Never had I ever thought that a carriage ride would leave me so drained, and I hadn't even been the one who drove it.
My senses finally came aglow as Dylan swept the carriage into a snowy clearing, while the entire journey - through green woods, bumpy dirt roads, and frost-laden pathways - I had been staring out the window, numb and with no sense of direction, wondering whether Eleni was just as cold as I was. On a whim, I had removed the thick overcoat I had been wearing and clasped my silky black cloak which she adored. I dragged a hand down my face, as the carriage halted and I landed down, wobbly and dazed.
Almost all the people, young and old scattered in the place, stole glances at me, whispering and speculating, for my face was hidden. It had taken us the better part of the night to travel to the border between Piscean and Scorpi districts. The snow was ankle deep - my boots, fortunately charmed by Una at the last moment - resisted the wetness to an extent that it seemed like I was walking over the red soil of my Realm.
"Look who decided to show up." A girl's voice spoke coming closer from behind a canopy. Dylan turned around, stopping in his tracks. I groaned, holding in a cold shudder.
"Celia, no time to talk now. Come along. Is the Chief in her tent or on some rounds?" Dylan said, his voice urgent.
"She is here, alright. But you have some explaining to do. Let's start with who is this guy and... um... have you lost your mind?" She said, voice crisp. Her dark green eyes speckled with black on the edge, blinked between me and her friend.
I wanted to scream at them both to stop wasting what little of the time was left, but I took a deep breath and unknotted the covering off my face, reminding myself that it was this girl along with Dylan who had rescued Eleni from the dungeon.
She sucked in a breath, eyes widening as she took my face in. I managed to speak, my voice coming out bleary. "The Chief. Let's go." She dipped in an uncertain curtsy and walked ahead of us, a determined spring in her steps now. And like a premonition I realized that she was Half-Earth elemental just like... Eleni. My heart slowed down further and I coaxed myself into believing that it was just because of the deathly snow all around.
I entered a grand circular ruddy tent, which was enlarged from inside to appear like a cottage. The magic was beautiful and... creative. No wonder the Eclipses were so hard to find - they had carved a whole new world for themselves, being shunned from the wretched one outside.
"So, we have yet another Summer royal amidst us now," I heard the Chief's weighty voice before seeing her. She was in a long green overcoat, and high boots that clanked on the hard wooden floor of the tent. Tall and muscular, long hair braided tight and eyes... eyes like her daughter.
"Chief, I can explain..." Dylan began, but the Chief cut him off - "You brought a royal in, and none other than your own Lord. This is not funny, Dylan." She turned and ordered to the girl, whose name I couldn't recall - "Go bring Althea, just in case."
"No, we don't need Thea." Dylan suddenly raised his voice and the Chief's nostrils flared. He leaned sideways towards me and whispered, "A Mind Healer to wipe your memory clean. Do not look into her eyes."
"You erase people's memories?" I deadpanned. Dylan shrugged, "Even the Winter Princess had found us. But she doesn't remember it now."
Arlette had found them, on Adrian's behalf! Of course, she did.
My carefully held in rage bubbled up. "You are so going to regret even considering to cast me out even before hearing what I have to say. Might I add, that I can bring you on your knees if I want." My voice like a pointed edge of a dagger. "Unless you have, in all entirety, washed your hands off your daughter."
The Chief's eyes widened. "W-What..."
"Your Eclipses are being enslaved and one of them is also Eleni. There's a Sorcerer running rampant, and unless you don't want us slaughtering your tranced members, it will be quite appreciated if you pick your delusional head from your delusional little world and join forces with us."
"D-Doran, let me take care of this, please." Dylan said and pulled a chair for me. I turned my glaring gaze from the Chief to his pleading one. Exhaling noisily, I sat and let Dylan explain things to the stricken-looking lady. Dylan told her everything. And as Amelia's name came up... she trembled, her shaky hands gripping a large wooden cabinet beside her.
"I... I knew," the Chief spoke after a lapse of shockwave, "I knew that there was something amiss in the forest and mountains of Piscean. But it would be this horrible... this close to home, I... never imagined." She looked at me, her eyes shining, "I knew where Eleni was after running away with that boy, whom she considers her brother. I knew she was safe in Lord Orlon's palace. But this... I... Dylan!" she called, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Eleni asked me not to."
"Of course, she did. And since when did you become so obedient?" The Chief sighed. I watched her closely, as her face doubled with slow panic, the denial dissipating. She raised her head at me, "How long have you known Eleni? How can I trust you?"
