La Dolce Vita
By Seniya
F is for Friend
Never have a friend who casts you in the shade.
Baltasar Gracian
No one likes to be stood up.
Not the fifteen year old girl in her brand new ballet flats who spent that extra half hour past the start of the movie, staring up and down the sidewalk outside the theatre, looking for her date.
Not the sales executive, in his heavy, starched suit who cancelled three business meetings to meet his wife for the afternoon – who never turned up because Pilates ran late.
Not even Elyon Brown, who called her friend Cornelia on and off for a full half hour (they were supposed to start planning for Cornelia's upcoming Halloween party) because she was two hours late for their meeting.
Cornelia was never late – especially not for something that she had invested her reputation into.
Elyon was quickly concerned and then frightened – had she been kidnapped like those other girls?
They didn't have a home phone in the house – her mother said they couldn't afford it (rather, she spent too much money on Whiskey and they couldn't afford much else) but Cornelia had given her a mobile phone for her last birthday.
She used the majority of her savings (collected from babysitting), to pay her small bill, as a result, her mother did not know she owned the device.
Elyon intended to keep it that way. Her mother would steal it if she knew. She'd steal it and sell it just like she had done with many of her nicer gifts.
Eve was locked in the sole bedroom in the house (fast asleep, no doubt), because of that Elyon sat on her makeshift bed – the raggedy sofa – under the covers and called her best friend.
The sugary sweet voice of Cornelia's voice mail greeted her again, before Elyon decided to hang up. Sighing, she dialled the home number for the first time.
Elizabeth, sounding hassled, answered after the third ring, "Hello, Hale residence."
Oddly, the first thought to cross Elyon's mind was how nice it must be to have a residence – or a phone where people answered. "H-hello Aunty Liz ... i-it's Elyon. I-Is Cornelia home?"
"Oh hello, Elyon darling!" The voice sounded so much happier. "No, no, Cornelia left early this morning. What did she say ... something about rehearsals for some school project or another. I swear, that girl has so much on her plate!"
Project? Elyon felt her stomach drop.
"Aren't you going with her, dearest?"
"N-No ...I'm not." There was a silence on the other end of the line; the kind where the other half of a conversation is biding time to decide on the perfect thing to say. The silence grew, as did the worry – until finally ...
"I'll tell her to call you when she gets home, honey. You take care now ... and um ... say hello to your mother for me."
Click.
Elyon was quite frankly, miserable. She didn't have any other friends. There was no one to call for support, nothing to do but to sit on the raggedy sofa, under the covers and stare at the lifeless screen of her Blackberry.
The loneliness swallowed her whole.
The endless maze of underground rooms was still as frightening to Will as the first time she'd been inside the Rebel Headquarters. She'd hoped it wouldn't be – (since she was far less panicked on her second visit) but it wasn't the case.
The place wasn't homey, despite the fact that hundreds probably lived there – and for Will, who'd been shuffled around from apartment to motel room (even to the backseat of an SUV once for 3 weeks) for the majority of her life, that was a terrible description.
The other girls were equally distressed. Perhaps the words "rebel hideout" had called to mind a tall imposing structure, brightly lit, with cosy passages and fire lit rooms - nothing like these caves and tunnels, with mud for floors and walls and torches for chandeliers.
They had to follow Caleb in a single file (the corridors weren't wide enough for even two people to pass at once), huddled together more because of the terror reigning over the situation, than for lack of body heat.
The place was giving stiff competition to a Texan summer, Will thought to herself as she readjusted her guitar case on her shoulder. It smelled like mud, and was eerily quiet (save for their feet and Caleb's occasional baritone).
Behind her, HayLin seemed caught between fear and amazement and somewhere up ahead, Caleb (oblivious to it all) gave a long winded tour.
Faces peered out of the walls as they passed. Curious, wide eyes and low, discreet whispers that Will assumed must belong to the bug eyed cat people she'd met on her last trip. There must be doors along the passageway, but it was too dark to be certain.
Finally, they came to the end of their journey when Caleb turned around to face them in a massive circular cavern. It was crammed with benches and people, and torches that hung low over countless bowls of steaming – something.
This place smelled distinctly of feet. Will cringed when she realised that it was the dining room.
There was a definite hush as Caleb signalled for attention from the hundreds of faces bowed low over their suppers.
"As promised!" Will didn't look at Caleb as he spoke; instead she watched the lighted faces of those who watched her. These were the same ones who had called her a witch her last time here. "The guardians of the veil!"
He must have indicated to them, because HayLin waved.
Silence.
Mumblings.
Irma's sarcastic, "lovely crowd. I'm touched."
