Auroran Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Reunion

Kate tried to open her eyes as she felt her body slowly drift towards the floor. Her heart raced as the warmth of a person’s hand gently stroked her cheek. Forcing her eyes to open, Kate stared up into what she believed to be the pale blue eyes that she knew only belonged to one person…Suan.
“Kate…” he whispered just loud enough for the two of them to hear.
She couldn’t see him, but she knew perfectly well that he was there.
“Are you ok?” he wondered, “your wrists look awful by the way…”
“Thank you Mr. Obvious,” she smiled as she heard Suan’s low chuckle.
“What happened?”
Kate could hear the worry in his voice. Feeling relieved that she was safe; Kate carefully leaned her head against his chest and inhaled his sent.
“I-I’m fine,” she sighed quietly. “I was drugged though. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to stay awake…” she smiled faintly.
“I’m just glad I found you in time,” Suan said tightening his grip around her torso. “You can’t even begin to imagine how worried I was.”
“I can guess…” Kate laughed. Closing her eyes, Kate allowed Suan’s scent and warmth to flow over her body. It was a moment of peace that she had only felt once before: when she had collapsed into his arms after seeing her father in Heerdon. It was there that she realized how much she loved him.
Opening her eyes slightly, she let out a long ragged breathe.
“Suan, I need to apologize for the way I acted the past few months or so…” she said suddenly breaking the silence.
“Apologize? Why do you need to apologize for the way you acted? You did nothing wrong. You only acted the way you did because well, a lot has changed in a short amount of time. Your brain couldn’t manage all the stress. It’s normal; don’t worry about that right now.” He contradicted slowly rubbing his thumb along her jaw line. “The only thing that either one of us should be sorry about is me not listening…my sister always told me I was a stubborn child; guess she was right. And you were right about Gregmor by the way.”
“I know I was,” Kate smiled slightly. “Stornen is the one who did everything; he’s the one that planned most of this; probably not alone though. Not only that, but my fathers here; if you can believe that. I’ll need to find a way to free him if possible….”
“Don’t worry about that now…what’s important is to get you out of here…Get you out and to a place where you can rest. Your body is going to have to fight off that drug.” He said softly holding Kate so close that all she could do was breathe.
“Ok,” she sighed as she felt the world around her closing.
“I love you,” he whispered as he held her close.
Kate’s heart pounded in her chest, the heat rushing to her face. She could feel every beat and could hum the rhythm. Then in a fraction of a second, she felt the soft pressure of Suan’s lips to hers.
“I love you too,” she smiled as she listened to her pounding heart.
A slight squeeze from Suan’s grip gave Kate the recognition that he heard. Then, as she listened to her heart beat in unison with Suan’s; the dark pressure of sleep finally dominated over her.

