by Chase Erwin
I kept my eyes tightly shut once he joined me in bed, hoping he thought I was fast asleep. I was intending to get up and pack a small bag so I could leave before dawn, however in waiting for him to go to sleep, I fell into an actual slumber.
When the bright light of morning woke me up, Ricken was gone once again. I wrestled with the thought of leaving him… and I came to the conclusion that he would be alright if I did. I still didn’t fully believe he could love me, knowing all he did about my history, all the things I had done.
Besides, I reasoned… he was The Kaa. He’d know how to find me if he really wanted.
I headed downstairs and made a beeline for the keep’s main door.
“Abel.” Beltrin surprised me by appearing from the study doorway.
“Beltrin! Uh… good morning.”
“Rook and I must speak with you,” Beltrin said. His voice was unnaturally steady, almost unfriendly. “Alone.”
Rook appeared from the tavern’s private entrance. He had a walking stick in his left hand and was leaning against it. Turning back to Beltrin, I noticed he had his longsword strapped to his back.
I gulped.
15. The Tree
Rook led the way. Beltrin followed close behind him. I trailed, unsure of what was happening, unaware of our destination… but I dared not stop walking. We left the keep grounds and made our way towards town.
“You still with us?” Beltrin’s tone was stern. The friendly inflection he usually took with me was gone.
“Yes,” I said. “Wh… what are you going to do to me?”
“It’s best if you don’t ask questions at this time,” Rook said. Like Beltrin, his usual accent was oddly thin. I thought he may have been in a state of trance.
“Okay.” I didn’t want to object.
They have every right to kill me, I thought. Henchmen attacked Beltrin and stole his experimental potions. They threatened his family in the process. Those were my henchmen. I ordered them to do those things.
I irrevocably changed the course of all their lives. I brought such distress to them all. And as I trudged along behind them, staring at the ground beneath my feet, I resigned myself to my fate.
The steeples of the Church District scraped the sky like upended daggers. This might be where my friends… or the people I had made as friends under false pretenses… were going to exact their revenge.
The Church of Holy Reverence was Caeden’s place of worship, and where he honed his skills. Rook must have been a member of the same church. As we approached, I could see him slowing down before the church’s front steps, fingering a pendant of an exotic leaf while speaking softly to himself.
He was in a trance, I realized. He was preparing a ritual.
I just hoped whatever he did would be quick and painless… although I deserved the exact opposite.
“From this point on, do exactly as we say,” Beltrin said. He looked at me. He had sorrow in his eyes. Guilt? Disappointment? I couldn’t tell.
I nodded.
“Put your hands behind your back and clasp your fingers together,” he said. His voice was getting softer and softer.
I did as instructed.
Rook climbed the six stairs to the doors of the sanctuary. He kissed the leaf pendant, closed his eyes, and placed his hands on the wide knotted oak door.
A green glow traced itself along the edge of the door, accompanied by the sound of an angelic chorus, as the door swung slowly open.
The smell of wildflowers wafted towards us. It was pleasant, but at the same time filled me with fear.
“They prepped the chapel so quickly,” Beltrin commented absently.
“There is no they,” Rook corrected. “When I placed my hand upon the door, I made a small prayer to the gods asking them to allow me the powers to perform this ceremony.”
Without further hesitation, he strode inside the chapel.
It is a ceremony. Perhaps he conferred with the gods and they agreed I must be sacrificed.
My head began to swirl. Beltrin, who had just crossed the threshold, turned to me.
“Abel,” he said. “Come.”
I gulped, lip quivering. I obeyed.
The chapel walls were lined with more oak, some of the knots sporting moss and some form of ivy. A carpet of purple, pink and white flowers lined the aisle leading to the altar.
Rook had already made his way to the altar. He held his walking stick diagonally in front of his body.
“The time is now,” he said, his voice echoing off the walls. “Caeden, are you ready?” As Rook closed his eyes, it was apparent he was communicating telepathically with his brother. Opening his eyes again, Rook nodded.
