Hellaine: New Companion
Part 1: Lapis Lazuli
Disclaimer: I do not, under any circumstances, own Deltora Quest or any characters from the series.
Rated: T
A/N: I do own Hellaine and her past.
Summary: Lief, Barda and Jasmine meet the mysterious Jordan of the Sands, a fighter that hails from the stony wall around the Shifting Sands. Who is she? What does she want with the Games?
Jordan
Hellaine woke the companions up at dawn the next morning and started breakfast as Jasmine checked over their wounds. Barda and Lief, having nothing else to do, looked at the various items around the cottage. It was Hellaine's own sword that caught their attention the longest. The leather of the sheath and grip was a soft dark red leather that fitted to their hands when they held it. The cross guard and pommel of the hilt were antique gold with a Celtic knot engraved into the bronze of the pommel on both sides. The sheath was locket and chape of the sheath matched the hilt, with the Celtic knot gently etched into the locket. The blade itself was pristine silver, freshly sharpened. Words were engraved in the metal in a language neither of the men recognized.
"Jordan, what does it say on your sword?" Lief asked.
Hellaine took the blade from the sheath and smiled as she read the words. "Life without love is no life at all. It was a favorite saying of my aunt's."
"You have a beautiful blade," Barda commented as she replaced the blade. "Who is the smith?"
"I made it myself many years ago."
"You made it?" Lief asked. "Your father let you make your own sword?"
"He was there to supervise and help me when I could complete a step, but I was the smith who created this sword for myself. I etched the words into my sword, engraved the Celtic knots into the bronze. My father created my sheath for me."
"You really care about your father." Lief noticed.
"I did, once upon a time," she sighed.
"What do you mean?"
"I haven't seen my father in years." She replied.
"Oh," Barda replied. "Was it the war?"
"Yeah, it is always the war." She sighed.
"What is the language you used on your sword?" Jasmine wondered, running her fingers over the engravings.
"An ancient language my aunt made me study." Hellaine replied.
"Did you make your bow and quiver too?" Lief asked.
"No, those my father gave me. I fashioned my sword in their image."
"Where did you get the leather? It is high end leather."
"Toran territory when I was younger."
"How old are you?" Lief asked.
"I am twenty-eight." She replied serving their breakfast out.
"Jordan, do you want your knife back?" Lief suddenly asked, remembering the dagger at his back.
"Yeah, thanks." She replied taking the dagger, a small version of her sword.
"Did you make that too?" Lief asked.
"No, my father made this, a match to my sword." She replied. "Thank you for taking such good care of it."
Lief nodded, truly understanding the trust she had in this quest.
The group ate breakfast in silence. Hellaine finished first and began to clean the cabin as the other finished.
"Why are you cleaning?" Jasmine asked. "The cabin is already spotless."
"Just a few last minute things." She replied as the trip finished eating.
"Anything we can do?" Lief asked.
"No, I just finished." She said. "Ready to go?"
They all nodded, strapped their weapons on and shouldered their packs.
Hellaine led the companions across the longwide ledges of the mountain around the Shifting Sands. If they looked down they would either see the vast woods of the land around Rithmere or they would see the forbidding dunes of the Shifting Sands. Neither was more pleasant than the other. Both promised danger and risk, but only one had something they needed, making their choice easy.
All too soon, they came upon the entrance to the sands. Hellaine stopped them at the weathered stone that stood before the trail down into the dunes.
"This is the entrance." Hellaine stated, running her hand along the letters etched on the stone. "I warn you. The Sands are dangerous, it kills and destroys. It knows only prize, food, enemy. It is this which makes it most dangerous, for it does not live, so it does not feel."
The companions shivered at the words. She spoke of something alive, no matter the words.
"How do you know what is says?" Lief asked looking at the stone.
TH S I TI G SA S
DA GLR!
Dea h sw ms wi in its roc y wall
w ere all a e one, o e will ules ll
be ow th de d the liv ng strive
with mindle s will to s v ive
"I don't know the exact wording, but it says something along the lines of 'The Shifting Sands. Danger!' The smaller writing is little more tricky, is there a sketch in my notes?" She asked Jasmine.
