Splintered Fate (39 page)

They knew Garin wanted Kaiden and
Lana together, yet she still followed him. Foolishly, she didn’t
think it strange, Garin standing alone in a room. Now his men
surrounded Ardin and Lana couldn’t do a thing to help. Her head
began to spin at the energy she was giving Ardin so that he could
protect himself.

Kaiden took a step forward but was stopped by
his brothers dangerously cold eyes, “You too, brother. Any closer
and my steel will happily bask in her blood”.

“
Don’t do this.” Kaiden pleaded,
“When did you turn into such a monster? If you care about us
please, brother, I don’t want to hurt you.”

Laughter came from behind Lana as the man
holding her spoke, “You can no longer hurt me, and I will never
make the mistake of trusting you again. You side with the Madonians
who kill our kind.”

“
And we kill theirs!” Kaiden
shouted out. Lana could hear a hint of panic in his voice, she
wondered if Garin noticed it too. Her eyes could no longer look at
him, they were glued on her Aorra.

“
We are at war, little brother,
and she is a first of the council.” He yanked Lana so that her back
pressed against his chest. His grip on her tightened and finally
her gaze met Kaidens. For a moment their eyes locked. There was a
deadly look in Kaiden’s eyes that she had never seen in him before.
His entire body was rigid.

“
Why are you doing this? She never
harmed you.” Kaiden’s voice was clear, no longer
pleading.

“
But she did. Do you not see it?
She broke us, she took you away, bewitched you. You are my blood, a
man does not willingly betray his own blood!”

“
If its me you really want then
let her and her Aorra go, I will go with you willingly.”

“
No. Unfortunately, I cannot. For
what you have done, the only way to set things right is if you kill
her. You can consider her death an act of war for your people, for
your blood. You will be welcomed back, the king will be pleased
with you, you will have wealth.”

Kaiden’s eyes met Lana’s for a
small moment. There was a hitch in her throat as silenced spanned
the room. What if he would agree? Then all her attention was yanked
towards her Aorra.

“
NO!” Lana screamed out. She
struggled to break free from Garin’s grip, but his blade, cutting
into her neck, stopped her. Sweet power swiftly flowed into her,
she could feel the strength from within her veins. Ardin was giving
her his strength.

“
Ardin don’t do
this.” Lana pleaded, her shoulders tense even though she no longer
struggled. There was a sting at her throat where Garin had allowed
his blade to cut her, taking the fight from her.
You are my only family left.

And you are the
only family I ever had.
He replied as his
shield began crumbling around him.

It was as if the air had gone out of the room,
leaving Lana breathless. Ardin was her anchor, he was her center,
her gravity. Without him she would be so unbearably lost. Without
him, she didn’t know if she could survive. In this moment she
couldn’t breath, couldn’t fathom what he was going.

Eventually the Rami men would wear down his
strength and his shield. It was pointless for Ardin to use up his
and Lana’s strength just to defend himself when there seemed to be
one inevitable outcome. Ultimately his shield would fail and he
would be outnumbered. He had no way to get out of this. Giving Lana
as much energy as he could before he used it all up was his only
option to help her survive.

The men surrounding him took turns slinging
flashes of hot light at him. Ardin eyed the men, deciding on the
one he would take down with him. He knew Lana would be emotionally
weak when he fell, but Kaiden was here now. He cared for her,
hopefully he could protect her, this was their only
option.

Don’t do
anything-stupid Lana.
Ardin warned
her.

“
STOP THIS!” Lana screamed. Tears
flooded her eyes, making it hard to see. Another wave of energy hit
her, and she couldn’t draw a breath. Her Aorra was giving up, she
was going to watch as he died. She tried to move but Garin’s grip
painfully tightened on her, this time he didn’t cut her, he
wouldn’t dare. He wanted her to witness this.

“
Please! Please, stop! Just,
stop!” Lana didn’t even know who she was crying for, for Ardin or
Garin. If only the room would sill, if only she had more time to
figure this out. But their time had run out.

I will always be with you,
Lana.

Lana gasped, her head was
spinning. She wanted to vomit. Her stomach twisted. The last wave
of strength, indicating the fall of the shield, hit her with such
force it knocked the wind out of her.

Ardin lunged at the Rami in front
of him getting him by the throat in a fatal grip, cutting an
artery. Suddenly a blade cut across Ardin’s side causing him to cry
out and another blade came piercing through him. The wolf yelped, a
single sharp cry, before his body went slack, falling to the
floor.

Unexpectedly the guards stopped
attacking him. Wanting to prolong the suffering Lana supposed. She
watched with wide eyes, unable to look away even though she could
hardly stomach the sight. No sound came from her.

I love
you
. Ardin whispered.

It was the last
thing Lana heard before she was left completely alone in her mind.
Her eyes slid shut.
This isn’t
happening.

The guards stopped their assault
on the wolf, taking a few steps away, as he lay motionless on the
cold ground. Together, they all turned their attention towards
Garin, waiting for orders.

A small proud smile danced on
Garin’s lips. He released his grip from Lana and shoved her towards
the guards. The unexpected force caused her to fall to her knees,
flinging the tears from her eyes to the icy floor.

She lifted her head just enough to
see the white wolf lying on the ground in a growing red pool of
blood. Her world stopped. In this moment all Lana felt was cold ice
in her veins. She stared at Ardin’s body, which remained soaking in
a growing pool of red. He did not vanish into dust.

Aorra’s fell to a glimmering dust
when they died, similar to when a Madonian released the form of
something they had created. Ardin body remained whole. He was not
dead, not yet. Anger ignited within Lana, like a flame. The anger
she felt at Ardin for giving up, anger at the men who had done this
to him fueled the flame until it became a roaring fire within
her.

