The Tessellation Saga. Book Two. 'The One' (44 page)

They had been
amazed, as they had watched Jed lending his strength to Gideon to
fight off the attack, all three men had attempted to help Gideon
during the battle but Gideon’s own magic had rejected the help,
seeing Gath’s power as part of itself.

‘We were unable
to aid you as the balance in you sees his strength as part of
yours, the choice was and has always been for you to make. You
chose Gideon, with Jed’s help you chose, but be warned, he will use
any and all means to harm you now you have defied him.’ Thaddrick
added finally.

‘Who was he?’
Gideon asked as he rubbed the tears from his exhausted face.

‘He was the
Gatherer…, your biological father.’ Thaddrick replied, ‘and he now
knows without a doubt that I also am alive.’

Mayan looked at
her fiancé, his arms held by her brother and Thaddrick; even the
older twins had their backs to her. She suddenly felt alone more
than she ever had in her life before. The truth of her words days
before hit her with a violence that made her physically sick.

‘Good thing yer
love me then Gid eh else, there really would be no use fer me…,’
she had said and it was true.
There really is no place fer me
amongst these mages an’ magicians, even the youngster, Jonus ‘as
more magic in ‘is little finger than I ‘ave in me whole body an’
Jed, me own twin is connected ter Gideon in a way I never could
be…
she thought quietly backing away from the group shaking her
head in sudden bewilderment. Lemba watched her go, intuition
telling her now was not the time to go and comfort her friend.
Tonight,
she decided,
I will talk to Jed about it; he’ll
know how to ease her mind.

Days followed
into weeks as the lessons continued, never again with as much
impact as Gideon’s initial foray into the world of magic but always
under the watchful eyes of Sonal, Varan or Thaddrick himself. Lemba
and Rhoàld were delighted in their newfound talent where Gideon’s
own, still frightened him a little. For some reason Jonus, their
young friend always seemed to be around to help with an intonation
or a word in the right place if one of the friends were in
difficulty, especially if Lemba was present and the one having the
problem.

Gideon teased
his friend endlessly about Jonus but Jed took it well, liking the
boy for who he was. He even joined in when Lemba began teaching
Jonus the finger-speak mainly to keep in practice as she knew when
they left the valley she would lose her ability to speak once more.
Jonus was a quick study and caught on easily with all the slight
nuances and movements that meant different things if performed
badly. Mayan tried to learn too but as the others were too quick
for her, she smiled politely and left them to it assuring herself
constantly that she would be of use somewhere else.
When I’m not
feelin’ ser ill anyway,
she thought, having been plagued with
more than one headache as she tried to come to terms with what was
happening. Personally, she believed it was worry and constant
tiredness, even in their bed at night she felt as if Gideon were a
million miles away, though in truth she could reach out her hand
and feel him next to her, usually sleeping soundly.

Eventually as
Mayan began to feel more and more isolated, she began to look for
companionship amongst the other women of the community and she felt
instantly better when Jonus’s mother asked her to help run the vast
kitchens and prepare the rooms every day for the guests, herself
included. Doing these menial tasks was a stark reminder to her of
the plight her family, friends and the villagers and she tried not
to feel guilty, knowing that their group had to be here in the
valley, both for Gideon and for the others. They all had to learn
to control their newfound powers and here was the only place they
could do so but she promised herself to seek out Thaddrick and ask
his advice at the first opportunity.
Iffen I can get him away
from Gideon’s father that is...
she thought, laughing merrily,
busy and happier than she had been for many weeks and content in
the knowledge she was doing her bit.

Jed, Gideon’s
father was spending a lot of time alone with Thaddrick either
walking along the riverbank or in Thaddrick’s workshop and often
the older twins would join them there in the evenings.

‘It might help,
my friend,’ Thaddrick said handing Jed a number of small coloured
phials.

