Chapter 36
The Power of Forgiveness
Brecker’s fear emanated from his body like heat waves, striking Echo with awful clarity. Her brother’s body trembled as the shadow drew closer, but Brecker kept his sword steady.
“Still playing around, Brecker? I thought you would have her captured or killed long before now.” Belzac rested a hand on Brecker’s shoulder, nearly causing the teen to collapse. Then Belzac’s eyes focused on Echo, sending another chill deep into her body. “I assume you’ve denied your brother’s requests for surrender. Maybe you need a little more persuasion.” The doon’s evil chuckle made Echo sick.
Belzac released a strange, sharp whisper, and the sound of thundering hooves caused Echo to spin around. Shimmer and Midnight Sun both sounded angry whistles as the forms of several kelpies galloped toward them, their burning eyes and nostrils a sharp, formidable contrast against the darkness as they drew closer. Their riders were not wearing glowing necklaces. A limp form was draped over one of the kelpie’s withers in front of its ghostly rider; the form flopped up and down to the rhythm of the kelpie’s gait.
The wraiths and their mounts stopped before Echo, taking human form. The one holding the unconscious figure took the form of a muscular warrior, his eyes flashing red like his horse’s eyes. All the blood drained from Echo’s face--the unconscious figure was Cage!
Moaning, Cage raised his brows in attempt to open his eyes. His glowing necklace flopped against his cheek as his head fell back against the leg of the wraith that held him. His human features kept phasing in and out of focus. Echo tried to swallow past the rage that tightened her throat. She turned to Belzac and screamed, “Let him go! Isn’t my brother enough for you? Aren’t the villages and this valley enough? What do you want from us?”
Belzac chuckled menacingly. “I want what was taken from me centuries ago by beings like you!” His eyes narrowed and an ugly energy poured from him as he continued in a hissing voice, “I realize you are ignorant of our history, so I’ll give you a quick lesson. We were once humans. And not just any humans, we were like you and your brother. We were once Kavalah!” The revelation struck Echo so forcefully, it nearly knocked her to her knees. How could this be possible?
“I and my followers wanted to be leaders. We wanted change, we wanted power! With the abilities the Kavalah possessed, we could’ve easily taken over all of Shae Vale, starting with Thildin Valley, our home. But Azura stopped us, and, with the help of some sorcerer gone good, cursed us to these shapeless, dark shadows of our former selves. Our steeds were stripped of their wings and thrown into the waters of Shae Vale.
“We found ways to use the horses to continue our battle, to hunt the inhabitants of Shae Vale and pull them to watery deaths.” Belzac cackled with dark glee. Then his voice dramatically changed as loathing seeped through, “But these filthy water dwellers, these water wraiths as you call them, started capturing and taming our steeds, using them for their own purposes. So we enslaved them, too, by using our persuasive abilities to convince evil sorcerers and sorceresses to place spells over them.”
Echo’s head was spinning. How could this monster have ever been a Kavalah? And the kelpies had once been beautiful Aleniah! These ideas refused to completely sink into her mind.
Belzac continued to speak, his voice dark, “After Degus released me from the Shadow Lands, I tried to re-gain possession of the Aleniah. I found their leader, the stallion, and lured him to the Dragon’s Tooth. But I was still under Degus’ rule and had to yield to her summons. Her timing was always annoyingly intrusive! I left the stallion bound near the top of the mountain, planning to return and make him my own. He would’ve been a great help with my battle today. But your father found him while I was gone and freed him.”
The doon’s anger seethed through his shadowy form before he composed himself. “No matter. As you have seen, my followers and I are doing well enough without the beast. We are at the end of this three thousand year-long war, Echo. And we will be victorious.
“But enough of this.” Belzac’s voice was smooth again. “It is time for you to join me, or die,” he said casually. Ribbons of fog were suddenly wrapping themselves around Echo’s arms and legs. The wraiths were binding her from behind! She struggled against the restraints--it was only fog after all. It didn’t seem to affect her as Cage’s had, but she couldn’t seem to pull away.
The fog squeezed her hands, forcing her to drop her daggers. Shimmer screamed in fury, rearing and striking at the mist with her hooves. Two ribbons broke, freeing one of Echo’s hands. Cage moaned from somewhere behind her, “Echo!” She drove her hand into her pocket, pulled out her last orb, and threw it at the kelpies behind her. She said a quick prayer for Cage’s safety.
