Alina's Crossing: Guardians of Terrin (21 page)

If I didn't already know what
he was capable of I would have taken him for being all talk. It was ridiculous
behavior that he was displaying and it made me want to destroy him even more.

“Ok. I'll wait. ” I said simply
and went to sit back down on the wood bench in my cell. I crossed my legs
again, and folded my arms, the whole time keeping my eyes locked on Shael.

“You can keep me locked in here
for an hour or for a day or even years. It still won't change what will happen
when you are not hiding behind this magical cage you created.” I said.

He finally realized that I
wasn't going to quiver at him, or beg him or plead for my life and I could tell
he was extremely frustrated with this fact.

That was what he wanted.

He wanted me to be scared of
him and beg for his mercy when he already knew he wasn't going to give it. He
wanted to see me suffer and see the fear of him I would display in my eyes. I
wasn't going to give him that satisfaction.

He wanted to play, I was gonna
play it my way.

“You will pay for your insolence!
I am the King of Terrin. Do you not yet realize that?” he said, his tone
turning angry and frustrated.

“Oh, I do realize that. I also
know that I am the rightful Queen of Terrin. You killed my father and my
mother. You took away my family and you stole my Kingdom and I will get it
back. You are a pathetic excuse for a King! What you have done here to my
people, to my family, to YOUR family…you will pay for that. In fact, when I
win, I will keep you in this cell. So think on that.” I spat.

I said what I had to say,
turning my head away from him when I was done. I didn't know where all the
passion I had for this Kingdom had come from but when I called myself the
rightful Queen of Terrin and told Shael I would get my kingdom back, I actually
meant it.

It wasn't just about the people
of this land any longer, although that was the main motivation. It was about
getting back what was rightfully mine.

Rightfully my mother's.

He robbed me of my life and my
family and he was going to pay for it.

I saw his body tense with anger
at my words and I could see the confliction my words brought him. I was
absolutely sure he was going to kill me right then and there because he growled
and started walking towards me but just as quickly as he darted for me did he
turn off from me in a huff. He left me alone in the cell and for a minute I was
glad he was gone. Then I remembered that I was in a cell, alone and was not
able to use my newly acquired magic.

Suddenly alone didn't feel
quite so good.

CHAPTER
16

MY MOTHER'S GIFTS

I spent a whole day and whole
night in the cell before I saw another person. It was a servant girl who
brought me some food and a pitcher of water.

She was very young.

She kept her head down, sliding
the tray of mush through the opening in the bars, never speaking a word to me
or even looking my way. I didn't know if Shael was watching me, but if he was,
I didn't want to get the girl in trouble by asking her questions or trying to
get her to give me the key. I would have to figure this out on my own without
involving anyone, especially an innocent young girl who I assumed wasn't
working in this place of her own free will.

The food I was given barely
looked edible but I decided that my body needed the fuel. I had considered the
possibility that it might be poisoned but I quickly dismissed that notion.

Shael would never kill me in
that way.

That would be too easy and
would give him no satisfaction. There would have to be a showdown and my death
would have to bring him full and public glory. I choked the food down as fast
as I could, taking a long gulp of the water, quenching my thirst and holding
off on the rest. I saw no bathroom here and was reasonably aware of what I
would have to do if I had to relieve myself, should the need arise, given my
current accommodations.

I had slept on and off
throughout the night and my dreams consisted of only one person.

Jeb.

I don't know when or how, but
he was suddenly very important to me and I was struggling with how I felt about
that. I had never been in love before, always keeping my nose in my books.
Sure, I had gone out on dates but nothing ever led to anything serious. I don't
think I ever even considered a relationship with anyone to be honest. But here
was this amazing man, willing to sacrifice himself for the safety of others and
raising two little girls alone and he kissed me!

He. Kissed. Me.

And it was good.

I knew I should stop thinking
about Jeb and instead start concentrating on my current problem. This awful
magical cage I was in was choking my magic, rendering me completely useless. I
had tried periodically though the day and night to get the door open, or bend
the bars or create a door but nothing worked.

Nothing even budged.

I had to give it to Shael, the
thing worked like it was intended to.

I was starting to feel hopeless
and my ideas were running short.

Then there was a sound that
piqued my interest. It sounded like a small squeaky animal. My first thought
was rats, but the sound was familiar to me.

