Chapter 7!!!

Ok, so, its been over a month since I posted the last chapter in my book...so I think that it is high time that I posted the next one! Really, I am trying to stall so I can have some more time to finish another chapter that I am working on, but I cannot put this one off anymore! hehe! :)

So, without further ado may I present to you, chapter 7 of my exciting novel......I think I am going to change the title...hehe! whatever!

Here it is! :)

Chapter Seven

One week later...

James walked with her through the dense forest. They began searching two days ago for Etiran. Ella had not yet been able to make mental contact with her, but as the trudged forward, she could feel a gradual feeling that they were not only getting closer, they were heading in the right direction. When she told James this, he smiled to himself and walk with longer strides.
Ella had to practically run to keep up with her companion. She was taller than most people her age, but compared to this giant, well, she felt like the shortest person in the world.
“James! Please, slow down! You forget, my friend, that I am not nearly as fit as you!” He slowed down and gave Ella a chance to catch her breath, “Also, I am not nearly as tall as you!”
“I guess that is a good reason why Eria and me are such a good match!” He grinned broadly, showing off his white teeth.
“One of many, my fine giant!” He chuckled loudly at this statement. He had been called a giant, but not a “fine giant”.
Ella looked up at him and smiled, she loved his laughter. She hardly ever heard it while they were in the circus, but now, it came out like water from a spring.
“Have you caught your breath, Ella?” He asked, looking down at her with the fondness of a father in his eyes.
“Indeed. We shall journey on. We are getting closer. I can feel our connection getting stronger.”
They walked on and on for what seemed like hours. But Ella was thoroughly enjoying her freedom. She had not walked through the woods in what seemed like ages. James could tell, just by the crooked smile on her face, that she was fairly enchanted by being in the dense forest. He smiled thoughtfully to himself as he watched her walk with the the most poise and grace that he had seen anyone walk. He could tell that she was meant for greatness.
Finally, she stopped, holding up her hand for silence. Her voice came into his mind like a gentle wave, She is very near, don’t look around, but she sees us. She is being cautious, she does not know who we are. She is a good hundred yards away, in a tree. Be still.
She moved quietly and with the stealth of a snake. He could tell by her brows knotted together that she was trying to communicate with her friend. Her face lit up in a smile and she cupped her ands and shouted,
“Et! Get down here, you! James and I are here and we have been searching for you since yesterday! Come here!” she was fairly bouncing with excitement as there came a sound of wind and fluttering leaves. She screamed with delight as Et came fluttering down and landed on the ground before them.
“Et! Oh my dear friend! I am so glad to see you again!” She and Et rushed towards each other with their arms outstretched and both squealing with pure delight. Once they met, it seemed like they would never part, and Et flapped her mighty wings and lifted Ella into the air. Ella squeezed Et tighter and they rose higher and higher.
James shielded his eyes from the sunlight and looked up at them with laughing eyes. “Hey! You two had better get down here! You can hug very well on the ground!” he heard Ella tell her friend, “Um... to be honest, I would feel safer on the ground... Please put me down.”
Et landed gracefully and released Ella, smiling. Ella patted Etiran’s shoulder, “Maybe when I am more prepared to fly I will let you take me high, but not now.”
“I understand, but I could not resist to take you up,” she said with a wink. She looked at James and rushed towards him, giving the big man a hug around his waist. He went on one knee and returned the hug.
“But wait!” Et suddenly looked worried as she pulled away from James, “You two haven’t come to take me back, have you? What ever you do don’t-”
“Et! Stop! Mary has been found out and the rest of the crew deserted him. He is now right where he belongs, in prison. So we are free, just as I said we would be! All has worked out!”
Et looked shocked, and she muttered, “Free? We are free?”
Ella took her cold hands, “Yes, Et! We are free! No more cages or straw! We are truly free! Can you believe it?”
Et’s eyes welled up with tears and she slowly smiled. Ella looked right into her eyes and gave her the biggest smile she could manage with the scar hindering her. Et’s smile broadened, and she began to chuckle, then giggle, until she lifted her hands and laughed, screaming, “Free!”
Both the girls joined hands and skipped in a circle for pure joy, laughing like little girls. The joy they thought that they would never feel again came spewing out. They soon began to dance, and their laughter pulled James into their joy dance. He whirled the two around, one still clothed in the circus garb, and the other now dressed in a long skirt and fitted bodice like a girl her age aught to wear. Tendrils of Ella’s long hair escaped her braid as she was twirled around.
