Estyr

Chapter Seven

Jack almost cried for joy when they came to a waterfall at the base of which the water pooled before flowing lazily on. Before either Elmi or Lyra could stop him, Jack ran forward and jumped in clothes and all. His muscles immediately thanked him for it. It was all he could do to keep from sighing with pleasure while under water.

It was now seven days since they had crossed into this realm. They were now hundreds of miles from where they’d started seven days before. This was because all they did since, was walk. They usually rose before dawn, somewhere between four and five by Jack’s estimate. They began walking and didn’t stop until evening at around five also by Jack’s estimate. At this point, they would look for a good spot to spend the night and use the dying light of day to set up camp.

Lyra would also go off both hunting and foraging and would usually come back with a few berries and fruits and a small dead animal of some kind. Jack could never tell what it was as it didn’t look like any creature Jack had ever seen. But once it was over the fire and prepared, his palate sang for joy at how delicious it was. Jack would have offered to help Lyra in hunting if not for the fact that his body was usually crying out in agony by the time evening came around.

The muscles in his legs were usually straining their very last sinew at this point. If the soles of his feet could speak, they would have called him every insult in the book and come up with a few new ones just for him. He’d be exhausted beyond what words could fully capture. So much so that he considered it a miracle he even had any energy to eat anything. However, the knowledge that the next day would be characterized by a similar walk, made going hungry for the night an untenable option.

In one way, it was torture to him, physically. In another way it had been escape for him mentally. The pain and strain of the walk had kept his mind on the physical and had allowed him to forget the grief over losing his mother. He was still sad that she was gone, but as long as he was walking and not dwelling on the fact of her absence, then you could keep the pain of her absence at bay. This, to him, was welcome. If he could push forward without crumbling under the pain and grief and finality of his mother’s absence, he was okay with it.

Much to Jack’s shock, they were still deep in the jungle with no sign of coming out. Having encountered Dreko in the shack, Jack assumed that they were close to some human habitation. He, however, hadn’t seen a sign that these woods were even touched by humans let alone any human habitation. This only forced Jack to wonder how and why Dreko had made it as far into the jungle as he had. They hadn’t encountered him since. Wherever he’d gone, Jack wondered whether they’d cross paths ever again.

In the time since they set off, they’d barely said anything to each other. Apart from a few words giving him directions on where to pass while they walked, Lyra barely said anything during the day. In the evening, when setting up camp, she’d cast spells to conjure a single tent and a fire beside it. She would then walk off to go hunting and foraging before later coming back with what they would be having for dinner. She would cook it in under thirty minutes and divide it between the two of them.

Apart from the exchange between them in the shack, Lyra hadn’t said a word to Elmi since they crossed to this realm. In fact, she acted as if there were only two people on this trek. She only ever addressed Jack if she had anything to say. Whatever she got from her hunting and foraging she only shared it with Jack. In the first days, Jack had tried to give some of his share to Elmi, despite the death glare from Lyra. After three days of her refusing, he’d given up. It seemed that the dark elf had her own ways of getting sustenance.

The reason Lyra only ever conjured one tent was because they usually alternated watch duty during the night with Lyra. She would usually take first watch owing to the fact that Jack could barely hold himself up at the end of the day. She’d watch for three hours while he slept, after which they would switch. Jack had once or twice tried to watch for more than three hours and allow her to sleep a bit more. It was the least he could do, given how much she was doing for them. But the woman seemed to have an internal clock and alarm. She would always wake up three hours later and have him sleep for three more hours, after which she would sleep for just one more hour. They’d then get up once again and start moving.

The fact that Elmi also intermittently switched between sleeping and taking watch, in itself was irrelevant to Lyra. Jack had, in the beginning, tried to divide up the watch between the three of them, but Lyra would hear nothing of it. As far as she was concerned there were only two people on this journey, she’d not rely on Elmi’s for anything at all. From what Jack could glean of their very brief exchange in the shack, the dark elf had left Lyra in a very compromised situation. Lyra clearly wasn’t ready or willing to entrust her safety, or anything else for that matter, to Elmi ever again.

On her part, Elmi had made her feelings about the two of them quite clear seven days prior. She had so far acted in accordance with what she had said. She almost never walked with them except in places where the terrain forced her to. At other times she just vanished into the forest. She only ever emerged when they came to a stop at the end of the day to set up camp. She didn’t help in anything they did. She would just study the area around them as if looking for possible areas from which a threat could attack, how defensible their position was, and possible escape routes. After which she would disappear once more and only be seen here and there circling their campsite.

Jack was perfectly aware that she only did this because of him, not Lyra. Not because she cared about his well being in any special way, but because her own life was tied to his. So far, she didn’t seem to be in the least bit bothered about Lyra’s cold attitude towards her. If anything, she seemed to welcome it. They hated each other and the less pretense there was about it, the better. All of Jack’s attempts to bridge the gap between them had been rebuffed by both parties. Usually with a scorching glare from Lyra and cold indifference from Elmi. While Jack hated the situation, it seemed that there was very little he could do about it.

Jack resurfaced to find both Lyra and Elmi looking at him disapprovingly from the edge of the water. The warm water, however, was too soothing to his aching muscles for him to care. He wanted- no, he needed this. They could go on walking after he’d had the chance to recover from the endless strain he’d been putting his body through. There was also the fact that this would be the first proper bath, he’d had in a week. Lyra usually found small streams from which they could clean themselves. It had sufficed for their purposes, but now that he was submerged in water, he realized just how much he missed having a proper bath.

