The Tessellation Saga. Book Two. 'The One' (33 page)

‘Gid…, she said
quietly, ‘they loved each otherr very much did’t they, Valeria ‘n’
Théoden I mean, I dunno iffen I could giv’ you up like that, even
ter save a world.’ She added softly.

Gideon, feeling
her sadness turned gently and pulled her into his embrace, he felt
the soft smoothness of her skin and smelt the delicate fragrance of
her hair and he raised her chin softly and kissed her lips.

‘Yer never ‘ave
ter giv me up...,’ he said as he kissed her again. The moons silver
glow filtered through the high window throwing soft shadows across
the bed.

‘We’ve never
been alone like this afore…,’ Mayan giggled and returned his kiss.
‘I love yer Gideon Green,’ she breathed quietly, ‘whoever yer are,
or were meant ter be.’

‘I love yer too
May.’ He replied as he held her close and kissed her as if he would
never let her go.

Later, after
finally making her his, he watched the room lighten as the sun
began to rise, he looked to Mayan once more, watching her breathing
softly, he could hear her heart beating with its regular rhythm in
time with his own and before long, he too drifted off to a much
needed but fitful rest. That question, the one that burned with his
every waking thought was buried for a time under a much-needed
blanket of sleep, just who and what he was, would have to wait
another day.

Next morning, a
much-rested and very happy Mayan, with a rough looking Gideon
joined Lemba and young Jed in the large hall once more where a
breakfast of bread, cheese and oats with milk or small beer waited
for them. Rhoàld with Jed, Sonal and Varan had gone for a walk
accompanied by Thaddrick and Roidan.

‘Do we know
what’s goin’ on yet?’ Mayan asked as she sat beside her brother at
the long table.

‘The twins ‘ave
gone with Rhoàld ter find out I think,’ he replied taking yet
another mouthful of the small beer. ‘This be good stuff May, try
some,’ he said, swallowing hard and enjoying the sweetness with the
malty aftertaste.

‘I agree, it
really is good Mayan,’ added Lemba as she too sat with a large
glass in front of her. Mayan laughed merrily.

‘Yer doin’ it
again Lem, using yer fingers when yer speak,’ she grinned at her
friend. Unabashed Lemba returned the smile.

‘I mustn’t get
used to not using my fingers; I don’t know how long I will have a
voice,’ she replied with stoicism, Jed took her hand and squeezed
it lovingly. Gideon said nothing, he sat quietly while Mayan placed
a glass of the beer before him and dipping his finger into the beer
began rubbing the rim of the glass. Before long, the glass emitted
a loud high-pitched whine.

‘Gid, stop will
yer,’ called Jed as he placed his hands over his ears understanding
immediately what his friend was going through. ‘I be as frustrated
as you but we can do nowt till first we find out what by the
journey is going on
an’
what we actually be ‘ere fer… tis
not
only you
who’s wanting answers yer know,’ he said
quietly, adding, ‘it’s me own fam’ly in chains, d’yer think I don’t
wanna know…, don’t want answers mesel’?’ Gideon looked at his
friend contritely and pushed the glass away from him.

As before when
Thaddrick had been speaking and the hall had filled with people, no
one noticed as the absent companions returned.

‘Thaddrick will
be here directly,’ said Sonal his face unusually grave. Silence
descended upon the group as the newcomers took their places and sat
down. When Thaddrick appeared alone moments later, the air was
thick with tension once more.

‘Good morning
everyone, last evening I told you who I was, today I will tell you
who you are,’ he said looking at Gideon and the rest of the group
as he sat down at the long table. Roidan entered the room and
smiling at the table took a place in a comfortable chair before the
small fire. Mayan stood up and walked over to the sideboard for a
mug of the sweet small beer and pouring two large glasses, she
crossed the room to Roidan and offered the first to her.

‘Thank you my
dear.’ Roidan smiled, accepting the glass as Mayan returned to the
sideboard, taking both the second glass of sweet brown beer and the
jug with her, she placed them both before Thaddrick and returned to
her seat.

‘My thanks,’ he
said his tone the same as Roidan’s, as he lifted the glass and
drank deeply.

