“I just need to call on the jail keep,” Ivan said calmly. He inhaled slowly and let out a slur of elvish words. In a matter of moments a blue light, much the same as those that spread like lightning when they lit the place, emerged in the hallway wall near Nadir’s cell.
The blue light emanating from within the wall formed into a person, an elf. Anders didn’t understand the elvish language, but he could understand the situation occurring. Ivan held out the letter to the blue elf in the wall, placing it in the elf’s hands. He let go and the light held the paper in place as it read. Ivan spoke to the figure and when he finished, the blue-light elf vanished, taking the letter with it.
“What happened? Did it work?” Anders asked.
Before Ivan could answer, Nadir’s cell door sprung open with an echoing pop. Anders smiled as Nadir stepped freely from his prison cell. Nadir’s expression remained cold and Anders quickly hid his joy in seeing him set free.
“Let’s go,” Ivan said.
As Nadir and Ivan took their first steps toward the exit, Anders hesitated to follow when he heard a familiar sound. The boorish bellowing returned. This time it sounded directly in front of them. Whatever it was, it had broken free and was roaming the halls. And from what Anders could tell, it had sniffed them out.
Anders’ hand shot to the sword hanging from his hip. Keanu’s blade, Nadir had given him. Somehow the blade no longer felt empty as it had that morning. The steel once again felt whole as he gripped its hilt. Anders came alongside Ivan and Nadir, whispering, “It’s found us, whatever it is.”
Ivan nodded, his jaw clenched and eyes burning a mean glare into the dimly lit corridor. “Get behind us,” he said to Nadir, motioning him to take cover behind them.
Ivan and Anders stood at the ready, blades drawn for whatever evil monster headed their way. Suddenly Anders heard the clacking of claws on the stone floor. The deep, steady breathing of something large edged its way closer into the light. Anders held his breath as the beast came into view. At first, all he could see were two scarlet eyes glowing in the darkness.
Please don’t let it be a dragon, please don’t let it be a dragon, Anders thought to himself. It was bad enough that there was already one evil dragon in the world that he’d soon have to face. He didn’t want to have to face another down here in the dungeon and without Zahara.
A set of gleaming fangs came into view, glinting in the dull blue light as they hung fiercely under the glowing red eyes. Anders held his breath and gripped his sword tightly, bracing himself for an attack. A dark snout, covered in black and gray fur came into the blue light. An enormous head and large pointed ears followed the glinting white fangs and glowing red eyes. The dark hair of a fairnheir came fully into view. It roared a vicious bark.
In a flash, the giant hound bolted into a full sprint at them. Anders raised his sword prepared to deliver a deadly swing once the beast was upon them. He hardly noticed that Ivan was still standing next to him when the fairnheir leapt off its large paws and into the air.
Anders brought down his sword, swinging ferociously at the assailing beast. Lazuran cut effortlessly through the air as it swung. Where he’d normally expected his sword to dig into flesh and bone, it didn’t. His blade continued to swing through the air and he nearly toppled over frontward as he followed through. Ivan’s swing was almost identically timed with Anders’ and he, too, went stumbling into the empty space between them and the attacking fairnheir.
Anders quickly tried to make sense of the situation. He saw the beast, locked motionless in the air before them, midway on its descending pounce. Anders and Ivan’s defensive sword swings would have hit their mark, but the beast failed to complete its advance. Something was blocking it from reaching them, holding the creature frozen in the air.
To his surprise, Anders could see a halo of red light encapsulating the fairnheir. He followed the source of red light down to the hilt of his sword. The large sapphire crystal embedded into the pommel of Keanu’s sword shone brilliantly as the beam of light advanced from Lazuran. Anders clutched the hilt tightly; it seemed to be humming with energy and he thought he could hear a faint whisper.
“Anders! What, how are you…?” Ivan exclaimed, and stopped when he too heard the whispers floating through the quiet corridor.
Anders looked to his left meeting Ivan’s concerned gaze when suddenly he noticed the girl in the cell behind them. She glowed a faint red, as she hung, floating several feet above the stone slab in her cell. Anders gasped as he saw the girl’s dark black eyes transfixed on the sword, her tattooed hands held open out in front of her. She whispered in a dialect he didn’t recognize.
The girl’s face angled slightly as she cocked her head to face Anders. “Go,” she said in a voice much too low for a child of her age.
Anders hesitated, but Ivan grabbed him by the scruff of his collar and forced him on as Nadir followed them safely around the encapsulated fairnheir.
They returned down the corridor twice as fast as they had come. Nadir remained unfazed by the physical exertion it took to hurry back such a great distance, while Anders and Ivan panted heavily when they reached the room at the base of the stairs.
“This. Way,” Ivan said between breaths as he pointed to the stairs that led out of the prison.
Anders looked down at the hilt of his sword, no longer glowing. He could hear the pounding of the fairnheir’s paws sprinting through the corridor after them. Rushing through the trap door, Ivan stomped the door closed with his boot as Anders was the last to exit.
“Who was that?” Anders asked as he bent over, hands on his knees, gasping for air.
Ivan shrugged, “Someone or something very powerful to be able to use magic while placed under guard in the elvish prison.”
Nadir nodded, “I’ve only heard rumors of her existence. She’s of the Norfolk people in the north and it’s said she’s been locked down there for hundreds of years.”
“How did she do that with my sword?” Anders asked, looking at Lazuran as he spoke.
Ivan stared at Anders for a moment, then turned to Nadir, “How much did Keanu know about that sword?”
Nadir shook his head, “I’m not sure. I wasn’t present when he was given the blade. I do know that he wasn’t aware of the sapphire’s power. To my knowledge, nobody was.”
Ivan paused, thinking over the possibility of the blade’s powers, “Come on, we must hurry if we’re going to find Lageena.”.
Anders wanted to say, But what about the girl? Isn’t there something we can do to help her? But he knew they wouldn’t know how to help her. He didn’t even know what she’d been locked up for. All he knew was that she’d helped them escape and she was most likely going to be punished for it. He wished there was something he could do, but he knew he’d have to return another time if he was going to be effective at rescuing her.
As Anders followed Nadir and Ivan to the door of the elven court building he realized the darkness of night had begun to fade. Dawn had started to peak in through the cracks in the doorway. How long were we down there? he wondered.
Ivan pushed open the doors and saw the sun rising to the east, “Dang,” he spat. “We’ve been gone too long.”
Anders reached out to Zahara. She’d already been searching for him so their connection was quick.
Where have you been? she asked, sounding worried.
Ivan and I were in the elven prison, freeing Nadir. We were down there much longer than we thought, he said. What’s been happing up here? Did you find Lageena?”
An uncommonly long silence occurred between his question and her answer. Finally she said, No. She’s escaped.
Chapter 37
Growth, Displacement, Expel
“What do you mean she’s escaped?!” Nadir shouted when Anders relayed the message Zahara had given him.
Anders shrugged, “I’m not sure how, but that’s what Zahara’s told me.”