"Right here, there are letters filled in," Lief said handing Hellaine the paper.
"Death swarms within its rocky wall," Barda began. "Where all are one, one will rules all."
Lief followed Barda's thoughts and shook his head in defeat. "The last two lines are more worn than the others. They seem to say something like 'Be now the dead...'"
"Below," Hellaine corrected. "'Below the dead, the living strive."
"What about the last line?' Jasmine asked.
"I never worked it out. I worked out 'With mindless will to...' but then I couldn't make out the last words."
"How about survive?" Lief suggested. "With mindless will to survive."
"No, if you look closely, the letters worn away are more than one word." Hellaine sighed.
"Whatever it says, we know that the Shifting Sands are not going to be pleasant," said Barda dryly. "But we knew that, I think."
"The Sands are not for the weak," Hellaine told them. "Even I only ventured so far in. I have never gotten far enough away that I lost sight of the rocks. There is a whole lot of land I haven't covered, land I have never seen."
"Are we ready?" Lief asked nervously.
"If we stay here much longer, we might as well put up a sign telling those grey guards where we are," Hellaine said. "Come on, I'll lead."
The companions let Hellaine through, glad to have her go first down the rocky wall. No one looked down as they scaled the wall. No one wanted to see the sand coming up to meet their feet. It seemed like days before they heard the light thump that signaled Hellaine had reached the ground and that soon, they would too.
Lief was the first to hit the ground. His feet sunk into the sand, but a gentle pull brought the sand falling from his boots. He took a deep breath and turned around.
Sand. Nothing at all but deep, dry sand. As far as the eye could see, high red dunes rolled away under a low, brooding ceiling of murky yellow cloud. There was no sign of any living thing, but a low droning sound filled the place, as though the very air was alive.
Two more thumps signaled that jasmine and Barda has reached the ground, two gasps in unison told Lief they too had turned around.
A feeling of dread settled over Lief – a feeling as strong and real as any taste or smell.
I have been here before.
This was the place he had seen in his vision of the future the opal had given him on the Plain of the Rats. A vision of sandy wastes, of lowering, clouded skies. He had seen himself, alone, among rippling dunes that had no ending, a voice, unfamiliar until now, breaking through the steady droning. He'd felt terror lurking, unseen, as he did now, looking over the sands. The terror that had haunted his dreams was about to become reality. When? In an hour? A day? A week?
Through his fear, he heard the voice from his vision. "Hold tight to your valuables. I have lost items here before. Arrows, coins and little things." Hellaine warned everyone securing her weapons. She removed her bag and placed all her daggers and small bags inside where they would be secure.
"It is impossible," Jasmine said as she secured her own purse. "If the gm is hidden here, we will never find it."
"The belt will grow warm when the gem is near," Barda reminded her.
"Well that is convenient." Hellaine commented.
"We will mark the sand into sections and search it, section by section."
"Too long," Hellaine said.
"This gem is like the others. It has a terrible Guardian," Lief said, trying to keep his voice steady. "And the Guardian is already aware of us. I feel it."
"I believe if move to the center, you will find what we seek." Hellaine said. "All my research indicates, something lives there in the center.
Lief began to climb the first dune. His feet sank deeply into the rippled sand, making every step and effort. Hellaine followed him quietly, holding tight to her pack.
"Lief!" Jasmine cried. "Her voice penetrated the silence, but he did not stop.
"We have to keep moving," Hellaine said. "The guards will be on our tails, even here."
"The Guardian is very near," Lief said. "We will not have to search for it. It will find us."
In a very short time they were surrounded by high dunes and had lost sight of the rocks, but their trail showed clearly behind them, so they were not afraid of becoming lost.
They had discovered the dune were not as devoid of life as they had first thought. Red flies crawled from the sand as they passed and flew up to settle on their hands, faces, arms and necks, biting and stinging.
Hellaine soon got fed up with the flies and pulled out an cream that soothed the itchy stings and drove off the rest of the flies. Driving the flies right to the blue-tongued, scarlet lizards thatwriggled out of unseen holes, relying on the red flies.
"But what eats the lizards?" asked Jasmine, and drew her dagger.
