Excerpt: Aiden's Dance, Part II

Anja's heart leapt into her mouth as she heard voices coming closer. It couldn't be April who screamed, could it? Wasn't April already here somewhere?

"Master Aiden, please!"

Anja breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the first sentence she could actually make out, because it wasn't April. Then she immediately felt guilty, because whoever this was, they sounded like they were in trouble.

"No! Now listen to me. This is what I've done for you."

The voice sent a shiver down Anja's back. So that was what Master Aiden sounded like. It wasn't a particularly scary voice, and he wasn't shouting. But there was a quiet undertone of fury that Anja was repulsed by. She tried not to listen, but his voice grew steadily louder.

"You found a way to work away at my barriers, and I forgave you. More than that, I praised you for it! Then you spent more time in the outside world than in here, and still I forgave you. You fell in love with a human, and I forgave you."

"Master Aiden, I-"

"No! I allowed you to marry your human, and I forgave you. You chose to live outside the forest, and I forgave you, welcomed you back when you came. But then you took advantage of me not being here and you disobeyed Jewelle. You used my barrier against another of our kind, and you saved the two humans. But above that, Lorelei, above that you protected Daniel Edwards when you knew he belonged to Tania!"

Anja opened her eyes in shock. That was not what she'd expected. Instantly she grabbed the bars of her cage and tried to see what was going on. But the darkness was still nearly absolute, so she couldn't see anything.

"Master Aiden, please let me explain."

"No. You've defied me too many times, Lorelei. I don't care that you've rebuked your human life and want to come crawling back. You can't expect to always be forgiven."

Anja squinted through her cage. Why couldn't she see anything? There seemed to be some sort of light coming from... below her? But that didn't make sense; she wasn't up in the air.

"Brokk, lock her up."

"No! No, Master Aiden!"

"And let me know when Kortis gets back."

There was a cry, and a shout, and the glow from below Anja brightened. She peered down, leaning all her weight on the bars to try and see what was happening. She could make out two brightly glowing figures, one of which she thought was wearing a long cloak: Master Aiden? The other one, Brokk, was wrestling with something on the floor, and as Anja watched there were suddenly two figures on the floor. She sucked in a breath.

Aiden's voice was quiet. "You've just sealed your punishment, Lorelei. Don't try and escape again, or it'll be worse."

"What more can you do to me? Exile me?" Lorelei's voice sounded hoarse, and Anja could only picture Mrs Edwards face, crying when she found out Daniel was dead.

Aiden chuckled. "My dearest Lorelei, there's plenty more I can do to you. You probably don't realise that at the moment, your son belongs to Tania, your daughter is being hunted down by Kortis, and your accomplices are currently above us, listening."

Anja saw Lorelei's head jerk upwards and she quickly leant away from the edge of the cage. Aiden laughed.

"So you see, Lorelei, it would be best if you co-operated."

"I don't care about Anja Herz or whoever else you have up there, but let April Edwards go. She's got nothing to do with this!"

"You'd plead for your daughter and not your son? How terribly upsetting."

"Master Aiden!" Lorelei growled.

"April Edwards is being pursued by Kortis and Tania. I don't really think there's anything I could do to call them off, even if I wanted to. So we'll have to wait and see. How good is she at running?"

Lorelei screamed in anger.

"Yes, yes, very nice Lorelei. Now I really have better things to do than stay here with you. Brokk, see to it that she doesn't escape."

"Yes, Master Aiden," came his rough voice.

Aiden suddenly looked up at Anja. "Good day, Anja Herz," he called up to her, and Anja shrank back. Then suddenly her cage was shaking violently and she looked up, panicking, to see Aiden hovering in the air.

"I said good day," he said pleasantly.

Anja gaped at him for a few moments. He looked completely different to what she had expected. He seemed to be wearing nothing apart from a tattered pair of shorts and a regal, purple cloak. He had long red hair that was blowing in front of his not-particularly-handsome face. She examined his face, more fascinated than afraid, and was startled to see that he was looking at her with equal curiosity. She averted her eyes.

"Good day, Aiden," she said eventually, quickly adding, "Master Aiden!" when she realised what she'd done.

But he only laughed softly. "You've been talking to Mazinde."

He seemed to expect a response, so she nodded dumbly.

He regarded her critically, leaning closer to her cage. "You're afraid of me," he stated. "Why?"

Although she could think of numerous reasons why he was terrifying her, Anja's mouth refused to co-operate and she just shook her head at him.

"Pity."