And then they were being shuffled along past the benches and seated at the head table, next to Caleb and some other men. Will could not appreciate the stares.
Two, short thick women placed bowls of the steaming broth in front of the girls. No one touched it.
Caleb carried on as though five hundred pairs of eyes weren't glaring at them from the darkness, "Will, you need to eat all of Simira's stew – it will put some meat on your bones."
"What about Cornelia's bones Caleb?" Irma chuckled as Will scowled and the blonde on the other side of her seemed ready to implode with rage.
"I like it!" HayLin had grabbed a loaf of dark brown bread and started to devour her dinner as though it were manna from the heavens. "Kinda tastes like my grandma's wanton soup."
"You mean like gasoline?" Irma watched with ill concealed disgust. "I might come here for lunch around prom."
"Why can't you behave!" Cornelia hissed down the line, "Can't you see that we're guests. You don't have any sort of behaviour!"
"Oh really," Irma tilted her head, "because I see your cup still doth runneth over cornflake. You have touched your gruel."
"I-I ... had a big breakfast."
"Oh what, two laxatives instead of one, watch out." Irma giggled.
It wasn't long before insults were being traded like coins at a flea market.
The eyes that had been watching (Will noted) seemed satisfied with that display. Yes, the humans were just as unruly as they had hoped. They returned to their food.
The insults would have continued, if another figure hadn't joined their table. A big, red haired man Will thought looked familiar, took a spot on the other side of Caleb, sparing the group of bickering girls only a second's glance.
"Baldorn," Caleb, greeted him. "Is something amiss?"
Lowered glances and hushed voices followed. Within minutes the two men had excused themselves.
"Something's going on." Will said.
"What do you mean?" HayLin asked with her cheeks stuffed with bread.
"Caleb and that guy just ... disappeared." By then they were back again, whispering to others in the midst. There was a sudden rush of energy, tangible, before Will ever heard the shout, "Phobos' men are advancing! Get up! Get out!"
There was panic then, but no confusion. Men, women and children, stood with practised eased and moved through the cavern in orderly lines.
The place was empty in an instant.
Then, Caleb was behind them, pulling them from their seats. "Transform, hurry. Baldorn says that there aren't many ... and Cedric isn't with them."
"Cedric is the huge snake guy whose ass we kicked?" Irma asked. She was more than a little cocky. Last time she had beat those solders seconds after knowing about her powers, almost with her eyes closed.
"Where are you sending everyone?" Will asked.
"They're evacuating. Cedric cannot know about our location ..." Caleb looked frantic, the worry shone through his eyes but not his face. "If they have found us ... we will have to be rid of them. Do you understand?"
He looked right at her and Will's stomach dropped. "Caleb ... I ..."
"Why isn't Cedric with them?" Cornelia asked. "He's the captain right? He's in charge?"
"Perhaps he's busy," Baldorn spoke suddenly, but Cornelia wasn't having it. "That doesn't make sense ..."
"Cornflake just get guardian," Irma was already in her water guardian form. "I don't have time to be watching your back and defeating hundreds of soldiers."
"Follow Baldorn. I'll get the other men together."
Two flashes of light indicated that Hay Lin and Cornelia had also transformed.
"C'mon, Will ... let's go."
Inside of its sturdy leather case, the Blade of Kandrakar grew heavier still.
Will swallowed, the heat grew thicker. "All right. I'm ready."
"It isss a beautiful night." Cedric stood on the hill before the rebels' hovel with his entire army standing behind him. The moons were mere slits in the endless black sky, they'd turned their backs on Meridian tonight.
It would be a fitting goodbye before he finally left for earth to destroy the filthy beasts who had been a thorn in his side for as long as he could remember.
He would carry this memory to Earth with him, and the sound of the women screaming as he ate their children would comfort him while he was in human form.
"Where is Baldorn?" A man yelled.
"Patience! One waits for his prey ..." Like a fieldmouse crawling from the floodwaters.
Those guardians would be delicious.
"Where are they?" There was nothing in the still, soft night. Not a hand in front of a face or the light of the moons on the swampy ground. Will struggled to see, struggled to hear, but only darkness answered her.
"I can't see anything!" HayLin whined, the wind was picking up around them ... meaning that she was also becoming agitated.
"You guys are keeping way too much noise." Cornelia snapped, already in a bad mood for being ignored by Caleb all evening. "Hay Lin fly up there and tell me what you see."
"She can't fly up there, they'll see her!" Will replied.
"As opposed to staying down here and scratching our asses. Yes, this plan is much ... wait ... I can feel something." Cornelia paused, "I...I thought you said that there aren't that many of them."