The orb struck one of the kelpies in the chest and burst into flame. Echo was freed as the wraiths broke their ties. She spun around to watch the demon horse she’d struck scream and then explode into a million, sizzling pieces. Its rider fell to the ground as a puddle of water. Echo was suddenly grateful she’d been too nervous to eat all day as stomach fluid involuntarily leapt up the back of her throat.
The kelpie carrying Cage reared suddenly at the blast, sending its riders to the ground. Cage jolted to consciousness and grabbed his captor by the throat. The two wraiths wrestled over the ground, growling and phasing in and out of their human forms.
“Forget him for now! I want the girl!” Belzac bellowed. He still held Brecker by the shoulder, making him watch the attack on his sister. Two of the remaining wraiths leapt off of their horses at Echo. Before she could reach Cage or get the crystal from her pocket, they had her arms. She struggled to break free from their grip, but she was like a child to them.
The burly, red-eyed wraith overpowered Cage, forcing him to his knees. Echo met Cage’s eyes as his foe yanked his head back by his hair. Cage’s eyes were filled with rage and desperation. His voice was a forceful growl as he shouted, “Use the crystal, Echo! Finish him!”
The other wraith produced a thin, sharp, watery weapon and stabbed Cage’s side, causing a gush of water to pour from the wound. Echo screamed again as Cage’s eyes rolled back and he phased into his ghostly form. He fell away from his captor and was still.
Echo struggled against the wraiths, desperately trying to break free and rush to Cage’s side. Their ghostly hands only gripped tighter, cutting into her skin and causing her to yell as pain shot up her arms and into her neck. Shimmer bit at Echo’s captors, but her sharp teeth were useless against them. We need fire! Echo screamed in her mind.
A flaming arrow appeared suddenly in the chest of the wraith on Echo’s right, startling her. The wraith lost its human form as it screamed and then toppled over. Steam billowed from its body as the flames dissolved the wraith, killing it.
A fiery ball zoomed toward the wraith on Echo’s left. But he was quicker than his companion and dodged the cannon. “LET HER GO!” Keebo’s furious scream was the most beautiful thing Echo had ever heard. The fae landed before her and her captor, his eyes flaming as furiously as his hands. He was breathing hard and his body shook with a rage Echo had never seen in him before. When the wraith refused to release her, Keebo swung his arms, throwing two enormous balls of flame at Echo’s captor. This time, the blazing weapons made contact and Echo dodged away as the ghostly form beside her became engulfed in a fiery tomb.
“Are you okay?” Keebo asked quickly, his concern flashing in his eyes as he glanced at Echo. She squeaked a ‘yes’ as she grabbed her daggers off the ground. With their backs to one another, they fought the remaining three kelpies and wraiths. For reasons beyond Echo’s understanding, Belzac continued to hold Brecker away from the battle. Why didn’t he command Brecker to fight? Was he getting pleasure in torturing her brother by forcing him to watch his sister and friend struggle? Echo’s heart stung at the thought.
Shimmer joined the party, fighting one of the kelpies. The screams of battling horses
filled the air. Echo somehow managed to slice deeply into the chest of another kelpie, causing it to blast into pieces. She quickly turned away from the gruesome scene and focused on her next target.
Keebo killed the wraith that had flown from its exploding steed’s back, but then thick streams of fog wrapped around his fists, dousing his fires. He gritted his teeth and furrowed his brows. Flexing his arms and bowing his head, he gave his power everything he had. His angry eyes bore into the adversary as fire burst from his fists and shot up his arms, burning away the mist. His hair danced upward as the blast of heat rose to his face. But a sudden wall of water--created by the wraiths using river water--slammed into him, dousing the flames yet again and knocking him to his back.
Echo ran to him as Shimmer finished one kelpie and battled with the last. She was suddenly pushed away from Keebo’s body by water shaped like a plank. The wind rushed out of her as unnatural water forced her back to the ground. She struggled to her feet, fighting against the watery weapon created by the last wraith.
