Sahara Ashdell: Rebirth of Patreek (Book 3)
Chapter 24: To the Newlyweds

Sahara feels embarrassed by Brystol looking at her as she walks over to put her dress back on. “Stop looking at me.”

“No.” He says running over and wrapping his arms around her.

“So, is everyone still down there waiting on us?” Sahara asks wondering if they all know what they just did.

“Yes.” He says huffing unpleasantly. “We have to go down and dance before we can leave.”

“Leave?” She asks wondering where they would be going.

“We get two days alone.” He says tracing his fingers around one of her nipples. He then releases her and picks his own clothes up from the floor. “So let’s hurry up and get dressed so we can go finish our duties and be alone again.”

“I can’t fasten this dress alone.” Sahara says turning her back toward him for help. “I assume since you unfastened it so easily, you can do the opposite?”

“Possibly.” He says with a devious smile.

Sahara feels overly embarrassed as they return back down to the large crowd of elves in the ballroom. She is thankful Brystol never releases her hand as they begin to receive congratulations. The crowd is mixed with elves, pixies, centaurs, minotaurs, and other mythical creatures Sahara has yet to be acquainted with. “Hexaria!” She says seeing the beautiful pixie flying toward her.

“Thank you for coming.” Brystol says to Hexaria and it seems to stun her as she blinks toward Brystol.

“He said...” Sahara realizes she should probably interpret for Brystol but Hexaria holds up her hand stopping her.

“I heard him perfectly. Did you teach him this phrase in Pixie language?” Hexaria said looking intrigued by Sahara.

“No.” Sahara looks at Brystol who also shakes his head signifying that he too understands her. She realizes that this too must have been transferred to him. “Perhaps we should speak in a more discreate location?” She says pulling Brystol with her toward a nearby door.

“Perhaps.” Hexaria agrees as she follows them into an empty room.

Sahara wasted no time. “We think that the Grey Elf linked us together and Brystol now has all of my powers.”

“Does he?” Hexaria seemed surprised.

“It seems I do.” Brystol says looking unsure of how Hexaria will take the news.

“This is wonderful!” Hexaria claps excitedly as a smile sweeps across her face.

“It is?” Sahara says watching Hexaria buzz around Brystol.

“Two with so much power?” Hexaria says nodding her head. “This will change everything.”

“I thought the Grey Elf was evil?” Sahara says feeling unsure of why the Grey Elf would do such a thing.

“I wouldn’t say evil.” Hexaria waves her hands in the air with her words, “Just self motivated. If she gifted you such a thing, she must of seen something horrific in the future.”

“My mother visited me today.” Sahara says as her eyes fill with tears.

“What?” Brystol asks in surprise but Hexaria just smiles lovingly as if she already knows.

“She asked me to tell you hello.” Sahara says returning the smile to Hexaria and she sees tears flood her small eyes. “She gave me this with the new crest.” Sahara points to her crown.

“Yes.” Hexaria says flying up and running her hand along the curve of the moon. “I remember it well. The day of your betrothal there was a great meeting of all the kingdoms and this crest was created and designed into this crown and,” Hexaria buzzes over toward Brystol and reaches for the ring on his hand. “this ring.” Brystol holds up his hand showing the crest on its metal. “The moon represents light in the dark. For dark times are yet to come. Each star represents each kingdom.” She traces her finger along the line that is connecting the six stars. “This is to represent the formation of a new kingdom. For we are no longer to be six separate kingdoms, but one. Enceolaa.” Hexaria traced small symbols on the side of the moon that Sahara had not seen before. It was the word Hexaria had just said.

“Enceolaa?” Brystol asks obviously having never heard the term before.

“The name they decided on for the newly formed kingdom. Ence means six, ola means become, and a means one. But together, Enceolaa symbolizes a new start after devastation, it means succeeding at an extreme cost.

“So, we are now called the Kingdom of Enceolaa?” Sahara asks.

