Chapter Twenty-two: The Taste Of Blood
"Are you sure?" Rayla asked.
It had been a month since Callum had connected to the sun arcanum and he had spent day after day getting acquainted with the spells in the book, as he had with the moon arcanum. But again, he preferred learning from a mentor. He had finished the book last night.
"Yes." Callum said. "I can learn the more advance spells later. The priority is to connect to the arcanums and learn the basic spells as fast as possible. Who knows how many primal sources Aaravos has now?"
"I guess that's true." she shrugged, "So, which one is next?"
"Probably earth." Callum said, "Didn't you say that star magic is the hardest to understand?"
Rayla now felt nervous. If he meant to save the star arcanum for last, that would mean that after earth would be the ocean arcanum. That wouldn't be fun, but she steeled herself; she couldn't lie to him. "Yes. Star dragons have been gone for millenniums and Startouch elves are hard to come by. We're actually incredibly lucky to have met two."
Callum picked up on her discomfort and drew her to him for a kiss. His holding her and her snuggling up to him had the benefit of creating warmth as well; being mid-autumn, it was a chilly morning. Trees were barren, wind rushed from place to place in icy gusts, and nights now held the possibility of yielding a frost. "Hey, I'll be there. I'll keep you safe." He pulled away for a moment to draw a rune, then spoke: "Calore Ignis."
The air seemed to take on an orangish tint for a moment as the two were encased in warmth, as though they had suddenly come to a roaring fire. Rayla laughed as she again found her way into Callum's arms, now more for the comfort and security than warmth. "Pretty smart move to learn some sun magic before it starts really getting cold."
"Hey, I can get a good idea from time to time." He quipped. Despite the warmth of the spell, they continued to snuggle. Had Callum and Rayla not been so occupied with each other, they probably would have heard the footsteps creeping up from behind them.
It was a late morning in Novus. Ezran had stalled in bed under his warm covers for as long as his aunt allowed him, though she eventually had to drag him out of bed. Or rather, drag his blanket, which he clung to, out of his room before he finally relented and got up, leaving his nice, toasty bed for this chilly day. This seemed to be the case with many other residences in the village as well, everyone scurrying from place to place to escape the chill. At least days like this tended to warm up.
Ezran and Ellis tended to find company in each other more and more in the past weeks, especially after Soren began spending time with Zephyr. He was grateful for the company, with Callum and Rayla also gone. Today, though, she didn't seem to be out for whatever reason; Ellis and the others from her former village seemed to adore this weather, which was just a bit nippy and not freezing. He supposed year-round snow would do that to a person's worldview.
A grunt got his attention and he saw a gathering for four familiar adults, some of the few people tolerating the weather. His aunt Amaya, Gren, Lain and Tiadrin. The surprised noise had come from Tiadrin, who Amaya was currently lifting off the ground in a tight hug. Lain looked nervous at this. This in itself was odd, as Amaya had seemed a bit down since their rescue and never seemed overly fond them them. She wasn't hostile by any means, her eyes just took on this weird, almost pained look when they were around. Ezran and Ellis had speculated that this had something to do with Rayla, in spite of the fact that his aunt had never been one for jealousy. Curious, Ezran headed over.
"What's going on?" he asked.
Amaya set the other woman down to then be carefully cradled by her husband, and she signed to him. Ezran knew some sign langue but wasn't as fluent as his brother. He did, however, pick up the word 'baby'. The boy's face split into a wide smile.
"We certainly weren't expecting it so soon." Tiadrin said, playfully trying to wriggle out of Lain's protective grasp. Having lost his worried look, he now smiled as he buried his nose into her hair. "All of my life, I thought I couldn't have children; Rayla was a big surprise for us."
Amaya signed and Gren promptly translated, both with proud smiles on their faces: "Congratulations you two. I know the baby will be strong. Have you found a place of your own yet?"
"We have, not far from the square." Lain said. When he caught a look from his wife that looked as though she had won an argument earlier that he was now obliged to honor, he carried on. "On the subject of employment, I don't suppose you have room for a Moonshadow elf on your guard?"
Amaya had to smirk at this. Not three years ago, she thought that Moonshadow elves were the worst kind of elf: sneaky, twisted and the mere mention of them sent her body temperature rising in anger. Now here she was, almost eager to have a being of such skill and intelligence in her ranks. The Dragon Queen herself sang the praises of these two, no doubt they would truly be valuable to her guard.
"I'd be honored, Lain." Amaya signed, Gren translating. With that, she turned to Tiadrin. "Tiadrin, you're welcome, too, once the baby is old enough to be left alone, of course."
