Page 23 of Veil of Vasara (Fate of the Five #1)

CHAPTER 23- ELIEL

T he Jurasan King drew his sword as his horse plunged to the ground.

Another arrow, this time straight for the King’s chest. He deflected it with his sword as if it were nothing more than a fly. He turned towards us as the arrow smacked against the soil, and although his face was shrouded in darkness, I could sense the accusation in his hidden glare.

I knew how this appeared. It appeared as if we had planned this. The very thought of such unavoidable suspicion gripped at my throat with a tightness I could not release.

“Get down! Eliel!” Elias yelled from my right side. He shoved into me with the full weight of his body. I fell on my back, my elbows behind me.

Another arrow, again for the Jurasan King. He dodged it and rolled forwards in a perfunctory manner, edging closer to its source. There was a fury emanating from him more insistent and calmer than the river flowing between us.

Elias was still standing, his head swivelling frantically in all directions, trying to ascertain where the arrows were coming from.

I jumped up towards my horse, who was kicking up and panicking at the scene. I grabbed the shield I had brought with me, resting on its hind. I just managed to withdraw it from its fastening when the steed buckled off into the forest.

“Shit!” Elias tried to grab onto it, but the animal slipped from his grasp like the wind.

I turned to face the Jurasan King “This isn’t us!” I asserted loudly.

He ignored me completely, clearly doubting my words. Another arrow, and another, the Jurasan King spun around them all, some even tore through the dark green cloak he bore, but none through his flesh. I couldn’t help but admire his skill.

I rushed towards him, intent on assisting him in his defence, but Elias grabbed my clothes from behind me, and pulled me back.

“Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

“We cannot do nothing,” I spat.

“That is exactly what we are going to do.” Elias tugged me back more insistently.

“And if he dies, what then?” I edged closer to his face.

“You said it yourself…nobody knows about this meeting. We were never here.”

“Nobody?” I asked him rhetorically. “Other than the owners of those arrows.” I pointed into the distance.

“They want him dead! Why should we bother them?” More arrows kept coming.

“We are a perfect alibi. We will become the culprits. We will become their cover.”

I knew, because that is exactly how I might have planned it, had I planned it myself.

But how did they know? How did they know we would be here? There was always the possibility that it was from the Jurasan King’s end that information had escaped. But given his history of secrecy, I doubted it very strongly.

“It behoves us to do something,” I beseeched Elias.

Without waiting for a reply, and with a break in the downpour of arrows. I crossed the river, having to soak my clothes in water to do so.

“This isn’t us,” I repeated to the Jurasan King, this time standing directly in front of him, as to be sure he would not misunderstand, or mishear me.

The Jurasan King was hardly paying attention to me. His eyes, like Elias,’ were scanning the surroundings for oncoming threats and arrows.

“Who then?” the Jurasan King said. “The arrows are falling at my feet.” He stated it simply and calmly as a fact, with no trace of distress in his voice.

Footsteps sounded from behind me. Elias had crossed the river.

“If this had been by our design, we would have left as soon as they began falling,” I protested.

“What would be the need? If you were not the target?” the Jurasan King replied sedately, still facing away from me.

More footsteps now, only this time they were coming from in front of, and behind us. Figures stepped into our view. They wore dark masks and dark clothing. Some were running, others raising bows as they moved.

“Eight,” Elias counted instantly.

“No,” the Jurasan King said, looking up. “More.”

There were another few, leaping through the trees.

“Get out of here!” Elias implored me. “Leave!"

“There is only one way of achieving that now,” I said, taking in our adversaries.

But each and every one of them was focused on the Jurasan King.

He could not die. We needed him for the information he could provide.

At the head of the group was a short woman with braided hair. She raised her hand. She bore no weapons and carried no steel.

“Oh Gods.” Elias gasped. “These are—"

“Sorcerers.” The Jurasan King finished his statement for him.

Elias had turned completely pale. This place again. These foes. I could only imagine his torment. I was beginning to think bringing him here had been a poor decision and a cruel one on my part. I glanced at him cautiously, his gaze remained fixed ahead.

My attention was turned back to the woman as she brought her hand down through the air and smashed her fist into the ground. It cracked, the earth shattering towards us at a rapid pace. Another man to her left did the same, and the crack tore deeper through the soil, slithering towards us like a snake, intent on poisoning us.

