Deliverance (35 page)

A guard then approached the cell, passed a
bag and a canteen through the iron bars, and dropped them on the
ground.

“There’s your supper, rebels,” the guard
barked.

Sigurd grabbed the bag and canteen, but not
before glaring at the guard. The dwarf then passed out the pieces
of stale bread that were inside to everyone. The pieces of bread
were no bigger than a human fist, and when they were all handed
out, they all realized they only had four pieces.

“Hey, we only have one!” Maryn said.

“Yeah, in case you didn’t realize it, there
are two of us!” Taryn added.

“And you’re both halflings. You are half the
size of a human and therefore you only require half a piece of
bread!” the guard argued.

“But you’ve been giving us each a piece up
until now!” Taryn whined.

“We’re running low on leftovers, so be
grateful you got anything you brats!” the guard yelled back. He
then banged his spear on the cell bars and laughed spitefully as he
returned to his post.

Maryn sniffed as Taryn desperately tried to
break the hard piece of bread in half, and neither Kerali nor
Thaddeus could eat while watching the pitiful scene. Then, to
everyone’s disbelief, Sigurd walked over to the twins and without a
word, dropped his piece of bread onto Maryn’s lap.

“I’m not hungry,” he mumbled before making
his way to the other side of the cell and sitting down.

“That was so nice of you, Sigurd! Thank
you!” Maryn cried.

“Shut up and eat,” Sigurd growled.

The twins giggled and then hungrily ate
their pieces of bread. Thaddeus smiled, shook his head and then
began to eat his own.

About half an hour later, the twins had
fallen asleep. Sigurd still sat with his arms folded on the floor
and Kerali sat beside him while Thaddeus sat in the corner.

Kerali leaned over to Sigurd and muttered,
“All this prison time has made you soft, dwarf.”

“Mind your own business elf! I told them I
wasn’t hungry, so why waste the little food they give us?” Sigurd
remarked.

“Is that what you said to Maryn? I’m afraid
I couldn’t hear it over the sound of your stomach growling,” Kerali
retorted amusingly.

“If you are so proud of those DAMNED Elven
ears, why don’t you listen when I tell you to BE QUIET!” Sigurd
growled as his ears turned red again.

Both Thaddeus and Kerali laughed as Sigurd
pouted and mumbled to himself. Then there was silence.

“I wonder why we haven’t been executed yet,
though. If we are still being fed, then they’re obviously trying to
keep us alive,” Thaddeus brought up.

“Thaddeus is right. The guards have been
obnoxious as usual, but they haven’t physically harmed us, which is
odd to say the least,” Sigurd said.

“Well, I didn’t want to say anything, but
Sigurd’s stomach isn’t the only thing I have heard that none of you
have,” Kerali said.

“What do you mean, Kerali?” asked
Thaddeus.

“Whenever Gavril was in the dungeon, do you
remember how he kept asking to talk to Bogdan but he wouldn’t tell
us why?” Kerali asked.

“Yes. I remember how he left after a few
days and hasn’t returned in over a week! I am worried that they
killed him!” Thaddeus replied.

“No, they didn’t. It’s even worse,
actually.” Kerali ruefully replied, “They have been torturing
him.”

“What?” Thaddeus and Sigurd exclaimed.

“I heard Bogdan telling the guards out in
the corridor not to harm us because of a deal he made with Gavril.
Gavril gave himself up and told Bogdan to torture him in exchange
for our safety,” Kerali explained, the energy draining from his
voice.

“That fool!” Sigurd said sadly, bowing his
head.

Thaddeus closed his eyes and shook his
head.

“I just don’t understand why Bogdan would
agree to something like that. It is very unlike him to show pity,
especially to rebels,” Kerali said.

“Whatever the case, we must help Gavril
somehow,” Thaddeus said.

“But how? There is no way out of this
dungeon!” Kerali said.

Suddenly, as if on cue, two soldiers walked
up and stopped in front of the cell. The shorter one pulled out a
key, unlocked the door, and opened the cell.

“There is a way out if someone is there to
help you,” said the taller one.

“Blaze?” asked Thaddeus.

After he said Blaze’s name, both soldiers
removed their helmets and revealed their faces.

