Elea sat down under a large old oak tree and began to think back to her memories as a young child. She began to worry about those memories. 'Are they all true? Can I trust what I believed to be my past? What about Donnan? Are all his memories true?' It all began to press in on her. 'Why didn't Bretonius tell me about my memory loss?'
"Because if I had told you, you would be even more confused and frustrated than now." came a familiar voice to her right. Much to her surprise, sitting under the same tree, looking up and the blue sky just out of Elea's peripheral vision sat her new ally and benefactor.
Startled, she rolled to her left, came up in a fighting stance, Gaxis in hand. 'How could that be?' Part of her wondered. She knew it was still in its sheath tied on her saddle and where did this new fighting style come? Elea was an accomplished fighter, but she was no where as good as the little stunt she just pulled off.
"You're getting better young one, see what you can accomplish with a little practice and hard work." Bretonius commented dryly, eyes amused.
With her heart and breath still racing, Elea growled, "Damn you, must you always do that?"
Waving a down ward-motioning hand, Bretonius smiled, "I know, I know but it's a thing with me, Just humor and old man and sit down here beside me little one. There is much to tell and little time to do it."
Elea reluctantly sat back down and thinking to call Donnan over.
"Don't bother, Elea. Donnan can't see or here you right now. What I have to say is for family only. Don't miss understand me, I like Donnan and he is a good friend and has been a good protector for you. However you will need more than just him to help you on this next adventure. First, you must go to the temple and collect and item that was placed there for you, then you must go to the Veseve forest and help Britage get his body back." He paused briefly to look at her. "And while there you must receive your Heritage and claim Thunder." With that he got up and began to walk away.
Confused Elea frowned, "I don't under stand. Why do I have to do all these things and where in the hell are you going now?
Bretonius turned towards her with a slight smirk of a smile. "It will all be more clear as you and Donnan go on. Just make sure you get the box and keep it safe" Elea blinked as she saw a slight tear well up in his eyes. "I go to remove an obstacle. This may be the last time we see each other again, little one." He looked her straight in the eye. "Remember this, my child, I could be no more proud or love you more than if you were my own daughter." With that, Bretonius vanished before her eyes.
*
Donnan blinked in confusion, upon hearing Elea's recounting of her conversation with Bretonius. "What help?" he asked, "And more importantly...'Thunder?' That sounds familiar somehow." Donnan's face screws up into a mask of concentration. "I've heard of something called 'Thunder' associated with the Archmage Ta-Mar. A staff or something like that." Donnan glances up, alarmed. "Do you suppose?"
*****
Donnan sat back against a tree, watching Elea make dinner. He wondered briefly about her sanity and if she really had seen Bretonius while he went for wood. He shook his had. Elea was a lot of things but crazy was not one of them. Elea's tuneless humming floated on the wind to his ears. 'Thank Gods, one of us can cook.' A smile crept over his face as the term "domestic" came to mind. He thought of teasing Elea about it but he did have a survival instinct. Suddenly, his smile froze.
Something was hovering over Elea. He concentrated on the spot above her head as it shimmered like heat rising. As he watched, Elea's tuneless humming changed to a recognizable song, he saw the heat waves began to take shape. He realized that Elea herself was creating it; whatever it was.
Donnan stood up and spoke quietly as to not startle her. "Do -not- stop humming." He have spoke, half whispered.
Elea stiffened a little but continued to hum. Her eyes darted about wondering if they were being observed or about to be attacked. She sat back on her heels, looking into the fire as if she were daydreaming, listening carefully to Donnan's approach. She hummed softly, switching to an easy epic ballad that she could keep humming without thinking about it too hard. Her eyes questioned him as he walked around to the front of her.
"Whatever you do, keep humming." Donnan murmured to her and then pointed up.
She followed his gaze to the point above her head and blinked in surprise. 'What the heck is that?!' She looked back at him, eyes wide, voice unfailing. Donnan moved to her side and leaned up. She saw that he had his dagger in hand.
'I wonder if it's a portal of some sort.' Donnan mused as he looked at a sky different than the one above his head. When he looked in, he could see grass about one hundred feet below. Donnan stuck the tip of his dagger into it and watched the point disappear. The point was there when he removed it. Bringing it closer to his face, he could smell ozone and stifled a yelp as a spark of static electricity leaped from the blade to his nose.
Frowning, Donnan rubbed his nose and contemplated the shimmer. He walked to the side of Elea and dug out a hefty gold coin. He flipped it through the air straight at the portal and watched it fall to the other side. His confusion was replaced with interest as the view of the portal changed. It seemed to zoom in on two figures.
"I see something." He told Elea. Immediately, her humming picked, curiosity evident. "You just keep humming, I'll tell you what I see." Elea nodded.
