Miras Last (3 page)

* * * *

Tark raced toward the training fields. He had
to gather his generals, especially Morgo and Nina. They needed
answers, the ones only magical elves could give with the mirror
waters. Not waiting until he had the attention of everyone’s
watchful eyes, he raced to the center of the field before shouting
as loudly as he could, “Generals, to my home now!” He sprinted
toward his tree home, pleased to note his generals caught his
urgency and ran along at the same pace as he did. Morgo reached his
doorstep at the same time as Tark breathing heavily too. “We need
your mirror waters and Nina’s as well. I want to see a couple
different things and as quickly as possible.”

Morgo nodded briefly before running up the
stairs to retrieve his and Nina’s mirror water bowls. The remaining
nine raced into the room and Tark indicated they needed to find a
seat while they waited for Morgo’s return. The look of concern was
pasted on everyone’s face as they regarded Tark and fought to catch
their breath. He returned their looks, indicating with a single
finger they had to wait until they were all together to hear the
news. Morgo returned shortly, holding two wooden bowls in his hand.
Reaching the last step, he walked quickly toward Nina, handing her
a bowl before sitting down next to her. He looked up expectantly
toward Tark, trying quietly to catch his breath.

“I have just met with the scouts. I know this
may come as a surprise to you,” he started, sarcasm thick in his
voice, “but Rau has sent a small army toward us.”

Morgo held Tark’s gaze, but many of the
others looked away, staring at their hands or the floor in an
uncomfortable silence.

“The scouts reported several thousand of
Rau’s soldiers, no more than a week out from here, traveling at an
incredible pace. Morgo, can you bring up an image of the army
heading our way? Nina, I need you to see if Galena will appear in
the waters this time.” The last couple of times he asked to see
Galena, they were unable to view anything. Tark attributed this
malfunction to the fact Galena may have been in the cave at the
time. However, it had been a week since he requested an image of
her, so he was hoping they would be able to see something this
time.

The group leaned over Morgo’s bowl first and
gasped at what they saw. There were at least twice as many dark
creatures as there were elves, trained and ready to fight. They saw
everything from torlics to the giant earagos. Instead of his heart
dropping into the pit of his stomach, he felt as if his heart
lodged itself in his throat making it difficult to breath.

“Dear gods, what have we gotten ourselves
into?” he heard Yeia mutter somewhere to his left.

“I’d say we’re in for quite the battle,” Fala
said with more calm than Tark felt.

His insides squirmed and quaked with a fear
that threatened to show itself, making his generals realize what a
coward he truly was. He took a calming breath before addressing
Morgo again. “Can you show us Blackwell?”

Morgo nodded before furrowing his brow in
concentration. Before them appeared another image, every bit as
disturbing as the one that it replaced. Thousands more dark and
disturbing creatures filled the image in the bowl as they shifted
and moved around the great black castle. Tark heard Hasa groan
behind him as she beheld the image captivating them all.

“And here I was hoping he sent the majority
our way in order to cut us off before we even got started,” Tark
said dryly. He put his head in his hands, praying silently to Mira
for a peace he did not feel, but desperately needed. “Nina, do you
have anything?” he heard himself whispering, dreading the
answer.

“Yes.”

Tark jerked his head up, relief so profound
and comforting, stealing over him as he stepped over to peer into
Nina’s bowl. Galena appeared to be walking through a forest, a new
blade hung at her waist. If this was the Sword of Lumina, it was
nothing like Tark imagined. Instead of being adorned with jewels
and wealth that none of them had ever experienced, it was held in a
shabby and worn looking scabbard. The hilt covered in a worn
looking leather. Nothing fancy at all. Tark’s brows furrowed,
questions racing through him faster than he could keep track of.
Shaking his head, he returned his focus to the problem at hand.
Galena looked well, other than a tightness around her eyes and a
glow that had not been there before she left. “She survived,” he
whispered mainly to himself.

A collective sigh left the mouths of several
of his generals.

“We need to get prepared. We cannot let them
get as far as the village. We need to go to them so we give our
loved ones as much of a chance at life as possible. We’ll send out
Morak and some of his elves to pick off as many creatures as he
can, while the rest of the army moves out.”