“This is not your home realm,” Elmi was the first to break the silence. The tone of her voice extremely disapproving. “Before you go jumping in pools of water, you might want to make sure that there isn’t anything inside that can split you in two with a single snap of its jaws!” she growled. “What would you have done if something pulled you to the bottom and wouldn’t let go? What would you have done if the pool turned out to be a trap? An illusion that would leave you trapped and at the mercy of whoever had conjured it?” she further interrogated.

Jack had initially thought that they were displeased with him because he was delaying the journey. But now as he heard Elmi’s admonitions, he realized just how reckless he’d been in jumping into unknown waters without first knowing what was inside. Even back home, this would be a very stupid move. In his fatigue and desperate desire for relief, he had taken leave of his senses and allowed himself to quite literally leap before looking. His gaze turned to Lyra expecting a similar tongue lashing.

She, however, seemed to have noted the fact that he recognized the error in what he’d just done. “It’s been a long week, I guess we can take a break for today,” she instead said, most unexpectedly. “I’ll set up camp,” she said calmly turning around and walking off into the bush. Jack was left looking at Elmi who was still looking at him like she’d love nothing more than to flog him for his inexcusable stupidity.

“I know you don’t care about me,” he said candidly directing a neutral gaze at her. “But my life is tied to your life,” he went on. “Endangering my own life, endangers yours, and for that, I’m sorry,” he sincerely apologized.  Elmi continued to glare at him for a while before she too silently turned and walked off.

While he did understand just how reckless it had been to jump in the pool, Jack couldn’t help but smile and submerging himself once again. His regret due to the misstep was quite literally being washed away. His athleticism had no doubt made the past days far easier than it would have otherwise been had he not been athletic at all. His endurance, however, had been pushed to its limits by the nonstop movement.

It also didn’t help that Lyra moved the same as she had back on the realm he’d always known as home, as if she was being carried forward by some unseen conveyer belt underneath her feet. Jack had done his best to keep up, and to his credit, he hadn’t complained in all the seven days. But now as he lazily floated in the water, he realized that he’d just about reached his breaking point. Fate had smiled down on him.

His eyes popped open when he heard a splash as something entered the water. His body sunk back in the water as he waded in the water and turned in the direction of the sound. His eyes first scoured the surface of the water looking for what could have possibly caused the sound. But apart from the ripples where the initial disturbance had happened, he could see nothing. He turned his gaze to the water itself trying to see if he could pick up on anything under the water. It took a few seconds for him to find it. Jack’s heart began to hammer in his chest as he did his best to keep track of it. Whatever it was, it was moving at an incredible speed, too fast for him to make out what it was. It was coming straight at him.

He had gotten Lyra to recreate the spell had cast, that kept the metal rod at his waist, this time more permanently. He reached for it immediately. However, without a good footing and him having to constantly paddle to keep afloat, he already knew he wouldn’t be able to do much with it. He tried to swim back towards the shore. He, however, was far too far from the edge of the water. At the speed that the thing was moving at, it would catch up to him long before he even got to the shallow part of the water, let alone the shore.

The figure under the water that had only a second ago been ten meters away, was now on him. It got within a meter of him and just as Jack was about to strike at it with the staff, it shifted directions almost at a right angle to the direction it had initially been moving in. Jack watched as it swam down into the murky depths of the water. Jack turned to make for the shore but didn’t make it far.

Only a few seconds later, something slimy wrapped itself tightly around his ankle. Jack only had a second to let out a shout of both shock and fear before he was under water. He struggled to kick at the thing holding him. His shoe, however, kept sliding over the slimy appendages that tightly clung to him. The weight of the water was making it harder and harder to hold his breath as it squeezed at his chest from all sides. He frantically paddled upwards trying to swim back up to the surface. This only made things worse.

This expenditure of energy made his need for oxygen that much more dire. This made it harder for him to hold his breath. He was now not only fighting to keep the air he already had in but also not to take in a further intake of what would be water and not the air he so desperately desired. If this was not bad enough, whatever was holding him, was too strong for him. Despite his ardent efforts, he was still sinking. A few more feet lower and all the air would be forced out of him by the weight of the water and he would drown.

Was this it? Had he suffered and endured all that he had just to come to drown in a pool he’d jumped into on a whim? He would laugh at the cruelty of the joke if not for the fact that he was holding in air that was quickly running out of oxygen. His mother had died protecting him. Lyra had lost friends just to find him. Clearly, she and others had pegged their hopes of overcoming the evil that had befallen them on him and he was about to drown! A most pathetic end to the one that was supposed to be the hero of Estyr! A fitting end for his stupidity, a cruel part of him thought.

Jack’s eyes widened, hope swelling in his heart when he felt himself wrapped in the hold of a familiar unseen force. Without any effort on his part, his body was dragged upwards through the water just as it had been, when he jumped out of the truck. The sound of his body breaking the surface of the water was mixed in with him letting out a much needed exhale quickly followed by an inhale. The force dragging him upwards didn’t stop until Jack’s whole body was out of the water and suspended in mid-air. He coughed as some of the splashing water got in his mouth and went down the wrong way. He continued to desperately take in more precious air.

