That didn’t make any sense. “But… Krael…”
“Turned out to be the good guy, plotting with Divina
from the moment they arrived there. He got the books that belonged to Vretial
and gave them to Divina.”
“What happened to Vretial’s worlds? I erased the
name… what did that do to the world?” When he didn’t answer, I looked up at
him.
“It… the world was destroyed,” he finally said.
I felt my heart sink into my stomach… and boil in the
stomach acid. I destroyed a world. I looked down at my hands, imagining the
blood that would never wash off, and didn’t attempt to stop the tears.
“If you hadn’t erased Vretial’s name, Divina would
have destroyed both Earth and Vretial’s world. No sentient beings were on that
planet. Apparently, Vretial had considered the destruction of the world, so he
moved all the people to other worlds just before our arrival,” he said.
Divina had said I would kill people as a Guardian,
but I destroyed a world. I lied back down and tried to keep my tears silent.
“Just get well. Focus on healing. I did what I can,
but healing the brain sometimes just takes time. Sleep.”
He left and in the silence, I considered what he
said. Vretial moved the people off of his worlds because he thought they would
be in danger.
Why would a god do that if he were so evil? And up until the
end, he was so confident. If he had no doubts, why move the people? If he did
doubt, why didn’t he act to save himself?
* * *
I woke again and my head felt much better, but I was
alone. After about ten minutes, I got out of bed and somehow made it up the
stairs. The front door was open to let in bright light and when I stood in the
doorway, I saw that Edward had brought two of the kitchen chairs out on the
porch. He was sitting on one and reading a book. I started to turn back.
“Feeling better?”
“Yeah.” After a few seconds of indecision, I stepped
out onto the porch and sat in the seat next to him. “Where’s Divina?”
“She went home. She wants you to come by soon,
though. Before leaving, she told me that Avoli, the original owner of Vretial’s
second world, was glad his world was destroyed. Vretial had poisoned it. Avoli
is supposedly regaining power and rebuilding. According to Divina, the gods are
looking for change. They don’t want this to happen again. How that will affect
you, not even she could tell me. Do you want to talk about what happened?”
“No,” I said. He nodded and there was a few more
seconds of silence. “Ronez was my father.” He turned to look at me. “He told
me, but I need a little time before I can explain it. Did you know?”
He stared off into the woods. “No. I figured you were
just so similar to him because you are a descendant of him and because I miss
him. I had no idea I was actually taking my brother’s son as my apprentice.” He
game me a small, but very real smile. “Some things just happen because they were
meant to be.”
“So you’re not upset by that?” I asked. He shook his
head. The silence stretched on and I was surprised by how relieving that
information was. “Did he ever say anything about me or why he chose
my
mother? I mean, he said he didn’t, but something might have slipped out.”
“I wouldn’t be able to tell you. Ronez liked women
and he got them. If he ever mentioned your mother specifically, I wouldn’t
know. But he was very careful; when he fathered a child, it was with a woman
who he thought would be a good mother. I knew he had a child who would be about
your age, but it didn’t sound like your mother is the kind of person he would
leave a child with. Wizards aren’t uncommon on Earth and I really didn’t even
consider that you were his son. What?” he asked.
I probably had an odd look on my face as I realized
what he meant. “I have hundreds of brothers and sisters. No… I am the
baby
of hundreds of brothers and sisters. That also means that you’re my uncle.”
There was a couple of seconds where we just thought in silence. It was a huge
piece of my life that I never knew existed.
“Actually, the children of Guardians are not
immortal, so most of his other children have already grown old and died.”
“You’ve had to watch your own children die of old
age?” I asked. I realized it was a rude and hurtful question as I said it, and
the awkward silence was a heavy weight. “You avenged Ronez’s death?” I asked,
trying to change the subject. “Shio had taken Ronez’s body. That must have been
hard for you.”
“All I did was let him go. He found his own death. I
prefer not to think of myself as a superstitious man, but I was born before the
Reformation. There was a Duran fairytale the kings used to tell their warriors
before battle. If you look away from your death, you would never find rest in
the Land of the Dead. Some even said you would relive it for eternity.”
“You made Shio look away from his death?” I asked. He
nodded. “Do you think Divina will ever get her memories back?”
He sighed. “You’re in love with her.”
“Yeah. And she doesn’t even remember me. She told me
she was falling in love with me. Will she heal?”