Lain felt a bit nervous when the soldiers lead him away, presumably to get acquainted with the rest of their troop, leaving his wife alone with the younger nephew of the general. Ezran, meanwhile, was no longer feeling lonely or bored, now occupying himself with thoughts of the new baby. Now he couldn't wait for Callum and Rayla to come back for another reason.
"CALLUM!" The screaming of his name was the last thing he heard before the rushing of blood filled his ears. There was a stabbing pain in his left arm, robbing him of conscious thought.
Rayla's eyes were wide with rage as she stood up and saw the culprits; Sirus, Kiara and Latus were looking defiantly at her. In Latus's still raised hand was a bow. There was an arrow embedded in Callum's arm. Rayla unsheathed her swords, her jaw clinched.
"What did you do?" She demanded, furiously.
"Letting nature takes it's course, my love." Sirus smiled at Rayla. She was too angry to even be disgusted at his words. "Humans are, always have been and always will be lesser beings, magic or no magic. Those who take life lightly will lose it lightly."
"That's not a saying." Kiara whispered to Latus, who himself was still focused on Callum but spared her a curtesy glance while she spoke.
"Your human brought back Aaravos, Rayla. Aaravos!" Sirus yelled. "Do you even remember the history? Or even those old kiddie stories?"
"We don't know how Aaravos came back, but Callum didn't have anything to do with it." Rayla defended. Latus began fitting his bow with another arrow.
Callum glared at Sirus and the others. He...he was a mage. Not just any mage, but a human mage who had connected to three arcanums so far. The son of soldiers and nephew of a general. Raised as royalty. He couldn't go out like this. Certainly, not to one measly arrow. Callum struggled and forced himself to his feet, drew a rune, and sent a blast of Fulminous toward Sirus who jumped out of the way with the swiftness common to the Moonshadow elves. In the same moment, Rayla sprang to Latus, swords at his throat. The arrow flew from the bow into the sky, the bow itself now on the ground. Callum, Sirus and Kiara watched, fixed to their spots. Rayla's hand trembled violently, making her swords cling together every so often.
"You wouldn't." Kiara's voice trembled. She looked very scared.
"You'd kill your own kind, your friend, for a human?" Sirus asked. In Callum's opinion it was far too cocky a tone for this situation.
"For him, I would." Rayla told him, though she didn't break eye contact with Latus, who's look was defiant as if he were daring her to do it.
"You won't do it." Latus said. "You're too soft to kill. Runaan is a true example of everything we Moonshadow elves should aspire to be save for one thing – he's an awful judge of character. You don't have the strength for bloodshed, Rayla, but you are a smart one. Brainwashed as you are by them, you know your choices are wrong."
"Shut up!" she shouted, tears welling in her eyes. The words were making Callum angry, too, though he didn't share the amazement of the elves. It was the longest speech any of them had ever heard from Latus in their lives; he usually only spoke when spoken to and even then it would just be one or two words. When Kiara made began to run to them, Rayla's blades closed on his neck.
The two young women looked at each other with fear as he fell to the ground. Rayla straightened herself up and backed away half in a daze, feeling all stunned eyes on her. She barely registered Callum rushing – or trying to rush – to her side. Kiara, tears in her eyes, grabbed Latus's body when Rayla was far enough away, and dragged him away. Sirus was now alone and watching them as though he were trying to work out some impossible puzzle.
"He can't possibly he worth it." Sirus said lowly, though his voice was still unbelieving.
"He's worth ten of you." Rayla returned, leaning into Callum has he held her close with his good arm. Callum wasn't looking pleased with him, either. Rayla raised one of her swords to point at him, though her threat was lessened by the tremble in her voice. "Leave or join Latus in the the afterlife." Sirus had the good sense to back up though he continued to taunt her.
"You've killed one of our own for your human." he said, his eyes darkening with hatred. For a moment, Rayla entertained the thought that maybe this meant he'd finally stop trying to 'save' her from Callum. At least that would be something good to come from this mess. "You're far beyond redemption and are a traitor to Xadia. We will see you and all of your kind dead." Finally, he turned around and caught up to Kiara, assisting her with the body. They headed east.
The adrenaline finally wearing off, a wave of pain and exhaustion overwhelmed Callum and he became a dead weight. Rayla dropped her swords to grab onto him and lower him onto the ground softly. They lay forgotten on the ground. For the second time, they were covered with a sticky, red substance, and this time is wasn't berry juice. Callum began breathing hard and, once more, the pain consumed him until he couldn't take it anymore and the world went dark.