It was clear as daylight now, Eleni had inherited her mother's trust issues. Careful words were the trick, since she must not know me. "I have known her ever since she came to the Winter Realm. If you can't trust me, then know that I am here as Lord Orlon's First Son, King Ralph and Queen Una's messenger. Also, King Nova is with us. You'd trust them, I am sure."
"Enemy rulers working together? Do you take me for a fool?" She gave a snort.
I sighed, "Best of pals, those two."
This time Dylan echoed her snort.
She nursed her forehead, shoulders sagging, "Well, anyways, King Nova knows me. We met when he was freshly crowned as a Prince. And I... was mad furious when Neo started that committee to hunt us. My faith in the only ruler I had ever trusted shattered. But now it all makes sense, it wasn't him. I had even told King Nova about my daughter living in his Realm, but not her powers and location. He gave me his consent to let her be wherever she was for however long I'd want."
If I hadn't been sitting, I might've collapsed with the revelation. Nova was such a sneak.
"Neo didn't have to put special efforts in luring the Eclipses. They trusted him as... Nova." I said, numb. It was all making sense in the most explosive way.
Neo was a smooth mastermind. Even the whole world against him alone, would not be enough.
"Dylan," she spoke, her gaze still not leaving me, "Does Eleni trust this Summer Lord?"
My breath caught at the question. But the redhead soldier, instantly raised his chin high, "Completely. She revealed my identity only to Doran, and to no one else."
He added, giving me a sneaky sideway glance, "In the study."
I fisted the black cloak's edge, which Eleni had worn that day and I had called her 'dramatic'. This was stronger than any Mind Healing spell. Eleni had kissed me; she had wanted to kiss me. I raked a hand through my hair and sat up straight, spreading my arms on the handles of the chair.
"Look Chief, we don't have all day. The Conquest is tonight. Make your mind up now, because if you are going to chicken out then I also have a return journey to make and your daughter to find."
Her stare bore into mine, and she stood up, slow and wary. "What do you need, My Lord?"
Hope, relief, and energy surged up in me. "Your army."
"That's a given. Anything else? Lay down your conditions."
"Give me a figure."
Her brows knitted. "In all, a thousand, kids aside. Almost four hundred are missing - Neo's figure. But we outrank them, with a good margin. Hopefully."
My brain snapped open. I hadn't expected so many. Was The Four Realms full of law-breakers, full of people who defied the rules? My admiration for the Chief shone like stars.
"That's a..." I swallowed hard, "...lot." And Ralph wanted me to command this unknown army, who didn't even know me? He must've been hungover.
"Although, not all of them are here. But I have already sent word to them ever since it came to my notice that Una has been looking for the Head Alchemist, Miss Joanna."
The Alchemist's tattered and sacrificing face burned in my memories, though, the way the Autumn Chief, said Una informally, while she called me a Lord, chagrined me. "You know her?"
"I... I mean. Everyone knows Queen Una and Spikes." She averted her gaze and I narrowed my eyes.
The heavily-built lady, swept her overcoat's tail before sitting down back, folding her palms in her lap, "I was the Head Guard for Lady Tessa. Una was five last I saw her. A crybaby, that child." She gave a half-smile.
This Chief must be mistaken... Una and crybaby didn't go together.
She continued, "Well, I now know Una trains Eleni, it's a small world, despite made of four Realms, divided by such rigid laws. The night I and Egan fled with Eleni to Spring Realm, who was just a week old... Una had been playing with her, asking me in her baby lisp when Eleni would grow up and when they both could go to the seacoast together."
The hair on my skin rose inside the cloak and my mouth lay open. Una and Eleni! I'd go insane before I leave this place. Was Eleni connected to everyone in The Four Realms - be it Ralph, Una or Nova, or the most wanted person of The Four Realms being her own mother, and she was the valued treasure of the vilest Sorcerer ever! I suddenly had a maddening urge to find her, to see her, to hold her and kiss her qualms away. She was just what this world had needed, but she didn't need this world's shit!
"Nonetheless, as I was saying... most of my members have arrived here, from Autumn Realm... but you see..."
I cut her off, recovering from the daze, "Yes, the storm in Spring Realm's waters. I'm aware. It's Neo's dirty work." I continued after a pause, scratching my slightly stubbled chin, "I'd need two flanks. We both lead one each. Let's keep them separate as a precaution. I take one now, and you reach the mountain Stellus. Mind you, let only the... willing ones be a part of this."
