Waiting

Jacqui's POV

I'm sorry, how long does he expect me to wait for Skye? I splashed the water in the Fountain when an image of Skye lying before Linus filled it.

"This is taking to long!"

The enemy had been on the move as Josephine's Trial took place. She's going to kill him slowly. My heart ached in some emotion I wasn't accustomed to. Who in the Nexus let her go first?!

Well, there was nothing I could do about it now. It was against godly law to mess around the others affairs. At least, it has been since Amber's incident.

If Skye lives through this, no! When Skye gets through this, it will be Jasper's turn next. He specifically asked Father to go after Josephine and luckily, Father granted it. Jasper didn't want me to go to the Fountain alone, but what choice do I have? Skye is busy at the moment and the souls surrounding the Fountain won't be there for much longer. I can't miss this opportunity to see who is watching!

But if the souls see you, then the enemy may be alerted and back off. I splashed the Fountain in frustration once again. If I could just disguise myself! But it'd be useless. I can't hide my power in my own realm. Jasper was right. It was to dangerous for me to go. We needed Skye to be the one that takes care of it.

How did I become so helpless? All I can do is watch and wait. I summoned the vision of Skye again. He was now sitting before Linus, furious as he watched Linus suck the blood out of one of his maidservant's children. How could I have given Life to someone so terrible? How could Josephine give him so much Power? Now she is having to clean up her mess. But she's not the maid.

"Ha ha ha!" I laughed just thinking about what Skye would say if he knew that Josephine was using him as her maidservant. Then a familiar presence entered my realm.

"It is good to hear your laugh."

I shrugged my shoulders as Nikolai sat beside me. We watched Skye silently for a bit. He was purposely allowing himself to fail killing Linus' guards in combat.

"Did you teach him this?" I motioned at the images playing before us.

"I taught him many things, but if he learned is a different matter." He calmly replied.

"How is it different? You teach someone, they learn. End of story." I folded my arms across my chest daring him to oppose me. He smiled kindly at me as he is wont to do.

"A teacher can bring about many things, but it is up to the student if they acquire the knowledge and then apply it."

"Hmm." I grumbled unhappily. He had a point. I turned back to the Fountain. Linus' guards were backing away from Skye for a reason that I missed. Linus was slowly approaching the seemingly unarmed human. Skye's eyes were trained on the Blood-Chief as he bared his fangs. I watched Skye as Linus knelt beside his neck, ready to draw blood, and Skye smirked. I wasn't the only one to notice. Linus kicked Skye with wind magic and threw him to the other side of his throne room. The other Draconi silently stepped further away from their King. Skye configured the dust around him to shoot higher in the air when he landed to cover his escape to the left side of the horrifying mortal. Linus didn't miss it. He bit his thumb and drew a Draconi rune on his sword arm. I closed my eyes and felt a hand on my forearm. I turned from the Fountain and faced my elder brother once again. His worried frown met my eyes.

"You don't have to watch."

"Yes, I do." I answered. "I chose him for this. His Trials are the beginning of an unrelenting and terrible journey. He lives yet I took his Life all the same. His wounds are what I decided for him. I must take responsibility for my actions. If I cannot even watch as he fights, I have no honor nor respect for what his Life might've been. I will not cower from the results of my actions."

"You are not making any sense." Nikolai smiled at me. I smiled back.

"You understand perfectly well, Brother." We chuckled together and turned back to the Fountain. Skye had stabbed Linus' sword arm to the ground so powerfully that Linus could not get it out. Linus was chanting in ancient Draconi. I stood aghast at what he was summoning.

"Such a beautiful language and culture, and here HE comes and ruins everything about it!"

"I have not seen you show so much emotion throughout the entirety of your existence." Nikolai mused.

"I-" I stopped myself. What was I going to say? No, you're wrong? I'm a female on her birthing cycle? Or would I tell him the truth? That I am afraid? This was Nikolai, my elder brother. He is the wisest of us all and my most trusted mentor and friend. And yet, something kept me from telling him the truth. "I'm just frustrated, we should be giving him our powers and letting him take lead on saving Comwen! Not stalling and dallying in the mud with those we could easily overtake."

If he didn't believe me, he didn't show it. He nodded his head and his face grew grim.

"Father made a terrible mistake in lawing us out of our world."

I gasped in utter surprise. Nikolai, the ever present peacemaker, was outright blaming our father for this mess. I didn't disagree, but this was Nikolai we were talking about! He continued.

"I can't help but wonder sometimes if the world would be better had we kept an Immortal on this realm."

"Nikolai, you yourself said that the best way to keep the peace between the mortal races would be to have a mortal rule them."

Nikolai turned to me. "I didn't mean it in that way. I meant, if we were allowed to roam Comwen and freely complete our duties, then this terrible disaster may not have befallen it at all."

"Or it still might have." I countered. "We just don't know what the past could have been like and frankly, thinking about it is a waste of time." I grabbed my brother's forearm. "We have to live in the present. All that matters is now. The choices we make now are the only choices we get to make."

Nikolai smiled sadly at me. "How did you become the wisest of us all?"

I smiled apologetically at him, "Since you became the saddest of us all."

"I suppose you are right, little sister."

"Women usually are." I giggled.

And at that moment, the sky turned black with smoke and purple lightning strikes lit my open fields in burning flame. The ground rumbled and began to break apart.

"Stop." My command stilled the Underworld and I hurried to the deepest caverns below the fields of lilies. Screaming, roaring demons clawed before me yet still bowed their heads and let me through to the Dungeon of Shadow End.

"Bal!"

"No need to shout, Mistress." His slippery voice whispered within my mind.

"Eew don't call me that." I held up a hand and lit up the area. Bal Shadowend was as forgettable as he wanted to be. Which wasn't forgettable at all. Made out of the pure rage and anguish of Jasper's soul at the time of Ambrianna's first 'death,' Bal had ridiculously dark brown hair and five-o'clock shadow which he kept short at all times. His eyes were as orange and as sharp as a blacksmith's barely forged weapon. His form was lean, his hands were large, and his legs were long. He was also incredibly powerful. When Jasper ordered him to lead the charge to find Amber, Bal destroyed three cities within a 1400 mile radius with a single jump. He then destroyed two more cities just for fun. Jasper was in hysterics that his best friend could do that, but needed the cities to live so we could find Amber. So, Bal was sent back to me. He was a general in Jasper's army and didn't want an early retirement, so I gave him command over the demon race. If anyone knew about what just happened, it would be good ol' Bal.

"I could just call you 'lover' instead."

"Don't you dare!" I threatened, "Do you know what Jasper would do to you if he found out you called me that?"

"Oh yes, very much so Mistress." Bal chuckled. "Good thing he's not going to find out." He winked at me and I rolled my eyes.

"Anyway, do you know what just happened?"

"Not even a little bit."

"Oh great."

"Glad to be of service, now if you want another kind of service, I'm here all. night. long." Bal winked at me again and I left immediately. Something was terribly wrong.

The Fountain was going to have to wait.