Splintered Fate (13 page)

Ardin
I…
Lana began before the Rami in front of
her suddenly froze, eyes wide in shock.

A long steel blade burst through
the Rami’s chest before it disappeared back into him. He fell to
the ground with shocked cold eyes. Behind the once living man stood
Kirill Dukran, holding a blood slick sword.

Lana looked at him, stunned.
Without a word he held his hand out to her. She eyed him, hating
herself for needing him as she held out her cold weak hand towards
Kirill. He gripped it and pulled her to her feet, helping her
regain her balance.

Once standing Kirill turned to
face away from her, eyeing the threats around them. His steady gaze
moved over every person around them, analyzing every potential
threat within reach.

“
You are weak, Lana. If you cannot
fight you need to run. We are on the edge of the battle you can
take cover in the woods”. He stood highly alert and focused,
excited even. This was Kirill in his element, doing what he loved,
fueled by war and death.

Lana didn’t know whether Kirill
was truly calling her weak or if he was simply telling her what
state she was in. In this moment she didn’t care to take the time
to discover if there was an ulterior meaning behind his
words.

“
No, my father.” She managed to
object before Kirill began speaking over her.

“
If you both die then what of your
people?”

Lana felt a pang of guilt for not
taking her people into her decision to run into this mess after her
father. In the nearby distance she saw another Rami approaching.
Dread at his approach over came her for she felt so completely
useless, her legs shaking under her own weight. Doubt filled her
mind. She questioned whether or not she could do this. Could she
help her father, help her people, help anyone? What had she been
thinking?

A wave of
courage and warmth from Ardin hit Lana as he entered her
mind.
Thank the lands.
He said as he shared an image of Kaiden with
her.

Take a
knee
Lana heard Ardin’s command in her
mind.

Her head whipped to the direction
Ardin was. Were they crazy? She thought to herself. Panic rushed
through her, for she instantly understood what Ardin and Kaiden
were up to. They were desperate and there was simply no time for a
better idea. This was her fault.

Clenching her hands into fists Lana fell down
to one knee with an uncomfortable pit in her stomach. She hated
feeling so desperate, so weak.

“
WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Kirill
yelled at her, his voice urgent. “GET UP! RUN, DO SOMETHING!” He
pleaded as the next Rami threat was nearly upon them.

There was nothing that Lana could do, nowhere
to go. She had stupidly put everyone in harms way, her father was
injured and his Aorra possibly gone. She had no strength, nor had
she thought of what would happen to her people when she ran into
this. Lana could only hope that what Ardin was about to do would
work and that Kirill could protect her for just a few more moments.
Depending on a Dukran, the notion of it was enough to make her
stomach turn.

Kirill sliced through the Rami
with ease and turned to Lana, prepared to forcefully make her stand
and shove her towards the cover of the woods, but then he saw
something. Lana’s eyes flickered to what had stopped the Dukran in
his tracks. Following his gaze, she saw it.

Blue light erupting around Ardin in the
distance, it was unlike anything they had ever seen. The light
didn’t push Ardin or set him a blaze the way it was normally seen
when Rami light touched Aorra’s. This light completely engulfed
him, devouring him.

Chapter

Six

Kaiden watched Lana ride off on
her white horse. After she vanished behind the foliage of the
forest, he turned to the old man and then gazed at the children.
The girl looked him square in the eyes while the boy stood still,
eyeing him from under the protection of his grandfather’s
hand.

“
They have never been close to a
Rami before, you must forgive them if they do something silly, like
stare.” Donn spoke with a smile.

He didn’t mind the kids’ stares.
It was the way Donn looked at him that he didn’t like, as if he
were studying him in some sort of experiment. The old man didn’t
even try to do it discreetly. He just stood there, watching
him.

Kaiden turned, looking off in the
direction Lana had gone. She seemed to have come into his life with
such a sudden force and then run right out of it with such
swiftness. A part of him was unsure if the whole thing weren’t just
a strange dream, a cruel trick of the mind. But if it were just a
dream, then surly he would have woken by then.

“
She is alright, she is on the
edge of the battle field searching for her father.”

“How do you know that?” Kaiden
asked, turning his attention to the old man.

“I have a few of these scattered
about.” Donn replied holding out a small white and black lizard in
the palm of his hand before slipping it back in to a small satchel
that hung off his shoulder. Kaiden wondered how many of those the
old man had, finding it odd the Madonian had control over so many
creatures and somehow capable of communicating with all of them
like an Aorra. He had always thought Madonians had a single Aorra
and that it was the only creature they could communicate
with.

“Lana is weak. I didn’t give her
enough strength to actually fight.” Kaiden replied, the concern
evident in his voice.

“
You care about her?”

Kaiden looked at Donn wondering
what that mattered. His gaze fell to the ground without a response.
He should have never gotten involved in this mess.

“
You saved her life, so you must
care about her right?” The old man continued.

“
It’s complicated.”

“No, it isn’t.” Donn simply
replied eyeing the Rami in front of him, observing him.

Kaiden shook his head, this old
man was beginning to drive him crazy. What was he getting at? They
stood in an awkward silence. Kaiden again looked back to where Lana
had disappeared into the forest, replaying their conversation to
himself.

“She said that she was a council
member? What of her parents? Shouldn’t they be in the council?”
Kaiden asked, thinking of the last things that she had said to him,
that she needed to protect her people. Garin had also mentioned her
being a council member when he had stumbled upon them.

