The Guardian Crusade

Volume III

  Chapter 13

Nick sat on the grass at the Hevi training fields, his legs were stretched out in front of him, his arms stretched out behind him, his body resting on his hands.  He watched Nalia as she went through some basic sword techniques but his mind was on the night before.  It had been a while since they had made love. The tension between them after Rayne dying, then her being kidnapped by Rossi and then the tragic attack on her by his Father; he wondered if they would ever be together like that again.  He wondered everything that had happened would be too much for them and it would split them apart but after last night, his fears were put to rest.  He smiled when she spun around and thrusted the sword into the haystack, a direct hit.

“Awesome Nali” He said with a proud smile. 

“Well thank you Nick but a haystack is hardly a moving target.” She replied as she turned in his direction.

“See stop that.” Nick said as he stood up from the grass.  “Whether it’s moving or not you still can’t see it, you gotta think positive, stay confident and believe that you can still fight like you use too.”

“You have so much confidence in me.” Nalia replied as he walked over to her.

“Because I know you and I know you can do this.” He said as he took her hand.  A smile broke across her lips and it made him smile, it was something he hadn’t seen in a while and he missed it.  “So do you wanna practice some more?”

“No” She replied shaking her head.  “I am getting a little hungry.”

“Me too come to think of it.” He said as she slipped her sword into the sash behind her back.

He took her hand and they began to walk out of the training fields but then out of no where a sharp pain pierced down Nick’s back and he let go of her hand as he gasped out in pain. He dropped to the ground as Nalia called out for him.  His eyes closed as he felt the pain get stronger as it rippled down his back.

“Help!!” He heard Nalia scream.

Nick tried to stand up but his legs were numb and he collapsed to the ground again.  The pain was unbearable and he was finding it harder to breath.  He opened his eyes and looked up just as a bunch of guards were heading for him.  Again he tried to get up but he fell once more.

“Nick what is going on?” Nalia said her voice filled with fear and panic.

He tried to say something although he really didn’t know but he couldn’t speak, the pain now covering his chest and pushing the air from his lungs.

“We need a Priest now!” The man shouted.

“What is going on?” He heard Nalia ask frantically.

“Get Princess Nalia out of here now!” The same voice said sternly.

“No, I am not leaving him!” Nalia shouted.  “Tell me what has happened to him?”

“He has been shot with an arrow Mi’lady now please get to safety.”

“An arrow?” Nick thought as Nalia gasped out the words at the same time.

“He is not breathing we need that Priest!” The guard said.

“Not breathing?” Nalia shouted in shock.

“Oh god I’m not breathing” Nick thought to himself.  He couldn’t feel his legs, he couldn’t feel his hands, and he couldn’t tell if he was actually still breathing but then why could he still hear them.  He tried to sit up but nothing happened, he tried to open his eyes and nothing happened, his brain wasn’t working, it wasn’t telling his body what to do.

“I think it is too late.” He another guard say.

“What?” Nalia gasped.

“Too late?” Nick thought.

“What do you mean to late?” Nalia asked and he heard her voice crack.

“I-I am sorry Princess but Prince Nickolas is dead.” The man said in a somber tone.

“Dead!?” Nick thought but his body gave no reaction.

“No…” He heard Nalia gasped.  “No no no no.” She pleaded over and over.  He couldn’t feel her face against his but he knew she was close, he could hear her whispers in his ear.  “No, Nickolas, please no.” She cried her cries were almost screams.

Alright enough was enough, he needed to get up and show her he wasn’t dead, that this guard was some kind of idiot but no matter how much he tried to fight, or thought that he was fighting it, nothing happened.  He lied there motionless as Nalia’s screams for him to return to her echoed in his ears.  Even when someone took her away Nick could still hear her screaming for him, screaming in disbelief that he was actually gone but he wasn’t he knew he wasn’t, he could hear everything going on around him.

Soon he could hear the voices of Priests and guards talking about what was going on.  There was an arrow in his back, almost right in the middle.  They had taken Nalia back to the Palace and informed Queen Eva what was going on.  It wasn’t long after that, that they started to move him.  Not that he could feel them picking him up and carrying him somewhere but he could hear the different sounds of the city as they walked through.  He could hear the gasp of the people as they saw him being carried through the city.  Nick wondered if he was covered up, was he on a carrying board or was someone carrying him and then with the shutting of a door there was silence.

