Miras Last (15 page)

“That’s what I thought too,” Morgo said,
noting the fever at which Elenio nodded his head. “I wonder if she
were to use the same blinding light she used to chase Rau away from
our first battle; if it would work with the stones too.”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Elenio said,
scratching his chin while he contemplated the idea. “It could
work.”

“That’s what I thought too. The best way to
destroy the dark, even dark stones is with light,” Morgo said,
grinning at Elenio as he did.

“One way to find out,” Elenio started.

“Yep, as soon as Galena wakes, we have her
try it out.”

Chapter
Ten

Galena woke up feeling groggy and out of
sorts. She blinked her eyes several times, trying to recall the
events from the day before. Slowly, the memories started to return
to her. She sat up quickly and almost sent herself flying to the
ground yet again when she shifted her weight too quickly on the
cursed hammock. If it hadn’t been for Elenio catching her in mid
swing, she would have embarrassed herself for sure. She looked up
at him and smiled gratefully. He smirked at her, but it was the
chuckling that caught her attention. She turned her head to find
Morgo sitting in the chair opposite of Elenio. She studied him
carefully. One side of his face seemed lower than the other and his
grin was definitely a little lopsided. In fact, the entire left
side of his body appeared to slope downward. Other than his looks,
he appeared to be in good health.

“I see you’re feeling better,” she said
sarcastically.

“Well, I definitely don’t feel like I’ve been
beaten within an inch of my life,” he replied, his smile stretching
across his face.

“What still bothers you?” Galena asked,
feeling concerned now.

“Nothing to worry about now. We brought
food,” Morgo said indicating the large tray of food.

“Is that all for me?” Galena asked
skeptically.

“Apparently, the elves who prepare the food
remember you,” Elenio said while trying unsuccessfully to keep from
laughing.

Galena glared at him as he and Morgo burst
into laughter. “I fixed you and I can break you,” Galena
threatened, but this only caused them to laugh even harder.
Choosing to ignore them instead, she helped herself to several
items on the tray and sat down on the ground versus giving them
more reason to laugh by sitting down on the hammock. Which, given
her current record with hammocks, was very likely to happen. Her
refusal to sit on it however, did not go unnoticed and it started
both of them on a new wave of laughter.
Well, at least Morgo is
alive and able to laugh
, Galena thought resolutely to herself.
She continued to eat while waiting for the fits of laughter to
subside and finally die away.

She took the time though to work on Morgo’s
face and left side while he was distracted. It gave her the perfect
opportunity to fix his lopsided smile and straighten the bones and
muscles sloping downward. She also noted there were several spots
on his lungs that were not healed completely, which she assumed
meant he had to have some discomfort when breathing. Although at
the moment, no one would have noticed that. She searched his other
organs with her mind; fixing all the minor details she had not been
able to properly attend to when she had been repairing the majority
of the more serious damage. Morgo turned to her when she finished
healing some of the minor rips in the muscles around his biceps and
took a deep breath. His eyes widened in surprise.

“How long have you been working on me?” he
asked, surprise apparent in his voice.

“You were busy laughing and hadn’t really
answered my question when I asked earlier, so I took the
opportunity to investigate my work from earlier. Why didn’t you
tell me you were having trouble breathing?” she asked
accusingly.

Morgo’s mouth hung wide open as he continued
to stare at Galena in shock. Elenio just shook his head and grabbed
a couple pieces of fruit off the tray. He was used to Galena taking
mental notes of his physical condition.

“You didn’t have to have your hands on me to
know what was wrong?” Morgo asked, still looking stunned.

“No. You knew I could do that. That’s how I
was able to heal all the elves’ ears,” Galena said feeling a little
annoyed with Morgo.

“No I didn’t. My ears were healed by Nigora,
I assumed that everyone else had seen her too or were suffering
through,” he said, still looking surprised.