Donnan could make out that both were mages of some sort: one in black and red, the other in gray and silver. They set up on grass, about fifty from each other. Donnan's grew wide as he recognized the signs of a magical duel. He related this to Elea. "I wish the portal was closer." As if responding to his comment, the scene came closer. The mage's duel was being fought in earnest now. Suddenly, Donnan recognized one of the mages. 'Bretonius!' He realized that the other one, looked very much like Bretonius as well. 'By the Gods, that must be Death. This is a wizard's death duel!'
Elea heard Donnan's quick breathe and waited impatiently for him to continue. Her throat was beginning to hurt from all the humming.
'I can't tell Elea that Bretonius is in a death duel!' He knew if he did that she would stop humming and they would never know the outcome of this match. He bit his lip, trying to think coherently as he watch the fierce battle rage on.
She poked his leg, impatient to hear was what happening. Suddenly it dawned on her, she had looked up before, why not do it again. What she saw when she did almost stopped her heart as well as her humming. Bretonius and that had to be Doctor Death in the red and black. Elea's eyes were wide with fear. She recognized a mage's death duel. She felt helpless as she stood up and watched.
The mages were holding nothing back, flickering between dimensions and shapes, throwing all that they had at each other. Elea's tune became a known fighting song as she cheered on Bretonius for all that she was. The mages both leaped into the air, turning into dragons, fighting with tooth and claw. She could not tell if these were magical manifestations or they were actually dragons, fighting each other physically.
Donnan held his breath, captured by the battle. He was praying to every God he knew to help Bretonius. He watched as Death dropped to the ground and grabbed his staff. Bretonius re-appeared in the sky just in time to be blasted by raw spellfire. Amazingly, he withstood it, dropping to the ground to land on his feet. But that was when the tide of the battle turned. Death was slowly, but surely, overpowering Bretonius' magic.
Elea's heart panicked. There was nothing she could do. Bretonius was losing. She could feel the burning in her throat muscles from keeping the humming up for so long but she was not going to stop now. Her stomach was getting queasy as well.
Bretonius was down on one knee, face haggard from the strain. Neither Donnan nor Elea had ever seen such a magic battle fought so fiercely. Death's face was strained but triumphant as he moved closer and leveled his staff at his half kneeling brother and foe. Suddenly, Bretonius stood and lifted his staff above his head with both hands in an unmistakable gesture.
"NO!!" Donnan yelled and leapt unthinkingly at the image to try and stop Bretonius. He flew through the image, arms tingling as it faded. Elea gasped loud, humming forgotten. She fell to her knees, exhausted. Donnan quickly moved to Elea, covering her with his body. He listened intently. 'If that was happening now, we'll hear and feel it shortly.' He thought, praying that all he would hear was silence.
"Final Strike." Elea whispered, voice soft and raw; stating what neither of them wanted to admit. "He was calling down a Final Strike."
He was silent for a count of five. 'Nothing. No explosion.' "You don't know that. We don't hear an explosion, we do?" Elea was quiet, her heart filled with dread. She was too exhausted to fight or move. Donnan stood up and saw just how tired she was. He scooped her up and took her over to the bedrolls, laying her down there and covering her with a blanket. Elea was already asleep by the time he was done making her comfortable. Then he set himself up to watch, thinking about what he had just seen and wondering how Elea had done it.
"Hello Donnan." A familiar female voice murmured in his ear.
Donnan smiled. "Valaria." His ideal, perfect woman. He was struck by the sight of her as he turned his head. She opened her arms to him, pulling him into a hug. He resisted for a moment - "Elea - she's-"
"She's fine." Valaria assured him.
Looking over to where Elea slept, he saw that Ballarius sat next to her, his hand upon her brow. Satisfied that she was safe, Donnan gave himself over to Valaria's warm embrace and intimate words.
*
Elea opened her eyes and knew she was dreaming. She could not help but smile at Ballarius who stood to the side of her. "Why are you here?"
"We are here because you need us." His voice was like birds, like bells, like rain.
"We?" Elea asked, though she knew that 'we' meant Valaria and he.
Ballarius helped her up. "Valaria is caring for Donnan."
She felt a tiny twinge of jealousy for the briefest moment before the splendor of her surroundings captured her attention. There were rolling hills as far as the eye could see, lush green grass under her feet, bird flying in the cloudless sky. She could even hear faint music on the breeze. It was a perfect, idyllic paradise. "Now what?" Elea asked, returning her attention to the handsome Time Warden.
"You have many questions. Perhaps I could answer some." He began walking.
She walked behind him, thinking. Yes, she did have many questions. "What was the image we saw and how did I do it?"
