Chapter 16 16
Narnia's POV
The world was burning.
I clutched the shutters of my room, still wobbly in my legs, and gazed with disbelief as flames cracked and licked through the wood of that which lay beyond the sanctuary walls. They raced with unnatural speed, sweeping through trees that should have been too green to burn. Magic. The Guild was magicking us into a corner.
Elias leaned into my body, the great wolf bracing against me in anticipation of a fight. In the connection that now linked us, I could sense his anger and his terror. He wanted to rip Guild through with fang and claw, shield me from harm. But we both knew that would be suicide.
Brother Malarik burst into the room, arms full of ancient books and scrolls. His face was ashen, his hands trembled as he tried to collect his life’s work.
"How many?" That was Elias's thinking by way of the bond, resonating clearly even though he couldn't speak it aloud. And the link made it possible to express emotions and basic thoughts now, though full conversations remained beyond us.
“Hundreds,” Malarik responded in a grim tone, somehow knowing what the question was. “The Archon had his entire bodyguard with him. They have enclosed the sanctuary altogether. You can not get out by ordinary methods."
I stepped back from the window, my thoughts spinning. "This is my fault. They are here because of me. Because of what I am."
"Do not even think to place the blame on yourself," Malarik snapped. “The Guild has been after your bloodline for centuries. This battle was inevitable from the minute you were born.”
“Then I ought to give up,” I said, every word bitter on my tongue. “I need to go over there and finish this. At least you and Elias might live.”
The growl from Elias was feral and final. He positioned himself between me and the door, making himself understood. No. Never.
"He is right," Malarik said. "If you were to give yourself up You would gain nothing but death. The Archon will dissect you like a test subject. He'll suck out every drop of your blood, dissect every part of your body, until he knows how to duplicate your power. And then he will use the knowledge for his own purposes by forming an army of mutant beings—twisted, far from human,wolf creatures who will be forced to serve”…to solidify these Pack Wars so his Guild can rule infinitely and eternally.
That picture horrified me to the point that it made me sick. "Then what do we do? We cannot fight them all. We can't run in the forest while it burns. We are trapped."
Malarik placed his books gently on the floor and walked to a spot beside one of the corners of the room. He knelt and laid his hand upon what had seemed common stone. The floor gave a soft click and part of it rose, exposing a dark passage beneath.
“There has to be another way,” he said softly. “This passage is the sort that leads three miles underground and beyond the borders of the kingdom. I made it years ago, back when I first started to airship you needed my research too proper Guild."
Hope flared in my chest, but I read the expression on Malarik's face and it died a short moment later. "You are not coming with us."
"No," he said simply. "I am staying behind."
‘Brother Malarik,’ I began, but he raised a hand to silence me.
"I am an old man, child. I’ve spent too much of my life spreading the Guild’s lies, doing their dirty work and tracking down beasts who suffered injustice. I would rather die in the service of truth. Let me buy you some time to get away.”
Elias uttered a protest, striding up to the old priest. I shared his pain in our connection. Malarik had been good to him, showing him truth when others offered only lies. He did not want to lose him.
Malarik extended his hand and patted Elias’s head as he did in the courtyard. “You're already more than your father could ever be. Guilt is what chains you to the past. Make it Narnia, and make it the future that your mother saw in her visions.”
He took a sealed letter from his robes and thrust it into my hands. “When you get to the borderlands, locate a town named Silvermere. There are my wife and three daughters. Give them this letter. Let them know I love them until my last breath.”
Tears burned my eyes. “I won’t ask you to die for us.”
“You are not asking,” Malarik smiled softly. "I am choosing. And it is the first entirely free choice I have made in fifty years.”
Before either Elias or I could object any more, there came a rap at the front door to the sanctuary. Polite. Patient. Terrifying in its confidence.
“That would be the Archon,” Malarik said. "He wants to negotiate. To bring me terms of your surrender.” He looked at us both. "Go now. Quickly. And no matter what you hear, don’t return. Do you understand?"
I could feel, through our connection, how much Elias wanted to say no, to fight back, to do anything other than run. But I also sensed his appreciation. We could not win this fight. Not today. The only thing we could do was get away and fight another day.
I collected some makeshift supplies, tossing them into a satchel. Elias went by them, down to the passage opening, body crouching and taut.
