Heya! Thanks everyone HEAPS for the reviews they make me feel good J I luv em! U guys rok. k, this is a heaps long chapter and it took me like ages to do. Sorry if its like to much info at one time but yea, I keep changing it cos im not completely happy wit it. Anyway hope u like J
Chapter 11"Follow the lights."
I hesitated, as something about Ceirwan's blunt tone felt wrong.
There was a pause, then, "Elspeth, it's ok, just follow the lights."
My feet felt as if they were cemented to the ground and I couldn't shake the feeling of trepidation that was eating away at all my self-control.
The eerie glow that was emanating from the torches were hypnotizing and before I could even think of turning away, I began to walk up the path paved out for me by the strange lights.
It felt as if I had been walking for an age before I reached a small opening that led to a vast, dank space. The cave was covered in the same dewy moss that was casing the walls of the narrow passages, which led to it. Shivering, I pulled my jacket tighter around me, but it made little difference. It still felt unnaturally cold, as if I were standing in snow capped mountain on a winter's day.
The cave was almost completely empty, except for a man standing with his back to me, who seemed engrossed in staring at the walls. There were strange artwork and patterns covering that one wall alone that drew me in and I felt myself walking towards it unwillingly.
"Ceirwan?" I called, grateful to see him. Being alone in this place was starting to scare me.
He turned slowly to face me and I jumped to see Ariel's hauntingly beautiful face staring back at me.
"No." I whispered incredulously. I went to move backwards away from him, but found my feet were once again glued to the ground.
"Ah, we have been waiting for you." He smiled maliciously.
My heart began to race as I said the first things that came to my mind.
"What have you done with Ceirwan?"
Ariel's smile became wider and he took slow steps toward me as he spoke, his footsteps echoing in the vastness.
"Oh he is safe don't you worry. They all are."
"They?" I spluttered, my hands beginning to shake.
"Yes. Matthew, Ceirwan, Dragon. That is who you are looking for, is it not?"
He was already meters from where I was standing, and I began to back up, my feet finally obeying me.
"Jik… where is he?"
Ariel smiled again. He turned his head to the back corner of the cave, a corner that was bathed in shadow and that I had not noticed before now. Ariel made a gesture with his hands and watched my face, amused, as I saw Jik, Matthew, Dragon and Ceirwan emerge from the shadows. Jik was leading them, and as they came closer I saw that they were all bound by rope, all except Jik.
It was the first time I had seen Jik and I cursed as I came to the sick realization that Jik was also behind this.
"You bastard." I yelled fiercely.
Ariel laughed, that spine-chilling laugh that terrified me in the nightmares I had of him. It echoed off the walls, the sound caving in on me. But at that moment, nothing about Ariel frightened me. I wanted to kill him.
"Now, now, now. We don't want that." Ariel paused to grab my arm but I pulled away violently before he could touch me.
"Now Elspeth, you know I don't want to hurt you. I just need you to understand, that's all." He nodded towards my friends.
"What do you want?" I whispered furiously, trying, but not succeeding to mask my fear with anger.
"I think you know." He said simply.
I looked over to my friends. I had not imagined that this was how I would see Matthew again.
He stared up at me with apologetic eyes and I remembered his letter. Was he apologizing for going after Ariel?
"Let me let you in on a little secret," Ariel began, turning my head to face his.
"I was beginning to have doubts that you would come here."
Slapping his hand away, he laughed again, knowing he had got my attention.
"How could you know I was coming here?" I asked, terrified of hearing the answer.
"I planned it of course. But even my genius plans have faults. Dragon for instance. Taming her was harder than I had thought. Even if she does not completely remember you, she still resisted in tricking you in the desert back there."
"What?" I spat, straining my mind to remember what Ceirwan and I had gone through to get here.
Ariel smirked as he watched me struggle to comprehend what was going on.
"You were completely dazed and confused, from lack of food and water and the intense heat. That was Dragon's doing. She made the illusion of the desert to make you weak, so you would lose your way and not know where you were going. And the rain… it just came out of nowhere didn't it? You then coincidently stumbled along a cave. Hmm… my plan was working very smoothly. Too smoothly I had thought. But, here you are."
He seemed to be enjoying watching my reaction. I couldn't move or speak, I felt as if time had stopped and all I could hear was Ariel's terrible voice all around me. This was not happening. I was dreaming.
"Oh, I should really tell you how it all started shouldn't I? I am sorry, that was terribly rude of me."
