Moirai
Chapter 20

It was largecircular room, just as freezing as the corridor had been. A big, round redcarpet with purple tassels at the edge covered the floor. Other than that theonly furniture or ornamentation was a gilt chair – well, really it was a throne– sitting on a raised secant at the far end, and a pair of dark green curtainscovering a seemingly flat section of the wall. For a brief instant, I wonderedwhat was behind them, but then my focus was taken up utterly by the figureperched lazily on the throne

“You took yourtime, Alnya.” Indina droned, her eyes lighting up and a sinister grin growingon her face, though she didn’t look at us. “I was nearly about to send somemore Erkings to fetch you to me. Yousee, I was afraid you had run away, despite all my efforts.”

For a moment, I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able toreplace my voice, as had happened almost every time in my dreams, but after a fewmoments I said, “Of course not. You kidnapped Mayran, for one thing.”

“Ah, yes.”Indina purred, sounding delighted. “I had almost forgotten about him.”

A statementwhich was obviously false, as I knew she had caught him in the first place touse against me.

Indina clappedher hands together twice – for dramatic effect – and the green curtains pulledback. My hands flew to my mouth, though whether it was to stifle a gasp...or ascream...I didn’t know.

He hung at leasta metre off the ground; his wrists and ankles were red with blood from wherethe manacles had cut into his skin. There were bruises all over his face and ashallow but long cut on his arm that looked as though it had been recentlyinflicted. Blessedly, it seemed as though he was unconscious, so he was notfeeling the pain. Beside me, Loni let out a sort of horrified squeak.

“As you can see,I’ve treated him well.”

Indina’s voicetore my eyes away from the terrible sight and back to her. She was watching menow, studying my every reaction and probably loving my distress like thesadistic hag she was.

“Why have youdone this to him?” I demanded, taking a step towards her in my anger.

She grinned atme widely. “This is what would always happen whenever dear Mayran was naughty.It’s the only way to teach a lesson after all...and have it stick: with bruteforce. I agree it is an ugly method, but believe me, I tried everything else.”

Her voice was solight, so dramatically tragic that my fear was burnt away by a startlinglyintense wave of white-hot anger. I took a deep breath, knowing that I couldn’tafford to do anything impulsive. She could kill me in a heartbeat if shedecided. No, she wasn’t telling the whole truth about why Mayran hadbeen...tortured. It was designed to unhinge me, to unsettle me.

And I couldn’tlet her know that it had worked.

Deliberately notlooking at Mayran, I said very slowly, “I am going to kill you, Indina. I amgoing to make sure you can never poison Renenta or its people again.”

She regarded mewith an almost child-like curiosity. “Have you ever killed anyone, Alnya? Haveyou ever really thought about taking someone’s life?”

“No, I haven’t.But that doesn’t matter; you’re not fully alive anyway.” I retorted, trying notto let my uncertainty enter my voice. Indina had just asked me the samequestion I had been asking myself for weeks, and I still hadn’t come up with ananswer. I had reached the point where I thought that if I couldn’t do it whenthe moment arose, then I would never be able to do it and the whole thing washopeless anyway.

“Is that whatKasanda told you? Ugh, that stupid Dryad! She just thinks everything is soclear. Black and white. Good and evil. Did she even tell you what I want to dofor Renenta?”

“Yes. She toldme that you want auraics to be the upper class and all those without auras tobe their slaves.”

“’Our’ slaves.”She corrected. “You’re an aurae, too.”

“I know that.” Isnapped. “I was making it clear that I am not the same as you. Whenever peoplewho are different from others decide that they are better, things end badly.”

“But we are better than them.” She countered,standing up now and approaching me. I resisted the urge to take a step back.She was a very good actress; her face now was glowing with some sort of sickhope and her eyes were downcast in a humble gesture, but I knew it was allfake. “We were blessed by the Great Aura herself. Part of her lies within us,Alnya. Doesn’t that mean we are meant to rule over those who were not blessed?”

“No! It means weare meant to help and protect them!”

Indina laughedand the innocent look vanished in a blink, to be replaced by one of evilamusement; she was done trying to trick me. “So you’ve finally absorbed whatKasanda and Mayran tried to teach you, have you? Well, you’re too late!”

Before I couldeven move, she pulled a knife from a hidden pocked in her dress. I flinched,expecting a blow any second and knowing that I wouldn’t have time to use myaura to protect myself.

But she didn’tstrike me.

Loni’s screamalerted me first, and I followed the knife with my eyes as it flew handle overblade...

And imbedded itselfinto Mayran’s chest.

I tasted bloodas the skin on the back of my throat burst with the strength of my scream.

My wrists werebeing gripped, my path to him blocked. Her red eyes were aglow with the fouljoy she felt.

We must haveboth used our auras at the same time, because a few seconds later we werepicking ourselves up from opposite sides of the room.

“Loni!” I cried,but she had already made her way to Mayran. Indina wasn’t concerned with her;she had begun the fight, and now that was all she cared about.

“Shall I testyou, Alnya?” Indina asked, almost breathless. I felt ill at the thought of howmuch she was enjoying this. “Would you like three Trials again? Well, we’vealready had our battle of wits, haven’t we? So...”

She closed hereyes briefly and a sword materialised itself in her hand, first the handle andhilt, then the blade. I wasn’t surprised to see that it was a highly ornateblade; rubies in the hilt and the metal shining like a mirror.

