THE KEEPERS RISE

Chapter 10 - Fear's Strike - Part 4

*Remember to click the play button to listen to the soundtrack as you read!*

Velda's breathing was still labored, and as she gasped for life, Will'ym tentatively put an arm around her. When she didn't pull away, he sighed and hugged her close. Velda was startled at first, but he was so gentle and comforting that she couldn't help but rest her head on his shoulder, getting it wet with her tears. For minutes, neither of them moved.

"I don't understand any of this," Will'ym admitted finally, forcing himself to let go of Velda with his farther arm. "If Quin is from the Dark Council, then that would mean that they're against the peace, and the Dark has been relatively peaceful for a long time."

"Then the bigger question is why he cares about us personally," Velda said weakly. She could still remember the feeling of death. It was alone in her mind as the worst thing she had ever experienced. She'd felt like she had no control over her basic existence; the Dark magic just kept taking it away. "Why did you have to challenge him?" she demanded. "Was it worth it?"

Will'ym reeled back from her words, though he didn't let go of her. "I thought there might be a way for us to escape if we only pretended to be affected by his magic. If he thought we were trapped..." He trailed off, sensing her intense frustration.

Velda shook her head, awkward as it was against Will'ym's side. "He doesn't want to just hurt us, you know. If he did, he would have had us both in death stasis from the beginning. It's easily within his power to do that, and much simpler."

Will'ym nodded and paused, trying to recall a connection between the moment he'd passed out and the moment when he had first awoken. Both were still fuzzy in his mind. "I still don't remember how we ended up here," he said finally. "The magic was powerful enough to knock all of us out practically instantly."

"Oh, right, so the rest of the Keepers should be around here somewhere too." Velda brightened a little at that. "And what about Perryn's officers, and Councilor Rohana? They would've also been knocked out by the magic. Maybe they're nearby and can help us escape."

Will'ym's brow creased in concentration. "No," he decided, "I don't think they were affected. All of the Keepers fell at the same time, but that Light Councilor never faltered, and the officers were still working on standing up near the edges of the bridge."

"Then he was only targeting us?" The memory was starting to become clearer in Velda's head, and as it did, so did the strangeness of the situation. She couldn't help but see kathumi in an even eviler light now. Councilor Quin seemed to be against the very existence of the Keepers. Is Iyan trustworthy? she wondered.

They were interrupted by the door opening again, and a clamor of voices outside. The shapes of the other Keepers appeared in the front of the room, lit by a very small amount of healing magic coming from Titus's knees and palms. He had been cruelly shoved to the metal ground by one of the Dark mages escorting the group, and a trickle of blood fell to the floor as he stood up, brushing away Iyan's offer of help. Velda would have welcomed the auras of the other Keepers again, but their stones were all blocked and impossible to detect. It made them all seem lifeless.

Velda ran forward and got control of a portion of the healing magic, using it to light the room. The strain on her strength was so great that she nearly fell over. "We're all here," she breathed, looking over all of their startled faces.

They gradually sat and gathered shoulder to shoulder in the middle of the room, as far from the icy walls as they could manage, to conserve the little body warmth they had left. Iyan was more hesitant but eventually joined the huddle. Unsurprisingly, Ozul was the first to speak. "Where did you two go?" he asked suspiciously, though his fear and weakness also showed through.

Will'ym said, "We've been trapped, same as you. The important thing is to find a way out of here." They all nodded. "What do we have to work with?" he asked them.

"You're really asking that?" This was from Lenora. "We don't have any magic, Will. Without that, we've got no hope."

Will'ym narrowed his eyes at her. "Don't call me that."

"But that's not actually true," Velda said. "I used Will'ym's healing magic to unblock our stones." She shivered. "That didn't last for very long."

"What healing magic do you mean?" Lenora asked her.

Velda didn't want to think back on what Quin had done, but she knew it might be their only way to escape. She was about to respond when Will'ym said simply, "The kathumis cut my arm open." Pecci gasped, crossing her arms worriedly. "Not the worst I've seen," Will'ym brooded. "But I'd appreciate it if it doesn't have to happen again."

Ozul and Titus had been intently whispering to each other, and it looked like Ozul had just lost the argument. The feluna put his head in his fuzzy hands and went silent. "What if we could get to that magic again?" Titus asked. "If we could unblock our stones, we could easily get out of here."

Will'ym didn't like the way this was heading. "We can't be mortally wounding each other for the slim chance that we'd get to one of our life forces. These walls and the door are probably resistant to magic, besides, so it would be for nothing."

Velda added, "It took a lot of effort. And pain."

Titus said to Will'ym, "Don't you carry your weapons on your person? Where's your sword?"

"Gone. One of the mages must have taken it from me when I passed out," Will'ym said frustratedly. Then his eyes widened, and he touched his side, where his dagger normally was, and quietly swore. "My dagger is gone too."

"Your stone is pretty sharp, though," Titus said craftily.

"That's enough," Will'ym told him. "I'm not going to do what the kathumis did. That would make me as evil as he is."

Titus was edging closer to Will'ym, ignoring his protests. "Can't we try?"

Suddenly, Iyan spoke up, rather loudly. "No." The rest of the Keepers turned to him in surprise. "Harming each other will only make us weaker. If magic could help us escape, Velda wouldn't have been allowed to have any under her control right now."

Titus snorted. "Ha! That sounds exactly like what a kathumis would say." Velda couldn't help but see Titus's logic. "How can we know you're not working with them?" he asked pointedly.

That shut Iyan up. He sighed and began to stand, but Titus grabbed his arm and yanked him back down. "If you're so sure you're trustworthy, why don't you let us use your life force?" he said.

Iyan stared at the ground angrily. "Well, even if I thought it was a good idea, my skin is much tougher than yours."

Titus was still holding Iyan's arm, and he started to pull it towards his razor-sharp shoulders. Iyan froze. "If you won't-" Titus began.

Suddenly, Will'ym stood up to his full height and pushed Titus to the ground. Iyan slid out of his grasp, and a clang sounded through the room as the scraithon's shoulder ridges hit the metal floor. Titus winced and reached up to touch one of them protectively. "Nobody else is getting hurt," Will'ym growled. "Control yourself."

"Fine," Titus spat, "Have it your way, Will."

Titus tried to sit back up, and the tarrephaene shoved him down again for good measure. "I said, don't call me that."