“Are you alright?” he managed to stammer as she pulled him back up to sit at her side. Her smile beamed and he felt a glowing about her that he hadn’t known she possessed.
Maija rose to her feet and lifted her shirt to examine the area where the dagger had penetrated her ribs. The hole where blood had seeped out was gone, replaced with healthy, smooth skin. “I feel amazing,” she said, helping Anders to his feet.
“But what was that brilliant flash of light?” Anders asked. Maija continued to smile and took a step back to stand near Raffa’s enormous face. Anders looked at them for a moment, trying to understand why they stared at him and Zahara in silence.
A voice came into his mind, They’ve bonded.
“You bonded?” Anders asked, wavering in his stance. His head felt light and the energy Zahara had pumped into his body to keep him from slipping over the edge was only just enough to keep him from passing out.
Maija nodded eagerly and Anders looked to Zahara, But how did you know they’d bonded? Zahara tilted her head at him. From her reaction, Anders added, Didn’t you just tell me they had bonded?
No, Zahara said. I came back in time to see you giving away your life to heal her. I had enough extra energy to bring you back. Raffa was there, too, and he used his magic to bring Maija out of her shock. After that, I was focused on you. That light was just as alarming to me as it was to you.
But who just told me that they had bonded? Anders asked her.
I did, the voice came again and this time Anders could hear the distinct male attributes of the mental vibrato.
Anders spun around, looking in all directions for whoever was speaking to them. He didn’t recognize the voice, yet somehow it felt familiar to him.
“Who said that?” Maija asked, suddenly more anxious.
“You heard it too?” Anders asked.
She nodded, as did Raffa and Zahara.
“Who are you!?” Anders shouted, reaching a shaking hand down and picking up Lazuran. “Show yourself!”
I’m afraid I cannot do that, the sturdy voice replied, reminding Anders of the noble way in which the late King Asmond used to speak.
“And why is that?” Anders asked, still searching for the source of the voice.
Why, because I’m stuffed into this stone, of course. You wouldn’t ask a dragon to become a dwarf, would you? Besides, none of you possess the power required for me to be revealed, especially in your current state.
Anders frowned, looking at his sword. He looked down to the pommel in the hilt and saw it was glowing brighter than it had before. Dropping it, he backed away, saying, “What the?”
That was rude, the voice said. Here I thought you would’ve been surprised to have such a key asset at your fingertips, pardon the pun.
When Maija stepped closer to Lazuran Anders warned, “Maija, be careful! We don’t know what kind of magic is possessing that thing.”
She hesitated and the blade spoke to them again, Let me introduce myself. I am Tarron Pintler, chair of the Alliance of Independent Riders, son of Orrian Pintler, creator of the High Council of Elves, and right hand to the leader of our order. I assume you’ve heard of me. How can I be of assistance?
Anders looked to Zahara. She shook her head, indicating she had never heard of him before. Anders slowly bent down and picked up Lazuran. Holding it between his thumb and forefingers like a dead mouse, Anders responded to the crystal, None of us knows what any of that means. I don’t know how you came to be in that stone, but we don’t have much time to deal with this right now. We are in the middle of a war.
Tarron sighed, I thought this might be happening. All those years being shut away without use.
“What’s that?” Anders asked.
I first felt life after someone layered magic in over the top of me. I was trying to make my presence known, but before I could, the magic ran out, indicating the crystal wasn’t in use, but I still tried to reach out to anyone nearby. Then a short while ago I felt the magic again and I knew someone had found me again. I called out, this time knowing I was heard. But that’s strange that you didn’t know, because you figured out that only the power of a bonding in my crystal’s presence can summon me.
“Wait, so you’re the voice I’ve been hearing?” Anders asked. “That wasn’t some part of Merglan that was calling to me, it was you?”
Well I don’t know who this Merglan fellow is, but essentially yes. If you have had my crystal with you as of late, you would have been the one to hear my calls.
Anders gripped the blade again, no longer fearing the mind inside the sapphire. He slid the sword into its scabbard and said to the others, “We should get moving. I didn’t like how the army gathering in the plains looked to be marching to battle.”
“You’re right. We should make sure Kirsten and the others are safe before we do anything else. Who knows what other assassins Merglan has sent after them,” Maija said.
Might I ask who you are at war with? Tarron said, inserting himself into their conversation.
“Look, Tarron, unless you can tell us how to wipe out a nation of orcs or show us how to use corrupted magic to our benefit, I would appreciate it if you let us alone until we can figure this mess out,” Anders said. He saw the look Zahara gave him and knew the comment was blunt, but after what Anders had just dealt with and done, he couldn’t help but feel on edge.
Well, I don’t know any one sure way to kill thousands upon thousands of orcs, but I do know quite a bit about magic and altering its properties.
Anders walked the short distance to where Ivan’s body had fallen. He stared down at the man who he had known to be the embodiment of honor and what was right in this world. He looked at the fallen king as he lay dead with a dagger in his chest.
What happened to him? Tarron asked.
“Tarron, a little privacy. That was his father.” Maija said, irritated at his indecency.
When he didn’t respond, Anders knelt down and grabbed the hilt of the dagger. Quickly he pulled the blade from Ivan’s chest and turned away from him, walking back to Maija, Raffa and Zahara. Tossing it to the ground before them, Anders said, “Alright then, Tarron Pintler. Show us how to safely harvest this crystal’s energy and transfer it into yours.”
For some reason, I sense that you have some knowledge of how to do this already, Tarron said. But as I can tell that you four are exhausted and in desperate need of healing, I will oblige. It will take some time. Not many sorcerers are able to alter the property of magic. It takes a toll on your emotions as well.
“Just do it,” Anders said, drawing Lazuran and thrusting it tip fist into the dirt next to the dagger. He then walked several paces away from them.
As Anders waited for Tarron to alter the energy in Ivan’s dagger to a substance safe for them to use, he stared into the evening light in the forest. He replayed Ivan’s death in his mind, searching for anything that he could’ve done differently to prevent it from happening. Zahara came to his side and lay down next to him. She didn’t speak, feeling his sorrow and knowing his pain. She hadn’t witnessed what had occurred between them, but she shared an emotional connection with Anders and could feel everything that was happening as it played out.
Maija came to his side next. Anders felt her hand taking his and she wrapped her other arm around his, bringing her head to rest on his shoulder. Whispering, she said, “You had to do it, Anders. He was going to kill me.”