Rayla would have loved to find some kind of cover, but there was nothing close by; Sirus and Kiara were still visible as they fled with Latus's body. Rayla was annoyed but resigned herself to the risk. At times like this, she was glad for her hardy upbringing under Runaan. If she hadn't been trained to switch off her emotions in these situations, she would have been panicking right now. Another benefit of her education was that she had received basic first-aid training; all assassins did to have their bases covered. Not to say she could save someone from the brink of death or cure some terrible illness, but she knew enough to deal with a simple arrow wound. First and foremost, she had to fight the urge to remove the arrow at once, until she had prepared another method of stopping the bleeding. As Rayla retrieved a small first-aid kit from the bag, she silently thanked the stars for General Amaya and her overbearing ways.
Soren could honestly say he hadn't been so happy in a long time. Zephyr had quickly decided that she would absolutely be staying in Novus, and he had found that she was not only beautiful, but surprisingly easy to talk to. Even talking about Viren and Claudia didn't seem to carry the sting it usually did, so that was what today's talk was about.
"It's awful that your father treated you like that." She said, looking at him with sympathy. They were lounging beneath a birtch half-a-mile outside the village, enjoying the way the day was warming up.
"Yeah, well, it's over now." Soren dismissed. "And at least he did help me figure out something important."
"Which is?" she pressed, and he gave her a small smile. Somehow, this produced in Zephyr a heat in her cheeks that was familiar to her, but it was strange that it was happening so fast. When Soren answered, his voice was one of sincerity and drive.
"If I ever have kids, I'm not going to do what he did. I'll be a better father then he ever was because my kids will be loved and protected. So what if one isn't as smart or talented as the others, they'll…they'll still be mine. And I'll die before I'd let anything happen to any of them."
Soren went silent when Zephyr hugged him. It wasn't until then that he realized he had started crying. The last time he'd cried, he'd been maybe ten or eleven. He couldn't even remember what it was about, but his father had scolded him for it, telling him he was much too old to cry and to be a man. Soren returned the hug, his arms shaking until they wrapped around her. "I know you'd be a good dad, just because you see that Viren was wrong about how he treated you and your sister. It's okay now, you're not with them anymore."
His heart going crazy, Soren somehow managed to keep calm with a small smile. He tightened his hold on the elf and buried his nose on her hair. For comfort. He wasn't being a creep. "Thanks, Zephyr."
Sirus and Kiara had made it back to the Moonshadow Forest as the sun was setting. Familiar territory notwithstanding, they needed to get going after taking care of business. The grave they dug was crude and shallow – they had lost too many of their group to be so meticulous about losses now, even if Kiara did it all while crying. Sirus, meanwhile, had been hardened by this experience. Finally, Rayla had been driven to kill, over a filthy human.
"My condolences." A voice made the two jump. Out from behind a tree came a Sunfire elf, who looked like he'd been wandering Xadia for years. Sirus and Kiara jumped away, surprised and angry. Certain races of elves often seemed simply unable to get along, among these were the Sunfire and Moonshadow elves. Sunfire elves were foolish, Moonshadow elves were paranoid. Rayla had found herself being welcome, or at the very least tolerated, by the Sunfire elves she knew only out of familiarity. Kiara or Sirus held no such relationship to a Sunfire elf.
"Why are you here, Sunfire elf?" Sirus demanded. "This is Moonshadow territory."
"Calm down." he said. "We don't need to fight when we're after the same thing." When Sirus and Kiara looked confused, the Sunfire elf looked out at the field that the two had come from. Rayla and the human were a pair of small dots near the horizon. "Humans have no place in Xadia. Certainly, no place among us elves. That one out there, he's the cause of all of this, their unnatural attraction provoked Sol Regem to destroy a human kingdom, and the Dragon Queen foolishly allowed the survivors to come here."
"Rayla wouldn't –" Kiara started but Sirus interrupted.
"Rayla wouldn't kill one of her friends for some human." he said. "The Rayla we knew is dead."
"Probably." the Sunfire elf said. "What I'm trying to do is get rid of them. Can I count on you?"
"There's no other choice." Sirus said. "We used to be ten, now we're down to two. There's nothing left to lose. I'm Sirus, this is Kiara. Is there anywhere we can get our numbers up?"
"There are rumors of a place in that mountain range a couple of days away." The stranger said and grinned, a hint of derangement shimmering in his eyes. "I'm Prince Amer."
Author's Notes: Sorry if this is a might late, I've been editing things and brainstorming many an idea. How about you go back through and see what's changed? Now that the boring stuff is done, onward! Carole Ignis is Latin for "Warmth of the fire". Review.