See How She Fights (20 page)

TWENTY SIX

I moved into the dark green walls
trying to calm my breathing. The sounds of Conall and Kennan arguing could be
heard even at the center of the maze. I kept walking, in search of the bench I
had occupied the day Kennan and I had fought. I needed to sit down and soon. I
turned the corner and caught sight of the bench just as I felt my knees begin
to buckle. My vision blurred and as I started to fall, I saw a flash of a
person. I was suddenly airborne, trapped in someone’s arms. I looked up to find
Aberto looking ahead toward the bench.

“Why are you alone?” he asked,
sitting me on the bench.

“I needed some air and I’m tired of
listening to them argue. It isn’t helping.” I was so tired. I wanted to close
my eyes and drift away.

“Izzy. Izzy, open your eyes and
look at me. What happened after we parted last night?” his voice edged on
panicked.

“Hmmmm? Oh, another rune. Man in
red robe. Warning,” I mumbled, closing my eyes again.

“Izzy, stay awake. Do not sleep.”

“So tired. Just for a while.” I
closed my eyes, only to open them wide once more when I felt his mouth brush
mine. The same warmth flooded me as it had when I died the day before. I no
longer felt the pull of sleep trying to drag me under. I moved away from Aberto
quickly. “What did you just do?”

“I stopped them from pulling you
into the dreaming.”

Aberto looked out at the hedges
refusing to meet my eyes.

“Aberto,” I barely uttered his
name. “I need to know what is happening to me. You promised me answers.”

“Once you know, there is no going
back, Izzy. Are you sure this is the course you wish to follow?” he asked with
such hesitation my resolve almost faltered.

“I’m sure.”

“What would you like to know
first?” His calm seemed to have been restored. He no longer held the rage he
had the night before.

“What did you do to me yesterday
when you saved me? I don’t feel like myself anymore.” I looked down at my hands
and noticed they were shaking.

“I saved you,” Aberto said.

“You know I need more.”

“I breathed my life into you. Part
of my soul now lives in yours. It was the only way I could keep you alive. I
didn’t have another option.”

“But what does that mean? Am I like
you now, whatever you are?”

“I don’t know what will happen to
you now. What I did is meant to be forbidden.”

“Why did you do it?” I asked
slowly, looking up to meet his eyes.

“Because you were not meant to die
yesterday.” Aberto’s eyes shown with endless knowledge and for a moment I felt
the pull to him once more. “That is not entirely true,” he finished.

“So, I was supposed to die
yesterday?” I was beginning to get confused.

“No, I mean to say that my
reasoning was not entirely to uphold your future. My reasoning was partially
selfish. I could not let you go,” he said, getting up from the bench.

“Aberto…” I began only to have him
put his hand out to stop me. He turned toward me, his eyes gleaming with pain.

“I do not expect anything from you,
Izzy. I know you have your home. I will never try to interfere there. I will
never push myself on you. All that you must know is that I am at your service,
always. So let us put an end to this, brush it from your mind, and move
forward.”

“But, you can’t just say something
like that and say it doesn’t matter.” My voice was frantic. How had I been so
blind? He moved toward me quickly and squatted down in front of me. He grasped
my face in his hands and looked at me for a moment.

“I never said it did not matter,
Izzy. What I said was to turn your mind from it. It is not something which
requires any attention. I understand your love for him. I understand his love
for you. It is a love that only comes along once in a millennium. I will not
ever do anything to jeopardize that. My affections matter not. I will do my
duty by you. I will protect you and keep you from harm, but I expect nothing in
return and I never shall.” He stood and moved away facing toward the hedges. I
swallowed deeply trying to let his words sink in.

“Okay, so what about the prophecy?”
I asked, hoping to change the subject. He turned towards me with his crooked
smile and walked back toward the bench.

“Are you sure you wish to hear more
today?” he asked steadily.

“I am.” I wanted as much
information as I could gather. If he was willing to talk, I would listen.