“Yes.” Hexaria explains, “Today the new crest has been presented by the two of you, which stakes your claim to the six kingdoms.”

“Enceolaa.” Brystol says with what seems to be unhappiness. “How have I never been told this?”

Hexaria answered, “It was only known to the elders and the other seven leaders of the kingdoms on the day of your betrothal. It was to be kept secret until the day of your wedding. To protect the knowledge of Sahara being the Tari of the other three kingdoms. Now that you are wed, the six kingdoms will know of the happy news within an hour.”

“There you are!” Tari Nathila says sounding frustrated as she enters the room. “We have been looking for the two of you everywhere. It is time for your dance.”

Brystol grasps Sahara’s hand with a cute grin on his face. “We don’t want to miss that.” As they enter the ballroom, she hears music begin to play. It is the same tune that was on the music box she gave to Brystol last year for his birthday. He smiles down at her cutely, “Is it still your favorite song?”

She nods her head feeling herself blush as he wraps his arm around her to begin dancing. She had never felt so happy as she and Brystol danced around the ballroom. “I love you more than anything.” Brystol whispers in her ear and she takes the opportunity to kiss him, not caring that so many eyes are on them.

Just as the music ends she hears the tinging sound of a spoon on a glass. “A toast,” Tari Nathila says raising a glass toward the large crowd in the ballroom. “To the Aran and Tari of the six kingdoms.” She smiles up at Brystol, who is holding her with one hand and holding a glass up with the other hand. They all drink from the glasses before the music begins to play again.

“I can’t wait to get you out of that dress again.” Brystol whispers in Sahara’s ear causing her to blush again. He takes her hand before pulling her toward the exit of the castle toward an awaiting carriage.

“I have nothing packed.” Sahara says realizing she is not even sure where they are going for the next couple of days.

Brystol laughs opening the door to the carriage. “I can’t think of a thing you would need to pack. For clothes will be far from needed, I assure you.” She can’t keep from smiling at his words but she shushes him seeing an ellon approach to help them enter the carriage. “Thank you.” She hears Brystol say toward the elf just before the door closes to the carriage, leaving the two of them inside alone.

She snuggles up to Brystol as the carriage begins to move. She can hear loud cheers coming from outside and it causes her to look out of the window. Thousands of elves are cheering and waving toward them as they move through the streets of Holestroy. Sahara had never seen so many elves in the Kingdom before. “Did they all come to see us?” She asks feeling honored by the happiness on the faces she sees them passing.

“They did.” He says waving dutifully out toward the elves. “It is tradition after a royal wedding to circle the castle before taking off.” She waves towards the elves as well smiling and even blew a kiss to a youngling that blew one to her first. After they finish circling the castle of Holestroy, the carriage begins to rise from the ground. “And we are off.” Brystol says closing the curtains of the carriage.

“Are we teleporting to where we are going?” Sahara asks knowing they are typically not allowed to be together in a carriage.

“We cannot teleport to a place we have never been before, correct?” He asks and Sahara answers by nodding her head. “Then, I suppose we shall ride then.” He says sliding her dress down to expose her bare shoulder.

“Oh!” Sahara says in excitement as he kisses her shoulder.

They had only been flying for about twenty minutes when the carriage suddenly stopped moving. “Are we there already?” Sahara asked pushing Brystol up from her lips.

“Not possible.” Brystol says curiously as he fastens his clothes back up. The sudden sound of fighting bursts from outside the carriage. “It sounds as though we had better teleport after all.”

Sahara fixes her dress back down over her legs before slightly moving the curtain to see outside. “Patreek!” She gasps quickly closing the curtain again.

“What?” Brystol says sounding concerned. Sahara remembers what her mother told her earlier. “Hurry let’s....” Before Brystol can finish his sentence, Sahara teleports her sword and the square her mother had gifted her. “What are you doing?” He asks confused.

“We have to fight him.” She says looking over her sword for imperfections and replaceing none.