‘It ‘as ter
help Blue, yer knows ‘ow I feel about ‘em all. I can’t spend any
more time ‘ere with yer than I ‘ave ter whilst they be sufferin’.’
Thaddrick smiled lovingly at his friend and the use of his wolf
name. To Jed, he would always be Blue, sometimes man, sometimes
wolf and Thaddrick did not think even he had the courage to ask
Gideon’s father which persona he preferred.

‘The Journey
wills us all Jed but we can try to help it a little.’ He smiled
knowing the time for parting was coming upon them sooner rather
than later, he only hoped Gideon and the others were ready. The
small spells filling the coloured phials were little enough he
could contribute.

Mayan hung the
washing quietly on the line in the early morning sunshine, she was
exhausted, having spent the long evening before scrubbing the dirty
linen whilst the other members of her party practiced their various
arts or spoke in hushed tones before the fire. This morning she had
risen from bed early and kissed Gideon on the nose as he slept,
noticing a few more wrinkles than she had previously seen. Gideon
looked slightly older than the man she knew him to be, she also
knew it was something to do with him not achieving the proper
amount of balance yet, despite Thaddrick telling her he should not
require balance because of who he was. Jonus’s mother had told her
how difficult it was as a beginner and how things would even out
but the new wrinkles still upset her; he was changing just as her
brother had changed when he joined the army.

As she watched
him sleeping she realised she had to climb halfway over the bed to
reach him, not slide from beneath him as she had been wont to do
when they first arrived here in the valley. Last night had been
another night when he had said goodnight with a peck on the cheek
and turned to sleep facing away from her. Then, she had been so
tired she had not noticed but this morning she did and took her
thoughts with her as she went about her daily chores. She had been
fooling herself; she had taken to working very hard, scrubbing and
cleaning all day, sweeping the floors and doing the community
washing. Roidan, Thaddrick’s wife had tried to befriend her but she
had been too busy with her chores and even Roidan had eventually
left her alone. She was sure she had caught a chill too as she felt
awful, her head was constantly aching and she had been sick more
than once. This morning as she pegged out the brilliant white
sheets in the sunshine they failed to give her the pleasure they
normally did, so she left the washing still half pegged out and
walked slowly away, up the slight hill and away from the gurgling
river; on and on she walked her brain in a whirl. Finally, she
reached the place where she had first fallen through the gateway
with Gideon’s father and Varan, not noticing the involuntary shiver
as she crossed the magical barrier protecting the valley and its
inhabitants.

‘I thought yer
needed me Gideon,’ she sighed as she sank down on to the grassy
floor at the base of the tree. ‘Gid, yer be a king’s son now an’
yer don’t need me, not anymore.’ Softly she began to cry, huge
tears rolled down her face as she realised she had been filling her
life with tasks so she would not have time to think. With her
thoughts came a certain truth, she had no magic, she was not like
the other members of the party and was perhaps the only living
person in the whole valley without a thimbleful of the ancient
blood. With her face wet with tears and a heavy heart, she sat
thinking of the future she had seen for herself for her entire
life, Gideon as her husband, children around her feet and a small
cottage in the vast Green Home Forest.

‘It was my
dream, mine, it were never ‘is… never Gideon’s.’ She said aloud,
the truth of the statement hitting her hard, all her life she had
meant to have him and she had never given him a chance to want
anyone else. “E be a king’s son an’ surely deserves more than an
innkeeper’s daughter; more’n me anyways,’ she cried softly, as her
tears fell and her dream of home and family crumbled away, she
continued to sob feeling exhausted and ill and finally she fell
asleep as the morning sun rose above the huge tree drying the tears
on her face.

Within the
silver-capped crystal sitting high on its stone plinth, Medim’s
soul wailed with despair, the bodies of his priests, left
undisturbed where they had fallen were scattered around the floor
of the temple. Soon they would dry up and turn to dust just as
everything here in this accursed valley did. The remaining
inhabitants of the valley were either too scared or too stupid to
be controlled; their mindless devotion left almost nothing to rule.
He called them to him sending his summons across the ether. One
came and then another and another but despite his calling; they
could not be persuaded to enter the sacred room, the forbidden
inner sanctum that until now was used only by the priests.