“I don’t know. I do know she’s strong.”
“I guess it’s best if I don’t get close to her this
time. I’m not powerful like her, so I can drag her down. I’m a liability, at
least for now.”
“I don’t think so. I think the reason she held on so
well was to help you. Everything of power in the universe has to balance, even
the gods. Every god must have something to balance them, whether it is an
alternate personality, an enemy, a brother, or a lover. You may not have the
power she does, but you might possibly be what she needs. I don’t think she
would have fallen in love with you if you were a liability.”
“So she can choose who she loves?”
“No, but she can choose who to be around long enough
to fall in love,” he said.
I wasn’t sure what I was going to say next because I
didn’t get around to saying it. With a blur, Shinobu was sitting in my lap. My
eyes went wide as I glanced from her to Edward. He didn’t even turn, though I
knew he heard her. “Edward, can we talk about something?”
“She can stay,” he said simply.
I was stunned, too cautious to feel joy as Shinobu
scampered up my arm to my shoulder and nuzzled her snout in my neck.
“I saw the bite mark on the little girl and figured
it out.”
“How did you know it was a bite from Shinobu?” I
asked. He leaned forward and lifted up the back of his shirt until I could see
a scar on the left side, about halfway down. It looked exactly like the mark
left on Tomie.
He let his shirt down and looked at me. “I didn’t
tell you to get rid of her because I was being mean. I just know what your luck
attracts. It confuses me though, how you could find the one naowen that would
create an attachment to you. She seems to be so protective of you that she
would never intentionally hurt you. Just be careful and never go anywhere alone
with her for long.”
I nodded. “I will.”
“Also, it got me thinking about your terrible luck.”
Edward reached into his bag, pulled out something small, and handed it to me.
It was an iron pentagram, about two inches tall, and a chain. It also was
obviously powerful.
“This was Ronez’s. It can hold energy and even
spells. I never could figure out how he made it, but it’s really handy to have
in case of emergencies. I figure you should have it, since you’re untrained,
you have bad luck, and now because you’re his son.”
“Thank you,” I said, putting it on. I didn’t know my
father well, but I was glad to know who he was and what that made me. I still
had no idea why he chose Mother.
“The reason you have such bad luck is because you’re
so exceptionally powerful. You can learn to work with your energy instead of
against it. That will help, but only to a point. Everything in life has to
balance, like I’ve said before. Your bad luck is nature’s way of keeping you
fair. Unfortunately, this will not change, so you will always have bad luck and
whenever you do something particularly exceptional, it will temporarily become
worse. Just thought you should know.”
“Great. That’s really what I needed to hear right
now; that I will never get any better at staying alive.” I didn’t mention that
Ronez said the same thing in a less hopeless manner. “The spirits at the
springs… I saw one of them when I was trying to find Divina.” He waited
expectantly. “She said that ‘he’ was coming. Do you think she was talking about
Vretial?”
He frowned. “I don’t know. Are you sure she was
talking to you?”
“I think she was, but I don’t think she was talking
about him. She sounded afraid, though. Maybe you should go talk to her.”
“It doesn’t work that way. The dead are not your
friends; you should avoid them and not offer any secrets. As friendly as they
may appear to you, you never know what else might be listening. If the spirits
of the springs offer you any more warnings, you should heed them. If they
don’t, I would assume she was warning you about Vretial and leave it at that.”
Edward continued to read while I pet Shinobu and
enjoyed the morning. The more I focused on how nice and peaceful the morning
was, though, the more I noticed something was off.
“What’s bothering you?” I asked Edward. By the way he
set his book in his lap, I knew I was dead on.
“Nothing. I was just thinking. Now that Vretial is
gone, the books are in very little danger. You could go back to Earth, live
with your girlfriend, and come back to continue your apprenticeship
afterwards.”
If I hadn’t gotten to know Edward so much by then, I
would have felt like he was trying to get rid of me. “What about you and
Divina?”
“I don’t need your company and Divina can take care
of herself. Your girlfriend probably misses you.” His voice was too measured
and emotionless.
“She’s not my girlfriend anymore. I gave that up for
the book. She wouldn’t like me as a powerful guardian; I’d blow out the lights
whenever I got upset.”
Besides that, my father doesn’t approve.