His breathing was rugged coming in short quick gasps. His whole body felt weak from a mix of fear, exhaustion, and relief. The adrenaline that had been coursing through his system was starting to wear off and it felt like he had just gone on a ten-mile run. His muscles which had been deprived of oxygen felt lax not only from the exertion and exhaustion but also from the relief he now felt at having been saved. His eyes fluttered open, frequently closing again to avoid the water flowing down from his hair. As expected, when his vision was no longer blurry, he found Lyra standing on the shore with her hand held out towards him. Her face was a mask of fury.

Jack’s jaws clenched, she had every right to be mad at him. The first thing he should have done at their warning, was to get out of the water. Even after having been told off for being reckless, he still hadn’t taken the obvious step to actually look around and ensure he was safe. After all that she had sacrificed and lost trying to find him. After all that she had told him about what had befallen this world. Yet, he came close to making it all mean nothing by losing his life in a most unnecessary and easily avoidable way. He took in a deep breath forcing his breathing back into control. He was about to apologize when he noticed that Lyra wasn’t actually looking at him.

It was only now that Jack realized that whatever had taken hold of his ankle, still had a tight grip on him. Jack looked down to find a pair of cold iron-grey eyes looking up at him. Jack’s eyes shifted to his ankle, his mind still trying to puzzle out what had hold of him. From what he had seen of Elmi, neither one of her hands was of her body was slimy. It took a few seconds for his eyes to parse out what it was that he was seeing as he looked down at the green plants around his ankle. The dark elf’s hand was wrapped in some kind of plant that she had probably picked from the riverbed when she swam down into its depths. Jack’s eyes turned back to the dark elf her face now coming more into focus. A cruel smile played on her lips, her eyes gleaming with malicious joy.

White-hot rage coursed through Jack when his mind finally arrived at and accepted the fact that it was Elmi that had just tried to drown him. Both his legs curled up but only his free leg kicked out hard. This time, however, the sole of his shoe wasn’t aimed at Elmi’s hand, but at her face which had now been brought closer. The dark elf’s reactions, however, were too fast for him. The hand that had been holding Jack’s ankle, immediately let go. Before she fell any more than an inch, her other hand had already come up and grabbed a tight hold on the ankle of the leg that was kicking, all but ensuring his foot would never get anywhere close to her face.

Before Jack could do much else, not that he had the energy to anyway, Elmi’s other hand came up to grab a tight hold of his pants just beside his knee. The first let go of his ankle and reached up to the waist of his pants as she continued to climb up his body like he was climbing rope. In the space of three seconds, Elmi was on his back. Her legs were wrapped tightly around his waist, her one hand under his chin and pulling his head backward and the other pressing a blade into his exposed throat. From where she’d produced the blade, Jack couldn’t tell given the fact that Jack could feel her naked form against his wet t-shirt that clung to his back. It was only now that it occurred to him that he had seen her naked form. He hadn’t cared then and he still did not care.

“Lesson one of remaining alive in this world!” she growled. “You are never safe! Never let your guard down!” she more of commanded rather than instructed.

Jack, whose rage had in no way subsided, extended out his right arm. His intention had been to pull it back hard and drive his elbow into her ribcage. Before he could complete the move, however, she’d already unwrapped her legs from around him and, using the small of his back like some launch board, dived backwards into the water. Jack watched from the air as she, with the same amazing speed that she had come at him with, moved through the water and within two seconds, reach the shore. Clearly unbothered and unabashed by the fact of her nakedness, she emerged from the water with her back to him.

Jack watched as clothes started to materialize around her slender form as she walked off. Despite his rage, even Jack winced at the sound. Before whatever spell, Elmi had been casting to conjure the clothes around herself was done, the elf was suddenly jerked forward by some unseen force. A sickening sound left her body as it slammed into the trunk of the tree. The impact was such that, when she fell to the ground, it was immediately clear that the majority of her ribs, her pelvic bone, and both her legs were broken. Jack wouldn’t be too surprised if she had a fractured skull.

She had hit the trunk of the tree with at least twice the force she had the first time back in Laura’s compound. Back then, Lyra had only been looking to incapacitate her so she could end her life quickly. Right now, it was clear in the way that she was looking at the broken form of the dark elf, that she intended to inflict the pain Elmi was no doubt in. Jack watched helplessly from where he was suspended in midair, as Lyra walked over to where Elmi lay on the ground looking up at the canopy above. Jack couldn’t understand how, but somehow, Elmi was still conscious.

She was taking in long laborious wheezes of air. Blood was flowing down both the corners of her mouth and out of her nostrils. It was clear that one if not both of her lungs had been puncture. It was almost a certainty, that a number of her other internal organs were also very badly damaged. All in all, these weren’t the kind of injuries that one walked off. They weren’t even the kind of injuries, that one with magic like Elmi, couldn’t easily recover from without some outside help. In short, Elmi was dying. From the way her eyes looked up at Lyra with both fear and a silent plea, it was clear that she too understood that she was not long for this world.

Jack, saw no pity in Lyra’s eyes as she looked down at the dying elf. The hatred that Jack had seen in her eyes seven days prior just after they had crossed over to this realm was back. It was what was now looking down at the broken form of Elmi. It was a look that clearly relayed that Lyra would have absolutely no problem watching her slowly drown in her own blood. Lyra crouched down beside Elmi but made no move to help her in any way. Her eyes slowly moved over the broken and bleeding body of the dark elf, dwelling a while on a few of the bones that were sticking out of her body before moving on.

