The Fine Flair Of Gowshit

Chapter 9

The Fine Flair of Gowshit

Part 3

His eyes unlatched from our connected hands to latch on to my eyes. Heat started rising in places that I long thought grew dormant. Xanth stepped closer, his like melting, warm pools. He titled his head down just enough that his face was close to mine. Was he.... Was he going to kiss me? Xanth immediately stepped back, taking his warmth with him, I blinked at the abruptness of his movements. He smirked at me as he said

"Your bandage wrap was a mess. I fixed it for you, and you are right. If we do this. We do this together."

The reality of his words set in, and I cleared my throat. I looked down at my now wrap, and he did indeed fix it up. Wow, Mute way to go. I closed my eyes, hoping that the ancestors would choose this moment to take my ethereal soul to Vitae. Had it been so long since I've been touched, that I am now misinterpreting the simplest gestures? I was beginning to suspect that Elvira had done her job when she wanted me to become this ethereal soulless being. My sister's dark eyes flashed before my eyes as she whispered her final words. My name on her pale, cracked lips. I flinched, backing away further.

"What is it?"

Xanth's words swept through the air between us, but I have a hard time grasping on to them. Past memories, flooding my mind. It's your fault she's dead, Mute. Xanth's eyebrow shot upon his face. The air turned from sizzling to awkward in a matter of seconds. Xanth cleared his throat. Cautious words, spilling from his lips.

"What just happened?" The sound of metal popping filled the silent air. Noctis flowed over me. He landed softly on my shoulder while he and his sister sent out healing energy to battle out the dark one. I touched them, trying to fight the image of my sister's lifeless eyes. Xanth watched with kind eyes. They flashed with an emotion I couldn't grasp. It's your fault she died. Mute… The same words kept echoing around in my skull.

"Mute, whatever it is that keeps taking the light from your eyes, you will get through it."

Before I could muster a thought, the door to the training room slid open. Drakson stood there with his Bio-tablet, his red eyes full of fear. Xanth stepped forward. His back was straighter than before. His eyes a shade darker as his face grew devoid of emotion. It took Xanth two seconds to slip immediately into captain mode. While I was still trying to shove my sister's dead eyes back in the crevice of my mind.

"Drakson, what is it?" The same words asked of me, but it was now toward Drakson. And this time it had a completely different tone to it. Drakson kept his eyes on the tablet. I was wrong, it wasn't fear that I saw earlier, it was something darker. It wafted off him in waves as his red eyes grew darker. The tablet made creaking sounds as his hands tighten around the edges of it. His shadows wafted and twirled around his energy.

It surrounded him and nearly choked the air around me. Drakson was slipping into a place I had never seen him. I glanced behind toward where the rest of the team was standing. They shared the same look. Devastation. Kira had tears in her eyes, and I watched from afar as they slipped down her face. Masha was on her knees, visible in her serpentine eyes where they usually cold. Zaylee had her arm around Kira, trying to comfort her, but I could tell she was close to breaking too. I waved my arms, trying to get someone's attention. Daisha's blazing green eyes locked with mine as I signed. "What is going on?" She shook her head at me before returning her eyes to the ground. I had never seen her look so hopeless in my life. She was always the one that chose to look on the bright side of things while the rest of us were too full of hatred to see anything other than despair. What the dark waves was going on? I glanced over at Xanth. His eyes were still on Drakson. Drakson finally decided to make eye contact with him as they silently communicated something. Xanth's eyes flashed a bright silver. A new color had never seen in them but an emotion I knew all too well. He was pissed. I jumped when Xanth cursed, actually cursed. He ran his fingers through his hair, His face pinched with anger and worse fear. I wanted to scream, just say it. What could possibly be so horrible that nobody had the guts to say it?! I grabbed the tablet from Drakson's hand practically, snatching from his grasp. I looked down at the tablet as I read as if my ethereal soul depended on it. Once, I finished reading, I could feel my birthmark beginning to glow on the side of my face. Fury flushed through my veins. My dragons hissed, Their scales rising as they linked with me and begin to vibrate, a resounding frequency. I look down once more, rereading everything, just to make sure I understood. My grip on the tablet turned fierce enough to crack it in half. The sound of it breaking echoed through the silent training room. The ground began to shake as the planet's waves threaded with my emotions. My hair slipped from my braided bun to float around my face. Drakson took a few steps back as his eyes casted a look around the now shaking dome. The King had moved the tournament up so that our time to train was no longer three months, but one.

And now my team was suffering for it. We had trained hard, but we all knew deep down that it wasn't enough. It will never be enough. Now, I knew why every one of my teammates looked so wounded, it was their lives were basically being tossed aside so the Crown could snatch the one thing he salivated for the most. Me. Everything in me wanted to tear this place to the ground and wreak havoc on the king. "Mute!" I heard Xanth caution, but it was too late, I was too far gone.

Damn my life. If I had to die to protect the people closest to me. Then, so be it. Martyr and all. My eyes burned as I felt them turn a solid black, matching the color my birthmark used to be. My hands quivered at my sides, and I knew that with one flick of my wrist, I could rip apart this very ground. The floor trembled harder as the planet bounced off waves matching mine. It wanted vengeance for me. And I wasn't going to tell it no. Chaos, be damned. A soft, warm hand touched my arm, and I casted my eyes down at the person, no not person, people surrounding me. Masha's reptilian eyes blinked up at me. Her white eyes, tearful. My teammates were standing around me, and how long, I couldn't even tell you. I was so consumed, by rage that I didn't even hear them come near me. They all stepped closer, waiting for something. I glanced at them, expecting fear in their eyes, but instead, I only found love. "We are in this together, Mute. We won't let him take you." They all nodded their head in unison. I heard Daisha say over the link. That's when I felt it. The real reason why they were all so hurt by the news of the tournament. It wasn't because they were afraid of losing their lives, they feared losing me. My teammates wrapped me in a hug as everything around us returned to normal. My hair fell to my shoulders, and the ground ceased its rumbling. My dragons sent a cloak of warming energy around us, thanking them. I grasped on to their wavelengths giving and receiving everything that gave me and more. Safety, and love. We really were in this together. My teammates didn't even bat an eye as they felt it. Xanth and Drakson stepped closer as they both exchanged a dubious look. They couldn't sense what we were feeling. My dragons showed me their links, asking a silent question of whether we should let them in. In my mind, I grasped onto Drakson's red and yellow wavelength and Xanth's intertwining brown and gray link. They both gasped as they felt the soft energy flow through them. "Welcome to the real team, Y'all" Zaylee teased over the connection as she stepped away, sniffing. Everyone else stood back, smiling at each other. Xanth smirked at Drakson as they exchanged a look. My teammates and I jumped when Drakson gave a loud laugh. He didn't stop. He was laughing so hard that he was bent at the waist with his hands on his knees. What the.... We exchanged looks.

"Um, what is so funny?" Masha asked, a comical look of confusion on her face.

I would have smirked, but I was just as lost as she was. Xanth chuckled, his now brown eyes back on me as he shook his head. "Mute, You have no idea of what you just gave us, do you?" I shrugged in reply. It was all I could do. What exactly had I done? He stepped closer to me, putting his hand on my shoulder. "You just gave us a huge edge in the Glacier tournament. One that could even help us win."