Chapter Five

Samara

I could feel Ewan’s fear radiating off him like a flame as we made our way out of Curio and on towards the path that would lead to my home.

He rambled a lot, mumbling incoherent things under his breath—I was sure they were all negative comments regarding our current situation. I did feel a twinge of remorse at having to use my powers of persuasion on him. I didn’t like commanding people to do things unnecessarily, but when the need is great, I have little to no choice in the matter. And now of all times, the need was great.

“I’m sorry,” I told the back of his scaly head. I allowed him to go ahead in front of me. Besides, even if he decided to run, I could easily stop him. “Truly.”

He turned one beady black eye towards me. “T-then, let me go. P-pleasse. I don’t want to go back there!”

I shook my head. “I can’t. I don’t know the way. I need your assistance.”

After a moment of silence, he half-wailed, “What are you anyway? I don’t know what magic you’re usssing, but I don’t like it!” When I didn’t answer, he turned on me. “Y-you’re a witch! That’ss it. Your magic can be explained no other way. Godsss… how did I manage to get tangled up with a witch!”

I couldn’t help but laugh at his ranting. It wasn’t meant to be spiteful, but by the look he gave me, I could tell he took it that way. “Perhaps you’re right.”

I don’t know what I am. I don’t know a lot of things in the grand scheme of it all. But what I did know is that Aryan needed my help. So, I put my thoughts only towards him and little else.

It was probably a little more than halfway to my home when Ewan steered me off that path and into a rarely walked trail into the dark forest. This trail saw so little traffic that I could barely make out a path as I followed Ewan.

I could see my guide fidgeting near the point of convulsion. So, I did my best to distract him from what we were doing. “What are you, Ewan?”

“H-huh?” he looked at me, concern further deepening his now obvious furrowed brow.

“Are you some sort of snake?”

He stopped dead in his trail for a moment. “You can sssee past my glamour?”

“Keeping moving… please.” His body stiffened as it was forced to follow my command. “Yes, I can. Is that a big deal?”

Ewan nodded his head like a yo-yo. “Y-yesss. Very. I don’t know any witchess that can do that.”

“Oh.” I made a face at his implication.

It was yet another type of being I can cross off my list of what I potentially am—not that the list was very lengthy to begin with.

“I’m a Januss—of the ssserpent clan.”

“Janus?”

“You really don’t know much, do you?” he questioned back with tentativeness.

Feeling a little embarrassed by my lack of knowledge, I changed the subject. “What is this place you’re taking me to—the Veil? Is it the entrance to Soren’s fortress?”

“N-no. The Veil iss the border between thisss land and my land. It’ss like a portal. A way to ssssssneak in and out of Arcanum.”

“Arcanum?”

“My land. The land where Sssoren’s fortress sssstands.”

Before I could ask another question, we came around a bend, and before me glistened a beautiful effervescent waterfall.

“Wow, this… this is lovely.”

I watched Ewan’s lips curl into a small smile at my reaction. “Y-yeah.”

I followed Ewan towards the water. He stepped on the huge stones that were scattered within its pond and stopped only when he was on a very thin and slippery piece of ledge. He waited for me to catch up, and once I was right on top of him, he hugged his body along the wall, and practically tiptoed behind the waterfall itself. It was beautiful, seeing this sheet of water careening in front of me. The water just barely touched my nose as the mist it produced from its collision to the pool beneath it formed droplets of water that was slowly soaking my shorts and legs.

After another moment of sliding along the wall, the ledge became larger, and led to a slit in the rock that brought Ewan and I to a spacious cavern that glowed a faint green from the paint along the stone corridor.

The images were of a primal nature—stick-like figures of men and women doing things I couldn’t quite discern. But something in me was telling me that this was important.

“Ewan, stop a moment.” he did as I said to look at me. “What are these drawings?”

He stared at the piece of wall I was looking at before turning his attention back to me. “All thiss,” he gestured to the cavern’s glowing gallery. “I-it’ss a ssstory. About how the Veil came to be.”

“Do you know it?” I asked, prompting him to walk alongside me so I could keep examining the art.

“The sssstory of the Veil? Sssort of. It’ss said the godsss made an entrance to another world, ssso that Jauni could live free from prosssecution. Not all of us a-are accepted, and the clanss can be tight-knit…” he drifted off, still leading the way, but thinking of something. He had a terribly haunted far-off look. “I-I don’t want to talk about thiss anymore.”

I nodded my head, respecting his wishes. “Once we’re through the cavern, is Soren’s fortress far?”

Ewan shook his head. “Not too far.”