RIFF!!!!

I got down on my knees,
whispering loudly. “Riff? Is that you? Come here boy! How did you get in here?”

I couldn't see him, but I could
hear him and I was never happier to hear his little noises. I saw him finally,
peaking his head out from behind the cell across from me. When he spotted me,
he squealed in delight. I don't know how that clever little animal managed to
get here from the island, but I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“Shhh! Riff, be quiet.” I said
as his excited squeaking became louder in his excitement to see me.

He quieted down as padded
across the rough dirt floor over to my cage. His eyes were wide with delight
and he was shaking excitedly.

“Riff! Grab those keys over
there. On the table!” I whispered loudly, pointing to the table that the keys
were lying on. “Go on! Good boy!”

Riff ran over to the table and
up the leg, climbing easily on the table top. He grasped the metal key ring,
which was almost as big as him, walking over to the edge of the table. He
looked confused about how he was going to get down and then decided the best
thing to do was drop the keys on the ground, which unfortunately, made a loud
crashing sound.

“Riff! Be careful please.
That's right. Come on boy.” I coached. I wasn't going to reprimand him too
harshly as he was doing me a favor.

Once on the ground, he picked
up the key set and padded over to the jail cell. When he got closer he
triggered an invisible barrier that showed itself in volts and shots of white
lightning. Riff squealed in pain when he touched the barrier, the shock causing
him to be flown backwards. He landed harshly and was knocked out.

“Riff!” I screamed. “Riff! Are
you ok? Riff?”

He was barely moving and making
strained little moans. He was visibly hurt and I was frantic. I was helpless to
do anything to help him. Tears flowed down my face.

I laid on the dirt floor in
anguish and kicked my legs up in frustration. I was crying and extremely vexed.
It was then that I felt something move inside my leg, or rather, not inside my
leg, but in one of the pockets of the pants I wore. I opened the flap and
pulled out the crystal my mother gave me. I cried out with joy at the
discovery, because I had forgotten all about it.

I held the cylinder shaped
crystal in my hand, stating at its beauty. I knew that it outshone any of its
cousins on my side of the realm. This stone did not exist over there and if it
did, it would be more precious than any diamond ever mined. I cradled the stone
in my hand and laid back down on the ground, rolling it back and forth in my
hands idly, my thoughts drifting to my mother. I started to feel a warmth
coming from the stone into my hands and stopped what I was doing. The moment
the friction I was creating between my hands halted, the stone cooled down.

“Hang on Riff. I’m coming. Just
hang on.” I said soothingly to my injured animal.

Now curious, I sat up and
turned my back towards the wall, hoping to block any signs of what I was doing,
should Shael be spying on me. I started the back and forth motion again and the
warmth crept back.

It also started to change
color.

Once clear, it was now turning
bright white. At first it was a pale dim of light I noticed, but it got
brighter in intensity. The light wasn't coming from the stone, which was now
gyrating in my hand. The light was forming above me in the cell, changing from
white to a deep purple, and it was so bright it illuminated the whole room I
was in. I stood up slowly, watching in wonder.

‘How was this happening in here? I thought magic couldn't be
done in here?’
I thought.

 
Then it hit me.

‘What if this stone was not affected by Shael's magic? Had
my mother known I would need it?’
I
wondered.

 I considered that fact
and then, stone in hand, shot my other hand out in front of me. It was more
instinct that made my hand fly out from me, somehow knowing that if I tried it
again, the magic would work for me.

The door to the cell flew open,
bending off the iron hinges. The stone went back to its original clear color
once my magic trick was performed. I kissed the stone gratefully, shoving it
back in my pocket, silently thanking my mother for her foresight.

I ran straight to my injured
pet, gently picking him up and tucking him inside my jacket. I prayed he wasn't
too badly injured and could hold on until I got back to the island so I could
tend to him properly. I didn't see any blood. That was at least something.

Once I was satisfied that Riff
was as safe as I could make him, I ran to the doorway, trying to silently pull
the door open but it also was millions of years old and needed massive amounts
of lubrication. It creaked open but my luck was holding.

I saw no one outside of the
door.

I darted out the way I knew I
had come in and, trying with all my might to remember which way I entered the
corridors. Every hallway looked exactly the same as the last, some had fewer
actual doors but the halls were all dark, all dingy and all cold.

