NAIARA
Christian Fantasy - December 2025 - A. E. Costello
NAIARA
Bright purple light flashed in a circular motion, and two people jumped out of it. The purple light flashed into nothing, gone as quickly as it appeared, and left behind the two Iamerians who had crossed through it.
Naiara Goethe wrapped her shawl tighter around her neck, and glanced down at the bundle she held tight in her arms. The newborn’s face was slack in sleep, the young Dorgia without any knowledge of the civil war she had just escaped from.
Naiara looked at the man who had crossed through the archway with her, Lucardis Deganello. He cut an imposing figure, over seven feet tall, his form molded with muscle born from combat. He clasped his gaizo in both hands and slid into a guard stance, yet the forested road was empty.
“No one has come after us,” said Naiara, breathing out gust of condensed air, cold seized her lungs and her skin bubbled with goosebumps. “It is freezing.”
Bitter cold wind swept down the curving dirt road, the towering dark trees rustled and eerie music sung from the leaves. It was dark, the moon shrouded in clouds, and no sign of life.
“We must move,” said Lucardis, heading down the empty expanse. “We do not know where we are. Assassins can come at any moment. How is the babe?”
“She sleeps,” said Naiara as she rushed to Lucardis’s side. “When hunger wakes her, what shall we do?”
Lucardis just made a low grunt in answer. Naiara gritted her teeth. He was always like this. If he was unsure, he simply said nothing. How the royal Dorgia ever appointed Lucardis to join Naiara on this mission, it was not clear to her. They did not even know where they were, they were all each other had. At least he could attempt conversation or give a plan.
Shining lights along with a low growling sound made both Iamerians leap to the forested side of the road. Lucardis raised his gaizo to striking position, while Naiara clasped the young Dorgia to her chest with both arms, summoning a barrier to protect her and the child, whom she had sworn to do so.
Far be it from a Tresillian assassin, it was a box on wheels. A large box with lights attached to the front, and it growled and roared by on four wheels, leaving behind in its wake an acid stark smell in the air.
Naiara swallowed back a slew of curses, and only managed a single question.
“What was that?”
Lucardis was silent for a few moments, before he answered. “This place…is very strange.”
Understatement. Naiara’s chest heaved up and down as she inhaled crisp cold air, and something tiny and wet landed on her eyelash. She looked up as the sky birthed little specks of white.
She smiled.
“It is snowing.”
Something familiar at last.
“Come,” said Lucardis, walking again. “We are out in the open. We must hide.”
“We have to decide what we will do next.” Naiara agreed they needed to get inside, as the wind swirled white and the cold burned through her loose fabrics. Iameri was hot this time of year however through the archway was snow. Her toes burned with cold, her thong sandals did nothing to protect them from the elements.
The forest thinned out, and the road shifted from dirt to hard smooth rock with painted stripes on it. There was a series of miniature houses connected in a row, and a sign out front that Naiara could not understand, but she supposed it held the landowner’s name. Out front were several of the boxes, they were in different sizes and shapes, but all had the wheels from the loud box before.
“Let us go in,” said Lucardis, who’s bald head was white with snow, his thick muscles wracking with shivers. “Maybe we will get a house of our own.”
Naiara nodded and they entered the building that had all the lights on, and had windows. Inside warm air rushed over Naiara, and her skin tensed up, like getting into a deep hot bath. The man at the desk looked up, and blinked at the two. His nametag said David.
David said, “What the heck? What’s with the outfits? You know its like thirty outside, right? You’re covered in snow.”
Naiara and Lucardis looked at each other. Whatever language this man was speaking, they did not know it.
Naiara said to him, “We have foreseen this. The archway was made in haste, we did not know where we would cross into. Let me pray.”
Lucardis nodded and stepped out of the way.
Naiara dusted the snow off her foot and used it to spread it in a circle. She closed her eyes and prayed out loud, “I beseech you O Lord, I humble myself to You. Bless me and Lucardis, to hear and speak to our enemy.”
The snow melted into blue sparks.
David said, “Oh, are you foreigners? Um, I don’t speak…whatever that was. Can I help you?”
He made exaggerated movements of his arms in an attempt to use body language to communicate.
Lucardis said, “We speak your tongue. We require a house.”
