Chapter Two: What Happened After Sunrise
“So you’re the one Anan used to talk about?” I asked.
“I am,” he answered, sitting once again. He addressed himself to Tobias, “Hannah is with Anan now. She is safe, and warm, and happy. You have nothing to worry about.”
Tobias bowed his head in response.
“Sir?” I began. “What should I call you?”
His lips pulled back in a smile, as wolves and dogs can do. “Khoda will do.”
“Is that not your real name?” I wondered.
A fierce light emitted behind his eyes. “You cannot understand my real name.”
For once, I had no desire to question what I was told. I bowed my head as Tobias had and felt an enormously heavy paw on my shoulder.
“Sleep in peace tonight, no attack will come from the witch.” Khoda breathed on our bent heads. His breath was sweet and refreshing. When we looked up, he was gone.
The next morning, the sun bent back the night and glimmered through the falling snow. The first thing I noticed besides the light was the silence – the wind’s incessant howl had ceased. Tobias was up and ready. He brought my dress to me and I slipped into it quickly. The funeral for my father and Hannah was to be held that day, and I steeled myself against the coming waves of emotion. My eyes felt gritty and I wasn’t sure if I had any tears left to spare. I smoothed my hair back with pins and washed my face from the basin on the counter. I stood and prepared to leave, but Tobias caught my hand and pulled me back to him for a moment. He drew a breath as if he was about to speak, but kissed my forehead and let me go.
“I’m ready,” I told him.
“I’m ready, too,” he said.
Red and orange light flickered on the stone as we made our way cautiously down the passageway. A soldier ran past us, doubling his speed at the cry of pain coming from our assumed destination. Tobias and I quickened our pace as well. Soon we came to a line of soldiers who held back any mourners.
“What’s happening?” I asked one of them urgently. The soldier hesitated. “I am our former king’s only daughter! Please!”
“It’s Nathan, Princess,” he answered haltingly. “There are some goings on-”
I didn’t wait for him to finish. Over the soldier’s shoulder I saw Nathan push a huge wave of energy out from himself towards the witch. She countered it and sent him sprawling. I shoved past the soldier and ran towards the fight. Not knowing what I was doing or how I was doing it, I pulled energy from somewhere above me and flung it towards the woman clothed in burgundy and black. Her face was masked, but I saw the eyes widen when I broke through the line of soldiers. Whether they widened in fear or anticipation, I couldn’t know. I felt her absorb and turn the energy back towards me. Somewhere in the background Tobias yelled my name. I sent the returned stream of energy upwards in a spike of white light, then brought it back down on my mother. It was too hard and painful to control – I cried out and fell to the ground.
The witch fell with me. Clutching at her heart, she feebly raised her other hand, but brought it down suddenly to keep her from collapsing. It was no use, she crumpled anyway on the cold stone. A cackle, chilling to the bone, broke from her struggling throat.
“The curse lives! The curse lives! Now see what you’ve done, Nathan.” Her body convulsed twice, then stilled in death.
Tobias was at my side in a moment, having finally broken through the group of soldiers holding him back. I felt so weak; he picked me up and brought me away from the corpse.
“Take her back to your chamber, Tobias,” Nathan commanded breathlessly. “I will come to explain everything shortly.”
Tobias carried me back to his chamber and laid me gently on his bed, worry fraught in his kind eyes. He laid his bed roll, pillow, and a sheet next to the bed to make it look as though he had spent the night on the floor.
“What did I just do?” I whispered, looking at my hands. The inscription had disappeared again.
“It’s okay, love, it’s okay.” Tobias took both my hands in his and kissed them.
After a few minutes, several soft taps sounded from the door. Tobias rose and opened it for Nathan. He bore a large satchel filled with scrolls that he set at the foot of the bed after bowing deeply to Tobias.
“Princess,” he said, kneeling next to the bed. “Please forgive me.”
“There is nothing to forgive, Nathan.” I sat up uneasily. “Rise and draw a chair. I need to know what’s happening.”
“I kept your power from you. If you had known about it, perhaps these last few days would have gone differently.” He stayed on one knee until I touched the top of his bent head.
“You are forgiven, though there has been no wrong done.” I tipped his head up with my fingertips under his chin. “You are a good and honest man, Nathan.”