Gideon could
see Thaddrick had already spoken to the men whilst they were
walking, none of them would look at him bar his father and he
looked…
sorrerful,
Gideon thought.
Whatever they been
sayin’ they ain’t tellin’ us yet!
Gideon mused, as his father’s
face continued to look grave.
Same face as the time me pony died
during the night whilst birthing too large a foal and da ‘ad ‘ad
ter tell me the next mornin’.

‘Gideon,’ began
Thaddrick interrupting Gideon’s thoughts, ‘would you show Sonal and
Varan the necklace you wear around your neck,’ asked Thaddrick
gently, Gideon reached into his shirt and withdrew the small silver
and crystal amulet. He held it up enjoying as he always had the way
the light played on the finely cut facets of the crystal held so
securely in small silver claws. Sonal turned pale as he reached for
the pendant.

‘How have I not
known you had this Gideon,’ Sonal said as he held it in his palm,
tears forming in his eyes as he passed the pendant quietly to
Varan. ‘It is the one, Varan, isn’t it?’ He asked as he turned his
gaze back to an even more puzzled Gideon. Varan held the necklace
and closed his fist over it.

‘I was hoping…,
Analeen...,’ he faltered as the tears began to build behind his
eyes, slowly and silently they fell, the bright sunshine reflecting
off the silvery tracks on the man’s face.

Your father has
told us that this amulet once belonged to your mother,’ Varan said,
clasping the crystal so tightly it began to bite into his skin.

‘I ‘ad ‘er ring
too,’ replied Gideon defensively, ‘but I gave it to May,’ he
added.

‘May I see it
Mayan?’ Sonal asked quietly. The company watched solemnly as Mayan
took off the small silver ring and as he took the ring into his
palm he recollected his last dinner party and the ring that had sat
on his grandfather’s old book as he had tried to impress his
guests. He had not recognised it then and grew cold thinking of
that foretelling of the future, he had seen Apple and Jack in
chains, seen Jed covered in blood and seen Gideon and young Jed
fighting, all had come true.

‘The ring, of
course, that then is why I felt something was odd, why I knew
something looked… not right, I could see no future for the ring
because it…, foretelling will not work… for oneself... I saw you
too Thaddrick, I think I did anyway…,’ he whispered as he
remembered the way the wolf’s fur had shimmered and changed its
shape.

‘What d’yer
mean Sonal, foretelling for oneself I mean, what are yer talkin’
about?’ Gideon asked, reaching protectively for the small ring he
had given Mayan as a token of his love.

‘It was once my
ring Gideon, I left it with my grandfather, as a parting gift for
my sister, Analeen.’ Gideon stared, first at Sonal then at
Varan.

‘Gideon,’ said
Varan, ‘this pendant, your crystal amulet, it once belonged to my
mother, our mother…,’ Varan added, looking not at Gideon but at
Sonal, ‘our mother gave it to Lena on her fifth birthday.’

Rhoàld gasped
and stood up, understanding suddenly dawning on him. He had been
sitting quietly throughout the telling showing no emotion and
wondering how this could be related to his own plans for killing
Gath and freeing Bastian, he’d been thinking of Bastian and how
used to hearing his thoughts he had become but since entering the
forest he’d hardly heard Bastian at all and had been very lonely.
Now half-heartedly listening to the older twins, he watched the
scene around the table unfolding before him and on hearing the name
of the older twins’ sister his heart had almost stopped with shock,
he gasped aloud.

All eyes turned
to him as he stood before them, then as he looked directly at
Gideon, the dead young queen’s face swam before him.

‘Lena was
Lydia’s mother,’ he whispered, your grandmother Gideon.

Thaddrick
looked at Roidan who sat silently beside the bright flames; she
smiled in response to her husband and nodded her head as he turned
his gaze toward Gideon and his eyes twinkled merrily.

‘
This is who
you are boy,’
Gideon heard in his head,
‘this is who you
are,’
before he could utter a sound his father erupted.

‘What..., ‘ang
on, are yer sayin’ that
my
boy is Sonal’s nephew?’ Jed
asked, with an astonished look, one equal only to the look on
Gideon’s own face.

‘The pendant
is, was, a family heirloom, the females of our line have always
handed it to the next in line. It’s the only one of its kind,’
Varan added, as if seeing Gideon for the first time. ‘If you have
the pendant then it must mean…,’ he said and closed his eyes, pain
again close to the surface.