Soon, they were all breathless and lying on the forest floor. Ella looked at her friend and examined her closely. She was not thin like she had been living off the land. Not only that, but she looked clean, and Ella could smell soap on her. She sat up and furrowed her eyebrows.
“What is it, Ella? Why do you look so confused?” Et asked her.
“You are clean and healthy, how?”
Et smiled, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Do you remember me telling you about my people? The Luniaths?”
“How could I forget. You said that they were in hiding, and some of them did not have wings, but you had never met one who didn’t.”
“Yes, well, I have now.”
“What do you mean?” Ella quirked her eyebrow quizzically.
“For heaven’s sake, don’t look at me like that! Anyways, what I said! There is a Luniath here! In these woods! And he has been taking care of me! He is the kind with no wings, but he can do something else that only dragons can! His name is Leonato, but he insists I call him Leo.”
“Where does he live?” Ella asked.
“Here, I’ll call him, he is always close by!” Eteeran cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, “Leo! Leo! Come on! They are my greatest friends! Come on out! They want to meet you!”
“I could tell they were your friends my the way you ran to each other!” A friendly voice shouted back, “But I was waiting for you to shout!” they heard bushes rattling.
“You may as well come out!” Ella now joined in the shouting, “I am a mindspeaker, and I have already found your exact location.”
“Well! In that case!” More rattling and a few grunts. Soon, a young man stepped into the crowd, grinning broadly. Ella liked him immedately. Maybe in his early twenties, he was fair, like Et, but his hair was lighter and was tostled about his head from his scrambling around in the bushed. He even had a leaf stuck in his dark blonde locks. And his eyes were the same dark gray, like a storm, ready for lightening to flash across them. He bowed gracefully, “My formal name is Leonato, but I am hardly called that. One and all, call me Leo!”
“My name is Ella, Leo, it is my pleasure to meet you,” she extended her hand and he immediately took it and kissed it. Ella blushed, she had never had anyone in her life kiss her hand, not even Yeusem had. But, she reasoned, he probably would have if they had been able to be together longer.
“I can see by your face that you are one of the Roshem, and one blessed with many gifts. But what is that on the other side, that is no mark of the Roshem.”
“Indeed it is not, Leo, it is the last wound our former circus master was able to put upon me. And it is a scar I shall have the rest of my life. He cut my skin to the bone.”
Both Et and Leo gasped. “Oh, Ella!” Etiran cried, her dark eyes flashing with anger, “If I had known that he would do that, I would have fallen on him from the sky and killed him right there!”
James laughed, “You would have no need. After she fell I knocked him out and we took him to the nearest jail. He didn’t know what happened to him. The jailer said that he awoke cursing and wondering where on earth he was,” he chuckled, “I wish I could have seen it.”
“I am glad that he finally got what he deserved. It is about time that he was in jail. I wonder how many people before us he nearly beat to death.” Et pondered.
“You never told me that he beat you nearly to death.” Leo eyes were filled with concern and he wrapped his arm around her slender shoulders.
“He did more so before Ella came. Then he was able to beat one and then the other without killing both.” She made eye contact with Ella who was furrowing her eyebrows. “You coming saved my life. The people that surrounded me before Mary caught me told me that someone would come when my life was near its end. They said that she would bear part of my pain and help me. They also told me that your face would look distorted. I knew that you were coming, and that is what kept me going before you came. If I had not known, you would have seen a girl with wings lying dead at the bottom of her cage.”
Ella hugged her friend tightly, “You never told me about that! And I always wondered what your first words to me meant. I had been having visions about you for months. And I was always mystified at your words.”
“Well, now you know.” Et sighed, then brightened up and grinned, “I don’t know about you all, but I am hungry! I have been sitting up in a tree ever since dawn watching to see if anyone would come for me.”
Leo nodded, “She has, and every morning since she first flew into the tree in front of my house.”
They began walking as Leo led the way to his home. “Et!” Ella almost began laughing, “you flew into a tree?”
Et blushed, Leo answered for her, “She sure did! I was at door of my house when I looked up and saw Et staring right at me. She was watching me at not in front of her, and she ran into the tallest tree in the forest. She fell right to the ground and I found her at the base of the tree. She was nocked cold.”
Ella looked at Et, she was smiling shyly and eyeing Leo with something tender in her eyes. My friend, you have something in your eyes when you look at Leo.
“I do?”
You do, I am right to assume that you may have affections for our new friend?
Et looked at the ground, “Yes, I have only known him for about a week, but he has already been treating me like someone special.”
Of course, you two are of the same race, however different you look. How could he help but feel something special for you?
