Aide Me

Chapter Twenty-Five - Shock Me

She looked back at Aide who had been standing in the same spot for some time now. The knocking on the door grew louder and the panicked yelps grew, too. She had to know what he was doing, so she walked along side the circle they had made around him until she could see him from the front.

He had his eyes closed. His lips were slightly parted and his hands were still shaking. He looked like someone who was gathering courage to jump off a cliff or something, but then – just then, when the gate protested again, it happened.

Small circles of light started forming in his palms, and they stopped shaking. Soundless words formed on his lips as the light intensified. Everyone watched breathlessly as Aide chanted his incoherent words and let the light fall from his hands and onto the ground like a golden rain.

Emaia suddenly felt the earth beneath her quake. It was like small waves of shock were running through the soil. She looked up at Aide again and saw him take a strong intake of breath. His hands were starting to shake again. Before she knew it, he fell onto his knees as a thick wave of energy hit them all. It was so hard that it nearly knocked them all of their feet.

Emaia felt like she couldn't breath. She struggled to stay on her feet as yet another hard wave hit them. A bubble of light expanded from Aide and extended to the entire village until it eventually went through walls, to the enemies outside. The knocking on the gate stopped and was replaced by the sound of something rattling. Metal.

Emaia guessed that it was the sound of the King's men trying to stay on their feet like everyone else. When a third wave hit them—the most powerful one so far—almost everyone tumbled over, including her.

When she finally got to her feet again, she saw Aide at his hands and knees, struggling to keep himself upright. Kai and Tessmia had come to his assistance and helped him to stay up. He still had his eyes closed, but a deep painful crease had formed between his brows.

Another wave hit them.

Everyone who had climbed to their feet again or were still standing, now tumbled to the ground again and landed on their backs. The surge of energy was almost so strong it was giving them all a headache. Emaia had to use every bit of her strength to force herself up on her elbows to look at Aide.

Finally, a last wave hit them all and surged through the walls of the village. The rattling outside stopped completely and was replaced by a deadly silence.

Then, without warning, Aide collapsed.

Kai caught him before he hit the ground, and Tessmia helped. Dom quickly came to their aid and helped them keep him off the ground.

Emaia got to her feet, as did the rest of the clan. All the elves cheered thankfully and started chanting something in Elven. If Emaia didn't know any better, she would say they were prayers.

But every human, like herself, simply just stared in shock as Kai, Tessmia and Dom all carried Aide away, deep into the village, to where Emaia knew his hut was.

Non of them spoke. Non of them even asked, because they all knew. They knew what had just happened. There was no questioning it, even if nobody had seen it before.

- Aide had performed magic.

~*~

"Let me through."

"I can't."

"Kai, I need to see him. I have to know if he's okay."

"Emaia—"

"Kai," Tessmia came out of the door from Aide's hut, and looked between Emaia and Kai. She settled her eyes on Kai. "Let her see him."

Kai frowned at Tessmia and crossed his arms protectively. "Mahdrah..." The rest of his words were Elven she didn't understand. Emaia listened while he said something to Tessmia that made her purse her lips. She replied back to him in Elven.