“Go,” Beltrin said, his voice and expression sterner than ever.
With each step I took across the flower-coated path, the sweet smell of the blooms hit my nostrils. But the pleasant scent did nothing to calm my fears as my temples pounded and my heart skipped beat after beat.
Maybe I would fall dead of a heart attack before they had a chance to do what they were going to do.
I reached the altar, where I saw a pearlescent ermine rug before Rook’s feet.
“Approach… and kneel,” Rook commanded. I did as I was told. Beltrin stood behind me.
I heard the sound of Beltrin’s shortsword becoming unsheathed. When I felt the blade rest upon my left shoulder, the tears began.
“Abel Mondragon,” Caeden said. “You have committed many sins against your fellow man, have you not?”
I strained to keep my mouth from opening as I fought back frightened sobs. I could only nod.
“You led others to deceive, steal, and even kill.”
I gasped for the air I didn’t realize I was keeping from myself. “Yes,” I said in a choked cry. “Yes, I did.”
Caeden placed the end of his walking stick on my right shoulder.
“It is now time for you to pass…”
I couldn’t hear the rest of his sentence. A golden light began to wrap around me like tendrils. The force of the magical power made me lift my head skyward. Shimmering star-like beads danced before my eyes. It was beautiful.
It felt like I was floating, first up into the air, and then forward. Slowly, the shape of a tree began to come into view. A large, mighty oak, its many branches so full of leaves they were sagging towards the lush, dark green meadow surrounding it. It looked like the same type of tree back at the keep – the one whose growth had been hobbled by the Cursed Amulet.
“The Tree of Life,” I could hear Rook intone, his voice reverberating just like it had been in the chapel. “The Tree of Life stands before you. The tree accepts your sins, and from those sins, it offers new chances, new promises, new hope.
“The sapling we saved at the keep was your branch of the Tree of Life,” Caeden continued, his telepathic connection now addressing me. “As long as your sins remained buried underneath it, the branch was hobbled and could not flourish. Do you now offer your sins to the Tree?”
I remained transfixed on the tree. I could see the “branch” Caeden referred to. It was the small tree we had been saving, but it was now connected like a branch, just a small part of this impossibly massive tree.
“I do,” I said. “I feel horrible, knowing what all I unleashed into this world. There is no penance I could perform to make up for all the harm the hatred in my heart caused. But I swear to it now - I do relinquish my sins.”
The golden light tightened around me, like a warm hug. The tree began sprouting more and more leaves, pushing existing ones from their buds on the branches, which began fluttering to the ground.
“Go towards the tree,” Rook instructed.
I walked forward and continued doing so until I was under the tree’s canopy. The leaves fell across my face, down my shoulders. Each one felt like joy, like comfort caressing me.
“Tell the Tree what is in your heart, Abel. Identify yourself, and when you do, tell it who, in your very soul, you are.”
Instinctively, I p
laced my hand on the tree’s trunk. I felt love. I felt friendship. I felt solidarity. Within the tree’s bark, I swore I could see the faces of Caeden, Beltrin, Remi, Irek and Taryn. I saw Ricken, and I saw Antareus.
They were all my friends, my family, and my love. They were what mattered. They were always who mattered.
“My name is Abel Mondragon,” I whispered. “And…”
I hesitated. Who was I? That wasn’t the question I needed to answer. I needed to answer to myself… what did I want from myself?
“I am Abel Mondragon,” I said tearfully, “and I just want to be good.”
The leaves that had fallen to the ground began to rise into the air, scooped up by the light surrounding me. Faster and faster they spun, until they began to occlude my vision.
When I could open my eyes again, I was back in the chapel, laying on the floor, Caeden and Beltrin gazing down at me.
“Absolution is only granted to those who are genuinely sorry for the sins committed on the mortal plane,” Caeden said, a smile returning to his face. “You, Abel Mondragon… have been absolved.”