“It is something different than that. I can’t put my finger on it, but it is something more special than relation.” Et looked up and smiled, and turning to Leo, said, “Leo! They do not know your dragon trait!”
Now it was time for him to blush, “Didn’t you already tell them?”
“No, I didn’t! Please, give them a display! Just once. You don’t have wings so it is not as obvious as mine. Go on!”
“Fine!” Leo rolled his eyes, stopped, drew a deep breath, threw back his head and spewed out a great column of fire.
Ella and James both gasped with shock. They were expecting some things, but not that. Ella immediately got over her shock and began clapping. She nudged James with her elbow and he was soon joining in.
Leo blushed, then bowed gracefully. “Well done, Leo!” cheered Ella, still clapping with enthusiasm. “I can see now that you truly have dragon blood running through your veins. Although, I can also see that by your eyes. You both have the stormy eyes. Do you know that when you are mad I can see lightening flashing across your eyes?”
Et immediately put one hand by her eyes, “You can?” They began walking again; Leo in front and leading the way. “Yes, Et, they can. I have looked at myself when I was angry,” Leo explained, “and saw the lightening that our Roshem friend described. It is how people know if we truly are angry or how our emotions are at one moment. All of our people have the same eyes. I suppose you could say that it is one of our trademarks. My downfall is that sparks also come out of my mouth when I am mad.”
“Then I suppose you have to take extra care to keep your mouth shut,”James commented.
“Indeed.” They were walking only for a few more minutes when Ella saw a small house come into view. The tallest tree she had ever seen rose up in front of it like a guardian of the forest. Leo jumped forward and extended his arm dramatically, “This, my good friends, is my humble abode!”
“I like it already!” said Ella said, nodding her approval, “Suits a bachelor like you. Nice and cozy and tidy.”
“I like it myself! Thats why I live here!” Leo grinned, showing his white teeth. Et rolled her eyes at Leo and walked the rest of the way holding on to his arm. Ella and James exchanged glances, smiling slyly to each other.
She told me that she has affection for him. Ella said mentally to her tall friend.
He smiled, “I really can see why. He is a friendly man of her own race and he looks to be only a few years older than her.”
James, not only is he friendly, he is handsome. Any girl who has taste would want to hang on his arm. And I know that Et has taste, she chuckled quietly enough for Et not to hear her. Having dragon blood and dragon traits also gives her the ability to know if she can trust people. That is probably why she is so happy around him.
“I wish we all had that gift. There are so many people that seem trustworthy, but they are not.”
They were now standing very close to Leo’s home. Leo walked proudly to the door and swung it open, grinning, “This, friends, is my home. Please, come in and make yourselves at home!”
Ella soon saw that the inside was not as tidy as the outside, but it was cozy and had a charm of its own. Many of the walls had shelves that were filled with leather-bound books. There was a table in the middle of the room she was entering. On the wall directly to her right was a stove with cabinets and a sink. An iron water pump stood poised on the edge of the sink. Ella liked the welcoming environment this place had. It was not fancy or over decorated with lace and satin, like her old home had been, but it was nice all the same. A far door led to what she thought for sure was his bedroom. There was a few paintings on the walls of dragons and a strange looking creature that had wings and a tail and what looked like scales and claws, but walked like a human and had hair.
So that must be a Lunar Dragon. I never would have guessed that they looked like that. The picture was of the Lunar Dragon fighting in a great battle with an elf by her side. She looked like a formidable figure to meet in battle. She had the blood rising behind her green eyes, giving her the look like her eyes were on fire. Her lips were formed into a shout of victory. Her tail was lashing out and slicing the legs from her foe’s body. A long, flaming dagger she had in each hand. Sparks flew from her mouth. The sky was painted with such vibrant colors, such reds and golds as Ella had never seen in her life, nor since.
Et saw that Ella’s attention was riveted onto the painting. And walked over to her and led her to where she could get a closer look.
“That is my ancestor, Celiluna.” Et explained proudly, “And the elf fighting beside her is her husband, Marcolous. Her name means “Moonray” in the language of the Luniaths. She is the greatest being ever to walk the face of the earth. They say that she has the power to control fire and have it come at her will. She is immortal. Still alive to this day, along with Marcolous. They live in the great city of Balainar. Since we Luniaths have Lunar dragon and elven blood, we are also immortal. That painting is of the great battle..oh..I forget the name. But it was hundreds of years ago..”
“It is incredible. I have never seen anything quite like it. Nor a creature like Celiluna. I have never actually seen a dragon in my entire life. I have only seen pictures and heard the tales.”
