Seekers call, p.18
Seeker's Call, page 18
"Command the quack? Are you kidding me?"
Aradia screeched and shrieked, shaking with anger. She snapped her fingers and a fire appeared beside Iviana. Nasty, obscure shapes dripping with iniquity formed within the flames, grasping for Iviana's flesh. They burned her, but she was frozen on the floor, held by Aradia's power.
She screamed in pain and whimpered with what strength she had, "Flynn..."
"Stop!" Flynn shouted with an authority he didn't know he had. "Put out your fire. I... I command it!"
Immediately the fire snuffed out and Aradia stared at the lack of it for a moment before turning herself on Flynn.
With Aradia's attention elsewhere, Iviana realized she was no longer paralyzed. Quickly, she chased after Aradia with her sword, but a translucent wraith surged at her, flinging her body mercilessly into the wall behind them and pinning her there. It breathed down her neck, taunting with a familiar voice, You'll die here, all alone.
Iviana looked beyond the cruel being and saw Aradia raise her hands in the air, as if about to strike. Searching for some way to save her friend, Iviana threw her sword to Flynn, shouting his name. Flynn's attention diverted to the sword that sliced through the iron bars and landed, gleaming, at his feet. He half-smiled at the impossibility of it and managed to snatch the sword up to make a wild stab at Aradia, but she was too swift for him and dodged so that the only puncture she received was to her arm. The woman angrily clutched at her wound and screeched again, a thousand voices in unison. Her delirious tantrum granted Flynn enough time to shred his ropes and furiously slice through the iron bars.
Having gained his freedom, Flynn ran toward Iviana (who was beginning to wonder where Naphtali had gotten that sword), but Aradia came down on him with flaming eyes. The sorceress began to chant, sending a black, pernicious force coursing over him. He screamed until unconsciousness began to overtake him and still she did not stop, a mad fervor in her inflamed eyes.
Iviana struggled with the wraith that pinned her, but it persisted in its relentless assault. No, no, you'll go mad before it comes to that, it continued its taunt. You're fragile, little Iviana.
The words filled Iviana with the rage of a lioness. "No!" she snarled, surprising herself. "I am not weak! Those who trust in the One Eternal will gain strength." She struck her foot upon the ground casting a pulse through the floor and the earth around them began to quake.
Aradia ceased her attack on Flynn as the phantom screeched away from Iviana and fled into the witch. The aged sorceress began to tremble in fear. Iviana dashed forward and reached for the sword beside Flynn, making an attempt to behead Aradia, but a sword appeared in Aradia's hands and she parried. They continued the combat as the earthen walls began to crumble and disintegrate around them. The stories of soil overhead parted and collapsed around the three.
"We will have your heart, girl. We will have your heart!" the witch chanted with her thousand voices. "You will fall before us and we will destroy those whom the Great One loves. We will destroy you, chosen one."
The voices were grotesque and Aradia was lost in their frenzy. The mad gleam in the witch's eyes was fiercer still as the sword was desperately raised over her head, ready to be brought down on Iviana. But the Seeker was faster. She plunged her weapon into the witch's side and drew it out again, prepared for the final blow.
The earth surrounding grew still and silent and the moonlit sky gleamed down upon them.
"Iviana, please," Aradia's voice returned to her, absent of the thousand voices that had been there previously. "Please, have mercy on me. You have freed me from the wretched hold of those monsters. You must help me. Have mercy on me." She sobbed into her hands.
Iviana hesitated. Aradia's voice was sincere and she could not bare to strike an innocent. Perhaps she could help Aradia find her way back from the dark path she had taken.
She knelt beside the woman and looked into her eyes. They were a rich brown now with no sign of flame. Laying her hand on the wound she had given her, Iviana spoke, "I think we can salvage it. You will not die, but I need your promise: a sacred promise. You must vow to give up your evil and follow the Great One."
"Yes, Iviana," Aradia said between sobs, "that is all I want..."
"Alright, then vow it."