We all braced ourselves. The Jurasan King traced the curvature of the line, his chin following its movements. We stumbled backwards, our footing became more unsure by the second, and the crack deepened.

The others who had arrived with the earth-shattering duo watched from behind them, appearing utterly unphased.

The earth opened from under my feet. I attempted to jump to the left, but the hole had already begun to swallow me, throwing me off balance. I tilted forwards with my arms outstretched. Elias grabbed onto my hand, gritting his teeth with the effort of supporting my weight on such unsteady ground.

“Just hold on and—"

There would be no point in dragging him down with me.

I let go of his hand.

Falling into the underground, I caught jagged shards of rock, earth, and stone as I passed further down and landed on my front.

A crack snapped through the air. There was no change at first, only the unwelcome presence of dirt in my mouth and scent of wet soil, tinged with a hint of burning…the sorcery, I assumed.

But then, like a fire seething across my bones, a searing agony swept across my forearm and down into my wrist. There was no doubting it was broken. I could feel a scream clutching at my throat and yet my mouth remained agape.

That was until the earth shook once more and Elias landed next to me, a few steps to my right. He had used his blade to slow his fall and remained uninjured. Clever.

The impact of the second wave of motion allowed the yell of pain to escape my lips. I rolled over on my back and crossed the broken arm, my left, across my chest, squinting my eyes shut. All around us the earth was still trembling, rumbling, shivering, threatening to crush us under its weight at any moment. The intensity of the noise it created almost shrouded my cry of pain, but not enough for Elias to remain ignorant to it.

“El…w…. stay….and….” I could only make out snippets of his words.

He found his way beside me and looked me up and down, finding the cause of my distress within a fraction of a second. He tore a fragment of the bottom of his tunic off and wrapped it around my upper torso and arm, creating a makeshift sling. He must have made many of these during his time in our army, I thought.

“The King—" I started.

“He’s still up there,” Elias said, sounding as unphased as the other sorcerers had looked.

“He’ll die,” I said.

“We could die,” Elias said, glaring at me.

I used my other arm to force myself into a seated position. Elias and I peered up at the sky. It was overcast with a thick fog, dense, and dark.

Elias’ eyes remained fixated on the matter, but I could tell from his facial expression that here, and now, were not where his mind remained.

I knew more about sorcery than it was deemed necessary or appropriate. Humans had convinced themselves that if they understood less about a threat, or an enemy, that enemy would become less dangerous. It was a strange fact of the world, of humanity, that we would mistake ignorance for truth, when it was only ever an illusion. And so, I had studied the topic in as much detail as possible. My father had ordered several texts around sorcery to be destroyed, but some remained, and I had scouted out rarer editions in secret. I had asked whoever was capable and willing to converse on the matter and acquired all the information about sorcery I possibly could.

It was simply for this reason, that I knew this dense cloud was the work of an Acciperean.

I thought about suggesting an ascent, but I could see no means or method to undertake that task. Nor could I see any way to convince my cousin to step into that darkness intentionally.

Using my other hand, I pressed myself up off the ground, as if that would somehow allow me to bring myself closer to the strange substance floating above us, allowing me to understand it better. The smoke carried with it a deadly silence that blended with the wind seamlessly, drifting above and around us. Such a contrast to the roaring of the quake just moments before.

I waited for a few moments, minutes, but there was no further sound, no sign of any movement or activity. I turned to look at Elias, his head was now bent, he was staring at the ground, utterly lost, utterly transfixed in his own memories.

“Elias,” I said, as authoritatively as I could manage, through gritted teeth.

He didn’t respond.

I crouched beside him. He was clearly unaware of my presence. I placed my hand on his shoulder. The touch awoke him, he shoved me aside and drew his sword.

I jumped back, startled. Elias’ eyes were wide, focused, yet not. His dark red irises were like droplets of blood growing ever smaller as his pupils widened.

I raised my right hand. “Elias,” I started, carefully, as if speaking to a child. “You are not yourself.”

His arm remained outstretched. His sword remained firmly in his grasp. His face was twisted in an expression of contempt.