The man blinked. “Oh, so you do speak English. A house? Uh, you can’t buy these rooms. It’s a motel, you just pay to stay for a few nights or a week or so. How long can you pay for?”
Lucardis reached into his pouch, and pulled out a handful of Dorgian coins, sliding them across the desk towards the man. While his hand was still over the coins, he said through blue light flittering from his teeth, “This is enough to pay.”
Lucardis lifted his hand, and the coins were now a stack of green bills featuring faces and symbols that Naiara didn’t know.
David picked it up, and counted it. “Yup, that’s enough for a night. Let me see your ID, and I’ll get you a room key.”
Naiara and Lucardis said together, blue light shimmering between the words, “We have shown you the ID.”
“That’s all in order,” said David, getting a room key. “Here you are. Room number six, outside to your left.”
Lucardis took the key, and led the way back outside. It took several attempts to use it correctly, but finally the Iamerians were inside a warm dark room.
“Lights,” said Naiara, and a gold glow appeared in the center of the room. It held furniture, a chair, a desk, and what had to be a sleeping pad.
Naiara sat down on the cushioned surface and rested the bundle over her lap, rubbing at her sore arms from carrying the newborn.
Lucardis paced, stroking his gaizo up and down, and checked the sharp point. It was still green, the poison had not been destroyed in the cold weather.
Naiara glanced at him, and read the focused expression on his face, dark skin modeled with a decision.
“You have a plan.”
“Yes,” said Lucardis, averting his eyes for a moment before meeting hers. “We should split up.”
Naiara gently placed the baby in between two pillows, then got to her feet in a furious movement.
“Are you senile?” She spoke in a low shout, not wanting to wake the young Dorgia. Lucardis could not be meaning what he was saying, it was asinine, no, it was a betrayal, of the worst kind. “How am I supposed to survive without an warrior? You were assigned to protect me and Belindthraz’s daughter!”
Lucardis said, “Maybe if- We will have a better chance of survival. If we were to separate. The Tresillian assassins will be forced to split as well, to track two different Iamerian signatures. This makes sense.”
Naiara stared at him, into his bright green eyes, and saw the truth. He was afraid. He was in a world where they had already seen things they didn’t understand or speak the language, not knowing what ID is or what a motel is.
Worse, they couldn’t even use magic to help as the Iamerian signature within a strange world is the method to track them by. He was a coward. He doubted his ability to protect Naiara and the young Dorgia, so he proposes they slit up, a way to run from his responsibility, his last assignment from their former Ruler.
Naiara seethed. “You know we have a better chance with the two of us fighting together. We are in a strange world and its frightening, yes, but we need each other. This is what Belindthraz ordered us to do, to protect her child!”
Lucardis shook his head, and went to the door. “I wish you luck. We shall meet again, in Iameri, when the time comes.”
Naira shook her head. Her jaw firmed and she lifted her chin. “Lucardis, if we meet again, you will sorely regret that you abandoned us today.”
In answer, the door closed behind him solidly. The babe on the sleeping pad jolted and began to cry.
Naiara picked up the child, and looked at the round dark face, and the shining tears on her face.
“Hush Zakkie,” Naiara said to her, lightly jiggling the babe. “Zakariya Dorgia, hush.”
The babe sniffled and looked up at Naiara with slim yellow eyes, like her mother’s. Naiara’s chest ached with a sharp heavy throb. She was in a new world, abandoned by her warrior, left defenseless and helpless to raise the heir Dorgia. But that didn’t mean she was alone. She can do this. She have to do this. She will fulfil Belindthraz’s final orders. Protect her child, and when the time was right, bring her back to Iameri.
Naiara held the babe to her chest, closed her eyes and prayed.
“Lord God is faithful, pray that thy strengthen me, and guide me. Protect Zakariya from the evil one. We take refuge you in O Lord, please protect us, and surround us with a shield.”
Blue light shined from Naiara’s head down to her toes.
Yes. The Lord is faithful.
There was a shout from outside, and flashing blue lights.
She got up and pulled off the blanket on the sleeping pad, and took the linens that were on the pillows. She wrapped Zakariya in those, and herself in the big blanket. There was a sliding door at the back. And she stepped outside into the swirling white.
The End of NAIARA. Next Friday : ZAKARIYA.
I hope you enjoyed!
Until next time, A. E.