“You seem to think that now that you are Jack’s sword, I can’t do anything to you,” All the warmth Jack’s body had gained from the water, disappeared as the sound of Lyra’s voice. “You left me to die even after I’d saved your life,” she said. “You disparaged my fellow acolytes, my friends! My family!” she said her voice somehow getting colder and at the same time angrier with each word. “I said and did nothing because I told myself that you might prove useful in the future when it comes to protecting Jack,” she relayed. Jack was getting worried that Elmi would soon move past the point of no return and that not even magic would be able to save her when she did. By the look in Lyra’s eyes, however, she clearly couldn’t have cared any less whether she survived to hear all she had to say or not.

“You seem to have taken my inaction to mean that you can do whatever you want and there will be no repercussions?” she more of asked than stated, sounding almost amused at the thought. “That, somehow, you were invincible and no one could put you in your place where you belong,” Lyra continued with absolutely no haste or sense of urgency in the way she spoke. “That your random acts of cruelty would go unpunished,” Lyra continued as blood started to soak the earth around the dark elf and the blood coming out of her mouth turned to a crimson froth. “Tell me Elmi, how invincible do you feel right now?” she coldly asked. “Do you still feel untouchable? She followed up looking down at Elmi, whose eyes were becoming increasingly more desperate in their silent plea to Lyra.

A cold smile that chilled Jack’s very soul, crossed Lyra’s expression. “I look forward to the next time you try me,” she said, not in any way trying to hide the threat in the statement.

Lyra at last held out a hand over the mangled body of the dark elf. Jack had known that Lyra had and could do magic, but had never had an inkling of just how powerful she was. Despite no knowing much about magic, Jack doubted that many had the power to heal one so broken as Elmi. He further doubted that among those that could, many had the power to heal in such a way that one could watch it happen. The bones sticking out of Elmi’s body were pulled back into the body. The limbs that were lying at odd angles straightened. Her partially collapsed chest regained its natural shape as the broken ribs healed. From the gasp that Elmi let out, Jack knew that Lyra had just cleared out the blood in her lungs.

Lyra remained crouched for a while. The rest of what she was doing was likely internal repair as Jack could see no changes in the outside form of Elmi. The dark elf remained immobile on the ground, breathing slowly as Lyra continued to do whatever she was doing. It was clear from the look in her eyes, that her mind was still trying to process just how close to death she had just come. Her eyes were fixed on Lyra’s, who was currently looking at her abdomen probably focusing her magic there. In the dark elf’s eyes, was fear. She was a cold and ruthless killer, and before her, was standing someone exactly like her. Only that Lyra had both the power and desire to end her life.

“You were right when you said that we’re enemies,” Lyra broke the silence that had engulfed the three of them. “You were right when you said that I hate you,” she continued. “You were however wrong when you said that we’ve all been forced into this situation,” she said. “You, have to be here to protect Jack as your life depends on it. But I, don’t have to have you here,” she stated then closed the palm that had been held open above her body. “You are no longer in danger of death,” she informed her. “You can do the rest,” she said standing back up to full height.

When Lyra turned her gaze back to him, Jack couldn’t help the fear that coiled an icy tendril around his heart. “We need to talk,” she said calmly before turning and walking off, probably in the direction of the camp she had set up. A second after she had disappeared from sight, Jack felt the unseen force let go and he fell back into the water with a splash.

Jack felt a bit silly as he walked after Lyra’s with his shoes producing a squelching sound with every step owing to the fact that there was still some water inside. His idea to jump into the water was seeming less and less smart by the second. He’d had to run after her to catch up to her, which had been even worse than walking. Now that he could see Lyra up ahead, he was walking after her. He could have run up to her but Jack was still not sure he wanted to catch up to her. He was still yet to wrap his mind around what he had just seen back at the river bank. Luckily for him, even now, Lyra seemed to be moving in her usual fashion. Which meant that unless he ran, he was in no danger of catching up to her. All he needed to do at the moment, was just keep her in sight.

He’d had to leave Elmi’s naked form lying on the ground beside the river. Partly because he was afraid to move her and do some unwitting damage to any of her internal organs. Partly also, because he was unsure whether bringing her back to camp where Lyra was, was the best of ideas. Even if Lyra herself seemed to mean her no further harm, Jack felt it would be a bit distracting to have the one that had just almost killed you a few feet away from you. Right now Elmi needed to focus all her attention on finishing up whatever Lyra had left undone. That and recovering from the mental shock of almost drowning in your own blood as you looked up at the cold eyes of your would-be killer.

Jack was still trying to wrap his mind around how it was that Lyra could do what he had just watched her do. How was anyone capable of that kind of cold cruelty? I mean, he had been angry with Elmi and had kicked at her. But there was a world of difference between kicking someone and literally bringing them to death’s door! Not only that but to then watch with absolutely no remorse or pity as your victim squirmed on the ground struggling to breathe? How was anyone capable of that? How did one become that kind of person?

What was even more disconcerting, was how ‘normal’, Lyra seemed to him. The girl he had gotten to know over the past few weeks, was no different from any other girl other than the fact that she could do magic. She was the kind of girl that other than for her beauty, one would pass by and never give a second glance at them. Jack was having a hard time wrapping his mind around how it was that such a nice seeming girl could be capable of what he’d just witnessed of her. Much as he tried, he couldn’t figure out what was different about her. She was your everyday girl, just like he was your everyday guy! Even more disconcerting to consider, was if that was indeed the case, then was he also he capable of the same kind of thing he had just watched her do?