She welcomed the new rage, letting
it flow into her, letting it turn her fear into fuel. The fury
clung to her like a warm blanket, rushing heat through her veins.
Drowning her in its raging embrace.

You may give up, Ardin, I will
not.

With new purpose, in one swift
motion, Lana rose to her feet, approaching the six remaining Rami
in front of her. Rage stirred within, intertwined with the energy
of Ardin’s parting gift. She could feel the energy pulling into her
palms as a silver blade smoothly erupted in each hand. Everything
seemed to be moving in slow motion as she stalked over the
men.

You will not
live to see tomorrow.
She promised the
Rami, before she released her wrath up on them.

* * *

Kaiden watched in disbelief. It
seemed to happen so quickly. In a moment Ardin was killed. Lana was
on the ground and then suddenly she had blades in her hands and
approached the six men in front of her.

He wanted to scream at her, what
was this woman thinking? She had almost died at Garin’s hands and
instead of fleeing once she was set free she decided to walk into
fire.

The adrenalin felt like ice as it
shot through his veins. Kaiden tightened the grip on his sword and
moved, making his way across the room to Lana.

The first Rami stepped towards
Lana as she approached. In a single swift motion she stopped his
blade’s assault on her with one of her own and pierced his throat
with her other. Her attacker went down, his body hitting the floor
after she had already turned from him. Like fluid her eyes glided
to the next threat, not once did she seem to stop moving. Another
Rami flung out his hands with sparks of light coming from them, but
Lana cut the lighting with her swords, stopping it from ever
touching her.

Kaiden shot out his own fiery
lighting at a Rami while he closed the distance between himself and
Lana, positioning himself between her and three of the Rami men.
One of the men lunged at him. Ducking away, he grabbed the Rami and
thrust him into another Rami’s sword.

Flashes of blue intertwined with
steel blades as Kaiden and Lana fought the remaining guards in the
room, taking them down one by one. The metallic tang of blood mixed
with the salt of sweat coated Kaiden’s mouth. Grumbling, he pulled
his sword free from the lifeless body of a Rami he had just
slain.

The last Rami soldier left stood
before Lana, Seff. She peered at him with eyes that were merciless
and cold. The way her body moved as she spun the blades in her
hands around seemed unnatural for the girl he had grown to know.
Any trace of softness within her had vanished. Predatory green eyes
watched her opponent. There was a ruthless air about her, she
seemed unstoppable.

* * *

They would all pay for what they
had done to her. The two swords in her hands shrunk to a smaller
size, in preparation to throw. The familiar Rami called Seff held
up his thick hands in an attempt to fire a blue flame at the
Councilwoman, but it was no use. By the time he had raised his
hands Lana had thrown a blade. By the time flickers of blue light
touched his skin her blade had cut, bedding its self deep within
his flesh. It happed quickly.

Seff stood wide-eyed as he looked
down at the blade that stuck out of his belly. With a single finger
twitch, Lana released the blades form, allowing for blood to escape
from the wound, causing the Rami to fall to his knees and then to
the floor, dead. The room around her seemed to grow
still.

Lana turned to look at Kaiden,
only to see panic in his eyes as he took a quick step towards her.
His mouth opened to say something. She spun around, meeting with
Garin’s cold eyes. She stared at him a moment, in shock of him
being so unexpectedly close. Then she felt it.

She felt it as he pulled his blade
from her. Lana stared down. Blood began to stain her tunic red. The
way it poured out didn’t seem real. She could hear Kaiden scream
but it sounded so distant against the roaring panic ringing in her
ears.

Lana touch the wound, as if unsure
that were real. Red blood marked her fingertips. There was a
buzzing in her ears and she fell to her knees, in sudden weakness.
No matter how hard she tried to grip to reality, Lana could feel it
slipping through her fingers like sand.

Kaiden called out her name but
everything sounded so muffled.

On the ground Lana saw the white
fur of a wolf close to her. She crawled over to the motionless
wolf. Resting her hand on his body, she fell beside him. The heat
of rage left her all at once. In its place was a numbing coldness.
There wasn’t even any pain, just weakness.

Please do not
leave me.
She begged her
Aorra.

Lana could feel herself beginning
to slip away from reality to the sound of metal clashing against
metal. She tried to force her eyes open. Able to hardly make out
two people fighting. Her vision was beginning to fail her, her eyes
slid shut.

Energy had escaped her. She barely
had enough strength to force herself to stay conscious. Darkness
pulled at her, beckoning her to let go, to fall away. The sounds of
clashing kept her from giving in. Somewhere Kaiden still fought,
somewhere those who cared for her still fought. Fingers dug into
Ardin’s fur as she struggled to keep hold of reality. Somehow Lana
managed to will her eyes open, she saw, in a thick blur, one of the
Rami men fall to the ground. Her eyes slid shut.

L
et that be Kaiden still
standing,
was her last thought before the
darkness came.

Epilogue

UNITED COSMIC
UNDERTAKING

Christopher leaned his head on his hand, his
index finger pulling up on his eyebrow as he watched the heated
arguments unfold in front of him. The three of them argued amongst
each other at the semi circle table, while he was supposed to
listen and decide the path they would take. They did not know his
mind had already been made up.

“
The girl will not survive!”
Rachel yelled, finding the argument meaningless.

“
I agree; the odds are against
her. However she is a fighter and if she does survive, and makes it
to the portal bridge than we must let her in.” Anna
spoke.

“
If she survives we should not
allow for her to come here.” Jonathan spoke to Anna.

“
How can you say that, Jonathan?
You were fond of Lana and Kaiden as children-“