“On our wedding day?” He said sounding annoyed.

She teleports his sword into his hands and smiles at him. “On our wedding day.”

“We could be having a much better time in the bedchamber though.” He says rolling up his sleeves.

“Indeed.” She says before biting the bottom of her lip. “So, here is the plan. Since we can both teleport now, we continually teleport next to him and back in here to confuse him. I need to touch his skin with this.” She holds up the square, “before stabbing him. You will distract him by teleporting back and forth into different locations near him.”

“Can you not instruct me on how to battle? I am already frustrated you are forcing me to do this on our wedding night.” He said sounding annoyed.

“Forcing you? What do you recommend we do? Teleport away and let Patreek destroy all these innocent elves?” She waves her hands toward the window as screams of death echo inside their carriage.

“If we were not here, he would have no reason to pursue the innocent elves outside. I didn’t expect to have our first marital fight this soon. So, let’s just get this over with.” He says kissing her before kicking open the door to the carriage.

“Seriously!” She yells feeling angered by his ignoring her plan as he exits the carriage leaving her alone.

She exits the carriage behind Brystol and immediately sees a sword lunging toward her. She blocks the blade with her own sword and uses magic to throw the elf holding the other sword backwards. She and Brystol fight close together as they work their way toward Patreek, who effortlessly kills some of the guards within seconds.

“To the Newlyweds!” Sahara hears the loud words come from Patreek, who is holding up a glass of wine toward them with a smile of accomplishment. As he takes a drink from the glass and Sahara sees all the death around her, she suddenly feels anger pulsing up inside her. She slams her hand down on the ground causing it to quake and electrical volts to sweep through and destroy the enemies among the fighting. She feels the bolts about to hit Patreek, but a sudden pulse of power surges back against her electrical volts. Patreek has returned the pulse of electricity and Sahara replaces herself caught in an electrical standoff with him. She can feel his power and it is stronger than it was any of the times before when she encountered him.

“How long can you hold him?” Brystol asks wiping the blood from his face that was splattered on him when he slayed one of Patreek’s followers.

“I am not sure.” Sahara says wondering why he is asking. “Maybe a couple of minutes.” She struggles to focus on pushing back against him. Brystol begins to fight two new elves that emerged from the other side of Patreek. Sahara notices that Patreek has far more followers than she expected, because all she can see in the distance are thousands and thousands of his armies. Her distraction from Patreek causes her to lose her stance and his electrical currents cause her to fall backwards. She hears her crown fall on the hardened rock ground as she sees it roll toward the carriage she and Brystol just exited from. The crest on the crown makes her smile slightly. She pushes herself back up from the ground just before Patreek’s magical grasp clutches her throat stopping her air flow and picking her up from touching the ground.

As she tries to think of what to do, she notices Verdiwild running toward Patreek and being followed by thousands of their own army. Patreek makes it look so easy as he maintains his grip on Sahara and throws his other hand out toward Verdiwild. He causes Verdiwild and a few dozen of the army following him to fly backwards. Sahara pulses her magic toward Patreek to break the grip he has on her throat. She lands on her feet when her body reaches the ground. She tries to see run towards Patreek, but other elves keep getting in her way that she has to fight.

“She is mine!” She hears Patreek roar as she sees the elves between herself and Patreek being moved out of the way by Patreek’s magic and it creates a clear path between them. She grasps the square in her left hand and her sword in the other before she runs toward Patreek ready to fight him. As he runs toward her, she teleports so that she is just behind him. But to her surprise he turns toward her just as her sword moves toward him and his magic pushes her backwards. She pushes against his magic with all her might but she doesn’t have to for long before Patreek stops pushing against her and attempts to pull her with his magic toward him. Verdiwild suddenly emerges between them and swings his sword towards Patreek. It causes Patreek to lose his pull on Sahara. He throws Verdiwild to the side and out of the way and Sahara feels her anger inside growing. Sahara causes a tornado to form above Patreek, but he waves his hand toward the tornado and it dissipates as quickly as she had formed it.