I walked through the rest of the cavern, silent as I took in the story that surrounded the walls. It felt like it was a bit more than Ewan mentioned, but I didn’t want to be forceful on the subject, considering his notable dejection.

The tunnel felt endless, but then, suddenly, I caught an image of who I imagined was a woman. She had long string hair and held a crescent moon in one hand, a sun in the other, stars above head, and clouds beneath her feet. I don’t know what made me so drawn to this particular picture but I felt an odd warmth looking at it.

I didn’t have long to think about it though. I saw the light green of the cavern slowly fading out of my sight, just as I was losing my balance and my breath. Quickly, I called Ewan, using my gift to ensure he would stay.

“Ewan, lend me your arm.” He rushed to my side, allowing me to lean on him. Just before I lost sight of him, I said, “Do not leave my side.”

And just like that, I was taken again. 

*****

I was back in Aryan’s prison, but I was not alone. The man, I imagine is Soren, was also in the room. It was only the two of them. There were no guards, no mysterious ice-breathing woman. Nothing, but an intense silence that made my chest feel tight with trepidation.

“This is…” I shook my head, watching the two men in front of me. “This is not good.” I could feel my entire being telling me that something was going to go wrong.

Soren’s gray gaze was as stern as ever—his boyish features, that might have been quite attractive in any other situation, appeared hardened by his continued failure to get Aryan to speak. His fists were clenched very tightly behind his back, and I could tell, the second he removed his hands from their position, things were going to get very… unpleasant.

I took a step closer to Aryan. He could barely keep his glare at its full fierceness. His head nodded involuntarily—like he would lose consciousness any second. If Soren pushed him any further, I feared Aryan would not make it.

“Tell me what I need to know.” One of Soren’s hands slowly slid to the side of his body. “This is the last time I ask you.”

Aryan managed to muster up enough strength to spit at Soren’s feet.

His captor’s eyes turned to slits. He curled his shaky hand, slowly raising it up before it fell back to his side. I turned back to the prisoner, my eyes widening in shock as I watched sand slowly inch its way up his body. At the moment, it was working its way up his feet.

“When the sand covers you whole, you will become just a decoration for my home.” The sneer on Soren’s face spoke volumes of how he felt. A part of me felt sick at his actions, but another part wanted me to grasp his hand to calm him.

How strange.

“If you won’t help me, then you’re of little use to me.” Soren’s contempt beamed proudly, but for just a moment, I saw his eyes turn blurry. I wanted to examine closer, but he turned his back towards us. “Goodbye, Aryan.”

Soren left swiftly, and I turned all my attention to the man I was meant to save. Panic seized me as I watched the sand climb up Aryan’s body. It was only halfway up his feet, but each little grain sent my heart into a frenzy.

A strange energy built up inside of me. I placed my mouth near this stranger’s ear. “Stay strong, Aryan. I’m coming for you.”

His eyes were half closed, and I thought he was going to blackout. Just as I was ready to pull away from his ear for one more glimpse at his predicament, I heard a faint. “Ok…”

I backed away quickly, shock seizing me. He heard me…

Before I could test my theory, I was yanked back, the colors of my vision swirling away until it was replaced with darkness. But it wasn’t darkness that now consumed my vision. I could just make out the faint green paint of the story of the Veil, and the outline of Ewan was slowly becoming clearer.

I clenched his arm, feeling weak and out of breath, but despite this, I still tried to stand. As soon as I did, I stumbled. Ewan caught me, his eyes frightened and concerned.

“W-what’ss happening? Ssssamara? Can you hear me?”

“Yes.” I whispered, clutching on to him for a moment longer before leaning myself against the wall. “I’ll be fine, Ewan.”

He nodded at me but didn’t move.

“Thank you for your concern. I’m sorry to have put you through that. I’ll do my best to ensure it does not happen again.”

I meant what I said, but I had no guarantee for Ewan that I wouldn’t fall into another vision within the short span of time that we would travel together.

He nodded again, but this time, looked at me closer as if he were uncertain at what I was. “Doess—doesss that happen a lot to you?”

I stared straight ahead into the haunting cavern. “Yes. But Ewan, we don’t have much time left. Aryan doesn’t have much time left. We must move faster.”

“But you…”

I pushed off against the wall, and began to walk—avoiding his black, beady eyes. “I’m fine. Lead the way.”

At my request, we began to run through the Veil. I still felt a bit dizzy, but I pushed past that. There was no time to be feeble. No time to be curious of the rest of the images along the walls we zoomed by.

“W-we’re nearly beyond the Veil!” Ewan exclaimed.

And before I knew it, there was a white blinding light ahead of us.