~*~

As she darted from one hallway to the next, Sarah briefly studied the layout of the fortress. It was certainly very old due to the old stone that was used and the overall layout of the building. The only other building she thought was even remotely close was the Cathedral which she lived in. Some how she had entered the old prison without being noticed; how she did that was beyond her knowledge.
While she lurked in the darkest of corners, and through the tightest spots, Sarah spied upon the ugly creatures that guarded the various rooms. The creatures, to Sarah’s guess, were part of the undead family; though to which branch was a mystery. They all had the same stench and grayish tint to their skin. They also had uncanny yellow eyes and large bumps along their bodies. They pretty much resembled humans, but looked more ghastly.
Some of the rooms that Sarah had spied upon thus far were mostly guard rooms where the creatures hung out on off duties. But she had heard enough out of each room that would help Suan and the army of Scarlet out a great deal.
One room in particular that she had entered was full of half drunk soldiers all complaining about some man named Stornen and how he wasn’t treating them well. Part of their complaints was how he treated the navy while out in battle. This conversation later lead to other topics like strategies and what weapons they were currently using.
Another room she had spied upon, was filled with ranking officers all discussing the current and future strategies in the war. Carefully hiding in a dark corner in the high ceiling above them, Sarah stayed and listened to the whole conversation from beginning to end. It was all very informing, and after they left, Sarah stole one of the scrolls they were using, that held a map and positions written on it for a future and ultimately huge attack.
As she rigidly pressed her back on the cool slimly wall of the fortress, Sarah peered up and down the hallway to see if there were any guards standing watch. Though she had gotten in without any problems, how she would be getting out was another problem. The thing was, was that the fortress seemed to be one huge maze that could drive any one person mad. The hallway looked exactly the same as all the other hallways. Dark, moist, and the only light provided was by small glowing lanterns posted every few feet.
Inhaling a deep breath, Sarah darted down the corridor. The thud of her boots echoed through the hall. As she reached the end, she slowed her pace and stopped to face a large wooden door. </i>
Sarah suspected that it was the door leading into the main chamber. Not only was it made of the finest wood, it was carved and decorated with gold implants. What kind of prison would have gold on their door?
“So what are we going to do with the girl?” asked a voice from beyond the door.
Sarah noticed a bright light suddenly illuminating from the gaps between the doors, ceiling, and floor. She could hear two pairs of foot steps clicking on what was possibly marble.
“You’ll have to try harder. She knows where the crystal is…she has to tell us,” said a scathing voice.
“Should we try manipulating her?” asked a third voice.
“No, that will do no good, remember what happened when we did it to her mother; she’ll be the same…we could try persuading her…in other ways…” chuckled the scathing voice.
A chill ran down Sarah’s spine. She suddenly had a very uncomfortable feeling about the conversation taking place just beyond the small barrier.
“It seems my friends, that we have an unexpected visitor outside our door. Stornen, would you please invite her in?” asked the scathing voice.
Suddenly Sarah’s heart dropped to her stomach. As she tried to turn and walk away she found that she couldn’t. She was trapped! The clicking of shoes became louder and louder as Stornen approached the doors. Then in a flash of blinding light, Sarah stared into the face of a very buff, and thick looking man. He was without a doubt a sailor; and knowing he wasn’t safe made more chills race along Sarah’s body.
The man took hold of Sarah’s upper arm and dragged her into the room. Pushing her heels to the floor, Sarah tried to put as much wait down in order to try and pry his hand off her arm. As she was being pulled along, she noticed a blond boy not much older than herself standing nearby and a dark shadowy figure in the only place in the room not lit by light.
“Let me go!” she demanded.
The dark figure laughed. Sarah noticed it was the scathing voice that made the chills run down her spine.
“Sorry, but I can not do that. If I may be so bold as to assume you are in good relations with Kate Matthews?”
Sarah’s heart froze. What could she say? Either way it seemed she was going to have to fight her way out of this situation.
“Then I am right. Stornen you may leave…” the figure said as Stornen bowed and exited. “Well, you probably know this already, but it seems that the young Prince of Scarlet has saved the dear Guardian. Now that puts us in a tight spot does it not? You see, we need her in order to retrieve the Sky Crystal….You wouldn’t happen to know where it is would you?” the shadowy figure asked casually.
Sarah stared into the darkness, allowing no emotion to show on her face except disgust.
“I’m sorry, but I do not know where it is…”
The shadow chuckled.
“Now, now, there’s more you know than your letting on. It’s not difficult to see past your mind barriers. Kate does have it. I am very positive. All I need to know is where is she hiding it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Be careful Sarah; this man is tricky. He will try and pry information out of you. Apparently they haven’t realized that Kate herself  doesn’t know that she’s had the crystal all along.” whispered Twilight from under Sarah’s cape.
“I know…” Sarah whispered back.
“I’m tired of this game…” came the voice again. “Neil, will you please try and rid me of this girl…she is getting tiresome to play with now…”
Sarah turned her attention to the blond boy. He was grinning slightly as he unsheathed his sword. Gripping her staff with two hands, she stood defensively in place. She had not noticed that Stornen had left, and that her arm pulsed as it tried to get the blood flowing back through.
As she and Neil stared at each other for a few moments, Sarah could feel the spirits restlessly move behind her.
“You are a Spirits Mage, are you not? Feel free to use whatever you like…” Neil said as he stepped closer. The six spirits emerged from underneath Sarah’s cloak and appeared by her side
As she studied Neil’s stance, Sarah noticed that he was trained more in fencing than in regular sword fight. This would be to her advantage…. She thought. Then the first lunge was given by Neil. He went straight towards Sarah’s left arm. Holding up her staff and taking a side step to the right she blocked it effortlessly.  Too easy… he’s testing me… she commented to herself as she replayed the lunge in her head.
As a Mage, Sarah had to learn many different styles of fighting, her favorite, ironically enough was fencing. This style, above all others, she studied the hardest. It came naturally to her.
When Neil recovered from his lunge, he stood up straight and smirked. Knew it…he’s testing me… The following attacks were probably some of the basic techniques in fencing. This not only puzzled Sarah, but also brought up her confidence. Though, she did not have a sword, her staff seemed to be mediocre enough to block all of Neil’s attacks.
After a few slow minutes of receiving a few tactless blows, Sarah was finally fed up and stood facing Neil. She was fed up with all of his petty attacks. She was going to attack him head on without mercy to get rid of him.  The only thing that confused her was that he still held that stupid smirk on his face.
Lunging towards his heart, Sarah was preparing to jab her staff into his body when suddenly, he disappeared from sight. Skidding across the marble floor, Sarah wildly looked around the room. Where was he? And how could he have just vanished from thin air?
“Looking for me?” said a voice behind Sarah.
Turning around, Sarah barely blocked a face on attack. But this one was so forceful that she was flung back a couple of feet. Surprised, Sarah nearly fell from the aftershock of the attack. Still, Neil continued to smile. Crap…
Sarah stayed on offense as she tried to land a blow on Neil. But nothing seemed to work. His steps, his techniques were far too advanced for her. Something wasn’t right; she started to feel fatigue; recouping from her last lunge when she felt searing pain on her arm.
Gasping in shock, Sarah clutched her arm, and barely had time to dodge yet another attack. It was now getting too difficult for Sarah to dodge. He was just too fast; she would have to result to her magic. Her body ached, and she was afraid that she would not hang on much longer.
“Twilight….” She called towards the group of spirits who had floated watching the fight from afar.
“Yes,” she said sternly approaching Sarah gracefully.
Then with one last huge effort, Sarah pushed Neil backwards and gained distance between the two of them. While backing up a few paces, Sarah half closed her eyes and gathered her magic, also taking some from Twilight who was already aiding her.
“Twilight Lancers…” Sarah called raising her staff a few feet off the ground.
A high pitched screech could be heard from outside of the room. Then in a resounding crash, two large, dark blue creatures riding on winged beasts entered the room. The riders carried lances and shields and were clad in heavy armor. The beast on which they rode on had head plates on and plates to protect their feet and tails. They were enormous, as well as extremely dangerous looking.
Without any command, the Lancers approached Neil on either side. Then while her Lancers distracted Neil, Sarah motioned for the spirits to follow her and she fled from the room.  