As usual, there was only one tent in the clearing where she had chosen to set up camp. A log fire burned before it, close enough that it would warm the inside of the tent but far enough away that there was no danger of setting it alight. Conveniently, there seemed to be the trunk of a fallen tree just a few feet off from the fire. Lyra was seated down on it looking intently into the fire. She seemed to be miles away. There were no animals roasting over the fire or fruits of any kind anywhere around the camp. But Jack had expected as much, given the fact that only about three minutes had elapsed since she left him in the water to go set up camp and when she came back to save him from Elmi’s lesson of always being on guard. Frankly, it was surprising that she had managed to get all this set up, this far away from the river in that short period of time.

“Have a seat,” Lyra said in a calm tone of voice. She’d nodded to the space beside her on the trunk without looking up at him. Jack wordlessly obeyed and moved to sit down beside her, careful not to touch her with his wet clothes. The heat from the fire easily reached and warmed them. It was only now that he realized he was starting to get cold from his clothes. He was, however, sure that the fire would dry him up in short order. “She is right, you know?” Lyra stated her eyes not leaving the fire. “In this world, you are never safe,” she stated in an almost haunted tone that relayed that this was more than just a teaching line.

“The moment you let your guard down, you’re dead Jack,” she stated with the same air that one would declare the sky to be blue. It wasn’t a warning or an attempt to scare him into constant vigilance as much as it was her just stating a fact. “As you may have gathered. I disagree with the way she went about delivering the message,” she stated. Jack would have said that this was the understatement of the decade if he could find his voice. “But I don’t disagree with the message itself,” she said. “Too much has been lost to get you here Jack, it would dishonor the sacrifice of all those that we’ve both lost for you to die because you weren’t careful,” she stated.

This had been the very thoughts that had been going through Jack’s mind while he’d been under water when he thought he would drown. Despite not answering Lyra, his jaws clenched as he silently resolved not to put himself in such a compromising position again. “You said you wanted to talk,”  his voice sounded coarse and a bit forced when the words left his lips.

From the glance she cast his way before looking back at the fire, it was clear that she knew that she had scared him. “Yes,” She answered quietly. “How are you holding up?” She asked.

Again Jack found himself feeling a schism develop within him while looking sideways at the girl beside him. It wasn’t an empty question or meant as a lead up to the thing she was really interested in. In her voice was real concern for his wellbeing. She actually cared about how he was doing. Jack was finding it hard to square this side of her with the person that had just almost taken a life without the slightest of remorse. How was it possible that she could both feel as genuinely as she did in this moment and at the same time be able to completely shut off those same emotions on a dime?

“It’s been a tough week, I’m not going to lie,” he confessed looking back at the fire. “My feet usually ache terribly at the end of the day. Through, I guess, eventually I’ll get used to the walking,” he said with a shrug. “Maybe then I’ll be a bit more useful and help you with a bit of the hunting or maybe starting the fire,” he said voicing something that had been bothering him. They weren’t empty words out of him either. He didn’t like how Lyra seemed to be bearing all the burden of their sustenance. He intended to start learning more useful skills and contribute more to their party.

A curious look crossed Lyra’s expression as she turned to look at him for a moment. A mix of confusion and curiosity. It was almost as if she thought there was something he wasn’t telling her but couldn’t understand why he was hiding it. “Is that all?” she asked. There was no threat or reproach in his voice, it was just genuinely curious.

Jack on his part, couldn’t see what was missing from the answer. He idly scratched at his cheek as he tried to find something else to add. “Was there something in particular that you wanted to know about?” he finally asked as he gave up the attempt to figure out something intelligent to say.

Lyra scanned his face almost as if trying to figure out whether he was being deceptive or not. “You really don’t feel it, do you?” she finally asked sounding genuinely surprised.

“Feel what” Jack’s confusion was now plain to see. He couldn’t make heads or tails of what she was going on about.

“That feeling in the air,” she voiced. “Like something bad is about to happen. Like nothing good will happen ever again. Like you should just lie down and give up,” her eyes had turned back to the fire as she spoke. Her voice sounded hollow as she spoke. She wasn’t describing some far off phenomenon, it sounded like she was telling him exactly how she felt at that moment. “It doesn’t feel like all hope is being sucked out of you?” she questioned.

Jack’s eyes widened. He had felt all these things the moment he’d crossed over to this realm. But after Dreko interrupted his line of thought, he’d pushed them to the back of his mind, from where they hadn’t emerged since. “When I first crossed over just after losing my mom,” he said, his voice gaining a bit of the hollowness that had been in Lyra’s. “I felt it. The pain of losing my mother was bad back on the other side of the doorway, but it was a thousand times worse when I crossed over,” he answered. “I blamed myself for her death,” he said neglecting to mention that he still did in a way. “I felt like I would never get over the sorrow,  or move past the loss,” he said, then whispered. “I even contemplated…”

“Killing yourself,” Lyra answered in a knowing tone. Despite the fact that she had at the beginning of this conversation, admonished h to take care of himself, there was no anger or judgment in her voice when she completed the statement when the words seemed to get stuck in his throat. Instead, there was understanding, almost as if she knew exactly what he meant. Jack silently nodded, yes.

“But then Dreko knocked over a plate in the next room,” Jack said.

“The dwarf?” Lyra posed.

Jack winced a bit. “Why do you insist on calling him that?” He asked remembering that she had called Dreko by the same term seven days prior. Having been sick for a good portion of his life, he knew how it felt to be known by your weaknesses or shortcomings. He had hated being known as the sick boy, or the weak boy. So, it bothered him in a personal way to hear her call Dreko that.

