Splintered Fate (32 page)

“
Well I think I will be
okay.”

“
Very well, that is your decision
to make. But know this bit of truth. These instructors, these who
you think are friends of yours are not who they seem to be. Your
friend Shade knows of that.”

“
The Shade? How is she involved?”
Lana asked, the smile gone and her expression now
serious.

“
She is linked to those who live
on that small moon.”

“
What do you mean? How is it that
you know all of this?”

Donn was not given a chance to reply for
Nadina and Alex ran out of the woods as soon as Lana had finished
asking the question. Lana was pretty certain that he would not
provide her with an answer, not a real one anyway.

Both Nadina and Alex ran up to Lana and Donn
carrying various berries, mushrooms, bark, and things from the
woods.

Lana. I need
you.
Ardin’s voice suddenly entered her
mind.

Instinctually, Lana turned her
head in the direction she could feel Ardin was calling
her.

Right
now?
She asked her
Aorra.

Yes. It is urgent. Meet me in the
brown room.

Lana turned to Donn and the children. “Ardin
is calling me away, he says it’s urgent. If it weren’t I wouldn’t
leave.”

“
Its okay.” Nadina answered,
trying her best to not sound disappointed while Alex remained
silent.

Lana turned to Donn “Will you finish with
this?”

“
Sure, sure, I know some things
about this. Go.”

“
Thank you.” She said to him
before turning to Nadina and Alex “I will make this up to you both,
I promise.”

With that Lana turned and began heading
towards the brown room.

What is it this
time?
She asked Ardin as she headed to
him. Guiltily, she looked over her shoulder at Alex and Nadina. She
had promised to spend the day with them and now had to break her
promise. They stared at her with large matching brown eyes as she
headed towards the castle.

Lana turned away. She could hear
Donn’s voice in the background. “Now this one would certainly have
me going behind that bush for the rest of the afternoon upon
ingestion.” The corners of her lips pulled up. Where would she have
been if she hadn’t ever found Donn?

Ardin, what is going
on?

N
o idea. I was told to urgently go
to the brown room and to instruct you to do the same.
Ardin replied.

Lana began running towards the
room, walking was too slow. She couldn’t help but feel nervous
about this sudden request. Last time Ardin requested her presence
it had to do with Kirill, she could hardly imagine what this could
be.

“
What’s going on?” Lana asked as
she marched into the room, with a ragged breath for
hurrying.

Her green eyes fell first on
Kaiden. He stood in the dead center of the room. For a moment Lana
was surprised that he had beaten her here, then she really noticed
him. His demeanor was that of someone who was beaten, small and
ashamed with a face as colorless as ash. He looked sick and it
seemed that once his eyes found hers that he seemed to get
worse.

Lana’s heart skipped a beat,
stricken with sudden fear of what she did not know, fear of
whatever it was that Kaiden knew. She wanted to go to him, but her
feet seemed to be made of stone, keeping her in place.

“
What’s wrong?” Lana asked,
looking at Kaiden and turning her attention to Micah. The council
and all of their advisors stood in the room.

Micah answered, “The Rami party trying to find
you have turned away from the mountain.”

“
That’s good.” Lana said, slightly
confused.

“
They are going to attack
Gorthyn.”

It took Lana a moment before she
could find her voice. “What?” Her eyes were wide, panicked. A
grumble came from Ardin, who was otherwise silent.

How can you be
certain?
She wanted to ask, but she
couldn’t manage to speak.

“
They assumed that we had Aorras
tracking them and that was why they have been unable to catch you.
They yelled out that they would be heading to Gorthyn.”

“
Burn it to the ground they said,”
Bredin added.

Of course,
Bredin, that’s how they knew. His hawk was the one who had been
keeping an eye on the Rami, on Garin, Kaiden’s brother.

Lana felt
queasy.
This is not happening
again.

What do you want
to do?
Ardin asked.

These are our people. We
fight.

A growl escaped from Ardin,
letting Lana know he was with her. Then a sudden wave of strength
hit her, she was not sure if it was Ardin or her own need to
protect her people that suddenly fueled her.

“
I will be going to defend my
people.” Her voice sounded stronger than she felt, echoing off of
the walls.

“
That is a stupid move. Do you
really want history to repeat itself?”

Lana turned to where the voice
came from. Tor emerged from the shadows, his face stern. She looked
at him with large eyes, shocked at his sudden presence. In all the
time she had been in Alogrin, Tor had not spoken to her, nor had
she really even seen him besides the day that they had first
arrived.

“
These are my people!” She replied
fiercely.

“
This is suicide! By the time you
reach Gorthyn the Rami will most likely have already arrived and
massacred all the people. Save yourself the agony of seeing the
butchered children in the streets.”

Kaiden squared his shoulders and
spoke, color slowly seeping back into his skin. “Not necessarily,
if Garin sent this message, he wants Lana there to witness the
slaughter. He will want her to see it first hand, to hear the cries
of her people. Otherwise he would have just gone and burned Gorthyn
without warning.”

“
And we should listen to you? For
all we know you could be trying to get her to go there, to deliver
her to your brother.” Tor barked.

“
Enough!” Lana’s voice echoed
through the room, angry at the sudden accusation by the stranger
who seemed to have too many opinions. Kaiden was someone that she
cared about, someone she deeply trusted, and someone she now felt
the need to protect.