"What do you mean?" Irma asked as the wind grew stronger.
"They're like ... millions ... well I dunno but it's a lot. A whole lot! To our left!" She pointed for whatever good it did. "They're moving! They're coming right at us!"
"He lied?"
"Why would he ..."
"It's a trap!"
Baldorn lunged towards Will in the same instant that the first battle cry rang out in the Meridian night. She felt, before she saw those arms, as large as tree branches on her wrists trying to pry the blade from her fingers.
It wouldn't go, and in the first instant of panic a jolt of energy jumped across the two bodies, and Baldorn finally pulled away.
"They're moving fast!" Cornelia yelled.
"Will! Where's the bastard, I'll get him in the nards!" Irma frantically pulled the muddy ground beneath her feet, urging it rise and fall with each of her breaths.
"I ... I've got it under control." It wasn't necessarily true. She couldn't see, couldn't concentrate and she knew that the overwhelming rush of energy rattling beneath her skin was beyond her control. Baldorn was coming back for seconds. "Just get the army! Make sure they don't get into rebel's ..."
He was on her again, this time his fingers on her throat, twisting the soft skin there. It wasn't hard to push another jolt through his skin. This time he staggered and screamed at the contact ... and Will saw the rush of madness that lit up his face as the first bolts of lightning danced across the dark night sky.
"Are you kidding me?" Irma hollered over the rush of wind as HayLin took flight, 'there's too much mud in my water!"
"Well, there's too much water in my mud!" Cornelia replied. "Seriously, they're almost here!"
"Which way should I go Cornelia?" HayLin asked from her spot above. "I'm flying blind up here!"
"Um ..." Cornelia closed her eyes and concentrated on the heavy thud of footsteps she could sense pounding the saturated earth, "Go to your right ... do like a tornado or something huge. They're seriously a trillion of them."
HayLin did as she was told, within seconds razor sharp winds licked at their limbs, nearly dislodging the four persons still on the ground.
Baldon took the advantage of his three hundred pound weight difference to tackle Will to the ground, the lightning crew chaotic as she screamed and kicked. The energy flowing out of her body wasn't as strong as before and she was rapidly becoming tired.
"If you are waiting on your precious rebel leader, that hope is lost."
"W-what did you do ..."
"They're all trapped below. And when I set the place aflame ..."
"No!" The last jolt was too strong, it made Baldorn release his grip but left her gasping for breath.
Will crumbled to the floor, trying to control the urge to retch. "Energy is all around you."
She could hear the voice, so familiar. Too familiar.
"Nerissa?"
"Do not draw from your own strength, you will only weaken. Pull from the heavens, from the winds, from the waters and the earth – from others. But never from yourself."
Irma didn't need Cornelia to tell her just how many solders were advancing any longer. The thundering sound of advancing footsteps was now too overwhelming to ignore. Not to mention the stench of men and animals and the sound of grunted threats.
"I'd hate to be the bearer of bad news Cornflake but seriously, I think we have to work together."
"Yeah, yeah ... I get that feeling too." Cornelia tensed her muscles and called upon the stubborn earth at her feet to become pliable. "All right, on three."
Irma snapped, "I didn't say you were in charge!"
"Can you see?" The blonde snapped back.
"Point taken." Irma took a breath, found the water, cool and easy, currently resting in the soil. She shook it awake.
"Move to the left on three."
"My left or your left!"
"It's the same frickin' left Irma!"
"Right!"
The first mighty wave of mud rose at least twenty feet into the air, Hay Lin had to swerve to dodge it, and then it came crashing down with brutal accuracy atop dozens of men, who truly never saw it coming.
"Again!"
Yet another wave, this time larger and wider but the same terrifying effect. The mud had come alive to gobble the army whole, and they never truly had a chance.
The wind had finally ceased its play to listen to HayLin, it obeyed (for now, it was noticeably fickle) and twisted and tossed in an erratic dance, through the night, over the earth and onto the ground.
The beauty was lost on those in its path; the tornado sped through the ranks with ease, plucking men like paper dolls off of their feet and sending them into the endless sky.
The moons smiled a crooked smile, but stayed silent.
They were winning. Will didn't understand how as she stayed crumpled on her back in the swampy ground, with her sword pulsing erratically in her clenched fist, watching the blurry stars attempt to right themselves in her watery eyes.
She could hear the cries of the battle behind her. The occasional shouts from Irma and Cornelia and cheers from HayLin. Those, and the screams of men as they fell to their defeat.
At her side, Baldorn stirred. He would soon rise, probably before the weakness in her limbs subsided.
