Enaya: Solace of Time (29 page)

“Who?” Leo asked.

“That Shebris,” Norcross replied.

“She did,” Bancroft remarked. He lowered his hands and watched Norcross. “She’s gone with him.”

“And she has Enaya. With Nile, she’s going to use it. He’s the only one who knows how to use it.”

“And she’ll
make
him use it,” Bancroft sputtered.

“Then let’s work out a deal. We all go down to get Nile. I help you and you help me. We get Nile together and then we go,” Norcross said. “I will let you live.”

“He’s a liar,” Locklin said. “He just tried to kill me.”

Norcross pointed the gun at Locklin. “Tick tock says the clock.”

“How will we know that you keep your word?” Leo asked.

“I want my family released,” Bancroft said, stepping forward.

Norcross winced at him. “Deal. Any other takers?”

“And Nile goes free?” Ashera asked.

“We can’t trust ’em,” Locklin said.

“I’m tired of playing cat and mice with you!” Norcross yelled. “If I wanted you dead I’d kill you right now. I just want Nile Whitman and the Enaya element. Shebris has both.”

“I want Nile alive after this,” Ashera demanded.

“Done,” Norcross said, exasperated. His long hair fell over his face, matted in sweat against his skin. Norcross flipped the pistol back into the palm of his hand, revealing it to the Magical. He slowly placed it in the holster, and then brought his hand back up. He was harmless.

“I guess we have no choice,” Leo said.

Norcross grinned. “Let’s prepare the Ancrya.”

Chapter 40

Shebris

Nile had been walking for hours now.

He was extremely tired, but nobody wanted to be pulled by a horse. Shebris glared back at him with her large dark eyes, staring into his soul. It felt like it at least. His feet nearly tripped over each other, but he managed to keep his pace up with the horse, which was black and smelled of death.

Another horse caught up with it. Srinath was on it. He was bleeding from his lip, but he never stared at Nile. His horse neighed and whinnied until he got next to Shebris. She looked over at him; their eyes fixed on each other.

Nile was thirsty. Come to think of it, he hadn’t had a drink since his stay in Peoria. His throat felt like a torch. He could go for a nice drink right about now, something cold, like ice water. He hadn’t had a lot of ice water in his day, especially since he couldn’t keep the ice frozen. He had it once, as a matter of a fact, and that was the time Woodlands celebrated the return of Alexander Whitman.

“Can I get a drink?” Nile asked.

The horses stopped and he stumbled into the rear of Shebris’s horse. She reached a black pouch to him and he nodded to her. He flipped the pouch up and held it over his mouth to get a drink, but dirty water poured into his parched aperture, spilling over his lips, and dripping down his cheek. He pulled away and spat it out.

“What is this?” Nile asked, still trying to get the taste out.

“Water,” Shebris said.

“Rotten water,” Nile replied, tossing the pouch back up to her.

“You imbecile,” Shebris hissed. “You want something so bad and when it is given to you, you throw it back. This world is rotten to the core.” She grabbed the chain, yanking it as hard as she could. Nile tripped and fell onto the hard ground.

He got one foot under him and lifted, but he slid to his back. The horse marched over sharp rocks. They scraped his back, but he tried again, this time getting his feet under him and jumping up, landing on both heels. He tried to keep from falling backward, but the horse pulled him and he landed flat on his feet.

“You are so powerful, yet we travel on a horse. This isn’t about Enaya; it’s about making me suffer, is it not?” Nile asked.

“This gives you fear. Fear of the unexpected,” Shebris said.

They continued deeper into the forest, past trees that appeared to be burnt, and back into the luscious green of the wilderness, until they came across a temple carved into the mountain. It was dark inside and Nile shivered. Shebris and Srinath got off their horses and grabbed them by the reins, leading them toward the entrance. Dozens of snakes, about three to six feet long, slithered out of the temple. Nile’s knees buckled.

Shebris noticed. “Are you scared?”

“No,” Nile muttered, watching the snakes slither out into the grass.

“Don’t upset the big one,” she said.

Nile nearly tripped into the entrance. His feet squished over something. He was afraid to look down. He did and he jumped at the sight of skulls piled up against the cavern walls. They continued through the tunnel until they saw a staircase, which led them down to a throne. Below the staircase was a dark pool of water.

“Alar ie Orn,”
Shebris said.