“Crystal!” the three rebels exclaimed. The
twins woke up to the noise and they both jumped up and approached
the cell door when they saw Crystal.

“Boss! I knew you’d make it back!” Taryn
exclaimed.

Crystal put a finger to her mouth and said,
“SHH! Don’t worry, we went to the Lost Realm and found the last
shard. Let’s get going and destroy the Eye!”

“You can use holy magic now?” Thaddeus
asked, struggling to stand up.

“It’s a long story, but I will explain it
later.” Crystal assured, “Right now I—wait, where is Gavril?”

Thaddeus, Sigurd, and Kerali paused, unsure
of how to tell Crystal what had happened. Crystal sensed their
tension and feared the worst.

Crystal put a hand to her mouth with her
eyes about to well up with tears and whispered, “Is Gavril . . .
dead?”

“No,” Kerali replied, “but I’m afraid his
situation isn’t any better than that.”

Kerali then went on to explain what he had
heard again, and even though Crystal was relieved that Gavril was
alive, she still felt the tears falling when she thought of what
horrible things Gavril was going through.

“We have to find him!” Crystal cried.

“No, dear, we will find Gavril after we get
our equipment. I have some more of those potions I made for Blaze
in a bag so once we find Gavril, we’ll fix him up and join you,”
Thaddeus assured.

“But . . .” Crystal protested.

“They’re right, Crystal. Gavril would want
you to finish this before worrying about him,” Blaze said.

Crystal sighed before saying, “Very
well.”

“But when you find him,” Blaze began, “can
you tell Gavril I need to talk to him?”

“Of course, Blaze. Is everything all right?”
Thaddeus responded.

“Yes,” Blaze answered. He gave Crystal a
pleading face that silently asked her not to say anything, and she
smiled in assurance.

“Whatever you do, please don’t let anything
happen to him,” Crystal said.

“Do not worry, we will take care of Gavril,”
Kerali assured her.

“I know,” Crystal replied. She then reached
into her armor to pull out the shard and continued, “Here is the
shard. Blaze and I will—WHOA!”

When Crystal looked at the shard in her
hand, it had a glowing pulse and was pulling away from her.

“The shards must be reacting to each other
because they are so close together! Quickly, you must go before
Bogdan notices the other shards glowing!” Thaddeus cried.

After bidding the others goodbye, Blaze and
Crystal replaced their helmets and Crystal put the shard back into
her armor.

CHAPTER 22

In his guard armor, Blaze spoke to a real
castle guard and managed to find out that not only that Gavril was
still alive, but also where he was being held captive and where the
rebels’ equipment was stored. After delivering the message to the
others, they split up into two teams with one team consisting of
Sigurd and Thaddeus, going to find Gavril, and the other team
consisting of Kerali, Taryn, and Maryn, going to find the equipment
and freeing the other rebel captives. Blaze and Crystal then set
off to find the other shards.

Crystal walked ahead of Blaze and allowed
the shard to pull her in the right direction. It pulled her up the
stairs onto the second floor and she soon realized that she was
being led to the throne room. They walked down the open hall that
faced the courtyard and after stopping right in front of the doors
to the throne room, Crystal felt the shard tugging from inside of
her armor, so after Blaze peeked inside and saw no one was in
there, he gestured for her to follow. Once they were both inside,
Blaze then shut the doors behind them and used the legs of a small
table to block the handles. He then hurriedly blocked the other
doors in the room to make sure no one could get in.

The stone pillar prison sat just on the side
of the throne and the Gaull shards, which were glowing in unison
with the one Crystal carried, were set on a table beside it.
Crystal pulled her armor off, and as soon as the shard she had was
visible, the other shards began sliding towards her and a couple of
them even fell on the floor and continued sliding. Blaze ran over
to the shards and gathered them up after pulling his own armor
off.

“All right, let’s fuse them together and
destroy the Eye,” he said.

Crystal walked over to him while he held the
other four shards in his hands and as soon as she held her shard up
to them, they glowed brightly and with a quick snapping sound, the
Eye of Gaull was whole again.

Blaze placed the Eye into Crystal’s hands
and said, “All right, do your stuff.”

