A/N: Wow, two chapters in a day! I'm giving you this chapter as another part of my apology to my reviewers to make you wait that long. This is a very action-packed chapter, and we finally figure out who is behind all the deaths in the Rogue. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Only the things you don't recognize belong to me.
A Whole New World: Chapter 8
Yasmin slowly came back to consciousness, her green eyes fluttering open in confusion. The last thing she remembered was Kiyo's screech and heat, blinding heat…She blinked again, trying to figure out was going on.
Looking around, her mind sharpened as her thief instincts slowly let her realize that something was wrong. The first thing wrong was that she was in a large stone room, with a high ceiling made out of stone, dripping with water. From the erosion on the stones and the water around her, Yasmin would guess that she was somewhere in one of the large stone crypts that lay underneath the city of Corus. The second thing wrong was that it was hot, unnaturally so, judging by the small pools of water.
There was little light, but what the girl could see did not give her much hope. She was chained to a stone pillar, her bonds tight. Darkness was all around her, but a few feet away was Nara, chained to a similar pillar and out cold. Stretching to see what she could find, Yasmin froze as her foot connected with something hard.
Peering into the gloom, she gasped as she saw a small cage, and a pair of familiar amber eyes glaring out at her: Kiyo was in falcon form, and stuffed in a cage too small for him. Tears immediately welled up at the sight of her friend's plight, and Yasmin shook them away.
Looking around with renewed purpose, the girl's heart leapt as she saw two more familiar figures, also bound to stone pillars.
"Da! Sprout!" She called out desperately, her voice sounding small and lost in the dark space. At her voice, Nara jerked awake, her blue-black eyes sharpening immediately as she took in her surroundings. What followed was a long string of curse words, and momentarily distracted, Yasmin stared at her mother in shock.
Kiyo's voice sounded in her mind, strained but still amused. Well, that was interesting.
All three aware captives stiffened as a familiar voice issued from the shadows. "Ah, you're awake."
Yasmin stared in horror and disbelief as Gavin sauntered out of the shadows around them, looking refreshed and not even sweating from the heat. Her green eyes wide, she cursed herself mentally for not seeing this coming, but she had been blinded by her affection for him.
Nara took one look at Gavin and let out a long string of curse words. "You," she spat, glaring as her blue-black eyes flashed dangerously. Yasmin glared as well, twisting her hands in her bonds, desperately wanting to be free. Kiyo screeched in anger, his beak flashing murderously. Somehow, he had managed to escape his cage, and with a cry of anger, he flew towards Gavin, intent on protecting the two women.
Gavin watched the falcon approach coolly, calmly lifting a hand that glittered with a strange red glow. He threw the ball of light at the falcon, and with a desperate screech, Kiyo fell to the stone below, stunned.
"No!" The cry was torn from Yasmin's throat without warning, and tears welled up. She stared in shock at Kiyo, who laid there as if he had been turned to stone, his expressive amber eyes dark and lifeless. Nudging the stunned bird away with his foot, Gavin turned attention to his two aware captives, grinning cruelly.
"What do you want with us?" Nara asked, seeing as Yasmin was in too much of a state of shock to do much. The girl stared at the stunned bird, tears running down her face and making her green eyes gleam in the darkness.
"It's not what I want with you," Gavin retorted. "My employer wants something with you."
Nara glared, but she was trembling with fear; it was one thing to deal with a jumped-up noble, which she knew how to do, but it was another thing to deal with an unknown enemy. She cast a desperate glance at her husband and son, but they were still unconscious, and so, once again, she was on her own.
Yasmin suddenly looked up, ignoring the tears that wet her face. "Who's your employer?" She rasped, glaring at the man she had once loved.
In answer, the sound of crackling flames arose from the darkness corner of the room, and a light began to grow. "Let me deal with them," came a fiery voice from the shadows. "I have brought them here, let me have their lives for my own."
Gavin turned to the voice and bowed, drawing back into the shadows and letting their true captor come to the light.
Yasmin stared. The creature in front of her was comprised mostly of flames, but the round face was mostly human, with blood red eyes that reflected the hunger of a forest fire. His clothes—if you could call them that—were charred and burned black, hanging off of his thin frame like soot clings to the remains of a fire. The heat became almost unbearable, and Yasmin flinched away from the flames that seemed to reach for her.
Nara watched in fear, unable to do anything if this thing decided to hurt her daughter. Growling in frustration, she burst out, "What do you want with us?"
The tendril of flame stopped inches before Yasmin face and retreated, pulled back into the creature. The creature turned to Nara, his blood red eyes gleaming with hunger and insanity.
"You are Rogue," he rasped, his voice sounding like the crackling of flames the way Amadahy's sounded of water. "I hate the Rogue."
