Sahara Ashdell: Rebirth of Patreek (Book 3)

Sahara teleported them next to Aran Rayterbay, who had managed to take over the castle from the inside. The other regiments have joined the battle now and surround the castle but after a few minutes of Sahara fighting and killing a few of the creatures, she realizes they are losing. She can feel the devastation of those from the living surrounding them. “Sahara!” Brystol says jumping in front of her as he casts a spell to block one of the creatures from stabbing her.

She looks over seeing one of the elders fall by the weapons and magic of a group of creatures and a large evil looking giant elf. She notices Aran Rayterbay struggling to stand as blood runs down the back of his left leg. She sees living elves falling all around her and it tugs at her heart. She realizes she must do something as she spins around in a circle feeling overwhelmed by the amount of pain she feels. She closes her eyes trying to focus on the evil beings surrounding them. She has no idea where the gate of evil is but she knows she needs to find it or destroy the evil escapees. “How many have escaped?” Sahara yells toward Aran Rayterbay who is using his magic to battle another creature.

“What?” He asks not understanding her as he stabs the creature.

“How many escapees are there?” She moves over to help him fight, throwing her hand out toward the creatures surrounding him and it causes them to fly backwards quickly as if they were bullets taking out other creatures in their path.

Looking impressed with Sahara’s abilities and a nod of thanks, the Aran answers, “There were seventy-eight imprisoned.”

“And where is the gate of evil?” She asks throwing her hand out toward the creatures that are surrounding Brystol a few feet away.

“I wouldn’t know.” The Aran says as he lunges his sword into another creature seeming tired. “Only the elders know that.”

Sahara tries to think as she sees the creatures continue to take down some centars followed by pixies. She knows she has to think quick. After a moment, she feels her anger building inside as the pain of those around her pulls at her heart. She can’t focus on what to do as screams of pain drown out her thoughts. “Enough!” She roars as her vision turns blue and her hand hits the hardened ground beneath her. From her hand, electricity bolts travel through the ground zapping all the creatures surrounding her in a half-mile radius. The currents do not touch the living elves and the sudden amount of noise lessens greatly causing her to feel more relaxed.

She closes her eyes trying to focus on the evil beings close to her. She finds one near and uses her telepathy to enter the evil elf’s mind. “Where is the gate?” She asks, searching for the being’s brain. She smiles as she feels the evil elf begin to walk away from the village. After a few moments Sahara can see the gate through the eyes of the being she is controlling. She forces the being to enter the gate before opening her eyes. The smile on her face quickly fades as she sees all the scared eyes looking at her. She sees burnt creatures’ bodies surrounding her. The Aran is using his sword as a cane to stand and looks unbothered by her powers, but Brystol looks scared of her like the other elves. She rises slowly from the ground knowing she needs help to coral all the escapees back into the gate. She sees Brystol throw out his hand toward a quickly approaching creature and strike the creature with a bolt of lightning. She had almost forgotten how she had transferred her electricity powers to Brystol. She smiled, knowing suddenly what to do.

“I can use telepathy to force the escapees back into the gate, but I need help taking down the creatures.” She says running over to Brystol. “I can’t do more than one at a time.”

“Why not use your telepathy to control one of the escapees to fight for us and take down the other escapees instead?” The Aran’s suggestion worried Sahara. She had not thought of killing so many. “Tielus is the strongest.” He points toward a muscular blue colored elf that is using magic effortlessly to destroy groups of elves, centars, and pixies with one small movement of his hand.

Sahara wonders what the elders would think of such a suggestion as she considers her next move. “Maybe.” She says wondering if she would be strong enough to use telepathy long enough to control the escapee. She had never been trained on how to use telepathy properly. “I was never allowed to train using telepathy.” She says, doubting her ability.

“If we could get you closer to him it would be easier.” The Aran says nodding towards Brystol.

“We can clear a path through there.” Brystol says pointing toward the large battle occurring in the distance.

The Aran begins to instruct the soldiers on what to do while Sahara takes Brystol’s hand. “Can you do what I did with electricity?” He looks unsure and doesn’t answer her. “You have some of my magic and I know you have flamed before. So, if you could control your electricity and take out large groups of creatures at once while I control Tielus, I think we could win.” She says knowing her limits, “I can’t do both at the same time.”

“I can’t just flame on a whim.” He replies. “I don’t have emotional magic like you.”

“Yes, you do.” Sahara says knowing the times he flamed where when he was jealous. She thinks for a moment before she calls one of the elves in their army over to her. “Hi.” She says flirtatiously to the elf, “What is your name?”

“Algert.” The ellon says with a bow.

Sahara smiles at Algert before moving up to him so she can whisper, “Thank you for fighting with us. Could I give you a kiss?”

Algert looks startled by her request for only a moment before he smiles with delight, “I would be honored Aranel.”

