Chapter Twenty-eight: The Final Talk
Callum, Rayla and Mira weren't far from Aviana, with Callum happily clad in his new feather capelet and Mira proudly wearing her new clothes, both of which offered additional warmth. In addition to that was a generous package of Kara's cloud cakes for the road, which she had been happy to see them off with after seeing how much Mira enjoyed them. The massive trees were left behind, giving way to more moderately sized trees and rocks. It was still early enough in the morning that shadows were long and the snow was thicker on the ground.
None of them really saw what happened. They could have sworn Aaravos appeared out of the shadow of a large, slanted tree. His eyes were trained on Callum the whole time. Their stomachs dropped, and Mira felt numb when Viren and Claudia followed from the same strange spot, their eyes blackened with dark magic. She backed up and Rayla made an attempt to shield her from sight.
Mira's mind was racing, flooding with fear. It…it was her, the one who had killed her mother. She immediately felt stupid; this had been the human's game all along, to deliver her to the dark mages to finish the job. She didn't know what the two elves were doing with them, but they were in on it. Mira pulled out her small, blunt sword and held it in shaky hands. Apart from the two women, she went totally ignored.
"Callum." Aaravos greeted with a grin.
"Aaravos." Callum returned, his voice dripping in disdain in a way that shook both Rayla and Claudia. Neither had ever heard him speak in such a tone before. Rayla's eyes locked with Claudia's when she saw the mage holding her swords. Well, at least now she knew where they were. All she needed to do was take them back.
"It's been a while, has it not?" he asked. Callum clinched his jaw as Rayla looked at him. Mira glared at him; she knew he was in on this.
"Callum, what's he talking about?" Rayla asked.
"It's nothing." He said, knowing that his answer made it sound so much worse than it was, but there wasn't time to explain. He'd tell her about it once they were all safe.
"Oh my, you haven't told her then?" Aaravos asked in mock surprise.
"There's nothing to tell." Callum replied. "There's nothing proving it's true and if even it is, it doesn't change anything."
"Oh, I'm hurt." Aaravos said, despite the sly grin and taunting tone. "My own heir, so unwilling to hear me out."
Rayla, who was still looking at Callum, looked shocked, but seeing Callum's frown deepen in defiance, she knew his words were true; whatever the other elf was talking about, it didn't matter to Callum. Viren and Claudia also looked like this was news to them. Viren would never have imagined that the elf from the mirror, his companion, was an ancestor to Sarai's older kid. Claudia would have had more time to think if the little elf girl hadn't started running. Claudia remembered her promise to kill the girl and she sprang forward with Rayla hot on her trail. Somehow, more than her desire for her swords back or even her own ill will towards Claudia, Rayla felt a serge of protectiveness over the child. It was the same drive she felt to protect Zym, but this somehow felt more personal to her. Possibly because the child wasn't a dragon, but a fellow elf, who like her once, also found herself alone without a home or family.
It was almost humorously easy for Rayla to overtake Claudia, intercepting the chase. Seconds later, Mira fell to the ground when she tripped over a tree root, and unlike the rock back in the meadow, this caused a sharp pain in her ankle. She was now unable to run, only watch the battle a few feet away. It was a fairly quick fight with Claudia aimlessly waving the swords around like an amateur and Rayla being too quick this time to succumb to her magic. It was practically child's play to jump behind her and deliver a quick kick to the center of her back, sending her down with the swords sprawling onto the ground. Rayla was relieved to finally regain her cherished swords; she certainly felt safer with them back in her custody. She folded and replaced one of her swords back into its sheath, keeping one out and walking over to Mira. She picked the child up with her free hand, securing her to her side and kept the sword in the other, glaring at Claudia as she moved to get up.
Mira was confused. Wasn't Rayla working with the humans and that weird elf? She supposed even if she was, there was no getting out of her grasp now, so she clung to the woman for dear life. Rayla and Claudia watched in startled fascination as the child seemed to fade away from sight. Rayla could still feel the child clinging to her and feel her small weight in her arm, she was simply invisible.
"A bit young to be using those camouflage abilities, aren't we, child?" Aaravos asked, acknowledging her for the first time; something neither Callum or Rayla liked. He gestured for Claudia to return to him and her father. He looked almost annoyed with her.
"Camouflage?" Rayla asked as Claudia moved back to them, now not taking her eyes off of Rayla, who replaced her last sword on her back.
"A simple defense measure for Earthblood elves." The older elf explained. "Really, though, things don't have to come to that." He turned back to Callum. "Callum, before dark magic, humans suffered and starved. They were gifted a way to survive, to complete with the elves and dragons, and were unjustly punished for it. Banished."
"That's not true." he protested, "The primal stones existed before dark magic. Humans weren't helpless, they got greedy. Dark magic is just an excuse to kill more powerful beings. It doesn't even have to be that way!" his voice grew outraged. "Dark magic can be done with things like hair or eggshells, even rocks. The dark mages didn't have to poach and kill magical creatures, but they chose to! That's what got us banished!"
