The Youngest Princess (Part 38)

***
The light was the same, the hall was the same.
Screams echoed.
Blackened things moved down the hallway in front of lines of people. Eyes darted back and forth, whispers hissed. The terror and confusion was palpable.
Those eyeless heads whipped around. The whispers went silent. Heads raised, eyes widened.
A figure in white blazed color, eyes wide and filled with a calm, multi-colored fury. Those feet do not even touch the ground as she moved by. Strange shimmering lines coiled and moved along her, like living vines embedded in her skin.
The insects let out a screech, and leapt at her. Those glowing eyes widened, her hand raised. With a flick of her wrist, a blast of power left her, striking each of the monsters as they leaped at her. Each thing crashed a few feet away.
People screamed again, trying to dodge the smoking, melting metal corpses.
"Hush now."
The voice was soft, but everyone fell silent instantly.
"What is going on?" Cried a voice from the crowd. "Why must we face this terror, this loss?" Others echoed the shout.
Those eyes fixed forward, those pale lips did not part to answer the questions.
As she passed, some began to knell. Like a wave of pastel, the hallway rippled as the crowds of people went down on their knees as she passed.
Inhuman shrieks echoed pierced the silence, and more monsters appeared.
Those fingers flicked, and the things went flying back, to hit the walls far above the heads of those who knelt. The corpses landed and disintegrated. There was music in the air now, soft and wild.
The doors to the great hall were ahead of her now. More monsters moved out in front of her. There were at least ten of them, more than before.
She did not even pause. She raised her hand, flicked her fingers up. A single, soft note sung out through her lips.
The blast that came from ripped all of the things into the air and back against the doors. The doors themselves swung open.
Ignoring the disintegrating metal heaps around her, the Youngest Princess stepped forward, and into the throne room.
The place was filled with metal monsters. Ignoring them, shimmering eyes flicked to the long figure leaning over to one of the monsters. Although she could not understand what was being said, his drone-like voice brought added another level of ice to her fury.
"Lord Dlemo. You have murdered, you have betrayed. The lifebeat and the shadows demand retribution. And so do I."
Lord Dlemo jerked up and saw her. Black, dead eyes narrowed slightly at the glowing figure that approached him. He nodded to one of the monsters, which let out a shriek. As one, all of the monsters descended on her.
Aelora swiped her arm to her left, and thirteen of the things went flying back to hit their fellows.
"Fools!" Dlemo snapped out. "Fools, move together!"
The monsters all froze for a moment.  
There were so many of them, a numb part of her mind whispered. Aelora ignored this. Her eyes narrowed. "How long has it been, sir, since you have been planing your game?" Her voice was polite, lightly curious.
Dlemo smiled slightly. "Since the day the whore who bore you ceased to exist." He took a step forward. "And you, like her, my dear, will too soon cease to exist as well."
Her heart shook, then hardened. "My mother and I are not the same. It does you little advantage to assume thus."
Dlemo took a step forward, then nodded. The monsters who had stayed still during their conversation sprang in unison at her.
Shimmering eyes widened, and her body seemed to dance slowly, gracefully. A song whispered from her lips, and lightening streaked from her hands to hit the monsters coming at her.
A tinge of cold that had nothing to do with fury moved into her heart. She felt her power shake slightly. There were so many of them to destroy.
Her eyes narrowed, and she pushed harder. The light around her brightened, and expanded. Within seconds, every metallic thing disintegrated to blackened piles on the floor.
The breath came hard to her lungs, but she barely noticed. Her eyes flickered back up to the bald figure in front of her, standing at the top of the dais where her father had stood so many times.
"You killed my father."
Lord Dlemo stared at her, the shrugged as if such a accusation mattered not him.
"You killed my sister."
Lord Dlemo inclined his head. "Regrettably. She had to be dealt with." He shook his head. "I miscalculated with her, with her trust and faith in me. She was weaker than I thought, to side with you." A smile grew over thin lips.  "I have not miscalculated with you, my dear. I will defeat you."
Aelora took a step forward. She felt the lifebeat in her heart now, shimmering in every breath. "You killed James."
Dlemo blinked, smiled. "Your pathetic companion was all too easy to dispense of."
"You lead monsters to my home, to hurt and destroy my people."
