Gabrielle was back at Elega waiting for evening to come, she was at the sanctuary with everyone. Skyler, Drake and Pain were there, as well as Fira and Lunara. Drake and Lunara awkwardly sat together while Pain and Fira were chatting away with her and Skyler.
"You never told me that you two went to prom together! That's so cute! I remember going to prom with Skyler, though we never kissed." She put her lips to the cup of tea that Fira had provided. Skyler was chewing another snickerdoodle that Fira had made as well.
"So why are we all here again?" Drake looked uncomfortable but also gave cues like he wanted to say something.
"I thought it'd be nice to have a little party together, and Fira agreed." She pointed to Fira, who waved as she got another cup of tea.
"I made the snacks." She put a hand to her face and went and sat down next to Pain, who had his more comfortable lower jaw on.
"I wish I could have some, can you put some in a bag for later?" He pointed to his jaw and frowned.
"Oh yeah, I forgot you can't have food with that in, sorry sweetie." She looked at him, visibly remorseful.
"Oh no, it's fine, as long as you save some tea and cookies for me for later." He turned his frown into a smile.
"He's used to eating later," Skyler said after gulping down the rest of the cookie he was working on.
"I'm surprised you're hungry still after our dinner." She turned to him and he coughed.
"Ah, I uh. Got some stuck in my throat." Skyler coughed again and took a swig of tea.
"You're a bottomless pit, you know that?" She giggled and patted his back.
"Demon, remember? Demons have big appetites." Skyler smiled and bit into another cookie.
"I can see that." She giggled again.
"Drake is half-demon, I don't even wanna think about how much Dr. Gage spends on food." Skyler shook his head.
"Hey, I used to eat like a normal person up until a few years ago." Drake huffed.
"Couldn't keep mother's blood in, not after what happened." Skyler's smile faded.
"I don't like talking about it, you know that." Drake folded his arms and furrowed his brow.
'Sorry, sorry." Skyler raised his hands.
"It's fine, you two, cool it." Pain mediated the two arguing boys.
"Understood." Drake sighed.
"What time is it?" Gabrielle asked Skyler.
"It's almost time, we should wrap up." Skyler got up and brushed the cookie crumbs off of his clothes.
Everyone said their goodbyes and parted ways. Gabrielle went with Fira and Lunara back to the castle. Once inside, she rushed to bed. She lied down, and waited to wake up. Time passed, and she wondered why she wasn't waking up yet. A knock came, so she sat up.
"Who is it?" She wondered why someone would be trying to contact her in between like that.
"It's Shai." Shai opened the door, a white key in her claws. She did remember to lock the door, but she knew Shai had a key, since she was one of the owners of the castle itself.
"What is it?" She got up and put on her slippers.
"We have a problem. Come outside, you will see it." Shai pointed out of the doorway.
They went outside, and looked out, the sky was still evening. Fira ran up behind them.
"Why haven't I been able to wake up yet?' Fira whispered with fear in her voice.
"Someone cast a spell that has trapped Elega in evening." Shai closed her eyes and shook her head slowly.
"That's terrible! I have to call Skyler." Her first thought was to call him, and see if he was awake yet too. She summoned the flip phone that Zlyena gave her and gave Skyler a dial.
"Hello? Gabby? What's going on?" Skyler's voice on the other voice soothed her anxiety.
"Someone cast a spell that is keeping us from waking up." She tried to stay strong but her voice still shook despite her wanting to keep it together.
"Fuck! I'll be right over! Don't move, don't do anything until I get there!" Skyler shouted, a boom came from the other end, signifying that he hit something.
"Are you in Elega right now?" She was worried he wouldn't be able to get to her if he wasn't.
"Yeah, my portal spells aren't working. I gotta fly over. Love you. Goodbye," he said.
"I Love you too, bye." She hung up.
She waited for him to show up, and eventually saw his form in the distance. She ran up to the gate to meet him. She shouted for the gatekeepers to preemptively open the gate, that it was her husband who was arriving. They opened the gate, and she rushed out to meet him. She hugged him as soon as she got close enough.
