Girl of Myth and Legend (37 page)

‘You’re the one who I keep seeing.’ I had first seen him looking up at the starry ceiling in the Breakfast Room, and then outside of the temple. ‘Who are you?’ I ask.

He steps to the side, revealing Korren’s beastly body laid across the snow. A breath escapes me, and I stumble as I run to his side.

‘Korren?’ I say. ‘Korren?’

He’s alive. I know because when that numbness caused by the shock of his fall recedes, I feel his heart beating in my own chest. He manages to sit up, a soft groan coming from him.

‘Korren,’ I say.

‘I’m… all right.’

‘Did you do this?’ I ask, turning to the man. ‘Did you save him, too?’

He doesn’t reply, his head tilted upwards. I follow his gaze and see Thomas, Hau-Rai and Kanon descending on us in a ball of spinning air. My body goes rigid. I can never be rid of these people. They won’t stop until they have me, until I go with them, and anyone who is with me will suffer for that.

As their feet touch the ground, they pause when they notice the man in the cloak, and before they can comprehend his existence, the man swipes his hand and the rebels fall to the ground. I blink, staring at their seemingly lifeless bodies. The man turns to me. When in the mist, the rebels have been a constant threat to Korren and I, something fearful and dangerous. Korren almost died because of them. Yet, to this man, they are nothing more than a slight hindrance. I can only stare at him in wonder.

Korren moves beside me, and I turn my attention back to him. There’s a flash of light that reflects in his eyes, so bright he turns his head.

She comes into being like a whisper. One moment she’s not there; then, white vapour forms and she’s perched on the large slab of rock. Her long, curling blonde hair blusters in the wind like coils of gold, her golden eyes tinted with knowledge, as if she has seen a thousand years go by despite her looking only a few years older than me. She wears a golden choker with symbols etched into it; a white cape that emerges from gold-coloured shoulder plates; white trousers that disappear seamlessly into boots; and a white top reaching to her neck that exposes her stomach, gold chains draped across and various coloured talismans hanging from them. She is a
beautiful
, almost angelic-like existence, though there is something stern about her, something bleak.

She turns her gaze to me and I shiver.

‘You should not be here, Leonie Woodville,’ the angel says. Her voice has no hint of emotion in it, and yet each word is spoken with such perfection.

Korren’s hesitation slithers against my own. We’ve forgot-ten the chaos around us, like the sun has risen over the dark clouds and dispersed them. Staring at her, gazing into her hypnotic golden eyes, sends us into a strange, peaceful trance. But the dark winds push against us, and though this sun is still before us, it can’t defeat this nightmare alone.

‘Who are you?’ I ask, looking at the man and then back to her. ‘How do you know my name?’

‘Who we are is not important,’ she says. ‘You should not be here. Despite your attempts, Orin Woodville will not be saved.’

A long stare. She knew I was trying to get to my dad? ‘H-how do you know that? How could you possibly—?’

‘His fate is inevitable and cannot be altered. That much is certain.’

‘What…? He’s my dad. I-I can’t just leave him to die.’

‘Stupid girl. Your survival is imperative. He has completed his life’s purpose and is no longer needed.’

‘Who are you to decide that?’ I roar, anger boiling in my gut. ‘No person has one purpose; no person has only one reason to live!’

The angel’s expression darkens. ‘You will die tonight if you continue believing such ignorant things, Leonie Woodville.’

We stare at each other, me gritting my teeth as I attempt to fight back tears.

‘Are you from the Imperium?’ I say, having assumed they were.

‘We are not,’ the angel says, ‘and the Imperium will not come. This maiden is so powerful that it is going to use all its energy just to find you, resulting in its eventual self-destruction. It will take most of this region with it into oblivion, subsequently killing everyone within its haze. The Imperium will not stand against it. It cannot.’

‘But why?’ I shout.

‘Because they are feeble, but perceptive. It would take several accomplished Pulsar to defeat this particular maiden—a maiden that has endured centuries—and even then losses would be sustained. Then there is the other complication that this haze is impossible to enter. It is simply too strong.’ She looks at the sky, then back to me. ‘So I have come. I have seen fate’s schemes and found that you are its endgame. Your destiny is not clear, and there are many paths that you can take, but they all begin from this one point in time. You are the one the stars have been waiting for, Leonie Woodville, a blinding destiny that could alter this world. So you must live if there is to be a future for your kind’—she looks at Korren—‘and kytaen.’

I stare with mouth slightly parted. The anger in me dissipates, and is replaced by tiredness and exhaustion, by reluctance and fear. ‘I want to leave this place,’ I say, barely above a whisper. ‘I want to leave my dad so I can be out of this place.’ I close my eyes for a moment, and, after taking a deep breath, I open them, looking at the angel. ‘I don’t know if I can trust you. I don’t even know who you are. You talk about the future and destiny, and maybe you’re right about it all. Maybe Dad is meant to die. Even so… even so, I will under no circumstance leave him here to die alone. It may be reckless and not even thought out, but I could never live with myself knowing I abandoned him because I was scared. No, that wouldn’t be something I could live with. That’s all I’m thinking about; that’s the only destiny I’m making right now.’

The angel glares. ‘Why are you determined to die? Saving Orin Woodville is an impossibility. It does not exist.’

‘Me
breathing
right now should be an impossibility according to all the laws of the universe, and yet here I stand.’ I smile at her. ‘Thanks for saving us. Thanks for coming here, but if my dad is destined to die it won’t be because I left him.’ I turn to Korren. ‘If you want to go with them, I’ll understand.’

‘The bond,’ he points out.

I look at the ground, and then back at him. ‘I have to do what’s right, Korren. I have to do what’s brave, for once in my life. But… but if you want to go with them, then I won’t stop you. I’ll come with you.’