“Because that is what he is,” Lyra answered, her brows furrowing a bit with confusion at the question.

“A person is a lot more than his height you know?” he countered.

Understanding dawned on Lyra’s features. “I’m not calling him dwarf because of his height Jack,” she explained. “There were four intelligent races on Estyr, Jack. The orcs, though some would dispute whether you can really call them intelligent. They are divided between the western orcs and the Eastern orcs. As the name suggests, there are orc tribes settled both to the east and west of Estyr. The elves, they are the ones closest to nature and mostly live in forested areas to the northeast of Estyr. The dwarves, the most technologically advanced of all races on Estyr. They live to the north of Estyr. Last of all, humans, a bit of an amalgamation of the other three races,” she said. “There used to be a fifth race, but one hasn’t been seen in a long time,” she added almost as an afterthought.

“What’s the fifth race?” Jack asked unable to help his curiosity.

“The dragonkin,” she said. “Humans said to have descended from dragons,” she added. “How that is possible? Don’t ask me,” she said. “It is rumored that your father, King Reigad, was one of the last of the remaining ones. But from what I’ve heard of him, he wasn’t the kind that felt he had anything to prove to anyone. He never did or said anything to either prove or disprove the rumors,” Lyra explained. “So, calling him a dwarf is no more derogatory than calling Elmi, an elf, or calling you, a human,” she explained. Lyra’s brows drew closer to each other as if something had just occurred to her. “Wait, did you say he was called Dreko?” She asked.

“That’s what he referred to himself as,” Jack answered thinking back to the small man. “To be honest I’m not sure he was all there mentally,” he added. “Why? He asked curious about what had caught Lyra’s attention.

“I seem to remember there was a member of Dwarven royalty called Dreko,” She said not sounding too sure.

“He did say something about having subjects,” Jack said remembering the comment from Dreko as he rose off the floor. “I thought he was just rambling,” Jack stated. His brows furrowed when he remembered the state Dreko had been in. “Do you really think that was him?” he asked. Lyra shrugged clearly not too sure of it either.

“Anyway,” Jack spoke up after a stretch of silence between them. “After he interrupted my train of thought, I didn’t have to fight off that feeling anymore,” he said truthfully. In retrospect, Jack couldn’t understand how he hadn’t noticed that Lyra had seemed down all week. “Is this how it always is here,” he asked unable to figure out how one could cope for years in such a state.

A bitter smile crossed Lyra’s lips, it answered the question before she could say anything. “I was used to it,” she offered quietly. The flames danced in her eyes as she looked at the fire. “On some days it was worse than others and whenever I visited places where Sydrar or one of his followers had been, it did get really bad. But all in all, I’d grown largely used to the darkness of it all,” she said.

“Why would you visit places Sydrar and his followers had been?” Jack asked his mind getting stuck on this point.

“Looking for survivors,” Lyra answered grimly. “No, there weren’t many,” she answered the question that lit up in his eyes. “Sydrar and those that follow him are very efficient killers I’m afraid,” she stated, snuffing out any budding hope before it could take root. “I think I’ve made over a hundred of such trips, over the years. In that time I’ve only ever found about eleven survivors, all of which were in critical condition when I found them,” she explained. “Five of them died. The rest must have been killed by one of Sydrar’s followers about a month or two ago,” she stated.

“How do you know? Jack queried unsure how she could know this if she had been in their realm for the past eighteen months.

“Three of them were on the other side of the doorway we crossed” Lyra answered “The other three were just outside the shack you appeared in,” she answered. Chained to the tree and rotting after being tortured to death,” She stated in a tone that betrayed nothing of what she was feeling.

Jack however could see just how much it hurt in her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Lyra,” he said quietly.

“After almost two years in your old realm,” she continued. “I guess I’d forgotten how bad it could get,” she said. “The pain you described is all I’ve been feeling all week. That in itself would bad enough but I am to blame for their death,” she added. “They are dead because of me,” she added her voice becoming hoarse with all the emotion she was fighting to hold back.

“Don’t be silly,” Jack admonished. “You had nothing to do with their deaths!” He stated with a note of finality.

“I wasn’t supposed to be in your realm any longer than a few weeks, I should have found you within a month at the most,” she explained. “Had I done so, I would have found them alive,” she stated. “They are dead because I couldn’t find you in time,” she said. “The worst part is that they all died within the last month or two, had I been even just three months earlier, things would have been different.”

“I don’t know much about this world,” Jack began. “Or who my mother had been while she was here. But I get the impression that if she didn’t want to be found, it would be a very difficult task to do so,” he said. “From what she told me, she stopped over fifty different assassins sent after me by Sydrar. Given the fact that I never even had a clue that anyone was after me, I’m guessing she found them long before they found us,” He explained. “I wouldn’t blame myself too much if I was in your position. The fact that you even found me is commendable given who was hiding me,” he added.

A long silence passed between them before she spoke. “Thank you,” she said quietly. Jack could quite clearly see by her expression and hear it in her voice, that he hadn’t really assuaged her grief in the least. She was just thanking him for his attempt to do so. Before he could say anything else, she pushed forward clearly not willing to continue discussing her loss. “I actually wanted to talk about your mother,” she said. It was the first time Lyra had referred to her as his mother rather than Commander Izora.

“What about her?” Jack asked caught off guard by the sudden pivot.