"Thank god you're okay." Skyler embraced her.
"I don't know what's going on, are Pain and Drake still here?" She was worried that everyone would be separated.
"I got calls from them too, they're stuck here as well, we decided to meet up at the sanctuary, they are waiting for us there." He frowned.
"I'll get Fira and Lunara." She turned and started to walk back to the castle.
"I'll follow you." He walked behind her.
They got to the castle, and got Fira and Lunara.
"I fell asleep." Lunara rubbed her eyes.
"She was tired." Fira shrugged.
"I was kind of tired too, but I couldn't fall asleep." She guessed that she just wasn't sleepy enough to fully fall asleep like Lunara did.
"I don't have enough strength to carry you all, so we'll have to get a carriage to the border and fight our way to the sanctuary." Skyler frowned.
"Where's Drake?" Lunara sleepily looked up at Skyler.
"He's with Pain at the sanctuary." Skyler smiled reassuringly.
"Thank god, I was just about to ask about him." Fira gave a sigh of relief.
"We aren't separated, that's the good thing. I still have both mine and Drake's machines as well. He decided to give his to me after something happened, not sure what, he didn't want to talk about it," Skyler said
"Alright, I'll ask Shai for two carriages." She turned and walked up the stairs.
She got up to the second floor and went to Shai's office. Shai was sitting there at her ornate gold desk, awkwardly writing on a piece of paper.
"Excuse me, ma'am, we need two carriages." She looked through the door sheepishly.
"Very well, I will write two vouchers for you, the Darkling boy and the girls." Shai picked up a pad of smaller papers and began to jot something down.
"Thank you, miss." She slipped into the room.
"Here, take these to the stables." Shai tore off two pieces of paper and handed them to her.
"Thanks, I'll see you later." She turned and started to walk out.
"I hope so, Gabrielle, I hope so." Shai whispered under her breath.
She went back down to the first floor, and Skyler was surprisingly chatting with Lunara.
"Oh, yeah, he hates those. Spicy food absolutely destroys his stomach." Skyler laughed.
"Really? I thought since he's half-demon he'd like it, since all demons like spicy food, at least I think so." Lunara shrugged with her hands.
"Not all demons do, I prefer sweet food over anything. Anything smothered in honey or teriyaki is fine with me." Skyler flicked his wrist.
"You guys, we got it! I just have to show these to the stables and we're set!" She waved the papers around happily.
"Thank goodness, how many? Only two can fit in a cart." He looked at the two papers intently.
"Two carriages, that means we get to have a little joyride." She smiled and tore the two pieces apart and handed one to Lunara.
"This one is for us, right?" Lunara reluctantly reached for it.
"Yes, go on, take it." She grinned a little harder.
Lunara snatched the paper and grabbed Fira's hand. She stared at Gabrielle for a second, gave a single nod and then started towards the stables.
"We should follow them." Gabrielle grabbed Skyler by the hand and led him to the stables as well.
It was only a short distance outside the castle to the stables. The air smelled musty in contrast to the beautiful ornate white and gold carriages. She walked up after Lunara handed the guard their voucher. She handed hers to the already slightly confused guard, who looked at them and slowly nodded.
"You four can go ahead." He pointed to the front two horse-drawn carriages that were already ready to go. The others behind had no horses.
"Come on." She yanked at Skyler's hand, and he smiled.
"Okay, okay, I'm going." He let out a chuckle.
She led him to the one in the front, since Fira and Lunara took the back one. She quickly got in and patted the seat next to her. He sat down and adjusted his trench-coat. The carriage started up and they slowly saw the stables fade into the distance.
"So what are we going to do?" She turned to Skyler.
"I'm not sure, but I'm ninety nine percent sure Wrackivorn did it." He balled his fist.
"Why would he do something like that? Wouldn't it be suicide to make you angry?" She knew how powerful Skyler was, she felt it when his markings lit up. He was much more powerful than her.