“If you care about her I suggest
you take my horse and go to her. I think she may be in need of your
help. Just bring him back when it is all done.” Donn spoke, not
answering Kaiden’s questions. There was a sudden urgency in Donn’s
voice. A chill ran through Kaiden.

For a moment he looked at Donn as
if the old man had lost his mind. Offering up a horse to a Rami he
did not know, in order to save a Madonian girl and not just any
Madonian but a council member. The old man was a complete fool,
placing so much trust into a Rami he did not know.

For reasons Kaiden was not sure of
he began moving towards the dapple gray horse offered up by Donn,
swung his leg over and began riding in the direction Lana had gone.
He did not know what he was going to do or what he was even getting
himself into. He didn’t even know if he really wanted to do this.
Part of him wished that she would have not been in Abder and that
he would not have acted so hastily against his brother. Yet,
however he felt about betraying his brother, the thought of
allowing something horrible to happen to Lana when he was able to
help her made him feel a deep guilt that was new to him.

It was not long until Kaiden emerged from the
woods. The sound of battle welcomed him from the break in the
trees. He saw men fighting and falling all over with flashes of
fire and light exploding randomly throughout.

Once he was sheltered behind some brush Kaiden
hopped off of Donn's horse and looked past the forest onto the
scene before him. He saw the muscular Rami warriors fighting
armored Madonians and their Aorras.

Garin would have been knocked out
too long to have orchestrated this. The fight was closer to the
Rami camp then Abder anyway, which Garin would not have wanted.
Kaiden thought it safe to assume the Madonians had started
this.

Fueled with worry he scanned the
mess of people before him. This did not seem to be a well planned
out battle for either side. Both were taking hard hits and it was
difficult for to tell who had the upper hand.

Kaiden’s eyes rested on a monster
of a Rami long enough to see him slay two Madonians before turning
his sights on a Madonian woman, Lana. Even from the distance he
could instantly tell that she was too weak to be out there on her
own, making her an easy target. Those who recognize who she is will
be drawn to her like flies to a soft spoiled fruit.

Before he even mentally gave
himself the order to run Kaiden’s feet acted, moving beneath him.
He weaved between trees, alongside the edge of the woods and
battle, moving towards Lana while cursing Ardin for not being by
her side.

Running towards her he saw Lana
block the Rami’s first attack. Then in the blink of an eye she had
lost her sword and was kneeling on the ground as the Rami raised
his blade, stopping Kaiden in his tracks. He was out of time there
was no way for him to get to her in time. His breath was caught in
his throat. Beads of sweat rolled across his forehead. With
distraught eyes he could only watch as the threatening Rami in
front of her suddenly froze and fell to the ground. A Madonian
stood behind the Rami with a sword dripping with blood.

Kaiden
exhaled in sweet relief, his eyes darting to the
side. Something caught his attention. A massive white wolf took
down a Rami and was making its way towards him.

"You have got to be kidding me.”
Kaiden said under his breath. The wolf was Ardin, Lana's Aorra,
basically sworn to protect her with his life and here he was
heading away from Lana and approaching Kaiden. There was only one
reason that the wolf would risk this, for power.

Kaiden glanced back at Lana who
now wobbled beside the Madonian warrior who had just saved her. She
looked so unbearably weak. In order for her to get enough strength
to fight Rami soldiers she would need a large amount of energy. An
amount that even as foolish children they did not dare to ever
attempt.

To share power with Ardin required
a form of perfect chemistry. Kaiden had to give enough not to hurt
Ardin and Ardin had to openly accept it without hesitation. There
had to be a level of trust to do it. It was not easy and there were
many times Ardin had gotten hurt in their childhood practices. For
them to attempt such a thing, after all that time apart, when they
were almost strangers would be insane.

This would not be practice like
when they were young and to give Lana enough strength now, could
very well kill her Aorra. In a small moment of amusing irony Kaiden
found it somehow fitting for Lana and her Aorra to both had death
wishes that day. It was shocking that the two had survived so
long.

Ardin finally was free of Rami
warriors and able to get closer to Kaiden. Stopping at a short
distance he looked directly at him with fierce gray blue
eyes.

"This may kill you." Was all
Kaiden said, already knowing why the wolf came to him. The white
beast turned his head towards Lana and back, showing his teeth. In
Kaiden's mind he was indicating that he was willing to do whatever
necessary.

Bringing his palms close together,
Kaiden let the heat of the energy coursing through his body pool in
his palms. Hot rivers of strength ran through him and he curved the
rivers, sending them into his palms, collecting it. He pulled his
hands farther apart and the space filled with his strength. Sweat
beaded on his forehead while he struggled to gather the raw energy
in a contained form, to control it.

If what he was doing didn’t work
then Ardin could die and if the Madonian beside Lana were to keep
her from harm then Kaiden had no doubt that she would kill him for
it.

Of course the day they were to
meet again would be the day this would be happening. A day Lana was
caught by his brother, only to throw herself into more danger, in
need of his help. It would be that day that she waltzed into his
life, uprooting it.

The odds were stacked against him,
but this was their only chance. Taking one last look over at Lana,
who dropped to her knee just as another Rami approached, he cut off
the flow of his energy into the sphere. Kaiden hoped that this
would work. He said a silent prayer to himself as he severed ties
with the sphere of light and threw it into the wolf.

A white light incased the Ardin
and Kaiden could not breath, fearing what he may have
done.

* *
*

Take a knee,
Ardin sent a final thought to Lana, hoping she
could be protected for a moment longer. He hated himself for
allowing them to be separated. For him being unable to protect her,
but that was about to end.