Metanoia (12 page)

Just a little trick I
know?
Gina thought.
When did he say that? OH!!
Hurriedly, she ran back to her room. Sure enough, the canopy
was lit. Another note sat on the bed with another rose.

Clue 2 – You always were
the woman of my dreams and I often called out your name in my
sleep.
Soon, Gina was running down the
path towards the cottage. She burst open the door and saw another
rose and note on the bed.

Clue 3 - I love your
kisses, even if you were trying to attack me at the time.
Gina giggled and hurried out the door. Before she
knew it, she was hurrying down her hidden path. Rose petals
sprinkled the ground. Standing by the lagoon holding a bundle of
roses was Leyance.

“
Glad to see you found me,”
he smiled. “Ready for your surprise?”

“
Is it what I think it is?”
she asked anxiously.

“
I love you, Gina,” Leyance
began.

“
I love you, too. I love
you so much, Leyance.”

“
Well, then, I have
something for you…” He took her hands and knelt down.

“
Oh my God, oh my God…”
Gina stammered. Leyance smiled and took out a crystal from his
pocket and held it up to her. It suddenly began to glow brightly
and spun in his hand. In a giant flash of light, it stopped
spinning and now revealed itself in a new form – a ring. “Will you
marry me, Gina?”

Gina smiled. “It’s the second time, and I
still say the same. Absolutely yes.” They held each other close and
kissed as the ring slipped magically onto Gina’s finger.

The next morning, Gina awoke in bed and
turned to see Leyance lying next to her.

“
How long have you been
watching me sleep?” she asked smiling.

He just grinned. “How did you sleep? It
looked peaceful.”

“
I slept fine,” she
laughed. “What time is it?”

“
About seven.”

“
Oh, I have to go!” she
exclaimed. “Fheyrhil said I was ready to return to the other world,
so I’m going today.” She rolled out of bed, tripping slightly as
she hurried over to the closet, studied its contents, and pulled
out the clothes she had worn that last day of school.

“
When will you be back?”
Leyance asked still lying in bed. She turned and smiled at him. She
came back to the bed, buttoning up her blouse and kissed
him.

“
I should be back in a day
or two,” she replied. “I just need to get things in order and
explain my absence.”

“
Alright, have fun. I love
you.”

“
I love you, too,” she
smiled then hurried out the door.

Later that day, Leyance walked into the
council room, a huge smile on his face. Fheyrhil stood staring out
the window.

“
Fheyrhil,” he began. “I
wanted to talk to you. I want you to be the first to congratulate
me. Gina and I are engaged – again.” Fheyrhil did not stir, but
answered in a less than excited tone.

“
Congratulations. I know
you will be very happy. We all know you deserve it.”

“
What is it? What’s gone
wrong?” Leyance asked, sensing trouble. Slowly, Fheyrhil turned and
faced him.

“
The Übels are
coming.”

“
But we destroyed their
leader, so who could be leading them? Why do they march against
us?” Leyance asked in disbelief.

“
For the first time, I have
absolutely no idea,” Fheyrhil replied shakily.

Leyance could not believe this. There was no
logic in the Übels taking such an aggressive stance. No one was
leading them, and there was nothing that could cause such a war now
above other times. Yet, what scared him even more was that Fheyrhil
- who knew everything it seemed, even before it happened - that
Fheyrhil did not know the answers. Leyance was interrupted in his
thought process, for Gina, cut up and bleeding badly, ran in.

“
Leyance! Übels!” she
gasped.

“
Gina! Oh, God! What
happened? I thought you’d be there by now.”

“
I never got there,” she
gasped. “The Übels – they were too many. They attacked me - I’ve
been fighting – they injured my horse. It wasn’t easy coming back –
they were on foot though…”

“
Come on, we need to get
these wounds healed,” Leyance coaxed.

“
War is upon us. I do not
know why, but I know it has begun,” Fheyrhil replied. “I will get
everyone ready for immediate battle. God help us.”

