Meya began to say an incantation and then Aaron handed me a goblet that contained some liquid which smelled strongly of sulphur.
'Are you serious? I'm not going to drink that.'
They both looked at me angrily. Eric continued sending me messages. He had even begun threatening me. I was going to have to deal with him if I listened to Meya.
'Alright...'
I held my breath and I drank the liquid from the goblet in one sip. It did not taste as bad as I had imagined.
But the effect was instant. I got dizzy and I could no longer stand on my feet. I fell over the skulls being unable to even move a finger. I was paralysed from the neck down. Meya continued her incantation and the red skulls started to slowly lift into the air. They merged together into a skeleton. I was watching this and I was terrified. My fear grew bigger and bigger as I was becoming aware of my inability to run from this place. I saw a skeleton shape forming rapidly. It came above me, turned into a red dust and entered inside me. The moment of impact was absolutely terrifying. I felt as if something was tearing the flesh off me. I shifted from burning to feeling how the cold was aiming for my chest. I wanted to scream hoping that would take away some of the pain, but the cold had taken my voice away.
When you are in pain you almost involuntarily want to gasp, to move, to do anything but to stay in one place. And I was paralysed. I was being offered on a tray to the pain and it was biting me merciless. Tears were pouring out from my eyes as if they were telling of the pain that was going to invade my entire body. I felt like something was being ripped from my guts. My magic powers were abandoning me and Meya just continued with her incantation. Lights in different colours were coming out of me and they turned brown just before entering Meya's body. Every thread of light was like blood dripping out from me. The brown spots representing my magic that had become impure from Meya's touch, began heading for the barrier. The crazy woman stopped the ritual and went on cursing. The pain was all gone, but I continued to be paralysed.
'It's not working. My dark magic is not doing anything to the barrier.'
So she wanted to destroy it. Was that even possible?
'Maybe you should take more from Kate?' Aaron said.
Was he referring to my magic? Did he think that was not enough?
'No, it wouldn't work anyway. How could I have been so careless? She is the chosen one. My sister was the one who made this barrier. Kate, you are the only one who can destroy it and I am sorry that you are going to waste your magic on this. I would have liked to have a taste of it all. Aaa, it is possible that you might die along the way', she said without giving a damn.
The next thing I saw was an explosion above the barrier, followed by a few others, until Eric stopped. He was aware of the fact that his magic was not going to suffice.
"I am sorry" he wrote in the air. "I've let you down".
And just when I thought that it could not get any worse, I felt that excruciating pain again and saw my magic heading for the barrier, which became visible on the impact.; an immense curtain that became real when it was touched by my magic. Its colour was now navy-blue and started to develop black strips that were widening. The strips multiplied constantly and I was getting closer and closer to death.
I looked over at Maggie and Eric. They were watching helplessly how I was about to die and how the barrier got weaker. I wanted to see their faces up close, to look into their eyes. My magic helped me do that. Maggie's big brown eyes were in tears. Eric held her in his arms while she was struggling to come to me. What a goof. Didn't she realise that I was a lost cause? She would only be getting herself in further trouble. I could see the sadness and disappointment on Maggie's face, but Eric looked absolutely desperate. His blue eyes were just too beautiful to be so sad. His face was covered in tears. Why would someone who hardly knew me, cry so much for me? He could not have been older than twenty-seven years old, but the sadness made him look even older.
I don't know what hurt more: the pain that Meya was causing me, or seeing Eric suffer, who was practically a stranger? It was as if someone had torn him apart just like I was being torn apart. I looked at him and I felt the strangest sensation. I had a connection with him. I know I was not only imagining it. He was so sad as if all his dreams had fallen to pieces; as if all the dreams he had, had been thrown into the pitfall of past. I could feel him so close to my soul. I could sense that the feelings he had were a mix of pain, sadness, disappointment and hatred, but it was fear that was the most dominant of all feelings.
I could feel a wave of heat coming from him; like the warm touch of love that makes you feel comforted and safe although that's not how I was at that time.
Things happened very quickly after that and they took on a completely different turn. Christine came. She was together with a tall blonde woman. A battle of lights deployed before me, much too fast for me to keep up. The morh also seemed to be disoriented and did not know what to do. It was waiting for a command from its master. Aaron was held down to the ground by Christine and the stranger was fighting Meya. They both seemed to be of equal strength. A green light passed just millimetres away from the blonde. Aaron took out a gun and shot Christine – no fuss about it – in the shoulder. The morh became even more confused. It was struggling between the incontrollable lust for blood and the need to listen to its master. But she was too busy to remember it. Just a brief absence of mind and the blonde took a hit from Meya. She was thrown into the air and then dropped to the ground. Chris was perplexed and looked at her father in shock. He took another shot, but this time he missed.