Claudia listened intently. That certainly wasn't how the Startouch elf had described it. Her eyes flickered back to the Moonshadow elf and unbidden into her mind came a memory. Of a cute little braid that had served her well in a tracking spell. Now that she thought about it, taking the magic from it had been surprisingly underwhelming. Though she still believed in dark magic's necessity, she'd felt it for many years now; little something in her slipping away, further and further with each spell, and recovery times had begun to take longer and longer over the years. The braid had been different. The slightness of the feeling had almost been pleasant in comparison to some of her other spells. But one look at her father and Claudia knew not to bring it up. It...it was probably a fluke anyway.
"The weak exist to feed the strong, boy. It is nature's way." Aaravos said, wholly unimpressed with the reasoning. "Those who manage to ascend in the order are owed the privilege even beyond those who were born into it. There are thousands, if not millions of you humans and less than five thousand dragons. If every single one of you devoted yourselves to it, they could easily be whipped out in mere decades, if even that. Or…even raise a particularly powerful dragon." As he said this, his eyes drifted to the star dragon egg poking out of Callum's bag. Seeing this, Callum shielded it with his arm, pushing it partly behind himself in the process.
"Whatever you have against the dragons, it's not my fight." Callum told him. "They're not monsters, they're living creatures."
"And what about Thunder?" Viren asked, speaking for the first time. Callum's attention snapped to him. "He killed Sarai. Are you really saying he wasn't a monster?"
Silence. Callum couldn't say the Dragon King was someone whose death he mourned, but Viren, how…how dare he? His brow dropped into a deep scowl. Rayla looked warily at the anger. "Don't you dare talk about my mother!" he shouted. "You take her name out of your filthy mouth!"
"As long as the dragons and elves live, humans are in danger!" Viren said, a look of disgust on his face. "You've been given a great gift, Callum, and you squander it by aligning yourself with the enemy."
With every negative word from Viren's mouth, Callum's anger grew. He knew for a fact that it had ultimately been Viren's plan that had gotten his mother killed, and in the process started the whole debacle against the royal family. He'd actually known since he was little, maybe eight or nine, when his aunt had told him privately about the whole ordeal – it was why he wasn't terribly surprised at Viren's betrayal that night; other than how cold and unfriendly he had always been to Callum and Ezran, his aunt openly distrusted the man and had even tried in vain to convince Harrow that Viren wasn't to be trusted many times over the years.
"King Avizandum attacked because of your plan, Viren!" Callum accused.
"A threat is a threat." Viren persisted, ignoring the accusation entirely. "But we can overcome that threat if you'd just swallow your pride. If not, you'll be treated no differently than any Xadian. We'll slaughter you just as we will the rest."
Claudia looked stunned at her father. He…he'd never said anything about killing Callum. She would run down the General, Soren and even Ezran for her father's plan, but…Callum? How could she do it? Her stomach flipped in distaste when the elf grabbed his hand, which calmed him a little.
"Try me." He dared, which sent a chill though Rayla, Claudia and the still-yet-to-reappear Mira.
"Callum, do you realize the power you'll have? No other human has achieved what you have. You've only earned your right to rule over them." Aaravos said.
"Under you?" Callum's voice was untrusting.
"You've no reason to worry." Aaravos said. "I would never harm my own blood."
"That's not what I hear." Callum's voice was low. Aaravos's smirk disappeared. "I don't care what I am to you, I'll do whatever it takes to stop you, and you can forget about this egg."
Viren was about to say something but was stunned into silence by Aaravos's next words. "Very well. An orphaned dragonling is by no means an invisible creature, as I'm sure all present company is aware. All it means is that it will be another creature to be drained of its power, rather then assisting us in more direct manors. I am quite disappointed, Callum. I had hoped I could talk you out of this blind loyalty to the elves and dragons you feel, but it seems you are more like Aarush than I first thought. Such a shame to waste a fascinating specimen such as yourself. Oh well. That's fate, I suppose. Get your affairs in order, son. Your days are numbered."
Callum and Rayla watched and braced themselves as Aaravos drew an unfamiliar rune. "Umbra Intinerantur." A small pulse of energy encased him, Viren and Claudia. Nothing seemed to happen until they moved into the shadow from which they had come and seemed to disappear, Aaravos staying back to keep eye contact with Callum until the last instant before he vanished.
Callum approached the crooked tree and placed his hand on it, half-expecting some sort of portal like the Mirror of Aaravos had been. There was only cold, rough bark to meet his hand harmlessly. He looked at Rayla, seeing that Mira was coming back into view. Rayla was now trying to calm her; she was crying softly and hugging the other elf close. Callum's heart sank when he went over to them and Mira's grip on Rayla tightened, as though she would protect her from the human.
"Callum," Rayla said, seriously. "we need to talk."
"We're going home now." Amaya's signing with so rapid and rigid that Gren almost struggled to translate it. Ezran looked at her with defiance. "We sent a message to Tiadrin last night. Do you have any idea how worried she must be?"
"No, we're not!" He said. "Viren and Claudia are still out there!"