I was on the floor, laying on my back. The vines and flowers which had enrobed the interior of the chapel were gone, as was the looks of forlornness on Beltrin’s face.
“We weren’t sure it was going to work,” Beltrin said, kneeling down and offering a hand to lift me up.
“Let’s get him into this pew,” Caeden offered, helping lift me and place me into the pew just before the altar. “He’s going to be quite tired for a spell.”
“I just want to be good,” was the only thing I remembered saying before I closed my eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
16. Targets On Their Backs
Six Months Later
“Curfew is now in effect!” Caeden strode past the tavern door, ringing a loud cowbell up and down with each step. “Please return to your homes! Curfew is now in effect! Refusal to obey will result in imprisonment! Please return to your homes…”
I wiped my hands on a dishtowel as I handed a freshly-pulled pint of lager to the one customer in the tavern. “I’m afraid you’ll have to down that one pretty quickly,” I apologized. “Curfew is beginning. I must close.”
The customer nodded and did his best to consume the pint in two gulps but left a fair bit in their glass as they set it down and scurried out the door. Fame and Ricken then paired off, locking up the doors and windows.
“Fame, would you gather the rest of the staff here in the tavern?” Ricken brushed a lock of his hair behind an ear. “I have an update for everyone.”
“Of course, Mr. Col,” Fame said with a hastened curtsy. She flew past me before stopping and turning. “Can I bring you anything, Mr. Abel?”
Startled to hear my name, I smiled and shook my head. She hurried out into the main keep to assemble the staff.
Ten minutes later, there was a packed house inside the tavern. Every maid, servant, carpenter and apprentice the keep employed was seated, some on the floor, others on the bar top.
The rest of the Winds of Andusk, minus Remi, stood behind the bar. Ricken took his position on the small corner performance stage between the bar and the dining area.
“Ladies, gentlemen, and everyfolk,” Ricken said. “I received official word a few hours ago: Queen Enwel is extending curfew for at least another 14 days.”
There was a burst of disgruntled moans, sighs and under-breath cursing.
“I know, I know,” Ricken said. “I don’t like it any more than you do, but we have to be realistic. Especially since the vampire claimed its third victim just yesterday” –
“His vampire!” shouted a squat, balding man with a monocle at a far table. “Don’t act like everyone ain’t aware this whole vamper business is ‘is fault!” He pointed a stubby finger in my direction. The four other handworkers at his table shouted in agreement.
By now, the townspeople had learned I had broken the amulet that released the vampire. Thankfully, they didn’t know I was also responsible for making it in the first place.
“Pipe down,” Ricken scolded, and the commotion stopped. “Listen, Tinker, we’ve had this conversation before.”
“Yea, and I’m through conversatin’,” Tinker shot back. “Fact is, every day that goes by that yer boyfriend there don’t figure out some way to kill that vamper is another day we all risk being vamper food!”
Ricken opened his mouth to speak. I put the back of my hand to his chest to stop him. I took the stage.
“Tinker,” I began, “I know nothing will bring back your little girl” –
“Tabitha!” Tinker stood up, his face reddening. “That little girl had a name! It was Tabitha that yer creature stole in the night! It was Tabitha that they found on the hillside with ‘er… with ‘er…”
Overcome with grief, he sat back down and blew his nose in a handkerchief. A thin, wiry female Reptilian in overalls sitting at his side patted him on the back.
“Nothing I do now will bring her back,” I said softly. “I know this town, for the most part, is shunning me because of what happened. But I feel it’s my duty to make up for that, as much as I possibly can. I promise, I will fix this. I will stop it.”
“Just words,” hissed the Reptilian female. Her scaly brown skin was dry and dull in the glow of the tavern lights. “This is just words. You have no idea how many of them there may be now!”
“I understand that.”
“You understand zilch,” grumbled Tinker.
