CHAPTER 21
MORNING CAME and Grath was still burning with fever. Knowing that they couldn't survive in this hellish barren land by staying where they were and waiting for Grath to get better, Xeke gathered old logs from all over the barren land. Hakken used these to make a makeshift bed where they could carry Grath. Leaving him behind was not an option.
While Xeke scouted the best route to take, Hakken, Sollel, Zassia, and Cira were holding the makeshift log bed on each corner, carrying Grath. They were slower than yesterday, but they still managed to cover a few kilometers before nightfall.
At night, Cira tried her best to bring down Grath's fever with her medicine, but nothing was working. Another night passed with Grath still burning up. When morning came, they carried Grath again in the makeshift log bed until nightfall. Cira and Zassia was exhausted, but they didn't complain. Grath had carried them as well when they were tired from walking; they were just giving back the favor.
Resting at night, Sollel stared at Grath. He was almost immobile; if she couldn't see the movement of his chest, she would think Grath was no longer with them.
Sollel sighed. His soul is not accepting my blessing because it didn't give consent. That's why Grath was having a fever—his soul was fighting off her essence. There were only two outcomes in all this: either her essence wins, or Grath wins but his soul will end up being damaged. Between the two, the former was safer.
I'm sorry, Grath. Sollel sat beside Grath and rested her hand on his chest.
"Your Highness." Cira sat beside Sollel, watching the queen's hand on Grath. "What are you doing?"
"I'm going to force my essence on him."
Cira's lips parted. "But that will damage his body."
"Damaging his body is far better than damaging his soul," said Sollel with decisiveness. "The body could be repaired, the soul couldn't be. And we must pick up our pace tomorrow. We have to get out of this barren land. We're running out of food and water."
Cira took a deep breath. "Very well. I will ready some medicine."
Sollel nodded and started feeling her essence inside Grath. As she delved deeper into Grath's very core, his soul...she felt how it was struggling against her flame. It was losing. I'm sorry, Grath. Sollel then clenched her hand that was resting on Grath's chest, and her essence in Grath's body immediately expanded and devoured Grath's soul with her aid.
Grath's soul struggled. Using its body's strength to overcome her essence, he was coughing blood, and his body was convulsing. But it was fruitless. Sollel's essence inside Grath devoured his soul wholly.
"What's happening to him?" Xeke asked as everyone crowded around Grath.
Cira immediately placed her hand over Sollel's. "We're healing Grath, and his body is responding," she lied. "El is trying to absorb Grath's fever, while I spread my essence to heal him."
No one asked and just watched. Zassia was so amazed with her teacher's ability to absorb body heat, Xeke was frowning, trying to understand what the two were doing, and Hakken was just silently watching Sollel's hand on Grath.
After a few minutes, Grath's body stopped thrashing, and his face finally looked at peace as Sollel withdrew her hand. That's when Cira truly came in and imbued Grath's body with her essence to hasten his recovery. It would weaken Cira, but there was nothing she couldn't manage.
Cira healed Grath with her essence for a couple of hours. Grath's body was nearly torn from the inside because of Sollel's destructive essence; that's why it took Cira that long to fix Grath's body, taking a lot of her essence as well.
Meanwhile, Xeke was just sitting beside Cira, watching her heal Grath. Hakken was still sulking in the corner alone, while Sollel and Zassia were sitting on the ground, near the campfire.
"Teacher, how did you do it? I didn't know flame sorcerers could absorb body heat as well to heal someone!" Zassia looked and sounded so eager to learn. "You're so amazing!" A twinkle of reverence could be seen in Zassia's eyes as she stared at Sollel.
"I will teach it to you in due time," Sollel answered calmly, opposite to Zassia's excited tone. "For now, I will teach you the first thing you need to learn."
Zassia moved her body so she was facing Sollel. She was listening intently to her teacher's first lesson.
"First," Sollel said, looking at Zassia. "Don't be too trusting."
Zassia's excited face slowly disappeared. "Teacher..."
"Don't trust so easily, Zassia." Sollel raised her hand and tapped Zassia's head. "You're still young and have no experience how people and the world really work. I don't want you to get hurt since you're a good child. Be vigilant and don't give your trust so easily. Anyone can betray you, and it would be too late to regret."
Zassia just blinked at Sollel while listening.
"A second lesson from me," Sollel continued. "Do not go around prancing your belief on Queen Sollel. I don't want to see you get hurt because of it. You can pray to her in silence. I'm sure she will still appreciate it...as long as you're sincere."
Zassia nodded.
"And third," Sollel said as she pulled her hand back, "don't betray the people who love you and care for you. You do not return love with pain. You do not return care with sorrow. And you do not return trust with betrayal. Adhere to all of this, and I will teach you everything I know. Keep these three close to your heart, and I'm sure Queen Sollel will be very happy with you."
Zassia nodded earnestly. "I will, teacher."
Sollel smiled. "Very well. Your fourth lesson will start tomorrow morning."