Is this what death was like? Is this what death was like here?  Was this really it? And his mind race with emotion as he tried to figure out what was going on.  He wanted to cry but he couldn’t, he wanted too yell out to everyone that he could hear them, that he wasn’t dead but he couldn’t.  Then in what seemed like an eternity he heard the door open again and then he heard a familiar gasp but this wasn’t Nalia, this gasp, this cry was AJ.

“Do you see…do you see anything Rayne?” His friend’s voice asked and Nick realized Rayne must have been with him.

“No” Rayne said and he could hear the sadness in her voice.  “No Alex I do not, I am so sorry.” She said as AJ began to cry.

Then he heard the door open again.  “Please Rayne tell me you see it?” He heard Nalia ask.  He didn’t hear Rayne answer but he heard Nalia start to cry again, she must have shaken her head. 

“Bullshit!” He heard Kevin shout and then a commotion around him.  A flurry of voices shouted at each other but then they were all blocked out as he once again as he heard Nalia’s voice close to his ear.

“You promised you would be here, you promised me you would help me through this, now what am I going to do.” She cried softly but he was still here, he could hear them all of them.

“Come Nalia, we should leave him be.” He heard Rayne say.

“No, I-I do not want to leave him yet.” Nalia cried.  “I am not ready to let him go.”

As she cried her voice got further away and he realized she was leaving the room.  When the door closed he was stuck in silence again.  This wasn’t heaven, this had to be hell, why was he in hell, he was a Guardian, he helped this place he saved this place, and this was the thanks he gets an eternity of silence.  What happens when they burry him? Was he just going to lie there in a box six feet under the ground forever?

He had no idea what time or how long it had been when he heard the door open again but what happened next he really wasn’t expecting.  There were footsteps shuffling across the floor but they weren’t regular footsteps, they were lighter, and if it hadn’t been for the nothing going on around him, the fact he couldn’t even hear himself breath he probably wouldn’t have even heard it at all.

“So, are ye sure he’s alive?” He heard the voice say.

That accent he had heard that somewhere before.

“Aye, he be alive.” The other voice said.

Dwarves.

“Then we betta get him outta here before they see us, the Queen will be waitin’ on us.” The first voice said and then he heard a commotion of people moving around him. 

“Aye put it right where Nickolas was.” He heard a Dwarf say.

“Put what where?” He wondered.  When he heard the wind in his ear he knew he was outside and even though he didn’t know what exactly was going on, he was even more confident now that he wasn’t dead.  He made sure he listened to the things around him wondering where they were taking him.  When he heard the rustling of trees and bushes he knew he was on the outside of the city.

“To bad we can not change him back to a Dwarf, he be a lot easier to carry.” The one Dwarf said.

“Aye, he be a heavy one.” The other Dwarf answered back and Nick resented that remark a little, sure he was a little chunky when they first came but he had actually lost a good amount of weight.

“How come the Druid never saw past this trick?” The first Dwarf asked.

“Thee Queen said it would make him appear dead.” The other said as his tongue rolled the r.  “No breath, no movement and no aura.” So it was them, they shot him in the back with an arrow and now everyone thought he was dead.  “And now that we’ve switched him out with a real dead body to look like Prince Nickolas there will be no questions.”

Nalia…

“Aye here we be.” The one Dwarf said and Nick heard the scrapping of stone and the echo of a cave.

“Where are we takin’ him?” The other asked.

“Right to thee Queen she can wake him up.” The first one answered.

“Ya do not think he would attack when she does?”

“She’ll keep him paralyzed.” The first Dwarf said.

“And then what?”

“And then he will learn who he truly is and then so will everyone else.” The first Dwarf replied and they both started laughing.

“This can’t be good…” He thought as he heard Mela clap with delight as the Dwarves brought him to her.

