34 34 Lovers Reunited

Kierra could feel the darkness drawing nearer to the place. she thought Krevik and Jesse may be hiding. She hates that the darkness is ahead of her. She only hopes that she can get there in time.

*=*=*

Krevik could feel Jesse's relief that he was unharmed. There was also an underlying fear. He had never felt another person's fear before. He didn't like the way it felt. It was thick, and it felt like some sort of ooze dripping around him. Then it happened.

A cloaked figure stepped into the barrier. He soaked up the fear like a sponge. The cloaked figure seemed to relish in it.

"Ah…." Said the cloaked figure breathing deeply. "Home sweet home."

Jesse looked at the cloaked figure horrified.

"Jesse," Krevik said, feeling the fear poor off of her. "Step behind me." Jesse didn't move so Krevik moved in front of her.

The cloaked figure laughed. And then he removed his hood. The gnarled face of a very old man looked back at them. Krevik had seen this old man before. This was the old man who had gotten all the villagers mad at him when he was still a child. This was the old man who had attacked his mother. This was Japeth.

"Japeth," Krevik said calmly. Jesse started at that name. and looked at Krevik curiously. Why hadn't he called him Blaise?

"Krevik," Japeth said amused. "So you know who I am. Did your magician tell you?"

"He didn't have to," Krevik admitted. "I remembered who you were all on my own. Well…. with the help of a little healing water."

"Ah the Enchantress," said Blaise. "She was a fun one to fool. Your Magician didn't like that did he? The way I fooled his beloved Enchantress." Japeth laughed maniacally.

"I don't particularly like it myself," Krevik said with bravado.

"Oh the fear in this room…" Japeth said emphatically. "It's like a feast after being starved. You know the only one of you Ametians who was ever really any fun was Isadora. That girl could put up a fight." Jesse's fear turned to anger instantly. "It's really too bad I killed her so quickly. I would have loved to make her watch as I tortured you in front of her." Japeth smiled. The body that he was occupying seemed to be getting younger. The more he spoke. Then, Krevik realized anger fueled him just as much as fear. Jesse was on the border of attacking Japeth in anger. Krevik could sense it.

"Jesse," Krevik said cautiously. "Jesse, what color is your favorite flower?" He didn't know if it would work or not, but he wanted to take her mind off Japeth if only for a split second. It worked! As soon as it worked Krevik was struck by Japeth.

It was the same lightning that killed his mother, but the crest protected him. It hurt desperately, but it didn't kill him.

At that exact moment Krevik heard two people yelling "NO!!" Jesse was one. The other voice belonged to the Magician. Krevik fell to the floor as the Magician tackled Japeth. The barrier showed them like a mirror. The Magician looked like all the old portraits of Emir. Japeth, looked very similar, but something was off. He wore a mask of cruelty that oozed from his very being. The magician and Japeth were in a death grip battle, when suddenly another person burst through the barrier. Kierra.

*=*=*

Though he knew she was coming he had not physically been in her presence for a very long time. The moment Kierra appeared in the cave, Emir felt her. Her entry provided the brief distraction that Japeth used to the fullest. He cast an illusion on himself to make himself seem every bit the old man that Blaise was. He lay there panting, and held out his hand to Kierra crying out, "Help, he's going to hurt the children."

Kierra held out her hand to Blaise, he smiled triumphantly. Then just before he could touch her, a barrier had formed between him and Kierra.

"What have you done Enchantress?" raged Blaise.

"I am not so stupid Japeth," Kierra replied. The magician stood and looked at Kierra in awe.

He swallowed his emotions, not daring to hope. "How long have you known?"

Kierra looked at the Magician, and studied him. It was then that she realized in 72 years, this was the closest she had gotten to him. The Magician also held out his hand and made a layer on top of her barrier. She could see depth in the eye color that had become so transparent. In that depth she saw that he still loved her. After everything she had done to him, he still loved her. How could she have ever mistaken the Magician for anything else?

*=*=*

Her face turned in pain, "Emir?" she questioned. Jesse looked on the scene embarrassed. She had never seen the Enchantress give off so much emotion. When Krevik had fallen asleep, Jesse had made a decision, that she too would trust the Magician. After all, hadn't he saved not only her, but her brother as well? He even tried to save her mother. And when he had failed at that, he took the blame. There was no room for Japeth in the convenient tale the Magician had spun. Why was that?

"Yes," he stated. He knew it was a question of his identity. He didn't care at this time that she had betrayed him for that coward Japeth. He could feel the love flowing off of her in waves. The crest at his chest hummed and grew powerful in its wake.

The barrier was getting harder to hold.

"Krevik…" The Magician held out his other hand. "I need it now. Only you can remove it from your neck."

Krevik looked at Jesse, not fully trusting to leave her unguarded. He removed it from his neck, and tossed it in the air toward the Magician. At that exact moment. Japeth broke free of the barrier.

The Crest was still flowing through the air. Then it was caught.

*=*=*

Kierra now held in her hands the other half of the thing that would defeat Japeth forever. Japeth was caught between the two lovers that he had separated so long ago.

Emir looked at her in pure horror, knowing exactly what she had planned.

"No," he said to her.

"It's either me or Krevik," she said, knowing full well he would never want Krevik to do this. She had done her research. It was hard to do, but she had done it. The only way to defeat Japeth was to give your own life up in the process. She had lived long enough anyway. What's more, she knew a life without Emir, was no life at all.