Blaze then removed his sword from its sheath
and took several steps back, ready to strike. Crystal held the Eye
out in front of her with both hands and concentrated on what
Malcolm said. You are holding yourself back rang through her ears,
and she tried to think of what negative emotions she needed to
overcome.

She thought hard, but her mind was clouded
when she saw the mirror where she and Gavril hid while her parents
were killed. She remembered the exact spot where she saw their
bodies in a pool of blood. Even though Gavril tried to hide her
face and even though he instructed the soldiers to keep her away,
she still saw their bodies. Their eyes were still open and her
mother still looked terrified. She remembered seeing Gavril shut
their eyes, but the image of her mother’s horrified face when she
saw her husband die was burned into Crystal’s mind forever.

Gavril begged August to keep his sword, and
of course, now Crystal knew why, but the king kept insisted on
being unarmed to negotiate with Bogdan peacefully.

Please keep it with you, August, Gavril had
said.

I am willing to resolve this peacefully!
August responded.

Believe me, this will not end peacefully no
matter what you do! Please, keep yourself armed! Gavril
pleaded.

I am ordering you, as your king, to step
down and take my sword! August commanded.

And I am begging you, as your friend, to
keep it! Gavril continued to plead.

Eventually, her father did agree to keep his
sword. She remembered when Bogdan burst through the doors and
marched up to her parents. She could still remember her father
pleading with Bogdan to spare his family and the way Bogdan
ridiculed him in response. Bogdan drove his sword through August’s
heart before he had a chance to defend himself or his wife. Bogdan
laughed as Elaine cried out and embraced her husband as he fell,
and before he even hit the ground, Bogdan mercilessly murdered her
as well.

Bogdan had slain the last holy mage.

Crystal knew her mother was the last person
who would deserve a sword through the heart, and the fact that
Bogdan killed her when she had done nothing to provoke him. She
hated Bogdan. She wanted him to suffer for what he did! She wanted
him to die slowly and painfully!

Crystal struggled with her emotions while
she continued to grasp the Eye in her hands.

“Come on, Crystal! You can do it!” Blaze
said.

“No, I can’t! I can’t stop picturing the
night my parents died! It was in this very room! I just can’t!”
Crystal cried.

Just then, the Eye started pulling towards
the stone pillar while still in her hands. She knew that it was
feeding off of her hatred for Bogdan and tempting her to use its
power. She pulled away with all her might for several minutes, all
the while with Blaze encouraging her to resist. Eventually, she was
able to break free and the Eye of Gaull dropped from her hands and
onto the hard floor.

She dropped to her knees and sobbed, ashamed
of her inability to overcome her weakness. As Blaze bent down to
hold her, she cried, “I don’t know what to do Blaze! I cannot find
a way to overcome my anger!”

“I wish I knew what to say, Crystal. I wish
I could take it away from you,” Blaze replied.

“I am pathetic! I can’t believe I have come
this far just to fail!” she sobbed.

“You haven’t failed yet! You had to be taken
away from me to realize just how important you are to me! Think of
everyone who needs you, and you’ll find the power you need!” Blaze
told her.

Just then, they heard a banging sound in the
direction of the double doors. The doors shook violently as someone
on the other side banged on them again, and after a third pounding,
an explosion blew the doors open. Smoke filled the doorway as three
people stepped through.

The Eye then rolled across the floor towards
the person in the middle and he picked it up and said, “Here you
are, my King.”

The smoke cleared and Saitar handed Bogdan
the Eye of Gaull. He laughed and grabbed it while Valamar walked in
Crystal’s direction.

“It was awfully rude of you to steal my wife
before our honeymoon, but now you will be punished for high treason
and Amelia and I will be leaving for my mansion so that we can
finally consummate our marriage,” Valamar said to Blaze.

“Go consummate yourself,” Blaze spat back.
He then stepped in front of Crystal with his blade drawn and
Crystal put her hands up, readying herself for when she needed to
cast a spell.

“You are without a doubt the rudest person I
have ever had the displeasure of meeting!” Valamar countered.

“Blaze is twice the man you wish you were,
Valamar!” Crystal yelled.

“You will step aside and let the men handle
this, dear,” Valamar told her.