“Oh, well, I discovered I didn’t need my
hands when I was helping Elenio after we started out on our own.
All I really have to do is concentrate. Putting my hands on you
just brings those ailments more into focus,” Galena answered,
shrugging. “Why?”

“I have never heard of a healer being able to
do that before. They always have to use their hands to sense. How
long have you been able to do that?”

“Shortly before I retrieved the sword.
Afterwards, it became a great deal easier.” She didn’t understand
what the big deal was, they already knew she could accomplish more
things than any other elf had ever.

Morgo shook his head in amazement, before
giving Elenio a knowing look.

Galena looked back and forth between the two,
feeling like she’d missed something important. “Mind telling me
what’s going on?”

“It is just something that we were discussing
while you were resting. I wonder if you would be willing to conduct
another experiment for me.”

“Some things just don’t change, even with
death experiences do they?” Galena asked shaking her head slightly
at her friend’s curiosity.

“Nope, not even then. Come with me.” Morgo
stood and waited for Elenio and Galena to follow him.

Galena stood and brushed her backside off and
then her hands. “Lead the way.”

Morgo stepped outside, and looked around,
clearly not finding what he thought should have been there.

“Did you lose something or is this some
nervous habit that I’m going to have to fix?” Galena asked, eyeing
her friend curiously.

“Intunerics,” he said simply. Even Elenio was
looking for them now.

“I sent them crashing into the enemy army
before coming back to help you,” Galena responded, looking amused
now.

“Well, that was a silly thing to do. You’re
making our enemy even stronger now.” Morgo looked thoroughly put
out by this revelation and crossed his arms angrily. “Bring at
least one of them back until we see if our experiment will work,”
he demanded. Elenio too was crossing his arms expectantly.

Feeling completely at a loss now, Galena
raised a hand and sensing the stones with the wind among the dark
creatures; she caused the wind to strengthen and using it, reached
down to pick up a particularly large stone. She heard loud shouts
and bellows from the enemy as the rock flew past their heads and in
some cases, into their heads and back to the elf army. She carried
it over the fire where she stood, and placed the stone beside her,
noting how she suddenly felt a great deal more depressed and
tired.

“Why do you want this cursed stone back? They
just make the elves sick and weaker. They fill our minds with dark
thoughts, which, let’s face it, we don’t need any help in that
area,” Galena said, looking disgusted as she eyed the black stone
beside her.

“We want you to try and destroy it,” Morgo
said calmly.

“Well, if that’s all,” Galena said
sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

“Just listen,” Elenio told her quietly.

“Elenio and I were discussing your power
while you were sleeping and we both believe the Sword of Lumina has
given you strength and power you did not have before. It has given
you light in order to help you fight the dark,” Morgo started, his
eyes lighting up with subject. “I believe that you could destroy
the stones much the same way that you were able to send Rau
running.”

“With the light?” Galena said feeling
slightly confused.

“Yes. The stories say Rau was created from
these very stones so it stands to reason, if you can hurt Rau with
just a little exposure to your light, you should be able to destroy
the intunerics with that same light. They do not possess the
ability to flee from the burning brightness of its rays.” Morgo’s
eyes were alive as he explained his theory to Galena and she smiled
at him. She would have missed him sorely if he hadn’t chosen to
come back to them from the Land of the Gods.

“Makes sense,” Galena said thoughtfully. “My
only question is, don’t you think the intunerics have more dark in
them than Rau?”

Morgo looked thoughtfully at Galena for a few
moments before answering. “No, because it took the breath of Haulua
to make Rau what he is. I think they possess the same amount of
darkness, Rau just has that little extra.”

Elenio took Galena’s hand and squeezed it
gently.

“So you don’t think by destroying it, we
could be making more dark creatures?” Galena asked, still feeling
uncomfortable with the idea of what they were doing.

“I don’t know. That’s why I only wanted to
try it on one stone first. None of us know what will happen, but I
still think it’s worth attempting,” Morgo said, scratching his chin
thoughtfully.