“
You do not know Kaiden nor do you
know me. I do not see why this is important to you, nor any of your
business. What I choose to do with my life...” Lana paused a moment
before continuing. “If I can not even protect the small town of
Gorthyn then I have no right to lead people. How can I expect
people to follow me and believe in me if I can not protect my home?
If I do not fight for those I have a duty to protect?”

“
I know you, Lana Casteel. You
should listen when I tell you not to go.”

“
You know me?”
She was shocked, baffled by this stranger. “I have no need to
listen to what you
tell
me to do. You may know of me, but you do not know
me.”

Tor objected, “You were not even
raised in that city.”

This man was infuriating. He had
not spoken to Lana at all since her arrival and now he was behaving
as though he could tell her what to do. Like he had some sort of
say in her life and her choices.

“
It is a part of Selviria.” She
snapped. “It burned once, I am not going to have it happen again.”
Lana turned her attention to the council. “Will you help
me?”

“
We will not send our men to fight
your battle.” Cale replied.

They have
already discussed this and made their decision.
Ardin’s words entered her mind.

Lana eyed the council, Cale,
Micah, and Clyte. She felt deep disappointment as she paused on
Clyte. They were friends, Clyte was a warrior, yet in this moment
she seemed to be none of those things.

“
Those people in
Gorthyn are innocents. They are not only my people down there but
they are
your
people too, or so I thought. You say that Alogrin is a safe
place, a sort of haven, but you are hidden from those who need you.
I thought I had joined you that we fight for the same side and want
the same things, freedom for both lands to come together and live
in peace. I thought we were a team and that I had earned some of
your trust over my time here. But I see I have been deluding myself
into thinking we are anything more than
acquaintances.”

The council stood silent a moment before Lana
continued. “I will not waste any more time here, Garin already has
enough of a head start.” She paused a moment, a thought suddenly
came to her. “May I take the prisoner?”

“
Dukran?” Micah asked, somewhat
surprised.

“
The only reason he came here was
because he was looking for me. I am leaving. May I take him off of
your hands on my way out?”

“
I thought you hated the
Madonian?” Cale asked.

“
He is a skilled fighter and well
trained in battle against Rami warriors. He is a weapon. Seeing as
I can use some assistance it would be stupid of me to let my
feelings get in the way of doing what is important.”

“
His father may have been involved
in Valdor’s death. Do you not fear the same from him?” Micah
responded curiously.

“
He claims to be a friend to me. I
owe it to that friendship to find out how loyal he is. Plus, he had
a perfectly good chance to take my life once, but he did
not.”

Micah watched her a moment. She
could see him thinking this over before he spoke. “He is yours to
take. But there is no other option, he is not to go off on his
own.”

“
He can lead his armies back
here!” Cale objected.

“
By the time he finds the entrance
we will move things around. If he attempts such a task we will be
prepared, but I think Miss. Casteel knows what she is asking.”
Micah turned his attention back to Lana. “If he attempts to leave
you and not be a part of what you are doing once outside these
walls, do not let him live. Can you do that?” It was cold of Micah
to say this but he had to think of Alogrin and the people there.
Lana understood, she would want the same thing. She would never
want to risk Alogrin being found and destroyed.

“
Thank you.” Lana replied,
accepting what was asked of her in the case that Kirill would not
assist in Gorthyn.

“
We have horses ready, waiting for
you by the gate. They are fed and saddled, I will have Connor get
Dukran’s horse as well.”

Lana gave a curt nod and turned to
leave.

“
Saddle my horse too, will you. I
will be joining the young council woman.” Zorin’s voice stopped
Lana. She turned to see him walking to the center of the room, away
from the council and towards her.

“
You will not--” Micah began in
protest.

“
Am I not a free man?”

“
You are but you are more
important than a simple free man.”

“
I am an advisor to you, the
council. Other than that I am a husband and a teacher, nothing
more.”

“
You are King--”

Zorin held his
hand up “I need no protection and I am no King. The title of King
has
never
pertained to me, but if it were to make you feel better. I,
Zorin Donyerth, will be escorting Lana Casteel to Gorthyn, where I
will help her and her good people. I will no longer sit idly by as
a forgotten neighbor while terror spreads around. If you want to
think of me as a King, then this is final. I am going to go protect
Lana’s people. The same people that at one point were all under
Donyerth rule.”

The authority in Zorin’s voice was
incredible, nothing that Lana had ever heard from him before. His
voice was amplified as if the walls in the room were created to
carry his voice alone. He sounded like a King. A shiver ran down
Lana’s spine at the sound. It was as if Zorin cast a spell. There
was something so infinitely final about his words that no one made
a sound.

“
I am going too.” Clyte broke the
silence.

“
And turn your back on your
people!” Cale hissed.

“
No.” She gestured towards Lana,
Kaiden and Ardin. “Those three are a part of my people, I have
accepted them as my friends. The people in Gorthyn are part of
Lana, thus they are a part of me as well, a part of my people. You
forget Cale that I was not born here like you. I was accepted, let
in and taken care of here. This became my home. What makes me so
different then those in Gorthyn? Why was I let in yet they will not
be? War is brewing and I am not one to sit back. I will not watch
when I think I can do something to help.”

“
Everyone who wishes to go with
Lana Casteel may go.” Micah interrupted Clyte and Cale’s argument
addressing the entire room before turning to Lana. “I will not
forcibly risk the lives of the people here on this, nor will I be
leaving them. But if some wish to join you, I will not stop them.”
He walked over to Lana and placed a hand on her shoulder “Good
luck.” He said as his eyes met hers.