A KISS OF RAGE AND FIRE

EIGHTEEN

KATHARINE ARATHORNE

Somewhere in the West

There was light and there was dark. There was also fire and ice, and other things she found odd to be there.

Where am I?

She could see herself lying on the wet floor. Her nightgown was soaking with water and blood. Her own blood. Hindi niya alam kung nasaan siya at hindi niya alam kung paano siya napumta sa lugar na iyon.

It was all white. The fire and the ice disappeared. She couldn't see anything but white. The only color that was lost there was the red stain on her nightgown.

She started walking but it felt like she was floating. It felt like she was one with the air. Napatingin siya sa kabuuan niya. Maybe this is just a dream. It has to be. Maybe she'll wake up moments after. But it felt too real.

With that in mind, she continued to walk. It was silent. She couldn't even hear her own footsteps. Or maybe it was because she was indeed floating But moments of walking, she heard a voice. Napatingin siya sa paligid, trying to focus and listen to it again.

The voice echoed and she couldn't quite get what it was. She kept walking and felt her feet cold against the wet floor.

"Katharine," said the voice. This time, it was clear to her what the voice was saying. Mahina lang ito at hindi niya alam kung saan nanggaling. So she continued to walk, hoping to find the source of that voice. It was calling her.

"Katharine!" She heard it again. Mas binilisan niya ang paglalakad hanggang sa naging takbo ito. She was panting hard kaya huminto muna siya. She was tempted to sleep but then the voice called her again and this time, it sounded so near. Kaya binilisan niya ang lakad niya at nagpalinga-linga sa kung saan posibleng manggaling ang boses.

And then a light appeared. The place where she is now is already bright enough but this light is brighter than the rest. It shone a bluish light coming from what looked like a sphere. Light streaks were leaking out of it. Nang tingnan niya itong mabuti ay napagtanto niyang galing ito sa maliit na bola na nakalutang. The sphere was of the brightest blue. It was as if calling her, drawing her close, asking her to touch it and so she did. Dahan-dahan niyang hinawakan ito and it felt so... right. Na para bang siya ang itinakdang humawak dito. As if she was made for it. And it was made for her. It felt like she has found her missing puzzle piece.

She felt it against her palm and the next thing she knew was a sudden burst of light of different colors. Each color brighter than the last.

Hindi niya alam ang nangyayari ngunit pakiramdam niya'y hinihila siya nito sa pagtulog. Her eyes were getting heavier but the voice thundered, calling her name, waking her up. It was so near that she felt like sa mismong tenga niya ito sumigaw.

And then she was gasping for air, the cold air felt so foreign inside her lungs. Napatingin siya sa paligid. Trees. Darkness. Iyon ang mga nakikita niya.

Where am I?

She was still panting and when she looked at who's beside her, hindi niya mapigilang malito.

His face was laced with worry and fear. The expression doesn't suit him because it's the first time she saw him scared.

"Killian," she muttered and Killian let out a relieved sigh and he leaned on the tree trunk, closing his eyes. She saw how his throat bobbed. He looks like he just watched a very scary movie and now he's relieved it has ended.

Hindi niya alam ang nangyayari. She couldn't understand.

"What ... what happened?" tanong niya sa lalake habang hinihilot ang sentido. Sobrang sakit ng ulo niya and for some strange reasons, sumasakit ang buong katawan niya.

Hindi sumagot ang lalake kaya tinawag niya ito ulit, "Anong nangyari? Bakit...bakit tayo narito?"

Killian let out a relieved sigh na para bang may nangyaring hindi niya alam. "Killian, what happened?"

Wala siyang naiintindihan sa nangyari. Paanong nasa labas siya ng palasyo? Ang huling naaalala niya'y nasa bulwagan siya't nakikipag-usap sa mga bisita. And the rest, wala na siyang naaalala.

Napahilamos si Killian sa mukha and that's when she noticed the small dried blood on his face. My maliit na sugat ito sa sentido and when she checked him wala na siyang ibang nakikitang sugat.

And then she remembered Al. Nasaan si Al? Bakit hindi niya ito kasama?

"Kill, where's Al?" tanong niya sa lalake. And the mere mention of his name sparked an unfathomable rage in his eyes she could see it became blue.

Agad napatayo si Killian and she could see darkness and shadow dancing around him. She attempted to stand but her knees were weak.