“It won’t hurt to give it a try. Then we can
stand around and debate the outcomes,” Elenio said quietly.

True,
Galena thought. “Let me grab my
sword. I seem to do better when I’m holding it.”

Morgo’s smile widened and Elenio held up a
hand. “You stay put, I’ll go grab it.” He ran off in the direction
of the tent, leaving Morgo with Galena.

“Do you really think this will work?”

“I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t. As
Elenio said, it can’t hurt to try.”

“What if it blows up and leaks dark magic all
over the place?” Galena asked, eyeing the stone with suspicion.

Morgo thoughtfully stared at the intuneric
while he contemplated this last statement. “All of these questions
are interesting thoughts. We would be foolish not to expect
something along those lines to happen.”

“What do you think the worst possible
scenario could be?”

“To have you destroyed.”

“And you still think it’s worth trying?”
Galena asked skeptically.

“If you sense you’re being overwhelmed, stop,
or at least attempt to stop. If you would like, squeeze my hand and
I will do whatever it takes to aid you. I’m not sure how, but I’ve
been known to have a creative moment from time to time.”

Galena was beginning to like the idea of this
experiment less and less, but she knew eventually something would
have to be done about the intunerics if they were to completely
free themselves from Rau’s reign. She took a deep breath and
nodded. “Then you better get over here with me. Send me crashing to
the ground or something if I squeeze your hand hard enough.” She
gave him a half smile before turning toward Elenio as he ran back
to them, sword in hand. He handed her the sword, which she took
gratefully. Galena felt the familiar energy of the sword wash over
her and felt slightly comforted.

“Okay, let’s get this over with,” Galena said
a little more nervously than she meant to. She grabbed Morgo’s
hand, to which Elenio raised an eyebrow. She shook her head
quickly, relaying all that transpired in the short time he’d been
gone with her thoughts.

Thinking of the same bright light she
possessed when she was trying to get rid of Rau, she filled the
entire camp with it. Many of the elves that had been walking
around, stopped to shield their eyes, while many more poked their
heads out of their tents, only to quickly retreat. Morgo and Elenio
were both covering their own eyes, but surprisingly enough; the
light didn’t bother Galena. It hadn’t in the valley either. She
watched in fascination as the black intuneric slowly started to
shake and then suddenly, as they had with the first earagos the
sword pierced, cracks started to form within the rock.

Dark thoughts began to creep over Galena,
making her cringe.
Why was she doing this? I could become so
much more powerful if I used the stones for my own benefit. No,
that kind of power only brought death,
Galena told herself
sternly. Images of her loved ones dying replaced her thoughts of
power and she dropped to her knees as they assaulted her mind.

The heart wrenching pain she felt within the
cave gripped her and intensified to new levels. It crippled her.
Tears poured down her face and she retched. She felt herself scream
as the memories overwhelmed her. They were relentless, pounding her
repeatedly until she couldn’t remember who she was or what she was
doing. She couldn’t breathe. She didn’t want to. She wanted to die.
She eyed the sword in her hand and saw her way out. It would be
easy. She could be with Elenio again. Gripping it more tightly in
her free hand, she began to prepare herself for her final act when
she felt an arm wrap around her waist. Alarmed, she looked down and
saw Elenio’s arm there. He was still shielding his eyes with one
hand, but with his other, he held Galena securely.

He bent his head toward her ear, his mouth
inches away. “Galena, I’m here. We’re safe and together. It’s the
stones, you must destroy them,” he whispered repeatedly.

Galena’s thoughts returned to the present and
a new wave of warmth spilled over her. She felt her determination
and strength gain ground over the dark thoughts and she placed the
newfound power in the blinding light, causing it to reach a
brightness that made Galena squint her eyes. Within seconds, the
stone shattered, sending chunks of rock everywhere, cutting her
face and arms. Galena could see black wisps of smoke and something
else drift up to the sky before disappearing altogether. Releasing
the light, Galena looked around her and saw that the intuneric was
gone. There was nothing left of it.