A Warrior's Revenge (8 page)

It was a welcome relief for the group, as
they walked deeper into the mountain, that the air got
progressively warmer. Kana could feel her feet and toes again,
which allayed her morbid fear of having to have her feet cut off
because of frostbite. After an hour they entered a great domed
cavern, which was set up as a camp of sorts that even had wood
ready to be fired within a ring of stones.

“When I was here before there were cave fish
in that pool over there.” Loric said, as he started to light the
fire.

There were fish and all of the group ate as
many fried fish as they could hold and then collapsed about the
fire enjoying the warmth and restful quality of the cavern room.
Kana sat down close beside Loric, who was staring reflectively into
the fire. He glanced over at her, when she sat down but then looked
away back to the fire.

“How old were you when you came here
before?” Kana asked inquisitively.

“Five or six, I’m not sure.”

“That was a long journey for someone so
young to have undertaken.”

“My father believed in being prepared and he
thought that as soon as I could walk and talk I was capable of
bearing responsibility. This tunnel was meant as an escape route
from Thunder Ridge to the Attorgron forest lands, but apparently it
was never used, probably because of the firing of the forest that
consumed it and all of its people.”

“What is Thunder Ridge?” Kana asked
softly.

Loric was silent for a moment, “It was a
castle that was built by my family long ago and it was a very
beautiful place once. It was my home.”

There was a great sense of loss in his words
and Kana reached out her hand and held his and squeezed it softly.
He looked over at her and she said, “I’m sorry you lost your
home.”

He nodded and she asked, “If it was
destroyed why are we going there?”

Loric smiled a little, “A true fortresses’
strength lies in what is unseen, as opposed to what the eye can
see.”

At her puzzled look he said, “You’ll see,
but for now you need to get your rest. It’ll take us roughly three
more days to get through the tunnel to the other side.” Instead of
moving away Kana slipped down to her side and lay with her head on
his thigh and after a while she fell asleep completely content to
be where she was and he likewise.

Loric stepped out of the wall of perceived
rock into the shambles of the lower bailiff. Shattered walls still
jutted up in places, but not one of the towers still stood. All
that was left of them was mounded piles of rubble covered in snow.
The same could be said of all the castle’s buildings. Here and
there the corner of a building jutted up slightly, a forlorn shadow
of what had once been.

Loric looked out down the valley toward the
village of Ta’arny. It lay completely flattened and covered in
snow, the partial remnant of a chimney here and there being the
only indication that the village had once existed there. The leaf
bearing trees stood bare and still against the mountain sides
covered in snow, even though it was the middle of summer. Only the
evergreens of the mountains showed any hint of life still within
the valley that he had once called home.

It was a scene of utter and complete
destruction that the girls couldn’t even begin to comprehend. But
it only took one look at the tears that were streaming down Loric’s
face, as he wandered through the ruins as if lost, for them to
appreciate the magnitude of what had once been and was no more.

Loric was walking forlornly up a steep hill
towards even more ruins, when he suddenly stopped and dropped to
his knees on the snowy ground. He stared at a spot on the ground in
front of him, as sobs racked through his large frame. Leaning
forward he brushed the snow away from the ancient cobblestones,
before he bent and kissed the icy ground as reverently as a loving
child would kiss his mother. Kana felt herself start to cry simply
from seeing the depths of the emotion that Loric was overcome
by.

Loric got up abruptly and stalked up the
hill and Kana saw a transformation take place in him. He was angry,
more so than she’d ever seen him, only it was a quiet seething
anger and thankfully, when he turned back to them she saw it wasn’t
directed at any of them.

“This way.” Was all he said, as he led the
group upward through the ruins. Each of the young women were
careful to step around the spot of ground that Loric had seemed to
think hallowed both out of a mixture of respect and fear for the
anger they could all sense emanating from the man ahead of them
like it was a tangible feeling in the air.

Loric led them through his ruined home that
must have once been truly great, until they were past buildings and
walking through an orchard, which was given testament to by the
regimented rows of dead looking small trees that filled the space.
He walked up to the very side of the mountain and stopped. Placing
his hand against the rock for a moment he then stepped back and
spoke, “Zasarantu Melazia Rotiga!”

The face of the rock before him moved at the
sounding of his words. Two great native stone slabs punched out
from the mountainside and then separated and opened outwardly like
a pair of double wooden doors. A space was viewable within the
mountain and Loric walked into it and gestured for the rest of them
to follow.

There was barely enough space within the
enclosure for all the girls to fit, but as the last girl stepped in
the great stone doors started to shut causing fearful screeches of
fright from the group at large.

“Easy now! It’s alright. There will be a
light in a moment.” Loric said in a calming voice.

As the doors slam shut light flooded into
the space and the girls stared at wonder at the illuminated walls
of their prison and then the prison of stone started going
downward.

It was a curious feeling Kana reflected to
herself, she’d never felt the odd falling sensation before, but she
surmised it was kind of like falling out of a tree in slow
motion.

The fall downward continued and Kana had to
fight against the urge to throw up. The falling sensation finally
stopped. The walls of their prison retreated upwards, while the
floor remained as part of the floor of a circular domed space that
was only lightly illuminated enough for them to see that the space
they were in was empty.

One girl shrieked and pointed as a figure,
which had seemed to materialize out of thin air was coming toward
them through the dim light. The light in the room brightened and
the members of the group could clearly see the approaching figure
now.

Kana stared in amazement; it was a woman
that walked toward them! How had she come to be in this room? There
were no visible openings to it. Was this woman even real, was
Kana’s panic strickened thought.

The woman came to a stop and smiled softly
at all of them, which was somehow calming because of the
genuineness of the smile. Kana reflected that she was very pretty
for someone who couldn’t be real.

