Moirai
Chapter 21

The sound ofbirds gently twittering in time with the wind woke me, but that was all theyaccomplished for a long time; I was numb, as though I had been dosed with heavypain medication. I couldn’t open my eyes or even make a finger twitch...becauseI couldn’t feel my fingers.

But...that wasimpossible, wasn’t it? Medicine of that kind only existed in the outer world.

Unless I wasn’twaking up and the numbness meant that...I was dead.

That didn’t seemvery likely either. If I was in some kind of afterlife and I could hear birds,I wouldn’t be numb.

So that meantthat I was alive. But where was I? I was certain that there were no birds forseveral miles around Indina’s castle. We hadn’t seen any flying around Drugesince leaving the forest.

I tried toexpand my senses, hoping to work out more clues about my whereabouts until Icould feel and move again. The birds were distant and I couldn’t feel any windon my face, so I didn’t think I was in the open air.

I could hear myown breathing, slow and steady, and my heartbeat. Nothing abnormal about eitherone of those, which was definitely a comfort. But there was also another set ofbreaths. Another two.

So I was notalone.

“She is showingsigns of waking, so why won’t she?”

“I don’t know.”

Both voicessounded concerned and anxious, and both were instantly recognisable.

I felt mybreathing and heart rate increase in tempo as relief flooded through me. Theywere alive. They had both made it out.

Not that I wasexactly sure how. My memories of those final minutes in Indina’s tower werelike those of a dream had long ago.

I remembered avoice, a warm, calming voice. There was a presence that accompanied that voice.I remembered it combining its aura with mine, until we were one being. Iremember the moment that Indina crumbled to dust and mentally shivered at thethought of the dark magic that must have been keeping her alive.

Then...didI...did whatever that being was heal Mayran?

It seemed so.

“Alnya? Alnya,can you hear us?”

My flurry ofemotions and memories must not have gone unnoticed, as I felt hands on my own,one large and one small. That’s when I realised that I could feel again.

I struggledthrough the last of the fog and forced my eyes open, greeted with the faces ofMayran and Loni. Both wore the exact same expression of overwhelming relief.

“How do youfeel?”

“Are youalright?”

They both askedtheir questions at the same time and I smiled tiredly.

“Exhausted, butotherwise fine.” I answered, my voice croaky and my throat feeling like it hadbeen rubbed with sandpaper. “How-what happened?”

“Just a minute,let me go and get you some water.” Loni said, realising, as always, mydistress.

“Can I sit up?”I asked as she left my field of vision. Mayran nodded and helped me leanagainst the bedpost. And then I noticed where I was. “Flowerage? Mayran, howlong has it been?”

“A week.” Hemurmured quietly, refusing to meet my eyes. “Kasanda called it amulti-aura-induced coma, but wouldn’t explain what that meant.”

I had a feeling I did, but I wanted to wait until Icould talk to Kasanda before bringing it up.

I opened mymouth to ask if she was around when I noticed that, as well as the relief onMayran’s face, I noticed that his downcast eyes held a touch of darkness, hisposture lax and a couple of lines on his face that certainly weren’t there thelast time I saw him.

“Mayran, are youalright? Were you healed properly?” I asked, hoping that there wasn’t anylasting damage. The image of the knife flying handle over blade and sinkinginto Mayran’s chest flashed through my mind, and I cringed, fighting the urgeto reach out and touch him...just to make sure his recovery was real.

He seemedsomewhat surprised at my comment. “What? Yes, I’m fine. Thanks to you,according to Loni.” He sighed and when he next opened his mouth and told me thetruth, I felt a rush of gratitude that the trust and understanding we had builthad not faded. “When...when I woke up we were still in the tower. Loni was nextto you and you weren’t...moving.”

Just then Loniherself walked back in, holding a cup full of water. “Sorry,” She apologisedquickly, “Everyone wanted to know if you were awake and then had about abazillion questions once I told them you were.” She handed me the cup, which Idrank eagerly as it soothed my aching throat.

Mayran lookedover at her. “I was just telling Alnya about what happened after she...aftershe collapsed.”

Loni instantlysobered, “Yes, you had us so worried. You were completely unresponsive. We gotyou out of the tower and as far away as we could without our horses, who hadvanished, but you still wouldn’t even stir. So we scried Kasanda, who was stillhere in Flowerage, and she got the Praesul to combine their auras and transportthe three of us here. As I presume Mayran told you, that was a week ago.”

