Deliverance (22 page)

“Indeed. You have heard the story of how the
royal family was killed during the invasion, correct?” Bogdan
asked. Valamar nodded, and so Bogdan added, “Well I have recently
discovered that one member of the family survived and is still
alive to this day.”

Valamar raised an eyebrow and asked, “How
did you discover this?”

“Well, my informant with the rebels told me
that the princess, the only child of the king and queen, escaped
from her fate and is hiding amongst the rebels. They have been
protecting her for all of these years, but it will all be in vain
once my current plans to crush the rebellion are complete,”
explained Bogdan.

“So what does the princess have to do with
Cry—” Valamar suddenly stopped himself once he realized the answer
to his own question. Bogdan burst into laughter.

“Ahhh! Now you’re getting it!” the king
exclaimed. He then grabbed the black cloth covering the painting
with both hands and said, “Feast your eyes on Princess Amelia
Atteberry of Cierith!”

After Bogdan ripped the cloth off, Valamar’s
eyes instantly fell onto the little girl in the portrait. She was
standing next to the king, who was seated on his throne, and the
queen was standing on the other side. Valamar didn’t even look at
the other two subjects in the painting, however. Even in youth, the
girl was all too familiar to Valamar. He instantly recognized her
as the woman he desired more than anything.

He gazed at the green eyes that would never
cease to enchant him and the only word that could escape his lips
was, “Crystal . . .”

Bogdan laughed again and said, “Who would
have thought the leader of the rebels, the woman who turned my own
son against me, and the woman you are infatuated with in none other
than the princess of Cierith? Even the fall of her kingdom did not
stop her from wanting to fight me.”

“Who would have thought . . .” Valamar
repeated absentmindedly.

Bogdan took a step closer to Valamar, who
was still staring at the painting, and said in a half-whisper, “I
have a little proposition for you, Lord Valamar. If you help me by
calling off your bounty on Blaze and the princess and send them to
help lure the rebels into a trap, I will give you the princess to
be your wife. I think that would be a more fitting punishment for
an insolent woman who tries to do a man’s work, a life of servitude
to a husband rather than execution. You may do whatever you wish
with her, and because of her birthright, you will be royalty.”

Valamar’s expression suddenly changed. His
lips curled into a sly grin and he held his head higher. He noticed
Bogdan’s matching grin and deduced that this was the exact reaction
he the king had hoped for. Valamar then muttered lustfully, “She
will be my queen . . .”

“And you her king . . . her master,” Bogdan
muttered back. He then held out his hand for a shake and added, “So
do we have a deal?”

Valamar eyed the king’s outstretched hand,
and with another grin, he shook Bogdan’s hand and replied, “Only a
complete fool would refuse such a tempting offer.”

CHAPTER 15

Crystal spent the next several weeks seeing
Blaze in a whole new way. For the first time since she met him, she
not only felt like he was finally willing to be her friend, but she
also began to wonder if he wanted something more. Ever since he
kissed her that night under the white tree, she couldn’t help but
feel flushed when she saw him, and he seemed to be the same way.
She would smile at him when she saw him, and when he noticed no one
was looking, he would smile back.

Even though most people would think he was
embarrassed to be seen smiling at her, Crystal laughed at the idea.
He went from being a wicked and selfish prince to someone Crystal
actually felt like she could trust. It was a good start, and sure,
he still had plenty of room to grow, but Crystal felt that Blaze
would become more open to everyone with time. She anticipated the
time Blaze would become closer to her with enthusiasm and she even
began to feel like she may be able to consider Blaze as more than a
friend.

But this still did not stop Crystal’s
nagging feeling that something was wrong.

She felt good being around Blaze, but
something else was making her uneasy. The rebels had not seen or
heard anything about Bogdan or his soldiers in several months, and
it was starting to seem odd. Several scouts looking for the last
two shards came back to the hideout without any news not only about
shards, but on any activity regarding Daldussa.

Bogdan, it seemed, was inactive. Too
inactive. Crystal knew that Bogdan would never give up on this goal
of his, and so she couldn’t help but feel like he was up to
something beneath the shadows, so that none of the rebels could
even detect him. She was also starting to worry that Bogdan may
have already found the last two shards.

