Chapter 30

Keiara woke up suddenly, her eyes jerking open. She looked around and found herself in a tent. Bright light could be seen as it filtered in through the gaps in the tent’s flaps. Judging by its brightness, she thought it was an hour or so after midday. Next to her was Heari, her head tilted up slightly.

The old crone smiled at her.

“Heari?” she asked, confused for a moment. She knew it was the crone but at the same time she didn’t look the same. It took Keiara a second to figure out what was wrong with her. She looked even older than before and her eyes…Keiara gasped in shock. Heari’s eyes were almost completely white. They stared blindly about.

“Ah,” Heari whispered, her voice nothing more than a croak. One of her thin, skeletal hands went up to caress the skin just beneath her eyes. “Yes. A shock to see what’s become of me, eh? Do not worry, child. It is as it is.”

“What happened to you?” she asked.

“The nature of all things, as you will come to understand in more depth soon. First, I think, you should tend to your Rook.” She nodded in the direction of the floor.

Keiara quickly leaned over the side of her cot, her heart fluttering madly inside her chest. She saw Rone instantly and the world seemed to just…be better. She couldn’t describe it really.

He was still sleeping, his light brown hair drenched in sweat. There was a peacefulness to his face that she instantly adored. She wished, fervently, that whatever bit of tranquility he’d found would last forever. She knew how much pain he’d been in recently. She knew how much he’d risked to try and save her. She knew what he had to give up to do so.

She reached out a hand and gingerly caressed his cheek. He stirred a little, but didn’t wake up. A flutter of fear and nervousness raced through her.

What if he is stuck there? her mind asked.

“Don't worry about the Rook,” Heari spoke up. “He will wake in a minute or so.” Blind, milky white eyes turned in Keiara’s direction. “And how about you, child? How are you feeling?”

Keiara thought about it for a moment. Her face screwed up into a mask of confusion. Usually, whenever she woke up she felt groggy. She always took a few minutes to adjust to the waking world. Now, however, wasn’t like that at all. She felt…refreshed. She felt filled with energy and life.

“I feel…,” she paused as she searched for the right words, “great. Better than I have in a long time.”

Heari smiled broadly, showing a mouth with almost no teeth left.

“That is good,” she said. “You will need that strength.”

Just then, Rone started to groan. His arms moved and he picked himself up off the floor. He stayed there for a minute, trying to adjust to his new situation, propped up on his elbows. His light blue eyes blinked rapidly. He sat up a little more and then rubbed at the spot right between his eyebrows for a second.

He started to get up but couldn’t, on account of Keiara jumping onto him in a fit of girlish excitement. She bore him to the floor with a passionate kiss. Her dark hair tickled the skin of his neck and cheeks, but he grasped onto her firmly around the small of her back and pulled her closer to him.

Time felt suspended in that moment. Nothing seemed to matter to either of them.

Keiara pulled away from him and stared into his eyes. Tears formed in hers and spilled out.

“I thought I lost you,” she said. “I thought I would never see you again.”

“I know,” he replied. “But I’m here and now we’re both back.”

He stared into her soft brown eyes, his heart overwhelmed with emotion.

“I love you,” he told her.

“I-,” she started to say but was interrupted.

The tent flap was thrown aside and light filled the gloomy interior. A shadow was thrown against the opposite wall. A big shadow.

Rone looked up, through the veil of Keiara’s hair, and saw Tarvo. His heart jumped a little, but that was the only fear he could muster. He could still remember the giant spider and sludge creature made from the disgusting waters of Ro Lake. Tarvo, as terrifying as the man was, simply didn’t compare to those particular horrors.

Gently, Keiara slid off of him and they both stared at the big man. He had a ferocious scowl on his face that upped his intimidation factor a couple of notches. The anger faded just a little as more of his attention was focused on his daughter. Parts of his body actually seemed to relax a little, especially his shoulders, as if a great weight had been lifted off of them. He rushed to her and grabbed her up. He hugged her with such ferocity Keiara struggled to breathe.

“Please,” she whispered. “You’re crushing me, dad.”

He let go of her but only a little, laughing as he did.

“I thought I’d lost you,” he replied, sounding eerily like herself just a couple of seconds ago. His manner changed abruptly, turning icy and cold. “Did the Rooks hurt you? Did his people do anything to you?”

He looked at Rone, who was now getting slowly to his feet. There was no mistaking the look in Tarvo’s eyes. It was full of hate and murder. He could tell that all the big man wanted to do right then was throttle the life out of him. Despite knowing that, however, Rone took a step toward him anyway.

“What my people did to Keiara-,” he tried to say.

The only thing Tarvo heard, however, were the words my people and did to Keiara. It was enough. He lunged at Rone, his arm flashing out to grab hold of the Rook. Rone was a little quicker, however. He jumped out of the way before Tarvo’s grasping fingers could close on his shirt. Keiara helped with the rest. She moved in front of her father and placed a hand on his chest.