"You would do best to put that away," Hellaine said. "The creatures that you must truly fear here will not be felled by your little knife."
Shortly after, they passed a strange object lying on the sand. It was round, leathery, flat and wrinkled – like an empty bag or a gigantic, flattened grape that had been split along one side.
"Is it some sort of seed pod?" Barda wondered.
"Like no seed pod I have ever seen," Jasmine muttered. Filli chattered nervously into her ear and Kree, riding on her shoulder, made a worried clucking sound.
Lief's scalp was prickling. He was haunted by the feeling that they were being watched. Hellaine ran her fingers through her hair nervously as they moved slowly. Nothing moved but the flies and lizards, there was no sound but the low, faint droning, but Hellaine knew there was something out there, something waiting for them to slip up.
"We need to keep moving," she said, her fingers drumming a strange rhythm against her leg. The beat was nervous, but there was a distinct calming effect about it, like the sound of rain hitting a canvas.
They reached the bottom of one dune, and had just begun to climb another when jasmine, who was now in the lead, stiffened and held up her hand. Hellaine had already stopped, her sword in her hand. Barda and Lief placed their hands to their swords and waited.
At first they heard nothing, then, floating on the still air, there was a voice, growing louder by the moment.
"Carn 2! Never mind the flies. Keep moving!"
Lief looked frantically behind him. Their trail showed clearly in the sand. Their footprints were like arrows, pointing to their position. There was nowhere to hide, no escape.
Hellaine slid her sword back into its sheath soundlessly. Motioning for the companions to stay quiet and follow her lead, Hellaine began to step backwards, carefully fitting her feet into her footprints. When she reached the bottom of the dune, she leaped to the side to lie motionlessly in the faint shadow, burrowing into the sand.
The others followed her every move. When they were all huddled together, Lief covered them with his cloak which quickly blended with the sand.
They waited, still as stone.
The guards appeared, struggling in their heavy ran down the side of their dune, and began following the tracks up the next.
Then they stopped, puzzled, as halfway up the sune, the footsteps just seemed to end.
"They have been taken!" growled Carn 2. "As I told you they would be, Carn 8. I told you it was needless to follow them into the Shifting Sands. We are putting ourselves in danger for – "
"Be silent!" snapped his companion. "Do you not understand, you fool? We have disgraced the Carn pod. We let a Champion and three finalists escape! We had the Ghost within our grasp!"
"We did not have Hellaine in our hands. We would have apprehended her sooner."
"Mother Brightly wasn't sure it was her until the second night, when she heard the woman and that blond boy talking in the back."
Hellaine went rigid, they knew who she was, knew her face.
"That Champion was not Hellaine," Carn 2 stated. "She was too young, too small."
"Not the Champion, the woman that threw the final fight. Mother Brightly called her Jordan."
Hellaine felt Barda and Jasmine's surprise, felt her heart race in fear.
"We walked by her, we watched her leave," Carn 2 hissed. "We could have taken her."
"Do you get it now? Our lives are worth nothing – less than nothing – unless we get them back, unless we get her back! They may not have been taken. They could have buried themselves in the sand. Dig! Dig!"
He began to burrow in the sand with both hands. Grumbling, Carn 2 crouched to join him.
Then, suddenly, the dune seemed to erupt beneath them and, with shocking speed, a huge, hideous creature sprang from the collapsing sand and seized them, lifting them off their feet.
The guards shrieked in terror. Paralyzed with shock, hardly able to believe their eyes, Lief, Barda and Jasmine lay rigid as Hellaine buried her face in her arms. The monster had been perfectly hidden in the dune, waiting. One more step and they, not the guards, would have been its prey.
Lief stared in facinated horror. The creature was the Sand Beast Hellaine had drawn in her notes. The creature was eight-legged with a tiny head that seemed to be covered in mirrored eyes. Dozens of leathery bags like the one they had found lying in the sand hung from its body. Sand still poured from its joints and crevices. It reguarded its captives without curiosity as they strugged and swung in its terrifying grip. The it opened its mouth, leaned forward . . .
It all happened in seconds. Sickened by what they had seen, the group remained huddled under the cloak, not daring to move.
