The Lost Kingdom (The Fifth Element Chronicles)

Chapter 8 [part 1]

Seeing Mandacol let his guard down, Trevor pulled the sword from Caelus' horse and pointed it at him as well.

'Hey Trevor, we don't want to anger him,' Mandacol finally spoke.

Lewis watched him, as if his words had a meaning that I could not quite grasp.

What could it mean to anger him?

Trevor smiled at this, and just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, he turned his head to me.

'Maybe we can't do anything to our sweet leader, but that girl... by the way, is this the human you wouldn't let my sister murder? This pathetic girl?'

His sister?

Trevor was Aurora's brother?

Seems like evil ran in the family.

My skin froze.

I wanted to summon the breeze under my skin in an instant. I could use the tree branches, the earth around me and in just a few seconds I'd have all three of them under my feet.

But then I remembered.

Condition two. Since I left the cave, I am strictly forbidden to use my magic. If I used it, I would never reach the Tree.

I was totally unprotected.

Lewis also smiled and approached me with his knife.

'You stay away from me,' I said imposing my voice and trying to access my knife, the one I still had in my belt.

'Or what?'

To my surprise, Caelus raised his hand.

'Lewis, stay away from her.'

Trevor's gaze was filled with curiosity, traveling between our faces.

'Lew stop,' Trevor told him and he simply obeyed. 'Who is this girl Caelus? And why do you show even the slightest interest in her? You never care about anyone, why her?'

Caelus watched me, his blue eyes full of intensity. The message I interpreted was something like "trust me". But how could I trust him? I didn't feel I could trust him at all. I didn't know him.

'I don't care about her, but I need her for something.'

At least he was being honest.

'What for?'

'It's none of your business.'

'You see Caelus, it is my business when she's about to go with the Gods.'

A hand grabbed my hair and pulled me to the ground.

I fell against the dirt, stopping the weight of my body with my hands.

Then a kick impacted against my ribs.

The pain was instantaneous.

I managed to straighten up, but in vain.

She stomped her boots directly on my chest.

I began to cough, short of breath.

'Aurora, that's enough,' Caelus ordered her and apparently she still respected his authority, because she stopped. 'I told you to stay out of this.'

'And leave all the reward to you alone? I may be afraid of you darling, but that doesn't mean I'm going to miss the chance to fill myself with gold, even if that angers you.'

'Reward?' Trevor repeated as I tried to pull myself together.

The pain was so deep I feared she may had broken one of my ribs. I couldn't even use my magic to heal myself, I was going to have to endure the pain until she was gone. Like when I fell off Lord Polteney's roof fixing one of his leaks, or when my whole arm gave way under the weight of some rocks I had to carry from one side of town to the other.