Chael's Luck (A Knights of Dorathan Novel) (23 page)

“Hang on, Ian,” I muttered to myself. “We’re
coming.” I gazed into the sky. “Chael, you bastard, you can’t take
him away from me.”

We climbed a tall hill and I pulled Klora to
a stop. Mac swore. Gavin stood at the fire, a pot already bubbling
with ingredients. The goblins he’d employed were scattered all over
the small valley. At the bottom of the hill, not far from the fire,
stood the lone elf tree of Dorathan and tied to it was Ian. He hung
from one of the branches much in the same manner as I had in the
cabin. His head lolled forward so that only the top of his dark
blond head was visible to me. Someone had stripped him of his
shirt. The sight of the cuts that had been inflicted to his chest
and sides sparked the anger deep inside of me.

“Those look deep,” muttered John.

I glared at him. “Alright. By the looks of
things, Gavin has about twenty goblins down there. We can’t circle
around without being spotted so I think our only option is to go at
them head on.”

“Are we to take Sir Gavin prisoner?”

Harry raised an eyebrow at the young Knight
asking the question. “The man is about to kill his own son so he
can wipe out anyone that has Knight’s blood in them… what do you
think?”

I turned Klora to face my men. “Gavin’s our
main objective. Take him out.” I saluted and nodded as they all
returned the honor.

The sun sank beneath the horizon and Gavin’s
laugh made its way to our ears.

“You’re too late!” He bent over his pot and
dropped something into it. I frowned as a hollow feeling started to
grow where my heart was.

“Do you feel that?”

Mac touched his chest. “You do, too?”

“Chaela… you have Knight’s blood in you…”
Harry’s eyes were saucers in his head.

“We’ll worry about it if we live!
Attack!”

The goblins came running toward us as we
charged down the hill. Klora smashed into one with his shoulder and
I swung my blades, slicing another down. I focused on Gavin,
determined to stop him before he could finish with the spell. He
dropped something else into the pot and muttered the part of the
spell that went along with it. The feeling around my heart
intensified. I groaned and tried to focus through the pain.

Gavin grinned and I spurred Klora forward. My
heart jumped in my throat as he slid his dagger across Ian’s chest.
The fact that Ian barely jerked as the blade sliced through his
skin was indication enough that the other cuts had been deeper than
I’d thought. The blood gushed forth, slipping down his chest and
into his father’s cupped hands. Realizing I wasn’t going to have
enough time to get to Gavin before he dropped the final ingredient
into the pot, I stopped Klora, pulling my bow from my back. I
notched the arrow and let it fly, quickly following it with two
more to be sure I’d hit my mark.

Gavin cried out as the first arrow went
through his hand. He fell to his knees as the second penetrated
through his thigh. I watched the third arrow sink into the side of
his head. He slumped sideways, only three feet from his pot of
horrors.

I jumped off of Klora and ran to the pot,
kicking it off of the flames. The instant the water soaked into the
ground, the pressure in my chest lifted. The Knights behind me took
on the goblins with a renewed energy.

“Ian!” I ran to him and tried to lower him
gently to the ground as I cut the rope he hung from. Tears streamed
down my face. I swallowed hard, trying to breathe past the sobs.
“Ian, please!”

I opened his eyes and cried harder when they
closed again. His skin, grey with the lack of blood, felt cool
beneath my hands as I tried to put pressure on the deepest
cuts.

“Chael! Chael, you can’t do this to me!” I
lay my head on Ian’s unmoving chest and sobbed. “Chael, please!”
This last plea was a whisper against Ian’s skin.

I began to notice that everything had gone
quiet. I took a few deep breaths and raised my head, rubbing my arm
across my face to wipe the blood and tears from it. I blinked and
frowned. The entire world around me had gone fuzzy, as if I was
looking at it through the tears in my eyes. I wiped my face again,
trying to get rid of the tears I’d obviously missed.

I looked at Ian, surprised that he was still
in focus.

Someone cleared their throat and pulled I my
dagger and crouched low, ready to defend Ian should I need to.

The man looked familiar, though I wasn’t sure
where I’d seen him before. I pegged him as being middle aged, in
shape, and shockingly handsome with thick black hair and strange
black eyes. He wore no weapons, nor armor, just a black tunic over
tan deerskin pants which were tucked into dark brown leather
boots.