“Elias…put the sword down. I am not your enemy. It’s me, it’s—"

“I know who it is,” Elias said, disproving my former theories about his state of mind.

“Then what…what are you doing?” I asked, trying to remain calm. I could feel my outstretched hand shaking slightly. There was little that brought me fear but I was not immune to the feeling. This scenario however, dying here, by Elias’s hand, was not acceptable or desirable.

“We’re not going up there,” Elias asserted. His grip, his glare were steady and sharp as his blade.

“We must,” I said.

“I’ll cut both your calves if it means you won’t. And you’re in no state to fight me.”

Elias’ voice was full of something I had never detected in him before. An insistence. An aggression. A powerful force that was daunting.

“I understand your concerns but this decision—"

“No, you do not. You read about sorcery, you talk about it, you study it…”

My eyes widened. My lips parted slowly. I was unaware Elias was so attuned to my interest in the topic. I thought my concealment of it had been sufficient.

“...But you do not understand it, and you do not know it as I do.”

“We have no choice,” I tried to persuade him.

Elias smiled slightly, but it was full of bitterness and melancholy. “Yes, I remember hearing those words from your father’s lips, before he sent all those people to their deaths.”

I was suddenly overcome with a wave of seething irritation. It was not as if I did not comprehend Elias’ feelings or thoughts, but they bore little relevance to our current situation.

I strode towards him confidently, letting his sword rest at my breastbone.

“Do you propose we stay down here then? For how long? Hours? A day? Multiple? We are wounded and we have lost our supplies and horses. We cannot hide here and wait to die. If you are so determined for us to face such a fate then by all means, cut me down here and now.”

Elias and I stared at each other for seconds, each passed by between us like an eternity, hanging heavily in the clouded silence.

He lowered his sword slowly. “We stay here for a short while, then we find a way out, but the Jurasan is on his own.”

I nodded curtly to confirm the plan. Elias was right, he was stronger than me, and not only when I was wounded. It would be foolish to test his patience, especially now.

His blade remained in his hand unsheathed. I sank back down to the floor.

Elias looked down at me. “You’re not completely sane, Eliel.”

My head spun towards him, I was dizzied by the movement, from the pain. “What?”

“No sane person would ask another to kill them over such a small disagreement.” Elias looked amused.

“Small? You threatened to slice my legs open,” I could feel myself losing composure around Elias again.

“That threat still stands. Stay where you are.” He waved his sword at me elaborately.

“Who could be?” I mused. “Sane and survive in this world?”

“Absolutely nobody.” Elias sat down next to me. “Especially not a King.”

“So, the Jurasan King is unsound of mind?” I asked.

Elias shuffled, turning in my direction. “You’re telling me you thought he wasn't?”

“He was—" I searched for the word, but my mind was clouded by pain, “Extremely skilled,” I eventually said.

“Yes,” Elias confirmed, looking at his feet. “Do you believe he was being truthful?” he asked.

“I believe what he said is true, it is what he has omitted that concerns me more.”

“Will you do as he asks?

“I see no reason not to. His sister is of no interest to me.”

Elias sighed, relieved, and nodded.

“Although all of this means very little if he is dead or has been captured. We will have to ascertain whether or not that is the case before we proceed.”

“And if he is?”

“I don’t…” I leant my head back, a sudden wave of throbbing in my arm gripping me. Elias furrowed his brow in concern.

“Just a little while, Eliel. Just a little while.”

I lost consciousness.

***

Sometime later, when the sky was considerably darker, and night had already begun, Elias’ voice woke me up.

“Eliel.” His hand gently shook my other arm. “Let’s leave.”

I looked around, confused, and perplexed.

“You’ve been passing in and out of consciousness for about five hours now. I thought it best to just let it happen, considering well…” He gestured at my broken arm with his chin.

Elias, it seemed, had spent the last few hours climbing and slicing groves into the rock surrounding us, enough for us to slowly, exhaustingly, heave ourselves up to the surface.

Around an hour after, we both stood on that shattered ground, cracks running across it like veins.

There were dead bodies everywhere.

Their faces were frozen in screams, their bodies twisted at awkward angles.

But the Jurasan King was not one of them.

“Well,” Elias said morosely, “I think that answers our question.”

An icy chill swept across the forest and caressed the river. The river that once again, ran red with blood.