Crystal realized that Gavril shared her
concerns, because he sat down with her one day and said, “Bogdan
has to be planning something.” After he had just finished training,
he sat on the ground in front of a crumbling wall, wiping his
sweaty forehead with an old rag. He then continued, “If he were
just looking for the shards like we are, we would have run into him
by now. Ever since that incident with the first shard, we haven’t
heard a peep out of Bogdan or anyone else from Daldussa. We now
have two shards, after all, and so far, we only know of one that he
has.”

Crystal sat on the ground beside Gavril. She
held her legs up to her chest and said, “I know, and I fear he may
have found the other two and may be planning an attack to gather
the ones we have.”

Gavril gave her a concerned look and asked
her, “You don’t think he knows where the hideout is, do you?”

“I don’t believe so. He would have attacked
us by now if he did,” replied Crystal, who was looking forward at
the rebels who were still training.

“That’s true, but we did drive off his
troops at the City of Magi.” Gavril pointed out, “So maybe he knows
not to attack directly. Then again, since you knew he was going to
sneak in somehow, he could attack directly just to throw you
off.”

“True, but attacking us directly just to
make us think he has something else planned doesn’t really seem
like something he would do. He knows we would prepare well for any
kind of attack, so it seems like it would be a lazy effort on his
part. Besides, how could he know where the hideout is anyway?”
Crystal responded.

“I suppose you’re right,” replied
Gavril.

“We will just have to keep our eyes peeled
for any signs of trickery,” Crystal stated.

Gavril nodded in agreement and smiled.
Crystal then stood up and after telling Gavril goodbye, she headed
off.

For the rest of the afternoon, Crystal tried
to get her mind off of her uneasiness, but to no avail. She sat
under a tree near the training grounds and tried to read more of
the books of holy magic. She even attempted a few of the spells,
but unfortunately, she never got any closer to successfully casting
holy magic than when Malcolm told her to do it before he died.

She was startled when she heard a voice
behind her say, “Still reading those books?”

She recognized Blaze’s voice before she even
turned to see him and she couldn’t help but feel upbeat by his
presence. She turned around, smiled, and said, “Can’t I sit under
any tree in this place without you finding me?”

Blaze grinned and muttered, “Afraid not. You
can’t hide from me.”

Crystal smiled again and was pleased to see
that he was fully recovered. She turned back to the book she was
reading and then Blaze then sat down beside her, peeking over her
shoulder out of curiosity.

“Self-regeneration?” Blaze read aloud after
glancing at the heading on the page.

“Yes.” Crystal replied, “It’s a special
healing spell driven by emotion. When a holy mage is gravely
injured, if they are conscious enough, a surge of emotion will give
the strength back to their body so that they are fully recovered.
It’s only actually occurred a few times in history, according to
this book.”

“So can’t a holy mage just use a simple
healing spell on themself?” Blaze asked.

“No, holy mages can only control spells that
heal others. The self-regeneration is an automatic response from
the caster’s emotions that heals the body, and therefore, it cannot
be controlled,” Crystal replied.

Blaze sighed, “You know, I’ve never believed
in any of this ‘holy’ stuff, but after being through the crap we’ve
been through lately, I have to wonder if there is some holy goddess
keeping us alive.”

Crystal looked up momentarily, and then at
Blaze and muttered, “Us?”

Blaze blinked and replied, “Yeah, you know,
all of us the rebels. I am considered one, right?”

Crystal turned away quick to hide her
embarrassment and replied, “Of course! I just meant . . . uh, I
wasn’t actually sure you considered yourself to be one of us.”

“I guess I might as well be.” Blaze replied,
“It’s not like I have any other place to call ‘home’ anymore.”

Crystal was just about to turn to face Blaze
when she saw Taryn trotting towards her. He stopped just a few feet
before them and stopped to catch his breath.

Crystal closed the book, set it aside, and
asked, “Taryn, what’s wrong?”

