9. Meeting of Old…Acquaintances
Normal POV
Leyva slowly rose up from the place where she was sitting, still thinking about what had happened. But if I'm Lanah, then why can't I remember? I seem to know Banhr, but…I don't know. And the same goes for Helent. I think I must've known them from somewhere. There's something I have to remember though, but I forgot! Something Banhr told me. Something about…oh, I don't know! Curse my forgetful mind!!
I need more flashbacks. That might help a hell of a lot.
Leyva stood up with a groan. 'Ugch. I should probably go upstairs soon and look for Helent and Banhr. I bet they're wondering where I am.'
Something scraped against the ship, sending a shudder through the hull and up Leyva's spine. She snapped her head up and looked around wildly. What's that? Are there icebergs here or something?
The red-haired girl leapt out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her, where it promptly became invisible to the normal eye. She sprinted up the stairs and came to a halt on deck. There was another pirate ship next to them. Its hull sliding across The Dragon was the sound she had heard earlier. The men aboard were planning to jump by the boards stretched out between them and the grappling hooks with metal rope holding the ships together.
Leyva froze as she saw Helent and Banhr shepherding all the passengers into the hallway leading to the cabins. 'Get in there!' they shouted. 'We can take care of this!' The adults were confused, and Lena and Ruby were frightened, although they only showed it by the scared look in their eyes and how they held themselves. Leyva watched the captain and the hooded prince sprint back to unlock a cabinet and pull out swords for the sailors who didn't carry one on them at all times. Within seconds, the men from the opposing ship were swarming over the deck. Leyva shrank back into the shadows. A gasp broke its way out of her throat when Banhr and Helent didn't take a sword, but scrambled up the rigging, finding a comfortable position and held their palms towards the enemy. The red-haired girl couldn't see anything, but random men dropped down, some glowing copper and some blue.
The crew with swords were racing here and there, stabbing through the enemy with powerful strokes. Leyva took a deep breath to calm herself when blood splattered over the deck, running everywhere, trickling over and around the red-stained crates. I thought it was bad when Aergul was whipping his daughter, but it's so much more horrible in real life! She gave a deep sigh. 'Ugch.' Leyva always had a tough stomach for blood and gore, but it was just so horrible, seeing the people she had grown to love over the time she had known them killing so mercilessly. Some had expressions of delight when they hurt the people who were threatening to take over their ship, reveling in the screams they drew.
Leyva sat back, unblinking, staring at the carnage before her. She emptied her face of any emotion that might've been crossing it and looked towards Helent and Banhr. What she saw would've made her gasp any other time, but now, in her trace-like mood, she just noted it with lifeless eyes. The two friends sitting in the rigging had blue and copper…stuff…clinging to them, blue for the captain, copper for the prince. It circled their arms in the manner rope would, then descended down their hands and stopped about an inch out of their open palms. In a direct line from that was a shimmering of the air, and then it reached someone from the opposing side. The colored rope would circle around them, starting at their head, and then work its way down, only using one small length, rolling itself until it reached their feet, and then they'd promptly fall over, dead.
The girl vaguely recalled thinking: "Is this magic?" before someone came up behind her and whispered hoarsely into her ear. 'Do you like your first taste of how the elves kill? Or maybe…do you remember it?' A hand gently passed through Leyva's hair and ran down to rest on her shoulder. 'My daughter, would you like it much to come home with me after far too many years apart?'
The one in question snapped out of her thoughts and looked the new-comer in the eye. He was an older replica of Banhr, except his hair was a shade darker with white streaks and his eyes were vibrant green, speckled silver.
There was a nagging in the back of Leyva's mind, telling her that she needed to remember this man, and be cautious of him. Suddenly her mind was overflowing with images. Somebody calling this person 'father', his name being shouted, his eyes full of love as he looked towards his daughter, who was a green-haired girl, about seven, and a small boy that was a carbon-copy of her. Him yelling, hate evident in his face, then sincere apology showing through.
Leyva fell to her knees with one arm wrapped around her waist, the other around her head, trying to control the images. 'No… No… Please, no! I don't like this. It hurts too much. Dad!' Tears were streaming down her face, cascading from her eyes and dropping like liquid diamonds to the blood-soaked ground.
The man kneeled down beside his daughter and hesitantly wrapped his arms around her. 'Ssh, it'll be okay. It's always this bad after you get an onslaught of memories come back to you like that. It'll all be fine soon, I promise on everything, okay?' He felt like he was talking to a small child. 'Lanah, ssh. We need to leave soon. You need to come back home, back to where you truly belong. Okay?'
She froze and then pushed Aergul away. 'No! I don't want to. Banhr hates you, and he's my friend. I…I'm happy on The Dragon, I don't need to go somewhere else.' The man froze.
'Banhr? He's here?' The other red-head covered up his eager look with a stony one. 'All the more reason to be leaving now.'
Leyva gasped as a new memory came back with a jolt.
"Nooo! Please no! Don't take me, please!" begged a young girl of twelve, being dragged away. "Banhr!" she yelled to a boy no less than a year older than her. "I'm sorry, Banhr! I'm so sorry, and by Dulan herself, if I can find a way to bring myself back to you, I will!" She was sucked into a black vortex that transported her to earth and left Banhr standing there, thunderstuck, tears running freely down his face for his best friend.
'No, I don't want to be taken. I don't know who the hell you think you are, but I'm not leaving!'
'Lanah, I'm your father.'
'Don't fucking "Lanah" me! My name's Leyva, and my dad is the man who's raised me for six years, plays music with me and takes me snowboarding! Not the "Dark King"!!!'
Aergul grabbed his daughter by her shoulders and concentrated, forming a black whirlpool behind him. Leyva noticed this and started to punch and kick madly. 'Banhr!' she called out, seeing her friend standing by. He had a downcast look on his face, as if he wanted to do something, but couldn't. 'By Dulan herself, if I can find a way to bring myself back to you, I will!' His eyes widened in recognition.
'Lanah…' And then she was gone. 'No, Lanah! Lanah!!!!!' He howled up to the sky, having lost his best friend for the second time. Helent raced up to the captian and awkwardly put an arm around him, lending comfort.