“When I first met her, the very same day I first met you,” she started. “As I was leaving the house, she told me that you were too powerful to remain in the realm we left,” she relayed. “I asked her about it when she was dying,” she said in a flat tone. She clearly knew that the subject of his mother’s death was still raw and painful, but she needed some information from him and there was no way around breaching the subject. “She turned to you and said that she couldn’t get rid of it,” she stated.

Jack could all too clearly remember what she was talking about. It was the last thing his mother had said before dying. In his grief, the words had meant very little to him. He was more preoccupied with the fact that he’d lost his mother. But from her expression, it was clear that along with her grief, Lyra had been turning the words over in her mind. It only now occurred to Jack that the words actually bore some significance as far as who he was and what he could do was concerned. If the other half of what that statement had been was true, it had world-shattering implications.

It also now occurred to me that she wouldn’t like the answer to the question he could see in her eyes. The primary reason why Jack wasn’t as powerful as Lyra had hoped he’d be when she set out to find him, was because of what his mother had done. Telling her what his mother had done would make her not only angry at his mother, it in all likelihood would make her hate her. His mother’s actions had unwittingly made all that Lyra had lost in the search for him, possibly be for nothing.

“What did she mean?” Lyra asked.

“Exactly what you think she did,” Jack answered quietly. It was clear to Jack that the reason she didn’t seem able to understand his mother’s words, was because part of her was unwilling to accept what the words meant. “For all of my life, I believe up until a few days ago, my mother has been trying to get rid of my powers,” he stated.

Lyra remained silent but it was clear to see in her eyes that the words had thrown a wrench into the gears of his mind. Try as she would she couldn’t make sense of them. “Why?” She finally voiced her confusion.

“Well, according to her,” Jack began. “She was stuck in a realm where there was no magic with no way back home. A world that didn’t know magic would in all likelihood be hostile to me if I by some mistake revealed myself,” he explained. “She also explained that the reason why most who practiced shamanic magic went crazy, was the amount of power they obtained,” he said. “She knew that if I grew up to become as powerful as she feared, chances were I’d lose my mind. If that happened, not even she would be able to stop me,” he explained. “With the amount of power she had, she could neither guide my growth in magic nor stop me if I went off the rails. So she did the only thing that she could do, both to protect me from others and others from me. She tried to get rid of my powers,” he said.

“How?”

Jack cast a side glance at the girl beside him. As he’d predicted, the expression on her face had grown darker and the look in her eyes relaying quite clearly that her opinion of his mother was rapidly changing. “That’s not important, “ Jack answered. She was angry enough as it is. To tell even more of the story would do nothing more than make things worse.

He had already been angry at his mother. Not for the magic that he’d lost, but for everything else he’d lost along with it. His childhood, a chance at playing with and making friends with others. Knowing what it was like not to struggle to do even simple tasks. He had never known that magic even existed or what it was like to have it, so it was hard to get angry about not having it. He, however, knew that this was exactly why the rage that Jack could see burning in her eyes was there. She needed the magic that his mother had taken from him.

“It is if I’m going to teach you magic Jack!” she snapped, the anger that was boiling up inside her showing in her voice.

Jack turned to look at her in shock. He hadn’t even considered the possibility. Despite being told that he still had all the magic within him, it had never really seemed real to Jack. It was like being told that you could grow another set of arms. Not only would the proposition sound absurd, but how would you even go about growing them let alone using them.

“I don’t mean to sound condescending Jack, but you and your staff without magic don’t amount to much when it comes to facing Sydrar,” Lyra stated. It was that she was fighting to rein in her rage and keep her voice even. “She’s the woman that you’ve known as your mother for your whole life, and I get why you would want to protect her,” she said “But if I’m going to help you regain what you’ve lost, I need to know exactly what she did to you,” Lyra urged.

Jack was silent for a while, his eyes the only part of him that revealed the internal battle that was going on within him. “She tried everything she possibly could,” Jack said at last. “She started with spells, then potions, but nothing worked,” he spoke in a flat tone of voice. He didn’t want to be saying any of this, but there was no turning back now. He was on this road with Lyra whether he liked it or not. If there was any chance he could make their chances at success any greater, then he had to seize it. Right now, that involved retelling his mother’s sins to the one person who would most harshly judge them.

“None of them worked,” he continued. “For two years she tried everything she could ranging from the safe and benign to the risky and even dangerous. None of it worked. According to her, I grew immune to everything she used on me. By the time I turned four, she’d run through all the options she had available to her except one,” Jack went silent again for a long while before she looked up at Lyra. “Do you know what wizard's bane is?”

Jack watched as all the color drained from Lyra’s face. It was clear that she knew exactly what it was. “From what she told me,” Jack continued. “Even a drop is lethal to anyone with magic. But when dissolved in ten liters of water…”

“There’s no way a four-year-old child would survive a dose wizard’s bane,” Lyra interjected. “Dissolved in water or not!” it was clear that part of her vehement objection was due to her unwillingness to believe it possible that his mother would use such a potent poison on him.

Jack’s lips pressed into one another. “What does wizards bane dissolved in ten liters of water do to someone with magic?” Jack asked quietly despite already knowing the answer.

“It damn near paralyzes you, it takes not only your magical power but all your physical strength as well, to do even the simplest of tasks would require an insane amount of will power and effort on the part of the one taking it,” Lyra stated.

A bitter smile crossed Jack’s lips. “You just narrated the first sixteen years of my life,” he said. “Only it gets worse,” he added. By the look in her eyes, Lyra couldn’t possibly fathom how it could get any worse than what she had already told them. “You see, just as with everything else, it seems I grew immune to even this,” Jack told. “To keep my powers from manifesting, she had to increase the concentration.”