The horses walked into the dark pool of water, burning into orange ash as they did. The one horse was pulling Nile, and he used his heels to hold himself back, but the horse was far too strong. The horse disappeared into the water, but the chain broke free. The tip faded into orange ash and Nile took a deep breath.

Shebris balled up her fist and then released it. The remaining chains fell from Nile’s wrist. He rubbed his skin. He glanced to the throne and stared at it for a moment. The throne itself spoke volumes, and it was a haunting throne. To Nile, it radiated the darkness of Shebris’s soul, the emptiness of her heart.

Shebris glided across the floor to meet Nile face to face. Her cold, pale fingers felt like ice cycles against his chin. Her breath smelled of a trap filled with dead mice. “So you’re Nile Whitman,” she said with an orgasmic smile.

“Yeah,” Nile murmured.

“And you used the Enaya element, specifically known as time?”

“I have,” Nile said in a whisper.

“How did you use it?” She asked.

Nile swallowed hard. “Close your eyes and dream of a time when you were at peace. Enaya responds to those emotions.”

“Are you sure?”

“That’s how it worked for me.”

“I know how it is used,” Shebris said. “I just thought I was the only one.”

Nile lowered his head. “No, unfortunately not. I was told that those who encounter Seraph can use it.”

“I’ve encountered Seraph,” Shebris said. “It’s funny that you are still alive.”

“I don’t know of a time that I ever encountered Seraph,” Nile replied.

Shebris snarled at him.

“Enaya destroyed my home,” Nile said. “It took the one person I ever really loved away from me and I’ve caused so much pain to everyone else.”

“What about that Ashera girl?” Shebris asked. “I saw how quick she was to save you.”

Nile closed his eyes. “I know, but I can’t keep living a lie. I’ve done something awful.”

“Referring to Norcross,” she said, slithering the name from her tongue as if it were a curse.

Something crumbled behind them. Nile glanced to see Ramiel sniff his way down the staircase, using his sword to poke at the ground to find his footing. He came to the platform with them and walked around Srinath, sniffing the atmosphere.

“That Whitman boy,” Ramiel said. “I’ve picked up his scent.”

“Yes,” Srinath said. “The others?”

Ramiel’s head jerked to the staircase like a bird and his nostrils flared. “They are coming for him.”

“Ashera?” Nile asked.

“All of them,” Ramiel said.

Nile smiled, helplessly.

“Au mie la’ure,”
Shebris said.

The black water behind them bubbled. It foamed and made a gurgling sound as the bubbles piled upon each other, forming a large mass of a body. Then another one appeared, and another and another, until a dozen of these bodies of bubbles appeared across the black water. The bubble fell apart, seeping back into the water, and standing on top were creatures of the undead.

They smelled of death, and Nile sucked in his breath and held it as hard as he could, until he had to gasp. The smell was putrid. He stepped behind Shebris as they took a step across the water and onto the platform. They dripped with the black water and stared at him with soulless eyes.

Their armor was rusted, their jaws misplaced, and their fingers crumbled around sharp, ancient swords. They howled at the human but remained standing before Shebris. They had a chest piece, an emblem etched on it of an eagle sitting upon an image of the world. Nile recognized this emblem. It was the symbol that represented the knights of the Old War.

The eagle represented the power holding the world, the kingdoms. It was a blood bath of a battle too, one that very few remember, and if they did, they didn’t want to talk about it. This was them—the undead—in their armor haunted by their deaths and ready to fight again.

They howled again, pitching a ghastly melody. The dried flesh of one’s cheekbones fell and crumbled into dust on the wet platform as their jaws stretched outward. Shebris nodded at them, smirking as she did. The undead had risen.

“Go,” she said.

They turned and marched up the stairs, their armor clanked and clinked together and dust fell off. They went into the tunnel and disappeared into darkness. Nile could still hear them moaning and he swallowed in fear, feeling his intestines knot up inside his stomach and twist. He was about to hit the floor.

Shebris turned to Nile to see him gulp and sweat and shake. She leaned closer into him. “A little gift for your friends.”

“You didn’t have to,” Nile said, growing a smirk across his face.

Shebris grabbed him by his face. “I want you to see my Solace of Time.”