After what seemed like forever,
my initial delight and adrenaline from my escape had worn off, quickly being
replaced with lethargy and weariness. I was walking down the hallways now
instead of running and I had lost all equilibrium. I was dizzy and feeling
faint and I wondered if I was wrong about Shael not putting anything in my
food.

I stopped, leaning up against
the wall to rest.

This was a labyrinth I wasn't
going to get out of. Not without help, and I had no help here. Save my injured
pet, I was alone.

I slid down the wall weakly,
feeling as though I was going to collapse and pass out, my mind fuzzy and my
vision blurry. Things were spinning in circles and I couldn't focus.

I felt myself fading in and out
of consciousness, whipping my head back up each time I realized I was about to
surrender into the blackness that seemed so appealing. I was in one of those
blurry moments when suddenly I felt myself being dragged up, my arm thrown
around someone's neck.

This person was large and had
picked me up in his arms. I was too weak to fight whoever it was. My vision was
still blurry, his face masked from me by my handicap and I felt as though I was
in a dream-like state, watching what was happening around me with no power to
participate or interact in the events.

I was carried into a room by
this person and was thrown roughly on the floor. I could tell he was rushing
around the room, his feet making scraping sounds from his quick movements. I
fell over on my side, my head on my arm, the spinning getting more and more
intense with every passing moment.

The mystery person in the room
with me was wearing a red robe. He crouched in front of me, pulling on my
arms to sit me upright. He was holding something up to my mouth, trying to get
me to drink from it. I started thrashing my head violently, weakly fighting him
to get the vile away from my mouth.

“Alina, you need to drink. This
will help. I won't hurt you, I promise. Just drink.” said the stranger,
soothingly.

I was too weak to fight him,
too weak to think rationally, so I did as he said.

I swallowed the vile
concoction, but the stranger was right, I was starting to feel better almost
immediately. It was such a quick fix and I was grateful to whoever this person
was.

“Thank you.” I said weakly.

My vision was returning, the
spinning ceasing.

Once my senses started righting
themselves and I was once again able to see, I beheld an older man with kind
eyes looking down at me.

I gasped.

I knew those eyes.

‘My dream! The one with my grandmother! This was the man
from my dream. I was in the same room from my dream! How was this possible? And
why was he here, working with Shael? He was wearing red!’
I thought.

He saw the confusion on my face
when I registered my knowledge of him but he didn't offer any explanations and
I didn't have time to ask what had happened to me. I assumed my original fear
of Shael poisoning my food had been correct. It was the only thing I could
think of as an explanation. I stood up slowly, feeling almost completely
recovered, smiling to the man who had saved me.

“Let me see your animal.
Quickly please.” He said.

The stranger was gesturing
towards Riff who was still safely tucked inside my jacket. I was weary of surrendering
him to this stranger but he helped me when he didn't have to and I was
concerned about Riff. I relented and extracted Riff gently from my jacket. Riff
was badly hurt and barely conscious when I passed him over.

Riff made barely audible
protests.

“There, there little one. You
were so brave.” The stranger cooed gently to Riff while cradling him.

He opened a jar. I was
straining to see what was in it but was blocked by the strangers back. I saw
his fingers raised above Riff, sprinkling something over him. When the stranger
turned back around I saw a thoroughly healed Riff, sitting happily in the
strangers arms. He started wiggling wildly when he saw me, so I reached out for
him. He was just about to jump into my arms but stopped short to nuzzle the man
who healed us both.

“You’re welcome little one.” he
said with a laugh.

Riff completed his jump,
snuggling up to me excitedly.

“I don't know how to thank
you.” I said gratefully.

“No thanks is needed Alina. I
was glad I could help.” he said humbly.

“Who are you? What do you do
here?”

“That is not a concern right
now. You have a mission to complete. You must be on your way.” He said, gently
reminding me that I wasn’t done here.

“Ok, but-” the man turned me to
the door. I tucked Riff back inside my jacket before I did.

 Reluctantly, I opened the
door to exit, closing it behind me. I then thought maybe he would know where
the box was so I went back in to the room.

When I walked in the room was
completely empty.

There had been a fire going in
the fireplace and there was a table with potions and ingredients all over it.
Now....it was just gone?