He shakes his head. ‘I’ll follow you, little lion.’

I smile at him. ‘Truly, thank you.’ I then turn back to the angel and the man clad in black. I give them a nod, and then turn from them.

Who is she anyway? She comes out of nowhere and tells me Dad is supposed to die, without so much as a, ‘Hi, nice to meet you, my name is so and so.’ Oh well. I have no time to find out, not with everything that is going on.

I make my way to the crypt. I know this brief existence of courage will dissipate and fear will once again settle in my heart, but for now, in this moment, I am heavy with determination.

I will save Dad. No matter what, I will save him. In this whole world, he’s all I have.

And I will not lose that.

KORREN

VAGUE POSSIBILITIES

I watch my keeper turn away. I feel like the back of my leg has broken into splinters, and just standing on it makes me want to bite it off. But I have to follow her, have to. The soul-binding pulls me with her, no, more than that. More…

I look back to the angel-like creature.

‘Who are you?’ I ask.

‘As I said, that is not important. Know only that my intention is to lead her on the path that will keep her alive.’

I take that in. ‘If I’m going to stay with her, I want to know something,’ I say, my voice hoarse.

Her impassive face shows no response.

‘I’m gathering from your knowledge you see the future, so tell me, will she really be standing before the Imperium as it burns? Does she cause it? Does she try to save it?’

‘All of them are possibilities,’ the angel replies.

‘Can you be less vague about it?’

‘The future
is
vague.’

I try a different approach. ‘Why do you want to help her?’ I ask. ‘My keeper isn’t anything special, you know.’

‘Perhaps, but she is a necessity.’

‘Why are
you
helping her, though?’

‘I am the only one who can.’

‘…What are you?’ She’s not a Chosen, and I thought she might be a faerie, but faeries don’t look like her; they don’t have the same form. Truly, she looks like an angel.

She waits a moment before replying. ‘I am a being that far surpasses you, kytaen.’

A moment passes. ‘Will you stay with us?’ I ask.

‘I am already interfering with fate,’ she says in her melodi-ous voice, though it has no passion in it. ‘I tried to direct her, but she is lethally stubborn.’

‘You’re telling me,’ I mumble. ‘But this time, it’s not stubbornness.’ I look at her. ‘Do you know if we’ll survive this?’

‘That, kytaen, is entirely up to
her
.’

‘May the stargods help us then,’ I say. If our lives are in her hands, I can’t imagine we’ll make it through the day.

‘She will liberate you,’ the man says.

I look at him. ‘What did you say?’

Though a black hood conceals his face, I feel his unwaver-ing stare pinning me in place.

‘You are meant to be by her side,’ the angel continues for him. ‘She will liberate you, Korren, though much time will pass before you realise this.’

‘And by then,’ the man says, just above a whisper, ‘it will be too late.’

LEONIE

PAVING THE PATH

Korren is soon at my side again, limping. I ask him how he is, but he grunts his reply.

‘D’you know what she was?’ I ask.

‘You didn’t seem too bothered to find out,’ he says.

‘I guess it must seem that way.’ I don’t know why, but my cheeks feel hot, embarrassed that I didn’t go out of my way to find out who she was.

‘She’s not Chosen,’ says Korren, ‘that much I could tell. As for that man, he was definitely a Chosen, but there was something different about him.’

‘Different?’

He pauses. ‘Never mind.’

‘I kept seeing him,’ I mention. ‘Started to think he was part of my imagination.’

‘Obviously not.’

‘Obviously.’ I glance at him. ‘Are… are you OK?’

‘Yes.’

‘…I thought you were a goner.’

‘I’ve fallen from higher places. I’ll be fine.’

‘If you’re one of those people, um, kytaen, that say they’re fine when they’re not, I’m just going to assume you’re fine anyway.’

‘I’m fine.’

‘Fine.’

‘I wonder who they were…’ he says.

‘We’ve got more important things to do than wonder. We have to save my dad.’ I clench my fists. ‘You weren’t going to take me to my dad, were you?’

‘No,’ he admits. ‘We’re dying, little lion. This haze will kill us, just like it did Jacob.’

I flinch at the reminder of Jacob. ‘You’re right.’ I turn to him. ‘But we’re here now, and we will save him.’

‘He might be dead.’

‘…I know.’

‘With that reality in mind, is it worth our lives to—?’

‘I realise what I’m asking you to do. I do. I get that I’m being stupid, but he’s my family, my only family. I… I have to know if he’s alive, whatever the consequences. He would do that for me.’ I don’t care if he doesn’t understand my logic; as long as he’s willing to help me, he can think I’m irrational all he wants. When I glance at him, though, some of my hostility burns away. There’s a glimmer of understanding in those eyes, of the same helplessness I feel. He may be feeling that way only because of the soul-bind, but at least I know he’s willing to help, just as desperate to help my dad as I am.

‘What was that?’ I ask.

‘What was what?’ he says.

‘That noise you just made.’

‘A sigh.’

‘A sigh? It sounded like you were digesting an elephant.’

‘You’re not an articulate person, are you?’

We finally find the entrance at the side of the temple. To our surprise, despite the time that’s passed, the temple remains unscathed, though scattered foliage sails past it. The backdrop of mist and silver looks strange against what was once a place so peaceful and beautiful and magnificent, creating an atmosphere I haven’t attached to it before: an eeriness that looms in the air, so much so that you can almost taste it. I can hear the creaking of the structure, knowing it’ll soon give way to the harsh winds… if the maiden doesn’t find it first. Though the hallways are filled with mist, it’s not as heavy in here, so we can easily find the crypt’s entrance. The door is ajar, and I glance at Korren.