Sahara kisses his lips gently making sure to put a bit of passion into it and it accomplishes what she had intended. “What are you doing?” She feels Brystol rip her away from Algert with his angered words. She smiles seeing the flames in his eyes.

“Shall we?” She asks, pointing toward the path he suggested a moment ago. She sees Brystol push Algert down before moving toward the battle.

“Sorry.” Sahara says helping Algert back up to his feet.

“I didn’t mind it at all.” He says with a satisfied smile.

Sahara follows behind Brystol as he easily clears the path for her with his bursts of electricity that engulf multiple creatures at a time effortlessly. The Aran and the rest of the army follow behind them taking out some strays. Sahara sees Tielus and realizes he is close enough to control with telepathy, so she focuses on him and tries to find his mind. The fighting around her is distracting so she must close her eyes. After a moment, she smiles realizing she has him. She forces Tielus to battle the Underverse creatures and the other escapees. She was only able to control him for about ten minutes before she fell to the ground with a piercing headache.

“Sahara!” She hears the Aran say as he leans over her in concern.

“I will be alright.” Sahara says wiping the blood from her nose. “I just need a moment.” She wraps her hands around the metal charm Verdiwild had slipped in her pocket before they left Kinderton. She tries to place it on her forehead, but a loud piercing buzz causes her to drop the charm and hold her head in pain. She feels the metal touch her forehead and the pain leaves. She opens her eyes seeing the Aran nod to her and hand her back the charm. “Thank you.” She says wiping more blood from her nose. She stands up quickly as she notices Aran Satavan approaching and killing a centar near them. She swallows hard feeling nervous. He seemed invincible.

“He is here for me.” Aran Rayterbay says standing back up next to Sahara. “You focus on your task.” Sahara knows the Aran is wounded and needs help, but he is too proud to admit it.

“Aran.” She says handing him the blue sword. “I believe this is yours.”

The Aran nods a thank you to Sahara and exchanges swords with her. She looks around to survey the battle and notices with Brystol being flamed, and her controlling Tielus for that little time, they appear to now be winning. She had managed to kill seven of the evil escapees and hundreds of creatures were now gone also. She takes a deep breath looking around and finding Tielus again. She closes her eyes as three of the elves in her army surround her in a protective manner. They were to protect her while she focused on telepathy. She controls Tielus and defeats another escapee, but then finds herself distracted by Brystol’s yell.

She opens her eyes breaking her control of Tielus to see Brystol running over toward Aran Satavan, who runs a sword through Aran Rayterbay’s chest before using his boot to kick Aran Rayterbay down and pull his sword out. Sahara sees the blue sword fall to the ground from Aran Rayterbay’s hand and she causes it to fly toward her as Brystol slams Aran Satavan with bolts of lightning yelling, “NO!” Sahara runs toward Aran Satavan as she catches the blue sword in her hand hoping to help Brystol. Aran Satavan pushes back against Brystol’s bolts and casts a gust of air toward Brystol, but Brystol just jumps over the air avoiding it. Brystol’s flamed eyes scare Sahara as she sees him turn towards her and Aran Satavan’s back faces her. She sees a clear opportunity to stab Satavan in the back but before she can lunge the sword, she feels it leave her hand. The sword lands in Brystol’s hand as Sahara falls to the ground from the surge of energy she feels pulse from Brystol’s anger. Brystol swings the blue sword at Aran Satavan and Sahara closes her eyes tightly as blood from his neck splatters her face. Brystol had cut off his head and Sahara opens her eyes to see his head lying in front of her face as it turns to ash. She shutters in fear as she looks up at Brystol, who only looks at her for a moment before he turns to run to his father.

Sahara pushes herself up from the ground and slowly moves over to Brystol, who is next to his father. Sahara sees the head elder move in next to her and bend down placing his hand on Aran Rayterbay’s wound. Aran Rayterbay speaks in a slow painful way to Brystol, “You are more powerful than I knew.” Brystol looks too emotional to respond to the Aran, so the Aran continues between gasps, “You will be the greatest Aran to have ever been with Sahara by your side.” The Aran looks over toward Sahara and she gasps for air finding it hard to see past her tears as the head elder shakes his head toward Sahara, letting her know that the Aran was not going to survive. “I am proud. Of you both.” The Aran says before his hand falls to the ground beside him and Brystol screams out toward the sky in sorrow.

Sahara looks around at the desolation and knows they must carry on and finish their quest. She feels the magic pulsing in her veins as the new feeling of sorrow and loss engulfs her. “We have to finish this, Brystol.” She says, placing her hand on his. He looks up into her eyes and nods his head in response before looking back down at his father and placing his father’s silver sword on his chest and folding his hands on top of the handle. He wipes his tears as he stands to his feet and holds out the blue sword handle toward Sahara. She shakes her head as she rises to her feet. “It is rightfully yours.”

He hands his other sword to her, which she accepts and Brystol nods to her before they both go back to continue their mission.