War for Uyrilia

Chapter 2

Liliana tried to keep her distance from the others after her encounter with Marc. She did not trust anyone and she did not want her family to find out what had happened. She had found a little side rail to look out at the ocean, a hallway that no one traveled down, her own little get away. She sighed as she looked at the waves shifting about the boat before her head came up and spun quickly at the sound of steps behind her. Turning she saw Robert walking closer with his hands held up.

“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to startle you.” He told her making her relax a bit. “What are you doing so far from the rest of the group?”

“What’s it matter to you?” She said before turning back to look at the ocean. He had come to her aid three times now and each time she was glad it was him. She smiled slightly to herself as she thought about the handsome guy from school being a prince who was always saving her.

Robert walked up to stand beside her. “I just thought after the other night you wouldn’t be anywhere in sight.” She scowled at him. “I’m sorry about my brother. He is under the impression that he will be the heir to the thrown and that entitles him to anything he wants.”

“You shouldn’t have to be sorry for your brother.” She told him still refusing to look at him, not wanting to be caught by his crystal blue eyes. “He shouldn’t treat any girl like that, it doesn’t matter what her rank is.”

“You’re right.” Robert gave a small smile when she glanced at him. “He was raised as our mother’s little pet. What she says he does, he feels he is above everyone and everything. He has never had to live with the consequences that follow because our mother made it all go away. Or our brother Ryan and I have to try to fix things and apologize a million times.” He sighed.

“Don’t you get tired of fixing things for him? I mean if he does that when he’s king he’s just going to cause wars and all.” She looked at him as he turned to lean his hip against the rail.

“It’s very tiresome but it is what my mother commands and one does not go against my mother and her wishes.” He sounded angry when he spoke of his mother making her look at him. His clear blue eyes held something in them she could not read and his defined features coupled with his slight but built body he was actually very handsome. Liliana looked away as a slight blush dusted her cheeks. “I hope things won’t become too stressed between you and the others because of my idiotic brother.”

She looked at him out the corner of her eyes and gave a smirk. “We shall see.” Was all she said turning to walk away before he could say another word. Liliana made her way back to the room quickly to try to avoid running into anyone else.

Liliana emerged the next morning from her cabin. “Well, look who finally comes to see the sun.” Alexander laughed as Liliana rolled her eyes and looked out over the water.

“At least I’m not barfing my guts up.” She smirked as he turned from laughing to vomiting over the side of the ship. “Keep laughing, see where it gets you.”

“Land!” A crew man yelled as a mass came into view in the distance.

“Oh, thank god!” Alexander cried out making his friends laugh. Liliana caught sight of Marc watching her, making her move closer to her brother.

“We’re going to stop and restock for a couple hours.” Arthur said as he walked up to the group. “You can wander the market and stretch your legs.” They all nodded and anxiously waited to be back on land. Even if it was just for a little while.

“You go ahead.” Jace told her as they dropped Alexander on the ground where he rolled around cheering about how much he enjoyed dry land. “Someone has to watch over this one.”

“You sure?” She asker and watched her brother nod, looking back at Alexander ‘hugging’ the ground. “You want anything?”

“if you can get some apples, but it’s Elven country. I doubt anyone speaks Aluni.” Liliana shrugged and wandered off to see what she could get.

Liliana wandered the market looking at the beautiful items and fresh food when she saw Ryan and Robert off to the side talking to an old Elven woman. She smiled brightly as Robert spoke to her making Liliana move closer, listening as he spoke to her in elfish. Ryan handed her a little pouch as Robert said something making her bow and respond. Robert just smiled and inclined his head before she walked away and the two brothers started walking again. They smiled as they spotted her standing off to the side.

“Find anything you like?” Robert asked.

“A few things but I don’t know how to speak to them.” She admitted.

Ryan laughed and grinned at her. “That’s why you stick with my big brother.”

Robert rolled his eyes. “Show us what you wanted. I’ll talk for you.” She led them through the market to get some food and a beautiful set of red robes with intricate designs of nature on it in black thread. At each stop, Robert spoke for her and repeated her gratitude before Ryan took off to talk to some of the ship’s crewmembers leaving Robert and Liliana alone together. “Was that everything you wanted?”