"You are beginning to come into your own, Elea. Spell singing is just one of your many heritages. Your humming brought the image to life. What it was, you know as well as I - it was a mage's duel."
Her heart stopped. "Bretonius is dead?"
He smiled. "No. I did not say that. Another one of your heritage's is Time magic. What you saw will happen, somewhere in time. And you cannot be sure that Bretonius died from what you saw."
"But - "
"But nothing." He turned to one side, causing Elea to realize that they were no longer in the forest but in a luxurious Sultan's palace. A sweet breeze flowed over her body, refreshing her. "Now. You have other questions?"
"Oh." She thought for a moment. "Yes. Do you know what I will find in the Temple?"
Ballarius nodded. "A Life Box. Left you by a male relative."
"A what?"
"A life box. It contains items that one wishes you to have upon their death."
She felt stupid; like a child. "Oh..."
"Green plain is only two days ride from here." He stopped, sitting her down in a stately study filled with arcane books and magical artifacts. "Once you have retrieved the box, you are to return to the Tower, assemble your party to seek out the Cup and Talisman of Al'akbra. That is the fifth element that will return Britage to his body."
Elea frowned. "I don't think I know what that is."
Ballarius waved a hand at her. "Donnan knows."
They sat there for a long moment, a whirl of questions in her head. She sensed that her time was growing short. "The man with the spider tattoo?"
"He is Racist. A lieutenant of Iuz." Ballarius' handsome face was marred by his frown.
"Iuz - the one who holds Donnan's father." She sighed. "I don't believe in coincidences, but why is he doing this to me?"
"He knows who you are and has delusions of grandeur."
Elea wrinkled her nose. "Great." Suddenly, she felt herself slipping away. "Wait- don't go!"
"I must, Elea." There was sorrow in his voice.
"Who is Bretonius to Ta-Mar?" Her voice was hollow to her ears.
"Grandson... I think." Ballarius' voice soft as a whisper on the breeze.
As she swirled away, one last question came to mind. "Are you happy, doing what you do? Caring for us?" Elea strained to hear an answer.
"Yes." The word was more felt than heard.
*
Elea opened her eyes, a smile upon her face. It was already morning. She stretched feeling refreshed and happy. She got up, checked the horses and went looking for Donnan. He was not hard to find. She just followed the trailing of clothing. Laughing to herself when she found the nude swashbuckler curled up in the middle of a large flattened area of grass (that told quite the tale of the previous night's adventure), she tossed his cloak over him for warmth and modesty Then she returned to the camp to make breakfast, allowing Donnan to wake up on his own.
By the time Donnan awoke and made his way gingerly back into camp, Elea had finished making breakfast. The two of them ate quickly while Elea had her unseen servant breakdown the camp. Then the two set off for Greenplain.
Along the way, they discussed Elea's dream. Donnan was pleased to find out what the 5th element of Britage's cure was but was extremely skeptical in the ability of the party to get into the Veseve forest. It had been closed to all, save Elves, for the last six decades. He was more than a little unhappy about Racist, who he was and why he was tormenting Elea's dreams. It was determined that Racist needed to die a very quick and painful death while they were in the City of Skulls to free his father. Elea lightened the mood, teasing Donnan about his behavior with Valaria and was pleased that he was feeling much better.
They arrived at Greenplain, discovering that it was walled outpost, filled with soldiers from Nyrand. As they traveled through the city, they saw that, on the whole, it was clean, healthy, happy place with a bustling market. They choose the Broken Arrow Inn to stay at, traveling under the guise of scouts for "Elea PhoenixSong," looking for places to schedule performances for her.
*
As they arrived at the inn, they motioned for a stable boy to take their horses. They saw that the inn was moderately busy for this time of day, then realized that in a military output, soldiers were always going on and off duty. Donnan strode up to the counter in full swagger, Elea close behind.
"Ah, good day ma' fraind." Donnan began. He thick flannish accent almost started Elea. She smiled and leaned against the counter, desperately wishing for a bath as she looked over the common room. "We would like 'ah room... two rhooms for ze' next two waeks."
The innkeeper smiled. "That will be 4 silver. Would you like bathes?" Elea nodded vigorously.
"Ah, ze' Lady, she says yes!" Donnan smiled a most charming smile.
The innkeeper leaned close. "Ah, milady - your key is glowing."
Elea and Donnan blinked, looked at each other and then down at Elea's chest, which was most cheerfully glowing from the light of the key about her neck.
Elea turned bright red. She had all but forgotten the key from the oil lamp that she had absentmindedly placed on a chain about her neck. "Oh. Um." She said, quite intelligently. "It must the be continual light spell." She concluded lamely. 'So much for being sly.' Elea grumbled to herself.
