A plan

Kairios

They took her.

Acantha’s words rang in my mind so loud, over and over. I was filled with shock; nothing made sense anymore. We had been betrayed; it was the only way. Someone talked. Who, who would have done such a thing? A loud scream that was laced with pain called to me. I opened my eyes and Aurelia was standing before me with her head in her hands, screaming relentlessly! I ran to her and put my hands on her shoulders in an attempt to help her. When my hands touched her skin, they began to burn! It was as if her skin was fire itself!

“Aurelia! No!” I shouted when I realized what was happening to her. She couldn’t shift in here! She couldn’t lose control again! The room was too small and the house made of wood. My eyes found the terrified ones that belonged to Acantha. Hers were wide with large tears spilling out of them. “Run!” I yelled at her. I wanted to help her but I couldn’t go to her!

A large tail tipped in spikes swung out from Aurelia and hit me hard in the chest. I was thrown against the door, crashing it down from the force of my body. The heat was starting to become unbearable as she blasted the room with her fire! My vision began to darken and the last thing I saw was flames and burning wood crashing around me.

…

Aurelia... Saira? Where was everyone? Where was I?

I was standing alone in a dark field next to a calm glistening lake. The only light was from the full moon that hung in the night sky. I worked hard at the memory of how I got to this place. The only thing that came back to me was heat and pain! Something sharp had broken through me, ripped into my skin and left a hole deep in the muscle. As the memory came back so did the pain of the open wound on my chest. I knew it came from her tail. Why had she done that? An attempt to get me away? Or did it just happen as she was wild in her emotions?

When I looked down, I saw that I was still bleeding. I raised my hands to try to stop the flow of blood. What I saw weren't the hands I remembered! They were a mess of red and white blisters. My hands! I freaked out and ran to the water's edge to see my reflection. Half of my body had been badly burned. My hair was singed off and part of my ear was missing. Even the clothing I was wearing seemed to be smoking in places. Why couldn’t she control herself better? She did this to me and destroyed that house!

Did Acantha get out to? Or was I dead and this was the in between? I sat in the water and stared at the charred remains of my reflection. I was going to die soon; my blood had started t dye the water red. I couldn’t believe that my end would come at the hands of the woman I loved, the woman I would have made Queen. It wasn’t long enough. I wanted more. More time to live, more love with her and to see this land happy for once.

There was still Saira to be saved as well. I had to get up. Each movement hurt and threatened to put me down again. I tried to be strong and make it to the shore. When I first found her that day in the woods. I vowed that I would never allow that to happen again. I had to go back, to save her. When my feet hit the ground something in my mind shifted. I could hear something in the distance.

“...ake up... Kairios... wake up.” I recognized that voice, though I haven't heard in months!

“Mistress Elnora?” I croaked out; my voice harsh from all that had happened to me.

I tried to open my eyes. Everything hurt so bad that all I wanted to do was return to that lake and finally rest in that water. When I finally got them open, I was only able to see out of one of them. Everything was so blurry that I couldn’t make out anything around me.

“He is beginning to waken.”

“What?” The word itself was so quiet. It was barely louder than a breath.

“Do not try to talk. You are safe. Jaxson was able to remove you from that burning house and dragged you to the city gates where we awaited. We are outside of the city walls now.”

“My wounds?”

“They are severe. The burns are mostly on your left side. I have used what healing powers we Elves have. It's not enough though, all I was able to do was to stop the flow of blood. I was sure you were going to die at least three times. You really know how to show an old woman a good time.”

“When?”

“It has been three days. Lyanna has gathered an army and we have the city blocked off. No one can get in or out. There has been no sign of Aurelia. The Queen hasn’t claimed her capture yet either.”

Both of them were gone. I couldn’t protect them.

I fell back to sleep, needing every bit of rest that I could get. My dreams were troubled, filled with flashes between the good days with Aurelia and then flashes of fire. I slept for what felt like a long time and when I opened my eyes, I had the feeling of too much sleep and needed some kind of distraction. What I knew was that we had an army and the city was weak from Aurelia’s rage. The Queen hadn't tried to attack us so that told me that she didn’t have the strength to overcome us.

I needed a current update. Aurelia hadn't been seen and no body was found, that verified for me that she was still alive. If she hadn't returned then that could only mean that she was being held against her will and needed to be found. There had to be witnesses to talk to. And what of Saira and Massell. Had she been saved? Had he been caught? There was too much to do and I could no longer stay in this death bed.

The pain was extreme but I had no choice but to push through it. “Mistress?” my vision was clear now but I had a hard time adjusting to the light that filled my tent.