“Yes. Thank you very much. I really appreciate it.” She smiled, holding her bags close happily. “Where did you learn to speak Elven? I thought only the elves knew it.”

“My father.” As she looked at him confused, he chuckled. “My father is Elven, I am half elf. So he taught me when I was very young about my heritage and I use it to visit my father’s kin once in a while.” He glanced at her out the corner of his eye. “We have a while to go; would you like to learn a bit?”

“Really?” He nodded and gave a smirk. “But I’m not Elven.”

He shrugged. “There are a few people we let learn our language. Only those who are special are allowed. Besides who’s going to stop me? And you’re the princess of Atren after all.” He smiled as she gave him a bright smile that made him stop and stare at her a moment. She stopped and looked at him confused before he shook his head. “We can start tonight. I’ll meet you at that little spot.” She nodded as they reached the ship and walked aboard to meet up with the others.

“I’ll see you tonight.” She said softly before walking over to her brother and Alexander to show them what she had gotten.

“Whoa. How’d you get that stuff? You have to be able to speak Elven.” Alexander smiled as he took a fruit from her bag.

She slapped his hand and put it back as she answered, “I had some help.” The two looked at her curious before looking at Robert who had met back up with his brother. “Robert did the talking for me.” She said as she walked past the two towards her room to wait for that night when she would meet with Robert and begin learning a language that few outsiders knew.

By the time they reached Vrahl Harbor, she was nearly fluent. Robert called her the gifted child as they met each night to talk and for her to learn the language without interruptions. Robert walked with his brothers towards the inn as the others made their way in to get their rooms. The boys were split into rooms together while Liliana, being the only female, received her own room. “Alright, we’ll rest for two days and then we need to be moving again or we’ll be caught. We’re going to move from one town to the next, we have friends along the way who will shelter us and feed us until we reach Ketard. We’ll stop there and make our final plans.” Christoph explained before everyone went to their rooms.

The next morning Jace and Alexander walked around the town waiting for everyone to get together and start on their way to Talois where they were supposed to meet with the others. “You notice anything strange about Lily?” Alexander asked.

“Yeah. She seemed off for a while now.” Jace agreed.

Alexander stopped and turned to look at the inn they were staying at. “Something happened.” They saw Liliana come from the inn and look around before walking off towards the market. “I wonder why she never told us.” Seconds after they saw Marc emerge from the inn he smirked and turned the same way Liliana had gone. “I bet that one had something to do with it.”

“I still don’t like the way he looks at her.” Jace frowned. “I haven’t said anything because you know how she is when we take care of problems for her, especially when it comes to guys. But every time I see her it’s like he’s right behind her. I think it’s time we do something.” Alexander nodded and they started following the way Liliana had gone.

As they turned the corner they heard yelling, looking into the market they found Liliana with a hard glare as Robert pushed her behind him and pulled his sword. They looked over and saw Marc slowly getting up from the ground with a growl. Ryan ran up beside Jace and Alexander. “Not again.”

“Again? What’s going on?” Jace asked.

Ryan glanced at them. “Marc feels he can take whatever woman he wants no matter if they want to or not. He’s not used to being told no and not getting what he wants. He’s been going after Liliana since we were on the ship. Robert’s stopped him before and he and I have been trying to hang around close to him or Liliana so we can stop him. He probably thought Robert and I were still in our room and followed her.” He sighed.

“Why didn’t she say anything?” Jace wondered as he watched his sister step back as Robert straightened, ready for his brother to attack.

“Probably the same reason she never told us about any of her problems growing up.” Alexander mused. “She doesn’t want to get us involved in her problems.”

“Well I’m about to make myself involved.” Jace walked towards the fight with Alexander and Ryan following him. “Hey!” Everyone turned and looked at him. “You think you can hurt my sister and get away with it?”

“Jace.” Liliana said before looking back at Robert and Marc.

“Marc, go back to the inn.” Robert warned.

Marc looked around at everyone ready for him. “Fine. But I will get what I want.”

“You’ll never get what you want.” Liliana glared at him, as he looked her up and down. Instead of saying anything, he turned and disappeared. “Thanks.” She sighed as everyone moved closer. “I’m sorry I’m causing so much trouble.”

“It’s not you who’s causing trouble.” Ryan smirked. “Marc is the trouble. Robert, is there any way we can just send him home?”