'Hit him!' The blonde woman shouted at her.
But Chris was not doing anything. Maggie ran towards her and made a spell which threw Aaron's gun away from him. She was preparing for another one when Chris placed herself before her.
'Don't you dare touch him!'
'He is my father also, she shouted. 'Do you think it's not difficult for me too?'
'I don't want him to be hurt', she said crying.
'You are so stupid', Maggie said angrily.
While they were arguing, Aaron ran for the gun. I wanted to scream to warn them, but I could not.
The gun unloaded and hit the blonde woman. She was shaking but she ignored the pain in her leg and continued to fight Meya. What a brave woman. Maggie pushed Chris out of her way and was about to hit Aaron with another spell. Stubborn Chris just continued to protect their so-called father.
'What do you think you are doing?' Maggie asked desperately.
'I won't let you hurt him, I cannot.'
'I don't want to fight with you.'
'Neither do I.'
'Then move!'
'I cannot', she said.
'You're so stupid Chris, and you Aaron...this is not over.'
She ran to the blonde woman who was now lying on the ground.
Meya came to me and I could feel again the world collapsing around me. The barrier continued to get weaker but not weak enough to permit strangers to come in. Eric was still trying to pass through it. Chris put Aaron in a space-limiting spell so that he could not go away. Both she and Maggie then turned their magic against Meya who wouldn't stop the incantation. She was probably protected by some spells, because the two girls could not get to her. Their powers were not as strong as the ones of the blonde woman.
I got that strong nausea once more. That was the feeling I always got around the morhs. Damn it. I was not mistaken. The creatures appeared again one at a time. They were thirsty for blood and were bringing death with them.
'What are we going to do, Mystic? Christine shouted.
So this was the stranger's name.
'Come next to me', she said to them.
They went to her and Mystic did a protection spell. She shut a glass globe around them. The morhs could not go through. The girls screamed and for a moment I thought that the protection was gone. But this was not it. One of the creatures was eating up Aaron. I turned away. I did not want to see this.
It was done. We had lost. Damn it. We had really lost. I looked to see Eric, but he was not there anymore.
Then I saw a purple spiral hitting Meya. Because she had been taken by surprise, she took the hit hard. It was Eric and he was angrier than ever. He kept attacking Meya.
But the morhs were still there. They were hovering around him waiting for a signal from their master.
'I want him alive', Meya said, 'but you can have a little snack.'
I felt this incredible desire to protect him. I felt so connected to him that I probably would have also suffered if anything had happened to him. I could not think about anything else except for this sudden urge to protect him. I got up with great difficulty. I had no idea what I wanted to do.
I made it. I managed to come out from that circle, from that awful prison. This could only mean that Meya was seriously hurt because there was nothing holding me back from escaping. The morhs felt my blood and started to become numb falling into some kind of a trance. I took advantage of this situation and I ran towards Aaron's lifeless body. Perhaps I only thought I was running, because my feet were barely moving. I refrained from vomiting when I saw the body and I took his gun that was by his side. I had to do something and since magic was not my strong suit – if I even had any magic left in me – then I had to use human powers.
Alright...how do you use a gun?
Damn it. The creatures woke up from the trance and they were coming straight for me. Meya was busy fighting Eric and was not paying attention to me anymore. I ran closer to them; I aimed and pulled the trigger. The noise was so deafening that it made my ears hurt. Luckily the gun was loaded. The bullet hit her straight into the chest. I did not expect to have such good precision. Or perhaps magic had helped me.
Meya dropped to the ground. The next thing I saw were the morhs falling prey to the sun. They all burned in an instance. It seems Meya was the only reason why the morhs could walk during the day. But now she was dead.
I had killed her...
I could not move. I still had the gun in my trembling hand. I was crying and I was too traumatised to let it go. Eric came next to me and tried to take the gun away from my hand, but I held on tight to it. Chris ran to her father's body. She was virtually screaming. That's when I let the gun drop and I fell down on my knees. Maggie went after her. She was the younger sister, but she proved to be so much stronger than Chris who was 24 years old. She took her in her arms like a mother who is trying to soothe her crying baby.
Meya is dead. I had killed someone. I had taken someone's life. A life I had no right to take. Why had I done it? I knew Meya was a really despicable person, but I should not have been the one who...
'This was the second time...' I said in trembling voice.
'It's going to be alright.'
