Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!

Chapter 6

 

Rebecca was in the middle of a darkened room, her sword broken at her feet and Samuel’s dead body nearby. She had failed him; the knowledge filled her with a void. Mary, too, was dead. She had failed them both – she had failed her people.

 

Guldtosia lay in ruins, the Draconians now ruled over the entire country, and soon they would rule over the world…

 

There was laughter, a dark, evil laughter that filled the entire area, filled Rebecca’s mind, her body, her soul. Eyes appeared before her then, dark red eyes full of malice, hatred. A row of teeth, black against the darkness, appeared in a hideous grin – also full of malice, hatred. The voice that came from that mouth, too, was full of malice and hatred.

 

“Yes, you failed! You failed because you are weak! A weak, pathetic human! You could not even save your friends! Now, now you die!”

 

A beam of grey-on-gold energy shot out of the darkness, struck her chest with enough force that it shattered her ribs, destroyed her completely…

 

Rebecca woke up with a loud scream of horror. She looked around her, finding that she was still in her bedroom in the castle – safe, but for how long? How long before her life was destroyed?

 

“No, I won’t let my friends be in danger because of my power,” she thought. “I’ll leave. Right now.”

 

She got out of bed and went to her wardrobe. She frowned; nothing she had would suit her for her journey. Unless… She gathered all of the black clothing she could and put them together, eyes closed in concentration as she recalled the spell that would make the type of clothing that she wanted… She mentally went through the spell, and opened her eyes. There, on her bed, was a black jumpsuit. She looked at it, satisfied – although this would really cling to her body and possibly attract…unwanted attention. Oh, well, she would deal with that problem when the problem arose. She quickly changed the colour of her gloves and boots to black with her magic, changed from her white nightgown into this new outfit, and put on her black cape and cast the hood over her face. She went to her door and listened through the wood – it was far too thin, she would have to have them changed, an assassin could easily break the door down – and frowned as she heard the mutterings of her personal guards outside. She went over to the window, and looked out across the city. A teleport spell would get her out of the city with no difficulty. She nodded to herself and picked up her sword, strapping it to her belt and then standing in the middle of the room. She closed her eyes and concentrated, and when she opened them she was outside the city’s walls, hidden in the shadows. Perfect!

 

Turning around, she ran into the night, determined not to put her friends in any more danger.

 

*-*-*-*-*-*

 

At dawn the next day, the entire castle was in an uproar. The queen had run off in the night! The knights combed the city, but Samuel stopped them, pointing out that Rebecca could be anywhere by now. Instead, he suggested that they stay in the castle and keep things in order while he, Mary and Danielle went out and searched for her.

 

The thought that she didn’t want to be found never occurred to any of them.

 

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 

There were fifteen of them, and one of her.

 

They were outnumbered.

 

Rebecca had her sword in her hands, her features hidden in the shadow cast by her hood. They were surrounded her, their faces twisted into sneers. “Gods I hate bandits,” she thought. One of them attacked from behind, and Rebecca twisted around and kicked him hard in the chest, hearing the tell tale sound of ribs breaking – she was stronger than she looked. Instantly they attacked her at once, intent on killing her and taking whatever money she was carrying – not to mention that sword, it would be worth a lot.

 

Unfortunately they had no idea that Rebecca could have easily killed them all instantly.

 

She released a blast of power and knocked two of them down, unconscious before they hit the ground. This display of power caused the other twelve bandits to halt briefly before attacking in force again.

 

This time, Rebecca simply loosed a shockwave of pure magic, knocking them all backwards. The ones that remained conscious did the stupid thing and attacked again – all five of them. Sighing, Rebecca loosed another blast of power that knocked these bandits out cold. Well, all except one of them. He glanced at his fallen comrades, looked at Rebecca, and ran for his life.

 

“Smart guy,” Rebecca thought. She sheathed her sword and resumed her journey.