“Such a brave girl, my Chaela.” The man
grinned.

“Who are you?”

His grin widened. “I’m not sure if I should
be insulted. I suppose it’s not your fault. I’ve watched you from
the day you were born, though you didn’t know it. You did ask me
once, but I told you it was secret and you never questioned it.
I’ve never had anyone named after me before and I was curious as to
what kind of person you would become.”

My jaw dropped. “Chael.”

“Is it that shocking?”

“Gods don’t come to this realm.”

He shrugged. “I’m Chael… the other gods tend
to expect things like this from me.”

My anger sparked. “Well, you can bloody well
go back. I’ve had enough of your luck.” I gazed at Ian’s limp form
and swallowed hard. “Just leave me alone.”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “Would you care
to explain to me how my luck has affected your life?”

I gawked at him. “You can’t be serious! Let
me see… how about the fact that my mother died the day I was born,
or better yet, the fact that I was born a girl! I spent my entire
life having to prove myself because of my name. My aunt and uncle
were killed because a man thought it would be a great way to frame
me… my father died…” It was starting to get harder to get the words
out through the sobs that were fighting their way out of me. “And
now… and now… you’ve taken Ian from me…”

Chael stayed quiet and I glanced up at him,
wondering what he was thinking. He looked at me grimly.

“Chaela, I didn’t cause those things. People
like to blame me for the bad luck in their lives… that’s what I get
for playing tricks on mankind when we first created you. I liked to
test, to see how far a person could be pushed. It’s Chael’s luck
when I’ve underestimated a person and they fail the test I’ve
designed for them.” He crouched down so he could look at me
closely. “Chaela, you’ve never failed your tests. Your mother dying
was just life. If we intervened every time someone prayed, no one
would die, lessons wouldn’t be learned, and mankind as a whole
would never evolve. Your aunt and uncle and father dying, that was
simply life also. We don’t control every act that happens here.
You’ve all got a will of your own and unfortunately, some of you
make horrible decisions.”

“Why are you telling me all of this?”

“You’ve blamed me for everything that went
wrong in your life. Have you ever thought that maybe I’m the one
you should thank for everything good that’s happened?”

I snorted and he rolled his eyes.

“If you hadn’t been born a girl, been brought
up as a boy, been named Chael,” he grinned at the last, “would you
have worked this hard for get where you are? Would you have gotten
as far as you did?”

“I’d like to think so.”

He smiled. “Me too.”

I frowned. “Why are you here?”

“Chaela, even before you could talk, you
chose to talk to me.” He waved away my surprise. “Yes, I heard.
Most people curse me. The sound of someone simply talking to me
was, shall we say, refreshing.”

“I’ve cursed you.”

He smiled. “Yes, and I must say, you’re quite
creative with your wording.”

“You still haven’t answered my question,
Chael.”

“Though I know you didn’t know, Chaela, I
watched you grow from a determined little girl to one of the
bravest and most loyal of women. I’m here because, as I’ve watched
you grow, though I couldn’t chat back, I’ve tried to give you the
answers you’ve sought.”

“The dreams.”

Chael nodded. “You want your Ian to live and
I’m here to help with that.”

“Why?”

“You asked me please.” He laughed at my
obvious shock. “Now, don’t start to get excited yet.”

I took a deep breath and nodded.

“For as much as I like to annoy the other
gods, there are rules I refuse to break. Though I’d love nothing
more than to simply bring Ian back to life and to watch the pair of
you live happily ever after, I can’t. I must give you two options
and you must pick one.”

I nodded again. “Him.”

“What?”

“Him. Save him and take me.”

He smiled. “I shouldn’t be surprised, really.
You’re such a selfless girl. However, the choice isn’t quite that
simple.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You’re more than willing to die for those
you love, we’ve seen more than enough proof of that. What the gods
want to know is this… what are you willing to live without?”

I frowned. “I still don’t understand. I won’t
sacrifice another’s life to better my own.”

He waved away the suggestion. “Chaela, you’ve
worked your entire life to prove yourself. Today, you learned one
thing about yourself you didn’t know.”