Zassia eagerly nodded and happily went to sleep while keeping her first three lessons close to her heart.
Alone, Sollel stared at the vast darkness in front of her. This barren land they were trying to cross was Gatria's resentment. Sollel couldn't help worrying if Gatria was in good condition.
Sollel touched the dead soil and whispered, "I'm coming to free you, Gatria. Wait for me."
Taking a deep breath, Sollel looked up at the sky. I wonder how everyone is doing. Aenwyn...Astrid...I will come and get you too. And I will burn anyone who will get in my way!
♕♕♕
MORNING CAME and Grath finally recovered. Unfortunately, Cira was the one unconscious this time. She expended so much essence; of course, she would be out cold. Cira thought she could manage healing Grath—well, that was a miscalculation on her part.
So Grath carried Cira on his back as they traversed the hellish barren land again.
On the other hand, Zassia received her fourth lesson, and that was to drop her flame on the ground to follow her. It's a way to control one's flame, and there's no better place to practice it than in a barren land where nothing would be burned.
Zassia was doing it poorly, and she wanted to cry. But every time she wanted to give up, she would remember Queen Sollel's blessing and how much she didn't want to waste it. So she continued dropping her flame every time it was extinguished. She could only control her flame to follow her for a meter, and it would die down again. She had to drop another flame when this would happen, exhausting her so much, but she kept going on because she knew her teacher was observing her. She didn't want to disappoint her too.
After walking for a few kilometers, the group finally saw Castetava on the horizon.
"Yes..." Zassia dropped on her knees, crying in happiness. "Finally..."
At that same moment, Cira woke up, and she jumped down from Grath's back as if she just didn't expend her essence. "Yey! Bed! Food! Cira is coming!" After shouting gleefully, Cira excitedly ran toward Castetava, leaving them behind.
Sollel shook her head. "She's too wild when excited."
Hakken was beside Sollel, and he used to share little conversations with her, but Hakken had been silent beside her since yesterday. Sollel was amused than annoyed because she knew the reason Hakken had been silent.
Sollel stepped closer to Hakken to ask him in a low voice. "Still sulking?"
Hakken didn't answer, making Sollel smile. She didn't know why she enjoyed seeing Hakken like this—silent and sulking. She enjoyed seeing how his expression changed because of her.
"You've been sulking for two days now." Sollel kept up with Hakken's face and poked Hakken's left cheek. "Stop sulking already, Hakken. We're about to reach Castetava."
But Hakken remained silent, not minding Sollel poking his cheek. And even how much Sollel urged Hakken to stop sulking, Hakken didn't give her any attention, amusing Sollel even more.
After Sollel had enough poking Hakken's cheek, she glanced at Zassia to check up on her. Sollel smiled when Zassia was still doing her best to control her flame even though she failed a hundred of times already. Grath kept glancing at her like he wanted to ask something but always deciding not to.
Sollel wanted to talk to Grath too, but she wanted to cross this barren land first.
After an hour of walking, Sollel frowned when she saw Cira's back. Sollel thought that Cira would be in Castetava by now since she left them behind earlier, but it looked like she was mistaken. Cira was crouching down beside a riverbank, and she looked like she was sulking while drawing something on the ground with a stick.
And when Cira saw Sollel, she immediately ran to Sollel to complain. "Your Highness! We have a problem!"
Hakken immediately understood Cira's complain. "This river..."
"Yes! That damn river!" Cira pointed her finger at the river in front of them as she sat on the ground, sulking. "I thought barren lands don't have rivers, but nope. This barren land has one, and it's wide at that. I want to sleep on a soft bed and eat some good food fast, so I decided to swim this damn river. But when my foot touched the water, a four-meter-long beast with a wide mouth and sharp teeth suddenly appeared, nearly biting my feet off! Good thing I was quick." Cira's eyes were filled with tears. "Your Highness! My food! My bed! And that damn Xeke just left me behind! I mean, he left one of his daggers, but he still left me behind!"
"How long has it been since Xeke left?" Hakken asked.
"Present." Xeke just appeared out of thin air.
Cira glared at Xeke. "How dare you leave a woman like me all alone! What if something bad happened to me?"
Xeke looked at Cira like that was not going to happen. "I don't think you're the kind of woman who needs protection."
Cira rolled her eyes but still smiled proudly. "Of course!"
"That's why I left." Xeke smiled before turning to face the other side of the river. "There are alligarean beasts in the river and demon foxes in the other side. I already took care of the demon foxes, but the alligarean beasts..." Xeke stared at the water. "They're very poisonous, and they spit out a liquid that could melt anyone's skin in a matter of seconds." Then Xeke turned to Hakken. "Any idea how to pass this river?"
"I'm thinking..." Hakken answered.
"Can we go around it?" Grath asked.
Xeke shook his head. "It'll take a week to go around it."
"We can make a raft and then just fight those beasts if they came at us," Zassia suggested. "Looks like we don't have a choice anyway."
