Between the Willow Trees [NaNoWriMo 2013] (Editing)

Chapter 5: Destroyer

Chapter 5: Destroyer

We arrive at my house not long before my parents were due to get home from work on the 1st December 2013. Thorne explains that the portal at the bottom of my garden is going to explode because someone on the other side of it in Elethoria is going to destroy it. I can remember him telling the dragon that someone is going around destroying portals. The explosion is going to be big enough to burn down my house as I had previously witnessed.

The spell we were going to cast would protect the portal from exploding and would ultimately save my parents from dying.

Thorne sets up some kind of cauldron over a bonfire he builds right in front of the portal and then I begin the spell that I had practised hundreds of times before in my bathroom sink. When I am half way through completing the spell I hear my parents pulling onto the drive and I desperately hope that they don’t look through the kitchen window and see what’s going on out here. Thorne has made us both invisible again, but unfortunately the burning fire and cauldron can be seen. Apparently objects can’t be made invisible unless someone is touching them while invisible.

As I create the potion, Thorne watches my every move, his eyes burning bright blue. He looks so worried, probably because he’s uncertain that this will work. The spell might not block the upcoming explosion and I might die in the blast along with my parents.

Finally I wait for the potion to bubble and then I take Thorne’s dagger and cut across the palm of my hand, dropping my blood into the cauldron.

All of a sudden there’s a huge explosion of fire. It forces me to fall backwards and I am engulfed in flames but they don’t burn my skin. In fact, I can’t feel the fire, not even the heat of it. Only the force of the explosion hit me. What happened? Didn’t I cast the spell in time? Did the person on the other side of the portal get there before me?

I search for Thorne’s face for answers through the flames and he’s grinning as he’s surrounded by fire too, also unaffected by the blaze. Obviously Travellers can only burn in the fire they were born in.

The space between the willow trees is swallowed in the fire too. It begins to glow red and then there’s a huge shattering noise, like smashing glass as the red of the portal crumbles to pieces. The willow trees burn. The grass burns. My house is on fire with my parents inside. Everything burns. Except for Thorne and I. We are immune to the flames that surround us. Why am I immune? I can understand why Thorne isn’t affected by the fire but I should be. It should have killed me.

“What have I done?” I yell over the roaring inferno even though I know exactly what I’ve done. I figured it out as soon as I saw Thorne grinning. Turns out he’s not the hero of my story after all.

“Congratulations, Astrid. I have just tricked you into destroying the last of the ten portals that lead to Elethoria,” Thorne replies and then the fire is disappearing before my very eyes.

I’m falling through the time stream with Thorne. He’s just laughing, cackling like a villain in a Disney film. That’s when I realise that he isn’t the hero after all. My five year old self had been extremely wrong. He was merely disguised as a hero. He made me trust him and then he tricked me. He is the villain of my story and I am too.  I have destroyed the last portal into Elethoria and murdered my parents in the process. I went along with Thorne’s twisted plan. He might’ve tricked me into it but I’m still bad, just like him.

I’m not flying through the portal this time, but falling instead. I spin around and around until I feel sick. Then I fall out of the time stream onto my back. We are at Thorne’s house again.  As soon as we arrive I back away from Thorne, who is standing right in front of me. My back hits the wall.

I wonder why I’m not sad about my parents’ deaths. Perhaps the adrenalin’s still pumping or maybe I’m too consumed with fear. Thorne is virtually an indestructible force, which didn’t matter when I thought he was on my side, but now that I’m against him I know how vulnerable I am. I am defenceless. Even the dagger he gave me is useless. How’s a stab wound going to stop a man of metal? The answer is that it won’t.

“There is no need to be scared of me,” Thorne says calmly. His eyes are purple again. I no longer like this shade of purple. Now I feel threatened by it. I fear the colour because right at the back of my mind I fathom exactly what it means and I know I don’t want that. Purple is worse than the red of his eyes that come with his rage.

He takes a step closer. I consider getting up and running away from him but at the same time I want to ask him why he did this. Surely I deserve the answers after what he’s done to me.

“I am not going to hurt you,” he says as he takes another step towards me. He sighs. “I will never hurt you, Astrid.”

I push against the wall and get up into a standing position. I didn’t want to feel vulnerable on the floor. The dagger is still in my hand and my other is still bleeding. Blood runs down my fingers and drops onto the floor. I point the dagger towards him, my hand shaking. I grab onto it with my bloody hand too and try to steady them. Pain rushes through my injured hand and I try my best to ignore it.

“You know that dagger cannot kill me,” he reasons, a smile playing on his lips. I’m not sure whether I could actually hurt him anyway. I’ve thought of him as a friend for too long. “It will not even injure me,” he adds. “Let me explain myself,” he suggests.

“Get rid of all your weapons first,” I command. He nods his head in understanding, drawing his sword from its sheath and sliding it along the floor towards me. The sword is followed by a small knife from his boot and another blade he had up his sleeve fixed to his arm with a strap. He holds his hands up in the air.

The lack of weapons he’s carrying doesn’t make me feel any safer though. I know he can easily kill me without them. He’ll probably kill me next just to tie up a loose end. I am of no use to him now. He only thing that reassures me that my death won’ be next is the fact that his eyes are still purple.

“I promise I am unarmed now,” he states.

“Your promises mean nothing to me,” I spit. His purple eyes grow brighter. Purple is the only colour that hasn’t fit a particular emotion yet. At first I thought it meant that he’s happy, but that’s not always the case. Now I roughly know what it means, but I refuse to believe it.

“You really are beautiful, you know.”

“Do you really think now is the time to flirt? Sit down in the armchair,” I insist. He does as I ask. I slowly walk over and sit in the chair opposite him, my dagger still pointing at him.

“When we met the dragon you said that someone had been breaking the portals. There was only one left intact, the one in my garden.” Thorne nods his head. “And you had been the one breaking them all.” He nods again. “Why make me break the last one then?” I ask.

“I did not want to be in this alone. I planned to take control of Elethoria but I wanted a queen at my side. Ever since I first saw you I knew it had to be you,” his voice is gentle and that makes me feel physically sick. I want to yell at him and hurt him, probably kill him but I know that I can’t do that. If only I knew his weakness.

“So you made me destroy the portal and kill my parents. Yeah, that’s a way that’s certain to get you a girlfriend. You’ve just ruined my life and now you expect me to just join the dark side? That’s not going to happen, Thorne.” The way I spit out his name is as though it was intended as an insult.

“You will change your mind. When you do, turn the hands on my pocket watch to seven o’clock and I will return for you,” he instructs.

“Return? Where the hell do you think you’re going?” I ask.

“To Elethoria to kill the queen and then crown myself king,” he says with a shrug as though it’s nothing, just a typical day out.

“And then what?”

“I will kill anyone who stands in my way.”

“I can’t let you do that,” I reply but it’s too late, he’s already disappearing.

“And how on earth are you going to stop me?” he asks as he vanishes, smiling the whole time.