Read The Guardians of the Forest: Book Two Page 16

CHAPTER 40

  APPRECIATED

  Kiethara collapsed onto the ground. For a few minutes she couldn’t focus on anything else besides her labored breathing. When it slowed, the throbbing in her hand made her grimace up at the graying sky.

  She had heard the ice falling back to the ground, thumping and clicking as the shards fell down into the snow. Ice. She was on emotional overdrive, but if that’s what it took to use the water element, she had better get used to it.

  His words still sounded strongly in her mind. Why was she guarding the forest? Everything had a reason. Everything needed a reason. Ever since she was born, it had been wired into her head to protect. To defend. If that did not exist, nothing did. If she was not doing that, then she was useless.

  But why was she doing it?

  Did she really need the magic it produced? She couldn’t imagine life without it, but she only used it to protect the forest. Again, it all revolved around the forest.

  Could it be possible to live a life outside the forest? Without magic, without these threats, and most of all, without pain? Maybe the world would be better off without this great power to drive them all insane. They would survive. Redawn had been thriving for years and they did it without a drop of magic; it would make no difference to them. And all that she loved, besides the forest, lived there.

  What was her motivation? What was her reason?

  These thoughts spiraled through her head, making it spin. Like a seed planted in good soil, Sinsenta’s words had planted their roots in record time. And like a weed, it was impossible to get rid of.

  “Kiethara!” Aaron called out, his light filling the clearing and sparkling off her lake.

  She rolled her head over so she could face him. “Hello.”

  “Are you all right?” Aaron asked, concern heavy in his tone. Maybe her response had disturbed him. Or maybe it was the fact she was lying eagle-spread on the ground, gazing up at nothing.

  “I don’t know, Aaron,” she said sarcastically. “I was attacked, burned, and then I froze half a lake into ice daggers. What do you think?”

  “Enough back talk, Kiethara! Heal your hand and meet me in the center,” he ordered.

  Kiethara pulled herself into a sitting position, making sure her back was to him. She tried to push Sinsenta’s words to the back of her mind. Whatever Aaron had to say, she knew it was important.

  Kiethara removed the bottle full of silver liquid and uncorked it with her teeth. This time she only used half of the bottle—she watched it numbly as it reunited her skin to perfection. It wasn’t bad enough to scar, thank goodness. She did not need any more permanent reminders of Sinsenta.

  She got up with a suppressed sigh, but paused when she realized the weight on her hip was too light. Her sword! She dropped it…but where? The forest wasn’t exactly an ideal place to lose something, and she couldn’t remember where she had been! It would be impossible to find it!

  Aaron, her voice of reason said through the panic. He can help you.

  Aaron.

  If she gave up, she would lose him. He could not exist if the forest did not exist. He hardly existed now! It wasn’t as though he could walk into Redawn with her; if she failed, she would be killing the one person who had always loved her unconditionally. She would be killing the better part of herself.

  But wasn’t he already dead? His light was fading; his appearances in her battles were no more. Aaron didn’t seem as strong as he used to be, that was clear; however, the fact that he could have even returned to a partially human form was a testimony to how hard he worked at keeping the forest alive. It would be wrong—disgusting—for her to destroy generations of his accomplishments for an easier life.

  It was as though she were standing on the tip of a blade, swaying precariously between two decisions. She could either give up and move on to a simpler life with simpler demands, or continue her endless quest, making some insane in the process but remaining faithful to those she lived for. Nothing had to change. But what if she wanted it to?

  Kiethara entered the center of the forest. As soon as she did, Aaron appeared.

  “My sword is missing!” she blurted out before he could address her. He was silent for a moment.

  “I will go retrieve it. You can take a dive,” he ordered, nodding towards the guardian’s lake.

  “Thank you.”

  With a few bounds and a quick leap she dove into its waters. The waters soothed her aches immediately and passed through her lungs like a refreshing gulp of air.

  Her bare feet dug themselves into the soggy ground, squelching between her toes. She wandered aimlessly for a minute before she stopped in front of her mother’s grave.

  “Mother?” Kiethara asked in a soft voice. The raging war inside her head was awful. She had never wanted her mother’s advice more than she wanted it at that moment.

  Suddenly, the water became unbearably cold, almost painfully cold. There was a sudden force, like a shove from an unknown source, and everything went black.