Sahara Ashdell: Rebirth of Patreek (Book 3)
Chapter 10: The Reason

Sahara throws the necklace across the locker room as she enters and screams. She paces the floor for a moment before she notices she can only faintly feel the presence of the holes around her. It isn’t like it was before when they felt so strong. She attempts to do a portaling spell through one of the diamond-shaped holes, and to her surprise, it works. She replaces herself standing just outside the locker room, looking toward the Plorksol field. She sighs in some relief that she hasn’t lost her magic completely. “Why is it so weak?” She asks herself, trying to focus on the diamond shape holes around her, but the plorksol players talking are distracting her.

“Sahara!” Phylan yells at her and motions for her to come join the practice. She glances over toward Brystol, who is giving her a look of concern. She then notices Savanah standing next to Brystol in practice clothes. She shakes her head, realizing Savanah is there to try out as she moves toward the field.

“Where is your necklace?” Bularia asks after Sahara arrives back in her room after showering. “I have never seen you without it.” Sahara grasps for the necklace under her dress, realizing she must have left it in the locker room. “Did you lose it?” Bularia asks, looking concerned.

“No.” Sahara says, closing her eyes in aggravation. “I took it off for practice.” She didn’t even realize she wasn’t wearing it. The pull of the holes around her was not even noticeable, and she shakes her head, realizing something is terribly wrong with her. “I need to go get it.” She says before leaving the room to walk down to the Plorksol locker room to replace where she threw it earlier. She stops in the empty stairwell, looking around before she attempts to teleport to the locker room. To her delight, she is able to teleport to the locker room just fine. She smiles as she replaces the necklace. She sighs in aggravation as she notices the broken chain on it. She broke it earlier when she ripped it off her neck. She silently attempts a repair spell, but nothing happens. “Paityaneclo.” She says as she points to the break in the chain. She sees the break begin to mend but then stops halfway. Since her spell only mended the break partially, she casts the spell aloud again, and it fully mends the break this time. Instead of placing the necklace around her neck, she slides it into her pocket. She feels angry as she steps outside the locker room, and she screams as loudly as she can, trying to release some of her anger. She screams one more time and shakes her body, trying to replace relief from her anger. A few moments later, when she feels better, she turns to leave but jumps as she notices an elf watching her.

“Hi.” Savanah says with a half-smile.

“What are you doing out here?” Sahara asks, looking around, making sure no one else has seen her.

“I forgot my plorbands.” Savanah points to her bands lying on a bench next to the field. “You looked like you were in the middle of something, and I didn’t want to disturb you.”

“huh.” Sahara says, not really wanting to speak anymore as she begins to walk back towards Malorsty.

“Sahara!” She rolls her eyes as she hears Savanah calling out toward her, and she keeps walking without turning around. “Maybe we could walk together!” Savanah says, catching up to her.

“Sure.” She says politely. “We do bunk together now and eat together.”

“Indeed,” Savanah replied.

“Though, I do replace it odd that we look so much alike. Do you not?” Sahara asks, looking thoughtfully over at Savanah.

Savanah looks at her with a smile. “Well, it is one of the reasons they chose me.”

“What do you mean?” Sahara asks, confused by Savanah’s words.

“As your…” Savanah stops talking as she looks over at Sahara, and her smile suddenly leaves her face. “Wait, don’t you know?”

Sahara stops and turns to face Savanah as she asks, “Know what?”

“Uh.” Savanah stops with Sahara and looks toward Malorsty. “I just assumed you knew.”

“Obviously I do not.” Sahara says, waiting for Savanah to tell her.

“I am your decoy.” Savanah says slowly.

“My…” Sahara shakes her head in disbelief.

“The Aran found me and sent me here to learn to be like you so that when needed, I could pretend to be you.”

“Ah.” She replies uncaringly before she continues to walk toward the Academy. “I am always the last to know things.” The pair remain silent as they walk back into the academy. It is dinner time, so they make their way up to the banquet hall level.

Brystol is already seated at their table, and they join him. “Hi Cundu!” Savanah says bubbly.

“Hey. And please just call me Brystol?” He replies with a polite smile before looking toward Sahara with a worried expression.

“What?” Sahara asks, annoyed.

“Have you told Verdiwild?”

“Told him what?” Sahara asks, not knowing what he means.

“About your…” He looks around and quiets his voice, “issues.”

“I don’t have issues.” She says, knowing that he is referring to her depleting powers.

“Really?” Brystol says with a disbelieving huff. “So we are just going to ignore that your powers are extremely weak?” He turns toward her with his quiet words.

“I am not weak.” She lies wanting him to just leave her alone. “But did you know your father sent a decoy for me?” She points toward Savanah and can tell by Brystol’s expression that he had no idea.

“Why?” He asks a bit loudly, and Savanah smiles at him before she responds.

“I don’t think it is for everyone to know.” Savanah says quietly and looks around them to make sure no one can hear her. “Verdiwild did say not to tell anyone, but I assumed you already knew. I didn’t realize you were not to be told either.” She seemed nervous with her words.