“Stop,” she commanded. Tarvo blinked at his daughter, confused.

“Still, you protect him?” he asked. “After everything that’s happened?”

“It was not Rone that kidnapped me. It was not Rone that tried to burn me alive.” Tarvo looked about to shout at this bit of news, but Keiara instantly quieted him down. “It was Rone that risked everything to try and save me. It was Rone that brought out my power.”

“Power?” He stared at her in confusion. “What power?”

As an answer, Keiara stepped back and raised her hand, palm up. She concentrated, focusing the magic writhing inside of her. It was easy now, she reflected. Much easier. The time she had spent in that other place had filled her with so much knowledge. The first of which was fire. It was a part of her. The two of them were intertwined inexorably. Its heat burned inside her soul.

“What is this?” Tarvo asked.

Keiara didn’t answer. Instead, she smiled to herself as a flickering ball of flame appeared about an inch above her palm. It was blue at first, then red, then orange, then yellow, and finally white. A second later it whiffed out of existence.

Tarvo stared at her, fear exploding inside of him.

“You? A Caller?” he asked, although that didn’t seem quite right to him. Callers controlled plants and other living creatures. Keiara had manipulated fire. In fact, she had not only manipulated it but created it.

“Not a Caller,” she whispered. She turned her head so she could look at Rone. She held out her hand to him. “I, and Rone, are something else.”

“And what would that be?” he asked.

“I believe I can answer that question,” Heari spoke up. She’d been so quiet during the interaction between Keiara and her dad that they had all pretty much forgot she was still in the tent.

All three heads turned in her direction.

“Generations ago, when Purga was still new and the peoples, both Rook and Terra, were still united, a prophecy was made. The Callers of the Terraqouis were entrusted with guarding it throughout the centuries. When the Kingdom of Roanoke was formed, and Rooks forged the separation between our two races, they lost the knowledge contained in the prophecy. We Callers have kept it. We’ve hoarded it, waiting for the time when it would come about. Now is that time. Your daughter and Prince Rone are a part of it.” She stopped talking, her blind eyes staring at nothing.

Tarvo looked at her, his anger simmering.

“You didn’t think to tell me of this prophecy? Or that my daughter was a part of it?” he asked, his voice low and menacing.

Heari didn’t seem bothered by his anger though.

“At the time, I only had suspicions. It wasn’t until Rone showed up that I realized the time of the prophecy was near,” she explained, her tone almost bored. “There was nothing you, I, or anyone else could’ve done to prevent it. You know that. Fate is not something you can trifle with or stop. What is meant to be will be.”

“What is this prophecy?” Rone asked, curious despite himself.

“In the season of betrayal there will rise a catalyst of destruction. The three will come forth as protectors. The Prince. The Savior. The One Born of Both Worlds. They will stand as Sentinels to guard against Blak, the one known as Chaos,” Heari intoned.

The words rang oddly in each of their minds, sort of vibrating there with potency and strength.

“I don’t care what you say, I will not let my daughter be a part of this,” Tarvo said. He made to grab Keiara’s hand but she jerked it out of his reach. He stared at her, hurt.

“You still see me as your daughter. You still think of me as a baby that you must protect from everything that can hurt me. But you can’t. You can’t protect me from this, dad. The prophecy has come and I am a part of it. I can feel it. You must let me do this.” She stared at him, that old fire of conviction present in her eyes.

Tarvo didn’t want to submit to it this time. Everything inside of him was crying for him to grab her and take her all the way back to Vitari where she would be safe. But one look at her eyes told him that she wouldn’t let that happen. She would stop him and, he realized as he remembered the ball of flame she’d created, there was nothing he could do about it.

“And there is nothing I can say or do to change your mind?” he asked, hoping that she would have a different answer.

“No, there is not,” she told him.

Tarvo felt his frustration swell. He was half tempted to drag her, kicking and screaming, out of the tent and get her home anyway. Instead, he grinded his teeth together, turned around and stalked out of the tent.

“Well, that went better than I thought it would,” Heari commented. She smiled toothlessly at them, one hand gripping her gnarled cane. She managed to get to her feet and shuffle over to the both of them. “Are you ready to show Blak what it means to be Sentinels?”

“Uhh…is it okay that I’m still not entirely sure what it means to be a Sentinel?” Rone asked.

Heari laughed loudly, the sound turning into a fit of coughing. She clapped one bony hand on his back.

“You have a good sense of humor, boy,” she told him as she turned and headed for the tent’s opening.

Rone leaned closer to Keiara.

“I wasn’t joking,” he whispered.

“I know,” she replied, smiling beautifully at him.

Just then, explosions rocked through the Terraqouis camp.

The Rooks were attacking again.