Chapter 37 Forgive and Regret…

Chapter 37

 

 

Forgive and Regret…

 

 

He watched in a haze as the woman he barely recognized performed the ritual that would seal his fate, trapping his soul in this lifeless body forever. The little girl next to him smiled softly to herself in amusement at something he could no longer comprehend. Something inside his head screamed at him to stop the woman but he couldn’t move. His body was no longer his own, he couldn’t even blink anymore.

He watched in apathetic inattention as the woman in front of him spun around with a curse as the guy leapt from the darkness. His sword shining with power as he swung it down hard as he could, slicing the woman across the chest as he landed.

The woman fell with a cry of fury as her blood spewed forth from the wound, covering her attacker in its sticky crimson embrace.

“Perfect.” The little girl purred as she phased out of existence when the woman fell to the ground.

He watched as the man hanging in midair was released from his bonds as the woman died. Something inside his head snapped, his eyes became unfocused and he smiled; finally he was allowed to die.

 

Gerad spared a glance as Ludd fell over, but ignored him for now to check on Calhan that had fallen to the floor when the bonds disappeared. He stepped over the corpse of Granny that had reverted back to how she had looked when they first met, her blood pooling around her.

“Gerad!” Selene cried after she got up off the floor to see what had happened.

“You guys alright?” Gerad asked rolling Calhan onto his back. Calhan was unconscious but still breathing, barely.

“Gerad get me out so I can heal him.” Selene suggested rattling the cage door.

Gerad got up from where he knelt next to Calhan and jogged over to Selene’s side of the column. He judged the distance as he approached and picked up his pace at the last minute.

He leapt and landed safely onto her platform skidding a couple inches. He walked over to her cage and inspected the lock. Taking a deep breath he swung at the lock with all his might and it shattered.

“Hurry he doesn’t have long with that amount of blood loss.” He said as he stepped back.

Selene crawled out of the cage and ran to the edge, leapt the gap, landed and stumbled. She turned the stumble into a forwards roll and continued on to Calhan’s side. Gathering her Sage energy she concentrated it in her hands and got to work on his wounds.

Gerad jumped the next two gaps to Dahrin’s cage while Selene worked on Calhan. After releasing Dahrin he moved on to Meria.

Dahrin ran to Ludd and rolled him over, “Ludd?!”

“Hey, Firefly.” Ludd whispered barely breathing.

“Selene!” Dahrin cried over his shoulder but saw her completely concentrating on saving Calhan. From the look on her face he could tell it was a fifty/fifty shot.

“Its….ok….” Ludd gasped out, “I…don’t have….any regrets…”

Ludd’s breathing became a horrible rattle in his chest and his eyes began to close. Dahrin shook his shoulder, “No, Ludd! Don’t leave me again!”

“I’m…glad…you found…someone to be your…important person…” Ludd said softly.

Ludd forced his eyes to focus on Dahrin’s face and stared him in the eye seemingly straight to his soul.

“Promise me Dahrin,” Ludd gasped, “Promise me…that what Granny…predicted…won’t come true…please! Don’t betray them!.....Don’t fall….”

Dahrin’s tears spilled out of his eyes as he nodded fervently, “I promise! Don’t leave! I promise!”

Ludd smiled as his eyes glazed over and he died for the last time. Dahrin hugged Ludd to his chest and balled like a little child.

 

“Come on, Calhan!” Selene said through gritted teeth as sweat poured off her body, “Work with me, old man!”

Gerad and Meria stood behind her both of them wanting to help but neither of them able to. Dahrin still sat where Ludd had fallen cradling him in his arms. He had stopped crying as hard but the tears still flowed.

Calhan’s wounds were closing but Selene wasn’t sure if it was a fast enough rate. Calhan was still frightfully pale. Selene pressed her powers harder and she could feel tightness in her chest that was making it hard to breathe. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew if she pushed too hard she’d break.

The minutes seemed to drag on into an eternity as the last wound closed. Selene gasped for breath as the glow disappeared from her hands. Selene looked at Calhan’s face and saw him blearily look back at her.

“I’m not an old man.” Calhan mumbled.