Dlemo actually laughed. "My dear fool, do you think they really care about each other enough to consider each other under the same breed?"  He shook his head. "This world is rife with weakness and distrust, as it should be. They will not listen to you, the disgraced traitor, a freak and a misfit who would rather give her body to some passing human than respect those she should."
Aelora's eyes narrowed. "I am not the fool."
Dlemo shrugged. "Believe what you will. It was your down fall, I believe, as your lovely sister once claimed." When Aelora's eyes widened for a moment, when the glow flickered around her, Dlemo's smile widened, and he lifted his arm, as if to bow gallantly, mockingly to her.
LIghtening, black and crackling, hit her from the hand he held out. Aelora let out a cry, and stumbled back.
The voices of the lifebeat, the shadows, her own heart, screamed in her mind. The air itself suddenly seemed to hum the wild melody that had began again around her. Her eyes flashed, and she lashed out, the power following her hands like a whip. Her own attack struck the blackened lightening with a resounding crack.
Sparks flew as multi-colored lightening leaped in the air. Dlemo fell back at one point, only to come back with a shout that seemed far too high for his deep voice. The power that streamed from Aelora flickered again. Aelora felt pain bit into her mind, into her body, but she ignore it. Her lips parted, and she whispered, her eyes glowing as brightly as the light that flew from her hands, from her body.
"My people."
Those words followed a strike to Dlemo that had him stumbling back against the dais. He let out another shriek and Aelora felt a surge of pain move into her heart.
"My father."
Another flash, weaker than the first, hit the bald man. He tried to stand, and attacked her with a flash of lightening that had her stumbling back instead.
"I told you, my lady," Dlemo cried, his voice shrill now. "This world will be mine, and you will not be a part in it!"
Fury, fear, grief all bunched in her heart as she advanced. She felt her power ebbing, yet she moved forward.
"My sister."
Her own power struck him hard, and he flew back into the dais. Pain ripped in her mind and she gasped, swaying. She felt her power fading in her heart. No. She glanced up. No. He was still standing.
Vengeance is demanded, hissed the shadows in her mind. Aelora closed her eyes, then summoned her power again, lashing out with it even as her head spun. Her sight was start to shake, the edges beginning to gray.
"No!"
A voice, strange and somehow familiar, cried out behind her. A part of her heart shimmered slightly at the sound. She couldn't turn to look, didn't dare take her eyes off of the figure who scrambled to its feet.
"No, my lady!"
Her eyes narrowed. Who was the fool who dared deny her the vengeance?
"You're killing yourself, he's not worth it!"
Aelora ignored the voice, gritting her teeth. Vengeance. The wailing voice deep in her heart grew, until her ears seemed deaf from the scream of grief.
Her eyes focused on her enemy and narrowed. The fading light flickered, grew stronger.
"My love."
The whispered words brought a lash of power that slammed into Lord Dlemo, knocking him back off his feet, his head smashing into the stone wall. A second wave lifted him up, throwing him against the wall.
Needles were stabbing the backs of her eyes. Her heart was pounding so fast it was like a constant hum of sound.
"Aelora!"
The voice from before broke into her concentration again.
"No!" She didn't know if she screamed the word in her mind or out loud. "He killed everything I love. Vengeance is demanded by the lifebeat, and by me!"
With a cry, she let out another attack, one that sent Dlemo's struggling, screeching figure back down to the floor of the dais.
"Vengeance is not worth your life, Aelora. Your sister died so you would live. Do not make that sacrifice in vain." This was a new voice. Another part of her heart shimmered at the sound of it, but she ignored it.
Her eyes wide, tears streaming down a face she could barely feel, Aelora felt Dlemo's weak hit of lightening cut into her skin, into her mind. She tripped, and fell to the floor.
Pain. There was so much pain. Aelora cried out, trying to get up.
Suddenly, she heard something and froze.
Dlemo was chuckling. Laughing softly. He stood, and moved over to her slowly. Cracks were in his skin, and his eyes were wide and wild, but he was laughing at her.
"You little whore, you should know you can not beat me," he hissed, coming to stand over her. He kicked her with his foot, then stepped on her wounded arm. Aelora screamed, and tried to concentrate, tried to hit him. "You will die, now," he told her, his voice pleasant. "Like your mother, like your sister, like all the fools of this world that have gotten in our way."
Our. Our way.
