Hi! Thanks for visiting my blog :) This is part three of a little story I'm writing. For anyone who is new here, I would recommend you start at part one and work your way through. Happy reading!
Exhausted by the stress of the past few weeks, I end up sleeping in until well past noon. When I wake up I know a moment of panic before the memories of last night come rushing back. Sure enough, Alex is lying beside me as though he never left.
His eyes are open and he's staring at me.
"Cut that out," I mutter, too happy to put much energy into the reprimand. "You know I don't like it when you watch me sleep."
"Not like you can tell," he teases.
I want to put on a stern look, but what comes out is a giddy smile; I am so happy that Alex is back, nothing can dampen my mood today.
Alex looks at me for a second more before sighing regretfully. "We should get going."
I ignore him and lean forward to give him a kiss. He responds eagerly, but after a few seconds, forces himself to pull back. "Cara, not now. I let you sleep - I knew you needed it, the state you were in - but we need to go now."
"Go where?"
"I haven't told you everything."
Something about his tone makes me shiver.
"You told me that we both have magic, what more can there be to tell?" I ask, finding it hard to imagine what news could be more shocking than that, to make Alex look so solemn.
"Remember I told you you'd need your magic to defend yourself? Well, that's not just defence against normal dangers in life. There's much more to it."
"Ok, then tell me," I say, still unable to summon up fear, or any feeling other than bubbly happiness.
"Not here," Alex says with a strangely closed off expression that I have never seen on his face before.
"Alex, the town is deserted," I point out. "No one is going to hear you."
"The wind could carry our words to them," he says softly. "The wind is their servant; we are not safe out in the open."
"What are you - ?"
"Please, Cara, come with me and I'll explain everything."
Though bemused, I get up to follow him. Alex leads me through the ghost town, towards the sheer mountains that our village is pressed up against. He is quiet - afraid, apparently, of the wind carrying our words away. Being new to this whole magic thing, I don't really feel qualified to tell him he's being paranoid, no matter how crazy it sounds.
We get to the mountains and begin to climb. Soon, we are too out of breath to talk except for brief instructions such as "don't put your feet there" and "careful, the rock is crumbling here". We climb for what seems like hours, but Alex shows no sign of stopping.
I am about to ask him if we can take a break at the next ledge we come across when he disappears.
Before I can panic, his hand reappears out of the rock, reaching for mine. I grab it and Alex helps pull me into a cave. It is less a cave than a small crevice in the rock, just big enough for two people to sit in. I sit close to him, feeling the stone leaching the heat out of my body.
"We'll be safe in here," he says.
"How do you know?"
"This place was protected by magic. I don't know when or how, but I could sense it the first time I found it. You'll be able to do the same, once you know how to use your magic properly."
I am already shivering slightly and Alex puts his arm around me. I lean my head against his shoulder while he talks.
"You know the seas are rising - everyone knows that. Every year, they rise and fall again. You know that once people move out of the towns near the sea, they never come back; it would only mean having to leave and rebuild the next year. There isn't enough space in the kingdom, though, so some always come.
"What not many people don't know is that this year it is different. The seas are rising, and they aren't going to fall again. Our whole town will be swallowed and the rest of the kingdom will follow."
"How do you know this?" I whisper, dread unfolding in my stomach. Alex wouldn't say anything like this unless he was sure.
"A man named Yaren told me. He died a couple of weeks later - killed by the enemy - but not before he told me everything and took my oath of silence. He taught me enough about magic that I've been able to continue learning on my own. He could sense when my magic was near to coming out - like I could with you - so he watched me until it happened, ready to act.
"What you need to know is that this wasn't always our kingdom. There are a people - the Greni, we call them - who used to live here. Then humans came and stole their land, forced them into the sea. For generations, the Greni have been building up their strength and now when they force the seas to rise, the patterns of nature will not be able to bring them back down. They Greni will have their land back and drown us all in the process.
"They are creatures of water, and air is their ally. Our best weapons are earth and fire - this cave, covered on all sides with earth and stone, is a safe place; that's probably why someone chose it to protect in the first place. Fire will help keep them away, but not indefinitely.
"Tomorrow, we'll leave. We'll go to the Runu Mountains - you know those are the highest in the kingdom. We'll find a cave near the top. The waters will reach there last. That should give us as much time as we're going to get."
"Wait, wait," I say, holding up my hands. "We can't just go running to the mountains. We need to plan! We need to drive these Greni back. How can we stop them?"
Alex looks at me, a deep sadness in his eyes. "There's no way to stop them, Cara. It may take months or years, but eventually, we are all doomed."
To be continued
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