"Ezran, you're not in charge anymore." Gren translated. Amaya took a deep breath and her face softened. Her signs, much to Gren's relief, calmed down and became more legible. "Ezran, you're all I have left. Can you imagine what it would have been like for me to come home and find you gone?"
"What about me?" he countered, tears in his eyes. "You're the only family I have left! What would happened to me if they killed you?"
Amaya stared for a moment and all was silent. She looked him in the eye and signed; "I'm taking you and home, and you're grounded for running away. The others will stay out here to keep looking for Viren and Claudia." Amaya looked at Soren. "Soren, you're in charge of this mission now. Apparently, Ezran can't be trusted by himself; he, Gren and I are going home."
Soren nodded with determination. He wanted to go home with them, honestly, but as long as Viren and Claudia had Callum and Rayla's blood on their hands, he couldn't go home. It was only right that he do anything he could to avenge them or at the very least he could somehow recover Rayla's swords from Claudia. A loud scream interrupted these proceedings, getting everyone's attention. Ezran and Kiara were pulled up onto Lain and Soren's horses and they rode to see what it was.
Amer and Sirus were livid, Amer being the one that had shouted his rage to the sky. They knew full well that Kiara had released their prisoner in the night. Unlike with Rayla, Sirus had no delusions about Kiara being soft. He knew that when she had chosen to pursue the life of a lowly cook, rather than an esteemed assassin.
It didn't take long for the horses to reach them, barreling out of the trees as abruptly as the night before to Ezran and Kiara. The two angry elves were surrounded by horses and humans. Amaya was quick to zero in on Amer, who returned her look of absolute hatred. When Amer entered his heat-being mode, the snow around him melted away and the cold air around him began to tremble with the sudden heat.
Amaya leapt off of her horse, her shield in hand, with which she blocked Amer's charge and threw him to the side. The snow melted immediately when he fell into it, creating mud. Lain, being invisible to him, was able to make quick work of Sirus, activating his polearm's whip form and wrapping it around him. Soren was quick to bind his arms with chains so Lain could release him, then he handed the Moonshadow elf off to Gren to keep an eye on while they assisted Amaya. Sirus sent a murderous look to Kiara, who returned a look of annoyance.
Amer's erratic attacks weren't like his sister's more calculated and conservative movements. A wise warrior treated battle like a run; if you went out of the gate with all of your energy, you'd deplete it quickly and render yourself helpless in no time. Amaya briefly questioned how he had gotten onto the Dragonguard at all if he was making such rookie mistakes. Of course, there was always the possibility that he wasn't all there. He had spent the better part of two years on his own, and Amaya preferred not to think about the things that could do to one's mind.
Amer went down when Lain swept his now sturdy polearm under his legs and tripped him, sending him to the ground once more. Amaya decided to just deal with the burns when she grabbed Amer by the smoldering shirt and punched him with enough force to knock him out. Amer fell into the now boiling mud, unconscious. His heat-being mode was finally calming down and in seconds he was as they were familiar with him. Amaya ignored her blistering fingers as she bound this sorry excuse for a warrior up.
Mira was sitting a short was away from the couple, watching them. Rayla had had that evil woman on the end of her sword and had protected her. She clearly did mean to protect Mira, but than why was she with that human? Why was she allowing him to stay rather than force him to go with his kind? And most importantly, why was Rayla currently laying in the human's arms, allowing him to whisper to her and hold her? Grown ups were weird. Mira continued to watch them. If the human tried anything, she wanted to be able to return the favor by protecting Rayla from him.
"I'm sorry I didn't say anything to you." Callum said. He was leaning against a tree, with Rayla in his lap, half laying on his chest, with his arms locked firmly around her. "I…I didn't even know how to feel myself."
"You seemed pretty sure a few minutes ago." Her tone of voice was gentle; not really sad, just quiet. "Callum? What was that?" Callum gave her a questioning hum. "I've never seen you that angry before."
"I don't know where that came from." Callum told her, and it was true. Viren had spoken of his mother in the past and it had never gotten him that angry. Angry enough to contemplate…Callum's eyes went to Mira, who was sitting a foot or two away from the two, and they locked gazes for a moment. She distrusted him as much as ever. He could imagine she would become downright terrified of him if he had done anything drastic. He looked back to Rayla and buried his nose in her hair. "I'm sorry if I scared you."
She answered him by pulling away from him, placing a hand on his cheek and kissing him deeply. The kiss held a message; all was forgiven. Despite the warmth spell, Callum felt cold when she left his arms and got up. Callum rose to his feet as she walked over to and picked up Mira.
"Come on, we need to keep going." Rayla said, and she and Callum continued on the path. They said nothing, but they were both thinking about it and they shared the same conclusion; whatever had happened to Callum had shaken both of them.
Author's Notes: "Umbra Intinerantur" is Latin for 'Shadow Travel'. It's from one of my favorite book series', Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Totally recommend. Back on topic, is Amer going totally insane, or is he just a grumpy boy who needs a time-out? And speaking of going insane, Callum has begun trudging a slippery slope. Oooh! Review.