“I understand this is an at-will employment—not indentured servitude,” Ricken interjected. “You are under no obligation to remain here. You are quite free to tender your resignation and find work elsewhere.”
“Fine by me, and by my mates here,” Tinker said, amongst a trio of supportive cheers at his table. “We don’t want yer blood money.”
“Very well. You can collect your wages and leave the premises… first thing in the morning,” Ricken said. “For now, curfew is in effect and you must all remain within this building.”
There were more mutters of dissent from the two dozen or so workers in the room as they began to scatter among their designated sleeping areas within the keep.
“I’m going to go check on Remi,” Beltrin said.
“May I join you?” I asked.
Beltrin smiled gently and nodded. We made our way up the stairs from the main foyer to the second story.
“How much longer?” I asked.
“The doctor said any day now,” Beltrin said. “I wish I still had some of that time acceleration potion I was selling, because I’d sure like to see that little tot right now!”
“Are you hoping for a girl or a boy?” Pausing at the thought of Taryn, I added, “or does it matter?”
“I don’t care either way,” said the Dragonkin, a small blush developing on either side of his cheeks. “All that matters to me is that it’s happy with its mother and father and this crazy life we lead.”
We rounded the corner to the wing they lived in.
“And thank you again Abel, for the cake you made – you outdid yourself. Or, I should say, overdid yourself. Thirteen layers was a bit much!”
“Hey, it was my first wedding,” I said, smiling proudly, “let alone my first catered function on the Royal Grounds. I had to set the bar somewhere.”
My heart sailed when Beltrin asked me to head the catering for the ceremony. I put every ounce of strength and creativity I had into their meal. I hoped it conveyed how much I cared about them despite what I had uncovered about my past.
We approached the door to their room. Beltrin tapped on the door gently. “Remi, sweetheart? You awake?”
“Barely,” came the yawn-stifled reply. Beltrin opened the door and I followed him inside.
Remi bristled a bit when she saw me. “Abel,” she began, “I swear, if you’ve come with apology flowers one more time, I will scream.”
I had found it hard to make peace with the fact that I had harmed each member of the Winds in some form duri
ng my reign as Dr. Kane. For Remi, a team of Ravens had decimated her native Felinial village, burning most of the homesteads to the ground. Her tutors and trainers were among the scores of dead.
“Can I get you anything, sweetheart?” Beltrin asked, stroking the fur between Remi’s ears.
“I am a little hungry,” Remi said. “Could I have you run down to the pantry and get me… a chicken salad sandwich with roasted potatoes, some peanuts, some pickles, maybe a bowl or two of artichoke dip, a loaf of bread and a bottle or two of apple juice?”
Beltrin furrowed his brows. “Really? Um… why do I need to get you so much?”
Remi looked at him sternly and pointed at her stomach. “Because you did this to me.”
Beltrin blushed. “Right,” he said, and backed out into the hallway. I could hear the hurried steps of an expectant father go down the stairs and into the tavern.
The moment the window latched open, I heard something unnatural from the surroundings of our land. It was a whistling noise. A high-pitched whistling, seeming to become louder with each fraction of a second.
“Do you hear that?” I asked?
“I” – Remi started.
Before she had a chance to utter a second word, the door burst open and Ricken shouted, “Remi, get down!”
Instinctively, I whirled back towards the window. My vision narrowed and focused on the distance. There was a figure hurtling itself toward me. My eyes strained harder than they ever felt before, and my field of vision pushed towards their usual limits. I was looking past the stone walls of the keep, beyond the grove of trees and into the dark brush.
It was a vampire – barreling straight for the window.
Racing to figure out what to do, I thought of what would be really good at this point – a wall that would bounce the vampire right back outside.
As soon as I made that notion, my body took over. I turned into my usual liquid form – but almost instantaneously, rather than over the course of a few seconds like I had been used to. A secondary sensation flashed over my liquid form – like the feeling you get when you lose circulation in your legs – a heavy, almost gelatinous feeling.