"Thank you," I said softly to Malarik. "For everything."
He smiled, it was a peaceful one. "Thank you for making me brave. Now go. And consider what I told Elias. Love is not a curse. It's the only thing you die for.”
The passage opened and we stepped into the darkness which swallowed us instantly. I heard Malarik roll the hidden door behind us, back into its groove. For an instant we were closed in by utter darkness.
It was then that Elias's body started to shine softly, a silver light coming from his fur. Some of my power, it made its way through the link. Enough to light our way.
We ran.
It was a rocky rugged passage, cut in stone and rock. So they descended a steep slope, then entered into a long straight tunnel. Water dripped from the ceiling. The air was cold and damp. But we were faster, Elias had super speed and the earth below me faded out of view at speeds no human should be able to travel.
Above us, we heard voices. The Archon was in the sanctuary.
I wished that I could pause, turn and figure out what to do to aid Malarik. But Elias was pushing me, making me run. He was right. Trust the old priest knew what he was about.
Through the stone came his Archon's voice, soft but distinct. He spoke, with the cool authority of power that knows no limits.
"Brother Malarik. I thought you'd fight me more.”
“There would be no point in resisting," came Malarik's voice. "You have already won."
"Indeed. Now, where are they?"
"Gone. Had escaped into the woods hours before. You will never find them."
There was a pause. The Archon’s voice turned cold, and it was then he continued, “It isn’t that simple.”
"You are lying. I sense the magic that still lingers in this place.” The girl exerted her power again. “Be sure she is here, or at least was very recently.”
"Perhaps. Or maybe I just wanted you to believe that."
Another pause. Longer this time.
“You meant that you’d die for them? the Archon inquired, and for once he seemed to be asking without being sarcastic about it.
“I would die to defend truth,” Malarik responded. "Something you stopped to give a damn about decades ago, Serras. We both know this isn’t about saving humanity. It was always a matter of power. About control. You’re making weapons for enforcement of your will.”
"Careful, old friend. That sounds dangerously like heresy."
"Then I must be a heretic. What an apt way to die, as what I am.”
We were further into the tunnel now and could barely hear the voices. I didn’t want to, I wanted to listen more, but Elias pushed me and I went. Keep moving. Do not stop.
Then we heard it. The Archon's deep voice, booming in a language I did not understand, words of power. Magic. Dark magic. The kind that contorted and perverted.
"Last chance, Malarik. Now, tell me where they are and I will give you a swift death."
Malarik's answer was sharp and defiant, with more bravery than I thought a person could possess.
"Archon Serras! You'll have to be satisfied with mine, if you hope for the Guardian's secrets!
The resulting explosion ran the entire length of a passage. Earth and stones fell from the ceiling. The walls cracked. I shrieked, the earth under me heaving.
Elias' teeth latched onto the back of my dress and he pulled me from behind, scooting us both away from the crumbling section we had left. We ran, free of any thought but that of not being caved in upon by a tunnel that sealed off our only escape route and our means of retracing our way back.
When the rumbling finally ceased we were envelopped in total darkness, except Elias's dim light. Behind us the passage was closed by tons of earth and rocks. In front, the tunnel ran on to somewhere unknown.
Brother Malarik was dead. The sanctuary was destroyed. And we were alone.
I leaned up against the tunnel wall as I cried and my body quivered from both my grief and fatigue. Through our link, I sensed Elias’s grief, his fury at the Guild, his terror for me. He lay against my side, giving comfort where he could.
“He saved us,” I said in his fur. "He died so we could live."
A low, mournful sound came from Elias. He lay in my lap and I simply felt his pain as much as I did my own.
We remained there in blackness for an eternity, grieving the old priest with a kind heart among wicked men.
Then, slowly, I stood. “Malarik hadn’t died so we could quit. He had died so that we could continue fighting. So that we could get to the borderlands to search for his family. So we could create the future he dreamed of."
"Let's go," I mumbled, patting Elias on the head. "We have three miles to go. And a promise to keep."
A mole, that is what I felt like then, and Christopher was the mole as well; we were plunging into unknown dark tunnels deeper and deeper, with death on one side of us and fire around the other, bearing away society into who knows what vacuum or hell of sacrifice and possible redemption.