“You know that won’t happen.” Robert sighed and shook his head. “If we send him back mother will take it as an insult even if you and I are the ones to send him home. Besides, he is her pet. She wants him here to make sure she gets her way with everything.”

“Then what are we supposed to do?” Alexander asked. “We can’t have him following her around and trying to do something.”

“We can all just stick close and not give him room for him to do anything.” Ryan suggested.

Liliana threw her hands up and shoved Alexander and Jace to the side. “Would you all stop talking like I’m not here and like I’m some object you need to protect? I’m not weak. I can take care of myself.” She turned and stormed off leaving the four men to look after her with sighs.

“There you guys are!” They heard turning to see Arthur. “What are you doing?”

“Just talking.” Alexander shrugged. “Are we leaving?”

Arthur nodded. “Where are the others?”

“Lily is wandering the market.” Jace said. “I’ll get her and we’ll meet you at the inn.” The others nodded and left Jace to find his angry sister. It took him ten minutes before he found her sitting off to the side staring at the ground. “Lil?” She looked up at him and her eyes turned angry. “Hey, I’m not here to fight.” He sat beside her as she looked away and her eyes softened. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Because I could handle it.”

“But you weren’t. The guy’s brothers were handling it.”

“I could handle it. They just showed up all the time. I’m not a weak little girl.”

Jace looked at her a minute before he gave he a smile. “I know you’re not. You were the one taking care of problems for me and Alexander since we were little kids. But I thought we were always in things together. This isn’t something that you should have to take care of on your own. That guy isn’t normal. There’s something about him that freaks even me out. We don’t want to take care of the problem for you. We just want to help you, will you let us in?” Liliana and Jace looked at each other before a small smile came to her face.

“Okay, but only to help.” She told him making him smile and nod.

“Alright, now let’s go so we can get dad and Maximus.” She nodded and the two walked back to the inn together laughing and joking once again. “Okay, I think we’re ready.” Now that everyone was together, the group saddled horses and started on their way to Talois to meet the other half of their rescue group.

“What’s the plan?” Liliana asked.

Arthur smirked. “We’re going to make our move at night; we know when the guard changes so if we use that as our time to enter the castle we can get in. I know a couple of secret passages that will take us to the dungeon where we can get Maximus while a few of us go look for your father. We’ll be in and out before they know what happened.”

“You really think it’s going to be that easy? We need to just go in and take them. They can’t have that many guards that would be tough to get passed. Jace and I could just walk in there and take them.” Liliana said making her uncle shake his head.

“No. It’s too dangerous. You two may be more powerful than a lot of the people in the castle but you could come up against Zinnia and Kalman and neither of you are ready to fight them. You need to stay with the rest of the group or you’ll be in more danger than you can ever know. We will follow the plan.” He told her leaving no room for arguing before he sped his horse up leaving Liliana, Alexander and Jace together to look at each other upset.

___

Liliana, Jace, Alexander, Robert and Ryan ran down the hallway as silently as they could, each holding their swords ready for anything. They had changed the plan without telling anyone but they knew once they were discovered missing the others would come into the castle which meant they were going to cause a commotion while the little group was able to slip passed the confusion and went to free Maximus and Jaxton. Their first stop was the dungeons. They moved stealthily through the dark corridors until they found the guardroom, blocking them from going any farther. They looked at each other before Jace and Robert took a step forward sword raised. They glanced at each other before nodding and taking off into the mess of ten guards. Unprepared and shocked five guards were dropped before they had a chance to grab their weapons. Robert took down another and the last four stood ready. Jace and Robert fought back to back, as the four guards tried to surround them and break their defense. As they pounded on the two men two guards cried out in pain and fell in a pool of blood making everyone turn to see Liliana standing with a sward in each hand and a small smirk on her lips. As the two guards stood stunned at a girl taking out two guards at once Jace and Robert spun and killed them where they stood.

“Nice.” Jace smirked at his sister as they each searched a body looking for the keys. Alexander called out as he stood with the large ring of jingling metal. “Let’s go.” The group made their way down the hall, checking the cells, looking for the prisoners. “Here!” Jace said stopping at one cell. Alexander opened the door and walked in to the person leaning against the wall.