‘Lena must be
dead.’ Sonal finished for his brother. Rhoàld watched the men as
they realised their beloved little sister was dead. Guilt flooded
him as he remembered Gath ordering the dungeon keeper to make the
cut, so he himself could watch death as it slowly claimed his young
wife. He remembered the sharp knife cutting into the sweaty pale
white skin after the young girl had given birth; then Gath ordering
him to collect her blood carefully,
he didn’t want any
wasted,
he thought
and it pumped so slowly…
his memories
continued as he remembered how long it took the exhausted young
girl to die. For a second time guilt washed over him as he
remembered Gath holding the newborn infant up to her mother as her
eyes had finally clouded over.

‘Say goodbye my
dear.’ Gath had said and laughed maniacally as life finally left
Lena’s pale form. Rhoàld remembered washing the poor girl’s body
and removing the pendant from her neck and a small silver ring from
her delicate but rapidly cooling finger. He remembered hating the
cruel insensitive man then,
still I never left him I just
thought more of my own position and power,
Rhoàld thought.
Again, shame and disgust filled him as he recognised the grief in
the twins faces.

‘I’m so sorry;
If Lena was your sister she died a long time ago.’ Rhoàld finally
said, ‘I knew her, she died on the childbed, giving birth to
Lydia.’ Rhoàld said nothing further to explain how the young girl
had died, thinking the pair had suffered enough. He prayed to the
gods to allow him licence with the truth.

The silence in
the large room was almost physical, a solid thing stopping further
conversation.

Gideon’s father
looked around at his companions.

‘Well now,
who’d ‘ave thought it, tis a rare an’ funny way the journey takes
us,’ he offered as he looked again, first at the older twins, then
at his son, ‘lad it seems yer’ve got more fam’ly ‘en just me an’
yer granparents’ after all,’ he said, moving to clap Sonal on the
shoulder. ‘I always knew there was a reason I liked yer so much,
even iffen yer wine making skills aren’t ser good…’ he laughed
lightly, as Sonal slowly but still unsure smiled back.

‘I‘d not seen
Lena for a long time, but she would have been proud of her daughter
I am sure and of you, her grandson Gideon. If you will allow me, I
know I speak for Varan too, we welcome you into our hearts and our
family…’

‘What there is
of it anyway,’ Varan added his assent by throwing his arms around
the still surprised young man.

‘Let me add to
your tale’ said Thaddrick speaking quietly as Roidan moved across
the room to join him. As before, she stood behind him her hands
resting protectively on his shoulders. Thaddrick reached to take
the pendant Varan still held in his fingers. ‘You say the pendant
is one of a kind. You will be surprised then to hear then that it
is one of a pair.

A long time ago
a man named Thurlson commissioned a gift on the announcement of his
wife’s first pregnancy. He had ordered a ring made for his first
child but when his wife birthed twin boys he gave the ring to his
wife and he ordered identical pendants of silver and Dakar crystal
made for his twin sons...’ he paused before he spoke again. ‘They
were called Themos and Thaddrick,’ he said and carried on before
anyone could speak. ‘Thurlson and his wife also had a third child,
his name was Théoden and her ring was passed on to him. When the
older boys were grown men, Themos, knowing he would never see his
sister in law again gave his pendant to her, moments before she
passed through the gateway to Earth.’

‘Valeria…’
whispered Mayan as she began relating the story to the tale
Thaddrick had told the night before. Thaddrick smiled at her
nodding his assent before taking a deep breath and looking at
Roidan. She also smiled and pulled her own pendant from beneath her
dress, the one her husband had given her on their wedding day, the
twin of the one Gideon wore.

The silence was
almost deafening as Thaddrick spoke again, ‘In short Gideon, you,
Sonal and Varan are all descendants of my brother Théoden and as
such are related to me and also by marriage to my wife.’ Roidan
reached forward and took Thaddrick’s hand.

‘Welcome to the
family Gideon, we have waited a long time for you,’ she said, her
smile reaching high up into her eyes.

“By the
Journey,’ this be confusin’,’ began Mayan who had been relatively
silent throughout the morning so far and despite the revelations,
something had stuck in her mind. She stood up and began to pace,
her hands moving to emphasise her thoughts as the company watched
her.