Chapter 16 First alliance
Eloise
I sat on the swing in the garden, my legs swinging before me. It was almost dark but I didn't want to go inside. I'd overheard Father and Mother arguing about me again. Father wanted to get rid of me but Mother didn't agree.
Mother said I was just a child while Father argued that there was nothing childish about me. They had began screaming at each so I had stepped into the garden. It was my favorite place in the house, after the training area.
It was the first place I stepped into the very first time I was allowed out of the house. Mae had convince Father to let me have the garden as my birthday gift. He had listened to her. Father always listened to Mae.
As of summoned by my thoughts, a portal of swirling black appeared few miles ahead and Mae stepped out of it. She had two big bags with her. She must have gone grocery shopping.
Her eyes immediately found mine and she rushed towards me.
“Eloise, what's the matter? Why do you look so sad?” She asked softly, her hands cupping my cheeks.
I contemplated not telling her. She just got back and had barely rest, yet she was worried about me. Mae must have seen the hesitation in my eyes as she hugged me loosely.
“Did Father give birth to me?” I asked in a low voice.
Mae pulled back from me, her face white with shock.
“By the Mother! Eloise! Why would you say something like that? He is our Father.”
I stared up at her, tears streaming down my cheeks. I asked the one question that had constantly repeated in my mind but never had the courage to voice out.
“Then why does he hate me so much?” I asked my sister that day in the garden.
Her posture had turned rigid, her face went completely white. I knew she wanted to deny it but maybe a part of her had wondered too, maybe she knew. Our Father had always treated me differently.
There was no single time in the family that he didn't look at me with a disgusted expression. He always said so many horrible things to me.
I didn't know if Mother felt the same way. She usually ignores me most of the time. It was moments like this that I knew she cared.
Mae didn't answer my question that day. Instead, she had conjured different breeds of flowers in the garden with her earth magic. Very soon, our garden was so covered with flowers. I smiled so much that day, my young mind already forgot why I was brooding in the first place.
“Teach me how to grow flowers. I want to turn my room into a garden.” I said.
“I'll teach you when the time is right.” Mae had smiled. I nodded, already expecting the answer but still got disappointed. My sister trained me in combat, poison, and psychology, but she barely thought me how to use magic.
If I had known how our earth magic worked, I would have known that the amount of magic Mae used to cheer me up that day had drained her. And that the sickness she had that night wasn't just because of fatigue as she claimed.
She had hurt herself trying to heal me.
.
.
.
I cracked an eye open but immediately shut it as pain lanced through my head. Everywhere hurts. My arms, my legs, I couldn't decide which one hurt the most.
My throat burned with thirst and the raw amount of magic I had used. I tried to stand up but it suddenly felt like an impossible task. I fell back to the bed, wincing in pain.
When I opened my eyes again, I realized it was nightfall. The faelight on the bedstand illuminated the space. My eyes roamed the ceiling. This wasn't my dorm room and it wasn't the Dragon Keep either. The strong stench of herbal mixture and something calming filled the air.
I tried to stand up again when I heard a painful groan behind the curtain. I drew the curtains to see Aeron sitting on the tiny bed, clutching his side. His gaze met mine immediately.
“You're alive. How…?” his voice trailed off.
The last time he saw me was when the cave collapsed on me. It was impossible for me to be alive. I didn't know how to explain to him when I didn't really understand too.
The cave had answered to me. It had recognized the magic I unleashed and protected me from the damages. I had felt that well of power inside me, but right now, I could barely feel a flicker. It was like the well had emptied out.
Whatever I did to kill the parasite had drained me completely.
“I'm not a dragon.” I said, hoping it was enough explanation.
Aeron blinked at me before a smile took over his face.
“We made it.” he said with relief in his tone.
We had made it. The both of us had been at a big disadvantage against the other first years. But somehow, against all odds, we had made it. While there were several people who trained for this but didn't even make it to the mouth of the cave.
Was it sheer luck or just through stubbornness? It didn't matter anymore. We were alive. We made it.
“Yes, we did.” I smiled. I took the time to run my gaze over him.
His top half was bare, revealing the multiple bruises underneath. Most of them were healed but the angry mark left behind were evident of how severe it had been. One long stare at him and I immediately knew what his mental torture had been.
Suddenly, the moment of our first meeting was loud between us. His badly burnt body and my magic healing him.
The parasite had used his almost death to torment him, the very reason he had ended up in this death college. I ground my teeth together, wishing I could go back to the cave and kill the monster all over again.
“I went back for you.” he muttered. “When the cave collapsed, I tried to use my powers to search the place but I wasn't strong enough. That girl, the Fireborn, we both tried. But we couldn't. I'm sorry.”
“You don't have to apologize. I appreciate you for trying.” I said.
Aeron shook his head. “I should have tried harder.”
I looked at him, really looked at him at that moment, and the only thing I could see was a boy who was tired of losing people. He was so young and he'd had such a burden placed on him.
I remembered Tina's words, how his mother had given her magic to save him from The Burn the first time it happened, then how he blamed himself for my ending up here.
Everyone who tried to save him was always getting hurt. Just like me.
I reminisced the multiple times my sister was punished because of me, because I didn't listen, the day she drained herself just to see me smile. Then I remembered the fear in her eyes on my birthday.
Aeron and I were similar in some ways. So I told him what I would have wanted someone to tell me, what Mae would have told me.
“None of this is your fault. The stakes have been against me the minute I was brought to the Dragon Keep. You saved me, Aeron. If I hadn't saved you that day, I would probably be dead by now. I hope you know that.”
He stared at me, his eyes glimmering with appreciation.
“She's right.”
Aeron and I glanced at the close curtain at the other side. There was no faelight there so I had assumed we were the only ones in the room. We heard someone mutter a silent curse before the curtain was drawn.
The girl at the cave sat on the bed next to mine, her face void of emotion.
“I didn't mean to interrupt but she's right. It's not your fault. If anything, it's mine.” The girl said.
I opened my mouth to counter her claim but she shook her head.
“Let me explain. I found the exit first. If I hadn't left when you saved me, we would have found it together. We would've had plenty of time to escape and all these wouldn't have happened. I owed you a life debt and I betrayed it.”
“You don't owe me anything. None of you do.” My gaze darted between the both of them, but their faces was set in grim determination.
“Dragons might be arrogant but we take our debts seriously. We really do owe you, Wolf.” she said.
I sighed when I realized there was no way I could convince them otherwise.
“Okay, but first, can we know each other's name? ‘Wolf’ isn't my name.”
The girl stared at me, a bit of hesitation in her eyes. She sucked in a sharp breath.
“Lidia.”
“I'm Eloise.” I extended my hand to her. She stared at it for so long before dragging her gaze back to my face. I let my hand fall awkwardly at my side.
“Aeron.” Aeron nodded towards the girl.
Silence echoed between us. It was clear none of us knew how to deal with this new alliance we'd just formed.
“So what's next?” I asked in an attempt to break the silence.
“The Binding.” Lidia responded.
She had barely let out another word when a scroll appeared on my lap. I flinched, accidentally knocking the scroll to the floor. I hadn't gotten used to their way of communicating in this place.
I picked up the scroll, my eyes scanning the words. It took a few trials but I finally understood the text. My heart skipped in my chest.
“What's in it?” Aeron asked. He must have noticed the instant change in my mood.
I cleared my throat and tried to keep fear out of my voice.
“The High Lords summoned me.”