An hour later Gina sat on a shining
white-sheeted bed after getting her wounds healed. Many bruises
still remained, though, and the obvious shock lingered, entombed in
Gina’s mind. Leyance leaned against the bed, looking into her eyes.
Gina just stared straight ahead past him.

“
Gina…It will be alright…”
he started.

“
I’m afraid, Leyance. We
have no idea why they are doing this. I’m afraid for my people.
It’s my job to protect them, and I’ll do that…but I don’t know how.
This shouldn’t be happening. We destroyed the Vice, didn’t we? In
theory, shouldn’t all other evil be destroyed as well?”

“
I’m afraid it doesn’t work
that way, Gina,” Leyance whispered. “There are more forms of evil
in this world than meets the eye just as there are more forms of
good in this world as well.”

“
What action do I take? I
remember who I was in my past now, but I only remember bits and
pieces of my life. Maybe if I knew a little more I’d be able to
figure out why this is happening or figure out what proper steps to
take – but I don’t.”

“
You’ll know what to do
soon enough, Gina. You’ve already done all you could do – ordering
mobilization to be ready for battle by sun-up.”

“
Except now my people are
marching into danger head-on. They don’t know what to expect any
more than I do. Plus, what if…” she stalled.

“
Don’t think like that,
Gina. You’ll be fine. We’ll both live through this.” Yet, she could
tell he was worried about it as well.

“
You don’t know that, not
for sure,” she began and stalled, remembering a time when she had
told him that same line. Yet times had changed. Instead of trying
to push him away, she now tried to hold on to him with all her
power. She couldn’t bear to lose him. Not now, not after all they
had been through. The conversation stirred Leyance’s heart as well,
and he hurriedly changed the subject.

“
Listen, as we speak
Fheyrhil is arranging for the troops to mobilize. They will be able
to keep the enemy away from the city and from you.”

“
Leyance, you know very
well that I would not sit by and let them fight without me,” Gina
stated. “I’m leading them just as any true ruler should do.” He
looked like he wanted to encourage her not to, but resisted. He
knew it was too late: Gina would not be left behind, just as he
refused to be.

“
We better get ready
then.”

The Übels clamored tirelessly on all night
towards Nythagié as the people of the city prepared for the near
battle. It was still the early hours of the morning when the world
was shaded in a blue tint announcing that dawn would soon be coming
- as would battle. The tension increased with every moment. The
Übels restlessly roared war chants as the Nythagiéns put on their
gear and sharpened their arrows and swords. Gina and Leyance
silently geared up as well. They couldn’t bring themselves to speak
of the dread intruding on both their hearts. When they left for
battle, Gina leading the troops and Leyance not far behind, only
three words were said by each to the other – “I love you.” Neither
thought of how the day would end. Neither wanted to.

When battle finally engulfed them, everything
moved in slow motion for Gina, and yet too fast all at the same
time. She remembered hearing the Übels coming, remembered kissing
Leyance and praying that it wasn’t for the last time, but now she
was on the battlefield and couldn’t remember how. She wanted to
remove herself from this situation, to watch it from above. She
couldn’t. The chants grew louder; the evil was seen as a shiver
traveled up Gina’s spine. The Übels had come, crashing, stomping,
roaring towards them.

This is
it
, Gina thought.
I wish it weren’t so, but this battle will change the path of
the future.
Three Übels charged at her,
but she was quick and blocked all of their blows with her sword.
War had begun.

Hours passed, and Nythagié was no closer to
being safe. Gina glanced around in between blows. She had killed a
great number of Übels, but still they kept coming. She was now
separated from the group which fought at the base of the hill on
which she stood. Looking down, she saw the bloodcurdling damage.
Many Nythagiéns lay in the fields below – whether dead or badly
injured, she couldn’t tell. The one thing she saw clearly was the
blood. She had felt her own seeping through her clothes and soaking
her hair. She had been battling a particularly large Übel for quite
some time now; he had badly sliced her a few too many times but was
not without some substantial injuries of his own. Gina moved in for
another strike, this one proving fatal, but as she drove in her
sword, another Übel approached her. He opened his mouth to speak
and she faintly heard the some-what familiar words as the world
started to spin and grow blurry. As she began to hear the words
repeated, a morbid blackness swept swiftly over her.