The wraith stood over Keebo, sending caressing ribbons of mist around his body and wide-eyed face. The creature took a feminine form, its back to Echo. As the ghostly being continued casting her spells, she turned. Echo’s blood froze in her veins as she stared in shock at her own face. The wraith gave her an evil smirk, and then turned back to Keebo. She whispered soothing words that Echo couldn’t hear.
“Don’t listen to her, Keebo! It’s a trick! She’s not me!” Echo screamed. She knew all too well the power of a water wraith’s spell; and if Keebo thought the wraith was Echo, the spell would be even more powerful.
Echo’s yells were cut short as mist covered her mouth like a strip of cloth, keeping her silent. She watched in horror as Keebo rose to his feet and then walked dreamily after the wraith into the darkness toward the river. Their forms were swallowed in shadow as they left the area. Despair gripped Echo in one great, sickening wave. Come back to me, Keebo, like you promised! Echo pleaded in her mind as her hope dwindled.
Tears stained Echo’s face. Cage was probably dead, Keebo was heading toward a watery demise, the villages were nearly conquered, and Brecker was still held captive by the most powerful shadow ever to exist.
The ‘cloth’ fell away from Echo’s mouth and the watery plank splashed to the ground as Keebo’s captor vanished. Belzac drew her attention to him. She gasped for breath as a breeze cooled the water on her cheeks. Belzac had produced a knife, which he held at Brecker’s throat. Shimmer’s battle cry sounded behind Echo, but she could do little to help her horse fight the last kelpie. She feared Belzac would slice Brecker’s neck if she turned away.
Echo dropped one of her daggers. She stuck her hand in her pocket and squeezed the Sun’s Heart. The jagged edges dug into her palm as she kept her gaze on Belzac. Brecker’s face was stiff and emotionless, but his eyes betrayed his terror.
“Well, has there been enough unpleasantness for you yet, little girl? You can stop all of this quickly. Just surrender. It’s that simple. Your beloved friends and family will be allowed to live. At this moment, your father and his steed are cowering before the blades of my wraiths; your mother and sister are fighting for their lives in Thildin, and losing; and, your beloved elf instructor and his sidekicks, your friends, are at the mercy of five of my best warriors. Even your pretty fae friend, her dogs, and her dragon are failing miserably. You alone can save them all,” Belzac said.
Attempting to ignore the heaviness that threatened to choke her at Belzac’s frightening words, Echo spoke with a deep and steady voice, “Let Brecker go. He’s already your servant; you don’t have to harm him any more than you already have. If I’m the one you want, then face me alone.”
Belzac threw his head back and released an insulting laugh. “I am not ignorant, child. I know the light you possess and the weapon you hold in your pocket.”
Echo squeezed the crystal and pulled it out. It glowed faintly through her fingers.
Belzac eyed it uncomfortably, but continued his speech. “If you use Azura’s crystal, you’ll send both me and your brother to the Shadow Lands. Trust me, my power over Brecker is a blessing compared to that prison!”
Belzac’s voice cracked as he spoke his last sentence. Echo felt the doon’s fear and hatred from where she stood. The Shadow Lands must be truly unbearable if even a doon was afraid of them. Pity welled involuntarily inside Echo’s heart. Belzac suddenly reminded her of her brother, who the doon still held tightly with a knife to the throat. Belzac had wanted his own way, wanted a different life for his followers. Like her brother, his choices and actions had led him to darkness--a darkness too deep for Echo to ever understand.
The crystal pulsed brighter. Shimmer finally overcame her foe and approached Echo from behind. The heat from Shimmer’s body engulfed her like a blanket. She felt every bleeding gash and tender bruise her horse had suffered from her battles.
Echo raised the crystal higher. She locked eyes with Brecker as her blood rushed in her ears. How could she go through with this if she could possibly kill Brecker, or worse, send him to the Shadow Lands?
Belzac’s voice slithered toward Brecker’s ear, “Fight her again. Only this time, show me you mean it!”
After Belzac removed the knife from Brecker’s throat, Echo’s brother took several deliberate steps toward her. The wind ruffled his wild hair as his jaw flexed. He winced as the Sun’s Heart pulsed with light. With one mind-bendingly quick movement, Brecker slapped Echo’s hand with the flat of his sword, sending the crystal to the earth and out of reach. The stone went dark.