“So be it.” His eyes looked as if
he were seeing something far away. “Thousands of years ago, around 3000 B.C.
your time, soul walkers began to disappear. The heavens decided it was too much
power to bestow upon Seers and slowly took the power away over time. The few
soul walkers that remained began to talk of a Seer that would come to walk the
earth. This Seer would hold not only the powers of a Seer, but also the powers
of Guardians. More importantly, she would be able to soul walk. Something that
was all but gone by the time the prophecy came about.”

“I don’t understand, none of this
sounds bad. Why has everyone been keeping this from me?” I looked at him
steadily as he leaned down, putting his elbows on his knees. He bent his head
down, staring at the ground as if trying to avoid my gaze. He stayed that way
for what felt like an eternity before shaking his head and sitting up once
more.

“You have a right to know what is
coming for you. I won’t keep things from you anymore. You ask it, and I will
tell you, Izzy. No more half-truths.” He lifted his hand up to brush my cheek
but hesitated and dropped his hand back to his side. His eyes were filled with
a pain unlike any I had ever seen.

“Tell me what the prophecy says,
Aberto. Don’t leave anything out.” I grabbed his hand and entwined my fingers
with his. I hated to see him hurt. Something in me called out to soothe his
pain. For all I knew, it was the part of his soul now resting inside my own.

“Pain. Ultimately that is what the
prophecy predicts for the Seer to come.” He squeezed my hand once before
releasing it and moving to stand by the hedgerow once more. “The Seer shall
face much adversity and overcome great obstacles. Her gifts will manifest
themselves in wondrous ways. She will do the will of the heavens and bring
about justice on a world that is unjust. She will be the great protector and
binder of man. The people will look to her for strength and direction.” He
paused, looking back at me. I could see that he did not want to tell me what
was about to come. His blue eyes burned with a rage I had only seen once before
on him. He looked away, clenching his jaw.

I stood and moved toward him. I put
my hand on his shoulder, turning him to face me.

“Tell me,” I uttered, nothing more
than a whisper.

“The Seer will face a great
darkness. In the quest to end the reign of terror brought forth upon the earth,
the Seer will fall.” He swallowed hard, looking at me. He wrapped his arms
around me, pulling me into his chest. “I will not let that happen, Izzy. I will
not let you fall,” he swore.

“If I must fall to protect the
world from a great evil, then I will. I’m not afraid to die Aberto. I never
have been. I know that there are people I love waiting on the other side. So,
in this, I will do what must be done. If I end up like Cait, then so be it. I
can’t live forever.” I smiled up at him and stood on my tiptoes to kiss his
cheek.

“What of your Guardian? You would
leave him distraught if you were to perish. What of your friends? What of me?”
He held me in place with his fiery gaze. “I have existed for over five thousand
years, Izzy, and never in that time have I cared what happened to a single
entity. My existence is to oversee and make sure the balance is maintained. I
am never to interfere. All I am permitted to do is provide guidance and
instruction. But you, you are different.  You always have been. I couldn’t let
you die.” He walked away from me unable to look at me any longer.

“Aberto, if this is my destiny,
then I will not fight it. I’ve spent the last year of my life wallowing in
self-pity. It is time I face what is coming for me. Hiding, running, it won’t
change what is happening. Ren and the other Seers have taught me that my
purpose is much bigger than any of my selfish desires. I’m not my own person
anymore. I won’t run any longer. I won’t hide.” I was growing tired once more.
I moved to sit back on the bench breathing deeply. “I’m not afraid of what is
too come. What I am afraid of is losing Kennan, of never being able to tell my
friends how much they mean to me, of not being enough to protect them. But, I’m
not afraid of dying.”

“I fear for you.” Aberto moved to
crouch in front of me.

“Promise me you will not interfere
to protect me.” I was taken aback by my sudden exhaustion. I felt the pull of
sleep dragging on me once more.

“I cannot,” Aberto said, reaching
for my face. “I will not.”

“Then the world may very well
perish because you are too selfish to let me go,” I said as sleep pulled me under.
I fell to the bench as Aberto screamed my name.

**********

I stood in the dreaming, looking
around the fog. There in the distance stood the same red robed figure from the
night before. He moved towards me slowly.