"I,"—Aradia snatched Iviana's sword before she could stop her—" VOW IT!" The witch stood and kicked Iviana to the ground with the force of demonic power. Iviana struggled to stand and step out of the blade's reach, but as she did, her foot caught on a clump of fallen earth, tossing her to the ground.
Aradia laughed insanely, saying, "We will have you now!" when, suddenly, a creature appeared soaring down from the sky overhead. Iviana recognized him, but it was a few moments before the sorceress realized what had caught the Seeker's attention.
Finally, Aradia raised her head to the dragon and dryly whispered, "No, it cannot be."
Much closer now, the Great Dragon of the Ages opened his ferocious jaws, releasing a violent outcry and casting brilliant blue-white flame over the woman, reducing her to ash. The dragon floated down beside her ashes and released a long, hot breath from his nostrils, sending her away forever.
Tragor turned to Iviana who gawked at him, stunned. The Great Dragon cocked his head in question and the young woman awoke from her stupor and flew toward him. She held him in her arms as his wings slowly wrapped around her small frame and remained there for some time as tears of relief flowed over her soft cheeks.
IT WAS POURING rain when Flynn awoke to find Iviana and his sister, Laurel, standing over his bed.
"Flynn! I knew you'd be alright!" Laurel exclaimed, reaching down to give him a good squeeze. She added a light smack on his head. "I thought you were with Ivi!"
"'Be alright?" he asked, confused. "I can't remember... What happened?"
"Do you remember being held in an underground cell for a while?" Iviana asked gently.
"Yes... I think so... kind of a blur."
"How about when I found you there and Aradia lost her temper with us?" Iviana asked again.
"Yes..." he answered. "It feels like a dream. How did we make it out?"
"Tragor."
"Eh?"
"Lets just say the ground parted for the Great Dragon of the Ages."
Flynn half chuckled. "Alright. I can live with that. I assume he brought us home then." He sat up, looked around and patted his sheets. "Mmm, it's good to be here."
"I'll run and get you some lunch," Laurel offered and left the room.
Flynn turned to Iviana, saying, "Well, my lady dragon-savior, I assume you'll be taking off without me again soon?"
"No. I'm going to wait until you are well enough to travel. I'm taking you on an adventure."
"Really?" he asked cheerfully. "Well, if it includes the dragon, I'm in... except..."
"Laurel is to be married," Iviana supplied. "We'll be here for that too."
Flynn sat up straighter. "What? That was fast."
"Not really; you were gone for some time and when a gentleman came calling soon after you left... well, they've had plenty of time to court."
"How long was I gone? And who is the braggart who thinks he can marry my sister without granting me a look at him?"
"Eh, that would be me." A gentle looking man walked into the room. "And I can promise you we weren't going to wed until your return." He held out a hand to Flynn. "I'm Retrom, at your service."
"Sir Retrom of Galsbury Hall," Iviana added.
Flynn blinked. "Ah, what brought you to our humble house, Sir Retrom?"
"Just Retrom, please. It was a nasty storm that led me here. When Laurel, the darlin' she is, saw me riding through the village in the middle of a torrential downpour, she came running to offer her home to me until the rain settled."
"I assume you'll be taking her to your estate then?" Flynn asked, a little dazed by the thought. "Where might that be?"
"It's a few days ride north. I would be happy to make the trip with you when you're feeling up to it."
"Suits me fine."
Laurel entered with the meal for her brother. "You'll love it there, Flynn. The stables are nearly half the size of our little village."
"It's not so grand as all that," Sir Retrom assured.
"Well, I see a great deal has taken place since I've been, uh, away," Flynn stated, almost with a sigh. "I trust your decision, Laurel, and I think I like the man already, if it's worth anything."
"It means alot, Flynn," Laurel beamed. She began to tear up and ran out of the room. Her fiance followed.
"Alright, then, Ivi..." said Flynn. "Tell me of this grand adventure."
After Iviana shared the whole of her stay in the strange realm of the Greater Archipelagos, she broke the news she'd been dying to share with him.
"When we were in Aradia's lair, and your words had such an uncanny affect on her actions... I realized that you had a Great Gift and that there was actually a reason we kept running into each other. You were truly the one I was seeking. You are the next Realm Leader of the Greater Archipelagos."