“I am here.”

“I need to get out of here. Has anyone mentioned Saira or Massell?”

“You should rest some more. We need you to get your strength back.”

“It won't matter once I find Saira.”

“Okay, from what we have gathered, the man you mentioned was the one responsible for what happened to Saira. An old man saw him take her and then hand her over to a Queens guard. He was even rewarded for his work.”

I couldn’t believe it. Massell had betrayed us. “What has he told them?”

“All we know is that they don’t seem to know about the connection between Saira and Aurelia yet.”

“What about Acantha? She was in the fire to.”

The flap that served as a door to my tent was opened and a man walked through. “We weren't able to save her. When I found you, I thought you were already dead. The room was completely set ablaze.”

Sadness shot through me. Aurelia had killed her own mother. How would she be able to overcome such a thing? And Massell, if I found him, I would wrap my hands around his neck like I should have done from the start. “What more do you know of Aurelia?”

“I asked some of the fishermen what they saw that day.” Jaxson was the one who had the answers. “They saw her get shot down with a metal net of some kind and when she was pulled out of the water, t was abord a dark blue and gold trimmed ship. The ship set out immediately for open seas and hasn’t been seen since.”

Galorian. Of course it was him. He was the only one I knew of who would have the ability to pull such a capture off and the description was clearly what I remembered of his ship. Did he know who she was when she was shot down? Was this his plan the whole time? I knew she would still be alive. He would ensure it. The thought of his hands on her filled me with the strength I needed to get up and out of the tent.

“Why hasn’t any one attacked?”

“We had no one to lead us.”

“Set a meeting with the generals or captains, I want all those in a commanding position together to discuss our plan of attack.”

If Aurelia didn’t come back in time, then I would ensure that the throne was ready for her when she returned. We wouldn’t have a better chance than we did right now. if didn’t take long for a group of men to crowd me small tent. All of them were talking about what they thought was the best plan, and none of them seemed to agree with the other. What a mess. I sat back and listened for as long as I could stand it.

“Our army isn't much more than men and women, rich and poor. We have to stand together or we will lose. There has been no training from what I have heard. We are disorganized.”

“We have held our line around the city. You speak as if we have done nothing, yet you have been lying in bed waiting for your princess to come back.” I had never seen this man before. From what I could tell he was overweight and selfish. He probably had a very easy life compared to those of the other in this room. He was here for glory, not the people, and certainly not Aurelia.

“Kairios has done more for this cause then you will ever be able to understand Albert. Stay quiet before you make an even bigger fool of yourself.” Mistress Elnora said.

“We can't wait for her to return; we have to act now. The people will rise up and fight with us.” Lyanna stood up and said to all the men in the room.

There were so many options on what we could do. No matter what we had to make it to the castle. If the people knew that Saira was there and held prisoner, they would want to help her. They had the strength to do it now thanks to the healing she had done.

“The Tavern was full of the guards off duty, her numbers would have been impacted by their death.”

“And the men at the gates as well. We have stopped any work done to repair the damage. The ground is covered in burnt bodies.”

“So, the gates are still open? What are all of our ways into the city?”

“The main gate is still open but they have a heavy guard there. We wouldn’t be able to get in without losses to our side.” Jaxson said. “There is always the broken part of the wall at the abandoned part of the city we can get someone over there to access any guards they may have there.”

“We will start our attack in the cover of night then. We need to start with sneaking as many as we can into the city before we attack the gate. We will ake the gate on both sides and make our way to the castle.”

“What do we do when we get there? Should we demand surrender or storm it, killing anyone who gets in our way?”

“We need the Queen alive. She is for Aurelia to deal with. The best thing that can happen is that the guard will surrender. They have my friend help prisoner; we have to overpower them as fast as we can. No more harm should come to her. Lyanna, we need the young maid to accompany us. She will be the only one that we can trust once inside the castle.”

We talked for a while longer, figuring out all of the details. Jaxson took over for me so I would be able to get some more rest. Just this simple conversation had taken all of the strength I had left, how was I going to be able to make it through a battle? Saira had to be somewhere in the castle. She had to still be alive and to me that signified that the Queen intended to use her powers. What would she have her do? Saira was strong and would fight as long as she could before helping them, I was sure of that.

I also wondered at what happened to her crystal. If she had it still, then there was no way that she would still be held captive. There was so much to think about while I lay in my bed. Thoughts of Aurelia at the hands of that beast started to cloud my thoughts. She was somewhere out there, alone with that man. Did he have her in chains? What was he forcing her to do? Worse yet, was she happy with him? What if she didn’t want to come back?