Selene laughed as she blacked out. Gerad caught her before she hit her head on the floor. Meria checked on Calhan and saw him sleeping peacefully. Sighing in relief she got up and walked over to Dahrin.

“Dahrin?” Meria gently put her hand on his shoulder.

“Why, did it have to be him?” Dahrin cried softly, “He was a great guy, I don’t get it.”

“I’m sorry, Dahrin, I don’t know.” Meria replied squatting down next to him.

A few minutes later Selene regained consciousness. Gerad gave her some water to drink before he got everyone to their feet.

“I don’t know where that girl went but I don’t think she’s here anymore.” Gerad said to them folding his arms across his chest, “We should probably head back to the fortress. We all need some rest and we also need to take care of Ludd.”

Dahrin nodded absently. Selene glanced at Granny’s body, “What about that?”

Gerad looked to Dahrin who just shrugged, “I don’t know. We can let mom know when we get back I guess.”

“That seems like a good plan.” Gerad nodded then walked over to where Calhan was sleeping. He bent down and shouldered Calhan. Grunting with effort to situate Calhan’s weight Gerad stopped in his tracks.

“How do we get out of here?” Gerad asked turning to the others.

“We can handle that for you.” A voice echoed out of the darkness.

Selene and Meria drew their weapons to the ready as Bai stepped out of the darkness. Gerad put Calhan back down gently and drew his sword, warily. Bai’s monochromatic eyes stared in amusement at the group till they came to rest on Dahrin who was holding Ludd’s body. He set Ludd’s body down and drew his swords.

“Where are you going with our toy?” She asked innocently.

Dahrin lunged at her with a horizontal slice at neck level. She bent backward without moving her feet dodging the slice easily. Dahrin screamed in rage as he continued to slice at her with Bai dodging each attack.

Bai giggled as Dahrin kept attacking, “Hold still, you imp!”

Bai stopped moving and Dahrin stabbed her in the gut. She didn’t even flinch; Dahrin stared at her in horror as a needle toothed grin spread across her face. Bai grabbed Dahrin’s wrist and the skin where she grabbed started to blister. Dahrin yelped in pain and let go of the sword.

Bai giggled even more as she pulled the sword from her flesh, “My turn.”

She clapped her hands together and the sword cloned itself. Dahrin backpedaled as Bai attacked with the two swords. She was devilishly quick and Dahrin couldn’t block all the attacks. Small wounds appeared all over his arms as he barely deflected strokes that would have killed him.

Bai blocked a slash from Gerad from behind without even looking. Selene and Meria joined in the fight but Bai continued to dodge them all easily. Despite her size she was incredibly strong, she stopped Selene’s swing with her bare foot while simultaneously blocking an attack from Dahrin and attacking Gerad. 

Meria thought she had an opening and took it but Bai sent out a pulse of power that blew them all backwards. Gerad skid a couple of feet to where his head and shoulders went over the edge of the column. Meria rolled off the edge but caught the ledge in time to not fall to her death. Selene rolled back to her feet and went after Bai again. Dahrin joined her in the attack from the opposite direction.

Meria pulled herself back up onto solid ground in time to see Bai knock Selene and Dahrin both out. Bai then disappeared from view and reappeared next to Meria. Meria felt a blow to the back of her head and fell forward unconscious.

“Great.” Gerad grumbled as Bai turned her attention back to him.

He had gotten to his feet but the adrenaline rush was starting to take its toll on his already weary body. His leg cramped and he fell to his knees. Bai was still grinning as she slowly approached him.

“What is it that you want?”  Gerad asked struggling back to his feet.

The demented glee on her face was replaced with a solemn thoughtful expression. Bai stopped just out of Gerad’s range.

“We have our reasons.” Bai’s voice shifted like it had once before to the calm monotone.

Purple lightning flashed across the ground from Bai’s feet to Gerad. He screamed in pain and fell to his hands and knees. Gerad gasped for breath his muscles twitching with fatigue and pain. Bai’s feet appeared in his line of sight and he looked up into her monochromatic eyes.

 “Is it revenge?” Gerad chuckled, “Cause every time I ask, that’s all they say. Like that’s all the reason anybody needs.”

Bai smirked as she squatted down to his eye level, “Please, it’s not so drab as to be mere revenge.”