Surprisingly, Flynn struggled to believe not in the existence of another world, but that he could possibly be the next chosen leader of it, chosen by some mysterious being called the Great One.
"I don't understand," he said. "Am I supposed to be related to these people somehow?"
Iviana nodded. "I can't say how, but I'm guessing it's in your ancestry somewhere along the line."
"It would explain why that crimson door in your cave gave me the willies. Felt like it was calling to me. Guess some part of me knew it was familiar. I didn't get a chance to try it, though. Boy, would I have been shocked by what was on the other side."
"It called to you? It wouldn't even let me through."
"Why ever not?" Flynn seemed irritated by the fact.
"Nimua—a friend of mine—said they don't allow people to enter the realm who haven't been born there even if they're kin—at least not without permission. Maybe the door knew it... somehow."
"How could a door know something like that?"
"I don't know. There's a lot about that door I don't understand. Actually, the whole realm is still a question in itself."
Flynn suddenly looked a little shocked. "Ivi..." he said.
"What's the matter?"
"Do you think I could have been born there then?"
"I-I suppose so. You would know better than I."
"I don't know. My parents were rather odd people, now I think about it, and they weren't altogether forthcoming, I remember, though they were warm. At any rate, they died when I was twelve. They never said anything about, well, you know... another world."
"Now I wish you could have tried the door, just to be certain."
"I know. But, Ivi, how do you know that I'm supposed to be this great leader?"
She shrugged. "My gift... and yours. I guess they would call you a... a Speaker, perhaps. Like I said, when you spoke to Aradia, she listened, as if she was doing so against her will. Your words had surprising power and I just knew. The Seeker's fire was what had been leading me to you, to Tragor and to the Greater Archipelagos. I just never realized it."
"But... why me? I didn't know the place, some other universe, existed until now and lets just say, I don't think I'm exactly leader material."
"Apparently, the Great Once thinks otherwise."
Flynn heaved a breathe in. "I suppose I'll have to speak with this Great One then and give Him a good talking to."
Iviana smirked. "I don't know if you're aloud to do that, friend."
That night, Flynn had a dream in which a mysterious winged messenger of the Great One shared some of what the Great One had in store for him. He refused to share anymore with anyone, but it seemed to change his person and everything he had previously believed.
He confessed to Iviana that he was willing to travel with her to see this land, saying, "I suppose you may be right about my calling... and I will try to live up to it."
"Good lad," Iviana replied.
The next couple of months consisted of recovery and wedding preparations, until the blessed day arrived. Laurel wore an exquisite white gown and was drenched in flowers and jewels from head to toe. Her smile glowed brightly when she strolled down the isle toward her betrothed, whose smile shown just as bright.
"If it were any man but him, I could not bare giving her up," Flynn told Iviana after the ceremony, while he packed his things for their journey.
They stayed that night at Sir Retrom's estate and the next morning were waved goodbye by Laurel and her new husband.
"I wish you were coming with, Laurel," Flynn said when he hugged his sister goodbye.
"Me too," she told him. "I may visit someday, if they'll have me."
Flynn hopped on the dragon before Iviana had a chance to. "You ready, beasty?" he asked. Tragor snuffed smoke into the air. "Maybe you ought to hop on Ivi..." Flynn said hesitantly. "Quick."
Iviana laughed and hugged her friends before leaping onto Tragor's back. The two shouted farewells as the dragon lifted off the ground, his great wings stirring the ground beneath them
"WHAT WAS THAT THING?" Flynn asked breathlessly after they were thrown out of the swirling vortex.
"I don't know," Iviana answered simply. "My guess is it's the only way a dragon can get from one realm to the other since they can't fit through the door. I have yet to inquire about how it all works."
Flynn gasped when he saw the view of the Greater Archipelagos below him. "My... isn't that grand."
Iviana agreed.
"It's even prettier than Laurel's eyes... and your curly hair." He gave it a tug.
"Not that pretty."
