Lily of the Shadows

Chapter 7

Location-the Valdt

Xolt couldn't get a wink of sleep that night, after he had heard the news of where Ivy had taken his sister. He heard something in the hall and decided to investigate. It was like a faint whisper, cold as ice and sharp as steel. The night felt darker as the shadows began closing in.

"Where am I?" he heard a familiar voice say, in tones of distress and panic.

He stared deep into the darkness, a wisp of shadows coming closer.

"It cannot be!" He said to himself, hardly believing his eyes.

"Xolt?" She said, just as startled and disoriented as he was.

"How is this possible? How did you get here? Why are you here?" Xolt started, a thousand questions racing through his head at once.

"I don't know!" She shouted back, before reaching out to see if it was even real.

"How is your mission coming?" Xolt asked.

"Is that all you care about? Is that all anyone cares about? And I thought you were the sensible one. After all I've been through, and you have the audacity to ask such an imbecilic question?" She snapped, putting her foot down as a storm of shadows swirled menacingly around her slight frame.

"I am just nervous about the mission. If you and the others don't find the Empress and return soon, then there will not be much left of our world to save. Every day another village falls, more lives are lost, and soon there will be nothing. So why can't you speed it up?" Xolt replied.

"This better be a dream, Xolt, or you will regret the day I return. I don't even know if I am really here at all. With all I'd be willing to give for a glimpse of home, it seems as worthless as dust to return if this is the warm welcome I will receive." She replied, turning her back to him.

Xolt tried to think of some reply to console her, some way to make it right, but he knew too well that no amount of arguing would get him outside of her fury. He could tell that something was bothering her, but he was unsure what to say.
"This started as the perfect dream, and now you have turned it into a nightmare. I hope you regret this moment for the rest of your days. Why couldn't your sister have just left me to die outside the trial? Then none of this would have happened, and everything would have ended then and there." She said in hushed tones.

"Manx, I'm sorry." Xolt replied.

"Indeed you are!" She shouted, turning around and raising a fist to strike.

"There is more to this than either of us know. I did not mean to upset you, but seeing as you were already deeply infuriated about something, it isn't like the circumstances would have lead to anything else." he calmly replied.

"Maybe you are right, but it doesn't at all justify what you said. If only you knew what I've been through these past few days, and maybe you would understand the gravity of everything on my mind. At least you are honest with me and speak what you really are thinking, instead of saying one thing and then running away." Manx said solemnly.

"I'm not Vaskin." Xolt said.

"You're not Vaskin yes, but what you are, Xolt Wilderwynd, is an idiot!" She snapped back.

"How dare you!" he retorted, sparks of lightning crackling in his palms.

"How dare you, to say a thing like that! You think you are so smart, with all your runes and fancy books, but what you really are is an insensitive overgrown hairball with less brains than a can of beans! Even your sword has less slice than your tongue, which I would happily remove for you if you make one more impatient heartless comment!" Manx screamed, before falling on her knees and starting to cry.