Metanoia (17 page)

“
Good luck. Have fun. I
love you,” was all he said. He leaned in to kiss her, but she
turned her cheek to his mouth. She did not even say good-bye as she
turned and went out the gates.

Days past, and no word came from Gina. No
sign of how negotiations were going or if she was feeling any
better. One day, a Nythagién rider rode out to see the sunset. He
had also hoped to see a sign of the company’s return but was left
disappointed. He watched the sunset and just as all light went out,
he thought he heard a scream. He looked at the horizon, and it
appeared as if the sun was rising again. In the far off distance,
he could see a glow of light. There was only one way for that much
light to be generated – a city on fire.

An alarm rang throughout all of Nythagié. The
rider’s report had raised fear in many. More and more riders were
sent out to aid the city in need, yet all of them knew it would
take a whole night’s ride to reach them. By then, it might be too
late.

Alvina, Calypso, and Jacinda ran as quickly
as they could to the manor. In the council room, they found
Fheyrhil and Leyance pacing. They were waiting in earnest to hear
what had occurred during the night.

“
What is it?” Calypso
demanded, bursting in. “What’s happened?”

“
We do not know, Calypso,”
Fheyrhil replied. “I am afraid that I fear for the worst
though.”

“
And Gina?” Jacinda asked,
but by Leyance’s quickened pace. She knew the answer.

“
We have heard no word. She
would have sent word…” Fheyrhil stated.

“
Oh, God…” Alvina said,
shaking. Suddenly, the moment of suspense peaked as a messenger
burst through the doors.

“
The city is Kulinai, sir,”
he said. Both Leyance and Fheyrhil jumped at this while their
hearts sank. The girls stood shocked, but Alvina was shaking
horribly.

“
What word about Queen
Regina?” Leyance asked in earnest.

“
None,” the messenger
replied. “We could not find her. We do not know if she lives or
not.”

“
What do you mean if she
lives or not?” Leyance demanded.

“
There was a huge massacre.
Everyone in the city, everyone, is either dead or severely
injured.”

“
No!” Leyance and Alvina
screamed together. She sank to the ground as her friends ran over
to her.

“
Send out a search for the
queen!” Fheyrhil ordered.

“
It is already in progress.
She has not been found as of yet.”

“
Send out more people
then!” Fheyrhil shouted.

“
Yes, sir.” With that, the
messenger turned and fled.

“
No!! This isn’t happening!
Please, God, no!” Alvina cried.

“
Alvina?” Calypso asked,
rubbing her back. Alvina was crying uncontrollably.

“
Hayden! Hayden lives in
Kulinai! If something happened to him, I’ll never forgive myself. I
never told him the truth! I never told him how much I loved him…”
she sobbed.

“
Oh, no…” Jacinda gasped.
Alvina glanced up at Fheyrhil with teary eyes.

“
You know his fate. Tell me
it truthfully!” she demanded.

Fheyrhil took a deep and shaky breath. “He
has passed… I can feel it…” With this, Alvina started to cry even
harder as she pushed herself into a corner. Fheyrhil wanted to
comfort her, but he knew words were beyond comforting value now.
While the girls comforted Alvina, Leyance stepped aside to talk to
Fheyrhil.

“
How is this possible?”
Leyance demanded.

“
A better question is what
size an army could accomplish such a task? Where are they now?”
Fheyrhil asked to himself more than to Leyance.

“
What if anything happened
to Gina?”

“
Then we are all in
danger.”

Terror swept through the city, but none so
much as the terror sweeping through Leyance’s heart. He stood in
his and Gina’s room, looking out the window into the darkness.

“
Gina,” he whispered to the
night. “Please return to me safely. I can’t bear to loose you
again.”

“
I’m here,” came a small
shivering voice. Leyance spun around to see Gina standing in the
doorway. She was drenched with blood.

“
Gina!” he screamed and ran
over to her. “You’re covered in blood, oh, no. Where are you
hurt?”

“
I’m not hurt. This,” she
motioned to her permanent red stain, “is not mine.”

“
What happened?”

“
I…I don’t…I…” She was
obviously very shaken. Leyance put his hand over her
lips.

“
It’s okay. Don’t worry
about it now. Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.” With that he led
her to the bathroom and produced some clean clothes from the
closet.

When Gina resembled her own self, Leyance led
her to bed. He sat down and held out his hands, leading the still
shaking Gina to him. Leyance lay down and held her to him.

“
I love you,” he whispered.
Gina did not respond. They lay in silence until Leyance fell
asleep, but Gina did not follow suit.

Chapter 10

“Nythagié’s Black Rose”

Morning light crept into the room. Leyance
awoke and rolled over to hug Gina. All he hit was mattress. Slowly,
he opened his eyes. His wife was no where in sight.

“
Gina?” He pulled back the
covers and stepped out of bed, right onto Gina’s
necklace.

Morning light crept over the horizon. Gina
stood on a cliff, but she was not the same. She wore black from
head to toe, and her once conservative outfits now took a severe
turn in the opposite direction. Her necklace had been replaced too.
A black choker adorned her neck, a dark silver dead rose bejeweled
it. Nothing but pure malice could be seen on her face as she stared
at the city below her. The burning city of Kulinai. Suddenly, she
saw an Übel approaching her. She hid in the brush as it passed and
then, with a flying leap, attacked the creature, pinning it to the
ground.

“
What are you doing here?”
she demanded.

“
I was sent to find you,”
he croaked, spitting dirt out of his mouth.

“
By who?”

“
My leader.”

“
Who is that?” No response
came so she pushed him hard into the ground. “Who?!”

“
Warik,” he coughed. “His
name is Warik.”