Brystol and Sahara stare silently at Savanah for a moment in thought. Sahara can only wonder why she is the only one with a decoy. “Why do you not have one as well?” She asks, looking inquisitively at Brystol.

“I don’t know.” He says, seeming offended.

Sahara doesn’t feel very hungry, so she decides it would be a great time to go replace Verdiwild. “Where are you going?” Brystol asks.

“I am not hungry.” She says before leaving the banquet hall. She looks around for Verdiwild but can’t seem to replace him anywhere. She replaces an empty location and teleports to him. She successfully teleports to him but feels alarmed as Verdiwild yells at her to move. She turns, noticing a dragon behind her, hurling a large flame toward her. She quickly falls to the ground as the heat of the flame warms her back, passing over her toward Verdiwild.

Verdiwild causes the flames to dissipate. “That is enough.” He says toward the dragon, and Sahara looks back toward the dragon, noticing it has an elf rider on it. They are in the wooded area and appear to be practicing defense. “Sahara?” Verdiwild sounds unamused by her arrival.

“Sorry.” She says, rising from the ground and dusting off the dirt from her clothing. “I just needed to speak with you.” She says, looking back toward the dragon and its rider wanting to make sure they leave before she speaks freely.

“Then speak.” Verdiwild says, sounding out of breath from his practice.

“I met my decoy.” She said quietly, knowing only he could hear her.

“I see.” He says, shaking his head. “And you have come here to protest against the matter.”

“No.”

“No?” He says, looking surprised by her response. She remains silent, wondering why he would think she would protest. “Well, that is surprising.”

“I have bigger issues to deal with at the moment than some decoy.” She says, looking back to make sure they are now alone and she feels relieved that they are.

“What issues are those?” Verdiwild asks in concern.

“Well,” she wants to show him instead of saying it, so she tries to cause the sword he is holding to leave his hand and come to hers. The first try nothing happens, and Verdiwild doesn’t even notice she tried a spell, so she tries again with a spell aloud. “Transverta.” She reaches for the sword, but it only shakes slightly in Verdiwild’s hand. She says it again louder and feeling angry. The sword suddenly flies toward her as if it is about to stab her, and she screams, jumping out of the way. The sword stabs into a tree just behind her.

Verdiwild nods his head in agreement as Sahara looks toward him, feeling upset. “You have issues.”

“And.” Sahara pulls the necklace out of her pocket, showing him she isn’t wearing it.

“I see.” He says thoughtfully. “Is there anything else?”

Sahara shakes her head as tears fall from her eyes. “I think this is bad enough.”

“When did it start?” He asks, holding out his hand toward his sword and causing it to return to his hand from the tree.

“Yesterday. I think.” Sahara tries to think about if it was happening before she returned back to Malorsty yesterday, but she realizes she didn’t use much magic at Yetya because she spent the entire time training her Slewbo.

“You think?”

“I mean, I don’t know for sure when. It might not have been as strong since…” She closes her eyes, remembering her travels to the Underverse.

“Brystol awoke miraculously healed?” He asks, looking inquisitively toward her. “Puzzling for sure.” Sahara remains silent, wondering if this could possibly be linked to her payment to the Grey Elf. “You never explained to me how that came to be.” He sounds as though he is asking her a question, and she swallows hard, wondering if he needs to know what happened or not.

“I don’t see why that matters.” Sahara says, shaking off the idea that her weakening powers could possibly be linked to her payment.

“Hmm.” He says, looking towards Malorsty Academy in the distance. “Well, have you acquired anything new in the past two days that would possibly cause a disturbance in your magic? Such as a new item?”

“Bularia gifted me a clip, but I have not worn it.” She recalls placing the clip in the box next to her bed. “It looked like it was made from the same material as the cell the Aran built for me.”

“Did you touch it?” Verdiwild asked thoughtfully.

“Yes, but my powers waivered before she gave it to me.” Sahara remembers failing to unlock the door.

“Anything else new?”

Sahara tries to think of anything else new she may have worn. “No. The clip may have been near, though, when I was using the unlock spell.” She remembers Bularia surprising her just after the door wouldn’t unlock.

“Then we should rid you of the clip and see if it is the cause.” Verdiwild says thoughtfully. “Perhaps just being near it could cause power depletion. Bring it to me so we can investigate it.”

“Right.” Sahara says, feeling saddened by her friend giving her such a trinket. But then again, she remembers Heltus may have already taken over her body.

“I will be right back with it.” Sahara says, nodding her head toward Verdiwild. She attempts to teleport back to where she was before she came to visit Verdiwild, but nothing happens. She sighs, annoyed by her lack of abilities.

“Did you just try to teleport?” Verdiwild asks in concern.

“Yes.” She says, disgruntled, and begins to walk toward the academy. “I will be right back with the clip.” It takes her about ten minutes to make it up to her room to get the clip and back down to Verdiwild. She hands it to him, and he begins to inspect it.

“This is what she gave you?” He asks, looking doubtful.

“Yes.”

He shakes his head at his words. “This is not a special material, it is only a simple hair clip. It should not harm your magic, but I will take it for further investigation if you would like.”