“I don’t
know what she thinks happened to me, but I can’t risk going back. Time would
pass, we’d probably marry, then the books would be endangered again and I’d
have to leave her again. I can’t do that.”
“You’ll lose many loved ones in your life.”
“Yeah, well, I haven’t been immortal for very long
and I’ve already lost two.”
“You haven’t lost Divina. You can be there for her
and help her heal. Whether or not she heals, she’s still here. If you won her
over once, I’m sure you could do it again,” he said, then gave me an accusing
glance. “You probably get that from your father. I should have figured my
brother’s son could win the heart of the only female god in existence.”
“He was right about you,” I said, laughing. He
frowned. “The last thing he said to me… he wanted me to tell you something.” As
his expression grew suspicious, I paused. “He said you were very passionate.”
Edward angrily stood and reached for his bag. Having
been on the wrong side of the anger of many men, it occurred to me I should
have been worried. Maybe I was becoming accustomed to Edward and his reactions,
but I felt no danger from his anger.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“That man has always gotten the last word, and this
time he went too far. I’m going to hunt down my brother’s ghost and smack him.”
I laughed as he marched back into the house. It
seemed my father left me with a gift.
Mordon
“Where are you going this time?”
I didn’t bother to look up as Jedes entered my room,
and continued shoving clothes into my bag. “I don’t know yet. I’m running
away.”
“You run away twice a month.”
“Can you blame me?” I threw down my bag. “Do you know
that my father just shut down an orphanage because the children weren’t all
offspring of his kingdom? He said they would grow up and commit treason.” I
turned back to my bag and pulled the cuffs of my shirt further down my wrists
to hide the bruises.
“Let me guess; he wanted
you
to do it, and
when you refused, he put you in the dungeon. No, I can’t blame you for leaving,
but you will just be back in a few days.”
“Last time didn’t count.” A group of wizards had
poisoned the kingdom’s crops, so I returned to help, only to get extra chores
for my trouble. If there was one thing my father lacked more than mercy, it was
a survival instinct.
“Mordon.” Jedes’s breathy gasp snapped me out of my
simmering.
I caught her in time before she hit the floor and sat
her on my bed. Her eyes were flashing in their normal fashion during her
visions. Normally, she only had a vague notion about what would happen. As the
only seer in the kingdom, and one of the few friends I had, I always weighed
her prophesies in my plans.
Her eyes closed and she caught her breath. “There’s a
fire.”
“Where? When?” Her visions could be moments away or
months off, and sometimes they were just completely misleading, but she tried
her hardest to be helpful.
“Your father is in danger. You have to help him.
Someone is coming.”
I went to the door, opened it quietly, and peaked
down either ends of the hallway. “There’s nobody coming,” I said, right before
I heard the bells of the castle grounds gate being opened. After a quick glance
at Jedes to make sure she was unhurt, I left my room for the window at the end
of the hall. From my balcony, I could easily see who came and went, but I could
just as easily be seen, so I often preferred to spy from the window.
The gate wasn’t fully open before I saw the golden
dragon crest on a flag and my heart sank. My despair was realized as the royal
family of Zendii sauntered in. The king, Ome-mor, was a huge man with dark
brown hair and dark purple eyes. He had too much suspicion and no tolerance. He
was also great friends with my father.
Jedes came to stand next to me by the window.
“Haru-joul Aneko,” Jedes said. “She’s very beautiful.”
The woman in question was the king’s daughter, and
Jedes was correct. Her long, curly blond hair framed her unblemished face and
piercing blue eyes. With the elegance of her title and a beauty known
throughout Zendii, she was coveted by many. It was almost a game to the king to
execute cruel and grotesque punishments for any man that made a move on his
daughter. Both Ome-mor and his daughter were riding pure black tokuami, and I
felt pity for the king’s. Any animal that had to carry the man’s girth deserved
to be freed.
“Mordon?” Jedes asked when I didn’t respond.
“She is beautiful, I guess.” She gave me a look and I
scoffed. “I used to bathe with that girl.”
“When you were five.”
“Exactly; she’s practically my sister. Besides, last
time she was here, she shot me with an arrow.”
“You called her fat.”
“I did not. I just said her butt was blocking the
target.” I left the window and Jedes followed me down several hallways until we
reached the balcony of the throne room.
It was early enough in the morning that the sun was
not spilling into the terrace, so I could watch without being easily noticed.
