Galena stared across the fire at Elenio. The heartache she associated every time she looked at him, faded to almost nothing thanks to Mira. She had been able to sleep peacefully the last couple of nights without any dreams at all. Galena counted this as a blessing, and smiled as she continued to watch Elenio eat his sweet bread with great enthusiasm.
“Hungry?” she asked, smirking at him while she chewed on a grape.
“That’s a minor understatement. If you hadn’t stopped when you did, I might have resorted to knocking you out with a big branch so I could eat,” he said winking an eye at her.
She smiled and shifted her gaze to the fire, fighting an image from the cave that came to mind.
“I know what you’re going through,” she heard Elenio say quietly.
She looked up to see Elenio staring at her, empathy written clearly on his face along with the haunted look she associated with the time she nearly killed herself using magic.
“I watched you die too. True, I didn’t think I would have to wait long before I joined you, so it wasn’t as painful, but I knew you’d left me.” He threw a small twig into the fire before he continued. “If I hadn’t had a mission, the thought that the healing waters at Mira’s View would save you, I don’t know what I would have done. I probably would have found a way to join you in the Land of the Gods.”
Galena nodded. The image of a dying Elenio swam before her eyes. She knew how close she’d come to taking her own life. Sadness swept over her as Elenio saw what she saw in his own mind.
“I wanted to die,” she choked. “If you hadn’t been in my head, I would have killed myself. I was coming very close to that point, but I heard you somewhere in the back of my mind.”
“I know. I felt it too. I couldn’t let my thoughts stay completely with you because of what you felt. Just peeking in from time to time almost destroyed me. Being commitment partners is so much deeper than just being in love. You truly feel like part of me and without that part, I couldn’t imagine going on,” he whispered. Standing up, he walked around the fire and sat behind her, putting his arms around her shoulders, and resting his chin on her head. “It’s over and I think we have both learned an important lesson.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that?” Galena asked, smiling as she placed her own hands on top of Elenio’s.
“My death was more devastating than yours.”
Galena shook her head as she elbowed Elenio in the side, causing him to chuckle. “You’re impossible.”
“And you love me, so what does that say about you?”
“That I have bigger issues than anyone realized.”
Elenio kissed the back of her head before squeezing her briefly. “No matter what, we stay together. We’re stronger together and I don’t ever want you out of my sight again. Time will ease the memories and the pain. You’ll see,” he whispered in her ear.
“Mira came to me a couple of nights ago. She gave me the gift of that time and took away my dreams. The memories are still there, but I can handle them now. That hasn’t changed my resolve though. I will never watch one of my own perish again. Not while I have life to stop it.” Galena gritted her teeth, the determination that she felt apparent in the hardness of her voice.
“Just make sure to take care of you as well. If you go, I will follow.” Elenio buried his face in her hair.
Galena turned her face so that she was looking at Elenio and kissed him gently. “I’ll do my best,” she whispered with a ghost of a smile on her face.
“How far do you think we have before we get back to the village?” Elenio asked, changing the subject abruptly.
“We’ve been traveling for about a week, so I would say about a week or two more. If we don’t have to stop at any villages like the last time, it may be quicker.”
Twoit came over and climbed onto Galena’s lap before curling up into a ball. She rested her head on her paws, closed her eyes, and fell asleep. Galena scratched the ferret’s head while she watched the fire.
“We’ll make it in time,” Elenio said, answering the question still floating around in her mind.
She smiled at his reassurance, but didn’t feel comforted by it, as he seemed to be.
“Let’s get to sleep so we can get an earlier start.”
Yawning at the thought of sleep, Galena nodded her head before quickly creating a tree bed, complete with a leaf layer for comfort. The thought of sleep no longer teased her, but called to her gently with promises of rest and renewal.
Elenio stood and offering a hand, which Galena took, pulled her to her feet. She stretched and took in her surroundings, before heading to bed where Elenio was already lying and pulling a blanket over himself. She looked up through the trees and found the stars above winking down at her with the ability to ward away the night and the evil things that hid there. She climbed into bed, pulling the blankets over her as she did. As soon as her head hit the leaves, she drifted off into a world without dreams.
Galena opened her eyes to find herself in the middle of nowhere and nothing. She noticed a dim light and found the source of it immediately. Galena was startled to see Mira, once surrounded by blinding, white light was a mere shadow of her former glory. She seemed to flicker in and out of Galena’s vision. The more Galena tried to focus, the worse the flickering became. She found that if she focused on the area around Mira, the goddess’s image stayed put a little better.
“What has happened to you?” Galena asked in horror at the goddess’s fallen state.
“Haulua grows stronger every hour. His rage has consumed him and given him more power than any of us realized. My brothers and I grow weak with our fight,” the goddess answered in a voice full of weariness.