Echo scooped her fallen dagger from the ground and held her weapons ready. She shivered at Brecker’s demented eyes as she attempted to inch her way closer to where she thought the crystal had landed. Brecker lunged toward her. Even with her quicker reflexes, Echo barely moved in time to keep her brother’s blade from slicing her neck. She fanned her blades, attempting to cause a distraction, and then with a swift move she stopped the fanning short and pulled the blades in opposite directions, slicing both of Brecker’s raised arms above the elbows.
Fury shot across Brecker’s face. He lunged at Echo, slamming his body into hers and forcing them both to the ground. Pain jolted through Echo at the force of the double impact. Brecker pinned her down with his legs, but made the mistake of leaving her arms free. She smacked the hilt of her left dagger against the side of Brecker’s head, causing an instant trail of blood against his temple. He jerked back, giving her enough leverage to leap to her feet.
Belzac’s voice boomed through the air, causing Echo to jump. “Enough! Kill her now!”
Echo’s heart choked her as she scrambled away from her possessed brother. Brecker kicked, knocking Echo backwards. She slammed into the earth yet again as pain shot through her back. Dirt and grass dug into the cut Brecker had made earlier, adding to her misery.
Echo scrambled to her knees and held her daggers shakily over her head. A rock dug into her knee and she scooted to the side to free herself from it. A sparkle caught her eye, and she chanced a quick glance down. It hadn’t been a rock. It was the crystal!
Belzac moved toward her so quickly, Echo had no time to react. In an instant, he was behind her, his hand on her shoulder. His touch was terrible, chilling, dark. His voice slithered past her ear like a snake, sending chills to her bones. “Kill her now, Brecker. If you don’t,” he raised a shadowy hand toward Echo’s hand, “I will take her hand and she will share your fate!”
Brecker stood frozen for several minutes, the horror showing across his face. Shimmer pawed and bit uselessly at Belzac, desperate to free Echo. Midnight Sun reared and screamed furiously. Echo stared into her brother’s pained eyes as darkness crept into the edges of her vision.
Suddenly, Brecker lunged at Echo, his sword flashing against the dark. Echo knelt, frozen in shock. Shimmer leapt in front of her, attempting to take the sting of Brecker’s blade in her ma
ster’s stead. Echo screamed to Shimmer, trying to keep her horse from getting killed. But the blade found only air as Midnight Sun slammed against Shimmer, sending them both skidding across the earth. The horses fought as Brecker raised his sword over Echo’s head. Echo continued to hold her daggers above her, but they felt like they each weighed a ton. Belzac’s darkness continued to seep into her, sending hopelessness into her heart and mind. Brecker’s face remained terrifying as he stopped and stood frozen in place, staring at her. She couldn’t hold on any longer.
Echo’s blades fell to the earth as her arms buckled and fell limply to her sides. She slumped back and sat on her legs. The Sun’s Heart sparkled by her knee, reminding her it was there. Quickly, she grasped the crystal with trembling fingers. The stone immediately formed a soft glow at her touch. Belzac shot away from her, hiding himself in Brecker’s shadow. He hissed at Brecker, once again commanding him to end Echo’s life.
Echo weakly held the pulsating crystal toward her brother, but his eyes remained steady and focused on her. Sadness overwhelmed her as Brecker’s blade descended rapidly toward her skull. She couldn’t move or breath, she was petrified with shock and fear. All was lost, she had failed. Shimmer’s scream echoed eerily through the air. Every moment of Echo’s life played in her mind in the span of a half-second.
Brecker released a warrior’s cry as he sliced the blade at his sister’s head. Echo looked up and her wide eyes followed the sword as it raced toward her, ready to take her life. Every detail of the elf-made weapon jumped out at her. She was too weak to stop it.
Brecker’s muscles contracted and the veins in his neck bulged as he forced his sword to a sudden halt just as the sharp blade touched Echo’s nose and hairline. Brecker’s face was divided by his sword as he stared into Echo’s wide eyes for several moments. Both of them trembled from the intensity of the moment. Then, Brecker’s visage softened and his eyes sparkled with tears. “I love you, Echo,” he whispered more tenderly than Echo had ever heard him speak. Then, he suddenly threw his blade away as if it were poisonous and turned to Belzac, shouting, “I’m finished!” Brecker immediately fell to his knees, squeezing his skull as he screamed from the deadly pain rushing through him.
