SWNOVELS Chapter 7: The Acquaintance
Bang!!!
He startled to wakefulness upon the sound. All he could see was a blurry light of a torch with silhouettes of men, busy handling something on the other side of the corridor. He could hear their voices and also the shriek of a woman. But it was all muffled. The silhouette then turned towards him, shouting at him. Slowly he regained his vision and hearing.
“Hey!” they shouted at him. Eli was finally shook awake.
“Looks like he’s still alive” another slurred.
“Hold on a few more hours, thief! You wouldn’t want to miss your big day, do you?” another man laughed.
“I don’t think he’s sane enough to hear us. Let’s go” another men said. “Hey boy!”
“Yes, sir?” a young guard responded.
“Leave a torch here. The thief might sleep to death if you don’t. And we don’t want his new friend to get comfortable in the dark too”
“Of course, sir.” The boy replied, placing his torch on the wall. Then they left the two alone.
Eli looked across the once empty cell in front of his and tried to make out a figure in its shadows. It was a woman. He could hear her panting and grunting. She was beating the bars with her closed fist. Eli tried to have a closer look. But as his eyes began to appreciate the light of the torch, he discovered that the woman had blue skin!
He rubbed his eyes with his sleeves and tried to look again, and indeed she was who she was.
“A starborne?” Eli mumbled.
She just stared back then ignored him. She held on to a bracelet on her wrist than she started to chant in tongues Eli could not understand. He could only observe her perform strange gestures over that ornament. When a stone on that bracelet suddenly glowed blue, Eli was awestruck! For the first time in his life, he saw magic!
An-Ashosh, I have failed you. They have held me prisoner and killed the rest. Prepare the Sye’rah, the last ones we have. For the humans will send a second wave of armies to Dalhar!
She whispered to the stone and blew it. Gracefully, the glow of light twirled like strings and flied out of the cell as fast as an arrowhead. Then the luminance of the stone was no more.
She looked across the puddled corridor and saw Eli observing her from the other cell. His long hair was a mess. His eyes were sulking. His lips chapped. He sat leaning against his wall at the end of his cell. So she, too, leaned against her wall and let out a long sigh. She closed her eyes and prayed.
Eli, intrigued, decided to stand and limp his way near the iron bars. He then crashed himself to the floor and leaned his side against the bars. He looked at her. Wavy violet hair ran down her head to her chest. Her dark blue lips muttered silently. Cryptic markings lined her cheeks in a writing he never knew.. A silver band, all scratched up, circled her arm, with similar inscription. Her hands, all wounded, clasped together. He finally broke the silence.
“Does the moon goddess listen?” he asked. But all he got for a reply was a deathly glance. Then she continued praying. So Eli, in respect, closed his eyes as well. So all was quiet except for the sound of her muttering lips and the burning torch at their side.
But after days of hunger and thirst, Eli became light headed. Not to mention, the dungeon was too quiet to wake him, yet too bright for him to sleep. His mouth was so dry, he couldn’t even swallow his own saliva. Finally, the room appeared to spin as he tried to take deeper breaths. He tried cringing is eyes and shaking his head like he always does. But this time he couldn’t handle it anymore. He blacked out and fell face down on the damp and dusty floor.
The thump of his fall awoken Laia from her meditation. She saw the man laid there unconscious. But she didn’t gave a single care. One man down is another victory for my people. She told herself. And she continued to pray.
And she prayed…And prayed…And prayed…
But out of her trance she suddenly grunted in frustration! Clenching her teeth, she pulled out her bracelet once more.
“You better be worth it.” She mumbled.
She held her hand out of the bars over the puddle of dirty water that dripped from the moulded ceiling. Then she began to chant.
O Alana, Sya’ma’aqis, ha les fel mahi
And upon that prayer, the stone on her bracelet glowed blue and leaped into the puddle! Upon the touch of that ray of light, the water became as clear as a river. Deeply in focus, she levitated the water into a string and directed it into Eli’s mouth until all of the water in that puddle was gone.
Once she was done, she pulled her arms back into her cell and watched him, counting for three seconds. Suddenly, Eli gasped back into consciousness!
He quickly pushed himself to sit right up, rubbing his palpitating chest as he does. Breathing frantically, he looked towards the starborne. The starborne just gave him an irritated look. And the puddle of water which he usually stared at for hours was dry.
“I am not a priestess” she said. “But it should replenish you for a few hours”
“I don’t know what you did. But thank you” Eli replied. He stretched out his arms and legs, feeling so much healthier than before. The unbearable pain on his side had been alleviated. His whole well-being was replenished.
She glanced at her bracelet, brushing its stone and wondering how much Galaviere was left within it. She sighed and turned away to the end of her cell and sat down.
“You must be the thief.” She mentioned.
“The name is Eli.”
“Well, Eli…I don’t know what you did to get yourself in here but the people upstairs sure won’t stop talking about you. Whatever it is, I hope it was worth sacrificing for” Laia said as she lied down and faced the wall. She closed her eyes, looking for solace amidst fear.
“It really was, Dalharian” Eli walked to the end of his cell to rest too.