“Hello everyone. My name is Abby. How may I
help you?” Asked the figure of a woman graciously.

Loric stepped forward out of the group
toward the woman. Something about Loric seemed to make the image
before them remember something because she said, “You’re all grown
up now Loric. It has been a long time for both of us. You have come
for her?”

“Yes.” Was all Loric responded with.

“Follow me master and I will take you to
her.” Abby said, as she bowed her head forward to Loric before
turning and walking away.

Loric followed and not knowing what else to
do the group followed along after their leader. A doorway appeared
before their guide and opened and everyone followed her through it
and down the long hallway that ended in a room full of glittering
lights that was dominated by a column of what appeared to be water
in the center of the room. Within the column of water was a
woman.

Kana raised a hand to her mouth in shocked
wonder. What was this place and who was the woman? Was she even
alive?

Thousands of cords that had bright streaks
of light racing down their lengths came off the surface of the
water and led out into the room where they connected in a complex
weave into a glittering display of light and technology beyond
Kana’s comprehension.

The water itself within the column appeared
to be swirling around the woman, as evidenced by the ripples of her
hair being worked about by an unseen current. She was very
beautiful and Kana could see a similarity between her and Loric.
They were clearly related, but Kana was not sure how. Loric had
said that all of his family had died except for him.

The figure of a woman called Abby stepped to
the side saying, “It is for the master of Thunder Ridge and he
alone who can awaken the Guardian.”

Not even hesitating Loric stepped up to the
swirling water and put both hands through the shimmering veil that
held back the water from escaping and took each of the woman’s
hands that floated in the swirling water.

The woman’s eyes opened to reveal a
shimmering blue sapphire color with an intensity that made the
women of the group step back out of fear. The shimmering veil that
bound the water disappeared and the water cascaded to the floor in
a tidal wave, as the woman collapsed against Loric, who caught her.
Every light within the room went out, plunging the space into
darkness. Ambient lighting came back on within seconds to
illuminate the room, but the lights of the technology were all
gone.

The red haired woman lay shaking violently
up against Loric, who looked like he didn’t know what to do. The
Abby woman said, “It’s been too long!” as she gripped her hands
together in frightful worry.

Concern overcame fear and Kana stepped
forward toward Loric and the woman. The woman was in shock, as Zora
would’ve said.

“I need blankets. Lots of them!” Kana said
and Eshta rushed forward with a castoff pile of them and helped her
wrap up the woman, as they gently laid her down onto the floor that
had drained free of water.

The glowing blue eyes found Kana’s face and
she felt the woman’s words whisper into her consciousness, “Thank
you.”

This was all too weird for Kana, but she
pushed on to care for the woman all the while really hoping that
the woman couldn’t speak directly into her head and that she had
just fancifully made that part up. Minutes went by and the woman
stopped shaking and started to look around the room and study each
member of the group assembled within the room.

Kana couldn’t help but admit how awkward it
felt to sense the blue eyes turned upon her. They were both
mesmerizing and terrifying. She didn’t know what to think about
this strange woman other than that she had manners.

Ellanara lay on the floor. She wanted to cry
and scream, but she didn’t want to freak out the gathered woman
anymore than she had. They would not even meet her gaze for long
out of fear of what they saw. It was hard not to freak out herself
because of what she had done to accomplish the work assigned to
her. No one wants to be a freak, but clearly in the eyes of these
girls she was made one by her eyes alone.

Ellanara looked upward and met the gaze of
the man, who was the only one, who wouldn’t break eye contact with
her. She sensed strength and pain.

“What is your name?” She whispered finding
her natural voice again.

“Loric.” He said back softly in
response.

It was all too much for Ellanara, as she
felt the rise of emotion carry her past any means of self-control.
Brokenly she said, “I wonder how many fathers one has to go back
from yours to get to mine? It seems just like yesterday that my
father was here standing beside me.” Her body jerked on a sob and
Loric picked her up off the floor and hugged her tightly to himself
for a long moment.

“Is everything gone?” Ellanara asked against
his shoulder as he held her.

“Yes.” Loric said with an awful finality to
his one word statement.

“But at least you have survived.” Ellanara
said patting Loric’s cheek, before she started to struggle up to
her feet. Loric helped her and remained close by to give her
support if she should need it. Ellanara looked about, only to see
that Abby had already shown the others to their sleeping quarters
and that she was alone in the room except for Loric and the dark
skinned girl, who looked so much like her older adopted sister
Zarsha.

Feeling quite wobbly on her feet Ellanara
step toward the girl that she surmised must be Loric’s, “What’s
your name?” She asked.

“Kana.” The young woman said hesitantly.

Ellanara smiled, “You’ve told me your first
name and I already know your last.”

Kana reacted with surprise, “What is
it?”

“It doesn’t matter; it’ll end out the same
as mine in the end I imagine.” Ellanara said pointedly looking at
Loric, whose complexion reddened slightly. Kana glanced down
looking embarrassed, as she too caught Ellanara’s drift of thought,
in reference to her and Loric being together as a married
couple.

Ellanara, bolstered by being able to stand
and then walk, said, “I’m going out one last time to say
goodbye.”

“I wouldn’t do that! It’s not good!” Loric
said warningly.

Ellanara turned and gave him a direct stare
that was lit up by the intensity of her blue eyes, “I know. I
wouldn’t have done what I’ve done, if I didn’t know the devastation
that was to occur, but I am still going to say goodbye to my home.”
Ellanara turned and walked out of the room as graceful as ever.

Kana watched her go and then went over to
Loric, “Do you think it is wise to let her go? She doesn’t quite
seem stable in some way.”

Loric shrugged, as his eyes reflected the
troubled look of someone not sure of the game at hand, “You heard
her. It’s not like I can stop her.”