"He read the book, I'm not sure Turbuk told him about all the ass kickings he got from me. He's fucking dead." He turned away.
"What?" She was caught off guard by how angry he was.
"I'm thinking we should all team up and cut a swathe through their defenses and go straight for Wrackivorn, and then kill him, and if Turbuk is there, possibly kill him as well." He huffed.
"Killing doesn't solve everything." She pointed to the scar on his eye. She knew that he got that scar from him killing his own father.
"It does solve most things though." He turned to her and looked her dead in the eyes.
She felt anger and vengeance radiating from him.
"I get that you think that, and I don't know if I'll be able to stop you from doing it, but if it were me I would only kill if I absolutely had to." She shook her head.
"If he's there, he's dead." He looked back away and off into the distance.
"I know you're angry, but can we please at least enjoy the ride a little bit?' She put her hand on his.
"Alright, alright, you're right… I do need to cool it, at least for now." He sighed and turned to her, his fist uncurled.
"Thank you." She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.
"You'll have to deal with me being angry later anyways." He let out a phew.
"I know you're mad, you have every right to be, I'm scared too, but we need to all be together first so we can figure out what to do." She took her hand off his and put it on his shoulder.
"Yeah, we're both scared." He turned away slowly.
They were silent for a time, until she decided to speak up.
"I'm kind of sad that I don't get to see the trees this time." She sighed, the beautiful crystal trees always mesmerized her, and she couldn't see them because there were no trees in the part of Elega they were going through, since they were all harvested already and were just replanted.
"Yeah, but I'm kind of glad you only get to see them from up above," he said.
"I'd like to see them from the ground as well, and maybe even up close." She yanked on his sleeve.
"We can take a detour back through there after we're done." He turned to her and smiled.
"That's the spirit." She patted his arm.
"We're here." The whip spoke up and stopped the carriage.
"Alright, time to get out." She patted Skyler's knee and hopped out.
The memory of getting attacked by those weird mole Darklings came back to her as she stared over the hole infested ground. She quickly walked around to meet Skyler, who was standing there.
"Come on, we should get going." She poked him.
"Wait for us!" Fira shouted.
She turned around and saw Fira dragging Lunara by the hand up to her.
"Come on, we don't have much time." She motioned for them to follow her.
She cautiously stepped onto the black ground, and tried to look out for holes. It was a little dark so she couldn't see clearly. She held onto Skyler's hand tightly as she walked forward. She squeaked as she felt the side of her foot slip into a hole she didn't see. She lifted her foot and yanked at Skyler's hand.
"Are you alright?" Skyler caught her.
"I'm fine, thank you." She sighed exasperatedly, the holes were going to be a problem for her.
She heard a yipe behind her, only to turn around and see Fira falling down a hole with Lunara.
"Hold on." Skyler turned to her and rushed over to the hole.
She knew he was going to jump down, but didn't know how quickly he would, so her arm painfully gained all of his weight. She let her feet go and she slid down, her arm twisted so she let go of his hand. The holes were longer than she thought they would be, it took a bit for them to get to the bottom. Once they reached the end of the hole she slid backwards into Skyler.
"Oof." Gabrielle got up and brushed the black dust off of her dress.
"There you guys are." Skyler gave a sigh of relief.
Lunara and Fira were there, Fira was trying to get all of the black dust out of her hair, Lunara shrugged because everything she wore was already black.
"I hope none of those mole boys show up." She frowned and remembered how unnatural they looked crouched down so far that their knees stuck all the way out.
"What this?" A tiny voice spoke. It was a Mole Darkling, like the ones she saw the first time she went over the border, she saw it's milky white eyes open.
"Oh no." She groaned and put a hand to her head.
"I'll take care of it." Skyler took off one of his gloves and his lower arm morphed into a blade.
In two quick motions he jumped over and cleaved the Mole Darkling in half.
"Will we see more down here?" She walked up to him.
"I'm pretty sure there's thousands of them down here." He nodded.
