It is no miracle that Sam and Ashley were able to make it from the deepest depths of the Eldar Forest to Torren in the Morroak Desert in little under a week, and also just in time to rescue Hazel from the vile clutches of Amelia Dredd. Though perhaps it was a miracle, and certainly a gesture of kindness from the divine. The spirit of the forest, Sayetha, had recovered from her injuries enough to transport them through the forest; they left the forest in a manner of seconds.
After shooting Amelia Dredd in the back and recovering Hazel they planned on getting her to Surra where she would be safe. Sam and Ashley had both determined by now that Grey Skull were no mere kidnappers, and that Hazel must have had some much more significant role to play in their schemes, but as to what that role was they could barely guess.
With Amelia out of commission the men stationed to guard the checkpoint fled. Each brave soldier snatched a handful of belongings and anxiously scrambled after their horses. Their fright left a bad feeling in Sam’s gut, and then he heard Hazel cry out, “Sam, behind you!”
Amelia Dredd rose with an angry snarl, her elegant yet ghostly composure had vanished in place of a vile witch, and her eyes burned like cauldrons of blood. She threw her hands at Sam and let her spell take hold, grasping and crushing him like a rodent. His screams echoed through the desert, his body convulsed as his blood boiled and his muscles were stretched to their limits. Hazel watched in dismay. She’s tearing him apart!
Ashley stood beside her in equal terror, but she stifled her fears and drew the weapon she had designed for stopping anomalies. “Hazel, you’ve been through enough,” she said. “Ride for the city. I’ll take care of this.”
“No. You’re here because of me. I’m staying.” She noticed the shining revolver in Ashley’s hand. “Is that meant for her?” she asked. “Will it kill her?”
“It’s still in the works,” said Ashley, uncertainly. “We’ll just have to try.” She raised the peculiar weapon and charged the electric energy blast. With a wondrous glow it fired and the shot collided heavily with Amelia Dredd, striking her in the torso and blasting her back into the tent. In the brief silence that followed Sam rolled onto his back and gave Ashley a trembling thumbs-up.
Their moment of respite ended with the rustling that came from the tent. Amelia emerged, staggering drunkenly, unsmiling, bleeding, her red hair in a mess, and she screamed, “You bastards!”
Exhausted, Sam rolled his eyes and forced himself to stand. “Does anything kill these guys?” Meanwhile Ashley charged another shot but was too slow. Amelia caught her in the spell but was weakened by the blast; her powers had faded. There was still enough to throw Ashley down before she could fire another shot.
Sam drew his sword and rushed at Amelia, but his movements wavered. With a sharp metal scrape she parried his thrust and struck him in the temple with the pommel of her sword. The shock and pain from the blow staggered him but he struck twice more. Amelia blocked both hits and dodged a third. She ran his blade along hers, bringing him close, and then she caught his sword hand and used what little remained of her power to paralyse it. Sam cried out and his sword plummeted into the sand. Amelia slashed him across the abdomen and when he doubled over she threw him down.
Hazel ran forward. “Sam! No!” If she could get past Amelia and collect Sam’s sword she might be able to defend him. But in her anger Amelia had forgotten her objective. Hazel found herself staring down the barrel of a gun. Time stopped. Madness radiated from every feature of Amelia Dredd’s body, remnants of a tortured soul buried in her bloodied eyes. Hazel froze, dreaming that Christel would come for her. The sound of the gunshot clapped through the desert like thunder.
She couldn’t tell if she was dead or alive. Something had taken hold of her, enveloped her, and tackled her out of the bullet’s path. The two beings tumbled though the sand, Hazel rolled onto her back, opened her eyes and saw the face of the man she loved. Christel’s eyes were tired and his skin raw with travel, but he smiled like a sunset as they gazed into each other’s as though they were living a dream that they feared would never come true. He kissed her passionately, ignoring the world for just a moment, and she whispered, “You made it.”
He placed a hand on her cheek. “You’re a hard girl to find.”
Amelia Dredd was still a problem. Christel stood up and calmly faced her; he was exhausted. “Amelia, there’s no need to keep fighting. We just want to go home. We didn’t ask for this.”
Amelia spat blood onto the sand. “Do you think I care?” She raised her sword for combat.
