Chapter 2: Stomp the Calla Lilies
“Pitiful.”
Who was it?
“Mortal, have you desire to live?”
What? Was it asking her? Aelis tried to lift her head, to look around for the source of the voice so filled with power. But she was dead, wasn’t she? It was no use to move. More importantly, why in all the hells was it asking her if she wanted to live? Maybe this was what it was like being dead; no one to talk to but herself. She must even be changing the voices to entertain herself.
“Answer me, Mortal!”
The voiced boomed within her dead inner ears, making her very soul shudder. Of course she wanted to live, but there was only one slight problem: she was already dead. One couldn’t just come back from the dead.
“And yet you are conscious.” The voice laughed. It was low and almost rumbling; it was as if the voice itself had a presence that towered over her spirit with power that only grew by the minute. “Ah, Mortal. You are a funny one.” The voice paused, like it was pondering something – something amusing. And Aelis didn’t like it. She knew that tone. That tone, which got her into being the butt of more jokes than she cared to remember, was never a good sign.
“Let’s make a deal, Mortal.”
Aelis didn’t say anything. Her head was certainly playing odd tricks on her, and she wondered if she was really dead.
“No, you’re not dead. Not officially, Aelis. Let’s say, you’re caught in a limbo of sorts, until you decide your fate.”
Oh, she could decide now? Why hadn’t she been able to decide how her biological parents didn’t throw her out like garbage, why hadn’t she been able to will the fire away from the orphanage, why –
“Answer me, Aelis; do you wish to live?”
For once her mind was silent. Why would she want to live? Her life had been less than glamorous. But somehow, this wasn’t a satisfying enough death. Aelis always thought she’d die alone, but happy, or at least, not under the excruciating foot of poverty.
“Yes.” Her own voice, a whisper against the other, answered.
“Then you have your end of the bargain to uphold. You must, in turn, do something for me.”
“What do you want?” Oh, she was certainly curious now, but she somehow knew that it would bite her in the ass later on.
“You shall see.”
“How do you know I’ll uphold my end of the deal,” Aelis spoke – or thought-spoke – faster than she could hold her tongue.
“Like this.”
“Wha—” Aelis felt a pang of cold air. Then, she tasted blood and salt and soot and whatever else was on the ground upon her tongue and gagged. Gods, were her limbs stiff. Aelis struggled to stand as her shirt, wet with blood, clung to her frigid skin, and of course whatever entity had been merciful enough to allow her a second life wasn’t so merciful as to give her a new shirt. Blood? With a startled gasp, Aelis patted herself down, checked her palms and feet and knees, and tentatively took a gander down her shirt to see if there was a gaping a hole in her chest.
Nothing! Well, almost nothing. “Yes!” She couldn’t help but grin wildly at her luck even though there was a raw scar over her heart. “Ah!” Aelis grimaced and clutched at her newly closed wound as pang of soreness struck with an accompaniment of a faraway voice reminding her of her promise and who had, indeed, given her life back.
“Aelis!” Rosalia cried out in surprise, disbelief, and fear. Aelis was dead, and now she was alive? Her cerulean eyes caught a glimpse of a residual glow over the newly revived girl’s heart. A trick of the snow? With a blink, it was gone. There was the smell too – strangely floral, like calla lilies; it was light, clean, morning dew-esque, and Rosalia wondered if that was her imagination as well. It was the cusp between winter and spring, but no flowers would bloom so soon.
Her thoughts and the initial shock in the air were broken by a shout of guttural dismay. “You are heretics! You, you!” The guard stood shaking with terror. “The walking dead! I knew it, ” He gasped through chattering teeth, “I knew it, I knew it! Black magic!” He clawed at tufts of his hair while drawing shaking breaths, “I’ll end you. I’ll end you both. You’ll be the death of us all.” Aelis and Rosalia threw uncomfortable glances at one another. The man’s pupils were dilated. It struck Aelis as intriguing. How could people become so pathetic?
Rosalia pressed her palms against the floor and wobbled to her feet; Aelis wasn’t too lax with waiting to help her up. Lean, and slightly malnourished arms wrapped around her waist. It was alright, Rosalia decided, after all, she wouldn’t be getting anywhere by herself. But still reluctantly, she draped one of her arms over Aelis’s shoulders.
The guard rounded on them again, the sword reflecting red-tinted snow. Aelis raised her own sword in defense.
“Aelis! What are doing? Are you trying to die? Again?” Rosalia’s voice seemed to drip with frustration.
“What does it look like,” Aelis growled back. “If I were trying to die, I would’ve stayed dead and saved him the trouble.” What’s with Rosalia, anyway? She wasn’t usually so snippy. “Just shut-up, and help me out already! You’re getting heavy.”
Of all the nerve… A heavy tint of red splashed across Rosalia’s face, and had nothing else to say when she felt the slender girl’s muscles tremble, so she merely gripped Aelis’s shoulder a little tighter in hopes of supporting her own weight. Aelis straightened a little. Maybe it wasn’t entirely Rosalia’s fault, but all the same, the cold as well as the weight was quickly sapping her strength.