“Dad?” He said softly before the dirty mass of hair moved and the man looked up at him with green eyes. “Dad!” He yelled as he threw himself at his father.

“Alexander.” Maximus sighed as he held his son tight. “I’m so glad you’re safe.” He pulled back and looked at him. “What are you doing here?”

“We’re here to get you out.” Liliana smirked making him look to see her, Jace, Ryan and Robert standing outside the cell. “We are getting you and dad out. The others are making a commotion and keeping most of the guards away so we can move around the castle relatively easily.”

“Who are the others?” He asked as he stood with the help of his son.

“Uncle Arthur, grandpa and a bunch of people who are on dad’s side.” Jace explained. “We still have to find dad and we have no idea where they have him locked up.”

“I think I have an idea.” Maximus said taking his own weight. “Come on I know a short cut.” He led the five teens through the castle with relatively no fight along the way. Jace and Liliana looked at the large doors.

“Our room.” She whispered.

Maximus put his hand on her shoulder. “It is connected to your parents’ room.”

“It’s where…” She trailed off as flashes of that night bombarded her memory.

“Listen to me.” He said making her look at him. “It wasn’t your fault. You were very powerful but you were still just a little girl. None of it is your fault. You did not ask to have the massive power, and you did not ask to have a crazy psycho as your grandmother. Push it away.” He said as her amber eyes cleared and tears welled in them. “We’re going to get your dad and we’re going to all walk out of here together.”

Liliana nodded as they All turned back to the doors as he opened them. The group slowly walked into the dark room and spread out looking for the candles to light the room. Liliana and Jace walked through the room to the window where they pulled the drapes to let the moonlight in. As they turned around, they found a very sick looking Jaxton slouched in a large high backed chair. The twins ran to him but he would not move or acknowledge that they were there. A rumble and high-pitched laugh made everyone jump before Zinnia and Kalman walked into the room.

“Oh would you look at that. We have a rat out of its cage and… oh, the best present any grandmother could have. They’ve walked right into my hand.” She smiled evilly.

“Zinnia…” Maximus glared at her as he put himself between her and the teens. Jace and Liliana looked at each other as the other three gathered closer to them.

“Jace, can you hold them off?” Liliana asked.

“What are you talking about?” Ryan asked worried.

Liliana ignored the boy as she kept her amber eyes on her brother. “Can you hold at least one of them?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “Not for long but I’m sure I can hold them, well at least one of them.”

“You hold off Zinnia.” Robert said glancing at Jace before settling his eyes on their enemies across the room. “I can try to hold off Kalman.”

“I’ll help you.” Alexander said looking at the man who had started this completely upside down path for them.

“I guess I’ll give you a hand too.” Ryan sighed.

Jace shook his head. “If anything gets passed us you need to protect Lily, she’s not going to be able to protect herself.” The two brothers turned to watch as Liliana moved to her father’s side as Maximus continued his distraction. “Let’s go. Be safe, Lil.” She just nodded as the three turned and in a blink of an eye, Jace was up against his grandmother, sword to dagger both dark brown eyes hardened with a deep settled hate for the other.

Alexander slammed his whole body into Kalman seconds before rolling to the side to let Robert slice his sword through the man only to have Kalman roll out of the way, walking away with a gash on his arm. The two boys set up for another attack as Kalman smirked, ready to play a little game. Maximus looked horrified at the fight, he was hoping to buy some time to figure something to get them all out safe but the kids had beaten him to a plan and theirs was to battle right through. He watched his son throw himself into harm’s way repeatedly as the boy he had helped raise as his nephew threw his own life into jeopardy fighting against the mastermind of the entire world-dominating plan. He had to do something and fast. He turned to Jaxton only to find Ryan with his sword raised, watching the battles, ready for anything to come at the girl behind him.

Liliana was kneeling in front of Jaxton with a sad look on her face as she spoke softly to her father. He watched as her amber eyes lightened before they slid shut and her and Jaxton’s bodies jerked. She was entering her father’s mind. She was throwing her soul into danger by entering his mind. If he was to die or she was to lose her way she would be gone forever. Things were spiraling out of control as Jace was thrown back against the stonewall. He threw his body at her from the side as she went for a killing blow. He knocked her to the ground hard before he rolled and ran to Jace’s side. A blast of lightning inches from his face stopped only by Jace as he gritted his teeth and pulled it away from Maximus. With All his strength, Jace threw his arm into the air redirecting the lightning to the ceiling.