 

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 

Unbeknownst to the young sorceress, there was somebody watching Rebecca. She was a young 16-year-old girl with auburn hair and amber eyes wearing a white sleeveless dress and short boots. She didn’t appear to carry a weapon, but looks can be deceiving. She smiled as she watched Rebecca walk away, her amber eyes shining in the sunlight.

 

“I’ve found her,” she said in an excited whisper. “I’ve finally found Rebecca.”

 

She giggled and followed Rebecca, unseen and unheard by all.

 

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 

Samuel slammed his fist into the bandit’s face, breaking his nose and knocking him down, out cold, on the floor. They – meaning him, Danielle and Mary – had been travelling east towards the small village of Kikon when ten bandits had just leapt out at them from the long grasses that lined the road. He heard a small explosion behind him and guessed that Danielle had just loosed a fireball on a few of the bandits. “That leaves only one, and Mary is fighting him…”

 

He turned to look at Mary, a small smile spreading across his lips as he watched Mary slam her knee into the man’s stomach before slamming the Staff of Galachar over his head, knocking him out cold. She kicked him hard for good measure and turned back to her brother and the Shamaness, blinking at the strange looks that they were giving her.

 

“What? He deserved that!” she said. Samuel grinned.


”For a Healer you really know how to do damage, Mary,” he said.

 

“You noticed that, huh?” she asked, smiling. Danielle interrupted them.

 

“We had better hurry,” she said. “I sense that Rebecca has been this way, but the mark left by her signature is fading fast. Samuel, are you sure that she’ll head to Kikon?”

 

Samuel nodded. “She told me once that she’s always wanted to visit that town. I have no idea why, though.”

 

Danielle thought for a moment, and then sighed. “Well, unless she teleports herself there, we should either catch up with her on the road or meet her in the town itself.”

 

Mary sighed. “What if she doesn’t want to be found?” she asked. “I mean, why else would she just leave in the middle of the night? She is, after all, a sorceress, maybe she’s afraid that she’ll put us all in danger with her powers.”

 

Samuel glanced at her, confusion on his face. “But why would she think that we’re in danger? She’s got control over her powers,” he said.

 

“No, Mary is right. Rebecca may have control over her powers, but all magic has an opposite. Sometimes that opposite is in another person, but in Rebecca’s case, I think that the opposite of her magic is inside of her body, waiting to be released. I think that is what Mary is referring to: the dark side of Rebecca’s magic,” said Danielle.

 

Samuel looked at the elf and sighed. “That may be true,” he said. “But I’m not going to let her go off alone. I…”

 

“…Love her too much?” Mary finished for him. “She told me about her feelings for you, Samuel.”

 

Danielle nodded. “She was jealous of me,” she said. “Apparently she thought that I would steal your heart, Samuel.”

 

Samuel looked at Danielle and burst out laughing. “I’m sorry,” he said when he was finally able to calm down, a good ten minutes later. “But, while you are beautiful, Danielle, I love Rebecca with all of my heart and soul.”

 

Danielle smiled slightly. “Yes I know,” she said. “I could tell the moment I saw you two together.”

 

Samuel sighed and looked at the sky, frowning when he saw dusk approaching. “We had better make camp,” he said. “It’s getting dark.”

 

“Yes,” Danielle said. “We’ll rest here for tonight.”

 

*-*-*-*-*

 

Rebecca, meanwhile, had just arrived in Kikon and was getting a room at the local inn. The name of the inn was ‘The Golden Sun’. Rebecca blinked at the name of the inn, but thought no more of it. She just paid for her room and asked where she could get some supper. The innkeeper directed her towards the ‘Grey Dragon’ tavern a few streets away, but warned her that it wasn’t the safest place and that she should be careful – bar fights often broke out in that place. Rebecca smiled and thanked him.

 

“I can take care of myself,” she said. She refrained from telling him about the fifteen bandits that she beat on the road on her way here. That would have raised too many questions. She did, however, show him that she was armed, and smiled when he complimented her on the wonderful workmanship of her sword. Then she went down to the bar, glancing around her as she walked. She had the feeling that she was being followed, but whenever she looked behind her, she saw nobody suspicious.