“Oh?” Gerad asked sarcastically impressed, “Then pray tell, what is it, if not mere revenge?”

Bai shrugged, “We have a debt to pay, but mainly because of boredom.”

“What are you?” Gerad asked disgusted.

“Old,” Bai answered, “Ancient even. Mainly forgotten but for legends.”

Gerad stared at her in utter confusion, “What?”

“My name is Ciar, I do believe you were told of me. Twin minds one brain, ring any bells?” Bai asked suddenly, “I’m sure that hag must have told you something along those lines.”

“So, Bai, is another person inside your head?” Gerad asked slowly, “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, many, many years ago, roughly eight hundred now, I ruled the sands of the Gerudo Desert and beyond it.” Ciar began, “Though, I was technically born dead, my parents who loved me desperately and didn’t have any other heirs made a pact with a demon, Bai. She joined with me and once again I lived. Years later they thought they had made a mistake and had me sealed away.”

“Let me guess, “ Gerad interrupted, “Ganondorf let you out sometime in the past year.”

“Precisely,” Ciar tapped him on the nose with her finger, “must be a hobby of his.”

A shock went through Gerad’s skull and he collapsed unconscious.

 

 

Gerad jerked awake on the cold stone ground of the temple entrance. He grabbed his head from the pain of the splitting headache. Gingerly, he sat up and looked around him. All of them were there passed out.

Gerad felt a shadow fall over him and he turned to see the camel looking at him. Gerad sighed as the camel nudged him in the back of the head when he turned back around. Gerad got slowly to his feet and patted the camel on the head.

“Good boy.” He mumbled as he hobbled over to Selene.

Every muscle in his body ached. He checked her pulse and then shook her shoulder to wake her up. She groaned and began to stir so Gerad moved on to Meria.

“Ooh, what happened?” Selene asked groaning as she sat up, “Last thing I remember was that kid beating the snot out of us.”

“I don’t know.” Gerad mumbled. He swayed slightly as he went to wake up Dahrin but steadied himself. Gerad noticed that Ludd’s body was here as well but not Granny’s. Dahrin sat up before Gerad got to him so he moved on to see if he could wake Calhan.

“My head feels like somebody’s beating it with a sledgehammer from the inside.” Dahrin groaned rubbing his temples.

Calhan yawned as he sat up, “G’mornin.”

“Oh, shut it.” Meria grumbled back.

“What’d I do?” Calhan asked glancing around at the rest of them.

Gerad just stood up and headed out the entrance, “Come on, let’s go back to the fortress.”

The others groaned but got up and followed after him. Dahrin fixed Ludd’s body to the camel’s back then grabbed its reins. None of them felt in good spirits, somehow they all felt like they had lost something in that battle. The sun was setting as they made their way across the dunes toward what they hoped would be some rest.

 

Nabooru sent two servants to prepare baths and bandages for the children when she caught sight of their state while they were still a distance off. As she peered through the spy glass in the fading light from the setting sun, the deep red of its rays was a fitting tribute to their walk of defeat.

The group made it to the fortress gates and were helped to the baths by assistants. Dahrin refused help as he took down Ludd’s body from the camel and walked away by himself. Nabooru silently motioned the assistants to let him be as she watched her son’s stiff shoulders as they dwindled with distance. She turned her attention back to the other children and Calhan.

 

Dahrin sat alone in his and Ludd’s alcove. They had held a funeral service for Ludd and had cremated the corpse following traditions. Dahrin felt so empty inside, he had lost his brother and his grandmother all in the same day.

“How sad, now I have no toys to play with.” Bai whispered in Dahrin’s ear.

“I will kill you.” Dahrin promised her through gritted teeth.

“Oh, promises, promises. Are empty till filled.” Bai taunted in a sing-song tone, “I crave amusement.”

Dahrin glared at her apparition as it floated into a kneeling position in front of him. Bai leaned on Dahrin’s knees and stared into his amber eyes that were filled with hate.

“Oh, now isn’t this amusing.” Bai giggled, “Seems you have a friend in your head as well.”

Bai leaned forward and put her lips next to Dahrin’s ear, “Amuse me.”

Something in Dahrin’s brain snapped.

 

‘Ah, finally.’