Aurora Rose Lynn by Witch Fire

moving or not but felt as if someone had placed his head between two large rocks and pressed with great force. He fought to keep conscious as he reached for the dagger in his belt but every movement he made, no matter how small, took an unbearably long length of time, almost as if a man who had moved forward a pace was being pushed back that small step at the same time. What had he stepped into? The fright and hurt in Celestine’s cries reverberated in the air.
    The world etched in blue spun out of control. He could no longer tell where Celestine and Odo were. If he plunged the dagger into the man he thought was Odo, he might be jamming the point between Celestine’s ribs. He had no assurance that the mad descent into the abyss would stop if he drove his dagger into the Master of the Guard. So he waited what seemed like an eternity.
    His thoughts jumbled together as he tried to focus, tried to determine the direction Odo was in. He couldn’t tell with any certainty. The insane spiraling slowed with blue lights exploding everywhere. Celestine whimpered from somewhere behind him. He breathed a quick prayer of thanks he hadn’t reacted blindly and thrown the dagger behind him. It would have been Celestine’s life he would have taken. He couldn’t bear the thought that she might die at his hands.
    They appeared to be on a narrow, circular platform but nothing was visible in the thick fog beyond. Would the spinning stop or would the crazy blue-rimmed spiraling start again? Was it now safe to thrust his dagger into the guard’s chest? Odo was on his knees, gasping for air. Kerrich didn’t need more time to think through his next action. He raised the knife and stabbed it into the guard’s neck. Blood spurted in all directions. Odo collapsed, his eyes staring up sightlessly.
    Kerrich heard Celestine suck in a breath of air. From the corner of his eye, he saw her place a hand to her throat. The spiraling slowed even more before it stopped. He grabbed for Celestine as they both fell to the ground. Trying to regain his bearings, he glanced at his hands and wrists, surprised to see them drenched in blood.
    Celestine huddled against him, her head bowed. He crooked a finger under her chin and lifted her face, leeched of all color. Her eyes glistening with unshed tears met his. She shook her head as if she would have tried to say something but couldn’t. With fearful clarity, he realized she might be injured from the unexplained spiraling ride they had taken.
    “Don’t you dare touch her.”
    Noticing that Celestine did so at the same time, he looked up to see Leuric standing above them, his eyes as cold and unwelcoming as dirty ice. Recognition seemed to filter in their cold depths. “You,” he rasped. None of Leuric’s guards protected him and for a brief second, Kerrich puzzled over where they were.
    Kerrich rose to his feet, careful to keep Celestine behind him to protect her. He would not allow himself to fail to protect Celestine as he had failed to protect his mother and father. The guilt would crush him and his life, his struggle for freedom, would become abject and meaningless. It would be worse than being an old husk of wheat waiting for the cold winds to blow it away.
    ***
    Celestine peered around Kerrich’s muscled calf. How had he come to be at her side when she needed him the most? The dark memories threatened to overwhelm her again. She used all her strength of will to keep them at bay and gazed into Leuric’s wintry eyes. She had never seen him so angry before.
    Her weary mind toyed with an idea. Her mother had not returned from the dead to seek vengeance. Rather she had returned to warn Celestine that her life was in grave peril. No, that couldn’t be true, she told herself. The dark memories she had been trying to repress for six years washed over her. She cried out.
    A moment later, with the cold truth apparent, she became aware of Leuric and Kerrich watching her, the first with a hostile expression, the