 

She failed to notice the girl in the white dress hiding in the shadows of an alley a few feet behind her. She found the tavern and walked in, surprised by the amount of noise that came from the building. She walked over to the main counter and ordered some food and drink, knowing that she had enough gold on her – she wasn’t stupid enough to leave without a couple of bags of gold, she kept them hidden by her magic. After she ordered her food, she went to sit down, putting the Angelheart Blade on the table in front of her. She lowered her hood, relieved when nobody seemed to recognise her. Then again, this was a small town, so nobody would know what she looked like. She looked around her, suddenly aware that a group of men were looking at her. She tried to ignore it, but she knew what was probably going through their minds as they examined her. “They can try,” she thought, smiling at the men. The barmaid put her food down on the table and left, and Rebecca turned to her food-

 

-only to blink when she saw a teenage girl in a white dress with amber eyes and auburn hair sitting across from her, a sweet smile on her face.

 

“Who are you?” she asked quietly. The girl giggled.

 

“Kiki,” the girl replied. “Kiki Falia. I’ve been looking for you, Rebecca.”

 

Rebecca started, but composed herself quickly. “How do you know who I am?” she asked, and then she thought about it. This girl could be from Guldtosia, so she might recognise her queen, but something told her that wasn’t the case. Kiki smiled.

 

“That’s not important,” she said. “What is important, though, is that you’re in danger here. Those men over there aren’t what they seem. Oh, never mind. They’re coming over here now.”

 

Rebecca tensed up and put her hand on the handle of her sword. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and closed her own hand over the sword’s handle. She suddenly felt the tip of a dagger on the back of her neck.

 

“Don’t even think about it,” a deep male voice growled behind her. “You’d be dead before you could use that.”

 

Rebecca loosened her hold on the handle, but felt her magic building up inside of her. Didn’t this man know what he was dealing with? She pushed her will to controlling the power within her and remained outwardly calm.

 

“Get up and walk over to the door.”

 

Rebecca calmly stood up and turned to face the man. “No.”

 

She punched him in the stomach, releasing a blast of magical energy at the same time. The combined strength of her punch and the magical blast that came with it was enough to send the man flying all the way across the bar and through the wall at the other side. Everybody in the bar stopped what they were doing and stared at Rebecca, who turned to the other two men and glared at them.

 

“Get. Away. From. Me.” Her voice was a growl, and the men looked at each other before running from the bar. Rebecca sat down again and started to eat in silence, very aware of the many stares of shock that the people in the bar were giving her. Oddly enough, Kiki wasn’t too surprised. Rebecca finished eating and looked at her curiously, suddenly suspecting that she wasn’t what she appeared to be.

 

“Kiki,” she said, “I get the feeling that you’re not what you appear to be.”

 

Kiki smiled. “I will tell you later,” she said. “But right now we have to get out of this town.”

 

Rebecca nodded. Although she was hoping to sleep in a bed tonight… “Fine. We’ll leave right now.”

 

She picked up her sword and turned to leave, only all the men in the bar – all of them armed – stood in her way. “Oh not again…” she thought. “What is it?”

 

They attacked her without a word, and she just snapped. She kicked the first man in the stomach so hard that he was knocked out. Then, she unleashed the power that was building up inside of her. A red-black shockwave of power erupted from Rebecca, reducing the entire town of Kikon to rubble.

 

“Oh gods…what have I done?!” Rebecca said, looking at the destruction that her anger had caused. She looked around at the rubble of what was once Kikon. “WHAT HAVE I DONE?!!!?”

 

She just vanished, teleported herself away from this destruction, not caring where she ended up – just as long as it was far from people…

 

Kiki watched her leave, her eyes wide with shock. She glanced around, noting the fact that nobody had died in that explosion of power. She sighed and merely sat down on one of the few chairs that remained intact and waited for Rebecca’s friends to arrive…