"Are you feeling alright?" tanong ng lalake sa kanya nang humarao ito. Bakas ang pag-aalala sa mukha ng lalake. Something she found rare to see. Sa pagkakaalala niya'y panay pang-iinis ang ginagawa nito sa kanya.

"I'm ... I'm fine. What's happening, Killian? Bakit narito tayo?"

Napabuntong-hininga ang lalake, na para bang nagdadalawang-isip itong sabihin sa kanya ang nais sabihin.

"You were dead," Killian started. She just looked at him as if he just said the stupidest thing in the world. And it was really stupid. She was dead? What is he talking about?

"Alastair was the one who killed you—"

"Killian!"

"—and your father. He killed him and you saw it. He blamed it on you and executed you. That's why you ... you were dead."

Nanlamig ang buong katawan niya. Not because of what Killiam said but because the memory flooded her mind and now she remembers everything.

Her father died. And it was Al. It was Al who held the dagger. She saw it with her own eyes: how blood pooled under her father's body and how life left his eyes. And Al was there. Standing over her, dagger in his hand.

It was too much at once. Too much for her to handle. The man she thought of marrying, the man she's ever loved, killed her father. And he didn't hesitate to kill her.

Alastair betrayed her and her father.

She looked at her body, her hands, her feet. Her hands were trembling so bad. Rage? Fear? Both? She wasn't sure. It was like even her emotions were foreign to her. It was too much.

She couldn't believe she's alive. She felt how the sword sliced her flesh and how it took her life. She felt and saw how light left her eyes. Hindi siya makapaniwalang buhay siya ngayon.

"How...how am I alive?"

"It's a long story and one I promise to tell you but right now, we have to go. The guards are searching for us. I took you away earlier when you were dead. They don't know you're alive."

He grabbed her hand but she grabbed his too, causing him to stop. He groaned. "This is not the right time for us to squabble, Katharine."

"I am not moving until you tell me everything," she said sternly. Nakita niyang napatingin ang lalake sa kamay niya nang humigpit ang hawak niya rito. Something passed his eyes but it was gone as quick as it came.

"I gave you the Kingstone," he started.

"Kingstone, as in—"

He just nodded. "Yes. The Kingstone."

"Paanong...why do you have it?"

Killian was about to open his mouth when they heard the distant shouts of men, probably the guards. And when they decided to take a look, they saw torches in the distance. Narinig niya ang mahinang mura ni Killian.

"Alright, story time's postponed for the meantime," he said and looked at her state before he continued, "Can you run?"

Realizing the urgency, tumango siya and they decided to run.

"What about my Father, Killian?"

"What about him?"

"Are we just going to leave him there?"

"What can you do if you go back?"

She stopped running at binawi ang kamay niya sa hawak nito.

"You're strong. You...you can defeat them. Hindi ko kayang iwanan ang ama ko sa kamay ni Al, Killian. I couldn't ... I didn't do anything to protect him. I was too blind. This is all my fault—"

"Hey." She felt Killian's tight grip on her shoulder. "There was nothing you can do. It's not your fault. Don't blame yourself. That won't do you any good. And besides, if the King is watching you right now, he'd disagree with you. So get yourself together if you don't want to die again. We don't have an extra Kingstone to get you alive again. Your father told me to protect you no matter what. And getting you away from there is something I needed to do."

"If only I was powerful..." She couldn't help but sob. Tears just started flowing out of her eyes. If she didn't waste her time fighting people in that underground arena and practiced the important skills instead, she could have stood a chance against Alastair. She could have saved her father. At kung hindi lang siya naging bulag—

"You can be powerful. Katharine, you are the Crown Princess. The people—your people sees you as a criminal and a dead one. You can become strong and take back what's rightfully yours. But right now, we have to run."

And she realized Killian has a point. Masakit mang tanggapin ay wala siyang magagawa sa ngayon. They have to run. To lie low. Kailangan niyang tanggapin na wala na ang kanyang ama.

At higit sa lahat, she has a lot of questions that need to be answered. But for now, they have to get away.

* * * 

One moment they were in the woods, a few miles from Lancaster, and now, they're in what seems to be a cave. Hindi niya alam kung gaano na ito kalayo mula sa kinaroroonan nila kanina but Killian thinks the place is safe for them.

And it was then that she has rested and was breathing properly that she noticed something different in her. It's not the fact that her wounds have healed. Nararamdaman niyang may kakaiba sa loob niya. And then she felt something dangling on her neck. It was a necklace with a spherical pendant.