“No,” the word involuntarily left Lyra’s lips.

“Nine liters, then do to eight, seven, six, and so on,” he pressed on willing to get this over with. “By the time I turned twelve, she was down to two liters according to what she told me. But the I did turn twelve and whatever powers I had, they made me immune to wizard’s bane if anything was added to it,” he said and from the look in her eyes, it was clear that she was having a hard time believing what he was saying.

He, however had no reason to lie to her. Especially in this way that made his mother look like a monster in her eyes. It was this knowledge alone that kept her from calling him a liar. “The only way to keep me powerless would be to use pure and undiluted wizard’s bane,” Jack told her then went silent for a while before the words came out in a whisper. “So she used it.”

Lyra rose from the trunk, involuntarily from all indications. She walked a distance away from him then began pacing. Everything about her, from the way her jaws clenched, to the tautness of her muscles as she moved left and right, spoke of the rage that was rapidly nearing critical mass and about to blow over. Several times she opened her mouth to say something, the emotions overwhelming her didn’t allow it. Instead, she once again closed her mouth and kept on pacing left and right.  “She could have killed you!” the words seemed to finally erupt from her as she turned to look at him. Along with the anger, there was a good measure of disbelief that someone would even dare to do what his mother had done.

“I don’t think she was unaware of the possibility, “ Jack quietly answered causing Lyra to once again begin pacing left and right. “Still, she used wizard’s bane on me every day since. Needless to say, it worked,” he said with a grim smile. “A few weeks after my sixteenth birthday, I became immune to wizard's bane itself,” he said drawing a look of shock from Lyra who paused mid-stride and was now looking at him agape. “The physical effects at least,” he added. “According to her, a gulf had formed between me and whatever magic I possessed. So while I was okay physically, I was for all intents and purposes, powerless,” he informed her. “Still, she continued to use the potion on me seeking to further widen that gap,” he added.

There was no doubt in Jack that despite the power difference between them, had his mother been here, Lyra would have attacked her. “She deserves to die!” She at last spat acidly. The same cold cruelty that had been in her eyes as she looked down at Elmi’s injuries was back in her eyes. These weren’t the empty words of one that was powerless to do anything other than curse at the object of their fury. She was all but clearly stating it that had his mother been here, she would have in all likelihood made good on the threat.

Despite both his jaw and fists clenching at the words Jack forced himself to calmly reply. “It’s a bit too late to wish death on her,” In his tone of voice was a clear warning to her to keep any further ill wishes directed at his mother to herself. He was perfectly aware that he posed no danger to her. A fight between them couldn’t even rightfully be called a fight. With the flick of her hand, the fight would be over. This however didn’t stop him from glaring at her. Whether she deserved it or not, Jack wasn’t going to countenance his mother being talked ill of. Her death was still an open and raw wound to him. Whatever her feelings about what his mother had done, Lyra needed to keep them to herself.

Despite her fuming, Lyra seemed to take note of the change in his demeanor. Jack was silently grateful to her. In spite of the fact that she could just ignore him with no real danger to herself, she clearly chose to say nothing more of what she wished to say as her eyes relayed “This is it, isn’t it?” she said in a tone that relayed that she’d just had an epiphany.

“This is what?” Jack asked, his confusion apparent.

“When we got back to your house from Laura’s party. The night Elmi attacked you and you weren’t willing to kill her,”  she explained. “I was angry and going off at her and she got this strange look of guilt thinking that you had told me something,” Lyra said. “This is what she thought you had told me, isn’t it?” she posed.

Jack remembered the look of guilt in his mother’s eyes. She had done something vile, there was no denying that. But his mother had been remorseful about it. She had realized that it was wrong and she had felt bad about it! Wasn’t that enough? Didn’t she deserve some mercy? “Yes,” he answered at last.

Lyra paced for a few more minutes muttering under her breath in a foreign language that Jack couldn’t understand. Part of him was glad that he couldn’t understand it as he was sure he wouldn’t like any of it. Another part of him still hated that she was probably not saying anything good about his mother. Still he remained quiet and allowed her to go on. He had asked of her not to bad mouth his mother to him, he couldn’t ask her not to feel the way she presently did about her.

Lyra at last moved to sit back down beside him on the log. She had been raging and fuming a moment before but now, it looked as if she had been sapped of all strength. A look of complete and utter defeat crossed her features even as she stared into the fire. “It was all for nothing,” she said bitterly. “All the people I’ve lost, all the sacrifices I’ve made, they were all for nothing Jack,” She said her jaws clenching as if she was fighting not to collapse under the weight of the words and the realization.

“It’s only for nothing if we give up,” Jack said in reply. “As long as we keep fighting, then we haven’t lost,” he added.

An empty mirthless laugh left her at the miserable attempt at a pep talk. “You don’t get it Jack,” Lyra stated.  “Almost everything in magic can be counteracted and undone if one is powerful or skilled enough,” She said in a hollow tone of voice. “Wizard’s bane is among those rare things for which there is no antidote or way of magically undoing,” she informed him. “I can’t help you Jack, and I don’t know that anyone can…

*******

Author's Note

Chapter Twenty is up on my Patreon (the link is on my profile). Please, please, please, consider supporting my writing. It really does go a long way in enabling me to write without worrying about bills and daily sustenance.

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