Vaalbara; Visions & Shadows (12 page)

             
I retrieved the blade and lunged forward, this time from a different angle. In the heavy boots it was more a ‘drag’ than a ‘lunge,’ like I was walking through the La Brea Tar Pits. 

             
But Alandra wasn’t finished. Morphing from “Xena” into the “Karate Kid,” she gave a high kick to my shoulder sending me staggering back a few steps. I was sure I heard something crack, but I bit down on my bottom lip, keeping my face as expressionless as possible. I could handle pain. A lot of it, before I‘d give the witch any satisfaction. I picked up the blade again and threw it at her face out of pure frustration. Alandra had to swing out of the way the ‘Matrix’-style. Happiness coursed through my veins when I saw the look of pure surprise on her face.

             
Good. The Ice Princess had feelings.

             
I lunged at her from behind. For that I got a backhand across the face that left me dizzy. Tasting blood, I stopped, and was awarded with a solid kick in the ribs. Again, I staggered backwards, but this time I couldn’t regain my balance, and landed hard on my butt.

             
She’d kicked the wind right out of me, and I wasn’t about to look around and see how many witnesses there were to my fall from grace. Getting up, I grabbed the blade and circled her, like I‘d seen the roman gladiators do in the movies. She had such a snide smile on her face; I wanted to punch her lights out. I didn’t like my sis one bit, and it had nothing to do with her kicking my royal ass.

             
Annoyed with her teaching methods, I stood up and spat the blood out of my mouth before attempting to speak. “Shouldn’t you be showing me how to fend you off rather than kicking the crap out of me the whole time?”

             
Alandra began circling and advancing on me at the same time. The bloody cow!

             
“This is the way I teach. Hopefully you will not be stupid enough to make the same mistake twice.” She lunged at me, and the next thing I knew she had me in a tight grip. My left arm twisted painfully, stuck between my back and her triple D’s, while her hand pressed a sharp blade to my throat…ready to slice.

             
“Now that I have you where I want you, let me make myself clear,” Alandra snarled in my ear. “I do not want to train you. I think of it, and you, as a waste of time. You are a weakling who will only stand in the way of saving the human race. You are nothing to me but a pure irritation.”

             
Her words settled deep into my core. Tightening her grip, Alandra pressed the blade further, cutting into my flesh as she continued her destruction, “You proved yourself to be nothing on Earth and you will do the same here on Vaalbara.” She threw me forward where I landed on all fours, my whole body shaking.

             
My first instinct was to go for her but I held back, knowing I would come off badly in a fight. Instead, I got up and walked away. Enough was enough. There was training, and then there was standing around like an idiot allowing someone to abuse you. I could take the physical kicking and hitting, but what she’d said was quite enough for me to call it quits.

             
I would hate to see the monster who’d trained her.

~*~

I’d been walking aimlessly for about ten minutes when I saw Raighne running towards me out of the corner of my eye. Don’t ask me why. Maybe it was the Sid in me, or maybe it was the disappointment at doing so bad in my training session, but I ran in the opposite direction as fast as I could.

             
My wounds were aching something terrible, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want Raighne to see how Alandra had managed to kick my butt after all.

Now, if I’d been thinking less of Raighne and my broken pride, perhaps I would’ve focused on where I was going and wouldn’t have run into the guy. But, no. I literally went nose first into his back and, once again, fell on my butt.

             
“Damn!” I was holding my nose, realizing this was one of those moments where I wished I had a remote so I could press pause and then erase the last few hours.

Even Sid had abandoned me. He’d left me on my own to face whatever was going to happen next.

“You must be Alchera.” The voice addressing me spoke with such loud grandeur, that I nearly jumped out of my skin. The man in front of me had black hair with silver streaks like mine, and the same emerald eyes that stared back at me from my mirror. “Welcome back. I am Aurian, your brother.”

It was a good thing I was still on my butt because my legs would definitely have given way. “You’ve got to be freakin’ kidding me!”

He laughed heavily. “You are just as the rumors have claimed you to be.”

The fact that he was making no attempt to help me up stoked my anger into a full blown rage. Here I was, on the ground, and all my
brother
could do was stare at me like I was a mere peasant who worked on his land. As-bloody-if!

I got up slowly, trying not to wince from the pain. Shooting him what I hoped was a look of death, one that should’ve had him pushing up daisies, I attempted to walk away.

“I have said something to upset you?” He raised his eyebrows lazily.

“No shit, Sherlock, how did you guess?”

Raighne’s hands appeared on my shoulders and the sharp pain that shot through me made a scream erupt from my lungs. I wasn’t altogether sure how I moved so fast, or how I landed back on my feet a couple of meters away from them.

My breath was coming fast, as my eyes were wildly jumping from Aurian to Raighne. I slowly straightened myself out and threw my hair back so I could look at my shoulder. The blood from Alandra’s cut in my neck had run down my skin, and my shoulder was turning purple.

“What happened to you?” Aurian’s voice boomed over me, shocking me back to the present. My head snapped back up and I registered the horror on their faces. “I went into training as instructed.” My words dripped with sarcasm. “At least she hasn’t killed me yet.” I didn’t know if it was from the beating Alandra had given me, or the fact that I had a brother and he hadn’t bothered to come greet me when I‘d arrived. Then again, maybe I wasn’t allowed to see my parents or, they, just like my brother, weren’t interested in seeing me again.

Back on Earth I was an abandoned teenager…a freak. On Vaalbara not much had changed. I was no longer a teenager - now I was a young woman with a destiny who was still a freak and still abandoned. The only difference was now I had the confidence to stand on my own two feet.