My father, as usual, was sitting in his throne. The doors were opened and
Ome-mor entered, leaving his tokuami outside. His daughter road hers up the
steps before stopping right inside, where her father helped her down. She
didn’t really need the help; it was just more elegant to let someone else do
all the work.
Ome-mor and my father greeted each other as old
friends and Haru-joul smiled and blushed on cue, as if she didn’t receive
praise every single day for just being alive. I almost gagged.
But then I caught it. There was the scent of
deception. Obviously, between the king, the princess, and the numerous
servants, I couldn’t pinpoint who was deceitful, so I examined everyone’s face
as well as I could. From my height and position, it was difficult, but I
wouldn’t put myself through the misery of going down there. I would have to get
them one on one. Assured that nobody would act irrationally and make an attempt
on my father’s life in the middle of a crowd, I returned to my room to unpack
my bags.
* * *
Dinner was a grueling affair under normal
circumstances. When we had guests, there was no end to my suffering. My father
and Ome-mor were on opposite ends of the table. I was sitting near my father,
which was understandable, but Haru-joul was sitting across from me instead of
beside her father, which was suspicious.
Every time I accidentally looked at her, she was
watching me and gave me her most innocent smile. It gave me the chills.
Whoever it was that smelled deceptive was in the room
with us, and it was stronger. Someone in close proximity to my father was full
of hate and treachery, and I was starting to think it was Haru-joul. The woman
always put scented oils in her bathwater, to the point it was nearly impossible
to pick out any natural scent.
Jedes was definitely correct in her prediction that
my father needed help, but I couldn’t figure out where the fire played into it.
Jedes nudged me in the arm to get my attention. She always sat beside me at
dinner, which was a good thing for my nerves when we had guests; she never wore
perfumes and I could pick her scent out of a crowd any day. I took a roll of
bread from the platter that was just out of her reach and put it on her plate.
“Thank you,” she whispered with a blush.
Jedes was only days apart from me, but still looked
no older than fourteen. It didn’t help that with her red-blond hair and light
green eyes, she looked extremely delicate. When she gasped, I thought she might
have been seeing something, but the soft movement across my foot clued me in. I
kicked and heard a small cry.
“Momo, Koko, get out of there,” I hissed. Ignoring my
father’s glare, I reached under the table until I caught two thin arms and
pulled.
The six-year-old twins fought the entire way as I
pulled them out from under the table. Momaro looked like he was going to cry as
he hid something behind his back, and Kokaro glared, ready to start a fight.
“What were you doing?” I asked, gentle but firm.
“Momo lost his fork,” Koko lied.
I held out my hand and waited. After a minute, Momo
held out the small mirror he was trying to hide.
“The little perverts!” Haru-joul shrieked.
Koko sneered at her. “We weren’t looking up your
skirt!” he yelled, then lowered his voice. “We were trying to look at Jedes.”
The girl in question squeaked and blushed deeply.
“Go to your room,” I said. They both ran for the door.
“Stop!” Haru-joul yelled. She turned her outrage on
my father when the boys froze at the door. “Are you going to let them go
without punishment?! They have to learn that being a pervert is wrong! Beat
them!”
“Being sent to their room without dinner or dessert
is a harsh enough punishment for a six-year-old,” I argued. The boys both gave
me pleading expressions, so I turned to Jedes. “Go put them to bed.”
She was just as relieved to be able to leave as the
twin boys.
“Father!” Haru-joul screeched at the visiting king.
The man considered my father and me, then shrugged.
“They were just being boys. I am sure they learned their lesson. If not, Mordon
will punish them next time, yes?”
Although he phrased it as a question, I knew it was a
demand. I nodded, because I knew my father would agree with him wholeheartedly.
I could see the scheming in Haru-joul’s eyes before she controlled her
expression and gave her father her most innocent and relieved smile.
“Of course, father, you are right. I was just so
startled that I overreacted.”
My father clapped his hand hard on my shoulder. “Now,
boy, you see that? Why can you not be respectful like Haru-joul?” His hand
tightened painfully and he leaned in to whisper. “Keep those boys under control
or they will be banished. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, Father.”
He let me go and I had to sit down and pretend that
everything was fine. Momo and Koko were both orphans since their mother, a
servant in the castle, died from sickness when they were four. At least they
got to have their mother for a few years.