My eyes briefly met my redhead soldier who had become a friend at this point, maybe because Eleni had saved both our lives - and Dylan frowned. "Oh, come on, mate, you know I am at your service." The Chief looked between us with raised brows, and making up her mind once and for all, gestured for the Water-Earth girl, Celia-something, and they both hastily moved out of the tent. I reclined in my chair, my shoulders sagging with relief.
A shy kid presumably not more than ten, brought me a glass of water and some red winter cherries in a wooden platter. I took the glass looking at his naïve brown eyes and ruffled his blonde hair. He quickly pushed the platter to my face and a smile crept up on me. I picked up a cherry for his satisfaction and plopped it in my mouth, earning a wide gap-toothed grin from him and he ran away like a fluffy breeze, making my heart lighter.
"Was that kid a Fire Elemental?" I asked Dylan, my eyes affixed where he had disappeared.
"Yes, Half-Air." Dylan pulled a chair and sat beside me, his exhaustion evident, "We have many kids around here. Training them like you all get trained, so that they don't wreak havoc."
Questions after questions rose in my head. "After my brother... I have been looking at the Summer Realm's management. I have come across the population estimate. The figures of Inter-House coupling, precisely. Along with Inter-Realm. But the Eclipses never made the records. How and why?"
Dylan smiled and swirled his fingers, blue eyes twinkling dramatically, "Magic." I frowned and swatted his hands in jest.
He added, "We cover it. Change names of people who have broken the laws, the parents are easy to hide, but not the kids. And you see, not all Inter-Realm coupling results into Eclipses, some are just regular, wielding one power, other dormant or just absent forever."
I pondered over Dylan's words. Had Eleni's powers remained dormant... till the day she had raised that black tower from pits of Hell to save me? A strange driver prince, as she and Serena had called me? Why... me?
Being a Vacant, had earned her a stable life up until now but, living without magic in a world where every other person possessed it... must have been hard. I knew it, a little too well.
The ridicules that my own schoolmates and father had thrown in my face growing up, during training days - for being a prince and not a Centaur, for not being cut out for the Conquest, for being the reason my mother died while giving birth to me, who I had never seen, never known, other than through her paintings... rang in my ears and I shook my head, clearing them all. Not the time. Never the time.
Dylan was saying, "It's better that way, because some of them are extremely volatile..." and added in a whisper, almost guiltily, "...like Eleni. High King Maris sure has made the laws lenient as best as he could but in most rural places, beheading is still widespread. The village heads take matters in their own hands, if a Luesha is found."
"Then why didn't I know this? Why didn't any of the ruler in authority know this? Why not bring it to our notice?" I almost screamed.
"The royals and commoners live worlds apart, My Lord." Dylan's bluish gaze pierced through me like a blade. Almost accusing.
My heart thundered. What horrors had he faced? He was a Fire-Water Eclipse, grown up in my House, in my Realm, when I was the prince. Could I have made things easier for him, without him having to live such a risk-loaded dual life?
His body tensed, and he stood up abruptly. "Shall we go assist them?"
"Dylan..." I looked up at his rigid face.
His brows knitted, albeit he gave me a tight-lipped nod and walked away, leaving my heart burdened with a guilt so heavy that I knew not the cause of. Every Eclipse in this world had a painful story they never read out aloud.
Blinking back the horrible truth I had learnt, I stood up to follow him. If I, never had been trained, I would have wreaked havoc as well - any person with magic in their veins would. Eleni wouldn't have to stay cooped up hidden, like the criminal she was now branded as. She was just... untrained. If only the Eclipses were given proper attention, proper schooling...What kind of brainless idiot even made these laws, blinding and binding us all...
Well, I'd fry, roast and toss the crisp laws, up this world's older than the Throne arse myself!
Suddenly wishing that I had grabbed some more cherries from the kid for sustenance, I stepped out of the tent. The whiteness of the surrounding was radiating in the morning sun, while miniscule snowflakes drizzled down in lazy swirls. I heard the birds chirp, and the snow rustle beneath my boots and the hem of my black cloak skimmed behind me in a soft lull. The wind was tingling, and a melody, like a steady stream's lilt, played in my ears.
***
The Chief approached me, with weightless footsteps. But I would never be duped again by any Earth Elemental, my instincts had gotten better by now. She gestured me to walk with her towards a distant section of tall grasses, an undergrowth, cushioned inside were soldiers resting after what seemed to have been an intense workout. With a detour into another large tent, maybe the largest one of all - armory of sorts, the Chief picked up a large silver scabbard - the sword encased within had to be an antique.
"Will... will he hurt them? Both my girls?" Eleni's mother asked.
My jaw hardened, "He has already hurt them."
