Chapter Six

[Note: Poem, subject to change!]

Chapter 6: A Reason to Live


Cevlon - Below the surface:

Sonera cast back her hood as she stepped past the curtain that hid the cave where her only other friend besides Kade, stayed hidden.
   “Letholdus!” She cried.
Her friend looked up at her with his sagging face and wise eyes.
   “Yes, yes. Come, come.” He motioned her over with a wrinkled hand for her to come to the low bedside.

The cave was lit by a fire to the back, and a cluster of candles on the well worn dinner table.
But the light was enough to see the cold, wet girl on the cot. Her clothes were dirty, Sonera had trouble figuring out the true color of her dress. It had been a full fortnight sense Sonera had swooped in and saved the poor girl on her way to Falion.
Letholdus was the only one she trusted with such a secret. And he had been working very hard to kindle the small spark of life that still lived in the girl.
   “She’s getting closer to waking! Yes! Yes I think I’ve done it!” The old man seemed so eager and happy that he had actually accomplished something in his long years in Cevlon’s crust.
   “Did anyone follow you?” He asked, becoming very serious once more.
Sonera shook her head. Pushing a strand hair out of her eyes.
  “No. But I got the food. No one noticed me either, I kept my head down.”
  “Good, good, good. Now one last awakening spell, and that should do it.”
Sonera became very excited, as she looked down at the sleeping girl. Her eyes moved rapidly behind her eyelids and Sonera was curious as to what she was dreaming about. If anything at all.
   “Tes’ven...Ymaro”
After a fortnight of hearing that spell over and over again, Sonera was use to Letholdus’ magic, but she was still taken by surprise every time she saw the wondrous pure white magic show its self and wrap around the girl’s frail, small body.
Sonera could hear the small girl’s heartbeat quickening, her chest rose up and down faster, her eyes moved rapidly behind closed eyelids. Was she ok?
Letholdus finished his spell as he placed his hands on her forehead and stomach.
The girl sat strait up, screaming at the top of her lungs.
Startled by pure shock, both Letholdus and Sonera shouted and toppled backwards, falling square on their bums.