“
Loular ca num cai menor
oyer ben. Anisaquo cuar raru seb atorolok – bakoter u nek!” Just
before all the darkness finally consumed her, she heard a man
speak. “How noble of you to fail right when the end was in
sight.”

Chapter 7

“A Nightmare Realized”

Leyance broke into the council room where
Fheyrhil stood glaring out the window. His garments, ripped and
stained, proved he had sprinted straight from the battlefield.
Blood soaked his clothes and stained his flawless skin. Worry and
fear could be seen on his face.

“
She’s gone! Gina, she… I
didn’t see what happened… I don’t know if she’s dead or hurt or…
Fheyrhil?” Leyance gasped.

“
She is alive. As long as
hope and love remains in the city then she lives, but she is taken
by the hand of an old enemy who wore the mask of friendship and
love,” he responded.

“
Please, tell me you don’t
mean him. No, of course not, he died in the fire.” He looked at
Fheyrhil who met his glance with solemn eyes. “He’s alive? And has
Gina?!” He punched the table as hard as he could as his disgruntled
shout escaped his lips.

“
Leyance, calm down. Yes,
it was Noquef. Yes, he is still alive. And, yes he has Gina. Those
are the facts, but now we must figure a course of action,” Fheyrhil
stated.

“
How?” Leyance panted. “How
is it possible? The fire…”

“
Was a set-up, Leyance,”
Fheyrhil replied. “And we were foolish enough to believe his trick.
Even I. Noquef was not trusted then. You were the first to
dislike…”

“…
that no good, filthy,
traitorous, cowardly…”

“…
Noquef. You knew he
desired Gina and would do anything in his power to win her. With
you providing the competition, his love of winning drove him to
this length. It is his one motive,” Fheyrhil explained.

“
And when we discovered
that Gina might have a weakness, he was the first to volunteer to
find it. He was convinced he would win Gina’s heart if he found it!
That scum…”

“
His persistence paid off,
though,” Fheyrhil interrupted. “Then the oracle made the prophecy
and Gina was made aware of the Vice. Noquef realized, as did most,
that it was this evil where she would meet her end.”

“
Yeah, and if this were so,
then Noquef would no longer be on the winning side. He could not
have that. He always has to win! He cares about nothing else! That
bloody, grimy…”

“
So he faked his own death
in the fire that he arranged himself,” Fheyrhil continued. “Once we
believed his death, he would be free to join the Vice and once
again be on the winning side. He lay quiet for many years, but no
longer. He knows the one thing that could be our destruction, the
one person.”

“
Gina,” Leyance
whispered.

Fheyrhil nodded. “If he got her to turn
against us, then not only would he finally win Gina, but he would
also make the rest of the Nythagiéns pay for not giving in to him,
for not trusting him. He had been working for the Vice long enough
to obtain the needs necessary to create such a drastic change. And
he still holds dear what he found.”

“
So that whole battle was
just to get Gina? But how did he get her? She would have fought.
She did fight!”

“
It was of little use. A
messenger came just before you. He heard the spell.”

“
Her one
weakness. He was supposed to find her one weakness to help her, not
hurt her!
And all that talk about love! He
doesn’t know what the word means! He confuses love with pain and
hatred!!” Fheyrhil knew how much pain Leyance was going through; he
felt it himself. He turned to Leyance, who now leaned against the
table, head hung. From his pocket, Fheyrhil produced the necklace
that Gina had worn every single day. The pink lace was stained with
blood. This he placed on the table next to him. Leyance saw it and
pulled it towards his lips and kissed it.