“It has to be that. It couldn’t be anything else.” Sahara says adamantly.

“Has to be what?” Brystol’s question makes her roll her eyes in annoyance.

“Why are you out here?” she asked.

“Are you aware of her power issues?” Verdiwild asked.

“I noticed it yesterday.” Brystol replies, looking sadly towards Sahara, which Verdiwild obviously picks up on.

“Is something amiss between the two of you?” Verdiwild asks, looking back and forth between the two of them.

“No.” Sahara tries to lie, but Brystol doesn’t let her.

“There is something missing for sure,” Brystol replies. “Her feelings for me.”

“What do you mean?” Verdiwild seemed confused.

“Does no one else know?” Brystol asks her, and she feels unashamed.

“Your father is aware and is fine with it.”

Brystol scuffed with his response. “Of course he is. He was probably excited about the idea.”

Sahara shrugs her shoulders, knowing that Brystol is probably right. Verdiwild interrupts their odd stare at each other. “What idea? What are you two talking about?”

Sahara sees no sense in continuing to hold back from Verdiwild. “I paid the Grey Elf for saving Brystol.”

“The Grey Elf?” Verdiwild says angrily. “What did you pay her?” He asks darkly.

“I paid her with my feelings toward Brystol.”

“You what?” Verdeiwild looks unbelievably toward her for a moment.

“It was all she would accept and obviously the best choice. It will keep Brystol safe. Like the Aran said, it would be better for us not to care for each other.” Sahara replies confidently before Verdiwild’s eyes scare her.

“You stupid fool!” He sounded angry at her. “You gave her your emotions?”

“Yes.” Sahara begins to feel nervous as she glances over at Brystol. “I guess. But just for Brystol.”

“Your strongest emotions?” Verdiwild says, moving quickly toward her, attempting to control his anger. “No wonder your magic is depleted. You don’t even know what you have done. Do you?” He doesn’t wait for her to answer. “You gave her your emotional magic.”

“No.” Sahara shakes her head in denial. “I still have emotions.”

“But not your strongest one.” Verdiwild says, throwing the hair clip Bularia had given her toward her. “There is no greater emotion than love.” He still seems to be yelling at her, and she realizes he must be right because she didn’t flame at all earlier when she was angry. “The Aran took no issue with your payment because he does not know the emotion of love. Nor the link between it and your magic.” He is pacing back and forth, mumbling something Sahara can’t depict. “Stupid fool.” That is all she can make out.

“Perhaps she could get it back?” Brystol asked hopefully.

“From the Grey Elf?” Verdiwild laughed at Brystol.

“I don’t want them back.” Sahara says, shaking her head. “There must be another reason for my loss of power.”

“Trust me.” Verdiwild says curtly. “There is not.”

“Then why didn’t it happen right away?” Sahara wonders.

“Because it doesn’t transfer immediately. It takes a few weeks.” Verdiwild scolds her stupidity.

“Is there a point that it would be too late to get it back?” Brystol asks, and it causes Sahara to realize that perhaps they are right and she could lose her powers forever. Her heart skips a beat at the thought.

“I do not know.” Verdiwild says, pacing again in thought.

“If you are right. Could I not just go back to Slagwart and ask?” Sahara says, wondering if he could help her get back her powers.

“Slagwart?” Brystol and Verdiwild asked at the same time.

“He died, Sahara.” Brystol says slowly toward her as if he feels sorry for her.

“I know, but he resides in the Underverse.”

“How do you know of the Underverse?” Verdiwild looks more fearful of her than he did a moment ago.

“That is where I had to travel to replace the Grey Elf.” She tells them of how Slagwart was there and helped her. “Slagwart taught me to portal.” Sahara closes her eyes, remembering the emotions of longing Slagwart had stirred in her to help her replace the portal. As she thinks about him seducing her, she begins to see the sparkling diamond shapes around her again. She looks for the round holes but cannot see any. The holes suddenly disappear when Verdiwild speaks, breaking her train of thought.

“How did you come to be in the Underverse?”

“The elders sent me. They wanted me to replace the Grey Elf and save Brystol.” She thinks that surely the elders would not have allowed such a thing to pass if it were bad for the elven world. “If I try to take back my payment, it would be at the cost of Brystol’s life.” She knows the Grey Elf would not allow her emotions back without taking back the other part of the bargain.

“No.” Verdiwild says as if he is answering a question to himself. “Not possible.”

“What isn’t possible?” Sahara asks, glancing over toward Brystol.

“I agree that you cannot take back your payment without harm falling upon Byrstol. That leaves two other options. One being to replace those feelings again, perhaps even if that means with another ellon.” Brystol shakes his head, looking upset before Verdiwild continues. “Or two, you kill the Grey Elf, causing your payment to revert back to you.”

“What?” Sahara asked in surprise. “Those can’t be the only two options.”

“I vote we try to replace your feelings for me again.” Brystol says hopefully. “It seems like the easiest. So, we should date and spend more time together.”

“How do we kill her?” Sahara asks after a moment of thought and looks at Brystol, knowing she could never fall in love with such an annoying elf.