Chapter 20

"What?" I exclaimed, looking between him and Elaria. "You can't be serious!"

"Look, it's the only chance we have," she replied, glancing over at him before turning back to me and speaking once more. "If I'm wrong, then I'm wrong, but it's the only thing we can do as of now,"

"She has a point," Lydan nodded softly, agreeing with her. "But how do we get him over here?"

I looked over to Alys to see what was happening and to form a plan. He seemed as if he was reaching his limit, since his limbs moved slower than before, and his glare wasn't as hateful. The witch seemed to be exploiting this factor, as she constantly threw magic at him, whether it was the classic spears, new smoke bombs or even outright grabbing him with the darkness itself. He simply returned the spears, throwing them with less and less enthusiasm as time passed. I had no clue what we were supposed to do; the witch was making it so we could hardly see him, let alone get to him after she spotted us watching. It would be almost impossible to be able to get him out of the situation, let alone help us. 

"Right, I'm going to do something a little reckless," Elaria said turning to look at the both of us with a stern face. "But I need you to stay here,"

"Why?" Lydan asked, but she ran away before she could hear it. "Elaria!"

He went to run after her, but I grabbed him, surprisingly holding him back. I assumed he stopped from the contact, and not from my nonexistent strength. 

"If she wants you to stay here, stay here," I told him, pointing my finger at him. "She'll be fine,"

Lydan nodded, turning back to her and watching tensely. She ran straight into the battlefield, summoning a wall of vines to help her. Except Alys bounced her back out with a shield, muttering something and turning back to the witch. Elaria yelled something back, running at him once more but I didn't have a chance to watch. Instead, I was dragged away from Lydan, with a sword to my neck. Saera. 

"Move any closer and I kill him!" She yelled. Zath appeared beside Lydan, panting and with a shallow cut on his cheek. 

"What do you want?" Zath asked, breathing heavily. 

"Hm, let's see," she pondered the thought calmly before snapping to look at Lydan. "His death,"

"Why?" Zath questioned. "What good will Lydan's death bring you?"

"It'll bring me and my family riches!" She replied, the malice in her voice replaced with happiness. "Since you four got away last time, I didn't get my fortune for that, but she offered me a new task; kill him. So that's what I'm going to do,"

"Then let me go!" I yelled, tugging on the arm that kept my head up. She simply moved her hand in response, covering my mouth and wrenching my head up further and pushing the blade closer, so close that I could feel how sharp it was. I was surprised it didn't leave a scratch it was that close. 

The boys turned to each other, mumbling under their breath at what to do so she couldn't hear. I heard her tutting at the words. On the other hand, I formed a small plan. I had no clue if it would work, but I relied on my brother's teachings of self defence. He always made it look easy, so I was hoping that it was easy instead of his experience making it flawless. Taking a deep breath, I slammed my foot on hers, taking her by surprise and forcing her to let out an ear piercing screech. While she was preoccupied with the pain in her foot, I grabbed her arm, using all the strength I had to pull her over my shoulder. It somehow worked, and she even tumbled a little before sitting up and staring at me. 

"How could someone so scrawny do something like that?" She yelled at me. "How?"

"My brother taught me self defence," I replied, feeling a sudden burst of confidence. At that moment I felt as if I could take on the world. 

Zath ran over to me as soon as the coast was clear. He patted me on the head twice before speaking. 

"I guess you're tough after all," he smiled at me. 

"I know," I smiled at my actions. Zath punched me lightly on the arm, knowing I was merely teasing him. "What happened to you?"

"She caught me," he shrugged, smudging the blood on his cheek. "I've never handled a sword before, let alone fought with one,"

"Now's not the time for flirting you two," Lydan grabbed his sword from Zath, who's cheeks had been tinted with pink. "We have bigger priorities,"

"I suppose so," Zath rubbed the back of his neck. 

I turned to watch Elaria. By this point Alys looked like he could hardly stand; his knees were together and he was hunched over, barely moving or summoning anything. His movements looked like they caused him pain, and he twitched occasionally, as if someone was hitting him. The witch by now was conversing with Hycis, about what I didn't know but neither looked as if they were going to fight, which struck me as odd. 

"You two stay here, I'll be a distraction," Lydan told us, giving us no time to object before he ran away. 

"What did I miss?" Zath asked, looking at me as if he was lost. 

"Well, the crystals forming on Va Bor resemble the ones Alys summons, so we're hoping that he's the second guardian," I told him. Zath immediately looked at Va Bor, and so did I. The crystals were spreading slower than before, almost stationary. Now that they were larger, I saw more of the resemblance to Alys' magic, it looked as if he was the one to cover the tree. 

"But what about the witch?" Zath asked. "It's dark magic, isn't it?"

"I… don't know," I shook my head, looking around. It took me a while, but I found one of the witch's spears. I ran to it, picking it up. It was smooth, unlike the jutting crystals on the tree. I eventually found one of Alys'. "See how Alys' magic is jutted and rough? That's what's on the tree, therefore meaning it isn't the witch,"

"How did you even notice that?" He asked, looking between the two spears. 

"I don't know, I just picked them up, compared them and then made a conclusion," I shrugged, placing the spears on the ground. I was stopped by Lydan tumbling in our direction. I had to move before dropping them and following Zath to him to make sure he was alright. He sat up as soon as he could, grabbing his chest. 

"What happened?" Zath sat beside him. 

"The distraction worked," he leaned back, his voice breathy. "He went for me instead of Elaria,"

After his words, I decided to look over and see what was happening. As I turned, Elaria had grabbed him with a vine and thrown him to Va Bor, and he didn't seem to be getting up fast. Instead, he was twitching. Elaria ran over, grabbing his hand and holding it with her's. I decided to run and support her. 

"I know you're in there, I know you'd never do something like this," she sobbed. "Please,"

Alys twitched violently, taking us all by surprise. Elaria abruptly dropped his hand as he began to shake. He began mumbling incoherent words, but soon stopped, just lying there. Elaria took the chance, pressing his hand up against the tree and pressing hers too. I just prayed she was right. 

There was a soft glow, a lime green glow, underneath his hand. He sat up, staring in amazement at it. Elaria smiled at him softly, and he returned it, a tear slipping from the corner of his eye. 

The dark crystals began to move back, as if shrinking away from the light beneath their palms. It shrunk until the patches became small crystals, and they fell from the tree, landing gracefully on the floor. Zath picked one up, looking at it in the sun. It was a beautiful crystal, regardless of the dark magic. It was almost transparent, and had white lines on it, almost like veins, that shone in the light and almost looked as if they had magic in them, like a net over the darkness to contain it. Zath placed it in his pocket after his inspection, and turned back to the work being done on Va Bor. At this point, the branches were beginning to grow again, aided by the lime green light that was supporting it. It was stunning to watch, with the tree growing like it was a time lapse of the growth over many years. Once it had finished resurrecting the branches, leave began to sprout, shining in the sun. Small flowers did too, each flower a different shade to the next. A few fell, as well as the leaves, falling in a heavenly light. Zath caught one as it fell, a blue one, and tucked it behind my ear, smiling as he attempted to balance it on my 'small' ear. We ended up both bursting out laughing once it was stable. I didn't dare move in case it fell, it was quite a big flower. In the end I had to, curiosity was getting the better of me, and thankfully it didn't move at all. It stayed put. By now the tree was healed, with droplets of the light falling from the branches and looking almost like rain, splitting into millions of pieces as soon as they hit the floor. They then disappeared into the air, leaving no trace of their existence. 

I watched as Elaria and Alys both moved their hands from the tree, knowing their work was done. Except it was short-lived, as a ball of light blocked my view.