With a battle cry and some exaggerated brandishing of his sword, the guard lunged for them, both hands gripping the handle of his sword. “I’ll kill you both.” Aelis grunted with effort to heft her sword up to strike –
A crunch resounded through the forest. A burst of sound, partridge wings beating rapidly against the air, almost in desperation, followed the initial stomp. And following that, were the screams of the guard, choked off by his own blood until there was nothing but the sound of tearing. Aelis gulped. Before her, a dragon was ripping the man to shreds with teeth and claw. Its leathery wings beat on occasion as it enjoyed its meal.
It must have been the smell of blood and the ruckus that have attracted it. “Aelis,” Rosalia whispered, and Aelia could hear a slight tremble in her voice, but she dared not turn to look or even breathe. “I think we should leave…” Rosalia stated. Aelis gave her a slight glare. Of course they should leave, but how? It wasn’t a particularly large dragon. It was a little stocky with thick hide, and its wings seemed a little small in comparison to its body. It was possible to fight – a wet crack and the distinct sounds of bones crunching and grinding under teeth had Aelis abandon the thought with haste.
It wouldn’t be bad idea to take Rosalia’s advice. She held her breath and felt Rosalia do the same as they inched backwards in hopes of finding a tree; one would think there were plenty of trees in the forest to hide behind, but Fortuna had exhausted her grace upon Aelis today. Either the trees were too slim or they were so huge that it would take an eternity to get around. Slowly, they shuffled their way back as the dragon, seemingly oblivious to the other potential meal making their escape.
Aelis barely breathed, but she swore that her heart was hammering hard enough for everything in a ten-score radius could hear it. Her arm was straining as she attempted to soften Rosalia’s clumsy hopping, hoping that she wouldn’t let go and drop the other girl. The dragon raised its snout into the air and sniffed. It couldn’t be done already! Aelis and Rosalia froze. Its earthen toned front claws rose off the ground as it extended its height, rearing up. Don’t breathe. Aelis couldn’t tell whose heart beat did what and who was trembling. They clung to each other until their knuckles turned even paler, until they couldn’t feel their hands and couldn’t tell if it was from the cold or pure fright.
The dragon huffed. Freeze. Not a single twitch. It let out a low growl of disappointment and seemed to lose interest, stretching its wings as it came to all fours with surprising grace. Aelis stood watching in awe and terror as she reveled in the beast’s magnificence; those wings were of leather, thin but strong; the thick bone curved in its flexibility to fold and unfold; the muscles along its back tightening and coiling as if the power within them was about to burst forth .
She felt a hard nudge at her side and turned to see Rosalia’s disapproving glare dipped in exasperation. “Get moving,” her eyes said with in silence. Aelis took some tentative steps back, another, another – crack. Rosalia shot her a look of disbelief. Shit. The dragon tensed, whirled around to spot the two girls; it gave a roar that shook the trees, the very earth they were standing on, and charged. The ground below them rumbled with the weight of the great beast – hell was it fast. Aelis could’ve killed herself right there for her own lack of grace.
Without thinking, Aelis mustered up whatever strength she had to shove Rosalia as far as strength allotted and made for a dive in the opposite direction. “Hey!” Aelis shouted. The dragon, spotting Rosalia first, reared to face Aelis. She got its attention, now what? “Hey!” She shouted again and kept shouting, pounding her sword against tree trunks, roots, and whatever made noise, and ran. The dragon followed not hesitating to lunge with its jaws agape, roaring in lieu of this new excitement.
Aelis didn’t know what she was doing or why she was doing it, but she was doing it. Crying out in fear she scrambled aside again, narrowly dodging its teeth, struggling up and whirling to face her assailant. Before she had time to steady herself, an enormous claw swatted her to the side. It was only a swat. The air broke from her lungs, and her lungs collapsed in prolonged deflation, tossing breath into the realm of nonexistence. Aelis curled clenching her teeth and clutching her stomach, willing herself to breathe, screaming silently when it vision began to leave her. Finally, breath. She took in air in a wheezing gasp, the blackness of her beginning to recede.
Instinct forced her to roll with a wild swing of the useless word as that same claw plummeted towards her with too much speed. “Rosalia, get out of here!” If that was the only thing she could do, she would buy time for the other girl; after all, Aelis did sentence herself to death, again. It was by chance that she got up to her feet again just as the dragon lunged again, and again, Aelis whirled away, her feet having desperation of their own. The dance continued, so she decided to try her hand at striking, and swung.
The sword only made a sort of whipping sound as the blunted edge struck the rough, thick skin upon its snout. With a blind swing, something gave under the force of the sword, and Aelis had courage enough to open her eyes to look; another roar broke loose from booming vocal chords in the wake of blood spurting from one of its eyes. Amazed by her luck, Aelis took the chance to sprint backwards, but the dragon wouldn’t have it. She saw the rage burn its remaining eye – if it would kill her, it would kill her in spite and not hunger. Spite?