Then everything around them grew cold. The room broke apart, and Nile kept his eyes fixed on Shebris as she held him close. The throne broke into a million pieces, and the pieces became sand. Srinath and Ramiel broke too. The sound of the ocean filled the sandy shore. Eventually, the walls came down and all that was left were the memories of Shebris. Nile looked out to see the black ocean and the gray sand. Her Solace of Time had rotted.

“Why does it look like this?” Nile asked, looking around.

A wave crashed onto the sand and rippled away, leaving a broken carriage. She remembered that carriage too; it was a very fond memory. She looked to her right and noticed a broken mirror sticking from the sand and she saw her reflection, but not the one of her now, but the reflection of her from many moons ago. She had long blonde hair and was wearing a beautiful white dress. She glided to her reflection and touched her face—her reflection mimicked. A tear streamed down her cheek, and without hesitation, she quickly shot her hand toward the mirror and a ball of fire ignited from her fingers and shattered the glass.

“You didn’t always look like this, did you?”

Shebris looked at Nile. “No.”

“What happened?”

Shebris turned to the black ocean. “It used to be blue.”

Nile glanced at the ocean and only imagined it. “I bet it was beautiful.”

Shebris glided to the edge of the shore and watched as the ocean came up and rushed against her dress. “I used to feel it.”

There was a washed-up chair, and Nile went to it. He sat down and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. “Shebris, I don’t know—”

“Say nothing,” Shebris said. “I was young once, just like you. I was in love as well, with a handsome man known as Wyndham Oar. He was brave and had a beautiful soul, but we were separated by the Lucian Empire. Seraph killed him before my eyes because I was the one of the few who could use the magic from the moon. He said we could be together forever if I joined the Lucian Empire. I chose not.” Shebris lowered her head. “I left the kingdom in search for something better, and that is when I ran across a gem. It was lying in the forest in the middle of nowhere.”

“Enaya, element of time?” Nile asked.

“Exactly,” Shebris said. “I picked up the gem, hoping it would bring comfort to me and as I held it tightly at my heart. I wished that I could go back in time and change things.”

“Did you have any idea that the gem you had was Enaya?”

“No, but by chance it was,” Shebris continued. “I went back into time and watched Seraph kill Wyndham. I watched it over and over, trying to save him in so many different ways, but I realized quickly that you can’t interfere with the past. I sought out Seraph and told him I rethought his proposal. He gave me power and of course, Wyndham, but Wyndham was something else entirely. He wasn’t the same and he has lived his days not knowing who I was. Forgiveness would break my spell, but Seraph forged my heart into stone. At that time, I hated the world. I wanted everybody to die, but I kept this gem and used it all the time, until one day I lost it.”

Nile continued to listen.

“I lost it here, in Solace of Time. It was beautiful at one point in time, with a blue ocean and blue sky. The beach was white and the memories I had fluttered about. But I dwelled in my memories for far too long, and now they are broken and washed up on this shore.” Shebris glided toward Nile. “I dwelled in the past for so long that I began to die with my memories. My body began to disappear as if it was a memory, and I transformed, as if I were a memory, until somebody came across it.”

“Wait!” Nile called. “How did somebody come across it if you lost it?”

Shebris looked at Nile. “If you lose Enaya, element of time in Solace of Time, then it returns somewhere in the real world, and you are lost here.”

“So you lost it while you were in Solace of Time?”

“Yes, and if you go so long without finding it, then it returns in the real world.”

“I think I understand.”

“This being who found Enaya and brought me out was Warcront. He governs the Lucian Empire and promised me my life back if I joined the Lucian Empire. I told him I had already joined, but I was betrayed by Seraph.”

“And that brings us to here?” Nile asked.

“No, he lied!” Shebris exclaimed. “I’m here, and he has broken his promise. The only way I can be normal again is to kill someone who has been in contact with Enaya in my Solace of Time.”

Nile looked around, trying to understand what she just said, and after he pondered on it for a bit, it became all too clear to him. He jumped from the seat and pointed at her. “You’re going to kill me?”

Shebris said. “That is why I brought you here—to kill you.”

Nile paused for what felt like a long time and looked up to the sky, feeling the weight of the world fall on his shoulders. He inhaled deeply, but it just added to the weight, so he shook his shoulders and glared at the snake queen. “What if I killed you here?”

“Then you would look like me,” Shebris replied.

Nile closed his eyes and bit his lower lip.

“I’ll kill you when you are ready,” Shebris said.