Inside the
airless warded and domed valley, only those who possessed a modicum
of intelligence were eligible for priesthood, the lack of clean air
seemed to sap the inhabitants’ brains just as it sucked at their
lives and grotesquely changed their physiques. Medim sent his call
again as strong and as demanding as he could.

‘COME TO ME!’
He called repeatedly, still the witless inhabitants gathered and
waited in the outer room of the temple obeying the summons as much
as they were able. With the dome partly strengthened once more and
the bonds holding the crystal tightened, Medim seethed, and the
soul of Dèvin kept his silent smile.

Gath stood
beside the tree with a sardonic smile on his face. The girl slept
soundly on the grass, clearly outside of this particular domes
protection and he recognised her at once from glimpses of both his
son’s memories and those of Toby Hollins.

‘So you are
she...!’ He whispered quietly, not wanting to wake her.

The morning
after the vivid explosion, he climbed the mountain himself and saw
first-hand the vast valley and the dome encircling it and he
marvelled at the strength of the magicians that had woven the
spell. Its age was evident, he could feel the power emanating from
the dome despite its state of deterioration and strength from it
had flowed into him when he laid his hand against the translucent
surface for the first time. At that moment, something within the
dead valley had spoken to him, called to him, inviting him to take
all he needed and he had. At that point, Gath had not known
Thaddrick was still alive and although he had come across the badly
hidden gateway during his climb to the head of the pass, he had not
then been able to identify its creator. Instead, he noted its
location intending to revisit the site later and pushed on toward
the summit of the pass and the head of the valley.

Returning to
the portal on the side of the mountain, he found he could now
easily reproduce the creators spell and reverse it, causing the
gateway to open once more. The path was clearly so well established
and so well used, that Gath, whilst within the ether, could almost
see the well-worn and direct wormline connecting both gateways as
it brushed against the void. Moreover, as Gath had stepped from the
wormline and through the gateway under the tree he had seen another
dome similar to the barrier surrounding the Bleak but this one was
strong, healthy and shimmering with life as it surrounded the
valley before him, keeping its inhabitants safe whilst the populace
remained inside. Gath tried to penetrate the seemingly flimsy
structure but it was as solid and as impregnable as the castle
walls in Devilly but he had sensed Gideon, his son.
You’re in
there my boy, somewhere... I can feel you...
he thought.

He stayed
beside the new domed valley all the next day attempting to gain
access, to find his son, then as evening drew near he felt a
shifting within the ether and he felt him again, felt Gideon, the
boy was trying to access the roots. Gideon’s strength had truly
amazed him and as he saw the power growing and the unsure technique
Gideon was using to solve his problems of balance, Gath had stepped
in. Once again, it was easy, his own power and hold on the roots
were so similar to Gideon’s he thought he could have snatched
control there and then but to be able to access the boy’s body
completely Gideon would have to give permission. In the past, his
successive sons had been taught from infancy that this was their
destiny, their sole reason for life and had given themselves to
him, if somewhat reluctantly, when the time came but Gideon, unlike
his predecessors had not grown up with him as a father. At the
time, the idea of snatching Gideon from himself in front of his
protectors’ noses had seemed novel. He had been on the point of
success too, the boy had been so willing to learn and so ready to
acquiesce when Gath himself had spoiled everything. Gideon
innocently revealed Thaddrick’s presence and in shock, Gath reacted
badly attempting to wrest the power from the boy and get away as
fast as he could.
If I had thought about it a little more
rationally I would have realised Thaddrick had survived and
couldn’t have helped the boy, or he would have done so when I first
touched his power. I don’t doubt he would have been able to
recognise me...
Gath fumed at his own incompetence as he found
himself thrown out of Gideon’s mind, his precarious hold on his son
lost in that moment but he had had time to look into Gideon’s
memories and now this child before him on the grass, along with
Toby Hollins featured prominently.
Which brings me back to
Thaddrick not protecting the site of the gateway; perhaps he
thought I was dead…
He mused.