“The Knight’s blood.”

He nodded. “It’s helped you succeed, much in
the same way it helps the other Knights become Knights.” He stopped
talking for a moment and let what he was implying sink in. “Are you
willing to give up the Knighthood to save your Ian?”

I frowned. I’d spent the past eighteen years
of my life proving myself worthy of being a Knight. Being a Knight
had been my goal, my life. It was my life. I looked down to Ian and
kissed him softly, my tears slipping down my cheeks and onto his. I
took a deep breath and wiped them gently.

“Take it,” I whispered.

Chael blinked. “What was that?”

I cleared my throat and looked him straight
in the eye. “Take it.”

“But Chaela, all these years…”

I shook my head. “All these years, Chael, all
I’ve ever done was try to prove myself to others. My father wanted
me to be a Shadow and I did it. Everyone else thought I would fail,
but I proved them wrong.” I took inhaled and let the breath out
slowly then nodded. “It wasn’t just everyone else I had to prove
myself to; I had to prove it to myself as well. More than anything,
I wanted to prove them wrong.”

I gazed down lovingly at Ian. “Ian… well…
with Ian, I don’t have to prove myself. With him, I can be me. I
can be Chaela, just plain and ordinary Chaela, and he loves me just
the same.” I looked back to the god that was my namesake. “I’m done
proving myself, Chael. I am who I am and I plan on spending the
rest of my life simply being me. If that means I can’t be a Knight,
then so be it. I’ve spent the past eighteen years of my life being
a Knight. I think I’d like to see what else I’m capable of.”

Chael smiled and nodded. “So be it.”

“Wait!”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “That was a quick
change of mind.”

I shook my head. “I’m just wondering… will I
remember meeting you?”

He smiled. “If you want to.”

I smiled. “Thank you, Chael.”

“It’s been my pleasure, miss Chaela. Oh, and
Chaela?”

“Hmmm?”

“It’s just that, well, I just thought I
should warn you… this is going to hurt.”

He did nothing more than look into my eyes
and the next second I was clutching my chest, sure that my heart
was about to break through my ribs. I screamed while I writhed on
the ground, trying to get away from the burning feeling that was
engulfing me. The burning intensified and I looked at my hands,
expecting to see flames burning away my skin. I glanced up and
caught a glimpse of Chael’s face. I had a second to wonder why he
looked like he was regretting this choice. My muscles spasmed and I
lifted off the ground. His eyes widened.

“Don’t! Don’t stop!”

“Chaela! It can’t be worth it!”

Another scream erupted from me and I turned
to grab a hold of Ian’s cold hand. When I managed to take another
breath, I sucked in two for good measure.

“Don’t stop!”

He gave a nod. The pain intensified and my
heart gave one last pump before I felt it stop. Chael’s eyes closed
and the world went black.

*****

“Chaela!”

I felt the slap to my face and groaned in
protest. Harry let out his breath.

“She’s alive!”

“What the hell happened to her? By gods, it
looked like something was killing her!” Mac was kneeling beside
me.

I coughed and sucked in a breath at the pain.
“Ian…” His name was more of a groan than anything else. I cleared
my throat. “Ian.”

“Chaela…” Hal hesitated. “He…he…”

I groaned. “No… no… Chael! We had a deal!” My
screaming split through my head and I clutched at it. Sobs raked
through me and I rolled onto my side. I pressed face into Ian’s
side. “By gods, Ian, I tried.” I wrapped my arm around him.

“Chaela…”

I waved away Harry’s concern. “Leave me be. I
just… I need a minute with him…” I wasn’t sure how they heard me
through the sobs, but they all moved away as I’d asked. “Ian,” I
whispered. “Ian, I’m sorry.” I tried to calm myself. “I never
should have let you come on your own. I should have come… I should
have known…”

I jumped at the feel of a hand over mine. I
looked up and saw Chael rolling his eyes at me.

“Humans…” he grumbled. “Always so impatient.”
He smiled. “Enjoy your life, Chaela.” He placed his other hand over
Ian’s heart and I watched as the man I loved jerked before taking a
breath. I held mine and watched as he took another and another.
Chael grinned, nodded to the pair of us, turned and walked until he
disappeared from sight. Ian groaned.