“NO!” Echo reached for her brother and hugged him tightly. She turned her watery eyes on Belzac and screeched, “Stop it! Let him go!”
Belzac spoke so softly, Echo had to strain to hear his words over her brother’s cries. “Such a waste. He could have been a great warrior.”
“Just—do it, Echo!” Brecker shouted between clenched teeth. The veins in his neck and along his temple were bulging to near bursting. “Use--the crystal! I’m--dead--anyway!”
Echo stood slowly before her brother, her body trembling uncontrollably as her emotions shred apart her sanity. She held the Sun’s heart toward the shadow as a gust of wind pulled at her braid.
Brecker’s words of love echoed in her mind, “I love you, Echo.”
The crystal pulsed brighter.
The faces of her family--her dad, mom, Mari, her grandfather--all smiled in her memory.
Streams of light shot through Echo’s fingers as the crystal pulsed brighter still.
Cage’s crooked smile and his irresistible charm touched Echo’s memory. He’d risked his own life to save her so many times.
Song, with her unearthly beauty and her unconditional friendship--the fae’s smiling eyes sparkled in Echo’s thoughts.
Thalen and Alena and all their days of sparring and friendship. Alena’s words of hope, “The light will overcome the darkness.”
Dorian with his ever-present smile and wise words. His lessons had helped shape who she was.
Keebo’s gentle touch, his kiss, tingled on Echo’s lips; his boyish features, his pointed ears, his sparkling smile, shown bright and clear in her mind’s eye.
And Shimmer, her beloved horse, their unique connection giving them a friendship, a bond, far greater than anything Echo had ever experienced--her horse’s love, joined by the love of all the others, filled her to overflowing.
Echo’s hand could no longer hold back the light of the Sun’s Heart. Soothing warmth caressed her palm and rippled down her body as the white light burst through her fingers, illuminating the entire area. Belzac shrank behind the shadow of a boulder, hiding from the unrelenting blaze. Echo’s confession and her apologies to Brecker earlier had helped her forgive herself. But she still had to pass one last test before the crystal could destroy Belzac.
Echo locked eyes with the doon as he skulked in shadow. Belzac laughed darkly. “You’ll only send me to a prison--a prison that I have already escaped once. I will return!”
The doon’s words had been spoken confidently, and yet his eyes betrayed his fear. Echo’s heart softened. This creature had known nothing but darkness most of his life. He’d suffered more than Echo could ever imagine. Could he even remember the love of family? The joy of friendship? Maybe he could be different if only he could feel the warmth of light again…
Echo turned her palm to the sky and opened her fingers, giving the crystal freedom. Through the glaring light, she looked at Belzac and spoke, “I forgive you, Belzac the doon.”
The Sun’s Heart flashed and several screams--the horses’, Brecker’s, Belzac’s, and her own--sounded under a loud rumbling that emanated from the crystal. Suddenly, the blinding white light burst into color. Every intense color of the rainbow shone brighter and clearer than Echo had ever seen. The pure, radiant light swallowed everything, wrapping around every corner, seeping into every crack, and piercing every shadow.
Echo closed her eyes tightly, but her lids were no shield against the intense, colorful light. Belzac’s desperate scream slapped against her ears and then stopped short as the light dissolved his life. Echo panicked as Brecker’s screams ceased immediately after Belzac’s death.
And then all sound vanished as the radiance penetrated Echo’s body and pulsed with intense energy. She thought she would explode from the force and she tried to drop the crystal, but it seemed welded to her hand. Where was Brecker? Had he been destroyed with Belzac? She couldn’t sense her brother or her horse at all. No screams, no heat, no anything. Just light.
Just as Echo thought she would collapse from the power flowing through her, the light suddenly exploded, sending her flying. She landed hard on grass and dirt, slamming her head against the earth as shockwaves of multi-colored light and energy pulsed over Thildin Valley three times before ceasing. As sparkling, colorful specks of light showered down on everything, Echo began to lose consciousness. Light fell on her cheeks, kissing her skin like warm snowflakes. Her fuzzy mind gave one final thought, I love you too, Brecker. Echo’s arm fell beside her body, her hand finally releasing the crystal as her fingers went limp.