Why were her powers like this? Why couldn't she fight like the others? Why was everything so hard?
Lightning criss-crossed along the pitch black sky, answering her. Lightning. Will felt the blade warm in her hand and forced herself to stand.
With trembling hands and shaky legs, she pointed the sword to the night sky and sent a single bolt of energy upwards … it was too much … Will felt herself weaken all over again.
But it replied. The lightning raced across the heavens to converge at a single point. Suddenly, there was nothing but white light for miles around. It swept across the faces of the men and guardians before pelting downwards in a single hard stroke, to the tip of the Blade of Kandrakar.
There was no pain in this power, just energy, pure and simple. The cool, warm sensation made her tremble, but not from weakness. It took Will all of three seconds to decide on her course of action.
"HayLin!" She yelled, "Get Irma and Cornelia off of the ground!"
"What?" It was Irma who asked, because HayLin had already sent a gust of wind in their direction. The two screaming girls were tossed effortlessly into the night.
Before they could fall, Will plunged the blade into the earth. The energy twisted in her grip scattered in every direction, infiltrating the mud and merging with the water before it exploded and touched every creature caught in the swamp.
The cries lasted mere seconds, and then there was only one: Cedric, who spat with as much venom as a half-snake could, "Retreat!"
It must have been magic, because only an instant later, they were all gone (those who could leave in any case). And Will was left alone with the other guardians and Baldorn, who had not risen after all.
Irma and Cornelia landed with a collective thud, probably one atop of the other and the bickering resumed.
"Will!" HayLin made a very uncomfortable landing, and grabbed Will in a tight hug. "That was amazing! I didn't know you could do that!"
"Neither did I …"
"Okay, first of all, the next time you wanna drop me on my ass, a little warning will be nice." Irma joined the group, looking muddy, smelling muddy but grinning from ear to ear.
"But it's such a big ass. I doubt you felt it." Cornelia put in, and Irma, who was too elated from the victory to issue a comeback simply chuckled, "damn right it's big."
"I'm so proud of us!" HayLin squealed, "I can't wait to tell Nana!"
"What about Caleb?" Cornelia noted, "I thought he was coming with the other rebels."
"Baldaorn trapped them. They're still inside." Will replied, indicating the less than impressive structure behind her. "We gotta get them out."
"I'll do it!" Cornelia volunteered.
"Of course you will." Irma chimed in.
"Shut it Lair!"
The peace had been nice while it lasted.
He had trapped them, Caleb explained once he and the others were freed. The pseudo-security system (three boulders to block the entrance) had been altered to trap everyone inside. Since the remainder of the headquarters was underground, they'd essentially been captured.
The freed rebels seemed a lot more accepting once they caught sight of the sprinkling of unconscious warriors and listened with rapt attention to HayLin's animated account of the battle.
"We'll have to move." Caleb mumbled, to the three other girls once the others had finally stopped thumping them on their backs and begging for blessings for their children.
"Cedric got away." Will replied. "We … I … couldn't stop …" She hadn't wanted to. That was the truth; she figured Caleb knew that was inevitably what her stumbling equated to.
"Where you guys gonna go?" Irma asked.
"Further East. We'll have to leave now, before Cedric can create another army. We've … been here since the rebellion began."
Will understood. That little hovel was their home, as sad as its muddy walls were.
"Well, let us know if we can help." Cornelia smiled, while Irma snorted.
"I appreciate that Cornelia." And the blonde almost melted. "I'll call one of our nurses to look after your ailments." He moved to examine Will's neck (where dozens of red marks stayed vivid against her porcelain skin) but she smacked his hand away.
He grabbed her wrist, "don't do that when I am trying to help you."
She rolled her eyes and stomped off to HayLin's side. Caleb watched her go before cursing to himself. He then walked off in the other direction to consult with a group of men who were discussing Baldorn's fate.
Irma and Cornelia stood in silence for a bit before Irma finally said, "So … is he getting the nurse? Because my ass could really use some Icy-hot."
Author: Can I tell you I wrote this at work. Now to get the news done. Hahaha. Well, the first real battle guys, I was thinking if I should let them lose but, I decided the group needed a little morale booster.
Next is G is for Ghost, a Halloween episode. You'll probably get it for Halloween, judging by how slow these updates are sometimes.
Also, I do ship Will and Caleb like a loser so that is probably where this is heading. Nothing big and mushy though and you probably won't get any action until closer to the end. If you are craving for a WillxCaleb fix I have countless romances of them go hit up my profile.
Thanks for the support! Reviews are always appreciated!