Morak jerked his head once in agreement, as
he continued to stare at the image still on display in Morgo’s
bowl. Morak had been training his own group of elves in the art of
shooting a bow and arrow as this was his strength. “It won’t be
much, but we’ll do what we can from a distance,” Morak said
calmly.

“Stay as far away as you can. Don’t get in a
direct battle until we have all collected and made ready to fight.
We’re already severely outnumbered so let’s not make that gap even
wider. However, I want you to cause as much damage as possible,”
Tark said, not taking his eyes off Galena. “The rest of us need to
get prepared to head out in the morning. Morgo, tell Pangoro what
to look for once we’re gone so he’ll know when to give the
villagers the heads up on when to leave. The rest of you spread the
word. We leave for battle tomorrow morning at sunrise.”

Chapter
Three

Galena stared across the fire at Elenio. The
heartache she associated every time she looked at him, faded to
almost nothing thanks to Mira. She had been able to sleep
peacefully the last couple of nights without any dreams at all.
Galena counted this as a blessing, and smiled as she continued to
watch Elenio eat his sweet bread with great enthusiasm.

“Hungry?” she asked, smirking at him while
she chewed on a grape.

“That’s a minor understatement. If you hadn’t
stopped when you did, I might have resorted to knocking you out
with a big branch so I could eat,” he said winking an eye at
her.

She smiled and shifted her gaze to the fire,
fighting an image from the cave that came to mind.

“I know what you’re going through,” she heard
Elenio say quietly.

She looked up to see Elenio staring at her,
empathy written clearly on his face along with the haunted look she
associated with the time she nearly killed herself using magic.

“I watched you die too. True, I didn’t think
I would have to wait long before I joined you, so it wasn’t as
painful, but I knew you’d left me.” He threw a small twig into the
fire before he continued. “If I hadn’t had a mission, the thought
that the healing waters at Mira’s View would save you, I don’t know
what I would have done. I probably would have found a way to join
you in the Land of the Gods.”

Galena nodded. The image of a dying Elenio
swam before her eyes. She knew how close she’d come to taking her
own life. Sadness swept over her as Elenio saw what she saw in his
own mind.

“I wanted to die,” she choked. “If you hadn’t
been in my head, I would have killed myself. I was coming very
close to that point, but I heard you somewhere in the back of my
mind.”

“I know. I felt it too. I couldn’t let my
thoughts stay completely with you because of what you felt. Just
peeking in from time to time almost destroyed me. Being commitment
partners is so much deeper than just being in love. You truly feel
like part of me and without that part, I couldn’t imagine going
on,” he whispered. Standing up, he walked around the fire and sat
behind her, putting his arms around her shoulders, and resting his
chin on her head. “It’s over and I think we have both learned an
important lesson.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” Galena asked, smiling
as she placed her own hands on top of Elenio’s.

“My death was more devastating than
yours.”

Galena shook her head as she elbowed Elenio
in the side, causing him to chuckle. “You’re impossible.”

“And you love me, so what does that say about
you?”

“That I have bigger issues than anyone
realized.”

Elenio kissed the back of her head before
squeezing her briefly. “No matter what, we stay together. We’re
stronger together and I don’t ever want you out of my sight again.
Time will ease the memories and the pain. You’ll see,” he whispered
in her ear.

“Mira came to me a couple of nights ago. She
gave me the gift of that time and took away my dreams. The memories
are still there, but I can handle them now. That hasn’t changed my
resolve though. I will never watch one of my own perish again. Not
while I have life to stop it.” Galena gritted her teeth, the
determination that she felt apparent in the hardness of her
voice.

“Just make sure to take care of you as well.
If you go, I will follow.” Elenio buried his face in her hair.

Galena turned her face so that she was
looking at Elenio and kissed him gently. “I’ll do my best,” she
whispered with a ghost of a smile on her face.

“How far do you think we have before we get
back to the village?” Elenio asked, changing the subject
abruptly.

“We’ve been traveling for about a week, so I
would say about a week or two more. If we don’t have to stop at any
villages like the last time, it may be quicker.”

