The Dragons' Crystal

Chapter Thirty-Three

I had thought of dying in the past long before I had met Darius and had gone to the camp. I had never attempted it or wanted it, but I had thought about it. I had thought about how the only person that would mourn me was my mother. It always made me wonder if Heaven would be better than Erstonia. The answer was always yes.

This was different. I had felt like I had finally gotten back those that I called my friends and Darius had confessed that he truly didn't hate me. That gave me a chance to move into the camp and live that life I had long dreamed of. Now, I was going to be made part of a ceremony by Darius' father that would involve my heart being ripped from my chest. When Darius had first told me of the situation back in the dungeon, I had been thinking there was more of a plan than just running in and hoping to talk him down. I thought our chances were higher. 

"Darius?" I asked again. "Am I going to die?" My voice was barely above a whisper as I asked. I watched his expression harden, his bottom lip being nibbled at. 

"I don't know." He finally said, dropping his head into his hands. He gripped and pulled at his hair. "I can't believe I was this stupid! We should have just planned it as a rescue mission and left. I don't know why I thought we could fight this when we obviously can't." Darius sighed, his gaze lingering away from me. "If I'm being honest with you, Odelle, I didn't make much of a plan when we came. My only thought was about you and getting you out. They asked about defeating my father and I simply said sure, that we could approach it when we rescued you. I should have planned this better. We're going down without a fight."

"This isn't over yet, Darius." I reached out to touch his shoulder, then hesitated. I remembered all too well what the pain felt like and wasn't eager to feel it return. I drew my hand back, settling it into my lap. "I'm sure we can come up with something. Your father is coming back. Maybe we can hide and launch a surprise attack? There has to be another way than just accepting this situation for what it is!"

"Maybe." Darius stood, beginning to look around the throne room again. He sighed as his eyes traveled around the large area. "I'm beginning to hate this room."

I stayed sitting, simply watching him. His voice was competing with my pounding heart. It was beating fast from nerves, refusing to calm.

"Like I said before, father locked me in here. I failed to mention that he killed them in here." Darius slid his hands into his pockets. "He made me sit among their corpses for what felt like eternity. Even before that, so many awful things happened in here." His eyes fell upon me. Even from where I sat, I could see how they glittered with the beginning signs of tears. "Now he plans on brutally murdering you in this room." He approached me, falling to his knees before me. Exhausted dark eyes locked on mine. "I'm sorry, Odelle. I'm sorry this is happening to you. This was never supposed to happen. This is why I sent you away. This is why I didn't tell you."

I found tears building in my own eyes as I watched Darius seem to give up on fighting. Was it really that hopeless? We just hadn't thought of a plan yet. The sooner we found one, the better my chances would be. I didn't want to die in this room and leave another mark on Darius' soul that carried his bad memories.

"I should have just let you stay at the camp and told you everything. Maybe then, we could have put up a stronger fight. Our chances would have been better and you would have never been this close to death." Darius' eyes faltered away from mine. "I wish things were different."

My shoulders began to slump. "We can find a way, Darius. Don't give up so soon. We can't just accept this. There has to be another way."

"How can you know? You heard my father. As soon as he comes back and sees that you're still alive, he's going to send the guards to kill the others. He has us completely trapped. We could fight all we like, but blood will still be spilt today. There isn't a way for us all to leave with our lives."