Coolness trickled back into her mind. Lightening, black and horrid, began to collect in the palm that Dlemo held over her. Cold fury pushed away pain in her heart. Music that had faded moments ago began to rise again, shimmering in her mind.  
"No." Aelora's eyes narrowed. Sparks flew in her eyes, from her skin. "It is you who is to die."
As deadly black lightening flashed toward her, Aelora raised her hand, her lips parting, and let out a high, pure note into the air.
The power blast that came from her hand hit Dlemo full in the face, knocking him up and back. The shriek that came from him was anything but natural.
Aelora scrambled to her feet, shaking violently now, her eyes wide at the sight before her.
Dlemo was screaming in fury, but that is not what sent a wave of shock and horror into her very soul. The skin of his face had cracked totally, in an almost perfect line down the middle of his face. Part of that face, the skin and features, was gone.
In it's place was a twisted face of one of the metallic monsters.
Dlemo, now covered in black lightening, lunged toward her. Aelora backed up, the surge of power she had felt moments before ebbing quickly.
The sounds of metal behind her sent fear into her heart, until she saw guards rush forward, around her.
"Fools, traitors, betrayers!"
Dlemo's voice was warped now, high and grating, penetrated with strange clicks and shrieks.
"No, my Lord Dlemo," she said, unsure if he heard her or not. It didn't seem to matter. "It is you who is the fool."
She swayed on the spot.
"Are you prepared to face the sentence of utter betrayal, Lord Dlemo?"
A voice boomed from behind her. A part of her heart moved at the sound, but she didn't seem to notice it.
"He does not deserve a trial," she answered, as if the voice has been addressing her. She couldn't turn about, could not take her eyes off the writhing figure held down by the guards.
"Then, as little more than a failed leader of monstrosities, the impostors will be disposed in the Acid Sea, where those who aid the lifebeat will dispose of it as they will."
Aelora nodded. "Let the lifebeat and it's creatures have the impostors." Have their vengeance.
She swayed on the spot, stumbled a step back.
"Aelora."
Something moved around her heart. A voice, so familiar it made her heart hurt, spoke behind her. Aelora turned, trying to keep her balance as her head spun. Her heart clenched at the sight before her.
Her father stood there a few feet behind her. Eyes so like Aelora's own shimmered with tears that he could not shed.
"Father." Her breath hitched. "I...I thought you..."
Lyokis shook his head, smiling sadly. "No, my dear, dear child. Tricked, yes, harmed, no." He held out his arms, as if to embrace her.
"Father, I-"
Lyokis shook his head, and stepped to the side.
Her heart. By fate, her heart. It felt so strange now, heavy and light at the same time.
"No."
Blue eyes behind cracked glasses met hers. Aelora swayed even more.
"You- you were dead. No, by fate, this is too cruel."
He was smiling, a sad, sweet, wonderfully warm smile. "Do I look dead, my lady?" He came forward, limping slightly. "I think I'd be floating, or see-through, or something." He was close now, she felt the warmth from him, could smell that comforting scent of him, of soap, of warmth, of books.  
"But you-" Her head spun.
He was right in front of her, but he didn't touch her. "Do you remember me? You saved me from one of the cells after I was found in the Polar Region. You were yelling at the guard, and then you came in. You were the most beautiful person I had ever seen, and you still are. You showed me how your world works, what to do, how to live. You told me you couldn't feel, but when you saved me from the shadows, I knew, somehow, someway, that you could feel. Last night, we danced at the Solstice celebration. Under the moonlight and stars, over the Acid Sea, I promised I would never leave you, that I am yours, no matter what." A blush, so familiar to her, stained his cheeks. He held out a hand to her. "I still am."
Aelora swayed, feeling as if her heart was going to burst. "James." Her voice trembled. She reached out, then took back her hand and met his eyes. In her heart, she could feel the lifebeat that pulsed in him, the breaths he took. "James." Her voice broke, and with a sob, she reached out and placed her hand in his.
With a muttered curse, James pulled her to him, wrapped his arms around her. Warmth flooded her body, and Aelora threw her arms about him, clung back just as tight. James rocked her, rubbing her back. When her legs collapsed, he only held her closer. Her breathing calmed, and James, tears coursing down his own face, pulled back to her look at her. Her eyes were closed, her lovely face was calm. She had fallen asleep. James smiled, and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
"She has saved us all," Lyokis commented as he watched them. No one saw the single tear that ran down his face. "She has saved as all."