“But you were just fine a couple of days ago,” Galena nearly shouted, panic filling her.
“Weeks, days, hours, and minutes, they are all the same to the gods. Time is different for us. I don’t have long for visits such as these. It wears on me further and I need all my strength to contain Haulua. You must hurry for the war is beginning. Rau has sent an army to put a stop to your brother and the elves he has trained. If they are to succeed in the end, you will have to be a part of the battles. Do not stop other than to rest, for your timing will almost be too short. Travel southeast and you will find them here.”
Galena saw in her mind’s eye a picture of a small valley covered in the dead grass of a retreating winter. On the nearest side, were the elves and their camp. The dark creatures consumed the far side. She knew the area, for they had traveled through it on their way to the Western woods. It was a few days journey from the village of Corista, where Tark stayed behind.
“Why have they stayed so close to the village?” Galena asked, horrified at the thought of all those dark creatures overtaking the village Tark now called home.
“That was all the further they got before they ran into Rau’s forces. He instructed them to go at a fast pace and because of the marks on their own foreheads; the dark creatures had no choice, but to obey.”
At this point, Mira began flickering so badly Galena felt sick from watching her. “You must hurry my child.” Mira flickered once more before she faded completely, leaving Galena feeling disturbed at best. How much time did they have?
* * * *
Tark rolled the map out further, placing small stones at each of the corners to examine it more closely. Morak indicated the entire southern half of the valley was covered in dark creatures with the earagos at the front. Morak’s small party picked off several smaller groups within Rau’s army, but that still left thousands of creatures to deal with. The sheer number of torlics, narooks, and other creatures Tark hadn’t even laid eyes on, let alone knew the names of, made Tark sweat profusely.
Where are you, Galena, he asked himself as he did every time he thought of what they were up against. He was bending over to see where he could sneak in more small units to do damage within the enemy’s camp, when Taura came up behind him. He felt her concern and fear as she placed her hands on his shoulders. She massaged the tired muscles of his neck and shoulders, causing a sigh to escape his lips as he leaned his head back. He closed his eyes and enjoyed his commitment partner’s onslaught against the fatigue and stress that had taken up residence in his body. Kissing the top of his head, she walked around to the other side of the table he’d set up in their tent and sat down with a flop. Sighing deeply, she propped her elbow on the armrest and placed her head on her hand as she regarded Tark.
“I take it your meeting did not go well?”
“It went as well as could be expected, all things considered. Morak says between him and his soldiers, they have dispersed of a hundred or more torlics and narooks. Although an earagos noticed them. They had to flee back to safety with the giant brute hot on their heels. Morak said the giant didn’t even try to chase them past the river, it just stood on its side of the bank and laughed at them.” Tark pinched the bridge of his nose, tiredness consuming him as he did so.
“You need to rest or you will be worthless to us,” Taura said gently.
“How can I rest when I feel like I have led all these elves to their death and with no sign of Galena yet? You do realize they outnumber us ten to one.”
Since arriving, Tark discovered the scouts’ original reports of being outnumbered two to one were grossly inaccurate. He had an army of roughly five hundred. Rau’s army numbered closer to five thousand. The scary part, in Tark’s mind, was this was less than half of Rau’s total forces. The rest of his men stayed behind at Blackwell should Tark accomplish the impossible. Definitely, overkill, Tark thought dryly.
“You still need rest,” Taura said reasonably.
Tark looked at Taura, feeling annoyed, but realizing she was right.
“Morgo can manage anything urgent while you rest.”
“Wake me...”
“I’ll wake you if anything important comes up or if anything changes. Now, get some sleep.” She stood, rolling up the maps and tucked them up under her arm. Walking over to Tark and tilting his face so she was looking directly into his eyes, whispered, “I love you. Sleep well.” Taura kissed him softly and walked out of the tent, closing the flap behind her.
He stared for some time at the inside of the tent, reminiscing how his life had been just a year ago. If anyone had told him he would be leading a small army into a battle against Rau, he would have laughed and sent them off to a healer. Now as it was, he was unsure of himself and desperate for Galena’s return.
He awoke with a jarring crash when his chair had tipped over, spilling him unceremoniously to the floor. Tark looked around, startled and unsure of where he was. It took a moment for him to remember he was no longer in his comfortable tree house, but inside a large tent. Apparently, more tired than even he realized, if falling asleep while in mid thought wasn’t a problem. Shaking his head wearily, he slowly stood, stretching his arms and legs in the process. He rubbed his eyes and walked over to his bed.