All I could think as I watched Ariel, watched his lips move slowly to form a mocking smile, watched his eyes glittering with hate and satisfaction, watched his blonde angelic hair fall gracefully down his face as he moved, was how someone so beautiful could have such a rotten, evil heart.
"Rosalind delivered the letter as according to plan. The letter you so believed was from Matthew. Ah, yes, that worked too. You see, Elspeth, that letter was written by me. Oh, but don't get me wrong, Matthew did see me in the land of the Red Queen and I am sure it was in his every desire to come after me, seek revenge for his beloved Cameo, but Matthew would never have written a letter like that to you.
He would have known that you would endanger yourself to come after him. And, fortunately with my help, you did."
He paused for effect. Taking in my facial expressions, loving every minute of pain he was causing me.
"Rosalind is not aware that it was I who tortured her, who made her come to Obernewtyn to give you the letter. She believes she is helping Rushton. You see, she thinks that Rushton will die if you don't get that letter, a little mind game on my part.
So she did everything she could to get to Obernewtyn, to get to you. So then, we come to the part of Jik. He isn't really evil, Elspeth. He doesn't want to hurt anyone. But I had to make him bring Dragon here so you could follow her and know exactly where to go. But why would Jik do that?" He mockingly asked me, watching me closely for a reaction.
I stared at him unbelieving, the shock of his words making me numb to everything around me.
When I didn't give a response, he continued.
"The answer is Rosalind of course. When you believed Jik to be dead, I took him as a slave and he became very close to Rosalind. He didn't want anything bad to happen to her. So he had to help me."
Ariel laughed slightly, content and pleased with himself and his plan.
I felt sick to the stomach. I was completely disconnected to my body and anger took over me.
"Why?" I yelled with so much revulsion my body shook.
"Why did you do all this? So you could have me? If I am what you want, leave everyone else out of this. Let them go." I said weakly, angry tears welling in my eyes.
In a sudden movement, Ariel pulled me in so close to him that our faces were touching.
"It's not that easy, Elspeth. Now, this is what you are going to do for me. You come with me now and tell me everything you know about the before time machines, and I won't kill your friends." He said with a nonchalant air that infuriated me. This was all a game to him.
I gasped at the mention of before time machines and struggled against him, before he pushed me away.
A thousand thoughts ran through my mind. But one in particular stuck out.
"You're the destroyer." I whispered.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I am not the one you seek. Is it not your beast friends that call me H'ryakta?"
I shook my head in disbelief.
"If you're not the destroyer, why do you want me?"
Ariel walked to where my friends were tied, and kneeled down beside Ceirwan, tearing off the cloth that bound his mouth.
Ceirwan spluttered and spat before looking up at me and saying,
"I'm sorry Elspeth. Please, just leave! Run away! Dinna worry about us."
My heart sank, as I knew I was left with a choice. A choice I so desperately didn't want to make.
I stared at Ariel and a sudden thought occurred to me.
"Do you think it matters if you kill them?" I said dismissively.
"Nothing will get in the way of my quest. I will never tell you what I know."
Even to me, my voice sounded shaky and unbelievable.
Ariel turned his attention on me now. He raised one eyebrow mockingly.
"Let's test that theory shall we."
Ariel pulled out a small knife from his coat pocket and tightening his grip around the knife, lifted his hand in a motion to stab Ceirwan.
"Stop!" I yelled before Ariel was halfway through the action.
He smiled up at me.
"What's that?" he mocked.
"Stop, please. I'll tell you everything." I said defeated.
"Elspeth don't!" Ceirwan pleaded.
Ariel turned and stuffed the cloth back into Ceirwan's mouth. Turning back to me he whispered.
"I don't believe you."
I shivered, his tone cutting through me like ice.
His eyes flashed red and I could tell I had insulted him.
Before I could say a word, Ariel stabbed Ceirwan in the shoulder, and I watched in horror, disbelieving as Ceirwan cried out in pain, his scream muffled by the cloth in his mouth. He fell to the ground and lay motionless, the blow rendering him unconscious.
"No!" Matthew and I screamed in unison.
I ran over to Ariel, but Jik stopped me before I could reach him, his arms wrapping around me as I kicked and struggled against him, arms flailing. The knife Ariel had been holding slipped from his hand as a result of my unexpected reaction and I smiled maliciously to myself, proud that I had scared him just a little.
"Get off me!" I yelled over and over, trying in vain to escape from Jik's grips. I screamed incoherent babble and Ariel just laughed at me.