“Where I grew up, we raised dragons.” Et said even more proudly, “The females would come and lay their eggs and leave them for us to raise. It is amazing how small the eggs are and how big they end up becoming. But they are all different. Maybe you will have a dragon of your own to ride one day. Even though I have wings, I would ride on the great creatures. They soar with such grace. And their wings! Oh! They feel like a mix between scales and leather. So smooth, they almost feel like silk!”
“Who knows. Before my mother sold me, I had never even thought about riding a dragon. But here I am, talking about them to a girl who a has dragon blood running through her veins... I will not speak of it again until I am actually on the back of a dragon, then I’ll consider that an accomplishment.”
Etiran laughed merrily. And Leo came up beside them, a smile tugging at his lips. Ella resisted the urge to go into his mind. He looked at Et fondly, until his lips broke into a gentle smile, but his eyes were filled with a playful mischief. “Did I ever tell you that I met her?”
“Met who?” Et asked, without taking her eyes off the picture. Ella was sure that she hardly even heard his question.
“Celiluna. I met her.” he said plainly.
Et’s head jerked up and she stared at him in amazement, “You did?”
“I sure did, and Marcolous.”
“What are they like?” Et was fairly jumping with excitement, and her wings were trembling. That was her sign that she was excited.
“Mysterious, majestic, powerful. Celiluna herself has such an air about her. You can clearly see that she is the most powerful person in the world. And you would never know that they had seen battles and lived for hundreds of years. But their eyes are filled with wisdom. You can tell just by looking into their eyes that they have seen countless ages and wars, peace, hope, trials. One look and you know that they have seen it all. And Celiluna is also a mindspeaker. She was the first person I met that can mindspeak. And you, fair Ella, are the second.” He grinned at her.
Both Ella and Et blinked at him in astonishment. Even James’ jaw dropped a bit. Fair? No one had ever called Ella fair. The marks that covered half of her face made it look distorted for goodness sake! And now she had the scar that marred the other side of her face. She would never had thought herself as fair.
Leo blushed, “Did I say something wrong?”
Ella grinned, “No!” she had to keep herself from kissing his cheek, “You just said the most amazing thing to me that anyone has ever said to me!”
“What? That you are a mindspeaker and the second one that I know? How is that amazing?” Leo was clearly lost.
“No, you called me ‘fair’. No one has ever called me fair before in my life. I have had someone say that he like me better without the mask I used to wear, but never has anyone ever said that I was... pretty.” Ella’s voice had dropped to a whisper.
“No one?” Leo sounded like he hardly believed her.
“No one, Leo.” Et wrapped her wing around Ella’s shoulder protectively, “You forget, my friend, that Ella and I have been in the circus for a number of years. Ella for two and I for four. And in that time they were calling us hideous, monsters, freaks of nature, and many other things that made our self esteem do a slope in the downward direction. I got most of the monster and freak of nature talk, but Ella got the hideous and the name calling because of her face.”
“Well..” Leo lowered his eyes and sighed. “I did not know, but now we can say that they are ignorant commoners that have no idea when they have a powerful figure before their very eyes.”
“Leo,” James stepped forward, excitement shining in his brown eyes, “Do you know what the marks on her face mean?”
“I would have to her a closer look, but yes, I do.” Leo smiled with pride.
“You mean, that you would be able to tell me what I am able to do by looking at my face?” Ella raised an eyebrow like she remembered Yeusem doing.
“Yes, but it would be tricky.” Leo replied, “All your gifts are all jumbled together on the right side of your face. And that means that your gifts are more powerful than the average Roshem. It might take a while to be able to figure them all out.”
“I am willing to wait! I want to find out what they all mean! Why there are so many. Please, can we do it now?” Ella was nearly jumping out of her skin with excitement. Someone would finally be able to tell her why she had so many marks and what they all mean. She knew that some of the marks were pieces of her future. So she would be able to know the purpose of her life, to a certain extent. She would be able to know if she would end up in the old house she grew up in or if she would be rich and powerful and wise. And maybe, just maybe, she might be immortal. She knew only a few of her kind were immortal.
“Et, will you please light a few lanterns. I would like as much light as possible to be able to see every detail of her face. My lady, please sit in yonder chair and wait until we are ready.”
Ella almost laughed at the way that Leo talked to her. She sat obediently in the chair that he has indicated, by the window where the daylight flooded in. Et lighted a lantern and held it close to Ella’s face as Leo pulled up a chair and studied Ella’s face with his brow creased. James stood off to the side and watched. His eyes held a lot of interest and curiosity. She winked at him, and he grinned back.