She looked from side to side, not recognizing either of the two people the were on either side of her. And she didn’t understand why she was wet, cold, hungry, - starving’s more like it - or where she was.
The only thing she recognized, was the elderly man’s white robe.
In seeing that, she managed to calm down a notch.
   “You...” Her breathing was heavy and she felt very stiff. “You’re a - a Magi?”
Her vision was slightly off, she squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head to get rid of the dizziness.
The man sat up straighter and nodded.
   “Indeed I am, young miss. May I inquire as to what your name is?”
Her breathing was still harsh, and she was having trouble looking out her eyes, like she had just woken up after a deep sleep and still had sleepies.
   “Erm...Ellie.” She said as she rubbed her eyes with the palm of her hands.
The man nodded and rose up to his feet with a great effort.
   “And who are you two?” She asked.
The man walked over to the cooking fire and started to dump some vegetables into the black pot.
   “I am Letholdus, indeed I am a Magi. And this young lady is Sonera, a former Elite Warrior. She is the one who saved you from hitting your head on Falion.”
Ellie was confused. She turned to the girl with the vibrant hair.
   “What?”
Letholdus nodded at the girl, who rose from the ground and gestured to the edge of the cot.
   “May I?”
Ellie pulled her legs under her and nodded.
Sonera sat down and fidgeted with the edge of her dirty green cape.
   “What was the last thing you remember?” She asked. Elowen clawed at her memory, trying to remember.
Well the last thing she really remembered was the depressed look in Dreyden’s eyes right before she drank the tasteless poison. But...Sonera didn’t need to know that.
  “Well...I remember falling asleep. Or at least it felt like falling asleep. But I suppose I really died didn’t I?”
The girl smiled, her blue eyes deep with understanding.
  “Sort of. To the council, yes. You did die. But in actual reality? No. You didn’t.”
  “How?”
She turned to the man who sat down on a stool in front of the table.
   “Well it’s like this child,” He started. “you have an unbelievable amount of energy. Your life force is substantially more stronger then a grown mans!” He seemed very excited about this. His deep brown eyes sparkled with excitement, and he had a wide smile on his face. “I can’t believe it. It’s remarkable. The poison only took some of your life source, but now, I think with a replenishing spell and time, that’ll come back too! So you see? You’ll be a right as rain in no time!”
Ellie smiled at him.
   “Thank you so much! To both of you! I can’t express how relieved I am that Eleyos has granted me a second chance...I just hope I don’t blow it.” She added quietly.
   “Nonsense! You’ll do fine at what ever you set your mind to.”
She smiled at the old man’s kind remark.
   “I don’t think it’ll be that simple this time, but...again you have my thanks.”
The two strangers nodded in acknowledgement.
   “I couldn’t just stand by and let them kill you, now could I?” Sonera said with a smile on her face.
   “So...we’re still...in Haven then?” She asked hesitantly.
   “Yes, that we are. I’m afraid your presence will upset the people, but if we get you a cloak or something you’ll be able to go out into the city.” Letholdus said in his cheerful manner.
   “Well that’ll be good...there’s someone I need to see.”
Sonera looked at her in confusion.
  “Who? You weren’t here long enough to meet anyone...decent that is.”
Elowen looked down at her hands, not really wanting to tell anyone about the mysterious boy that broke her out just so she could fly and see the stars.
He was her special secret. A special memory she thought that if she shared, she’d loose it forever.
Letholdus could see that she didn’t want to talk so he gave her an escape route.
   “Elowen, what do you like in your stew?” He asked, pulling out the things Sonera had brought back from the market.
   “We have benna root, greens of all sorts, askven leaves, some potatoes, tomatoes, and ooh! You spoil me Sonera.”
Sonera grinned as he spotted her goody.
   “I know.” She said with a growing smile.
   “What is it?” Ellie asked.
   “Some gravik candy.”
She laughed.
   “So that’s the great Magi’s weakness!” She declared. “A chewy candy!”
   “Hey! If - you tried it, it would - be your - weakness - too!” The old man said with his mouth full of gravik candy. Gravik candy was long chewy strips of a root. Coated with sugar. So it kind of looked like he had a string of worms hanging out of his mouth, which was rather a disturbing sight.
But it made the two girls burst out in laughter, so he accomplished what he had set out to do.

Both Sonera, and Letholdus did their best to make Elowen feel at home as much as possible. And she was quiet content in the small, slightly dank, but homey cave.
However, her mind wondered to a good lot of things.
But mostly, to Dreyden and Stargazer. She felt slightly odd not having the stone around her neck, and she felt even more odd with out that strange boy hanging about. She wanted to find him again. To tell him she was okay, or the fact that she was alive would be more like it. But she had no clue where he was. And not to mention the fact that he probably was already on his way to Falion. And then they’d really be in trouble. She wondered if she’d ever be able to find him again!
Her thoughts went back to the dreams she had while she was asleep, or dead which ever you please.
   Elowen thought the dreams were odd, because she had never had dreams before in her whole life. Ever! But this one...this one was extremely weird.
And had nothing to do with her, as she assumed most dreams did...for other people anyways.

This one...was about Drey. Not the Drey she knew him as, but younger, probably around eleven or twelve. She only had gotten bits and pieces of the whole thing, but mainly, she saw a burning village. People were dying all around her. Which only reminded her of her own past in that peaceful monastery and how it came to an abrupt end. She saw who he had called brother, and then that awful monster. The Nigvorian. Drey’s brother was so brave! Standing up to him...by himself so his little brother could get away.
She wished she was that brave.

She remembered talking to Drey. The Dreyden she knew. They were in a meadow of some kind. Back up on Cevlon. He was talking to her, asking funny questions, and she answered. Which she had thought was odd, but she assumed he was just a dream. A wisp of smoke that would pass as soon as it had come.
But there was more. When she had finished her conversation with Dreyden in the meadow, and watched his brother’s sacrifice, she seemed to jump back further into his past.