"Thousands?!" She was worried they would never get to the sanctuary at that rate.
"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll get through if you give it one good spell." Fira walked up and grabbed her wrist.
"Do you really think I could do it?" She was concerned about passing out again.
"I'll count how many, you did twenty before you passed out." Skyler turned to her.
"She passed out? When?" Fira gave a look of visible concern.
"A little while ago when Zlyena was training her." He turned to Fira and frowned.
"I thought she had an infinite amount." Fira's face turned from concern to confusion.
"Having an infinite amount of power doesn't mean you can use it all properly. I know so." He lifted his shirt and pointed to the large black scar on his belly. Gabrielle did recall that Skyler did have a super weapon when he was fighting The Lords of Darkness, but he still almost died.
"Well, we should get going." Fira turned around and started for the cave entrance.
"Alright." She grabbed Skyler's hand again and led him into the cave.
The cave had a skylight because of a single hole in the ceiling. She could hear skittering in the distance and wondered if they would be spotted soon.
"How far away are we from the sanctuary?" Fira turned to Skyler.
"Not too far, there should be an exit here somewhere that goes to a canyon." He looked around.
"I don't remember seeing a canyon." She remembered the layout of the Dark Lands from the air, and never once saw a canyon.
"It's called The Canyon of Illusion for a reason." He shrugged.
"Oh, so there's a magical something or other that keeps it from being seen, right?" She sighed exasperatedly.
"Basically, yeah." He sighed as well.
There was a tiny yelp, and another skitter noise.
"I think I stepped on one of their feet." Fira turned around, her face a mix of fear and embarrassment.
"I'd get ready." Skyler raised the blade of his lower arm and pointed to it.
Fira and Lunara summoned their weapons, Lunara had a magical bow that glowed like the moon.
There was much skittering and a bunch of Mole Darklings stared through the hallway of the cave. Lunara took aim and fired, her arrow ripping through a few of them. The rest of the Mole Darklings rushed the group. Fira tried to cut a swathe them away so she could get space, and Skyler jumped in and started to work on getting past them as well.
"Move out of the way, Skyler," she said as she closed her eyes and focused her energy forward. She heard a flash and a group of small squeaks. She opened her eyes again and a large open area was all that remained.
"Skyler?" She looked around to see if he was there, she gave a sigh of relief when she saw he was at the far right end fighting a few of the Mole Darklings, who were throwing sticks and stones at him.
"Yeah?" He had his blade covering his head to defend from the debris hitting him in the face.
"Oh thank goodness." She smiled, she was relieved that he wasn't hit by her spell.
"You told me to move, I did." He turned to her and bonked one of them with the dull side of his blade.
"I know, I just, I was still worried." She clutched her hands together.
"We don't have time for that right now, I'd ready another." He pointed to a gathering group of moles in the back.
"Are they going to rush us?" Fira shouted.
"Here they come." Skyler drew back his blade as a bunch of Mole Darklings poured into the open space.
"I don't have time for this! Charlie!" Fira shouted, and the ground rumbled, a giant fireball came bursting out from under the floor, laying waste to most of them.
"Who taught you that?" Lunara asked with wide eyes.
"A funny skeleton girl, I talked to her when Pain was visiting Nagix, you know her right?" Fira turned to Lunara.
"I know Nagix from Drake having check ups with her, but I've never seen a skeleton girl with her." Lunara shrugged again.
"She's usually on the interplanetary ship she has, she's confined to the back because she causes lots of ruckus usually." Fira laughed.
"We can talk about Rennaiyan later," Skyler said as he cut up a few more Mole Darklings.
"Okay." Lunara nodded and fired another arrow.
They spent the rest of their time quietly clearing out the rest of the Mole Darklings. Gabrielle had already begun to feel a little weak and her vision started to flicker, did she use too much energy? The next thing she knew, Skyler was yanking on her sleeve and asking if she was alright. She snapped out of her daze and apologized.
Read the rest of The Light Maiden's Mark here: https://moonquill.com/book/46