The ghost of asmile crossed Mayran’s lips. “We were both stubborn. Even though every dayKasanda assured us that you would be fine, we continued to work ourselves intothe ground with worry.”

“You shouldn’thave done.” I told him, but he shook his head.

“Alnya, afterwhat you did...you deserve everything.”

I flushed,looking down. “It wasn’t entirely me.”

“What do youmean?”

“Is Kasandaaround? I would prefer her to be here when I explain...because I still don’tfully understand myself.” I confessed.

*~*~*

An hour later, Ihad been left alone to absorb everything that Kasanda had told me.

She had soundedvery confidant when informing me that the presence who had helped me defeatIndina...was the Great Aura herself. I hadn’t believed her at first, butKasanda brought me up short by asking, “Who do you think gave me the vision andchose you in the first place?”

Once I acceptedthe truth of her words, I was extremely shell-shocked for several seconds,before the awe and humbleness replaced it. I again went over the exactly whatthe Aura had told me, especially about us having met before. Kasanda didn’tknow what that had meant, and I believed her.

I refrained fromenquiring as to what it was the King of the Naiads and Loni thought she washiding from me, mostly because by that stage I was feeling a bit light-headedagain.

Despite the factthat I had been unconscious for a week, I found myself drifting into a doze notlong after Loni, Mayran and Kasanda had left. I didn’t fight it. When I wokeagain, I was taken to the Praesul and congratulated. I didn’t really feeldeserving of the praise, as I would not have succeeded if it wasn’t for theGreat Aura. I said so, but all four Praesul reassured me that the Aura wouldnot have helped anyone else, had they gone up against Indina. That, they said, was what the prophecyhad been about. I had been brave enough to get there, they said, and that wasan achievement enough.

We remained inFlowerage for several more days, letting us all recover fully. Mayran, Loni andI all stayed together almost constantly during those days. I knew that I wasn’tthe only one who didn’t want the others out of my sight for too long; we hadbeen through too much.

Mayran claimednot to remember much between being taken by the Erkings and waking up afterIndina’s death, but I didn’t fully believe that. In those few days, I could seethat he was slightly more fragile than before. There was an almostimperceptible flinch whenever Indina’s name was mentioned, and he avoided thetopic completely if he could help it.

I didn’t blamehim. I was the same.

The morningeventually came where we all met up outside the house of the Praesul, for itwas them who were going to save us the long journey back and teleport us.

“We wish you asafe journey home and, finally, some peace.” Aurora said to us all. Her gazesettled on me. “We know you have heard this many times, but what you have donefor Renenta can never be repaid.”

The other threenodded in agreement.

Then, betweenblinks, we were suddenly standing in the familiar setting of Kasanda’s livingroom.

Loni,understandably, wanted to head home immediately and I decided to follow her.

Roald and Amber,upon opening the door and seeing us both standing there, instantly shriekedwith glee and relief. Amber grabbed Loni and started crying, while Roaldushered us inside and clapped me on the back, grinning broadly.

“You’re safe!You’re both safe!” Amber gasped, releasing Loni and pulling me in for a hug aswell.

“And Indina isdead.” Roald added. Then, to my surprise, he did a happy little jump. “Oh,Alnya, you are incredible!”

I couldn’t stopgrinning either...but the smile fell off my face to be replaced with shockwhen, down the stairs, walked my own mother.

“Wh...what areyou doing here?!” I cried, completely confused.

Mum smiled downat me, but she also had a slightly guilty look. “Is that how you greet me afterover a month?”

I blinked,before remembering myself. I was in her arms in a second, tears falling from myown eyes in seconds. She was crying too, and we held each other close forseveral minutes. I noticed Loni and her parents retreat upstairs to give us ourtime.

We went and satdown at the kitchen table.

“How did you gethere?” I asked.

The guilty lookreturned to her face and she looked down. “There are...things I haven’t toldyou, Alnya. Things that Kasanda instructed me not to tell you.” She paused fora moment. “How far back can you remember?”

“Until I wasabout five, why?” I had no idea what she was getting at.

She nodded.“That’s right, because when you were six years old, Indina finally heard thatyou were the one and used her aura against you, trapping you in a coma. Kasandatold us that she couldn’t bring you out of it. Apparently it would have lastforever, or until Indina could risk coming here and killing you herself. Weknew we had to save you. The only way to do that, was to send you out.”

“What do youmean, ‘coming here’?” I could tell what she was getting at...but that wasimpossible!

“You were bornhere, Alnya, in the book-world.”