The magic elves decided, reasonably, that creating tree homes for everyone right at the edge of the battlefield would be a poor use of their power and it would be best if their energy were put to use on defenses and preparing their weapons for battle. However, they created the large tents and hammocks for the entire army, using materials they brought and prepared specially in the village prior to coming here. It proved convenient and useful when an entire camp with room enough for everyone was constructed in a couple of hours. The underground elves had come a long way in a short amount of time.
Tark sat wearily at the edge of his hammock. It had taken him several attempts to be able to sit on the blasted material without being dumped on the ground in an undignified pile. Indeed, the first time he tried it, he found himself flying backward and conking the back of his head so hard on the ground, he saw stars. He remembered it had been quite some time for Taura to quit laughing before she was able to ask if he was alright and then to retrieve Morgo when he had trouble responding. He was getting to be as bad as Galena. He managed to get his shoes off before flopping back onto the hammock where he fell asleep almost instantly.
Tark rolled over to his side, and bumped into Taura. Lifting his head slightly, he looked around and saw it was now night. Feeling slightly alarmed, he sat up waking Taura in the process.
“Lie back down. We have posted guards and they will be replaced every hour. There is nothing you can do right now. Nothing has happened and no one needs your immediate attention, so go back to sleep.” She rolled over facing away from him before resuming her own slumber.
Tark looked at her, watching the slow rise and fall of her shoulder, knowing it was unlikely she would remember telling him any of this. Smiling and settling back down, he closed his eyes and felt himself begin to drift off once more when he heard a faint voice somewhere in the back of his mind. Tark strained to hear it as it faded. The words came together in his mind and he struggled to make sense of them until finally, it clicked.
She comes. Prepare yourself for the battle is about to begin.
Feeling extremely unsettled with the prospect of fighting the next day, for he was sure that was what Mira meant; he rolled over and wrapped a protective arm around Taura before drifting off into a fitful slumber.
* * * *
Galena sat up with the first rays of light shining on her face. Flipping her blankets back, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and lowering herself to the ground, grabbed a bowl from her pack, and filled it with water. Thinking of Tark, she saw him surrounded by different elves, among them were Fala, Morgo, Morak, Nina, Taura, and several others she did not recognize. It looked like they were inside a large tent, which made sense considering what Mira told her the night before. The army of elves would have surely left the village and were now on their way to the battle for which Galena must be present at if they were to come out victorious.
Putting down the bowl, Galena reached for her pack and created several loaves of bread, cheese, and some fruit. Most of it she put back in their packs, but left out a couple small loaves for their morning meal. Shaking Elenio awake before she pulled off the blankets to pack as well, she tossed him a loaf of bread, which he barely caught.
“What’s the rush?” he asked before yawning widely.
“The battle is about to begin. Tark has already started toward the army Rau sent out.” She shoved the blankets into their packs, and grabbing Twoit around the middle, placed the tiny ferret on top of her blanket, and flipped the flap over.
Elenio sat up, looking alarmed. “How did you find that out?”
“Mira told me in a vision and then I checked in the mirror waters.” Galena strapped the Sword of Lumina to her waist. Bending over, she retrieved Elenio’s blade and tossed it to him. He caught it with more success than the bread and quickly prepared himself to go as well. “I hope you slept well because we have a great deal of ground we need to cover today.” Galena looked grimly at Elenio who returned the look, biting off a chunk of bread as he did so. Sweeping his arm in a wide manner, he bowed his head, indicating he expected her to lead the way.
They alternated between walking and running through the entire day and into the night. Never stopping as Mira suggested. Galena told Elenio of her latest encounter with Mira, and found he was just as disturbed by the goddess’s appearance or lack of appearance as she had been earlier. The urgency she felt was catching and Elenio pushed on as well, both hesitant to even stop late in the night to sleep for a couple of hours.
“We have to or we’re not going to get very far tomorrow. If I remember correctly, we still have a couple days ahead of us until we reach the valley Mira indicated they would be.”
“I know. I just hate the thought of Tark going into battle without us, or I should say without me. I still have some revenge I’d like to take out on those great hulking beasts for the strangle hold they put on me,” Elenio said, a faraway look on his face.
“I already took care of those,” Galena said smirking. She put the protective barriers around them while creating a bed for them.
“Well, we can’t all be hugely powerful so I’ll have to take my revenge on the ones I come across and pretend they’re the same ones.”
Galena rolled her eyes at this statement. She bit off a piece of cheese and climbed into the bed, not even bothering with a blanket. The days were starting to get warmer. With the ring of fire and air hut, it was almost too warm. Elenio climbed in beside her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him. Galena threw an arm around his waist after she stuffed the rest of her cheese in her mouth. She chewed quietly, listening to the sound of Elenio’s breath becoming slow and regular, assuring her he’d fallen asleep. The words of Mira rang through her mind as she too drifted into slumber.