Christel dashed forward, keeping Amelia well away from Hazel. Ashley used this opportunity to help Sam. Christel and Amelia were locked in battle, but even with her injuries her blows were frighteningly powerful, and it was all Christel could do to defend himself. Amelia struck Christel in the chest with her left hand and used her powers to generate a force that launched him into a weathered old table; it collapsed under him and he groaned as irritating splinters gorged into his flesh. He dragged himself up and charged again but the influence of Amelia’s power was hindering his movements. I have to keep fighting!
Amelia floated past him like a leaf and used his momentum to kick him down again. Christel blinked the dirt from his eyes and wiped the blood from his lips. Come on… Feigning defeat he scampered away as Amelia stalked towards him, ready to deliver the finishing blow. “Did you really think you could beat me?” she spat.
Of course, Christel knew that he had already won. “Oh no,” he chuckled, a dry empty laugh. “Goodness… no… I was just buying time…”
“Time for what?” Amelia asked.
“This…” An overwhelming blast of dark energy clashed into Amelia from the side, immediately knocking her unconscious. Christel breathed a sigh of relief and nodded to Arlandra; never in his life had his timing been so impeccable. Amelia’s body lay limp in the sand but they ignored it for the moment as Arlandra helped Christel to his feet. He embraced Hazel once again.
When they were finished, Arlandra asked Christel, “How did you know?”
Christel flicked open his pocket watch. “I saw it in a dream, though to be perfectly honest I had no idea if my vision would actually come true.” He clasped Hazel’s hand a little tighter. “Thank goodness it did.”
The recent storm had swept the desert clean and pushed everyone to their limits. Fortunately, it had also slowed Germaine’s caravan significantly, giving them ample time to figure out their next move. “I guess we should head to Torren,” Arlandra suggested, “try to meet up with Zester Dumont, maybe with him in our ranks we can confront Grey Skull now before they initiate whatever the next part of their plan in.”
Before they departed, Ashley took some time to treat Sam’s injuries, which were much more severe than Christel’s. “How is he?” Arlandra asked.
“The cut is pretty deep but it’s not fatal. I doubt he’ll be fighting anytime soon. Maybe we should take him to Christel’s safe house, or at least someplace safe until he recovers.”
Sam had been listening in. “I don’t plan on sitting out but I agree I won’t be going face to face with any anomalies. Besides, Grey Skull has three of the Summoning Stones which means they’ll either go after the crown jewel or the Air Stone at the safe house.”
It was evening when they set out for Torren at a slow walking pace. Sam and Ashley rode side by side, Arlandra followed with Amelia Dredd tied, sulking and walking behind his horse, and behind her Hazel rode with Christel on his camel. She wrapped herself in his arms and they chatted quietly for most of the night, watching the stars and dreaming of home.
“Remember when we talked about how it might be hard for us to settle down?” he whispered. “I don’t think that’ll be a problem anymore.”
“I just hope it lasts. I swear trouble just always has a way of sniffing us out. I’m glad that we can finally go home.”
“I agree.” They sat quietly for a moment longer, and then Christel sighed. “You’re worried about Sam and Arlandra, and the others, aren’t you? I am too.”
Hazel raised her head and met his eyes. “They’ll need us.”
“I won’t let you get hurt again.”
“But we can’t just walk away.”
“We won’t. We’re a part of this now no matter what we do so we’ll have to see it through to the end. It’s just… after everything that happened I can’t bear the thought of losing you again.”
Hazel kissed him. “You won’t.”
As the night dragged on their conversation shifted from small things to large things, and they spent some time explaining to each other the events that occurred on their own particular travels. Later they took to strategizing again and decided the Amelia Dredd would be a valuable asset in the conflicts to come.
“She looks so miserable,” Christel said, watching her stumble along behind Arlandra’s horse, her pale face hidden behind her rancid hair.
“She tried to kill us,” Sam reiterated. “I’d say this is what she deserves.”
Hazel shook her head. “I feel sorry for her. I can’t imagine what it would be like, waking up one day and being, well, different.” She glanced at Arlandra.
“I’ve always been an outsider,” Arlandra explained. “But ever since Ariana gave me this ‘gift’ I’ve had times when I thought of it more as a curse than a blessing. The other anomalies may act tough but they’re scared, we all are.”
Hazel considered this for a moment, and explained to them what Germaine told her about his fears for his sister. “Grey Skull has to unleash Ludovic for the anomalies to survive – or at least that’s what they believe.”