“A small tornado? Really?” Patreek teases her and it angers her more. She causes the ground beneath him to open up and he begins to fall in but he suddenly teleports closer to her and away from the hole. “You ready to surrender to me now?”

She is getting annoyed by the dress she is wearing getting in her way so she rips the bottom a bit with her sword so that she can move better. “Are you ready to surrender to me?” She asks with a smirk.

Her words seem to amuse Patreek, and he forces both of his hands out towards her, which causes a beam of fire to explode towards her. She jumps out of the way feeling the heat of the fire on her back. She notices it has caught the tail of her dress on fire so she quickly puts it out by stomping on the small flames. “Feeling a bit singed dear niece?”

“Blood does not make family!” She says adamantly as she braces herself for whatever he will throw at her next.

“No?” He asks as he moves his pointer finger in a come hither motion toward his left. She notices Verdiwild begin to move toward him.

“Leave him alone.” She says seeing the flames flicker in her eyes.

“How about this one?” He asks looking past Sahara and throwing his other hand outwards. She notices Brystol is now in Patreek’s grasp and moving toward them quickly.

“Leave them alone!” Sahara hears Tari Nathila’s demanding voice and she looks over to see her dressed as a soldier and holding a sword.

“What have we here?” Patreek laughed dropping Verdiwild and Brystol to focus on Tari Nathila. “The last of the power team.” He says shaking his head and finger toward her, “You should have stayed home my old friend.”

“We were never friends.” Tari Nathila says stalking toward Patreek with her sword. Patreek laughs giddy as he causes Tari Nathila to fall to the ground. He flips her up side down with his magic and uses his two pointer fingers to begin pulling her arms in opposite directions so that her middle is stretched painfully. Her screams are all Sahara can bear.

“Put her down!” Sahara demands as she stomps her foot causing a crack to travel to Patreek’s feet. Tari Nathila falls to the ground as Patreek falls into the hole that is created beneath him.

Brystol arrives next to her and nods toward Sahara with his words. “Time for that plan of yours.” She nods in agreement as they toward Patreek who has climbed out of the hole and is laughing evilly.

“Family can share no blood, eh?” He says looking over toward Verdiwild.

"Go.” Brystol says but before they can start running toward Patreek he has lunged his hand toward Verdiwild. Sahara feels her heart crumble as Verdiwild’s top half folds backwards causing the back of his head to touch his heels. His scream of agony breaks her and the flames in her eyes burst into full force. Patreek causes Verdiwild to crumple up as if he were a piece of paper as he clinches his fist shut with a smirk.

She begins running toward Patreek at full force and she hears Brystol yelling in grief over Verdiwild also as he follows her. Sahara teleports to Patreek and quickly lunges toward him with her sword, but he blocks her. She teleports back to Brystol and continues running toward Patreek. “Give me the square?” Brystol says as another couple of elves jump out between them and Patreek that they quickly slay.

Sahara begins to shake her head no, until she remembers her mother’s advice to trust him. She hands him the square and he gives her a half smile with his words, “Let’s finish this.” They begin to run towards Patreek again and Sahara teleports again to just behind Patreek, but again he deflects her sword. She teleports back to next to Brystol just as he arrives a couple of feet from Patreek. Brystol teleports to behind Patreek leaving Sahara alone in the front of Patreek. Patreek looks caught off guard by Brystol’s ability to teleport and it gives Brystol the opportunity to slap the square on Patreek’s arm. The square dissolves into Patreek’s skin instantly and Sahara lunges her sword into Patreek’s stomach. She feels triumphant for only a moment, until she realizes Patreek had taken Brystol’s sword from him just before she stabbed him and lunged it toward Brystol. She drops her sword in brokenness, when Patreek crumbles into pieces and reveals the devastating scene behind him.