He rose. Tobias had two chairs in hand and set them next to the bed while Nathan brought the bag of scrolls. Then, slowly, he began to speak:
“We live in legends and old wives’ tales. Long ago, when people still lived on the outside, some groups of people possessed what most would call ‘magic.’ Of course magic isn’t the right term for it – more like bending energy – but nonetheless it was a generational trait, though it could be learned. It began to die out, and many believed it to be lost completely.” Here he paused. “Clearly it was not. Eventually we came to abandon the ways of life on the outside. Those lines who still possessed the ability to bend energy and enchant the universe around them lived secretly, and the necessity of secrecy caused the skills to be even rarer. However, after a time a great force of evil was awakened from the outside. No one, not even the lore masters, know how this happened. The so-called magicians of each castle had to unite and band together to keep this evil at bay. It is nameless and void, but manifests itself easily. We were forced to send some as messengers through the outside world between castles, forming an alliance that still lasts to this day.” Nathan spread one of the scrolls across his lap. It was a map. “We know of five castles; there could be more. The former King did not know any of this, until I exposed your mother as a spy of the Enemy. Only by chance did I come to discover her.” His face grimaced with pain. “I cannot speak of it, nor of your father’s rage. She was immediately banished to the outside and a ‘spell,’ if that’s the right word – which it isn’t – was put on the castle to prevent her entry. We spread word to the other castles as well. But on the outside, she grew in strength, broke through our castle’s protection, and returned for her revenge.”
“So what just happened in the passageway?” I asked, stunned at the amount of information that was poured before me.
“The ability to bend energy can be learned, but it is almost always hereditary. You have inherited the gift from your mother. Your father never wanted you to know about your gift, hoping that your ignorance would stave off its use. It seems he was wrong,” Nathan replied. “Deep calls to deep – the magic in you was drawn to the magic in your mother and I. You will learn to control this type of impulse easily with basic training.”
“Nathan,” I looked in his eyes, “Did I kill her?”
He pressed his lips together and rubbed his middle knuckle anxiously. “Yeah, Kynder, you did. But if you hadn’t, I certainly would have. She was weak for some reason.”
“Today is my father’s funeral. And Hannah’s funeral. What do we do?” I asked, changing the subject abruptly.
“There will be no funeral. The former King’s chamber was set ablaze with both bodies and funeral rites still inside. Everything was burned.”
“The undertaker?” I wondered anxiously.
Nathan bowed his head in sorrow. “He would not leave Hannah and the former King to burn in shame. One of my men shot him for mercy after he caught fire.” My stomach churned at the image. Nathan lifted his head. “You must not think that your mother’s death will be the end. More servants of the Enemy will come. They will be stronger, and their entry subtler.” Nathan looked between Tobias and I. “This witch was the most valued of Its existing servants, and her death will not bode well. War will soon be upon us.”
“War?” Tobias questioned, standing and turning his back to us. “Don’t you think that’s going too far? The last time we had anything close to a war was the battle at The Front, where Anan was lost.” He turned to face us. “Before that there were centuries of peace.”
Nathan rose heatedly and placed the scroll on the bed beside me. “And before that there were centuries of war! The only reason there have been centuries of peace is because there has been a quiet war going on underneath your noses! Did you hear nothing I just told?”
“I, just – it’s so much.” Tobias sank wearily into one of the chairs with a sigh. “What of the advisors? Have you spoken with Khoda?” Nathan started visibly and turned an anxious eye towards me. “Don’t worry,” Tobias said in response, “They met last night.”
“I haven’t spoken with Khoda in many days. I did see him while escorting the advisors back, but we didn’t get the chance to talk.” Nathan replied.
“Why not?” I asked.
“We had a run-in with the witch. He was busy fighting her; I was busy trying to save the one who was shot.” Nathan shook his head.
“The message for the chemist in the West wing…?” My voice trailed off, uncertain of what my question actually was.
“He’s the only one capable of drawing out the poison from the wound caused by her arrows.” Nathan answered absentmindedly.
An urgent knock on the door made me jump. Tobias rose to answer it. A messenger boy stood in the doorway.
“Is Captain Nathan here? I’ve a message for him!” He relayed urgently and sadly, bowing as he spoke.
“I’m here, Orius. What news?” Nathan took Tobias’ place in the doorway.
“The advisors, sir.” Here tears began to well in the boy’s eyes. “They’ve, they've done something.”
“Orius, what have they done?” Nathan knelt and took the boy’s shoulders.
“They all killed each other, sir.” Orius began to cry. “I tried to stop them, but they kept hacking each other, even when they were dead.”
Nathan embraced the boy quickly. “There, there, Orius. Try not to cry. Try to forget. Try to dwell on sweet memories for a while.”
“Let him cry on me, Nathan,” I spoke. “Crying is not an ignoble thing, and he is just a boy who has witnessed what no hardened soldier ever should.”
Nathan released the boy, who clambered onto the bed. I shielded him with my arms and let his tears ruin the black shoulder of my dress.
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