"Why us?" Nara persisted, intent on distracting this creature for as long as she could.
"I hate all Rogue," the creature disclosed, "since my father was one. He abandoned my mother and I after he saw that I was half-Elemental, and I have waited this long to take revenge." He spat, the flames flaring with his temper as his red eyes became crazier.
"I had to kill the Rogue," he muttered to himself feverishly, now ignoring the two women, "and you two were told to me in a prophecy. In order to rule Corus, I must destroy you. And all will bow to the rule of Hakan!" His insane laughter rang out on the stone, and Nara and Yasmin flinched.
A huge, insane smile curled on his face, and he turned to Nara, the blood red eyes gleaming. "Would you like to hear the prophecy?" He didn't wait for their answer; he merely launched into a low chant that grew into it filled the dark cave with a menacing mood that made Yasmin's throat catch as she listened.
There is one of fire and stone
Who will come to overthrow
Corus he will rule, and flame will cover the city
But beware,
Of the one with the heart of ice and stone
And the one where flowers grow
They will conquer you
And force you underground
With the help of the sea,
They will send you to your watery grave
Beware of one with silver and blue
For she has knowledge of fire and stone
Only then will the shadow and the sprout
Be rescued from the flame
So beware, fire
Beware of the water.
As soon as the last words died away, Nara and Yasmin exchanged glances. Water? How would water defeat this monster that had killed so many of their friends and threatened to kill them? Hakan had sunk back into the shadows, still chanting the prophecy to himself under his breath, his red eyes glittering in the darkness.
Yasmin tried to puzzle out the prophecy. She knew her mother was the "one with the heart of ice," her mother's thief name was Lady Ice. She must be the "one where flowers grow," her enjoyment of flowers and her family nickname made it so. But who was water? Where was this sea that the prophecy spoke of?
A sudden mist appeared, swirling around Yasmin and giving her strength. Her mind clicked just as Amadahy appeared in the mist, looking more murderous than her friend had ever seen her and clothed in a sparkling light blue dress that clung to her figure and seemed to emanate water.
"Hakan, this ends now." She announced to the shadows, and the sound of crackling flames increased as the fire half-Elemental slid out of the darkness. As his crazed eyes lit on Amadahy, he seemed to become a bit more lucid.
"Ah, cousin," he purred menacingly, "have you come to defeat me?"
Amadahy's eyes changed from blue to the darkest blue ever seen, and the atmosphere of the room changed from blinding heat to the dampness of water.
"Let them go, Hakan." She warned, "This is between you and me, not them."
"Never." The other spat, his flames flaring as he eyed her. "You'll have to kill me first!"
The water Elemental sighed, her blue eyes showing the heaviness of this decision. "So be it."
Calling out something in a guttural language, Amadahy kept her eyes glued on the other Elemental as the stones groaned, answering her call. Yasmin glanced at the ceiling, fear coursing through her, and then realized that her bonds had been removed. Shooting a grateful glance at Amadahy, she lunged forward, scooping the stunned Kiyo and cradling his still-warm body to her, smoothing his feathers.
Freed, Nara darted forward, heading for her husband and son, who were just beginning to come around. Wrapping her arms around her husband, Nara checked him over for injuries before turning to Sprout. Gavin was no longer a threat; he was mesmerized by the Elementals' fight.
Water rushed from all corners of the cavern, and Amadahy kept her blue eyes glued on Hakan as she raised her hands. Water gushed from the ceiling, and Yasmin flinched, wondering if she was going to drown. Feeling no water hit her, she glanced up in confusion. The water stopped about three feet above her and then coursed around on all sides. She seemed to be enclosed in a circular bubble, and glancing over, she saw that her other family members were also safe, enclosed in another protective circle.
The water rushed around them, and Hakan cursed wildly, once again insane as his flames shot out to engulf anything not protected, including Gavin. Yasmin flinched away as she saw him begin to be engulfed in flames; she would hear his screams for years afterwards in her dreams.
More water rushed in, never seeming to end, and Yasmin looked at her friend. Amadahy was obviously getting tired, and her ivory skin was glowing white in the semi-darkness as she struggled to kill her foe and protect her friends at the same time.
With one final scream of defiance, Hakan gave up, and his flames were quickly entingushed, but then burst to life in a fiery pillar that rose to the ceiling. Amadahy stared, grim-faced, as the water rose to met the pillar, overpowering it. She swayed, faint, and then collapsed, her barriers collapsing with her.
Cool water hit Yasmin, and as peaceful blackness enveloped her for the second time, she wondered how they would ever get out alive.
A/N: And that's that! I hope you all liked it, and unfortunately, this is the second to last chapter. Next chapter is the last, but there will be an epilogue, I promise! Please review and tell me what you think!