Neo needed Eleni's blood again and again. My hands, on their own accord picked up a large sturdy, oaken crossbow and a set of leather gloves placed over a shelf above it. The Chief silently offered another heavy scabbard to me but I shook my head, fisting a palm around the three-grooved crossbow firmly and picked up a few daggers. If I'd kill someone, I'd prefer them being at a far distance from me - better for my conscience.
A sword is sinful - unless a certain devil was on the pointed edge.
"I am more afraid of the fact," I added, putting on the gloves, "that he would take advantage of Eleni's powers, like he did with Nova. The guilt kills him, and Eleni... she'd suffer like him."
"Why is he the way he is?" The Chief's voice was like an axe being polished for slaughter.
"Honestly, the Gemini House doesn't have all of the twins so polar opposites. But this particular set is exceptional. Neo had been a bit better when Nova was around him... but after their parents died, Nova kind of busied himself with his training at Terraskee, his House duties, his Realm's duties, being the crowned Prince at such a young age all alone. It was his way of coping with his parents' tragedy. Neo helped him, for a while but... things went south apparently." Nova was truly an orphan...he had lost his whole family.
I swallowed before continuing, "My brother and Nova were working on a portal, and now I know why... it was to save Nova some time between all the traveling." They both had wanted to spend more time together.
The Chief added softly, perhaps sensing my turmoil, "And Neo trapped King Nova for two years straight. Wanting all of him for himself. That's how I see it. His way of coping up with their loss, maybe." That was it.
She added, "Do you know how he enslaves people?"
The question hit my guts like a punch, and I found my eyes turning moist. Neo must have fed Eleni all sorts of rubbish, to take control over her mind, to snatch her away from me. I told her what Nova had told us, about a slaving potion and the mind games for his most crucial slaves like him and Eleni.
Her face hardened, aging wrinkles deepening on her forehead. "That's something really... new. I don't know what to say. It seems like he knows every branch of magic - Ancient Sorcery, Mind Sorcery, Alchemy, even that portal, that's Light magic, then all the Eclipses under his command... He is using Light magic with Dark magic, what other surprises would he spring out on us?"
I shook my head, having no answer for her. She spoke yet, contemplating to herself, "Un-trancing the slaves is the biggest issue, don't you think? Althea can heal their minds after all this but..."
A soft proud smile grew on my face - "Between your Althea and the King of the Summer Realm, I think we'd manage fine."
"That boy knows Mind Healing?" She froze.
"Mostly basics, but he's got potential. He learnt it to help others battle their demons, which he can't battle himself."
"Because of that... hag?" The Chief speculated; brows knitted, chest heaving.
I blinked. Of course, she knew her lover's first wife. I already loathed Ralph's mother, damningly so, ever since we were kids, for how badly she had broken my otherwise fierce and sensible friend, and then she had taken it up a notch, making me loathe her to an extent that I knew not was humanly possible, when she had called Eleni all sorts of despicable things.
But my girl had stood her ground and that was all that mattered.
The Chief walked ahead, leaving me wondering whether to speak more or shut up. She trusted Una and Nova, for obvious reasons, and I'd make sure she'd trust Ralph, despite their complex family scenario, and well, also me, just the same - as her allies.
"My girls are in danger..." She whispered, after a long haul, when we stepped out of the weaponry tent. She was holding it all in. All the fear, worry, guilt. She was made of some stone only Autumn Realm harbored. A small part of my brain nudged me to ask her, why she had abandoned Eleni, but prying into Eleni's life more than I already had, without her consent, seemed wrong.
We walked silently, closer to the rows and rows of young soldiers, armored and ready. I realized they were the most trained ones, and the... youngest. Almost as young as me. They were indeed a full-fledged military battalion and it dawned on me that they had always been prepared under the guidance of their Autumn Realm's fierce warrior - to fend off any attack that the cruel world would inflict on them, but they had never attacked. If they didn't know who I was, then I had to do a thorough job to win their trust-a chill of exhaustion and... uncertainty went down my spine.
The warrior woman halted a foot away from me, and turned. My breath caught as I saw moistness in her eyes, in the eyes which were too familiar. "Why? Why go through so much? You know she is Half-Earth elemental. And you..."
I cut in, "I'd do anything for her, for who she is, and not for what power she wields." My stare bore into her shimmering black eyes.
Thoughts ran in her mother's head and I fiddled with the arrows I had picked up. "So, my sapling followed my footsteps after all." She gave out a pensive smile.