Twoit came over and climbed onto Galena’s lap
before curling up into a ball. She rested her head on her paws,
closed her eyes, and fell asleep. Galena scratched the ferret’s
head while she watched the fire.

“We’ll make it in time,” Elenio said,
answering the question still floating around in her mind.

She smiled at his reassurance, but didn’t
feel comforted by it, as he seemed to be.

“Let’s get to sleep so we can get an earlier
start.”

Yawning at the thought of sleep, Galena
nodded her head before quickly creating a tree bed, complete with a
leaf layer for comfort. The thought of sleep no longer teased her,
but called to her gently with promises of rest and renewal.

Elenio stood and offering a hand, which
Galena took, pulled her to her feet. She stretched and took in her
surroundings, before heading to bed where Elenio was already lying
and pulling a blanket over himself. She looked up through the trees
and found the stars above winking down at her with the ability to
ward away the night and the evil things that hid there. She climbed
into bed, pulling the blankets over her as she did. As soon as her
head hit the leaves, she drifted off into a world without
dreams.

Galena opened her eyes to find herself in the
middle of nowhere and nothing. She noticed a dim light and found
the source of it immediately. Galena was startled to see Mira, once
surrounded by blinding, white light was a mere shadow of her former
glory. She seemed to flicker in and out of Galena’s vision. The
more Galena tried to focus, the worse the flickering became. She
found that if she focused on the area around Mira, the goddess’s
image stayed put a little better.

“What has happened to you?” Galena asked in
horror at the goddess’s fallen state.

“Haulua grows stronger every hour. His rage
has consumed him and given him more power than any of us realized.
My brothers and I grow weak with our fight,” the goddess answered
in a voice full of weariness.

“But you were just fine a couple of days
ago,” Galena nearly shouted, panic filling her.

“Weeks, days, hours, and minutes, they are
all the same to the gods. Time is different for us. I don’t have
long for visits such as these. It wears on me further and I need
all my strength to contain Haulua. You must hurry for the war is
beginning. Rau has sent an army to put a stop to your brother and
the elves he has trained. If they are to succeed in the end, you
will have to be a part of the battles. Do not stop other than to
rest, for your timing will almost be too short. Travel southeast
and you will find them here.”

Galena saw in her mind’s eye a picture of a
small valley covered in the dead grass of a retreating winter. On
the nearest side, were the elves and their camp. The dark creatures
consumed the far side. She knew the area, for they had traveled
through it on their way to the Western woods. It was a few days
journey from the village of Corista, where Tark stayed behind.

“Why have they stayed so close to the
village?” Galena asked, horrified at the thought of all those dark
creatures overtaking the village Tark now called home.

“That was all the further they got before
they ran into Rau’s forces. He instructed them to go at a fast pace
and because of the marks on their own foreheads; the dark creatures
had no choice, but to obey.”

At this point, Mira began flickering so badly
Galena felt sick from watching her. “You must hurry my child.” Mira
flickered once more before she faded completely, leaving Galena
feeling disturbed at best. How much time did they have?

* * * *

Tark rolled the map out further, placing
small stones at each of the corners to examine it more closely.
Morak indicated the entire southern half of the valley was covered
in dark creatures with the earagos at the front. Morak’s small
party picked off several smaller groups within Rau’s army, but that
still left thousands of creatures to deal with. The sheer number of
torlics, narooks, and other creatures Tark hadn’t even laid eyes
on, let alone knew the names of, made Tark sweat profusely.

Where are you, Galena,
he asked
himself as he did every time he thought of what they were up
against. He was bending over to see where he could sneak in more
small units to do damage within the enemy’s camp, when Taura came
up behind him. He felt her concern and fear as she placed her hands
on his shoulders. She massaged the tired muscles of his neck and
shoulders, causing a sigh to escape his lips as he leaned his head
back. He closed his eyes and enjoyed his commitment partner’s
onslaught against the fatigue and stress that had taken up
residence in his body. Kissing the top of his head, she walked
around to the other side of the table he’d set up in their tent and
sat down with a flop. Sighing deeply, she propped her elbow on the
armrest and placed her head on her hand as she regarded Tark.