Much sooner than she would have normally arose, Galena sat up, the urgency she felt the day before increased tenfold. She assumed this was a feeling sent from Mira because it served as a convenient wake up call. Judging by the dim light surrounding them, it was just before dawn.
Shaking Elenio gently until he began to stir, she once again made ready for their long journey. If we can keep the same pace as we did yesterday, we might make it to the battle on time, Galena thought.
She heard Elenio groan as he rolled over and sat up. Swinging his legs over the edge, he stretched his arms high into the air while yawning widely. Galena watched him grimace when he stood.
“Oh, I’m stiff,” he moaned more to himself. He continued to stretch his legs and arms, bending this way and that in order to stretch the tired muscles in his back.
Galena thought of the muscles repairing themselves from running the day before and quickened up the pace of it, so relief replaced the grimace Elenio wore just moments before. She did the same to her own muscles, the same relief buzzed through her own body.
“Are you up to getting energized again?” Galena asked while she packed their belongings.
“Are you kidding? With the workout we had yesterday and the two hours of sleep last night, I wasn’t sure how far we would make it today. I think that’s a great idea.”
Nodding in agreement, Galena thought of life giving energy flowing into their blood. Instantly, she felt more alive, her senses were more alert. The blue sky looked brighter and the trees surrounding them were richer brown. She took a deep breath and noticed even the air smelled sweeter. Galena felt she could run for hours, days, or even weeks. Looking at Elenio, she saw the same alert expression on his face.
He smiled at her and reaching down to grab his sword and scabbard, strapped them around his waist as Galena collected the rest of their things.
“Remember this won’t last forever, so we need to be someplace safe when we come down from the energy burst.” Galena looked around and seeing the direction of the sun, headed off at an incredible sprint with Elenio on her heels.
That day and the majority of the night, they covered twice as much ground as they had the day before. Galena believed she could go on running through the night and the next day, but Elenio proved to be the voice of reason on this matter.
“We could, but the crash that’s going to follow this huge burst of energy will be even harder on our bodies. We have to rest for a least a short while and get something to eat,” he responded to her unspoken thoughts.
Galena was annoyed, but agreed, knowing he was right. Grabbing Twoit from her pack, she put the ferret on the ground. She noticed the ferret was still half-asleep so she proceeded to get the food and campfire ready.
Elenio grabbed a couple pieces of fruit from his own pack, tossing an apple to Galena, which she nearly missed because she hadn’t been paying attention.
“Hey, next time warn me,” she said grouchily at him.
To which he tossed another apple at her, succeeding in smacking her in the back of the head. She turned to glare at him and found him smiling broadly down at her.
“Ooops.”
“Ooops this,” she said under breath. Standing quickly, she flung her hand in the air, directing the wind up and under Elenio, and raising him high into the air. She directed the air toward a tree, noting the reaction Elenio had by covering his face with his arms, and yelling for her to put him down all the while. Instead of slamming him into the tree as he obviously thought she was about to do, she made the wind deposit him on the highest branch that would support his weight. Keeping the wind there and ready in case he should lose his balance, she looked up at him and returned his previous smile with a wide one of her own. “Have fun getting down.” She turned and walked back to the campfire, retrieved the apple he had hit her in the head with, and took a giant bite before sitting down to watch Elenio’s slow progress climbing out of the tree.
After a short while, Galena gave in to Elenio’s grumblings when he got half way down from his previous position. She sent a gust of wind to help him the rest of the way to the ground. She had the wind drop him on his butt though, making her feel better about giving in and helping him in the first place.
“You used to be a lot more fun before you used magic for everything,” he said, still wearing a sour expression on his face.
“Like I said before, a lot more fun for you maybe, but I’m enjoying it this way.” Galena crawled over and sat down beside him, handing him a piece of sweet bread.
He ripped off a chunk, still glowering at the campfire. “Do you think, if you defeat Rau, and you had better beat him, I’ll be able to do magic too?”
“I don’t know. I’ve thought about it, but I don’t know the answer. I guess we’ll find out if we succeed. I’m trying not to think that far ahead. It feels like I’m setting myself up for failure if I do.”
Elenio jerked his head once in response to this. They continued eating in silence until they finished. Deciding that it would be pointless to create a bed just for a couple of hours, they slept on the ground that night.
The next morning rays greeted Galena and Elenio as they continued their race through the forest. They ran on, determination and the knowledge that they may not make it before the crash from the energizing hit them, kept them going at a relentless pace. They continued through the day once more, sleeping a couple of hours during the night and starting before the morning dawned on the third day. It was halfway through this morning, when they heard the sound they dreaded. The clash of swords and the sound of creatures dying. Looking grimly at Elenio as they raced, Galena picked up the pace and ran faster than she ever had. Tark was out there.