Ghosts of the Five Realms: The Rabbit and the Dryke

Chapter 16

Yara Ferix

A flash of white light, and then blackness. A place of deep darkness so void it was akin to nothingness. Riquier suddenly felt fear for the first time in a long time. He quickly defined the feeling in his mind. It was not the fear one felt in the face of an enemy or death, but fear from helplessness or loneliness. It was a fear he had never considered. He never had to. He meekly reached out to touch something, anything. There was nothing to touch. He drew his fingers towards his face instead. He needed to see something, even if it was his own mortal hands. As he pawed at his face, he still saw nothing. "Am I blind?" he thought in a panic. "That damned witch reached for my face. That's the last thing I remember." He took a few timid steps forward as he reached cautiously for whatever may be there. "Ayden? Fendrel?" he called out. There was no reply, not even an echo. He continued walking step after step, as if testing the stability of the ground in front of him. His feet never left the ground. He clung to it as if to keep it from coming out from underneath him. He stretched his arms out to guide himself. Finally, he touched something solid. Rock? He felt the wall for cracks and crags. He reached up to test its height. He felt his feet lift uncontrollably as the knight found footing on the wall. He began to climb, still unable to see. He instinctively made slow, but steady progress up as if pulled by some force. Suddenly and very gradually a faint blue light began to appear above him. His eyes strained to make sense of what he saw. It was as if he was using his eyes for the first time. He imagined it must be what a newborn must see when entering the world. He began to hear wind. It grew violent as if unimpeded. He was somewhere open and wild. This place was cold and exposed. Riquier looked down to see a very long drop. He began to feel panic, but quickly took control of his mettle. He shuffled his hands for a better hold, but all were equally poor. He stretched for a crack above him. It was the only grip he could find, and it was out of his reach. He clung desperately to the wall using every muscle he had, to keep from falling. Suddenly, he heard footsteps from the ledge above. The fear he felt now was very familiar. He instinctively reached a hand to his sword, which was not there. Even if it was, he was in no position to use it. A back-lit silhouette approached, halting above him. Riquier focused his eyes through the wind and whipping snow. A sword appeared to rest gently in the figures hand. Riquier clenched his eyes, praying to wake from this nightmare. A dull thud against the rock next to his head made him open his eyes.

The wind stopped. The snow slowed to a light flurry. The sun shone to illuminate the figure now kneeling on the ledge above him, reaching with a tree branch to help Riquier to safety.

"Come my friend. We have much to talk about." said Aeris, reaching down with a friendly smile.

"What magic is this?" demanded Riquier. He felt the jagged bark of the wind-swept tree at the summit of the mountain. He ran his hand down one of seven red ribbons blowing from its crooked branches. "Is this real?"

Aeris smiled. "You have no idea how tired I have gotten of asking the same question and how tired I am of hearing the same convoluted answers. To spare you the frustration, I will simply say, no, it is not real."

"Where is Ayden and Fendrel? They brought me here, I mean they brought me to a forest. It was a dark forest... with dark memories." said Riquier, searching his cloudy mind. He closed his eyes tightly and rubbed his temples in an attempt to remember. "I remember a maze of stone pillars. We rode for several weeks to get there." He thought for a moment longer. "Owl was there. And that Witch who reached for me.... Then, blackness. Am I cursed?" panicked flashed across the apprentice knights face. "Aeris, am I dead? Are you a ghost?"

"No Riquier, you aren't dead." said Aeris carefully and calmly. "We are in Yara Ferix. It is an Elven place."

"But I know this place. This is the peak of the Rhyna, isn't it? We've been here before, you and I." said Riquier examining the mountain top more carefully.