Another flurry of attacks and Aelis could barely stand, backing in between giant roots of a tree with a gnashing jaw inches away. Her muscles were numb and her sword was broken and bent – useless. The cold was finally taking its toll, but Rosalia could have gotten a good head start by now. The grip on her sword was solid only because it was as if the cold had frozen her hand and each of her fingers in place, fusing her skin to metal. She could hardly hear now, only see the jaw and hole of teeth salivating, digging away the roots in splinters; Aelis had gone beyond the point of terror and could only stare.
A crackling sound and a sudden burst of heat woke her from her clouded mind. The smell – the smell was stomach wrenching – decaying flesh, stomach acid, soot, burning innards, blood, everything overwhelmed her sense of smell. If there was anything in her stomach at that point, it would have been upon her shirt joining the drying blood. She looked down the mouth of the dragon and saw the beginnings of a fireball coiling at the back of its throat, and clenched her eyes shut to hope for the best.
“Hey!” Shouting and some clattering noises. It was Rosalia!
“Rosalia, what the hell are you doing? Get out,” Aelis shouted. The dragon pulled back and turned on the red-head, irritated at the noise and the sting of particles upon its wound. Rosalia had managed to limp her way towards the battle, her heart racing – she had no idea why she was doing something like this.
“Aelis! Get out of there!” Rosalia screamed as the dragon dashed for her.
“Rosalia!” Aelis hurried to her feet and made a hopeless dash forward.
Sticky blood splashed to the floor. Aelis crashed to her knees, energy spent and completely exhausted. A gash gaped wide on the dragon’s hide, bubbling with thick blood, a major artery severed. Aelis looked up to see two figures – two men with their swords drawn. One was dark-skinned, older, his beard meticulously groomed, his ebony military-cropped hair peppered with white, his jaw set and hard. The other was shaggy, stone-skinned, ears pointed, a goatee matching his silver hair that was carefully parted by a skillful comb, his posture leaning, cocky…and with Rosalia in his arms. Aelis frowned at Rosalia’s perpetually thickening blush.
The dragon screeched, rearing up a final time. “Ready your sword, Otto!” The older male’s gruff voice reprimanded Otto, the one with Rosalia in his arms.
“I would, Cillian! But, alas, I have a beautiful lady in my arms! She would be frightened!” Otto pouted with an exaggerated expression of concern, hugging Rosalia closer.
“Otto…” The other man huffed in exasperation. Aelis was about to charge forth in attempts to recover Rosalia from some unknown pervert’s grasp when a glint of a movement from Cillian caught her eye. She ducked and crashed to the floor, feeling the wind from his swing brush the top of her head, a couple of platinum strands floating to the floor. And all was quiet. The dragon collapsed in a spray of blood, its throat neatly slit, revealing a sprawled Aelis.
When Cillian’s eyes met her own, a chill shot down her spine. “My apologies, madam. I didn’t see you. Are you hurt?” His concern was surprising, given his cool demeanor.
“Er...yes – I mean, no! Uh. Thank you.” Aelis scampered to her feet in a mostly failed attempt at looking somewhat presentable.
Otto’s voice rang out with presumptuousness as he clutched a nervous and undeniably blushing Rosalia. “Oh! Miss! Are you quite alright? I was certain my heart was stopped when I saw your beautiful visage. And even more certain that my heart broke when that horrible beast wouldn’t be tamed by the beauty such as your— ”
“She’s quite alright, thanks,” Aelis cut in. She pried Rosalia out of Otto’s arms much to his disappointment and supported her familiar weight again.
“Aelis, are you alright?” Rosalia looked at her with concern.
Otto stared at her then at Rosalia. “Otto!” He turned to follow his superior. “Move out. We have a job to do.” Cillian’s voice was commanding and authoritative – Otto followed. “You two better get moving as well. It won’t get better here.” With that the man, Cillian, left.
Otto began to follow, but paused, tossing them his cloak and a long dagger. Aelis glared at him. “You can’t expect to use that,” he gestured to Aelis’s broken sword. “It would be a shame for such a beauty to die here – all because of an inexperienced hand.” With a chuckle, he spoke again, “I’ll give you a clue: that way,” Otto pointed north and left with a flourished bow. Aelis clenched her teeth and stomped out her pride, tossing the old sword away, picking up the dagger and cloak and wrapping it about the both of them.
“Aelis?” Rosalia’s cerulean eyes searched her auburn ones. Another waft of calla lilies tickled the air around them.
“Let’s go.” Aelia, attentive and careful, led Rosalia close to the shelter of trees. They would have to get out of the forest if they were to avoid more forest dragons or even Hostia.
“Aelis.” Rosalia, paused, and smiled more to herself. “Thanks. Even though you’re an idiot.”
Aelis looked back with indignity and huffed. “What are you for trying to save an idiot then,” Aelis muttered under her breath. They both giggled with relief, but nervousness. Aelis shifted her weight as they continued moving north. “I guess we’ll follow Otto’s advice.” They were safe, for now.
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