“‘Nother . . . shard . . . in temple!” Taryn
gasped out.

“Another shard?” Blaze asked.

“In a Caris temple!” Taryn added.

“A Caris temple? But the only Caris temple I
can think of is the one that I used to visit with my mother—”
Crystal had begun talking and then stopped.

“What is it?” asked Blaze.

Crystal looked at him nervously and
finished, “The one I used to visit with me mother, which is only
ten miles west of Cartigo.”

“So?” asked Blaze.

“So isn’t it a little risky to be traveling
so close to Cartigo with Bogdan hunting us down? And don’t you find
it odd that he hasn’t found that one yet?” Crystal asked him.

“I don’t know, but we need to go after that
shard, remember?” Blaze replied.

Crystal turned to Taryn and asked him, “Did
anyone actually see it?”

“We didn’t, but a couple of travelers passed
through a town we were in and told us they saw it.” replied Taryn,
“They said they got a bad feeling from it and left, so when we
heard that, we came straight back here.”

Crystal’s gut feeling that made her guard
rise up returned. Something about this story didn’t seem right.

“Well then let’s go before someone else
finds it!” Blaze blurted out. After Crystal remained silent, Blaze
then said, “Don’t you think we should? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know about this. Something seems
suspicious about this story . . .” Crystal muttered.

Taryn frowned and said, “Don’t you believe
me?”

“Of course I do, Taryn! It’s not you I am
worried about, it’s just the location of this shard,” replied
Crystal.

“Oh. Geez boss, I thought you were calling
me a liar for a second! Well, I’ll let everyone else know about the
shard. Do you want me to tell everyone to meet up in the hall?”
Taryn replied.

“Yes, go ahead.” replied Crystal, “I’ll be
there in fifteen minutes.”

“Gotcha!” Taryn said, darting off.

“So what’s up with you?” asked Blaze.

“Nothing, I just . . . I guess I am just
tired from reading all these books,” replied Crystal.

“Probably so,” Blaze said while rising to
his feet. He then held out his hand and said, “Come on, let’s get
going to the meeting.”

Crystal gathered her books and took Blaze’s
hand. After he pulled her to her feet, she said, “All right, let’s
go.”

After briefing everyone about the shard,
Crystal set her usual team up. Gavril, Blaze, Thaddeus, Sigurd,
Kerali, Maryn, and Taryn would all accompany her to the Caris
temple. Though neither she nor Gavril were thrilled with the idea
of traveling so close to Cartigo, they inevitably agreed that it
had to be obtained before Bogdan could get it. After setting out,
the team first traveled northwest toward Ordale and then turned
northward after traveling about twenty-five miles. This way, they
could avoid having to cross Typhoon Canyon.

For five days, the rebels traveled far north
of Cierith. Thankfully summer had come, so there was no snow they
had to navigate through as they did when they went to the City of
Magi. It wasn’t until the team had reached the river that runs from
Daldussa that they actually had to wear their cloaks. Whenever the
team crossed one of the bridges that stretched across the river,
Crystal couldn’t help but notice Gavril’s expression of anxiety and
sorrow, for obvious reasons.

Finally the ruins of the Caris temple came
into view. The old building was set against the horizon that was
littered with dark storm clouds that indicated it would begin
pouring within an hour. The ruins were set on a tall, steep cliff
set against the mountains that ran along the border between Cierith
and Daldussa. Another river ran on the northwest foot of the cliff
and into Dwyp, and as the team reached the top of the cliff, they
could still barely hear the water trickling below.

The outer walls of the building were set
right on the edge of the cliff, making it impossible to walk along
the sides. The walls crumbled with age, and as the team ventured
through the old, wooden doors of the temple, the smell of dust
assaulted their nostrils.

The first thing everyone saw upon entering
the temple was the altar built in front of a crumbling Caris statue
and the Gaull shard sitting on top of it.

“There it is!” exclaimed Maryn.

Blaze then stepped toward the shard, but
Gavril then said, “Blaze wait!”

Blaze stopped in his tracks and turned
around and asked, “What is it?”

“Something isn’t right,” Gavril replied.