“It seems you have protection
from on High. He won’t be able to stop what is coming. None of you will,” the
man said slowly.

“I can.” I knew the moment the
words left my lips that it was the truth. I could stop whatever was coming. I
had to do it. It was what I was born to do.

“We shall see.” The figure moved
away in the fog suddenly.

“Izzy, no!” I heard Aberto
scream from my side. I turned to look at him confused and then down at my leg.
I couldn’t understand it. The robed man had not touched me at all. How was
there another rune carved on my body? What the hell good was that stupid
protection tattoo doing?

Aberto came towards me quickly
wrapping his arms around me and pulling me from the dreaming.

**********

I lay on the bench with my leg on
fire. I could hardly breathe. I looked down at the leg of my pants to see it
blood soaked. This stupid group of people owed me a new wardrobe. They were
ruining all of my favorite clothes. I stared down at my leg and my resolve
hardened. This would not be the end of me. I would be the end of them. Prophecy
or not I wouldn’t sit idly by while they screwed with my world. I tried to sit
up only to fall back to the bench.

“I think I might need some help
getting back to the house,” I said to Aberto. I seemed to be completely drained
of all energy.

He moved toward me, lifting me up
into his arms.

“Hold on tight,” he said before
darting back to the house. He moved so quickly my head was left spinning. The
world passed us in a blur of green. We got to the office door and Kennan burst
through it, accusations burning in his eyes.

“I tried to keep her here. Their
pull was too strong. She needs to have it treated,” Aberto said, moving past
Kennan into the office to lay me on the couch.

Kennan rushed over to me. “I should
have been there. I should have been with you. When I saw Aberto with you I
thought you would be safe.” He brushed my hair from my face.

“I’m fine Kennan. It’s just another
mark. I will be okay. I promise.” I smiled up at him before a wave of pain
rocked my leg. I grimaced, closing my eyes tightly. With each new mark I got
the pain grew. “What did I get that stupid tattoo for? It doesn’t seem to be
working,” I griped, causing Aberto to laugh.

“This is not funny, Old One,”
Kennan snapped at him.

“Perhaps the circumstances are not
humorous, but she is. Izzy, that tattoo is keeping you alive right now. If it
weren’t for that mark on your back you would be in a comatose state, and your
soul would be residing in the dreaming. It takes a great deal of force to pull
you into the dreaming as they did last night and today. I can give you
additional marks that will prevent them from pulling you there altogether. I am
sure they will find a way around them eventually, but they should protect you
for a time.” Aberto looked at me thoughtfully.

“I’ll take them,” I said as another
wave of pain racked my body.

“First, we must clean and treat
your wound. You need to remove your pants,” Kennan said, looking around the
room at Aberto and Conall.

“I’m not all that worried about
anyone seeing anything Kennan. I’m wearing granny panties,” I whispered to him,
causing him to snicker.

“Okay. You will have to clean the
mark yourself. The more you get the more the bridge is formed and they are able
to siphon energy from them. We think they were using the souls of the Seers to
feed their bridge as well. Since you cut off that energy source they have upped
their game with you.” Kennan looked down at me thoughtfully as Conall moved
towards us with the medical kit.

“It’s happening again, isn’t it?” 
He looked down upon me with fear in his eyes. I could tell he was seeing Cait
as he looked at me. I couldn’t handle the pain written there. I reached up to
grab his hand.

“It will all be okay. It won’t
happen again,” I promised. I knew there was a very real chance that I would not
be able to keep that promise, but I couldn’t stand the thought of him having to
relive those memories again.

“You’re damn right it won’t happen
again. I won’t let it. They aren’t going to take you,” Conall swore, tossing
the medical supplies on the table and walking away.

“We need to treat your leg, Izzy,”
Kennan said, looking down at my now red jeans. I nodded lifting my hips up off
the couch to slide my jeans down. My thighs now had matching marks. At least it
wasn’t a new one. Well, an unknown rune at any rate. I swallowed deeply and
resolved myself to clean the gore away so that I could bandage it. I tried to
sit up but a wave of dizziness struck me, knocking me back to the couch.