Akia
Akia apologized to Falyn. She had to. After she had
woken, she wasn’t in all that great of a mood. She hadn’t meant to snap at
Falyn, sounding so mean and heartless. It just came out that way.
“You really don’t have to apologize,” Falyn said
sheepishly. “It’s all me. I’m just frustrated right now. There’s so much that I
want to know. Can we just get away from here? Start over new in Lightport?
Please.”
Akia had to bite her lip to keep herself from telling
Falyn everything. There was a lot of information that Falyn should’ve known at
that point, but Akia couldn’t say anything; Phillip had forbid it.
Once they got everyone together, they started their
journey again. Despite the confidence Akia had, there was still a flicker of
doubt in her. Niro wasn’t one to just give up. After years of fighting
against him, she knew that he wasn’t just going to leave her alone. He always finished a job.
And that’s what scared her.
They had left Archie behind once again. This time it was for
good. Falyn was the one who told them to leave him. It seemed like her final
decision and Akia was more than happy to move on. The final goodbye was a lot
less tearful this time since Falyn had finally accepted that Archie was not her
real father.
“I’m done with this hurt,” Falyn had said. “My real
father wouldn’t do this to me.”
It didn’t take long for them to reach the Sumner River.
By that time Sam had fallen in step beside Akia. He kept opening his mouth as
if he wanted to tell her something, but always shut it before anything came
out. She knew that there were things that he wanted to talk to her about, but
they’d be best discussed in private. There was enough that Falyn wanted to know
already. No doubt if she caught them sharing secrets she’d only have more
questions.
Just as they were about to rush out of the woods and
across the river, Mina stopped them all. “There are guards everywhere! How are
we gonna get through?”
Akia motioned for them to be quiet while she snuck
forward a bit. Looking up and down the river, she realized that Mina was right.
She could see a guard every few hundred feet. To her surprise, they were
wandering around, talking amongst each. They didn’t look like soldiers guarding
the river.
“Why are they just standing there,” Sam asked. “Shouldn’t
they be actually be doing their job?”
“There isn’t much to do,” Falyn commented. “No mage would
ever dare come close to the river. They’re all too scared that they’ll blow up
or something if they try to cross the river.”
“Why even have guards then?” Sam asked. Falyn shrugged and
fell silent. There had been a certain coolness hanging between Falyn and Sam
ever since Akia had appeared in Agathi. She had noticed it, but she didn’t have
time to deal with it. They’d figure it out eventually.
Just as Akia was about to ask for suggestions on how to
get around the soldiers, each of the soldiers straightened. As she watched,
they all held a walkie-talkie to their ear.
“All soldiers on high alert. Breakout possible. Code 726.
All soldiers report to Sumner. I repeat: all soldiers report to Sumner.”
The message sounded broken up and crackly as it came
through the speakers of the walkie-talkies. The soldiers seem to take the
message very seriously. They all straightened and reached for their weapons.
Akia watched as they stood at attention just feet away from the river, looking
out towards the woods. She cursed under her breath.
“What are we supposed to do now?” She asked.
“Use a shield.” Zeke suggested. She turned to glare at
him. “Don’t give me that look; it’s a good idea. All we have to do is wrap
ourselves in a shield and cross over the river.”
“Or we could just—”
Before Akia could finish her thought, another message
came over the walkie-talkies. “Abort, abort! All soldiers report to base! All
soldiers to base!”
“Why does that sound so close?” Akia asked out loud.
“It’s ‘cause I have one.” Falyn responded. Akia whirled
around to see her holding one in the palm of her hand. It was the same black,
blue color of the ones that the soldiers were holding. “It’s Archie’s. He’s not
gonna miss it. He’ll be lucky to even get free of that tree we strapped him to.”
Akia grinned. Maybe Falyn was going to be an asset after
all. She wasn’t so sure when they had first met. Falyn had seemed to be just a
quiet, scared girl. But she was turning out to be so much more.
Once the guards had cleared out, rushing passed the group
and disappearing into the woods, Akia stepped out of the woods. Looking up and
down the river again, she realized there were no soldiers left and waved on her
companions.
“I can’t believe they just left like that,” Mina
commented. “You’d think they’d at least leave someone to guard this place.”
“Obviously they’re idiots,” Falyn muttered. “Let’s go.”
Just as she took a step forward, Zeke reached out and placed a hand on her
shoulder. Akia saw her stiffen.
“Wait.” Zeke crouched to the ground and found a rock.
Straightening up, he chucked it toward the river. It hit the protection spell
and bounced to the ground. But what was interesting wasn’t the fact that the
rock didn’t make it through; Akia knew the spell would stop it. Anything from
Agathi would be blocked by the spell.
What really got to her was when the rock hit it, creating a
chain reaction of blue lights, high energy. The soldiers hadn’t left the river
unguarded after all. They had added another layer to the spell. And it wasn’t
something easily broken.
“Is that what I think
it is?” Sam asked.
“Yes,” Zeke responded. “Azure pellets. They’ll keep us
all in. There’s only one way out.”
Akia’s heart pounded. She was afraid that the Othir would
result to using Azure pellets. They were tiny pellets of purely evil energy,
used only in dire emergencies.
She knew exactly what the answer would be, but she couldn’t
stop herself from asking the question anyway. “And what’s that? How do we get
out?”
Zeke looked at her, a look of sorrow in his eyes. She
couldn’t tell if it was genuine emotion or not, but his voice was solid as ever
as he said, “Someone has to soak up the energy, make it focus on them instead
of the protection spell. And chances are that person isn’t going to make it
across alive.”
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For the LMS contest. Word Count: 1,127
It's good that everyone is finally beginning to see her talents and capabilities, and that she isn't just a burden to them. ^.^
Like Deanie said, I'm glad I'm reviewing late and can find out right away. I agree with Akia about Fakyn, she's gotten so much stronger and smarter! Im mad at myself because I can't get a decent review in. I just want to keep going! This chapter is awesome, but the end is starting to make me sad! I wanna know what happens, so off I go! Talk to ya in a minute!
Points: 279
Reviews: 240
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