Call Out My Name

EPISODE TWELVE

Soren and I sat facing each other as I calculated the amount of energy I had left. He chuckled, drawing my attention. I looked at him for an explanation.

“Nothing….It’s just you still have that look from when we were kids. The one where you seem so agitated and thoughtful at the same time” I rolled my eyes at his cheesiness. We needed to do this quickly so he could leave. No touchy feeling involved.

“Let’s begin” I said, reaching out to touch him. He leaned away from my touch.

“You’ll only look at the memory from when we left Valrok. Nothing more” He stated firmly. Too firmly. What was he hiding?

“I’ll try” I shrugged him off.

“No. Not just try. Don’t dig any further than that day” he shook his head. Now he had really peaked my curiosity.

“Fine” I gave in. Maybe.

He took my hands and placed them at the sides of his head.

I closed my eyes and recited the incantations under my breath. A few moments later, I was in his head and I was him.

It was two hundred years ago, Soren stood before his father, head bowed as usual.

“Must we all leave father?” he asked.

“Are you questioning me boy?” his father seethed.

“No. If the lot of us leave Valrok, the realm will be destroyed and our home will be lost to us forever”

“It does not matter. We will never return” King Rikki waved him away.

“Father. Is King Ethan really to execute all the opposers?” Soren glanced quickly at his father before bowing his head again. Like I said, coward.

“Yes” King Rikki replied.

“But why?”

“Have you not learnt anything boy?” Soren’s father stood to his feet. “If we let them live, especially the witches, they will find a way to drag us all back to this Godforsaken realm. Those who oppose are always dangerous even if it doesn’t seem like it. Why do you think we hang traitors with their entire family in Durak?”

“So no one is alive with a thirst for revenge” Soren murmured.

“Good. I know you love the witch but do not let it cloud your judgement. She is her mother’s daughter. Always remember that”

I scoffed

Soren nodded and turned to leave. I didn’t have much strength left, I needed to move on to the more important memories. The world swirled around me, colors blending and flowing with each other. I was in another memory. Soren was at the gates in this realm. He had a sword in his hand, his father’s guards were everywhere. It was the day everyone in Valrok left. Cowards.

Soren walked up to one of the guards and stood beside him.

“The half-bloods?” he asked.

“Dead. None survived” the guard responded.

“Remember the king’s orders. Kill only three witches for show and capture the rest”

“Yes my Lord” the guard bowed, walking away.

I saw Ruth, Sarani and Grace come through the portal. Soren rushed to their side. I was asleep in Sarani’s arms.

“Take off the bracelets” he whispered.

Sarani glared at him but the urgency in his voice prompted her to do as told. Ruth took off hers too. Those bracelets had been gifted to my mother by King Rikki. He had sent thousands of them and mother had made sure every witch who had attended my birthday feast had gotten one.

Behind us, a commotion between the guards and six women ensued. They were forced to their knees and tied up. They all one thing in common, they wore the bracelet from the feast.

Two more witches came through but they used magic to attack. Soren rushed over and cut them down before they could take down more guards. Their blood stained his fingers and his face.

The memory faded and I was sucked out of Soren’s mind and into the present. I scowled at him.

“You killed all the half-bloods?” I asked, standing to my feet and putting some space between us. I really couldn't stand him sometimes.

“The leaders ordered it” he answered quickly as if it made things better. He had stained his hands with the blood of my people and King Aysa’s. “I don’t understand any of this”

He licked his lips “The half-bloods opposed the move. They were a threat__”

“Just like us witches” I finished. He looked away from me. “Why not just leave us to perish? We didn’t mean any harm” tears blurred my vision. The memory of the witches Soren had killed pained me.

“You would have found a way to force us all back to Valrok. To die from the famine and you know it” he clenched his jaw, green eyes shining with tears.

“Valrok was our realm. The famine was ours to fight through. You are fulfilling the very reasons why we should have never left. You came to a world you were never welcomed in, killed its people. Took everything away from them. Their hope, their leaders. You rule over them, force them to worship you. Is that not enough reason to have never left and to go back” I was shaking with rage at this point. Did he really not see anything wrong with what we had done?

“This is not our world. Do you know what happens when you stay in another realm for too long?”

“It won’t happen to us” he argued.

“Gosh you’re still your father’s puppet. Through and through. You will not see reason. We will die. The gate to our realm is turning black and stinks of death. It’s a warning Soren. We stay here any longer and everything that does not belong will cease to exist.”

“It won’t. Trust me on this”

One question remained, where were my witches?

“Where are they?” I hissed, Soren stood to leave. He wouldn’t answer my question and I knew it. Loyal to his father until the very end. For once, I wished he would be loyal to me instead.

“I can’t tell you that” he replied, heading towards the door.

“I saw what you did” he stood still, pausing at my words. “I’m not talking about the witches that you killed Soren!” I yelled

“I’ve done many unforgivable things so please enlighten me” he spun on his heels, curious to hear what I had seen when I looked at another memory.

Even now, as I stared him down, all I could see was his father. He had hurt me back in Valrok, I thought nothing could top the chart until now. Soren was nothing but a boy. He didn’t know how to be a man and perhaps he would never know. He squinted his eyes at me, waiting for my answer.

I would give him one last chance, if he didn’t redeem himself, I wouldn’t spare him when I struck and then it would really be the end of us. He messed with the wrong rider.

I watched his eyes go wide when my fingers twirled around a ball of fire. He must have finally realized that I knew. There were only three things that drove me to madness when touched and he hadn’t just touched one of them, he had messed with them.

He f****d up big time and he knew it. Soren swallowed, waiting for me to ask, his body frozen where he stood.

Good because if he moved I would burn him to the ground. I would kill my mate, the consequences be damned.

“Where are my dragons Soren?”