Matthew ran over to Ceirwan, and attempted to stop the bleeding, pushing his hand down on the wound.
"Stay awake Ceirwan. Ceirwan!" he yelled shaking him.
I sent out a probe and could feel Ceirwan's life pulse fading, but he was still alive.
Ariel walked over to me as I continued to kick and scream against Jik's hold.
He carried himself confidently, with relaxed strides that made my blood boil. When he reached me, he spoke close to my face, eyes boring into mine.
"Now, I want you to pay attention while you watch Ceirwan die slowly. Never lie to me, understand? Because I will know. So, now it's decision time. And for your friend's sakes I hope you choose wisely. Are you going to come with me?"
Determined not to look at Ariel, I watched as Matthew tried in vain to wake Ceirwan, and as Dragon watched on in tears.
I wanted to scream at Ariel that I would never help him, but I couldn't bear to watch him hurt anyone else I loved.
There was nothing else I could do.
"I'll come with you." I whispered, every word causing me pain.
"Good." Ariel whispered back.
Matthew's head snapped up as he heard me give in to Ariel.
Catching my eye, he shook his head slightly and mouthed the word "No."
I turned away, unable to gaze into his imploring eyes any longer, and came face to face with Ariel again.
Jik had loosened his grip a little and I broke free as Ariel came closer to me, opening his mouth to speak again.
His words flowed over me, as I switched off to everything around me.
Disheartened, I couldn't find any way to get out of this situation. I tried to clear my mind of all scattered thoughts and just think. Think of anything. I needed more time, anything to stall Ariel.
Then, I saw in the corner of my eye, Matthew staring fixedly at the back of Ariel's feet. It took me a moment before I realized what he was looking at. The knife Ariel had dropped after stabbing Ceirwan was lying mere inches away from him.
Holding my breath, I prayed Matthew would not do the heroic thing. But the other half of me prayed he would. It was as if he was our only hope.
Ariel began to talk again but I barely heard him, I was too focused on Matthew. Realizing I might give him away I stared up at Ariel, thinking desperately of something that would stall him. Anything to give us more time.
"Rushton would not lie to me. Is Rosalind his sister or not?" I asked, giving off the impression I needed to know more of how I came to be here.
Ariel smirked and continued to answer me as I watched Matthew crawl closer to the knife.
"Of course he thinks Rosalind is his sister, but his real sister died all those years ago…" he continued on, and I watched as he spoke, also watching Matthew in the corner of my eye. He was so close now.
Suddenly without warning, Jik yelled out and Ariel spun around to find Matthew at his feet.
Before I knew what was happening, Matthew closed his hand around the knife and went to stab at Ariel but missed and got his foot instead.
Ariel screamed out in pain and used his other foot to kick Matthew's hand and I yelled out as the knife went flying out of Matthew's hand and into Dragon's lap.
She screamed in shock, Ceirwan and Ariel's blood soaking her clothes. She held up her blood stained hands in front of her eyes as I yelled out to her.
"Dragon! Please…"
She looked up at me, eyes clouded with confusion.
Oh Lud please Dragon, please remember. I thought, panic stricken.
She hesitated for a split second before Matthew called out to her.
Shaking her head as if coming out of a trance, Dragon took the knife in her hands and slid it over to wear I was standing.
I bent down to pick it up and found myself face to face with Ariel, who was on the ground, nursing his foot.
I inched closer to him, as he slowly crawled away from me, leaving a trail of blood.
I was not letting him get away with this. I raised my hand high in the air but stopped suddenly when I heard a familiar voice.
"Elspeth!"
Startled, I whirled around to find Rushton at the entrance of the cave, followed by Kella and Brydda.
"Rushton?" I whispered, disbelieving, the knife sliding from my grips.
I was dreaming. This had to be a dream.
"How…? What are you doing here?"
Before I could be answered I heard a scrapping noise behind me and whirled around to find Ariel and the knife gone.
Searching the room frantically, I saw a quick glimpse of him dragging himself away out the back entrance to the cave. I was letting him get away.
"He can't get far." Brydda yelled before running off in the direction Ariel went.
"No!" I yelled and Brydda stopped in his tracks.
"He has the knife."
It didn't look like Brydda really cared if he had the knife or not but he stopped and whipped around to ask me, "Where's Matthew?"
I let out a scream of frustration when we found no trace of him.
I dropped to the ground, exhausted.
Matthew was gone.