"Killian, how did you have the Kingstone?" tanong niya sa lalake. She still feels groggy. Na para bang hindi pa siya sanay sa katawan niya. It felt familiar yet so foreign.

Killian sat in front of her and eyed her necklace.

The Kingstone is considered one of the sacred treasures. It's a sphere containing an immense amount of power. It has been a tradition that rulers of Terrasen take the sphere and take the power inside it. Hindi niya lang maintindihan kung bakit nasa kay Killian ito. Alam niyang walang mahika ang kanyang ama kaya imposible nitong makuha ang nasa Kingstone.

"Your father, he didn't take the Kingstone like the tradition. Everybody thought he did."

"Why?"

She never understood her father's decisions. And she hated it. She hated that she didn't insist. Her father never tells her things and now that she thinks about it. Maybe she was too busy in her life that she didn't notice what's around her.

"The King had a vision when you were born. A prophecy was shown to him in his dream."

She's always known her father to be someone with a Vision. But she never heard him speak of it anything about it. And it made her feel worse.

"What...what prophecy?"

Killian waved his hand and a black scroll appeared. It was blank at first but after a while, the text started to appear one by one.

"He told me to write it down the moment I became the Captain of the Kingsguard," he said and I looked at the scroll.

As the tide rises, the flames would vanish. The stone is the way to revive what was once diminished.

The power of the seven the stone will contain.

As the moon rises, so shall the Queen.

Matapos niyang basahin ay halos hindi siya makahinga. The tide, it was Alastair. And the flames—her flames—it was her, the moment Al struck her to death. And the Kingstone that revived her that contained a portion of the power of the seven Kingsguard.

The text disappeared and a new set of words appeared.

Stars will gather from different directions

As darkness that eats the soul lurks,

The Destined One shall make the decision

To fight for or against her people.

The Queen without a throne shall return

What she has borrowed from the stone

As once she was nameless

And so shall decide to rule both worlds

A child of the water shall calm the fire

The lord of darkness shall contain the chains

The blade shall cut the skin

A spell shall bind the embers

A child of the dragon shall take over

To reclaim what was once returned.

She repeated it but the more she read about it, the more confusing it became. That's the thing with prophecies. They're all riddles. Nobody knows what one thing means. Some made sense. Some don't. So she looked at Killian.

"Killian, I don't understand."

Napabuntong-hininga ang lalake. "Your father sees his vision in his dreams. Recently, he dreamt about these creatures—he calls them Soul Pincers."

"Soul Pincers?"

He nodded. "That's why your father sent all of us out of the Kingdom to investigate. And..." he trailed.

"And?"

"What your father saw in his vision was true. Those creatures, they feed on people's soul, sucking it out them. The younger, the better. I have discovered disturbing things in my time in the Astaeria forest." Killian did not say what kind of disturbing things he saw for her sake. 

Napapikit siya nang mariin.

"I believe it was the Soul Pincers that did it," he merely said. Hindi niya alam kung anong klaseng kadiliman ang natuklasan ng lalake doon but she's going to find out soon. Just not now. 

"So it was real?" she was breathless. It was too much to take in. Rising from the dead is enough for a day.

"All your dad sees in his dream are all true. And the seven stars, I believe that was the seven Kingsguard including myself."

"Where are the others?"

"That's what we're going to do next. Gathering the seven stars." A gentle flick on his hand made the scroll disappear.

"And the last part?"

He looked at her and said, "I don't have any idea about that. At least not yet. And we are going to figure it all out. But for now, we have to find the others."

"And where are the others?"

He scoffed. "I wish I knew. After we left Lancaster, we all went our separate ways. To investigate. But we did agree to meet in a place called Viles."

"Viles?"

He sighed and touched the wound on his temple.

"That's enough for tonight, Princess. You just rose up from the dead. You should go back to sleep."

Sleep. She didn't think about sleep. What if she closes her eyes and not open it again? What if het being alive is just a dream and that she would never wake up? What if--

She felt Killians's hand on her shoulder. His grip was tight. She looked at him and it was his eyes that made her realize that that moment was real.

I am not dreaming. I am alive. I rose up from the dead. And I will be fine.

"It's okay. I'm here," he said. One of the few nice things he has said to her.

And it was the most comforting words she's heard that she fell straight to sleep.

* * *