, the others began to understand as well.

“Meaning that pure blood… clean blood is needed to use the deity’s power,” Kain simplified the answer. Alocius leaned forward onto the table, “what does that have to do with the missing livers?” he asked confused.

“Don’t you see?” Kain asked, excitement building up as she began to understand more, “Zorzia used to be a Bleeder but when she killed the rest of the circle her blood became un-pure. She can’t use the deities magic, not even if she syphoned it all from the other bleeders. She needs Hekatai’s power to be able to use all the powers without pure blood but for now she steals the liver of innocent fae in order to use the power she has to a limit. But once the organ is finished, she needs more to keep going. She uses the organs as a purifying agent,” Kain finished, slightly out of breath.

“It makes sense why she needs you,” Wison said, rubbing his chin as he stared at nothing in particular. “She wasn’t able to take Hekatai’s magic from your mother because your mother had already given the magic to you. The rest of the deities used your mother to give you their magic as well and that is why you have trouble controlling it. It is too much for you to bare, but it is also the only place it is safe from Zorzia,” he explained. “It makes sense. Zorzia might have all the power from the circle but she ain’t got all the power from the deities and that is exactly what she wants!” Burbor added with a growl.

“So, what do we do?” Ciara asked after being quiet for a while, listening as they talked. “We figure out how to stop Zorzia,” Wison said firmly.

It took them the whole day to talk out strategies and figure out infiltration points that could get them into the Academy without being detected. Zorzia used the Academy as an army base. Perhaps it was because of the skilled hunters or it was because those skilled hunters, hunted fae. By the end of the day, they had a whole plan just waiting to be set in motion and if the plan goes wrong they have a plan B and a plan C. “Okay, so we all agree?”Alocius asked after they finalized the last things. Everyone else murmured their agreement then stood up from around the table. The meeting was finally over and the plans was set. With murmured goodbyes, everyone set out to go their own way. “How are you doing with all of this?” Wison asked as the last of the group left the main tent. No one asked her how she was doing or how she felt. She didn’t blame them. They had their own issues to deal with, but it was nice knowing that someone cared enough to stop and ask.

Kain nodded, her eyes staying on the papers on the table, “I just can’t believe that this was what my life was,” she said indicating to the blueprint of the Academy, “it all seems so different now, and there’s so much I need to learn. I just can’t see how I’m going to be able to do it. It’s all because of Zorzia! She had taken my whole life away from me and Abbadon taught me to hate that life!” Kain said angrily, shaking her head as she breathed miserably. Wison squeezed her shoulder, “everything will work out as it should, and I will be here to help you every step of the way.” Kain stared at Wison, her eyes looking for something deep inside of his. At that very moment he had sounded exactly like Gavin. Her heart clenched, and she just nodded as she bit her lip, not trusting her mouth to speak.

“Will you be alright?” he asked, turning towards the exit. “Yeah, I just need a moment to go over the plans once more,” Kain said, her eyes focused on the papers again.

“Okay,” Wison accepted, “don’t take too long. You need to rest as well,” Wison instructed then walked out of the main tent. Kain lifted her eyes towards the exit for a moment, making sure that no one was still standing there. She looked around the room for any unexpected hovering souls. Kain then turned back towards the table, pulling the papers towards her.

What are you doing? Hekatai’s voice came from her other side. She whipped her head around, startled at Hekatai’s sudden appearance. Kain’s surprised expression slowly morphed into an annoyed frown. “Nothing to concern yourself about,” she whispered harshly before grabbing the blueprint from the table and folding it until it was small enough to hide inside her pocket.

Don’t do this Kainun! Hekatai pleaded. Kain pushed past the deity. “Let me see you try and stop me!” Kain snapped, leaving Hekatai standing in the main tent alone.

The cool night air rushed through Kain’s body, and she breathed in deeply, heading to her tent as naturally as possible. She grabbed the armour Ciara had given her an put it on as swiftly as possible. She also grabbed a small rucksack which she threw over head and shoulder, before sneaking out underneath the opposite side of her tent. She could hear voices talking and laughing in the centre of town, but it was the silent ones she tried to listen to. Kain saw one sentry walking around a tent, his eyes scanning the area thoroughly. Taking a deep breath, Kian rushed silently towards the next tent. She was thankful for the silent sounds her armour made. Another century stood just a few feet away from her, his back turned towards her.

Kian was about to skid to the next tent when she heard Alocius laughing. He was walking out of his tent and headed towards the second sentry. “Is there anything I can get for you?” he asked the century pleasantly. “I could do with a cup of moonshine,” the century said with a smug smile in his voice, “but since I’m on duty I’ll settle for a piece of ham and some dried fish bits.”

Alocius slapped the century on his shoulder, “will do so my friend,” he accepted then walked off with his feet zigzagging slightly. Kain shook her head. It hadn’t been an hour yet and he already had too much moonshine to drink. She swore that it was all she ever saw him drink. Thinking quickly, Kain silently stalked towards Alocius’s tent, knowing that he had a nice bow as a weapon. Looking around and confirming that no one saw her, she silently walked into Alocius’s tent. Kain jumped slightly when she saw Hekatai sitting on Alocius’s bed. “What are you doing here?” Kain hissed at the deity as she moved towards the back of the tent where Alocius’s crystal bow rested against the bed side table with its quiver standing nearby. I could ask you the same thing, Hekatai accused with a raised eyebrow.

“I need to do what needs to be done! I can’t let anyone else risk their lives to help me. Again,” Kain snapped quietly before leaving the tent, she stalked around the tent, towards the back and rushed into the woods all in one motion. When no alarms sounded, Kain was positive that no one had seen her sneak out of camp. No one except Hekatai, but who was she going to tell? Kain adjusted the quiver on her back and swiftly made her way through the woods. She moved towards the secret hide out where she had hidden Breezes away from unwanted eyes. Her secret sanctuary that was neither a safe place nor a secret anymore. She knew what she needed was in the cabin, but she had to get there undetected first.