“They seem to forget that anomalies are still people.” Arlandra generated a sparkling red light with his hands. “As long as this dark power separates us Josiah will try to turn one against the other. I keep thinking the only reason I’m alive is because he wants to recruit me. If he keeps this up while the war is going on there won’t be too many people left alive in Noveria by the time it’s over.”
“That is given that Josiah’s plan even goes the way he wants it to,” Ashley suggested. “We’ve all heard what Ludovic is like; chances are she’ll take this opportunity to wipe humanity out altogether, anomalies and all. Then the divine will be free of their burden.”
“Well we certainly don’t want that,” said Sam.
“Which means we have to stop Josiah before he opens the cage. What are we going to do with Miss Dredd?”
“She might have useful information on Grey Skull. I say we return to Devin and Jules at the safe house, maybe we can learn something useful.”
When the night reached its zenith their talk drifted further. Eventually Christel fell asleep, the weight of his exhaustion catching up with him, and Hazel smiled at him. Her eyes were also heavy and soon the hours began to merge. She drifted into a long deep sleep.
Suddenly a year had passed and Christel found himself once again at the baroness’ table, as if he had awoken from a dream. There were many aspects of this story that needed to be covered in depth, details that Christel had to revise and re-tell as the events of the past became clear in his mind and he was able to contribute them to his accounts. The baroness listened intently. Trapped within dark lifeless walls that seemed to emit a smothering green haze drove Christel to wonder if the events of the present we not some strange dream. He could not remember how he got there. He could not remember falling asleep or waking up. At some point the story that the baroness so carefully extracted from his had to end and a new one begin.
“It sounded like everything was finally starting to go your way,” said the baroness. “Grey Skull was still at large but you had achieved your goal. You got your wife back. What happened next?”
“It didn’t last,” Christel shuddered as he said the words. “We let our guards down, but I knew that Grey Skull needed Hazel for some other purpose, and we both knew that the fight was far from over. Grey Skull was bound to retaliate; I just didn’t think it would happen so soon.” He stared at nothing, remembering the dark forces that clouded him that night. “We were betrayed…”
It occurred at sunrise. The party had reached the outskirts of Torren and Christel had been awake for an hour; nightmares plagued him still. The pillaged broken remains of the city climbed out of the sandy horizon, still decaying like a giant spider dead on its back. Arlandra sensed something dark nearby, but a familiar presence, and the maddening sounds of Zester Dumont’s violin. He sat upon a rock fiddling away without a worry in the world.
Sam was the first to address him. “Zester, this is an unpleasant surprise. How did you know we were coming?”
The zester smiled wickedly and giggled, and inclined his head with an unblinking gaze. “I sensed your gloomy friend’s aurora brimming the horizon and thought I’d come and greet you.”
“Have you heard anything from Grey Skull?”
“Oh yes. They know you have Miss Dredd and the dearly beloved. They. Are. Furious.”
“Then we have little time to lose.” Sam began to walk forward when Zester drew his revolver and fired it into Sam’s stomach. Petrified silence followed the clap that echoed though the desert. Blood soaked Sam’s shirt as he fell to the sand. Ashley screamed and ran to him. Arlandra drew his sword and dashed at Zester with inhuman speed, forgetting the joker’s ability to turn into a dark phantom. In an instant Zester shrouded himself in mist and floated past the assassin to snatch Hazel from Christel’s hands. Hazel whimpered as Zester reappeared holding a knife to her throat, her eyes welled with tears.
Christel reached out to her, his hands trembling, and the fears that had punished him this entire time flooded though and threatened to break him like a dam. “Zester, please… Don’t do this…”
Zester giggled. “It’s nothing personal. I told you way back that I wanted to be on the winning side, and you guys just aren’t it. Let’s say I’ve lost my faith in humanity. I want to see what Josiah can do. I’m curious what Taelliwey would look like if it were on fire. So yeah, I’m taking your girl.”
“Christel…” Hazel whispered.
Zester edged the life closer, drawing a bead of blood. “Shhh…” His voice was drowned by the sound of Sam’s anguish. “If you want her back you’ll have to ask Miss Amelia where we’re going.” He winked. “Toodles!”
In a flash they disappeared, and the emptiness that consumed Christel was almost too much to bear.
ns 172.70.130.166da2
and then Add to home screen.