Fractured Soul

Chapter 21: Warnings, Ignored

Mella woke slowly, taking in the fact that she was gently being bumped around. Am I moving? She thought back a while. When did she fall asleep? Did what happen on the shores of the lake really happen? Maybe it was all just a dream and I escaped with the help of someone.

Mella cracked open her eyes. The sun was missing, hidden by grim December clouds, heavy with snow. Everything was fuzzy. She blinked, and saw the strange metal cuffs from her memory or vision from Berna. They burned slightly, and they didn't reflect the light, they were sucking it away.

Mella's stomach dropped. It hadn't been a dream. All of it had been real. Alex and Gwen's betrayal, Roxas and Rin showing up, and then…nothing. What had happened?

Mella sat up awkwardly, wincing from the pain in her shoulder and her hands. She was sitting in back of a horse-drawn cart of what looked like bags and poles. It was freezing, and Mella realized the cloak she had been wearing in Ryn had been taken too. She heard the familiar sound of whispering behind her. Mella turned around and stifled a sob.

There were at least two other carts behind her, holding elementals she knew from Ryn. They were wearing normal clothes, not the finery from the festival. They were huddled together under cloaks and blankets, every one of them wearing a pair of metal cuffs like her own. There were more, mainly guys, walking alongside the carts, watched closely by soldiers. She didn't see Kai, Dilan, or Kev anywhere. I highly doubt they took the twins, still…where is everyone?

Mella turned to the side and saw a boy she vaguely knew from Ryn.

"How long have we been traveling? Have you seen Kai or Kev or Dilan?"

The boy looked at her confused. "I don't know what you're saying. Why are you speaking Ivayan?"

No, no, NO! Mella put her hands up to her neck. The necklace was still missing. No one would understand what she said unless they knew Ivayan. And, she realized in horror, the magic poisoning would come back in full force after three days. But how long was she out?

Mella thought for a minute. How could she ask if he didn't understand Ivayan? I gotta speak Rhynish so he can understand…Mella focused on speaking Rhynish and said, "How far are we from Ryn? And have you seen Kai and his friends?"

"It's been over two and a half days. They're taking us to Ulma. I don't know where Kai and the others are."

A soldier turned towards them, hearing the sounds of voices, and seeing Mella sitting up.

"You two, stop talking!" He turned away and yelled towards the front of their procession. "Your Highnesses! She's awake!"

Two sets of hoof beats broke away from the others and grew louder. Roxas, his eyes and hair still the color of fire, and Rin, sat atop matching grey horses. They drew even with Mella's cart and looked down at her. The boy turned away, hiding his face from the twins. Mella glared them, shaking slightly from the cold.

"What did you do with my necklace?" Mella demanded.

“Why is the fragment speaking Ivayan? Didn’t it speak Rhynish?” Rin asked her brother, not even acknowledging the fact that Mella was speaking to them.

“I don’t know. But if she won’t speak Rhynish, Ivayan works too, right?”

“Not really. Not for me. Why won’t you speak Rhynish?” Rin asked her.

Mella really hated this question. It was asked too many times to be counted, and it wasn’t even her fault that she couldn’t understand the difference between her words.

“I can’t tell what I’m speaking. Rhynish, Ivayan, it all sounds the same. Unless, I have that necklace that your cousin Gwen was holding. It helps me speak, among other things.”