Eric squatted in front of me. He probably did not know what to do. He did not seem hurt. Mystic came next to us. She did not look alright. She was exhausted and had scratches and bruises on her arms. Luckily Aaron was not a good shooter and the bullet had just grazed her right leg.
'She is in shock', he said.
I looked up from the ground and pushed my hair aside. Something was going on with Mystic. When she looked at me she reacted as though she had seen a ghost.
'Where did you get it from?' I looked at her not knowing what she was referring to. 'Where did you get it from?' She asked again, this time louder. 'The medallion.'
I looked at the half-moon hanging around my neck. I had completely forgotten about it.
'Not now Mystic', Eric snapped at her. 'She needs peace of mind and privacy.'
But I did not want that. I wanted someone to hold me tight, to look into my eyes and to tell me that it had all been a dream, a damn nightmare.
'But you don't understand. I have to know.'
'Mystic, go to the girls and see if they need anything!'
She sighed and left.
'It belonged to my mother, or at least that is what Meya told me. However, after all that happened, I don't know if I can trust her', I replied. Mystic stopped and turn to me but did not say a thing. For a moment I thought that she was going to run and take me into her arms but she refrained. 'Why?'
'Never mind ...' she said and then walked away.
I got up. The pain and the tiredness were the only things I could care less about at this point. I had to escape from this place.
'You should sit!' Eric said. 'You are exhausted. Help will be here shortly.'
'I have to leave.'
'Why are you so stubborn?'
'I have to get my thoughts straight. This is just too much. Don't you understand?'
'No, you don't understand. I am not going to let you play around with your health. Where do you want to leave by yourself and in your condition? Listen to me, Kate! It took me a long time to find you. I've already let you out of my sight twice, but it's not going to happen again. I am not letting you leave anywhere without me.'
He was so down beat and tired. He made a spell and released me from the cuffs. I felt relieved to get away from their grip. He examined me head to toe. He took my arm that had an improvised cast on it and looked at the cut.
'This half-moon of yours is very strange. Since when have you had it?'
'I got it once in a dream, I think. Not long ago. It was after I came to this island. Damn it. My entire body hurts and my hand even more so. This half-moon is a nuisance whenever I'm close to the barrier. Can't you do one of your magic tricks and make this pain go away?'
'I'm sorry', he said. 'Magic doesn't work like this.'
'Alright, then can you tie my arm back again because I want to leave.'
'Are you always like this?'
'Like what?'
'So difficult. Did you really not understand anything that I have been telling you?'
'Damn it', I shouted at him. 'I just killed someone and this is not the first time I've done it. I need to be alone!'
He went silent after that.
I was lying. I did not want to be alone. In fact, there was nothing that I wanted more but for Eric to take me into his arms and tell me that everything had just been a nightmare. I don't know what was wrong with me. I wanted him so badly, but I only pushed him away from me. And I managed to keep him away. He went to check on the girls and just told me that he was giving me some privacy. I guess I was going to be his prisoner after that. Alright, maybe I am exaggerating about being his prisoner.
But this was not important now.
The first time I had killed someone had been during one of my many archery lessons. Some people had said that it was just an accident, but I knew it was not. I had not been on my best behaviour for some time. All that partying had been keeping me up for several nights in a row. I was extremely tired and dizzy when I got to the lesson. He had just told me about it. I was at a pool party when the coach phoned me. The competition had moved a week before. I was careless, a big idiot and that got my coach killed. It did not matter that it was unintentional, or the fact that he wasn't supposed to be on the training field. I should have double-checked before shooting the arrow that killed him. And that was why I had given up archery.
I went slowly towards the barrier. I wanted to leave from this place and never come back. Chris was absolutely devastated, but she had Maggie by her side and she would help her go through this. Eric and Mystic had risked their lives for me, although I was only a stranger to them. They were always going to have my gratitude.
I went past the barrier and that's when I felt this familiar warmth. I took one last look at them. The blonde and Eric seemed to be having an argument. Maggie was still holding Chris.
The last thing I wanted was to be alone but still I left. I was too scared and traumatised to take any good decision and yet I was doing it. Kaeillindor: too many secrets, too many questions. I did not want to know anything more. I just wanted to forget everything that had happened and start a new life. And this would only have been possible if I stopped seeing those people that reminded me of this nightmare.
I saw Eric and Mystic struggling to go through the barrier but they could not. I was now connected to it. I could feel this and the half-moon on my palm was that connection.
I was lucky enough to find a boat on the shore. This was probably Eric's. Without overthinking it, I got on and left to wherever the wind would take me. I hoped it would be to civilisation.