"I'll go look for useable logs," said Grath and immediately went looking.
Cira suddenly got up when she got an idea and faced Xeke excitedly. "Use your daggers to send us to the other side."
"My daggers have weight limits," Xeke explained. "I can only use it on you because you're tiny."
Cira's excited expression vanished, and her pointy ears actually moved a little when she heard how Xeke described her. "Take it back! I'm not tiny! I'm tall and slim! Not tiny!"
Sollel handed the water canister to Cira. "Drink and stop shouting, Cira. You'll be dehydrated."
Cira accepted the water canister while glaring at Xeke. Xeke just smiled at the adorable elf glaring at him.
"I can transport myself and Cira with my daggers to the other side," said Xeke, "but you four had to think of something to cross the river."
"Let's do what Lady Zassia suggested," said Hakken when he saw Grath coming back with useable logs. "But instead of making logs, let's just throw them in the river since we don't have other materials to make one and use them to cross the river fast. Grath, you're strong and agile—you carry Zassia. Grath's task is to cross the river using the logs, while Lady Zassia's task is to counterattack and defend in case the alligarean makes a move to attack."
Grath and Zassia nodded.
Then Hakken faced Sollel. "My lady, I will carry you. You will be responsible for attacking and defending."
Sollel nodded while smiling a little because Hakken finally spoke to her. "Okay."
"I'll start," Xeke said before throwing his dagger upward. The moment the daggers multiplied and flew down to the ground on the other side of the river, Xeke vanished and appeared on the other side in just a second. "Lady Cira, your turn," said Xeke before controlling his daggers to float in the air, making a staircase for Cira.
With Cira's agile body and with the help of Xeke's daggers, she was able to cross the river effortlessly.
The next pair to cross were Grath and Zassia. Zassia was on Grath's back, her staff ready to attack.
"Ready?" Hakken asked the two. Grath and Zassia nodded.
Hakken counted one to three before throwing the logs on the rivers.
The river flow was not fast. Grath easily managed to jump to the nearest log. Grath jumped and balanced himself with ease even though he was carrying Zassia on his back. Jumping to the third log, Grath and Zassia were already in the middle of the river when their movement on the surface caught the attention of the beasts down below.
As Grath jumped to the fourth log, out of nowhere, an alligarean's wide open mouth came from the water, ready to bite the two. Zassia's fireballs rapidly shot at the alligarean, hitting its mouth and eyes, distracting the beasts. Zassia's hands were shaking in fear, but she held on to her staff tightly.
And when the beast recovered its bearing, before it could try to bite Grath and Zassia again, it was hit by Sollel's ball of flame and Cira's arrow.
"Hurry!" Hakken hissed when he saw other two alligarean surfacing.
Grath held Zassia's knees tightly while Zassia conjured and shot fireballs after fireballs at the alligareans as they moved, making the beasts angrier.
A relieved sigh came out from everyone when Grath and Zassia safely landed on the other side of the riverbank.
Zassia's legs were shaking as she got off from Grath's back. "That was crazy. I don't want to do it again..."
Grath smiled. "We're safe now, Lady Zassia."
Zassia nodded and looked at the other side of the river where Hakken and Sollel were.
"You can do it, Your Highness!" Cira said while jumping up and down and clapping her hands. "You can do it! Burn them! Yey!"
Zassia gripped her staff tightly and conjured three fireballs. "I will help too."
Grath couldn't do anything but pray for the queen's safety, while Xeke's hand readied his dagger just in case the two needed a hand.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the river, Hakken asked Sollel. "Ready?"
Sollel nodded and went to stand in front of Hakken. "Carry me on your shoulder. I have to see the whole area to defend us both."
Hakken nodded and was about to move to throw the logs in the river when Sollel stopped him.
"Hakken."
"Yes, my lady?"
"Stop sulking already."
Hakken smiled. "Yes, my lady. Did I worry you?"
"A little."
Hakken's smile widened. "That makes me so darn happy." Hakken then bent down to pick up the logs and threw it on the river before facing Sollel. "Ready?"
Sollel nodded.
"Perfect." Hakken leaned down a little to wrap his arms around Sollel's body and carry her on his shoulder. "Hold on tight."
Sollel quickly wrapped her arms around Hakken's neck as Hakken jumped to the log on the river.
"My lady, you are welcome to choke me anytime but not at the moment," Hakken said when he felt Sollel's hold on his neck tightening as he jumped from one log to another.
"Impudent." Sollel clicked her tongue and released a ball of flame to the nearest alligarean that was about to attack them.
The impact and the blast of her ball of flame was enough to knock back any beast, giving them time to safely traverse the river.
Sollel released a sigh of relief when she saw that they were near the riverbank on the other side of the river. But just when Sollel let down her guard, a bubble formed in the river. Hakken was in the middle of jumping to the nearest log when, suddenly, a humongous alligarean jumped out of the water, just inches under Hakken in midair, its mouth wide open and ready to devour the two.
CECELIB | C.C.