Rayne slowly closed the door over to Nalia’s room.  Her friend was still crying, lying in her bed calling out for Nick.  She frowned at the closed door, hearing and even sensing the sadness her friend, her best friend was going through.  Rayne could feel all the sadness around her.  Alexander’s, his friends and everyone else who knew Nickolas but there was something not quite right about all of this, there was still something there.  She didn’t know what it was but something inside her was telling her this was wrong, that Nickolas was alive.  When Mela died or they thought she had died she felt it, she knew it but with Nick, it felt like he was still there. 

She walked down the hall towards the globe to Winnol, when she felt someone come up from behind her.  When she turned around she saw Kevin standing at the top of the stairs.

“Kevin?” She said as he stared at Nalia’s door.

“Is Nalia in there?” He asked.  She frowned at his face, his eyes puffy and red from the tears, his lip still quivered as he fought back more tears.

“Yes but she is sleeping or trying too.” Rayne replied.

“Oh, well I guess I’ll let her sleep.” Kevin said as he turned to go back down the stairs.

“Are you coming to Winnol?” She asked.

“No, everyone wants to stay here, be here for Nalia.” Kevin told her.

“I am sorry” Rayne said as Kevin stopped and looked at her.  He flashed her a crooked smile, a sad smile and then continued to walk down the stairs.

Again the feeling came back to her, the feeling that something wasn’t right about all of this.  Changing directions she walked over to the window at the end of the hall, the window that faced and looked out over the training fields.  She opened the window and looked at the large area of grass, hay and other objects to help the students learn to wield their talent.  Then like a flash of lighting in front of her eyes an image flashed into her head. She was in a tree looking down at the ground below, she saw Dwarves and they were carrying a body.  They were struggling a little with it and she peered to try and get a closer look.

“Nickolas.” She whispered and then just as fast as it came it was gone.  Quickly she spun around and ran down the hall to the stairs.  She flew through the lobby and down the right hallway, she ran all the way down to the end and pushed on the big heavy wooden door.  Skipping steps she ran down the stairs that led to under the Palace and then down a damp stone corridor.  Stopping in front of a large wooden door she looked at the Guards protecting it.

“You’re Highness?” The one man said.

“I-I would like to check one more time.” She said and the guard nodded.

“I truly hope you see something, the loss of Prince Nickolas is some what hard to believe.” The man said as he opened the door.

“Yes, yes it is.” She replied as the door opened.  Rayne walked in and frowned when she saw Nickolas lying there, pale, motionless, and most defiantly dead.  She sighed a little in frustration, that image had given her hope.  Why did she see it, who or what showed it too her.

“Pixca, what is going on?” She whispered.  “Tell me why I feel that Nickolas is still alive.”

“Because he is.” Pixca said from behind her and she spun around.

She stared at the Elvaan woman.  “He is?”

“Yes, a trick much like with Mela, to make you think he is dead.” Pixca told her.  The Elvaan then looked at the body on the table.  “That is not him, switched before the guards took up their duty outside this room.

“I need to tell Nalia.” Rayne said quickly.

“No” Pixca said and Rayne stopped dead in her tracks.

“Pardon?” She replied confused, trying to keep her voice down so the Guards didn’t hear her talking to herself.

“They will know soon enough that he is not dead, you must let life play out.” The creator said as Rayne walked up to her.

“What do you mean?” Rayne asked still confused.  “He is like a brother to Alexander, he is the love of Nalia’s life and you want me to say nothing?”

“Yes” Pixca said.  “You must let life play out; you must let what is going to happen, happen.”

“If I must do this then I want to ask something of you.” Rayne said sternly.

“And what is that?” Pixca asked.

“Is the man at the Healing Springs truly Dyn?” Rayne asked.

“Yes” Pixca told her with a small smile. “Can you not tell by his Aura?”

Yes but…I just was not sure.” Rayne said knowing what she saw was truly Dyn. “Did you?” Rayne started to say but Pixca cut her off.

“No, I did not, he was still alive, it was like you thought, Ignis broke the Drain spell, and when you tossed him over board unconsciously he kept himself alive as he floated to shore.” Pixca told her.  “He stayed in a cave along the shore, remembering what he had done, knowing he could not go home he stayed there until the fisherman found him, the only trick there was him making the fishermen think he was unconscious worried about what would happen when he got back to Winnol.”

“This can not be good.” Rayne sighed and Pixca disappeared.