~*~

“So how bad is she?” Auroran called from outside Suan’s room.
“Not too bad, she’s been drugged though. But she’ll be fine…” Suan said as he carefully washed the dry blood from Kate’s arm and wrists. As he started to bandage her wrists, the thump of boots could be heard on the deck.
Turning in his seat, Suan glanced outside the door to see Sarah gasping for breath.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Sarah shook her head quickly.
“Nothing, I was just confronted by some….guy named Neil…at first I thought I was going to get the fight over with, but something strange happened. I’m not sure how to explain it, but he suddenly got powerful.”
Then without warning a loud explosion could be heard. Glancing up at the fort they could see parts of stone and wood toppling inward and some flying out in all directions.
“What exactly happened?”
“I fought him, he got strong, I called on the Twilight Lancers and that’s the last thing I saw…”
Swearing under his breath Suan turned back into the room and quickly finished bandaging Kate’s wrists. Once he was finished he grabbed his sword and started heading off the deck.
“Wait! Where are you going?” Sarah angered.
“You can’t tell me you don’t feel that? That dark energy? That explosion has given off of some serious dark power. Some one’s going to have to stay behind and take care of it; and since your hurt and Kate needs to get back to Scarlet, your going to have to take her back to the palace. Auroran’s ready to set sail so just untie the docking ropes and leave.”
“But…”
“No, just shove off. Both you and Kate need to be taken care of. I have Shade; we’ll be ok…” Suan smiled.
“That’s not it, what about Kate? What will she think when she hears you’re here alone? What should I tell her?” Sarah asked worriedly as she eyed the area of the fortress that had exploded.
Suan stood in though for a moment and looked towards the door that concealed Kate behind it. What Sarah said was true. Kate would be furious at him for just leaving.
“Just tell her that whatever this dark power is needs to be taken care of in order for her to find her power…” he smiled as he jogged off the deck without saying another word.
Staring after him Sarah sighed and looked around the ship.
“What are you waiting for girl? I can’t untie the ropes myself…I don’t have thumbs…or hands you know!” cried a voice.
Sarah looked around to see who was talking.
“Don’t be scared you stupid girl, you haven’t forgotten what Suan said already have you? I’ll explain later just untie the ropes!”