Lief buried his face in his arms. He had no love for Grey Guards, but he could not watch.
The lowering yellow cloud blotted out the sun so completely that lief loast all sense of time. For what seemed like hours, he, Barda, Jasmine and Helaine lay motionless while the creature ate its fill and slowly the bags hanging from its body swelled until they looked like gigantic grapes hanging from a stalk.
"They are stomachs!" breathed Barda in disgust. Lief shuddered, and even Jasmine, familiar with so many weird creatures of the Forest of Silence, wrinkled her nose with distaste. Hellaine was detatched from the situation, relief running off her in waves. The guards were dead, her secret safe from the Shadow Lord.
A long time later, the creature disappeared over the dunes, leaving the companions in silence. Hellaine was the first to wriggle free of Liefs cloak, her heart pounding in her chest with the realization that Lief's friends knew her secret.
"Jordan, what is your name?" Jasmine demanded. "Were they talking about you?"
"You know the answer." Hellaine replied.
"I want to hear you say it," Jasmine snapped. "What is your name?"
"My name is Hellaine," she replied.
Barda went silent, knowing who stood before him.
"The ghost," he whispered in awe.
"The ghost?" Jasmine hissed. "They called you that too. Who are you?"
"The leader of the resistance." Barda stated, staring upon her face. "You are the one they whisper about."
Hellaine nodded. She knew who she was, knew her reputation.
"What?" Jasmine cried. "If you are the leader of the resistance, why risk your life in the Games."
"Because Doom and I do not expect our soldiers to do all the work. This assignment could only be trusted to us, the strongest in the resistance."
"You sound conceited." Jasmine snapped.
"In this world, a resistance leader would have to be the strongest, or their soldiers would not follow them. I know my own strength, that is all."
"Is it true what they say?" Barda asked.
"What do they say?" Hellaine replied.
"Are you really a genius?"
"I've been called such," she agreed. "However, only you can answer that question."
"How do we answer a question we asked you?" Jasmine demanded.
"Some will say I am completely stupid, others, I am a raving genius and others still, that I am certifiably insane. So you see, the question of my intelligence, is in the eye of the beholder."
"You had good reason to hide your name from us." Barda said.
"I trusted Lief because he held the belt. I was careless, telling him when I did. Mother Brightly overheard us and if the guards had realized who I was the day of the finals, I would not be here today. Even now, I am not fully healed."
"You went into the Games not at your full strength?" Barda gasped.
"No, I went in strong, but old injuries were caught in the skirmishes of the first round. I went into the finals weak. I threw the fight, as it was my plan. It was supposed to be me and Doom in the final fight. Doom was supposed to be the champion. Doom was supposed to get taken."
"You threw our fight?" Jasmine cried.
"Yes." Hellaine said. "I cannot get caught."
"Why?"
Hellaine stayed silent, trying to hide her fear as her hands shook.
"What makes you so special that you can't get captured? Why is your life worth more than Doom's?"
Hellaine felt her heart race, her breathing shallow. She closed her eyes and gripped her arms tight to stop the shaking, stop her fear.
"Jasmine, enough." Barda sighed. "Let her keep her secrets. Some things, are better left unsaid."
"Let's continue," Lief said and moved up the dune to the scattered remains of the guards. Beating aay the scavengers, Jasmine began rapidly sorting through therags, putting aside in one small pile things that would be of use: the guards' slings and blisters, their clubs and water bottles, the money bags. After a moment she looked up, startled.
"The money bags burst as they fell," she called in a low voice. "Most of the coins spilled out, but they are gone! So is my medallion!"
"That is impossible!" Barda strode towards her and began searching. Hellaine was already on her knees, searching through the sand. Lief followed more slowly. His attention had been caught by a flat patch of sand jut beyond where his friends were crouching. What he saw there made his flesh creep.
"The creature was blocking our view for hours as it fed," Hellaine sighed, sitting back.
"Something, or someone crawled in unseen and took – "
"Look!" Lief's voice sounded chocked, even to himself. He cleared his throat and pointed.
The smooth patch of sand was covered with hundreds of strange, circular marks. Marks that had not been there before.