“You stand there with your mouths hanging open, as if you actually didn’t expect Alandra to do such a thing. I warned you Raighne. I told you she didn’t like me, but you refused to listen, and look what happened.” I threw my arms into the air. My anger was growing the longer I stood there looking into their stunned faces.

“And you?” I scoffed. “You call yourself my brother. I have no family, sir. I am still the orphan who was left on Earth to fend for herself.” Unfortunately, I couldn’t hold back the tears and had to grind the words through my teeth. “Tell your parents and sisters not to make that same mistake. I don’t let people walk over me; I don’t let people abuse me; and, I certainly won’t be made a fool of anymore!” I turned to walk away.

Aurian cleared his throat. “I can understand your anger and disappointment, and I am pleased that it is directed at me and not our parents. On behalf of our family, I have to apologize for the welcome you have received. And what Alandra has done to you was…uncalled for.”

I swung around ready to take him on again. “Uncalled for, my ass!”

Aurian held up his hand as Raighne moved in my direction. “I am not finished yet. Alandra will be dealt with. As for our parents and myself not coming to bid you welcome, we have our reasons, Alchera. Our parents are a full four days travel away from this camp, and it would place you in harms’ way should they come here. Adeth would definitely know that you returned. As for me, we would have met in due course. I know that is not the answer you seek, but for now you have to believe that we were all doing what was best for you.”

I was practically breathing fire, as I tried with all my might not to cry again. Standing with my legs slightly apart and my hands curled in tight fists, I glanced at the area surrounding us and noticed that only two other people were standing anywhere near us. We were in a clearing of some sorts, surrounded by high trees.

Aurian moved towards me and my eyes immediately focused on him. Halting right in front of me, he took my chin in his hand and lifted my face up to his.

Smiling, his gaze moved to my neck. “Now let us see how badly you have been hurt.”  Aurian’s touch was gentle while he inspected my wounds.

He spoke, “You need to go to the healers. That cut is quite deep and will need some tending to. Your shoulder might be dislocated and I cannot tell if any of your ribs are cracked. Have yourself taken care of and report back to me tomorrow morning at dawn.”

“Excuse me?” I snarled.

“I will train you myself. Do not keep me waiting.” With that final command, Aurian turned and walked towards the two people waiting in the distance.

~*~

I smelled Raighne before I felt him. Turning my head, I noted his hand was an inch from my neck; his stark eyes burned into my skin. I lifted my chin, wanting desperately to show him how brave I could be.
             

             
“At least I got a new trainer out of it.” I made a move to pass Raighne on his left, but his arm shot out and I walked right into it. Raighne’s hand folded around my healthy shoulder, as he took the two steps needed to bring us together. I turned my head away and watched Aurian and the other two practicing on the far end of the field.

             
Resting his forehead against mine, Raighne spoke in a voice infused with sadness, “I ask your forgiveness for not being there when you needed me.” His words caressed my cheek and sent shock waves through my body. “Nothing I say can make my absence acceptable.”

             
I had to swallow my passion before I could even attempt to speak. “You worry too much. I’m sure you had a very good reason for not being there.” My lips grazed his strong jaw. I could taste his freshness on my lips, and they parted by themselves, as I took those familiar ragged breaths.

             
Raighne shook his head; his voice was quiet, soft, and filled with emotion. “I should have been there. I was called to a meeting concerning your destiny, attended by my brothers and Elora. The minute I felt your pain I tried my best to get back to you quickly.”

             
Well, Sid…stick a fork in it - because I am done.

             
My hands reached up and stroked the muscular curve of his neck. His lips grazed the corner of my mouth so softly that I was left wondering if it had simply been a figment of my imagination. But when Raighne pulled me into the safety of his arms and pressed his lips against my wounded neck, time stopped.

             
His eyes bore into mine. “We should not be doing this.” His attempt to stop whatever was happening between us was useless.

             
“Hmm…” My words were lost.

“It will only place you in peril.” His fingers trailed over my cheek and jaw.

I ignored the warning and moved closer, leaving a hair’s breadth of space between us. Sliding his hand through my hair, Raighne gripped the back of my head and took my mouth so fiercely, that he literally brought me to a place of passion I never knew existed.

“Uh-hum…cough-pretend-cough,” a voice spoke next to us.

I tried to pull back and put some distance between Raighne and myself, but he would have none of that. 

Raighne simply turned, sighed, and smiled at the intruder. “Peace be, River. It is always such a good day when I meet up with you.” There was laughter in Raighne’s voice; he was clearly happy seeing this River, guy. Too bad I wanted to hang him up by his leather-clad ankles.

“Peace be, my friend. It has been a while since we have been in each other’s company. Who is this that you are treating so…hmmm?” He lifted an amused eyebrow.

I was covered in bruises and dried blood and had just been caught making out with Raighne. Lovely! With my luck this guy was the ‘overlord’ of the whole Vaalbara kingdom.

Sid, how about you stay and play genteel princess while I make a run for it? There is just no way in hell I’m going to survive much longer through all this proper talking and ‘Peace be’ crap.

“This is my Alchera.”

My eyes shot daggers at Raighne. I would’ve liked to have been at least consulted before he announced to the world that I was his property. I had fought way too hard in life to become who I was to just hand myself over to someone - no matter how much I secretly wanted to.

Raighne frowned at my look. “I mean it in the way a guardian would refer to his charge.” Taking his arm from my waist, he gracefully put some distance between us.

He’d just done it again. Raighne had responded to my thoughts  How did he do that?

“Peace be, Princess. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

I had to respond to this River, guy, but I was too busy meeting Raighne’s frown with my own.