“You can’t win. You do not have your full power. But don’t worry you won’t miss it since you’ll be dead.” She stalked towards them only to have Robert shove her back his sword against her dagger. Screaming in outrage as she turned she found Liliana. This was bad; they all knew she was going to go for the two sitting ducks. Jace pushed himself back to his feet and stepped in front of Zinnia once again.

“You want to get to my sister you’ll have to walk over my dead body.” He glared menacingly making her pause a minute before a small smile came to her lips. “You won’t win. You cannot beat me. You can’t beat my sister. We will kill you.” He half growled before charging at the woman. No matter how many times she threw him to the ground or into a wall, he pushed back to his feet and was back in front of her before she could take a step. She narrowed her eyes; this was going to be harder than she thought. He again charged her but this time she twisted and used her powers to send him flying to the ground where she used a binding spell to hold him there. Without his ability to move his hands he could not break the spell leaving him pinned until she said otherwise.

With a pleased smile, she started for Liliana once again, this time with no one in her way but a boy no more than fifteen. Kalman was doing a wonderful job of keep the other three where they were as she took her sweet time sauntering over. Ryan pulled his sword up but it was no help as she flung her hand making him fly into the wall across the room. Now she stood behind Liliana who had no idea what was going on. Zinnia smirked as she reached out sending a blast of lightning into Liliana making her scream in pain.

“Looks like I’ve won.” Zinnia laughed as the room went still.

“You will never win.” Liliana mumbled as she opened her amber eyes and looked up at the woman with so much hate. “You will not win. You will not have my father as your pet, and you will. Not. Take. My. Powers!” She yelled as she threw her hand back setting Zinnia on fire. The woman screamed as she ripped her cloak from around her to see Liliana grabbing Jaxton’s arms. “Dad.” She said. “Dad, wake up! You have to wake up.” Zinnia laughed but Liliana ignored her. “Daddy, please wake up. We need you. Jace and I need you.” She whispered as Zinnia walked up to her again and sent lightning into the girl making her scream in agony.

“St-stop.” There was a whisper as Jaxton slowly started to lift his head. Zinnia looked at her son with confusion as his brown eyes slowly opened and she could see the fire in them once again. A fire she had thought she had extinguished long ago. “Stop!” He yelled as his voice came back. Zinnia stepped back letting her lightning stop in complete shock. As the lightning stopped, Liliana fell forward to be caught by Jaxton. “Lily…” She cracked her eyes and looked up at him with a small smile.

“Daddy.” She said softly, too weak to do anything. Jaxton gently laid her on the ground as he forced his body to move.

“How…?” Zinnia whispered as she backed up to stand beside Kalman.

“You will not hurt any of them.” He yelled as he walked over and seemed to pull the spell off Jace who sat up with a bright smile. Maximus told Alexander to grab Liliana as Robert ran to his brother. Jaxton still had Zinnia and Kalman backing up to the side when they ran from the room. Jace limped but he was otherwise all right. As Jaxton followed them from the room and to the side stairwell, he slumped against the wall. Maximus jumped to his side and took his weight.

“Jaxton…” He said softly as he gently sat him down on the stairs. “Jaxton, you’re not strong enough.”

“I’ll be fine. We need to get as far away from this place as possible. If we’re caught by Zinnia and Kalman now there’s no way to fake it passed them again.” He explained as he had Maximus lift him back to his feet.

“You sure you’re okay, Dad?” Jace asked.

Jaxton nodded and glanced at Liliana unconscious in Alexander’s arms. “I’ll be fine, we need to get out of here and get your sister to safety.”

“Jace. Take my place. I need to warn the others to get out.” Maximus said as they made it down the staircase. Just as they switched the second group ran around the corner stopping in their tracks.

“Lily! Why can’t you three listen for once?” Arthur and Christoph ran to her and Alexander.

“She’ll be okay.” Jaxton said making them look at him in utter shock. “We need to get everyone out of here and then we can talk. She’s just weak.” Arthur went to his side and took half his weight as Maximus took his spot back and Christoph helped Jace walk. The group weaved their way through the castle to an emergency exit and did not stop moving until they made it to the first village.