A stringy arrow slipped from my fingers. My ears must've deepened slightly in color, as the meaning of her words enumerated in my body and soul, spellbinding my blood. History repeating itself. She patted my shoulder gently and walked ahead, making my crumbling sanity to regrow in every sense. But if only the sapling would truly acknowledge the footsteps, for here I was losing my patience, watching it grow and wither, grow and wither, grow and yet again wither.
I just wanted it to bloom once and forever!
***
It was evening and the lavender skies were frozen still. Just a few hours short of the Throne's arrival now. Like a cavalry, the young warrior Eclipses paraded after me, their weapons fancier than normal ones. Dylan was guarding the end lines, while Celia and I led the troops. She was trying to subdue the awkwardness with small talk and I gave her hollow polite smiles every now and then.
For the Eclipses, it was the mockery of the cruelest kind. They had never imagined, no one would have, that the very first time they'd go to a battle, they'd be fighting amongst themselves. They had never prepared to fight each other.
They had practiced for a while, a Water-Air Eclipse against from a Fire-Water, a Fire-Air against Water-Earth, and so on, but no one knew how to defend themselves against a Fire-Earth. But the Chief had handled it in a span of a mere hour, making sure they didn't tire themselves too much - being a true warrior with a level-headedness that I couldn't help but admire. I'd learn that from her.
Lost in my thoughts, listening to the steady galloping of my mare, clanking of arrows in my quiver, the scabbard's scraping against the horse's saddle - that Eleni's mother had forcefully shoved into my hand after all, I looked at the approaching Summer embassy across the Winter gala. I had to station the soldiers at the war-camp, which was empty since the Summer convoys might never make it. I rubbed my eyes; soon, it would all truly begin. Could I afford a small nap at the palace?
A murmur spread through my cavalry all of a sudden. A smell of a different magic was swirling in the air. Smoke ebbed in the skies. The earth was pulsating with a thrum of otherworldly magic. I clicked my tongue and pulled the reins of my horse and he galloped instantly... wind speeding through my hair, my heart pounding in my chest, syncing with the mount's hooves. I numbed as the cause of the distress found my sight.
My palace was burning.
A coiling in the dead center of my chest came alive. Had everyone emptied it? Had father? They must have. They had to. The part of the courtroom and great hall was untouched, father and my chambers were untouched. Only the left wing was destroyed. It wouldn't have mattered - the burning, since this wasn't the real palace, but the objects I had brought back from home... they were all inside. A little too precious.
With horrified eyes, I stopped my mount in the front yard, and looked at the massacre, dozens of guards... Centaurs... bodies burnt and twisted. Smell of death, smell of debauchery, smell of sin all collided into a deadly mixture.
Numb. No feeling. Nothing.
Dylan's horse had reached beside me, and I felt him stiffen just as me. But he spoke, voice heavy, "Fire cannot hurt Fire Elementals. Then how..."
I knew how.
"Save the ones we still can..." I manage to speak, and felt him jumping down the horse.
I swallowed hard. And looked at the hellfire guzzling around one particular section of the palace. A guard who was unharmed, approached me and spoke... told me what happened, told me how he had fled... how he had sent word to the Virgo Palace, told me who had done this massacre. But I already knew.
Numb and broken. I jumped down my horse, my knees trembling. Why me?
Why had Neo targeted me?
"Put it off." I let out a silent command.
The Eclipses with Water and Earth elements obliged, as Celia rallied them. Footsteps echoed around, the smell of the magic that I had fallen in love with, prickled my senses. My brain did not comprehend anything. Even when the gooey redness absorbed back into the ripping open earth, even when the blue glow of water sprayed over the palace's section which I valued the most.
I walked in. Slowly. Dizzy. Clutching the hot walls, stepping over red frothing mass. I had never known how the hotness bothered other elementals, but now I did. I finally knew, what blistering was, what scalding was. How the skin hissed and boiled.
Climbing the smithereens of the stairs slowly, looking at the burnt frames of my family portraits, I reached the place which I guarded, treasured more than anything else. I entered the writhing and crumbling state of my library.
I had brought back all my mother's paintings. The only part of her left for me. I had known her only through her paintings.
I collapsed on my knees, besides the colorful ashes of the canvases. My cheeks were burning with tears, eyes stinging with bitterness. Pain, hurt, dread, rage... numbing my soul. Neo had destroyed my mother's only memories. Her only presence in my life. He killed my brother and he killed what was left of my mother.
I had burnt his cave, and he had burnt my whole life.
He knew how to use his slaves. He knew how to use Eleni.
***
Author's notes: I am horrible.
P.S.: No, Neo is.