Aqua Jewel

Chapter 13 - Elemental Power

I was stunned. For the first few moments my feet seemed frozen in place and I could only gape at the body of the boy I'd only minutes ago thought of as a lying traitor. Yet there he was, sprawled on the floor at the foot of my mother's cage because he'd taken the dagger – the one that had haunted my thoughts – for her. He was no more a traitor than he was a hero. Her saviour.

I scrambled over to the crumpled body. Alyk was on his side, his top arm hanging limply across his chest, blocking my view of the wound. I took his shoulder and rolled him over onto his back, and his arm flopped to the floor on his other side, leaving me a clear view of the silver dagger embedded in his flesh.

My hands automatically cupped over my mouth at the sight. Tears filled my eyes as I realized the hopelessness of the situation. Around the dagger – still standing vertically – a splotch of dark blood soaked through his once nice-looking cotton shirt, slowly but surely getting larger as more blood oozed from the wound.

A tear escaped my watery eyes. I felt it trickle down the side of my face and drip off my chin.

I remembered Alyk's aloofness, and his confusing expressions. What if it had had something to do with his betrayal? What if it was something he couldn't control? Maybe it was important, even threatening. I cursed myself for not saying anything on the matter. It wasn't fair. Nothing was truly fair in the world. Especially the mere existence of a certain lord.

"You're a monster." I continued to stare at Alyk, not looking back at Dennek until a moment after I'd spoken. The lord had begun moving towards the exit while all eyes were on Alyk's body. "Where are you going?" He froze, with his back towards me, only a few floor tiles from escaping.

"What do you want?" he asked through gritted teeth, still unmoving.

I rose slowly from my friend's side. My insides started churning with hatred. "I want? Isn't it always what you want, you greedy, despicable, fraud!" It felt surprisingly good to spit out all my negative thoughts. "But since you asked, yeah, there is a thing or two that I want from you. I want my mother back, I want my friend back, and I want all those poor whisps turned back into humans. And most of all, I want you gone."

An uncomfortable silence followed. Dennek was still facing the door, so I could not get a good look at his face, but I did hear his discrete sigh of defeat, and triumph flickered in my chest.

All of a sudden, he lunged for the door, banging it open before I could move. But I didn't need to move, because the metal door slammed shut again with a startling bang, pushing Dennek back with enormous force.

"You're not going anywhere." I heard Rennoc's voice and silently praised him for being on the alert.

Dennek turned around to face us, his eyes narrowed. "Fine, let it be this way then."

His concentration not breaking, Dennek's hand crept down to the leather pouch on his hip. Opening the flap, he pulled out a small circular object, which he held up in front of himself. I nearly raised my eyebrows, and then decided against it. With Dennek and his tricks, I wouldn't be able to know if this was really just a pathetic attempt to protect himself.

At least we still had our talents. My mother was still alive. My plan hadn't failed yet, and I couldn't let Alyk's sacrifice go to waste.

A floor tile at Dennek's feet cracked, and burst into the air, leaving a small space for a thick vine to come through. Growing taller, the vine twisted its way around Dennek as a second exploded up from his other side. Dennek seemed to decide that now was the time to act, and thrust his circular thing at the first vine. To my astonishment, it expanded quickly, transforming into a large, steel shield. The vine did not even touch the shield; it recoiled hastily as it expanded to full size. The second vine, however, sneakily wound its way around Dennek's forearm while his attention was on the first, and squeezed tightly. But the lord swung his shield around to his other side. The vine didn't back away fast enough, and there was a nasty hissing as the metal connected with the plant. Then it started to crumble. Starting where it had been touched, the vine withered away, turning into dust, spreading like a disease.