* * *
“What did I tell you?!” I growled. The boy was
shaking too hard to answer me. “Well, fire, tub! Not well, tub. How senseless
are you that you can’t remember three steps?!” The man who usually prepared my
bath, Doro, had gone to take care of his family and I was left with a boy who
never worked directly for me before.
“I am sorry, prince. I thought it was too hot,” he
whimpered.
I growled and he yelped, which doused just a bit of
my anger. I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. “I’m sorry. It isn’t you
I’m angry with.”
“Is it… Doro you are angry with?” he asked.
I growled again. “Just go get hot water before I make
you my permanent personal servant,” I threatened.
He ran like he was on fire.
“Still biting the servants, I see,” Haru-joul said,
stopping the door from closing all the way.
I grabbed the pillow from my bed to cover myself.
Since I was trying to take a bath, I was completely bare. Haru-joul shut the
door behind her, pressed her back against it, and winced as if in pain.
“Oh, turn your back again.”
I glared at her. “I covered myself, and you are in my
room uninvited.”
“No, it isn’t that; I just want to see your butt.”
She bypassed the large tub of lukewarm water and threw herself down inelegantly
on my bed.
“What would your father say if he knew what kind of
girl you really are?” I asked.
She grinned and propped herself up on her elbows. “He
would be in an even bigger hurry to get rid of me, to make a treaty.” She took
the small picture of my mother from my nightstand, considered it for a moment,
then put it back face down. “So I suggest you don’t tell him.”
“What are you talking about?”
She bounced off the bed and invaded my personal
space. As she did, I got my first good scent of her in private. She was not the
one after my father’s life… unfortunately. She was spoiled, greedy, and
egotistical, but not murderous.
“You don’t know? You really are an idiot. Your father
is getting a daughter-in-law, and mine is getting mining rights to Picor.”
“I will not be married to you. It would be like
marrying my sister.”
She gagged. “If that’s what you like, I won’t judge
you. But see,” she grinned, “we are both nineteen; we have no say in the
matter.” She turned around and pressed her body against me suggestively.
I tried to push her away with one hand and hold the
pillow with the other, but she forced my arm around her waist instead.
She wasn’t wearing a slip under her dress. “You’re
naked!” I exclaimed.
“Not yet.”
“I will not marry you, or sleep with you,” I growled.
She scoffed. “Of course not, that would be gross. I
knew you since we were three. But sex has nothing to do with marriage, and we
would both get something out of this. So here’s how it’s going to go. We will
be married as our fathers command. I will move into the princess chambers, with
my lover as my personal servant, and when your dear father dies, you will have
a queen to rule the kingdom in your absence.”
I stopped trying to push her away. “What do you mean,
in my absence?”
She laughed and turned around, keeping my arm around
her and pressing her breast against me. “I know you want nothing to do with the
crown or the royal duties. I also know that I will never become queen of Zendii
because my father will marry me to someone before he dies. I will prepare
myself to be queen, and when you run off to your adventures, I will be your
alibi. After all, it can’t be said that my husband is a troublemaker.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I
snarled.
She used my moment of distraction to rip the pillow
from my hand and toss it across the room. Then she wrapped her arms around my
neck and pressed herself against me. “When the villagers say a mysterious fire
started, or when the city is trampled by a herd of wild animals, I will say you
were in my room, trying to make a little heir.”
I honestly never set out to cause trouble, but bad
things happened around me. Usually, I would find out about some sinister plot
against the throne and, while preventing the attempt on my father’s life, I
would end up screwing something else up that got me caught looking like a
clumsy fool. It didn’t help that I often had to set some kind of diversion.
“Think about it, and when your father announces our
surprise engagement, pretend to be delighted.” She leaned up and kissed me on
the cheek before leaving as quickly as she arrived.
The servant returned with a pail of hot water, just
in time to see Haru-joul leaving. He looked deliberately at the bath as he
poured the water into it. Most of the servants in the castle were gossips, but
I worked very hard to have a terrifying reputation among them.
“She was never here,” I said. “If anyone hears
otherwise, you will be taking Doro’s place.”
“Of course, prince.”
“Send Momo and Koko to me and work the rest of the
night in the kitchen. The bread was very dry. Make sure it doesn’t happen
again.”
Because otherwise my father will punish the entire kitchen staff
severely.
He
hated
dry bread.