Nikanatedanniell

Chapter 46 Breaking the spell

Nikki heard soft thuds and turned to see the guards slumped on the sand, dead still.

"I can't?" she screamed. "I can't? Horse manure, just watch me."

The Eye was again with the pack. She stuffed it in and tied the pack tightly. "I'll be back Niel," she called, slung the pack on her back, fully feathered and took off. She stayed low and searched the edge of the forest for anything, a fence, a path, a strange tree, anything different.

It is well concealed, she remembered. Well, Mister Mordok, she thought, there's an old Earth saying, 'divide and conquer'. That's what I've done. Yessir that's—oh crud, that's what you've done. She stopped and slowly floated to the ground.

"I have to go back and somehow get through to him. Oh Heavenly Father, tell me how because I have no idea." She flew back much faster than she left.

Touchdown was directly in front of him. She sat behind him and tried again to reach him through gentle persuasion.  His agitation increased. She shook him and shouted, no change. She stood, paced and talked, "alright, talking's not working. It's like he's in shock. Maybe he needs another shock to shock him out of shock. Where are those cups? Oh, there they are. A cup full of ocean should do it."

Mordok had left the table and setting behind, so she quickly filled up one of the cups and dashed the contents on Niel's face. He gasped, shuddered and was still for a moment, then went back to rocking, slower than before however.

"It works a little bit. Crud, I need a bucket. No, an ocean. Can I lift him? I have to, that's all there is."

Donning wings and an oversized pair of talons, she carefully grabbed him by the upper arms and squeezed. "Man, you are dead weight. Not as dead as the guards though. Hey down there, that was a joke."

She flew north as fast as she could hoping to find cold or at least cool air that might indicate cooler water temperature. Right about the time her wings began to ache and her feet began to cramp, she saw a snow-capped mountain.

"Alright bro, feather fast or swim." With that she let go. Niel dropped like a stone. She hovered and counted off the seconds. "...One-thousand nine, one-thousand ten, I killed him. Oh no, I killed him."

She dive-bombed into the water changing into a dolphin just before splashdown. Visibility was low due to darkness and turbidity, nonetheless she dived lower and frantically swam around trying to make out shadow or shape. Finally, panicked and grief stricken, she returned to the surface. Her high-pitched wail was silenced by a huge splash in the face.

She spun on her flukes to see another creature dancing on its flukes and laughing. This dolphin-like animal had a ridged back and shone rust-brown in the moonlight. It spun and jumped toward the island. In the middle of the third jump Niel the darnal changed into Niel the bird and flew to land.

"You're alive," she screamed and jumped after him. She was so excited that when she reached land she forgot to shape back and ended up beached. She rolled on her back and finally became herself. "Thank heaven, you are alive," she yelled and began laughing and crying at the same time.

Niel sat beside her, picked up her hand and kissed it.  "Thank you, I am alive."

"Thank me? I just about drowned you."

"No, you were right. I needed a shock. The hold he had on me was confusion, uncertainty. At first I felt comforted.  I felt as if someone finally understood my need to know, to have everything clearly mapped out in front of me. That has been the worst part of this ordeal. I have always been a person who needs to understand, to see all details, to feel secure in my decisions, to be in total control. Since that first cloudy day we met, nothing has been clear, understandable or mapped out. I have been flying by faith. I had never done that before and it was scary. By the time I realized Mordok was smothering me, I could not overcome it. I felt a failure, that because I had failed to plan and to be in control of that plan every second, I had failed Father God.  Rationally, I knew that was not true. I knew that the Holy Spirit had led me. But emotionally I was insecure, uncertain.  I did not know and I had to know.

"I am sorry for fighting you when you tried to comfort me. I was angered by the lies Mordok told and that anger was helping me break his control. I believe he may have introduced our parents to each other, but I do not believe he caused them to fall in love or marry. I also do not believe he influenced the prophet to call them to give birth to us, if he called them at all. Nor do I believe he manipulated Mother to bear twins. I think he has been lying to himself. As far as the spacecraft and the news report, I do not know what to think. I do know it took until you released me over the water to realize what you were doing. The water was very cold. I woke up fast. Thank you."

Nikki sat up still holding Niel's hand and kissed it back. "You are welcome."