There was a long silence, as Leo’s eyes scanned her face, taking in every detail. At last his eyes brightened. “Ah!” he breathed out. Grinning, he announced proudly, “Ella, you have the gift of foresight!”
“Well, I knew that!” she snorted, “Which mark is it?”
“Et, will you please go get a mirror?”
“Sure!” she hoped up from her place and ran into the room. They heard her clanking around in there until she came out with a small mirror in her hand. She held the mirror in front of Ella’s face. Leo touched her face, tracing his finger around a red spot on Ella’s cheekbone.
“There it is! See how it is in the shape of an eye?” he drew his finger away so that Ella could look at it closely.
“Yes,” she whispered, “I see that, and I have always seen it.” She turned to him, “Why did it take you so long just to figure out that one mark?”
“I wanted to be sure. Since this mark is just discoloration of the skin, there are other marks underneath it that make your skin look...well...”
“Like a pot of boiling water.” Ella finished for him. He nodded, but then he shrugged and raised up his finger. Ella noticed that his nail seemed to blend in with the rest of his finger ever so slightly. She had never noticed that on Et.
“Not quite like a pot of boiling water. Surely you have seen the detail that is in every mark.”
“Not really. But then I have not been able to really look at my face in a while. I was just recently reintroduced to a mirror.”
He shrugged again, agreeing with her in his silent manner. His eyes went again to her face. This time, the time went by a lot faster. James and Et engaged into ernest conversation. Ella simply listened while Leo studied her face and wrote some things down on a piece of paper he had snatched up. His handwriting was so horrible she could not read it. Not only that, but she had to try and read it upside down. She gave up after a few minutes and decided to listen intently to her friends conversation. She couldn’t help but grin on the look of Et’s face when James told her about his engagement to Eria. Et’s face was always so dynamic. She had the best expressions. Ella almost never had to read Et’s mind, she could just tell what she was thinking by the looks on her face.
Finally, after what seemed to Ella like ages, Leo leapt up, waving the piece of paper around and shouting, “I got it! I know all of Ella’s gifts and even some of her future!”
“Then sit down and tell us, sir!” James gently shoved Leo back into his chair. Ella was fairly jumping in her seat with anticipation, and Leo was looking very innocent, “What? You want me to tell you now? My brain is very tired and I would like to take a nap.”
“You sit right there and tell us right now!” Ella stood up and glared at him, her arms akimbo and looking very much like a mother in front of her disobedient child.
“I guess I can’t argue with one who has the voice of command.” he shrugged again and sat up straight, holding the paper up to his eyes. “Lady Ellina, as is your rightful title, you have the gift of mindspeaking, as you know, foresight, you know that too. You are an earth-mover. Meaning, you can basically command dirt, any amount of dirt to do as you please. Um..what else? Oh! Yes! You have the voice of command. You can use a certain voice and people have to obey your commands.”
James and Et exchanged glances. They both had had a feeling that she would have a gift like that sooner or later.
Leo went on, “Um..you can make not only people obey you, but things as well. Only, when you want to command something you simply have to point to it and then point to where you want it to go. That is a great advantage on your part I think. You will live forever, you can-”
“Wait, what?” Ella held up her hand to silence him. “What did you say?”
“You heard very well what I said, Ellina. You are immortal, and will live to see countless ages of the earth. However, you can die if you willingly give your life for another who does not deserve it.”
“So, in order to die, I have to give myself up for another who may not deserve another chance to live?”
“That would be correct.”
That's a bit sobering.
He finished by telling her that the things in her future she would see in visions. He also said that many things will be very hard and trying, but that she will raise herself up. Ella was not sure what to make of all of it. But something was now nudging into her mind, a soft question that gave her hope.
“Leo, what will happen when the things that are in my future are the past?”
“Then the mark that showed that will disappear. The things that are in the past will be washed away from your face, as if they had never been. Thankfully for you, the marks that show your future are the biggest and the ones that look like a pot of boiling water. So when those go, you will have several areas of smooth, unblemished skin.”
Ella’s heart felt like it skipped a beat. That is just what Sholeim told her! Her face might be almost clear one day! As if several of the marks had never been there! Why did her race have to be the most complicated? Why did her life have to be so complicated? She mentally shrugged these questions away and focused on the hope that there would someday be no reason for people to call her hideous. She knew that oven with just one mark they would call her names, but maybe her face would not look quite so distorted.

Ta-daaaa!!!

haha, I hoped that you liked it! :)

Luv to all!

Jenna