“My dear child! It’s really quite simple – power. They wanted power – the Veil exists only because of the power contained in the Source. If the Veil were to be destroyed – the power within the Source would be up for grabs. Alexander Cairns was already powerful – but he wanted more and he managed to convince the other Elementals that they wanted more too. The event became aptly known as the Betrayal.”
She refused to believe it – not Alex. He wouldn’t be so easily tempted by power. It couldn’t be that simple. She shook her head – maybe she was neglecting the obvious, the Alexander Cairns they were talking about lived a hundred and fifty years ago, maybe her Alex was just unfortunately named – for an ancestor that lived long ago.
Master Marais mistook her shake of the head and stricken expression. “I know – it is a terrible thing. But it’s ok – their plan was discovered in time and they were stopped. The youngest brother – Matthew Michael Cairns was originally thought to be a disappointment – only an Inferno, rather than an Elemental like the rest of his family. But he realized what his brother was planning and he managed to convince the Fire High Master of his story and together they led a group of Infernos against the Elementals. The cost was high, but they won. The Elementals were defeated and the Gates closed. Matthew Cairns survived – he convinced the Council that it was too dangerous to allow the Gates to ever be opened again, that the call of power was too great for any human to resist.”
“Did he have children – did Matthew have children?” She asked desperately.
Master Marais was bleary eyed by now, but he was still taken aback by her tangential question. “No – it’s a sad story – he never fully recovered from the wounds he sustained in battling his brothers. He died soon after.”
“So the Cairns family died with him.”
Master Marais laughed, a rumbling laugh from deep within him as if he found her question acutely amusing. “Apparently.” He said slyly.
“Apparently?”
He sobered with impressive abruptness and said brusquely, “You wanted to know why the opening of a Gate is forbidden – I believe I’ve satisfactorily answered your question. It’s late – you should get back to your training.” He laughed hollowly, while hustling her out the door. “I believe you have some significant catching up to do.”
The door slammed behind her and Allyra was left speechless by the abruptness by which she’d been swept out the room.
She shivered involuntarily – despite the arrival of summer, the evening was cool as she made her way back to the dormitory. It wasn’t what she’d wanted to hear, but there was something about the way Master Marais had reacted to her last question. It gave her hope that not all was lost – that somehow the Cairns family line hadn’t ended with Matthew Cairns, that her Alex wasn’t the same Alexander Patrick Cairns that betrayed his people so spectacularly.
Chapter 26 – Jamie
Jamie had hoped for a good break until the first of the Trials. He’d thought that Allyra would need every minute to cram in as much training as possible. Happily, he got his wish. Several days passed – a slow lull into oblivion and complacency.
The forced proximity combined with boredom meant that many of the competitors were starting to gripe at each other. Tension and anger were bubbling just below the surface, waiting for just the right spark to explode. The smallest things formed the fuses for the biggest arguments.
Eva clearly didn’t enjoy having to share a room with Jason – it was almost funny watching her completely lose her cool over a tube of toothpaste that she believed Jason had stolen.
It was a picture of perfect opposites – Eva ranted and raved at Jason while he sat quietly with a faintly amused smile on his face.
There was also the incident where Lin accused just about everyone of stealing a bottle of twenty-year-old brandy. It had left a nasty taste in his mouth and now there was a strange atmosphere of tension pervading through the room. Perhaps it was inevitable – after all they were in a competition – the brandy incident just brought it to the forefront sooner than expected.
Even he wasn’t completely unaffected by the nervous atmosphere, more than once he’d been tempted to throttle one of Eva’s new Oceanic cronies. Since she avoided him and Allyra like the plague, Eva had taken to hanging out with two Oceanics – Lara and Sonya, utter airheads whose favorite pastime seemed to involve complaining.
All subjects were fair game: It was too hot, it was too cold, the plate their food was served on was cold, there wasn’t enough hot water for a proper shower, someone ate all the chocolate chip muffins. It was an endless stream, slowly corroding away his nerves.
Surprisingly, the only person who seemed utterly unaffected by it all was Allyra. She seemed to spend her days lost in thought, remote and aloof. Perhaps it was because she’d joined them later, and had made little to no effort to get to know any of the competitors.
Sometimes he envied her detached attitude, that she could enter the Trials without caring about any of the other Competitors. But most of the time he just felt a sense of disquiet, that something had changed about her, between them, something he couldn’t quite pinpoint.
She’d trained diligently enough over the last week, but she’d done it under the guidance of Master Mabaso, the practical and abrupt Combat Master, rather than look for any help from him. He tried not to be hurt by her choices.
The deep wound Allyra had suffered in the Between kept her from training fully, but she’d picked up the Sequence quickly and under the competent tutelage of the Combat Master, she’d become competent without being exceptional.
The thing that bothered Jamie most was how she seemed to
