Ardalia: The Breath of Aoles

Chapter Seventeen - THE NYLEV

Lominan's necklacebounced on her chest as she ran full tilt. She heard a noiseimmediately to her right—something heavy had fallen—whichredoubled her terror. The landscape flew past at top speed.Everything was blurred, with the exception of the wall, which curvedgently. Beneath her feet the ground sloped downwards and her flightaccelerated even more.

A bend arrived thatshe had not anticipated. She skidded. Her hands beating the air in avain attempt to regain her balance, she felt the burn of frictionagainst her leg and she fell to the ground, instinctively protectingher face.

The impact wasbrutal. Thrown backward, Lominan arched her body, squealing, with onehand on her side. She could not tell for how long she was frozen inthat position. When the pain finally allowed her to think coherently,she forced her body to straighten out, her jaws so tightly clenchedthat she feared she might break her teeth.

Her fingers becameactive, feeling the places that hurt the worst, especially the sideof her abdomen. If her skeleton had not been composed of glumass andshe had had bones like a hevelen's, she would certainly have brokensomething. Her skin was harder where she had collided with anobstacle. She moaned, wiping the tears from her eyes. She had gotaway with a bruise, which revealed itself as a nasty black patch.

Lominan stayed downfor a little while longer, then, proceeding in stages, feeling likeshe was reassembling her limbs as she reassembled her thoughts, shestood up.

The rock off ofwhich she had so violently rebounded had kept her from falling to thebottom of the gap, saving her life. Lower down, the contours of theGreat Rift were scarcely distinguishable, making the abyss all themore terrifying.

Sheput her hand up to her neck. Istill have it.Against all odds, the necklace of Cilamon did not seem to have beendamaged. The air current surrounding her had never seemed socomforting.

Theguards... It was the guards that I was running from.She darted a swift glance at the top of the slope. Everything wascalm. Her legs, however, still trembled. She had to pull herselftogether.

Her heart skipped abeat.

She had tried tosearch for the amberrock in the pleat in her trousers, and for ahorrible moment thought that she had lost it. Her eyes widened as shecrouched down, fearfully.

There!

At the sight of thefragment on the path, she thought she would swoon with relief. With afeverish gesture, she picked it up and pressed it against her chest.With that, she could get herself a shell on the fourth level andconsign the Strays' quarter to the rank of a bad memory.

As she continuedwalking, the reality of her situation returned to her and a balefulsmile stole across her thin face. She was alone, bruised and unarmed,with no food or water, hundreds of leagues from Belenia. She hadabandoned her companions. Her heart sank at the idea of the trustthat Elisan-Finella had placed in her. This was how she had paid themagician back!

She had to admit,however, that the goals pursued by Xuven and Pelmen and even those ofElisan-Finella were not hers. All she wanted was to lead a tranquillife, safe from need.

What should she donow? If she chose to ask for help from the inhabitants behind therampart, chances were good that they would decide to imprison her. Bynow, in fact, the guards must have captured Xuven andElisan-Finella—she dared not imagine their fate. She would beassociated with them, as well as that madman Pelmen, and theirattempted espionage. Even if that weren't the case, they would notwant to let her return to Belenia, for fear that she would reveal thecity's existence.