"Which island are we headed for?"
"It's the northern-most island so it's not in view yet. Give him a few minutes; we'll be there soon."
When at last they landed on the shore of the Isle of Dragons, Flynn danced around in the sand shouting his excitement. Unable to believe he was truly in another world, he ran over to the water and gasped before lapping some of it into his mouth.
"This is delicious!"
Iviana bent and drank some as well. It did taste good.
"Like honey," Flynn commented.
"Ivi?" a voice spoke, rising out the water.
Iviana jumped. "Oh, Nico!"
"Uh, what are you doing here?" Nico asked her. "I'm fairly certain you've been banished."
Flynn looked at Iviana quizzically.
"It doesn't count until they've said it to my face," she decided.
Nico froze when he saw the man Iviana had brought with her. "They're not going to like that," he said.
"They had better," Iviana retorted. "He is the next Realm Leader of the Great Archipelagos."
"Oh... so you found him. From which island do you come?" Nico asked him.
"Er, it's hard to say..." Flynn replied.
"Nico," Iviana interrupted. "Do you know where Naii is?"
"I think she's with the council right now."
"Thanks. Come on, Flynn."
Nico ran and stood in front of them. "I wouldn't do that, Ivi. Wait until Naii's at home... alone."
Iviana ignored him and marched toward the Hall of the Council.
The doors of the council hall flew open by the might of Iviana's hands and she strolled directly to the middle of the great room. Flynn followed closely behind.
The room was stunned silent until Naii recognized who had entered. "Iviana!" she shouted, relieved to find her alright.
Iviana smiled at her and mouthed, "I'm sorry."
Kurnin stood to his feet. "That girl! Quickly, grab her!" he commanded.
No one moved. All were looking to Rhimesh for what was to be done. She sat quietly smiling. "Kindly take your seat, Kurnin," she said absently as she looked directly at Iviana. Then she asked, "I trust you had a pleasant trip?"
"Yes."
Rhimesh gestured to Flynn, who was behind Iviana. "Who is this you have with you?"
"Oh, this is Flynn." Iviana stepped aside to grant the Realm Leader a clear view of the tall man.
He gave a gallant bow to the ageless woman.
"He is not an islander?" Rhimesh asked.
"He has not grown up in the Greater Archipelagos, no."
Gasps filled the room as they realized the law that prohibited an "outsider" to enter without express permission had been broken twice within the same year.
The smile on Rhimesh's face did not fade. She asked,"What is his significance here?"
Iviana took a step forward, looking only at the Realm Leader. "I have used my Seeker's gift... and have found the one who is called to be the future Realm Leader of the Greater Archipelagos."
Kurnin smashed his fist against his armrest and shouted, red-faced, "This is an outrage!"
The room filled with shouts and murmurs just as it had the first time Iviana had been in the hall, though twice as loud.
Naii gave Rhimesh a pleading look and mouthed, "Rhimesh, please."
Rhimesh's booming voice filled the room, "Alright. Settle down, settle down." The council immediately grew quiet at her command. "Iviana, will you please tell us of your journey? I would dearly like to hear about it."
Iviana nodded. "The night I left, I followed my gift... the burning..."
Kurnin stood and shouted at her, "And why did you leave without permission from your council?"
Rhimesh waved a hand at him and he sat down, but Iviana turned to him. "You are not my council. Therefore, I did not need permission to leave. Had I waited for it, however, I know full well I would never have been aloud to use the gifts the Great One has bestowed upon me." Kurnin looked to Rhimesh for permission to respond, but Rhimesh ignored him and waited on Iviana to continue.
"I followed my gift and it led me to the... what do you call it?"
"Portal?" Rhimesh supplied.
"To the portal and into my home world. Once there, I was led to the lair of Aradia-"
"Impossible!" someone yelled.
Rhimesh raised her brows in surprise. "She is alive?"
"No," Iviana answered, "but she was. It seems she had spotted Tragor and me with this man." She gestured to Flynn. "She used her craft to kidnap and hold him within her home." She relayed the story of Aradia's plot and eventual defeat.
