reeled back into herself when she saw what Shiphra was doing. “She’s trying to kill him.”
“What… can she do that?” he asked in a whisper.
She was about to tell him what Armaan had said to her but was interrupted.
“Sure. Only an Ancient can kill an Ancient,” Armaan said quickly. “Aren’t you going to help her, Amanda?”
Shiphra stood a mere fifteen feet away, but she may as well have been a mile away. She was shut off from everything around her and didn’t seem to be able to hear their conversation.
“Help her kill someone?” she asked. “Listen, I know you think I’m this revolution princess or something, but killing people isn’t what I do.” She looked up at Shiphra’s face. Some of the light drained from it as the hum in the air began to hurt her ears.
“You’re just going to sit here?” Armaan demanded. “How can you just sit here? Do you know how long she has waited for this to happen?” he screamed, making Cole attempt to stand up.
“Listen, she doesn’t have to do anything she doesn’t want to do. Now back off!” Cole shouted, swaying side to side, struggling to keep his balance.
“Don’t make me out to be the villain here, Cole; she is supposed to want to help…”
“Armaan, I’m fine.” Shiphra spoke with confidence, though it seemed hard. “She has already helped more than you know. This is more difficult than it appears to be. He is fighting a good fight, so be quiet now… and possibly take cover.” She was quiet again, and the humming increased another level, vibrating the ground more fiercely, causing bits of gravel and rock to move about.
“What does she mean fighting a good fight? He isn’t even moving,” Cole whispered.
“She is trying to break down his energy, but with his Uleery right there it’s hard for her,” Armaan said in frustration.
“Uleery?”
“Do you know nothing about the Ancients? Can’t you feel the massive amounts of energy that comes off them? They’re one hundred times more powerful than you or I, but that fountain of energy you feel isn’t them. It is the Uleery, the givers of energy. Every Ancient possesses one, and only the Ancients can see them, but anyone that pays attention can feel them,” Armaan said.
Cole closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them in shock. “You have one too, don’t you?” he asked her in surprise. Amanda looked behind her at her wolf, standing at attention, ready for anything. “Yeah, I guess so,” she said dismissively, not wanting to talk or even think about her and the Ancient’s similarities. “So how is she supposed to kill him when he has a never ending energy supply?”
“It isn’t never-ending; she just has to have more energy than him at a given moment. That’s why you should be helping her; two Ancient’s versus one has higher odds of only one of them dying,” Armaan said.
“Leave it alone, Armaan. You heard Shiphra; she doesn’t need help,” Cole said.
Amanda could tell by Cole’s tone that he stood by her choice but didn’t agree with it. Am I wrong to not want to kill someone again? Murder is wrong. So why do I feel terrible for doing the right thing? “It isn’t a matter of want.” She looked up at the small struggling woman. Her eyes were still closed, and her mouth was unmoving. This was a private conversation between them. “I don’t want to kill anyone. It’s a matter of necessity. Elijah has had over seven hundred years to choose his path. This is more than us. It isn’t like I am choosing my life over his. I am choosing the freedom of thousands over his selfish existence,” Shiphra finished, sounding weak.
The two Ancients, frozen in place, appeared weaker by the second, but Amanda couldn’t be sure if Shiphra’s energy was draining slower than Elijah’s or not. Shiphra’s crinkled forehead broke out in a heavy sweat, and her raised arms began to shake, making Armaan and Cole grow more agitated.
“Isn’t there something we can do to help her?” Cole demanded to a frantic Armaan who was pacing behind his leader.
“Don’t you think I would help her if I could?” he screamed. “We can’t do anything against an Ancient.” Shiphra, still lost in a trance, let out a blood-curdling scream.
“This can’t be happening; this can’t be happening.” Armaan’s pacing quickened.
Cole glanced over at Amanda, his dark eyes unsure. “I know that you hate violence, you weren’t trained like me or Armaan. And I respect whatever you chose to do, but…” He paused seeming unsure if he should continue. “I just want you to understand what your choice means… If you don’t do something, Shiphra could die. She is the only good Ancient left; she is the only one who can help the Healers find freedom, the only one who can help you find your little trapped spirit. If she dies, hope dies with her.”
Amanda looked up at Shiphra’s struggling form. Her whole body had started shaking. She couldn’t allow her to die, she thought, still feeling torn.
“Murderer!” Carter’s voice echoed in her mind, dissuading her for a moment, but she pressed on.
What good would come from them both dying? Having no answer, she walked towards Shiphra, but Carter’s mangled body appeared between her and the old woman. Shocked and horrified by his appearance, she collapsed to her knees.
“Amanda!” Cole shouted, but she didn’t respond.
She had seen terrible things in her life as a Healer, but nothing could have prepared her for the sight of Carter. His aging corpse looked more gruesome than it had in her dreams. His once full head of hair had charred and fallen away leaving him closely resembling a mangy dog. His face, if it could be called such, looked more alien than human. So much skin had melted and rotten away that his eyeballs seemed in danger of rolling out of their sockets, having nothing to hold them in place.
“Murdererrr!” he whispered. His eyes rolled around in their sockets, struggling to look at her. “You did this to me, you selfish witch!” His milky stare had finally locked on her, and though they looked similar to Kaedin’s unseeing eyes, she could sense that these could see. Not just what most see on the surface, but beyond that. She could feel them boring into her very soul.
“Amanda what’s going on? Are you okay?” Cole said shaking her, but she couldn’t tear her gaze from Carter.
“Armaan, help me please! Something’s happening to her,”
Cole screamed at the tall pacing boy. Armaan looked over at the pair of them. “Why is she saying Carter? Does she mean my brother’s right hand man? What’s he got to do with any of this?” Armaan asked as he knelt on Amanda’s other side.
Cole’s face contorted for a moment then lit up in recognition. “We had a run in with him. She put up a shield in front of him as he was about to hurl a spell at her, and it ended up killing him.” Cole said.
“Okay, well, what is going on with her?” Armaan asked. “I’m not sure; I know that she has been struggling with it.
Amanda feels like she was in the wrong, like she murdered him in cold blood or something. I mean he basically killed himself; she did nothing but put up a shield,” Cole said frantically hoping that what he said would bring her out of her state.
Armaan threw his hands up in disbelief. “Is that why she isn’t helping Shiphra?” he asked moving Close to Amanda’s ear. “Carter deserved more than what he got, Amanda!” he shouted.
Amanda could hear Armaan’s voice saying something in the back of her mind, but Carter’s haunting eyes held her in a trance.
“You don’t understand. Carter was evil. I saw him hurt women; I watched him torture innocent people for fun.” Armaan’s voice was becoming clearer, and Carter’s gaze fell away from her and focused on him in anger.
“I tortured people? Look at what you’ve done to me! You are the murderer, girly. You’ve always been a bad seed. I remember the day you showed up to the Hovel. Everyone thought you were a prodigy, falling into your first scar at such a tender age.” His laugh turned into a cough, and after a few choking hacks, he spit out a large chunk of flesh. “You were weak. You’ve always been weak. You let everyone down. Then again you’ve always done that too.”
She felt herself slipping back into despair.
“Amanda, listen to me!” Armaan’s voice sounded muffled and distant but still reached her. “Stop this! You are strong, you inspire, and you started a revolution with an incomplete sentence!” Under the desperation, she