“
Good to know,” she said
smiling and released him. He got up quickly and stared at her. She
swiftly strung an arrow and shot him. The creature stumbled and
fell dead. “But I’m your leader now.”

“
Gina’s gone,” Leyance
announced coming into the council room. He showed Gina’s necklace
to Fheyrhil. “I found this on the floor. What does it
mean?”

“
We have lost her. You will
not find her.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
If you found Regina, it
would not be the one you or I know,” Fheyrhil stated
solemnly.

“
You aren’t making any
sense!”

“
You would understand if
your love for her had not slowed your ability to perceive things
for what they really are. My caring for her also slowed my
perception. How could we have been so blind?”

“
What’s happened? I don’t
understand!”

“
Kulinai, Leyance. Think!
What army could destroy an entire city? An army of only one. Just
one,” Fheyrhil whispered sadly.

“
One?”

“
One. Gina. It was Gina.
She killed the animals…”

“
No,” Leyance whispered
unbelieving what he was being told.

“
She lit the city on
fire…”

“
No, she
couldn’t.”

“
She killed everyone who
got in her way.”

“
No! It wasn’t her. It just
can’t be!”

“
Why?” Fheyrhil questioned.
“Because you love her?” Leyance didn’t know how to respond to this.
His heart did not want to accept what his head knew to be true.
Suddenly, the sound of rain outside caught the attention of both
the men.

“
What the…?” Leyance
stated, rushing to the window, Fheyrhil close on his
heels.

“
Rain?” Fheyrhil
questioned.

“
But it hasn’t rained here
since the battle at the beginning of time!” Leyance
declared.

“
It’s Regina.”

“
She couldn’t do this. This
takes too much power!

“
Yes she can!” Fheyrhil
snapped at him. “She can and she has!”

“
No, this isn’t possible.
No one could do this!”

“
Noquef could.” The name
startled Leyance.

“
Noquef put a spell on that
fire that encircled her legs remember? When the fire engulfed her,
she would turn evil – you stopped the flame from consuming her, but
you could not stop the burning. That evil has slowly been
encircling up her body since she returned. That is why her legs
kept becoming so weak – of course, it makes so much sense, if only
I had seen it before! Now, it’s too late…” Fheyrhil sat down,
resting his head in his hand. Yet, this information enraged
Leyance.

“
It’s not too late!” With
that he ran towards the door.

“
Where are you going?”
Fheyrhil asked without looking up.

“
To find Gina. She loves
me. I can get her out of this trance she’s in. I can stop her. She
won’t hurt me.”

“
Her evilness might have
started by coming in trances, but that is not so now! This has
changed her entire personality. Your wife is dead, and a new enemy
has arisen from her ashes.”

“
I will not let her get
hurt!” Leyance declared.

“
It is you who will be hurt
if you go anywhere near her! She killed an entire city with no
guilt. Killing you will be nothing to her!” Fheyrhil yelled. “She
will be coming for Nythagié before we know it. We need to protect
the city.”

“
I’m going after her,”
Leyance avowed. “Gina will protect this city.” With that, he ran
out of the room.

Gina stood on a cliff, arms out accepting the
pouring rain. Warik, her new servant, was by her side.

“
Lovely, isn’t it? Noquef
wasn’t worthy of this, though one thing he did do right was
discover all those spells. They’re coming in handy, don’t you
think?” she said, grinning.

“
Gina!” She spun around to
see Leyance running up to her.

“
Not now,” she groaned. She
turned to the creature standing beside her. “Let me deal with
this.”

“
But I…” the creature began
to say, an arrow halfway into his bow, but was stopped dead in its
tracks. Leyance had fired a deadly shot. He ran up to Gina, his
hair sticking to his face from the rain. She walked up to him,
stepping over the dead creature without a second
thought.

“
You don’t take a hint, do
you?” she asked, annoyed.

“
Gina, honey, come on,
you’re just under a spell. You don’t mean to do this…”

“
I mean
to do what I
am
doing!” she snapped. “Now, I’ll give you to the count of five
to get out of here before I start inflicting major pain.
One…”

“
I love you, Gina, and you
love me!”

“
Two…”

“
You don’t want to do this.
Please…”

“
Three…”

“
Come home with me, to the
people you love…”

“
Four…”

“
Please, listen to me!” he
yelled desperately. Leyance grabbed her shoulders as if trying to
hold on to her with all he had.

Her closed eyes flashed open, glaring. She
could feel his hands on her shoulders, his wet clothes against her
back. “Five.” Gina spun around, grabbing his wrists as she went.
She twisted them and hit him hard. Leyance tumbled to the ground, a
look of absolute surprise and confusion on his face as he looked up
at her from the flat of his back. She leaped on top of him,
knocking the wind out of him. Sitting on top of him, she glared
down into his eyes.

“
I don’t love you. I never
have and never will. Love is pathetic – it does nothing for you!”
she screamed.

“
Gina,” he whispered
startled, “you do love me, and I love you.”

“
Shut up!” Gina bellowed.
She back-handed him - hard. Leyance just stared at her, unwilling
to believe what she was doing, unwilling to hit back. He couldn’t
bring himself to hurt the one he loved, even if she
could.

“
Fheyrhil’s a smart guy. He probably warned you but no…” She
struck him again. “Mr. Fix-It had to come to rescue his princess!”
Once again, her fist came in contact with his now tender cheek. “To
defeat the terrible dragon and save the day, huh?” And again.
“Well, guess what?
I’m
the dragon now, and you’ve come a long way for nothing…” She
rolled off of him and leapt to her feet, smiling as she watched him
get up painfully.

“
Gina,” he whispered, “you
don’t want to do this. You’re hurting everyone including yourself!
Listen to your heart, this isn’t you speaking!”