Dreyden couldn’t have been any younger then five or six. He was sitting on - who she assumed - his mother’s lap while she hummed him a song that sounded vaguely familiar.
The first thing she thought when she saw the little five year old, was that he was probably the most adorable child she had ever seen. His hair was long and liked to spike out every which way, and he was missing a tooth. But he had a grin on his face that made her think of a boy that just found a toad and was going to stick it in his sister’s bed.
   “Mummy?” He said.
The woman stopped her humming and answered the boy.
   “Yes dear?”
   “Do you think I can be just like Dad some day?”
She chuckled, but her eyes held a great sadness.
   “Do you want to hear what I really think?”
The little boy nodded eagerly.
  “I think, you can become much, much more then your father. I think...that someday...You’ll fix what keeps everyone apart these days.”
   “Really?! What needs fixing?”
His mother’s laugh sounded like a hundred silver bells all chiming in unison.
   “They need to earn how to get along. Do you think you can teach them that my brave knight?”
   “Of course I can! All they need is a good beating!”
He jumped up and waved his stick around like a mighty sword. If Ellie was his mother she’d probably have a heart-attack and scold him or something. But his mother just laughed and scooped him up in a big hug.
   “You know there’s a lot more to being a knight then just wielding a sword. You have to care for people too.”
   “But I do care for people Mummy. I care for you. And Dad.”
   “Not your brother?”
Dreyden made a face.
   “He’s annoying. And he always beats me up! But...I care for him too...even if he‘s  mean sometimes.”
She laughed and hugged him tighter.
   “Don’t you ever loose your heart for people Dreyden. Not ever.”

.:+:.


   “...Elowen?...Ellie!”
Her eyes snapped into focus as she realized Sonera was shaking her shoulder gently.
  “Sorry?” She asked. Not sure what was going on.
The both of them looked at her with concern.
  “Elowen...is everything alright child?” Letholdus looked down at her with a worried expression.
Elowen knew she’d need help, and she’d need a lot of it if she was to find Drey, and then save both Cevlon and Falion. And besides! Letholdus was a Magi!...On Cevlon...she wasn’t sure how that worked, but she had too much on her mind to think about that at the moment.
   “Actually...I’m going to need your help...both of you.”


.:+:.


   “So...let me get this strait. You’re wanting to find this bounty hunter, that you keep having dreams about, get one of the Supreme Gems back from him which holds a fuzzy little tiger cub, and then you need our help to save both worlds, which will include us hunting down these other three Gems from who knows where all over Falion...Did I miss anything?”
Elowen was impressed that Sonera could get that all out with just one breath.
She nodded solemnly.
   “That’s everything. Everything I can think of at the moment.”
Sonera shook her head and pushed away from the table to go stare into the flames of the dwindling fire.
Letholdus didn’t say anything. He rubbed his stubble as he lost himself to deep thought.
   “Hmm....I read of this.”
He moved slowly to a shelf built out of the cave’s wall. Elowen had noticed the dusty old books before, but had never thought anything of it.
   “But I don’t remember anything about a girl, little miss.”
He set a big book down on the table and leafed through it.
   “Ah-ha. Yes see here, it says,
‘Blind to his lineage
Blind to his past
All things will come together
Though his blood alone.

Though daggers cross
Through pain and loss
Guided by Eleyos
And with friends to help.

These worlds can be saved
Ancient days, Re-written
From past to future,
Young to old,
The time of the Savior is here.’”
It took Elowen a minute to process that.
   “So...my dear miss,” The elderly man said slowly. “if what you say is true, then this bounty hunter will be the only thing standing in the way of keeping peace between the two worlds.”
Sonera gave a curt nod.
   “Right then, lets find this bounty hunter. I’ll help you Elowen. But I’m sticking with you. There ain’t no way I’m letting the fate of the worlds rest in the hands a free lancer who only works for the highest bidder.” She declared with a set face.
Ellie smiled.
She wanted Sonera to come with her. Even if they hadn’t known each other for every long, she could tell they were going to be good friends.
   “Works for me! Besides, I need someone to watch my back.”
Sonera gave her a small smile.
   “You keep the nasties away, and I’ll make sure your health won’t run out, how’s that?” Ellie proposed.
   “You have yourself a deal.”
Sonera and Elowen shook hands.