The innkeeper nodded with the air 'The customer is always right.' He smiled, voice lowered still, "Ah, these strangers, they come into town, all sneaky like with a key for the portal." He shook his head, polishing a glass.
Donnan leaned close. "You know about the portal?"
"I do, indeed. It's about 400 feet out back."
"I see." Donnan's accent was almost gone. "Have others come with keys?"
"Certainly. They come, go to the portal, come back and then leave in a great hurry." His voice was too cheerful, like he enjoy this. "Now, will you two be staying the two weeks?"
Elea looked at Donnan as she clutched her hand about the key to dampen the light. Donnan grinned. "For what you've told us, you can keep the silver whether we are here for 2 weeks or not. And for not remembering us passing through, should anyone ask."
The innkeeper grinned, silver disappearing. "Sorry, Milord. I have to worse memory. Was that a bath or a bath and a meal?"
Donnan laughed. "A bath and a meal. We'll take it down in the common room."
"After the bath." Elea chimed in.
"But, of course, Fair Lady!" Donnan replied, escorting her up the stairs to their rooms.
The rooms were adequately furnished and surprisingly enough, they had probably the only two adjoining rooms in the whole inn. There was a nice view of the town. Everyone seemed to be content. Elea idly thought of singing here one day. She thought to herself to remember to ask Donnan to check with the innkeeper about performances. She wandered to the bed, stretching out on it. Perhaps a nap before her bathÉ
Stone. Cold Stone. Elea blinked as she was suddenly lying on a cold stone floor. Gasping in surprise, she leaped up and found that she was in middle of a pentagram. A bright light was above her. Elea's heart hammered in her chest. Where was she? How did she get here? Darkness surrounded the pentagram. She could not see into it, nor could she leave the pentagram.
Panic welled up in her. 'I'm dreaming. This is another nightmare.' She pushed against the unseen barrier. It held fast. She cursed under her breath and punched it. *pain* "Wait, pain. I'm feeling pain. I'm awake." She did not know if she should be frightened or relieved by the realization. As she was trying to figure a way out of this trap, she heard a noise in the room. "Who's there?" Elea cringed at the fear in her voice.
"Huh? What? Who's there?" The voice in the darkness sounded distracted and not at all threatening. Suddenly, the room brightened and Elea saw that she seemed to be in a library of sorts and the owner of the voice seemed to be this little man in a robe, blinking at her curiously. "Hello."
"Um. Hello." Elea could not think of what else to say.
"You are here for the box?" The little man puttered about the room, coming towards her.
"Where am I?"
"OH! You don't know?" He frowned. "You are in the Temple."
"The temple?? How did I get here?" Elea was getting tired of not knowing anything.
He blinked owlishly at her. "Why, the key, of course."
"Oh. OK." She started to walk towards him and bumped into the unseen barrier.
"Oh yes, let me get you out of the teleportation spell." He puttered over a book. "You see, you must have been near the portal and the key let you know it by glowing. Ah - It did glow, right?" Elea nodded. "And since you didn't go to portal, the portal brought you to us." He waved a hand. "There, now come along." Elea stepped out of the pentagram, following the little man. He looked into a large crystal ball in front of a featureless wall. "OK, who are you?"
"Elea Clearlight."
He muttered to himself and nodded. After a moment, he looked up at her. "Place your hand on the crystal ball." He gestured to a small crystal globe that appeared out of the wall.
"Why?" Elea frowned. She did not like not knowing what was going on.
"Well, anyone could say they were "Elea Clearlight." We have procedures to follow."
Elea shrugged and did as she was told. The globe glowed a dull red, then a rectangular box slid out of the wall and traveled down to her. It hovered in front of her until she took it. The black box was about 18" x 8" x 6" and was surprisingly light for it's shape and size. She looked it over. There were no marks or latches on it. It was completely featureless. "How does it open."
The man chuckled at her. "It opens when the one who stored it with us has passed Beyond."
"Oh. Well, who gave it to me?"
He shook his head. "So many come and go. I only remember that it was close male relative." He smiled. "Now, it's time for you to go." He made shooing motions at her when she hesitated. "Go on, back to the teleport pentagram. Elea let him herd her where he wanted. Questions swirled in her mind.
As he muttered over the book, Elea realized that he was teleporting her but he had not known where she had come from. "Wait! Where are you sending me?"
"Back to where you were."
"Exactly?" She cried out as she slipped away.
He scratched his head. "Well, almost exactly. Such a strange girl." Then he turned, leaving the room.
*
Elea opened her eyes. A bed, she was sitting on a bedÉ just in time to see Donnan wrap a towel about himself and jump in startlement as she suddenly appeared in his room, on his bed, clutching a strange box.
Continue on to: 8. Explosions of the Heart