I unsheathed myown sword, which looked small and pathetic when compared with hers. But at thatmoment, I didn’t care. I didn’t care that she had decades more training thanme. That she had a greater aura on her side and would definitely cheat. Thatshe wanted my death to be slow, full of suffering.

All rationalthoughts like that had left my head as soon as she had killed Mayran.

We met in thedirect centre of the room, the clang of our swords echoing around the walls andcoming back to us tauntingly. I had been right; she was good, very good. Farbetter and quicker than Centurion. However I was fuelled by anger and morefocussed than I had ever been. I gave as good as I got.

She didn’t tryanything fatal, aiming for my legs and arms rather than my chest or head. Warmblood dripped down my left calf from where, at some point in our mad frenzy,metal had sliced it. I barely even felt the pain.

Then suddenly,the sword was thrown from my hand and I felt myself flying backwards once againto hit the wall, pinned against it by Indina’s aura.

The force of theblow made my head ache and whirl, and I blinked several times to bring the roomback into focus. Again, the pain was barely registered; all I thought of wasthe uncomfortable hindrance to my senses.

“Next we’ll testthe strength of your aura, shall we?” Indina asked, her eyes fixed on me, hersword nowhere to be seen.

Breathingheavily, I summoned my aura to the forefront of my mind and threw all mystrength behind it into a barrage against Indina’s.

Her auraic powerwas also far greater than Centurion’s and for the first time in several minutesI felt truly scared; that battle had left me unconscious and weak for over aday...would this one kill me?

If it killedIndina as well, it was worth it. I had failed Mayran anyway, I wouldn’t failRenenta.

Minutes passed. Sweatbeaded on my forehead and started to run in little rivulets down to my templeand still, I couldn’t move, while Indina showed no signs of the invisiblestruggle going on between us. I could tell that she was using her full aura,and it was massive. I could feel itenveloping my aura and it hurt in a horrifically personal way.

I feltconstricted, as though I was being squeezed from every direction at once. Itbecame difficult to breathe; a fact which was not helped by my flaggingstrength.

“Give up, littlegirl.” Indina taunted. “I did hope that you would put up more of a fight,considering the amount of fuss everyone has been making about you. But oh well,you entertained me for a little while.”

Her eyeshardened and a sadistic grin grew on her face. The pressure around me and myaura grew and my concentration lapsed as the pain reached a peak. Gasping forbreath, I knew that this was it. Loni would be killed also and Renenta wouldfall into ruin.

After everything...I fail at the finishline.

No, I will not allow it!

The wordsappeared in my mind, but not in my voice. The voice was definitely female, andcommanding. Powerful and firm and...warm.

Somethinghappened.

I didn’t know whereit came from, but suddenly I felt a blast of energy flow through me, magnifyingmy aura even though I had thought I was running on empty. But no...this wasn’tmy aura. It was another’s...something’s...coherent thought failed me as thestrange aura melded with mine. I floated, losing all sense of individuality.

Our aura wrappedaround Indina like a lover’s embrace. We were released from the wall.

Indina was nolonger grinning. She had a panicked look on her face; her eyes were wide andslightly mad, her hands tensed into claws, the veins on her neck bulging.

“What is goingon? How are you able to do this?” She screeched, her voice raspy.

We slowly walkedover to her.

Out hand went toout waist, where we pulled the dagger that the Praesul had given us from itssheath. It glinted in the dull candlelight, as though it knew that its purposewould be fulfilled.

Indina turned tous, now fear rather than panic in her eyes.

“This...this wasnot supposed to happen. He promised. Hepromised me! I was the one to carry out the plan!” she screamed, backingaway. We followed.

We spoke.“Indina, you have committed more crimes than I care to list. More blood is onyour hands than on even your mentor’s, yet at least. You have breathed yourlast.” At those words, a flash of recognition flew across her expression,followed by terror.

Out arm reachedback and plunged the dagger through her heart.

A scream, echoedaround the room.

Then thestrangest thing happened to Indina.

She began todissolve, her body decaying before out very eyes to nothing more than a corpse,then a faded skeleton...then even that disintegrated into dust until there wasnothing to even suggest that a woman had stood there mere moments ago.

“Alnya!”

Loni’s cry madeus turn.

“What is it, Inventrix?”

She gave us a quizzicallook. “What?” But then she seemed to forget the strangeness of the situation asshe looked back at Mayran. “Can you save him? He is not gone yet...maybe youcan...”

Our voice cuther off. “Yes. He cannot die here.”

We strodepurposefully over to where Loni had somehow gotten him out of the shackles andonto the ground. He lay on his back, skin pale as snow. The cuts had stoppedbleeding; a clear sign of a weak and fading heart. Our own hammered loudly inour chest.

The knife stillstuck its hilt out of his skin. Our hand reached down and gripped it, pullingit out in one swift movement then laying our palm over the wound. We felt ouraura being used in conjunction with his, healing, mending, fixing.

His breathingstarted up again, although he remained unconscious. However, we knew that itwas just sleep.

Just as suddenlyas our merge had occurred, we were two separate beings again.

Goodbye for now, brave one. The samevoice as before whispered. You do notremember, but this is not our first meeting, nor will it be our last. Untilthen...

Then the beingwas gone and my mind and body were my own again.

Immediately, they gave out on me and I collapsed intowarm, inky blackness.